IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MADDER FOR PRINTING AND DYEING, AND ALSO IN THE SUBSTANCES AND PROCESSES USED IN PRINTING AND DYEING WITH THE SAME
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wright, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington
Causeway, Southwark, County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MADDER FOR PRINTING AND DYEING, AND ALSO
IN THE SUBSTANCES AND PROCESSES USED IN PRINTING AND DYEING WITH THE
SAME." A communication.
Sealed the 5th November 1858, and dated the 6th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th May 1858.
I, JAMES WRIGHT, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington Causeway, Southwark,
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MADDER FOR PRINTING AND DYING,
AND ALSO IN THE SUBSTANCES AND PROCESSES USED IN PRINTING AND DYING WITH
THE SAME," "a communication," to be as follows, and consists,
First, in subjecting madder mixed with water or bran water to pressure,
and afterwards treating the jelly or liquor which is formed from this with any
dilute acid or neutral salt. I then wash thoroughly the resulting coloring
matter, drain and press it, when reduced to a proper consistency this is
ready for use to dye or print with.
Second, the refuse madder left from the last operation I treat in a similar
manner, using, however, less liquid to dissolve the coloring matter.

page_text: Third, I treat the refuse madder still further with water in larger quantities
until the liquor comes off nearly colorless, I then precipitate the coloring
matter from this latter by means of sulphuric acid or any other precipitant,
wash well the precipitate and mix with the products from the first and
second processes, add gum or mucilage in the usual manner, and reduce it
to the proper consistency for printing and dying.
In order to obtain a darker shade of red, I mix the product from the first
process with that from the third, and convert them by the usual method into
garancine, and reduce to a proper consistancy by adding the product from the
second-described process. I propose also to form garancine from any of these
products or from any precipitate or extract of madder, and after adding a slight
excess of an alkali or an alkaline carbonate, and incorporating it with gum or
mucilage, reduce it to a proper consistancy for use. The woven fabrics or
other materials are prepared in the ordinary manner with the usual mordants,
and in like manner operated upon, except in the process of printing, where I
print with the madder color. When cowdung is employed, before using it I
mix it with water and filter through charcoal, so as to get rid of the obnoxious
coloring matter in it. When bran is made use of, I propose to separate
thoroughly the floury or starchy particles from the rind by steeping the bran in
water, and then washing out all the flour, which will gradually deposit itself in
the water, the rind or the supernatent water may then be used in the
ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WRIGHT, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington, Southwark, County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Wright, Her special licence that I, the said James
Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MADDER FOR PRINTING AND DYING, AND ALSO IN THE
SUBSTANCES AND PROCESSES USED IN PRINTING AND DYING WITH THE SAME," "a
communication," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Wright, 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 months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Wright, 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:-
I take madder in the ordinary raw state, and mix it with water or bran
water in the proportion of about one in weight of madder to five in weight of
water, after allowing it to steep for a little time I put the mass into a coarse
calico bag, and subject it to pressure in an ordinary press, receiving the
expressed liquor into a vessel, which after standing for some time forms a jelly
and afterwards seperates into a solid and a liquid form. I then wash thoroughly
the resulting colouring matter with clean water and strain it off, this upon being
reduced to a proper consistency with gum or mucilage in the usual manner is
ready to dye or print with.
Instead of treating the jelly in the last described manner with cold water, it
may be treated with dilute sulphuric acid or any vegetable substance con-
taining an acid, or even with common salt. Afterwards it must be thoroughly
washed so as to remove all trace of the acid, then strained and pressed so as to
get rid of the water; upon being reduced to the proper consistency as before,
it is ready to dye
or print with. Or the water may be all evaporated and a
dry powder formed.
I then take the refuse madder left from the last operation and treat it in a
similar manner, that is, obtaining a jelly extract, using, however, less water
than in the previous operation.
Finally, I mix the refuse madder remaining after these two operations with
warm water, and after allowing it to stand for a short while I boil it; a pre-
cipitate is formed, which after runing off the clear supernatent water, I treat
with caustic potash, then wash well and strain. I precipitate the colouring

page_text: matter from the mass of water by means of sulphuric acid, after boiling, and
care should be taken to wash out of the precipitate evey trace of the acid;
and it may be advisable in some cases to neutralize it by means of an alkali.
The residium or precipitate thus obtained may be added to the products of
colouring matter obtained from the first or second described operations.
Instead of treating the refuse madder in the way described, it may be con-
verted into garancine in the usual manner.
Again, when I wish to obtain a crimson or darker shade of red color, I
take the product resulting from either of the two first-mentioned operations,
and convert it into garancine in the usual manner.
Furthermore, I propose to form garancine of any precipitate or extract of
madder, either using them seperately or with the garancined results last
described.
Also, I propose to treat the refuse or spent madder so as to extract nearly
every trace of coloring matter from it, in the following manner :-I prepare a
vessel which is divided into three compartments, one, say, above the other, the
bottom of the upper is perforated or of a sieve form, so as to communicate with
the middle compartment, which is isolated from the bottom one; a tube,
having its open mouth inserted in the bottom compartment, passes through the
middle one, and into the upper; that portion of the tube passing through the
upper compartment is perferotated. Water being introduced into the bottom
compartment and fire applied to it, the steam passes up the pipe and acts upon
the refuse or spent madder, producing an extract, which falling through the
perforated bottom into the middle compartment, may be drawn off by means
of a stop-cock; the operation may be continued as long as any coloring
matter remains.
The woven fabrics are prepared in the usual manner, and the usual
mordants applied, except in printing, where I print directly or topically on the
cloth with any of the above described colors, that is, madder extracts.
When cowdung is employed, before using it I mix it with water, and
then filter it through charcoal, so as to get rid of the obnoxious colouring
matter.
Having now described my Invention, and the mode of carrying it into effect
and applying the products resulting from it, I wish it understood that what
I claim and wish secured by the before in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First, the production of an extract of madder by means of the process first
described, that is to say, by subjecting the raw madder mixed with water to
the action of a press, and obtaining the substance described as a jelly, from
which the extract is obtained.

page_text: Second, the various described modes of treating the said jelly, in order to
obtain the extract in a shape for printing and dying with.
Third, the various described modes of treating the refuse or spent madder,
in order to extract the colouring matter.
Fourth, the conversion of any of the said extracts obtained by my described
processes into garancine.
Fifth, the conversion of any of the precipitates of colouring matter obtained
by any of the described methods into garancine.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JAMES WRIGHT. (L.S.)