IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CLOTH FOR TURKEY RED DYEING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Clark, of Alexandria, in the County of
Dumbarton, Calico Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF CLOTH FOR TURKEY RED DYEING."
Sealed the 15th September 1857, and dated the 3rd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd July 1857.
J, MATTHEW CLARK, of Alexandria, in the County of Dumbarton, Calico
Printer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CLOTH FOR TURKEY RED DYEING," to be as
follows:-
In the preparation of cloth for Turkey red dyeing the cloth has to be dried
several times, and at present that drying is performed by introducing air
heated by means of stoves, furnaces, or flues into chambers in which the
cloth is hung or through which it is moved. This method is objectionable
from the risk of overheating the chambers or cloth and so causing fires, and
also from the expenditure of fuel and time which it requires. I propose to
dry the cloth by passing it near to the outer surfaces of chests, tubes, or other
passages containing steam, in which process the risk of overheating and the
expenditure of fuel and time will be less than in the present process. When
it is desired to dilute and rapidly carry away the vapours disengaged from
the cloth by the action of the heat, I propose to effect that object by pro-
T

page_text: ducing, by means of any convenient blowing or ventilating apparatus, a blast
or current of air between the surfaces of the steam passages and of the
cloth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
CLARK, of Alexandria, in the County of Dumbarton, Calico Printer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Matthew Clark, Her special license that I, the said Matthew Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho said Matthew
Clark, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION
OF CLOTH FOR TURKEY RED DYEING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Matthew Clark, by an instrument in writing under my band and seal,
should particularly describo and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and cause the same to bo
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 Matthew Clark, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawing bereto annexed, that is
to say:-
In the preparation of cloth for Turkey red dyeing the cloth has to be dried
several times, and in the ordinary process that drying is performed by intro-
ducing air heated by means of stoves, furnaces, or flues, into chambers in
which the cloth. is hung or through which it is moved. This method is
objectionable from the risk of overheating the chambers or cloth, and so

page_text: causing fires, and also from the expenditure of fuel, time, and labor which it
requires. I dry the cloth by passing it near to the outer surfaces of chests,
tubes, or other passages containing steam, in which process the risk of over-
heating and the expenditure of fuel, time, and labor are less than in the
ordinary process.
When it is desired to dilute and rapidly carry away the
vapours disengaged from the cloth by the action of the hent, I effect that
object by producing, by means of any convenient blowing or ventilating appa-
ratus, a blast or current of air between the surfaces of the steam passages and
of the cloth.
So long as the principles of my Invention above described are adhered to;
the details of the apparatus may be varied at the discretion of the user or
constructor. The Drawing hereto annexed, and now to be described, repre-
sents one mode of constructing the apparatus for carrying my Invention into
effect.
Figure 1 is a side view of the apparatus, shewn partly in elevation and
partly in section; Figure 2 is a transverse section; Figure 3 is a plan of one
of the steam chests or passages, shewing its details; Figure 4 is a side view
of part of the main steam pipe for supplying steam to the steam chests or
passages; Figure 5 is a side view of one of the waste pipes for discharging
air, water, and uncondensed steam from the steam chests or passages;
Figure 6 is a plan of a pair of ventilating passages for supplying or dis-
charging the blast or current of air before mentioned; Figure 7 is a plan of a
form of junction between two steam chests.
In the different Figures similar or identical parts of the apparatus aro
marked with the same letter of reference, and whenever a letter of reference
is mentioned in this description, it is to be understood that every part of the
Drawing marked with the same letter is referred to, unless the description
should specifically state otherwise.
A, in Figures 1 and 2, is part of the interior of a building in which the
operation of drying is carried on; B, in Figures 1 and 2, are pillars for sup-
porting my apparatus; C, in Figures 1 and 2, is a space enclosed by an air-
tight or nearly air-tight casing, within which the cloth is passed near to the
outer surfaces of steam chests. In Figure 1, the casing at one side of this
space is omitted in order to shew the internal arrangements; in Figure 2, the
space is shown in transverse section. The line in Figure 1, which commences
at D, and follows a serpentine or winding course, passing alternately from end
to end of the casing and terminates at E, represents the course of the piece
or pieces of cloth through the casing. The openings by which cloth enters
and leaves the casing are very narrow slits, so as to prevent the escape of any.

page_text: material quantity of air at such openings. One piece of cloth may pass
through alone, or two or more pieces may pass along side by side, according
to the breadth of the cloth and the width of the apparatus. The width of the
apparatus shewn in the Drawing is suited either for three pieces of twenty-six
inches broad, two pieces of thirty-six inches broad, or one piece of sixty,
seventy, or eighty inches broad, F, in Figure 1, are rollers, driven in the
ordinary manner by wheelwork, for propelling and supporting the cloth and
changing its direction of motion at each end of the casing.
This may
be done at the discretion of the constructor and user of the apparatus,
either by pairs of nipping rollers or by winches. The Drawing represents
a pair of nipping rollers at each turn of the cloth, except at the lower
right-hand corner of the apparatus, where a winch is shewn, G, in Figure 1,
are small rollers for supporting the cloth and preventing it from touching
the steam chests; II is a pair of nipping rollers, driven in the usual manner
by wheelwork, for delivering the cloth out of the apparatus. K, in Figures
1, 2, 3, 5, and 7, aro flat oblong steam chests, which are supported in
horizontal layers, so as to divide the space C into a number of parallel
horizontal passages, through and along which the cloth passes successively
in its course from D to E. L, in Figures 1 and 2, and L and M, in
Figure 3, are pipes or nozzles, by which the steam chests in each hori-
zontal layer communicate with each other. Each layer of steam chests
is thus made to form a pair of horizontal zig-zag passages for steam com-
mencing at the middle of the layor where it is supplied with steam, and
terminating at its ends, where it discharges the water produced by the con-
densation of the steam, the uncondensed steam, and also the air which may
have been lodged in the steam chests. In Figure 3, whigh is a plan of a
single steam chest, K is the chest ; L and M its nozzles; N, a pair of flanges,
which by being half lapped on the corresponding flanges of the adjoining steam
chests, serve to prevent the passage of (of) air between them, and to form
each layer of steain chests into one horizontal partition between two horizontal
passages for the cloth; and O are a pair of flanges, by which the chest may
be supported on horizontal rails, projecting from the pillars B of Figures 1
and 2. P, in Figure 1, is the main steam pipe, by which steam is brought
from a boiler and supplied to each layer of steam chests at the middle of its
length. The dotted circles in Figure 1 shew the positions of the branches by
which steam is delivered from the main pipe into the layers of steam chests.
At the top of the main steam pipe in Figure 1, thero is shewn a regulating
cock or valve, to control or stop the supply of steam when required; and at
the bottom is shewn a waste cock for discharging water. Figure 4 shews

page_text: part of the main steam pipe P, with its branches Q, for supplying the layer
of steam chests. In Figure 5, R represents a waste pipe for the discharge of
water, air, and uncondensed steam from the layers of steam chests marked K;
S are branches of the pipe R connected with the nozzles projecting from the
chests. The waste pipes, of which one is represented in Figure 5, are not
shewn in Figure 1, being at the further side of the apparatus, but one is
required at each of the extreme ends of the layers of steam chests. I cause
the blast or current of air before mentioned to enter the apparatus both above
and below and at each side of the cloth, at the place marked U in Figure 1,
near the place where the cloth is delivered. That current of air passes along
both sides of the cloth, in the direction opposite to the motion of the cloth
along the serpentine series of passages into which the space C is divided, and
finally escapes from that space at a place marked V in Figure 1, near to the
place where the cloth enters the apparatus. Figure 6 is a plan, representing
the form of a pair of air pipes communicating with the two sides of the casing
of the space C. That pair of air pipes can be placed either at U or at V in
Figure 1; at U if the blast of air is to be forced into the apparatus, at V if it
is to be drawn out; or similar pairs of air pipes may be placed at both thoso
points. The blast can be produced in any ordinary manner, either by a fan or
other blowing machine, or by the draught of a chimney. In Figure 2 a set
of pairs of level wheels for communicating motion from a vertical shaft to the
rollers or winches before mentioned are marked W. There are two such
vertical shafts with their sets of level wheels, one at each end of the appa-
ratus; but to avoid confusion they are not shewn in the other Figures, being
ordinary details of mechanism. The space C is furnished at cach of its sides
with air-tight doors or openings, for examining the state of the cloth and
repairing accidents, one door for every two or three yards of each horizontal
passage, or thereabouts.
The Figures from 1 to 6 inclusive, which have now been described, repre-
sent one form of my apparatus, but the details and dimensions, and numbers of
parts may be varied without departing from the principle of my Invention.
For example, for each layer of oblong flat steam chests may be substituted a
layer of steam pipes placed side by side, and having the spaces between them
closed by flanges, like the flanges N of Figure 3, or otherwise. Or the layers
of steam passages, and the intervening passages for the cloth and the blast
of air, may be placed vertically instead of horizontally, receiving steam at the
top, and discharging the condensed water and uncondensed steam at the
bottom. Or one single wrought-iron chest may be used to form an entire layer
of steam passages; or the current of air may be made to move in the same

page_text: direction with the cloth or across that direction, although I prefer making it
more against the direction of motion of the cloth, in the manner before
described.
Another variation in the details is the following, relating to the mode of
forming a communication between the steam chests in each layer:-In
Figure 7, K are two adjacent steam chests in the same layer, which, instead
of being joined by means of nozzles, like those marked L and M in Figures 1
and 3, are connected by means of a separate connecting pipe X. This arrange-
ment, though somewhat less simple than that shewn in the other Figures
referred to, has the advantage of permitting more ready access to the rollers,
marked G in Figure 1, for the purpose of adjustment or repairs. The speed
with which the machinery is driven depends on the nature, texture, and con-
dition of the cloth, and is regulated by trial until the cloth comes out in the
state required.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim the
separate parts of the apparatus which I have described; but what I do
claim is,―
First, the entire combination of machinery and apparatus in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, the drying the cloth in its preparation for Turkey red dyeing, by
passing it near to the outer surfaces of chest tubes, or other passages containing
steam, in the manner herein before described.
Thirdly, the diluting and carrying away the vapours disengaged from the
cloth during such drying, by producing a blast or current of air between the
surfaces of the steam passages before mentioned, and of the cloth in the
apparatus herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Clark, have hereto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
MATTHEW CLARK.
(L.B.)