AN IMPROVE- MENT IN CLEANBING WOOL AND WOOLLEN WASTE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Cliff, of Wortley, near Leeds, in the County
of York, Firo Brick Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN CLEANBING WOOL AND WOOLLEN WASTE."
Sealed the 19th June 1860, and dated the 29th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Cliff at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th December 1859.
I, JOSEPH CLIFF, of Wortley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Fire Brick.
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN CLEANSING WOOL AND WOOLLEN WASTE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to cleanse wool and woollen waste (previous:
to manufacture) from burrs, noils, seeds, and all other vegetable matter or dirt..
To effect this object and carry out this Invention, I take the wool or woollen
waste, and submit it to the action of a solution of sulphuric, muriatic, or
or nitric
acid, of such strength and degree of temperature and for such time as the
condition of the wool or woollen waste to be operated upon may require. I
then take the wool or woollen waste after being acted upon by the solution,
and pass it between rollers or otherwise press out the solution, and I then wash
and dry it. By these means all the vegetable matter is decomposed and turned
to dust, and the dirt loosened from the wool or woollen waste. The dust or
dirt can then be easily shaken out, and the wool or woollen waste made fit for
manufacture.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Cliff in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
CLIFF, of Wortley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Fire Brick Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Cliff, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Cliff,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Cliff, 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 yend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
CLEANSING WOOL AND WOOLLEN WASTE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph Cliff, by an instrument in writing under my hand.
and seal, 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 Joseph Cliff,. 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):-
The object of this Invention is to cleanse wool and woollen waste previous
to its being used for manufacturing purposes.
It is well known that a great portion of the wool sold in the country
is much deteriorated in value from having burrs, moits, seeds, and other
vegetable matters mixed up and closely entangled amongst it, and which
matters cannot be effectually separated from the wool by any of the methods
now in use, and not even partially so without a great loss or waste of the
wool itself:
Now one object of this Invention is to cleanse such wool previous to inanu-
facture from all such burrs, moits, seeds, and other vegetable matters and dirt:
whatever, without injuring the wool itself; and another object of this Invention

page_text: is to cleanse woollen waste, which has not been previously manufactured, from
burrs, moits, seeds, and all other vegetable matter and dirt.
I effect these objects by chemical means, and to carry out this Invention I
submit the wool or woollen waste to a solution of sulphuric, muriatic, or nitric
acid. The acid solution must be of such strength and degree of temperature:
and used for such length of time as the condition of the wool or woollen waste
to be operated upon may require, and as the condition of wool varies greatly:
as to quantity of burrs, moits, seeds, and other vegetable matter it contains,
the proper strength or specific gravity of the acid solution to be used for any
particular sample can only be determined by operating upon a small quantity
before operating upon the bulk. As an example, however, I may say that for
an average sample of burry or moitty wool, I have found that a cold solution of
sulphuric acid and water of the specific gravity of forty degrees (Twaddle's.
hydrometer) will answer the purpose well. For the woollen waste I have
found that a hot or even boiling solution of sulphuric acid and water of a weak:
specific gravity (say, from two to ten degrees Twaddle's hydrometer) answers
the purpose well for average samples. It will be evident, however, as before
pointed out, that the strength and temperature of the acid solution, and the
length of time the wool or woollen waste must be submitted to the action of
the same, must be determined by the condition. as to quantity of vegetable.
matters contained in the wool or woollen waste to be operated upon. The
wool to be operated upon will require to be submitted to the action of the cold
acid solution, of the strength or specific gravity before named, for twenty-four
hours, and during that time must be fully covered over with and immersed in
the solution, and the woollen waste to be operated upon will require to be in
the hot or boiling solution of the strength before named for a short period,
varying from five to twenty minutes. The wool or woollen waste after it has
been treated in the manner above described, must then be taken out of the
solution and passed between rollers, or submitted in some other way to
mechanical pressure, in order to press out the acid solution from it. The wool
or woollen waste must then be well washed in clean water, in order to remove
any acid that may yet remain, and after that it must be well dried.
By using these means, it will be found when the wool or woollen waste is
well and perfectly dried, that all the vegetable matter that was mixed with it,
(such as burrs, moits, seeds, and other extraneous vegetable matters) will have
been entirely decomposed or destroyed, and put into such a condition as by
beating or shaking the wool to be readily reduced to dust, and any dirt that
may have adhered to the wool or woollen waste will have become loosened,
and both the vegetable matter and dirt can then be easily shaken or beaten

page_text: out by any of the well-known mechanical contrivances suitable for this purpose,
and it will then be found that the wool or woollen waste is clean and free from
vegetable matters and dirt, and fit to be used for manufacturing purposes.
Having now described my Invention of an improvement in cleansing wool
and woollen waste, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish to say that, for the reasons before stated, I do not confine myself
to the degree of strength or temperature of the said acid solutions specified
above, or to the particular length of time named for the wool or woollen waste
to be submitted to the actions of such solutions, or to the use of sulphuric acid
alone (as muriatic or other acids will answer the purpose); and that I claim
as my Invention, the mode herein set forth of treating wool and woollen wasto
previous to manufacture with a solution of sulphuric, muriatic, or nitric acid,
for the purpose of cleansing the same from vegetable matters or dirt which
I may adhere thereto, or have from any cause become entangled or intermingled
therewith.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Cliff, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty. .
Signed, sealed and delivered by the said
Joseph Cliff, in the presence of
JA. W. HAMILTON RICHARDSON, Solicitor,
Leeds.
JOS". CLIFF. (L.S.)