IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING A METALLIC AND LUSTRY APPEARANCE TO FABRICS AND YARNS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Irving, of Mould Green, near Huddersfield,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING A METALLIC AND LUSTRY
APPEARANCE TO FABRICS AND YARNS."
Sealed the 9th May 1854, and dated the 14th February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Irving at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
February 1854.
I, THOMAS IRVING, of Mould Green, near Huddersfield, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING A METALLIC AND
LUSTRY APPEARANCE TO FABRICS AND YARNS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of subjecting fabrics and yarns to solutions of salts
of tin, zinc, and silver, and to cyanogen and steam.
For this purpose, supposing tin to be used, I prefer to pad or saturate the
fabric or yarn with a solution of stannate of potash or soda, then to a solu-
tion of cyanide of tin, and then to steam; or I use a solution of glauber
salts and cyanide of tin, and steam. If zinc is to be used, I prefer a solution
of the ammonia sulphate of zinc; then to dry the cloth or yarn, and then to
pass it into or subject it to a solution of cyanide of tin or of silver, and then
to steam and cyanogen. If silver be used, I prefer to employ a solution of
cyanide of silver, and then to subject the cloth or yarn to steam, with or with-
out cyanogen.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Irving in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
IRVING, of Mould Green, near Huddersfield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight. hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Irving, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Irving,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Irving, 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
OBTAINING A METALLIC AND LUSTRY APPEARANCE TO FABRICS AND YARNS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Irving, by an instru-
ment 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 Thomas Irving, 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 state-
ment thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention consists of subjecting fabrics and yarns to solutions of salts
of tin, zinc, and silver, and to cyanogen and steam.
For this purpose, supposing tin to be used, I prefer to pad or saturate the
fabric or yarn with a solution of stannate of potash or soda, then to a solution
of cyanide of tin, and then to steam, or I use a solution of glauber salts and
cyanide of tin, and steam. If zinc is to be used, I prefer a solution of the
ammonia sulphate of zinc, then to dry the cloth or yarn, and then to pass it
into or subject it to a solution of cyanide of tin or of silver, and then to steam
and cyanogen.
If silver be used, I prefer to employ a solution: of cyanide
of silver, and then to subject the cloth or yarn to steam, with or without
cyanogen.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the best means I am acquainted with for performing the same..
The description of fabrics and yarns to which my Invention is particularly
applicable are those made of wool, or of wool and cotton, and it is I believe
preferable to apply the materials after the fabrics or yarns have been dyed; I
do not, however, confine myself thereto, as they may be applied in the process
of dyeing, where the dies will not act or be acted on chemically by the
materials. When I employ tin for the purpose of obtaining a metallic lustry
appearance on fabrics or yarns, I do so in the following manner :-I pad the
fabric or yarn with a solution of the stannate of soda or of potash, then with a
solution of the cyanide of tin, using the solutions at a temperature of about
one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit; I, then subject the fabric or
yarn to the action of steam, and I believe steam of about fifteen lbs. on the
square inch in the boiler to be the most convenient; and I prefer to steam
the prepared fabric or yarn when extended on a frame in a closed chamber or
vessel, taking care that the chamber or vessel is clothed in such mer as to
prevent as much as may be the condensing of the steam within the vessel or
chamber, and I have found that twenty to forty minutes is sufficient for this
process of steaming. Or in place of using a frame, the prepared fabric or
yarn may be wound on a perforated hollow roller, and placed in a similar
vessel or chamber, so as to allow the steam to pass through the yarn or fabric.
The fabric or yarn is then to be well.washed and dried. In some cases I
have found it advantageous to employ a solution of glauber salts, for which
purpose I dissolve at the rate of one pound in four gallons of water, and pad
the fabric or yarn with it after using the cyanide of tin, and before steaming
the fabric or yarn.
I would state that I prefer to use cyanogen with the
steam, for which purpose I generate' cyanogen in a separate vessel, and allow
the steam to pass into such vessel in its way to the chamber or vessel in
which the fabric or yarns are placed. I have above spoken of solutions of
the salts employed, and would state that the saturated solutions give the
largest lustry effect on the fabrics and yarns, and the degree of lustry effects
will depend on the strength of solution; hence it will be understood that the
stronger or weaker solution will be used according to the extent of lustry
appearance desired to be obtained to the fabrics or yarns. When zinc is
employed for the purposes of my Invention, I use a solution of the ammonia
sulphate of zinc, preferring it to be of a specific gravity of 1-101 to 1.102, and
I pad the fabric or yarn with such solution, and dry the fabric or yarn, then I
pad with a solution of cyanide of tin, or of silver, and subject the fabric or
yarn to steam, or steam and cyanogen, as before described. When silver is to

page_text: be used in carrying out my Invention, I proceed as follows:-I first pad with
a solution of stanate of potash, and then with a solution of cyanide of silver,
and then subject the fabrics or yarns to the action of steam, or steam and
cyanogen.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the best
manner I am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it
understood that, although I have been particular in describing the precise
details of the processes as conducted by me, I do not confine myself thereto.
But what I claim is,
The obtaining a metallic lustry appearance to fabrics and yarns by the use
and combination of the matters herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Irving, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. COOK,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
THOMAS IRVING. (L.S.)