A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR COLD SCOURING AND DYEING COTTON
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BECK of 115 Cannon Street in the City of London
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR COLD SCOURING AND DYEING
COTTON " to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the two connected operations of scouring and dyeing of
cotton generally but more especially when in the form of cops, hanks or skeins
and of fleeces, scrubbings, rovings or other form as delivered by the bobbins of the
spinning machines.
1. Scouring.
By this process the scouring is effected cold without scalding of any kind,
from which there result saving of time and the suppression of the use of steam.
When it is required to scour cotton in cops or fleeces or in any of the forms as
delivered by the bobbins the materials are placed in cases or baskets which aro
afterwards arranged in appropriate apparatuses where a vacuum can easily be
made.
When a vacuum has been made in these apparatuses, there are passed several
times over the cotton alcaline and caustic Tyes, or fatty bodies saponified or
emulsioned by the said caustic lyes.
A composition which has been found to give the best results is formed of
100 kilogrammes of oil of palma christi (ricin) with 100 kilogrammes of an alcali
such as caustic soda or potass at 25 or 30 degrees, or with the same weight of
ammonia. The oil and alcali are digested together for about twelve hours and
give, after cooling, a product which, when mixed with water in the proportion of
1 kilogramme of the product to 100 litres of water, constitutes the lye intended to
act on the cotton in the vacuum by successive actions as above described, and until
the material is well penetrated and scoured.

page_text: GE ROVER WE by the following statement:―
This invention relates to the two connected operations of scouring and dyeing of
cotton generally but more especially when in the form of cops, hanks or skeins, and
of fleeces, slubbings, rovings, or other form as delivered by the bobbins of the
spinning machines.
:
1. Scouring.
By this process the scouring is effected cold without scalding of any kind from
which there result saving of time and the suppression of the use of steam.
When it is required to scour cotton in cops or fleeces or in any of the forms
as delivered by the bobbins, the materials are placed in cases or baskets which
are afterwards arranged in appropriate apparatuses where a vacuum can easily be
made.
When a vacuum has been made in these apparatuses there are passed several
times over the cotton, alkaline and caustic lyes, or fatty bodies saponified or
emulsioned by the said caustic lyes.
A composition which has been found to give the best results is formed of
100 kilogrammes of mineral or vegetable oil, especially oil of palma christi (ricin)
with 100 kilogrammes of an alkali such as caustic soda or potass at 25 or
30 degrees or with the same weight of ammonia. The oil and alkali are digested
together for about twelve hours and give, after cooling, a product which, when
mixed with water in the proportion of 1 kilogramme of the product to 100 litres
of water, constitutes the lye intended to act on the cotton in the vacuum by
successive actions as above described, and until the material is well penetrated and
scoured.
When it is required to scour cotton 'in hanks or skeins, the same lyes are used
cold as before, but without a vacuum, that is to say in the open air. The banks or
skeins are simply passed into the above-mentioned solution of 100 litres of water
and one kilogramme of the mixture in equal weights of oil of palma christi and
alkali.
When it is required to obtain light shades in the dyeing, ammonia or even salt
or carbonate of soda is used instead of caustic soda or potass, but in the same
proportions as those above indicated.
"

page_text: or on bobbins, the dyeing is effected in a vacuum by means of appropriate colouring
materials and mordants to the shades it is desired to obtain, and by utilizing
apparatuses similar to those already known and usually employed for bleaching
cotton in a vacuum.
For cotton in hanks or skeins which have been cold scoured as above described
it is not necessary to employ a vacuum in the dyeing process which may in that
case be effected in the open air in the usual known way. Light shades require the
passage of the banks or skeins through a bath of muriatic acid and a second
washing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said ]
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
•
1-The process of cold scouring cotton generally, but more especially when in
the form of cops, fleeces, slubbings, rovings and such like, by submitting them in
a vacuum apparatus to the action of a lye produced by dissolving in water a 1
mixture of oil (more especially oil of palma christi) with an alkali such as caustic
soda, caustic potass or ammonia as hereinbefore described.
2 The process of cold scouring cotton in the form of hanks or skeins by treating
them in the open air with the lye described in the vacuum process forming the
'subject of the first claim hereof, as hereinbefore described.
3-The process of dyeing cotton in the form of cops, fleeces, slubbings, rovings
and such like which have been cold scoured in a vacuum as above described, and
then washed and dried by submitting such cotton in a vacuum apparatus to the
colouring matters and mordants necessary for producing the required shades, as
hereinbefore described.
S