IMPROVE MENTS IN TREATING HEMP OR TOW FOR THE CALKING OF SHIPS AND VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CLEANSING TEXTILE ARTICLES OR FABRICS IMPREGNATED WITH GREASY AND OILY MATTERS, AND, IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the 'said Léonard François
Lemière at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,' with his
Petition on the 11th June 1858.
I, LEONARD FRANÇOIS LEMIERE, of Canderan, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention of IMPROVE
MENTS IN TREATING HEMP OR TOW FOR THE CALKING OF SHIPS AND VESSELS, PARTS
OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CLEANSING TEXTILE
ARTICLES OR FABRICS IMPREGNATED WITH GREASY AND OILY MATTERS, AND, IN THE
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows, that is to sayo
The Invention consists, first, in submitting new hemp or tow to a bath
composed oftar dissolved in a chemical composition herein-after described, by
the action of heat, which solution is more suitable to tarring tow.for, the
calking of ships than the means hitherto employed..
....
[Price 8d.]-
...

page_text: Secondly, in the construction and employment of an apparatus for heating
and dissolving the said composition or bath by which the tarring operation is
assisted.
Thirdly, in the employment of the said chemical composition andapparatus,
which, to be more efficient, may be slightly modified for washing and cleansing
dirty linen or other articles or textile materials impregnated with greasy and
oily matters.
The apparatus in which I place the new hemp or tow to be tarred consists
of a wooden vessel or trough of a trapezoidal shape, set upon supports or
trestles; in this vessel is placed a stove or fire box at one extremity of the
apparatus, the heat from which is transmitted through the whole length by
means of a pipe.
The chemical and tarry composition is obtained in the following manner:
I introduce into the apparatus'about six pounds of crystals of soda and about
eight ounces of salt of soda to about twenty-two gallons of water, and when
these substances are dissolved by heat and the solution is raised to from 194°
to 212° Faht, 1 add to the above quantity about ten pounds of tar, by which
it is dissolved. The hemp or tow after being carded is then dipped into the
composition, and when sufficiently soaked is drawn out, dried in the open air,
and after being again carded is ready to be used for calking ships.
The apparatus before described may be provided with two axles, supported
by uprights at the extremities of the apparatus, the upper one being moveable
and the other fixed. The moveable shaft is provided with heads, so disposed
as to give to beaters suspended freely at top to the fixed axle a front-to-back
motion, which causes the hammers to strike the article or fabric to be washed.
Motion is given to the upper shaft of the apparatus by means of a strap
passing over a pulley with which one of its extremities is provided, and which
is in connection with a horizontal axle receiving motion from a vertical shaft
by means of bevil wheels, and which latter is worked by any suitable motive
power. The upper axle and hammers may be taken down and replaced at
will, and when the apparatus is employed for the tarring process they are
removed.
The composition for washing and cleansing is composed of about twelve
pounds of crystals of soda and two pounds salt of soda per twenty-twogallons
of water; this composition is dissolved by means of the sand bath, heated as
above described.
The cotton, linen, or other article or fabrics impregnated with greasy or
fatty bodies to be cleansed are introduced into the bath and beaten by the
hammers until they are impregnated with the cleansing liquid; this done,

page_text: the chemical composition is poured off and the linen or other articles washed
with pure water heated in the apparatus.
The chemical composition employed for washing and cleansing linen, &c.
may be employed for the hemp bath by the addition of the tar; in this case,
however, it is necessary that it should be free from the fatty matters, and this
is effected by a solution of chloride of lime, by which they are precipitated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Léonard François Lemière in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD
FRANÇOIS LEMIERE, of Canderan, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Leonard François Lemière, Her special licence that I, the said Leonard
François Lemière, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Leonard François Lemière, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, au
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING HEMP OR Tow FOR THE CALKING OF
SHIPS AND VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO WASHING
ANDO CLEANSING TEXTILE ARTICLES OR FABRICS IMPREGNATED WITH GREASY OR OILY
MATTERS, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Leonard François Lemière, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under ny, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Leonard François Lemière, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Until now the oakum employed for calking ships has been obtained from
untwisted tarred ropes and cables unfit for service, the untwisting of which
causes a considerable amount of labour, and the product being an inferior
article; now my Invention consists,―
First, in the preparation of oakum of better quality, or an article superior
to, or a substitute for oakum so obtained, by submitting new hemp or tow
to a bath of tar formed by a chemical bath or composition in a trough or
apparatus suitably heated, as herein-after described.
And, secondly, in the application of the said chemical composition and
apparatus with slight modifications or additions to scouring and washing
linen and other textile articles, fabrics, and substances impregnated with
fatty or oily matters.
To render the following description more easily understood, I would here
remark that as the basis or the apparatus for the tarring and cleansing
operations is the same, and as the apparatus as employed for cleansing will
be rendered suitable for the tarring operation by merely removing some
additional parts, I will first proceed to describe the apparatus as arranged
for the cleansing operation, and afterwards point out the changes to be made
to render it fit for the tarring process. Should the apparatus be required
to carry on the tarring process first, it is obvious that the form suitable for
this particular process should be at first adopted. The additions necessary
for rendering this apparatus fit for the cleansing operation can be made
afterwards, or two separate and distinct apparatus may be employed at
pleasure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure represents the apparatus in its
place suitable for the washing and cleansing operations; and Figure 2
represents the apparatus as employed for the tarring process; Figure 3 shews
ȧ detached view of the revolving shaft; Figures 4 and 7, detached views of
the hammers or beaters; Figure a plan, and Figure 6 a side elevation of
the stove; Figure 8 shews the apparatus connected by a band to the revolving
shaft of a horse gin. This apparatus consists of an oal: wood trough A, the
interior of which is lined with sheet copper, To this trough, which is of a
cubical trapezoidal form, are adapted two standards, also of wood, B, B,
supporting, first, a fixed axis C. Figure 1, on which the wooden beaters D,

page_text: Figures 1, 4, and 7, play, and receive a to-and-fro motion from a moveable
axle E, provided with as many cleats F as there are beaters, the said cleats
being disposed in a spiral form round the axle E, and arranged so as to strike
in succession their corresponding beaters, thus giving them the to-and-fro
movement above described. To this last axis and to one of its extremities is
adapted a fixed pulley G, Figures 1 and 3, on which is placed a band, commu-
nicating the necessary rotative motion to the axis E, from a horse gin.
Figure S, a steam engine, or other suitable motive power. At the bottom of.
the trough A, and at one of its extremities, is adjusted a fire-box or stove of
wrought or cast iron H, Figures 1, 5, and 6. This fire box is furnished at
bottom with an iron grating J, Figure 5, and is heated with coke, and
communicates the heat through the whole length of the apparatus by means
of an iron tube K, Figures 1, 5, and 6, which is adapted to the fire box, and
which extends the whole length of the apparatus,and passes outside, and gives
egress to the smoke from the fire box. The fire box is supplied with
coal or other fuel, which is lighted, and I afterwards introduce into the
trough about thirteen to fourteen pounds crystal of soda, and about two
pounds three ounces salt of soda to every twenty-two gallons of pure water
employed. These chemical substances are dissolved by the heat from the fire
box, and when the solution has been raised to about two hundred and twelve
degrees Fahrenheit, I place in the trough the textile articles or substances
from which it is desired to remove the greasy or oily matters contained therein.
The beaters of the apparatus are then set in action, and successively strike the
articles, and cause them to be impregnated with the cleansing liquid. This I
call the cleansing or scouring operation, for which a few minutes only are
required. After this operation the solution is poured into another vessel,over
which the fatty substances or articles taken out of the trough are placed to
drain; I then introduce into the trough, from which the solution has been
removed, a similar quantity of pure water, which is heated in a similar manner,
and when it is raised to about two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit, I
put back into the trough A the articles or fabrics submitted to the first
operation, the beaters are again set to work, and expel from the articles the
solution which they may still retain. This I call the washing operation, by
which the fabrics or articles are completely washed; they are then dried. The
solution which has been used for scouring and which has taken up the greasy
or oily elements contained in the articles requires to be purified therefrom;
I effect this object by means of chloride of lime, which I place in the vessel
containing the greasy waters, and which precipitates the fatty matters to
the bottom of the vessel, which are afterwards collected aud may be

page_text: m
TICH Mature
employed for forming the bath of tar.
Soration was purmed may be
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS FOR TARRING NEW HEMP OR TOW FOR
CALKING SHIPS.
By new hemp or tow I mean the hemp from which the straw or wood has
been removed, and which consists, first, of hemp properly so called, or the
best part of the hemp; secondly, refuse tow or hemp. By carding new hemp
the best part of the hemp is obtained, and there remains the tow, which when
combed and disengaged from the wood or straw it may still contain forms
what I call the tow of new hemp, and the manufacture of this tow into oakum
is most advantageously effected by my improved process of tarring.
The apparatus employed for the scouring and washing of stuffs and other
textile fabrics and articles is applicable for tarring tow after receiving some
modifications in its arrangement. Thus the trough A, Figure 2, is the same,
and the stove or fire box H, Figures 1, 5, and 6, is the same; but I take
down from the apparatus the beaters D, Figures 1 and 4, and motive
axle E, Figures 1 and 3, which may be removed at will, and which are
of no use for the tarring process. And if the machine were intended to be
employed for the tarring operation only, it should be constructed without the
last-mentioned parts. The above modifications being made in the apparatus,
the fire box is supplied with coke, which is lighted, and I then pour into the
trough about twenty-two pounds crystal of soda, about two pounds three
ounces salt of soda, and about sixteen pounds seven ounces of tar to every
twenty-two gallons of pure water employed. The solution is produced like
that for the scouring operation by heat from the fire box, and when the
solution is heated near to ebullition (videlicet, two hundred and twelve
degrees Fahrenheit), the tow is introduced and becomes saturated with tar;
it is then taken out of the trough, dried in the open air and combed, and
is then ready for use.
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of putting the same into practice, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details of construction of the apparatus
or proportions of the chemical substances, provided the main features of
my Invention be retained; what I claim is,―
First, the submitting new hemp or tow to a bath of tar to produce
oakum of a superior quality, or an article superior to or a substitute for
oakum as now obtained for calking ships and other like vessels, as herein.
before described and represented in the annexed Drawing.

page_text: Secondly, the chemical composition and construction of apparatus and
their employment in combination for forming the bath of tar, as herein-
before described and represented in Figures 2, 5, and 6 of the Drawing.
Thirdly, the arrangement of an apparatus and its application in combination
with the chemical composition to the washing of and removing oily and fatty
matters from linen and other textile fabrics and substances, as herein-before
described and represented in Figures 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, of the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard François Lemière, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
L. F. LEMIERE.