IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING JUTE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, of Lower Mitcham, in the County
of Surrey, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
AND BLEACHING JUTE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR SPINNING AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 21st August 1863, and dated the 8th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
April 1868.
J, THOMAS GRAY, of Lower Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING AND BLEACHING JUTE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR SPINNING AND
OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I first take jute or other vegetable fibre in any quantity, and lay it in cold
water for about one hour to eradicate tho dirt or any extraneous matter about
the material, after which I prepare a bleaching liquor mado from bleaching
powder and warm water. I then take of this liquor a sufficient quantity, accord-
ing to the bulk of material about to be used. Before placing the material
in the bleaching liquor I add a solution of soda ash to the liquor, and mix
them together. After this is done, the material is then placed in the liquor as
above described, and allowed to remain for about an hour. To improve its

page_text: colour to a snow white, I replace the material in fresh bleaching liquor, pre-
pared as before, and allow it to remain about thirty minutes. After this it is
taken out and washed in cold water; the material is then hung up and dried,
when it is fit for use. By the above method a fixed permanent white colour is
quickly produced in the material, which will be of great advantage to spinners,
as the material hitherto would not stand scouring by the use of soap without
losing its whiteness, which process of scouring it always has to go through in
their hands.
What I claim as my Invention in the above process of preparing and bleaching
jute and other vegetable fibres are,-
1st, the employment of cold water to wash the material previously to
bleaching it.
And, 2nd, the mixture of soda ash with the bleaching liquor before the
material is immersed in it.
Hitherto bleachers have always first boiled the material in a solution of
alkali, which injures the material by hardening it and rendering it unfit for
successful bleaching, and they have never known my secret of first mixing soda
ash with the bleaching liquor before immersing the material, which gives it
the permanent white colour so much desired by spinners.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, of Lower Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Gray, Her special licence that I, the said
Thomas Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Gray, my exccutors, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING JUTE AND OTHER VEGETABLE
FIBRES FOR SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Gray, my executors or administrators,
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 mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Gray, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
First of all I take jute or other vegetable fibre in any quantity, and placing it
in cold water allow it to remain for about an hour or a little longer, in order to
eradicate the dirt or any extraneous matter about the material. When this is
done, I prepare a bleaching liquor made from ordinary bleaching powder and
cold water in the following proportions, videlicet, to one pound of material
I use six ounces of bleaching powder in one gallon of water. I then take a
proportionate quantity of the liquor (according to the bulk of material) and
add thereto a solution of soda ash or other alkali and hot water, mixing the
ingredients together. The material about to be bleached is now placed in this
liquor, and allowed to remain there for about an hour or a little longer. In
order to heighten the whiteness of the material, I replace it in a fresh bleaching
liquor, prepared as before described, and leave it for about thirty minutes, or
more as it may require. After this it is taken out, washed in cold water, and
hung up to dry. When dried, my operation is finished.
Hitherto it has always been the custom with bleachers previously to bleach-
ing jute or other vegetable fibre to boil the material in a solution of alkali,
which is injurious by hardening the material and otherwise rendering it unfit
for successful bleaching; besides this, the whiteness of the material bleached
by them not being fixed has always been impaired when scoured with soap
and water by the spinners.
What I claim as my Invention in the above method of preparing and bleach-
ing jute and other vegetable fibres are,-
First, the omission of boiling the material in alkali before bleaching it.
Second, the mixture of soda ash or other alkali with the bleaching liquor
before the material is immersed in it; the material is thus rendered considerably

page_text: stronger than that bleached by the ordinary process, and acquires a per-
manent snow white color.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gray, have heretofore set my
hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS GRAY. (L.S.)