IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CLOTH AND YARN TO BE DIED TURKEY RED, PART OF WHICH
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Schofield, of Baxenden, in the County of
Lancaster, Turkey Red Dyer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING CLOTH AND YARN TO BE DIED TURKEY RED, PART OF WHICH
Sealed the 1st May 1868, and dated the 2nd December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Schofield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1867.
I, WILLIAM SCHOFIELD, of Baxenden, in the County of Lancaster, Turkey
Red Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING CLOTH AND YARN TO BE DYED TURKEY RED, PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BLEACHING YARN," to be as follows:
In preparing cloth for dyeing Turkey red it has been usuäl to pass the cloth
through a cistern containing hot oil and to squeese out the superfluous oil by
rollers, which have hitherto left a large excess of oil in or on the cloth.
Now my improvement consists in restricting or limiting the quantity of oil
supplied to the cloth to the quantity which will ultimately remain on the cloth
when ready for mordanting, or as near as may be, as some will be dissipated
in the stoves or otherwise lost. The cloth before being oiled is padded or
impregnated with a solution of glycerine or glycerine and caustic or car-
binated potásh or soda, and then dried on the steam cylinders. The limited or

page_text: padded in the fol-
restricted dose of oil may be given by any suitable contrivance. Rollers for
padding or smearing the oil on the cloth may be engraved or stippled with a
pin or other suitable ground all over the surface, as in engraving the grounds
of copper rollers for calico printing; the lower portion of the engraved roller
revolves in hot oil contained in a trough, and the surplus oil is removed from
the rollers by a doctor plate, as in calico printing. Each engraved roller should
revolve in contact with an ordinary plain roller covered with cloth or other
yielding material, and there should be at least one engraved roller supplying
oil to each surface of the cloth, which should pass between each pair of one
engraved and one plain covered roller; or the cloth may be oiled by passing
through one or more pairs of plain covered rollers supplied with oil by means
of a revolving brush which takes it supply from a revolving scroll or worm
the lower portion of which dips into a trough of hot oil. The cloth is then
dried in the stove as usual or on the steam cylinders and
lowing manner: It is usual in padding oiled cloth to make it pass through
an emulsion of oil and alkali and to carry a large quantity of the emulsion to
the squeezing rollers, by which means the excess of oil originally introduced
into the cloth is removed at several operations of the process with a stoving
between each operation. Now my improved mode is to supply a solution of
pearl ash or of soda crystals to the limited oiled cloth by a revolving damping
brush as it passes to the squeezing rollers, the quantity of such liquid being
also restricted to that quantity which the cloth will take with it through the
rollers without the projection of any surplus liquid, which surplus in the
ordinary way causes a cataract of liquor to fall from the rollers back into the
reservoir containing the emulsion. This limited supply of alkaline liquor must
be sufficient to cause the limited quantity of oil on the cloth to undergo,
when it is stoved, the change effected by the ordinary method of padding and
stoving, and the alternate stovings and paddings must be repeated as often as
may be found necessary. By this improved method the oil not being in excess
is more completely exposed to the influence of the heat, air, and moisture of
the stove, and sooner and more perfectly converted into the state required to
be produced for the after processes. It is essential that the cloth both in the
oiling and the paddings should pass through the squeezing rollers perfectly
flat and free from scrimps or folds. In the ordinary method of oiling and
padding the emulsions increase rapidly in quantity in proportion to the excess
of oil in the cloth, and the oil is usually recovered from them by the addition
of acid, as is well known; whereas by this improved method, there being no
excess of emulsion, the cost and labour of recovering the oil are avoided.
cleaning the cloth, as necessarily practised in all cases after the completion of
In

page_text: the paddings and stovings, some white liquor will be obtained which should be
used as padding liquor mixed with the pearl ash or soda crystal solution.
In the ordinary method of preparing yarn for Turkey red dyeing the oil is
made into an emulsion with alkali and sheep's dung, and the yarn in the
ordinary hank is padded, each hank individually, in this mixture. Now my
improved mode consists in passing the yarn through hot oil, as is practised
with cloth, the hanks having first been divided into portions of about two ounces
each tied together with strings or other suitable connections so as to form one
continuous chain or rope; and some of the excess of oil is removed by suitable
squeezing rollers covered by preference with rings of the linoleum compound
patented by Frederick Walton on the 27th January 1860, No. 209, placed
side by side on the rollers, the oiled yarn passing through in the form of a
continuous rope or chain, and the remaining excess of oil being removed by
the usual paddings, and stovings, as in preparing cloth by the usual process;
or the rope or chain of yarn so formed may be prepared in emulsions only
without sheep's dung with the usual stovings and without the preliminary
oiling. When the yarn is to be oiled it may receive previously a padding in
glycerine and water or glycerine and solution of alkali, as prescribed for cloth.
Yarn padded in oil or in emulsions only can be prepared entirely, without any
necessity for exposure out of doors as is required by the ordinary mode of
preparing yarn in the hank, with emulsions and sheep's dung. All the after
stages of mordanting, washing, dyeing, and clearing may be operated in this
form of rope or chain. In stoving this rope or chain may be suspended on the
rails or on pegs or poles as is commonly practised with cloth, the positions of
the strings being changed two or three times during the course of preparations
if found requisite. The yarn by this method of continuous rope or chains may
be washed in the ordinary washing machine, and bleached, bowked, or bucked
in the ordinary kier, as commonly practised with cloth. If found desirable
at any stage of the process, as in dyeing, the chain or rope can be temporarily
reformed into banks, which may again forthwith be changed into the rope or
chain. Cotton warps may also be prepared for dyeing Turkey red by being first
passed through a solution of glycerine, as above described, and then through
hot oil, and afterwards finished in the ordinary manner; or they may be
pared by emulsions alone with the usual stovings. The warps so prepared
may be dyed over a reel revolving alternately in contrary directions, or in any
other suitable manner.
pre-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Schofield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SCHOFIELD, of Baxenden, in the County of Lancaster, Turkey Red Dyer, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Schofield; Her special license that I, the said William
Schofield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Schofield, my executors, administrators, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING CLOTH AND YARN TO BE DYED TURKEY RED, PART OF WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO BLEACHING YARN," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Schofield, my executors or adminis
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 William Schofield, do hereby declare.
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be.
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
In preparing cloth for dyeing Turkey red it has been usual to pass the cloth
through a cistern containing hot oil and to squeeze out the superfluous oil by
rollers, which have hitherto left a large excess of oil in. or on the cloth. Now.
my improvement consists in restricting or limiting the quantity of oil supplied
to the cloth to the quantity which will ultimately remain on the cloth when
ready for mordanting, or as near as may be, as some will be dissipated in the
stoves or otherwise lost. The cloth before being oiled is padded or impreg-
nated with an emulsion, as herein-after described in reference to the yarn
process, or with a solution of glycerine and carbonated potash or soda commonly

page_text: called pearl ash, and soda crystals, say, in the proportion of about eight ounces
of glycerine and four ounces of carbonated potash or soda to one gallon of water,
and then dried on steam cylinders. The limited or restricted dose of oil may
be given by any suitable contrivance. Rollers for padding or smearing the oil
on the cloth may be engraved or stippled with a pin or other suitable ground
all over the surface, as in engraving the grounds of copper rollers for calico
printing; the lower portion of the engraved roller revolves in hot oil contained
in a trough, and the surplus oil is removed from the rollers by a doctor plate,
as in calico printing. Each engraved roller should revolve in contact with an
ordinary plain roller covered with cloth or other yielding material, and there
should be at least one engraved roller supplying oil to each surface of the
cloth, which should pass between each pair of one engraved and one plain
covered roller. The cloth is then dried in the stove as usual or on the steam
cylinders, and padded in the following manner :-It is usual in paddling oiled
cloth to make it pass through an emulsion of oil and alkali and to carry a
large quantity of the emulsion to the squeezing rollers, by which means the
excess of oil originally introduced into the cloth is removed at several operations
of the process, with a stoving between each operation. Now my improved
mode is to supply a solution of pearl ash or of carbonate of soda crystals to
the limited oiled cloth by a revolving damping brush as it passes to the
squeezing rollers, the quantity of such liquid being restricted as near as
practicable to that quantity which the cloth will take with it through the
rollers without the projection of any surplus liquid; this limited supply of
alkaline liquor must be sufficient to cause the limited quantity of oil on the
cloth to undergo when it is stoved the change effected by the ordinary method
of padding and stoving, and the alternate stovings and paddings must be
repeated as often as may be found necessary. By this improved method the
oil not being in great excess is more completely exposed to the influence of
the heat, air, and moisture of the stove, and sooner and more perfectly.converted
It is essential
into the state required to be produced for the after processes.
that the cloth both in the oiling and the paddings should pass through the
squeezing and other rollers perfectly flat and free from scrimps or folds.
In preparing yarn to be dyed Turkey red the hanks are divided into portions
of about two ounces each, and formed into a continuous chain by connecting
strings or bands of cotton, hemp, or other suitable material, and, of such a
length as to allow a distance between each link of the chain of about four or
six inches. By an occasional removal of the strings or bands the links will do
four ounces each or more. No removal is required. with two-ounce links.
This continuous chain is then washed through any ordinary cloth washing

page_text: machine in the same way as cloth is washed, and run forward straight into the
boiler or kier to be boiled, bowked, or bucked, in the same manner as cloth,
with soda ash or weak solution of caustic soda, or with the emulsions hereafter
to be described arising in working the after stages of this process for five or
six hours; it is then drawn out of the boiler or kier through the cloth washing
machine, and soured in the same way as cloth is when being bleached, and
again washed through a cloth washing machine from the sours, or the souring
may be omitted altogether. I then prefer to saturate the yarn with some of
the emulsion arising from the working of this Patent by passing it through a
padding trough containing the emulsion. This padding trough is shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, in which the dotted line a represents the chain
formed by the links of yarn passing under and over the top and bottom
rollers b, b, and then through a pair of squeezing elastic rollers. c, c, using by
preference those rollers patented by John Smith and William Schofield on the
Twenty-second day of July, One thousand eight hundred and. sixty-seven,
Number 2174, so as to squeeze as much emulsion out of the yarn as possible.
The yarn is then formed into bundles by the plaiting-down apparatus d, d, and
carried into and hung on rails in the stove where it is perfectly dried, the
stove being heated to about one hundred and sixty degrees Fabrenheit. The
number of plaiting-down apparatus to each pair of squeezers may be increased
and any convenient number of chains of yarn may be passed through the
machine, side by side, at the same time, according to the width of the padding
box, squeezing rollers, and plaiting apparatus; or if the yarn be hard twisted
with snarls in it the drying may be done on drying cylinders, which will cause
all the snarls to disappear and the yarn to be perfectly straight. By forming
the yarn into chains as above described it may be hung on rails at the top of
'the stove and reach down to near the bottom, thus economizing space.
I then pass the yarn through oil heated to one hundred and ninety degrees
Fahrenheit and squeeze out as much of the oil as possible by a pair of wooden
bowls lapped round by many folds of linen, hempen, or cotton cloth, to the
thickness of about half an inch, so as to give a certain degree of elasticity. The
pressure put on the rollers must only just stop short of injuring the yarn, when
it will be found that the yarn retains about its own weight of oil. Too great
speed of the bowls must be avoided. It may then lie in small heaps for three
or four days, or it may be taken at once into the stove and dried or heated to
one hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit for one hour after attaining that
temperature, as ascertained in the usual way by thermometers hung in the
stove. It is then taken out of the stove and passed through a padding machine
with top and bottom rollers, the bottom rollers- only being immersed in the

page_text: liquor, and immediately forward through the elastic squeezing rollers, as before
described. The liquor in the box of this machine is the emulsion which arises
in the working of the yarn by this improved process, and it must be kept up
to about a constant level during working by running in a constant stream of a
solution of carbonate of soda, soda crystals, or pearl ash at four degrees of
Twaddle's hydrometer at the exit end of the box; and I prefer to make one
thousand pounds of yarn retain twenty-seven gallons of this liquor in the first
padding, and after passing through the squeezing rollers the liquor or emulsion
expressed from the yarn runs back into the padding box and mingles with the
rest. The chain of yarn is then immediately or after a few hours stoved at
one hundred and sixty degrees, as before, and then padded the second time
precisely as the first, and immediately stoved again as before. A third
padding and a stoving are then given exactly as the first two. For these three
paddings I prefer to pass the chain of yarn under only one or two bottom
rollers in the padding trough. It is then padded the fourth time, allowing
about fifty-four gallons of the alkaline liquor at four degrees Twaddle to
remain in the yarn after squeezing instead of only twenty-seven gallons, as in
the previous paddings, and again immediately stoved at one hundred and sixty
degrees; it is then padded for the fifth time precisely as the last previous
time, and again immediately stoved at one hundred and sixty degrees; it is
then padded the sixth time, using eighty-one gallons of the sanie alkaline
liquor, and again stoved at one hundred and sixty degrees. A seventh
padding exactly the same as the sixth is then given, and it is again stoved at
one hundred and sixty degrees. For these paddings and the following steeping
of the one thousand pounds of yarn two hundred and thirty-three pounds of
soda crystals or three hundred and seventy-three gallons of alkaline liquor at
four degrees Twaddle are required. The quantity of combined alkaline liquor
and emulsion remaining in the yarn after squeezing can be regulated by the
degree of pressure on the squeezing rollers. No exposure to sunlight or air
is necessary by this system. The yarn is then plaited down in a steeping box;
and just covered with an alkaline solution at one hundred and ten degrees
Fahrenheit, containing seventeen pounds of carbonate of soda or soda crystals,
for about four or six hours (according to the weight required per bundle of
yarn when finished), and then passed through the squeezing rollers and dried
at one hundred and sixty degrees in the stove; it is then steeped in water at
one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit for about six hours, washed out of
this in its own water or through the cloth washing machine in cold water,
squeezed, and dried in the stove at one hundred and sixty degrees; it is then,
while still in the chain form, passed through the padding-box, now containing

page_text: an infusion of sumac, galls, or other astringent of the strength ordinarily
employed (the emulsion having been previously removed) at one hundred and
thirty degrees, and then passed through the squeezing rollers and plaited
down into a steeping box, into which sumac or other astringent liquor of the
ordinary strength is running at the same time at one hundred and sixty
degrees Fahrenheit, in which it is allowed to steep six hours; it is then
passed through the squeezing rollers and plaited down into a steeping box
into which is run at the same time the alum mordant at one hundred and ten
degrees Fahrenheit of the same strength and composition as ordinarily
employed for mordanting yarn for dyeing Turkey red, and allowed to steep six
hours; it is then well washed through the cloth washing machine ready for
dyeing, which cannot conveniently be done in the chain form as all the
previous stages have been, but may be done by any ordinary method by loosing
a string or band at those links necessary for dividing the chain into convenient
portions for dyeing, say, of five pounds each, which portions may now be formed
into a hank or banks, the remaining strings or bands being adjusted so as to
allow of the swelling out of the yarn into greater bulk (as is always the case
in dyeing) without restriction and with perfect freedom, as the least tightness
of the strings or bands would prevent the yarn from dyeing up at such places.
The moment the dyeing is completed the portions of the chain can be again
reunited at each extremity, so as to resume the chain form, in which form it
must now be washed through the cloth washing machine, and run into the
clearing boiler. The yarn by this mode of preparation requires and will stand
a heavier clear than yarn prepared in the ordinary manner... The yarn must
be again washed through the cloth washing machine into a clearing boiler for
the second clear, which must also be adjusted according to the shade required;
it is then finally washed through the cloth washing machine and hung in cool
drying sheds, after which the strings or bands are removed and kept for future
use. The yarn is then finished in the ordinary way. I wish to state that in
various stages of working the yarn by this process it is most convenient to carry
the yarn from place to place in bundles tied in a wrapping sheet containing as
much as a labourer can carry about. This may be effected by loosing the
strings or bands connecting the links of yarn at such places as required, and
continuity can be again restored at any point or place where required.
I prefer to work upon the foregoing method in its entirety, but the yarn may
be prepared entirely in emulsions which arise in the working of this system of
the bath of oil, with or without sheep's dung, and also without exposure to
sunlight or air, as is required by the ordinary method. The preparation of
yarn by emulsions being well understood does not require to be particularly
.

page_text: described, except that the yarn being in the chain form the apparatus above
described must be used, and that these emulsions should not be diluted with
water, and that it is preferred to use them when they are of such a strength
that they assume the consistency of jelly after standing a day or two in a cold
place. This system of preparing yarn in the form of rope or chain may also
be used in conjunction with the emulsion formed of oil, alkali, and sheep's
dung, as ordinarily mixed and compounded when preparing the yarn in the
hank in the ordinary way, and will. then require to be exposed to the sunlight
and air as it would have done if worked in the ordinary hank form as now
practised. In working yarn by the method of the bath of oil emulsions and
oily liquors will accumulate to excess, and the oil must be recovered from them
by the addition of acid, as is well known, the oil so recovered being well
adapted for use again by this system, whether by itself or mixed with new oil.
If found desirable at any stage of the process, and particularly when applying
the sumac or other astringent and the mordant, the chain or rope can be
temporarily reformed into hanks, which may again forthwith be changed into
a rope. or chain. Cotton warps may also be prepared for dyeing Turkey. red
by being first passed through an emulsion, as above described, and then through
hot oil, and afterwards finished in the same manner as the rope or chain of
yarn just described; or they may be prepared by either of the before described
emulsions alone, with the usual stovings, the emulsions for this purpose being.
by preference those which are produced in the method of working here
described of first oiling the yarn and afterwards taking off the excess of oil by
alkaline solutions and stovings. The warps so prepared may be dyed over a
reel revolving, alternately, in contrary directions or in any other suitable
manner. Hard twisted yarn made from Surat cotton prepared by this process
of the oil bath with a previous padding in emulsion, squeezing, and stoving or
drying, will be as free from white specks and of as good.a colour as yarn from
superior cotton when prepared and dyed on the old system. The prevention
of white specks will be more certainly effected by boiling the Surat yarn in
the emulsion instead of padding, as above described.
When my improvements are applied to bleaching linen, cotton, or other
yarn the chain of links can be treated in the same manner and pass in
succession to the various processes and operations as piece goods, thereby
effecting a very great saving in time and labour, as the chain of links can be
carried forward through the various chemical solutions or simple washings
and squeezings by the ordinary reels, winces, rollers, and squeezers, and hung
in the stoves for drying, or spread on the grass, if required, with the same
facility as picce goods.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the mode of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that although the details
given have been found by experiments to give good results I do not intend to
limit myself to the exact proportions or strengths of the ingredients, nor to
the temperatures, nor to the number of times of repeating the operations, as
the same may be varied or modified without departing from the peculiar
character of my Invention; but what I claim is,-
First. In preparing cloth to be dyed Turkey red, restricting or limiting the
quantity of oil with which it is saturated to that required for the subsequent
process of mordanting, or as little in excess thereof as practicable.
Secondly. In washing or bleaching yarn, and in preparing yarn to be dyed,
ánd in finishing or clearing after dyeing, dividing the hanks into portions and
connecting these portions by strings or bands, so as to form the hanks into a
continuous chain, whereby yarn may be manipulated with the same facility as
piece goods and a great economy of space in the stove effected.
Thirdly. In preparing yarn to be dyed Turkey red passing the chain of
yarn through an oil bath or working it in the emulsions arising from that mode
of preparation, whereby the subsequent processes can be performed without
the necessity of exposing the yarn to sunlight and air.
And, lastly. Preparing and dyeing warps of cotton Turkey red as
described.
In mitness whereof I the soid William Schofield have hereto set my