IMPROVE- MENTS IN DYEING WOOL AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS AND TEXTILE MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DYEING WOOL AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS AND TEXTILE MATERIALS,
AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."-A communication from abroad
by Jean Henri Chaudet, of Rouen, France.
Sealed the 15th November 1864, and dated the 17th May 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th May 1864.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING WOOL AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS AND TEXTILE MATERIALS,
AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to dye, wash, dry, and place on bobbins at
one operation, and by continuous passage through a machine constructed as
hereafter described, the slivers of wool as they come from combing machines
or gill boxes, in order that they may be immediately fitted for spinning.
It is evident that by carrying out this object, the rapidity of the operations
will be greatly increased and the economical advantages will thereby be con-
siderable. Besides the wool not being submitted to rough manipulations, and
not being treated in the ordinary dyeing troughs, the combing or the passing
into a series of gill boxes after dyeing is suppressed, whereby the loss occasioned

page_text: by such operation is avoided. In addition to economising the wool, loss of the
dyeing material which the waste wool carries with it is also avoided, and by the
continuity of the operation much hand labor is dispensed with.
To carry out this Invention, two conditions must be fulfilled, 1st, suitable
arrangement of the parts of the machine so as to produce in a perfect manner
the penetration of the drugs or dyes employed into the textile or woolly fibre
without altering the parallelism of the slivers produced by the combing. 2nd,
combination of the chemical processes so as to permit of the adhesion of the
dyeing material with the wool in a sufficiently short time to allow the machine
to treat a satisfactory daily quantity.
I
I will first describe the chemical means employed, as they lead to a suffi-
ciently rapid dyeing to permit the wool to be submitted to the operations in a
machine working in a continuous manner. The instantaneousness of the dyeing
which I obtain is based on the following principle; viz. causing the wool to
absorb a first soluble salt, and afterwards submitting it to a second bath also
containing a soluble salt, the two salts being chosen so as to produce by double
decomposition an insoluble salt which remains intimately fixed on or in the
textile fibre. The instantaneousness of the operation results from the rapidity
with which the double decomposition is produced in a bath heated to a
convenient temperature; but the wool, the dyeing of which is theoretically
terminated on its exit from the second bath, carries with it a quantity of coloring
matter which is not intimately attached to it; it is therefore necessary to adopt
some means of rapidly removing the excess coloring matter, and for this purpose
pass the slivers into a third bath containing a solution of phosphate of soda,
this salt forming insoluble compounds with the oxides of the different mordants
employed in dyeing, produces by a new double decomposition the complete in-
solubility of the excess dyeing material, so that the passage into an ordinary
polisher (lisseuse) is sufficient to produce after drying a wool solidly dyed and
possessing desirable qualities. In the preceding explanation I have not men-
tioned an important case, that in which the metallic oxide serving as the
mordant must undergo ulterior oxidation to produce the desired shade, this is
especially the case in dyeing black, for the tannate of peroxide of iron possesses
only the black dye on which this dyeing is based. Not being able to have
recourse to the means ordinarily employed to produce this oxidation, an opera-
tion which would be directly opposed to the principle of continuous working,
which forms the base of this Invention, it is necessary to employ an oxidating
agent, the effects of which may be easily regulated and without altering the
wooly material. Neutral chromate of potass possesses all the necessary quali-
ties. Thus in the case of dyes requiring oxidation the operation is completed

page_text: by passing the wool into a bath of chromate, this should be done immediately
before passing it into the phosphate. The wool is therefore in the most com-
plicated case submitted to the following operations:-1st, passage into the bath
of coloring matter suitably neutralized; 2nd, passage into the bath of mordant;
3rd, oxidation by the chromate or other agent; 4th, passage into the phosphate
solution; 5th, passage into a washing bath, maintained by a current of water;
6th, drying; 7th, straightening of the threads or slivers by passage through
a gill box before winding on the bobbins. The order of these operations may
be changed if desired.
I now proceed to describe the mechanical arrangements by which these
different operations may be carried on without altering the parallelism of the
fibres composing the slivers. At the front end of the machine two series of
iron rods are fixed through the spaces between which the slivers pass before
entering the dyeing troughs, these rods are intended to keep the slivers sepa-
rated from each other. The first trough has six pairs of top and bottom rollers
of tinned iron, each of the upper rollers has cord or string wound round it to
insure by its elasticity a sufficient pressure on all the slivers notwithstanding
inequalities in their thicknesses. The 1st, 4th, and 5th pairs of rollers lead
the slivers into the dyeing trough, while the 3rd and 6th pairs are on the
contrary raised to allow contact of air with the wool. The two rollers of each
pair working in the trough are kept pressed against each other by coiled
springs. The rollers of the upper pairs are kept against each other by weights.
It is the same with all the other pairs of rollers in the machine. After passing
through the first trough, the slivers pass through a second trough, which is
only a repetition of half the first. These two troughs contain the baths of
coloring matter; they are divided into two to allow of the easy dyeing of com-
pound shades. The third trough is identical with the second and contains the
mordant. The fourth trough is also identical, and contains the oxidating agent.
In dyes which do not require oxidating it is replaced by a bath of mordant.
The fifth trough, also the same as the preceding, contains the solution of phos-
phate. On issuing from this trough, the slivers pass into a sixth trough,
arranged similarly to the preceding, but situated at a higher level. This trough
is supplied with a stream of clear water which washes the slivers. On issuing
from this trough the slivers pass into a draining press composed of two rollers,
one of which is fitted with wool and is pressed upon very strongly by weights.
The slivers are then led over a series of cylinders heated by steam, which
dries them, and they finally enter an ordinary gill box, which repairs any slight.
defects in the parallelism of the fibres produced in passing through the machine.
On issuing from the gill box the wool is wound on bobbins by the ordinary

page_text: means, and the bobbins may be directly placed on flyers for spinning. The
upper rollers of the several troughs are driven by bevil gearing and are
actuated with a rotary motion which must be everywhere equal in order to
prevent straining of the slivers in their course through the machine. Instead
of being drawn along by rollers, as before described, the slivers may be led
between superposed chains serving as travelling tables in the dyeing troughs.
In a trough containing the dyeing bath two superposed endless chains are fitted
and are carried by ground rollers which all receive a uniform motion for the
circulation of the chains. The chains bend and dip in the dyeing bath the
slivers are led and held between theem and become saturated with coloring
matter in passing through the trough. On issuing from the bath the slivers
pass between expressing rollers which eliminate the excess coloring matter
from these rollers; the slivers pass into a second trough, also containing dyeing
matter, the slivers become charged with a fresh supply of color, and on issuing
from this bath they pass between other expressing rollers. On leaving these
rollers the slivers may be wound on bobbins, or they may be led into other
baths to undergo the operations of mordanting, oxidating, washing, and others,
as before described. The number of dyeing and other troughs employed, their
divisions and dimensions, may be varied as thought desirable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING
WOOL AND OTHER FILAMENTOUS AND TEXTILE MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN," (communicated to me from abroad by Jean Henri Chaudet,
of Rouen, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to dye, wash, dry, and place on bobbins at
one operation, and by continuous passage through a machine constructed as
hereafter described, the slivers of wool as they come from combing machines
or gill boxes in order that they may be immediately fitted for spinning.
It is evident that by carrying out this object the rapidity of the operations
will be greatly increased and the economical advantages will thereby be con-
siderable. Besides the wool not being submitted to rough manipulations,
and not being treated in the ordinary dyeing troughs, the combing or the
passing into a series of gill boxes after dyeing is suppressed, whereby the loss
occasioned by such operation is avoided. In addition to economising the wool
loss of the dyeing material which the waste wool carries with it is also avoided,
and by the continuity of the operation much hand labor is dispensed with.
To carry out this Invention two conditions must be fulfilled, 1st, suitable
arrangement of the parts of the machine so as to produce in a perfect manner
the penetration of the drugs or dyes employed into the textile or wooly fibre
without altering the parallelism of the slivers produced by the combing; 2nd,
combination of the chemical processes so as to permit of the adhesion of the
dyeing material with the wool in a sufficiently short time to allow the machine
to treat a satisfactory daily quantity.
I will first describe the chemical means employed, as they lead to a suffi-
ciently rapid dyeing to permit the wool to be submitted to the operations in a
machine working in a continuous manner. The instantaneousness of the
dyeing which I obtain is based on the following principle, viz., causing
the wool to absorb a first soluble salt and afterwards submitting it to a second

page_text: bath also containing a soluble salt, the two salts being chosen so as to produce
by double decomposition an insoluble salt which remains intimately fixed on
or in the textile fibre. The instantaneousness of the operation results from
the rapidity with which the double decomposition is produced in a bath heated
to a convenient temperature; but the wool, the dyeing of which is theoretically
terminated on its exit from the second bath, carries with it a quantity of coloring
matter which is not intimately attached to it; it is therefore necessary to adopt
some means of rapidly removing the excess coloring matter, and for this
purpose I pass the slivers into a third bath containing a solution of phosphate
of soda; this salt forming insoluble compounds with the oxides of the different
mordants employed in dyeing produces by a new double decomposition the
complete insolubility of the excess dyeing material, so that the passage into an
ordinary polisher (lisseuse) is sufficient to produce after drying a wool solidly
dyed and possessing desirable qualities. In the preceding explanation I have
not mentioned an important case, that in which the metallic oxide serving as
the mordant must undergo ulterior oxidation to produce the desired shade;
this is especially the case in dyeing black, for the tannite of peroxide of iron
possession only the black dye on which this dyeing is based. Not being able
to have recourse to the means ordinarily employed to produce this oxidation,
an operation which would be directly opposed to the principle of continuous
working which forms the base of this Invention, it is necessary to employ an
oxidating agent the effects of which may be easily regulated and without
altering the woolly material. Neutral chromate of potass possesses all the
necessary qualities. Thus in the case of dyes requiring oxidation the operation is
completed by passing the wool into a bath of chromate; this should be done
immediately before passing it into the phosphate.
The wool is therefore in the most complicated case submitted to the following
operations: 1st, passage into the bath of coloring matter suitably neutralized;
2nd, passage into the bath of mordant; 3rd, oxidation by the chromate or other
agent; 4th, passage into the phosphate solution; 5th, passage into a washing
bath maintained by a current of water; 6th, drying; 7th, straightening of the
threads or slivers by passage through a gill box before winding on the bobbins.
The order of these operations may be changed if desired.
I now proceed to describe the mechanical arrangements by which these
different operations may be carried on without altering the parallelism of the
fibres composing the slivers.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal elevation, and
Figure 2 a plan of such a machine. It will be seen that there is towards
the right of the Figures a series of six rectangular troughs.

page_text: At the front end of the machine two series of iron rods, a, a, are fixed
through the spaces, between which the slivers b pass before entering the dyeing
troughs; these rods are intended to keep the slivers separated from each other;
the first trough has six pairs of top and bottom rollers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, of tinned
iron, each of the upper rollers has cord or string wound round it to insure by
its elasticity a sufficient pressure on all the slivers notwithstanding inequalities
in their thicknesses. The pairs of rollers 1, 4, and 5, lead the slivers into the
dyeing trough, while the rollers 3 and 6 are on the contrary raised to allow
contact of air with the wool. The two rollers of each pair working in the
trough are kept pressed against each other by coiled springs not shewn in the
Drawings. The rollers of the upper pairs are kept against each other by
weights, the general arrangement of which is clearly indicated. It is the same
with all the other pairs of rollers in the machine. After passing through the
first trough the slivers pass through a second trough d, which is only a repetition
of half the first; these two troughs contain the baths of coloring matter; they
are divided into two to allow of the easy dyeing of compound shades. The
third trough e is identical with the second and contains the mordant. The
fourth trough g is also identical and contains the oxidating agent; in dyes
which do not require oxidating it is replaced by a bath of mordant. The fifth
trough h, also the same as the preceding, contains the solution of phosphate.
On issuing from the trough h, the slivers pass into a sixth trough / arranged
similarly to the preceding but situated at a higher level; this trough is supplied
with a stream of clear water which washes the slivers. On issuing from this
trough the slivers pass into a draining press composed of two rollers m, m,
one of which is fitted with wool and is pressed upon very strongly by weights,
this arrangement is represented in Figure 1. The slivers are then led over a
series of cylinders n heated by steam, which dries them and they finally enter
an ordinary gill box which repairs any slight defects in the parallelism of the
fibres produced in passing through the machine. On issuing from the gill box
the wool is wound on bobbings by the ordinary means, and the bobbins may be
directly placed on flyers for spinning. The Drawing shews sufficiently clearly
without further explanation how the different pairs of rollers are driven. The
upper rollers of the several troughs are driven by bevil gearing, and are actu-
ated with a rotary motion, which must be everywhere equal in order to prevent
straining of the slivers in their course through the machine. Figure 3 is a
longitudinal section of an arrangement in which the slivers 68, instead of being
drawn along by the rollers 1 to 6, Figure 1, are led between superposed
chains serving as travelling tables in the dyeing troughs. In Figure 3 the
slivers are supposed to pass from left to right, while in Figure 1 they pass

page_text: from right to left; this depends on the manner in which the machine is
arranged. In a trough a, b, c, d, containing the dyeing bath, two superposed
endless chains g, g, are fitted and are carried by grooved rollers r, r, which all
receive a uniform motion for the circulation of the chains, the chains bend
and dip in the dyeing bath, the slivers 63 are led and held between them and
become saturated with coloring matter in passing through the trough. On
issuing from the bath the slivers pass between expressing rollers R, R, which
eliminate the excess coloring matter, from these rollers the slivers pass into a
second trough a', b, c, d, also containing dyeing matter, the slivers become
charged with a fresh supply of color, and on issuing from this bath they pass
between other expressing rollers R', R¹. On leaving these rollers the slivers
may be wound on bobbins S, or they may be led into other baths to undergo
the operations of mordanting, oxidating, washing, and others, as described with
reference to Figures 1 and 2. The number of dyeing and other troughs
employed, their divisions and dimensions, may be varied as thought de-
sirable.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim dyeing wool and
other filamentous and textile materials by the combination of successive and
continuous chemical and mechanical operations herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.