Iк- PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR PROCESS OF SEPARATING ANIMAL FIBRE FROM MIXED FARRICS OF AWEWAT BIRDE AND COTTON OR STUED VRASTARY FIBRE " MIXED PADDING OF ANIMAT Widde and COTTON OR OTHER VEGETARI PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Sidebottom, of Crown Street, Camberwell,
in the County of Surrey, Consulting Chemist, for the Invention of "Iк-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR PROCESS OF SEPARATING ANIMAL FIBRE FROM
MIXED FARRICS OF AWEWAT BIRDE AND COTTON OR STUED VRASTARY FIBRE "
MIXED PADDING OF ANIMAT Widde and
COTTON OR
OTHER
VEGETARI
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Sidebottom at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1859.
I, ALFRED SIDEBOTTOM, of Crown Strect, Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, Consulting Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR PROCESS OF SEPARATING ANIMAL FIBRE
FROM MIXED FABRICS OF ANIMAL FIBRE AND COTTON, OR OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRE,"
to be as follows:-
I first put the mixed fabrics to be operated upon into a machine such as is
used by paper makers generally, and called a dusting machine, having a wire
cage and a revolving motion. In this machine I let tho mixed fabrics stop so
long as any dust remains in them. I then prepare an alkaline bath of potash,
soda ash, carbonate of soda (the soda of commerce) or other alkali. (I use
these alkalis either separately or in conjunction with each or any other of
them,) this bath is to be inade just alkaline or slippery to the fingers, and may
be used cold or heated from 60° to 90° Fahrenheit. To this bath I add ten

page_text: pounds of the best soft soap, or its equivalent of bar soap for every two
thousand gallons of the bath. This soap must be well mixed with the alkaline
solution. I then saturate the mixed fabrics with this solution of alkali and
soap, and pile them in a heap, and let them stand from twelve to twenty-four
hours. I then put them into a dash wheel or wash stocks, or any other
mechanical contrivance that will give them much mechanical action in con-
junction with much water. The use of the alkaline bath, and the mechanical
action with much water is, that they act as a detergent, for it is evident
that no chemical agent, protective or destructive, can act with any degree of
certainty on a mixed fabric, so long as grease or other extraneous matter of a
resisting nature is attached to it. I then take the mixed fabrics from the
dash wheel, washing stocks, or other mechanical apparatus answering the
same purpose, and place the mixed fabrics in a hydro-extractor, press, or other
mechanical apparatus of a like nature; or I let them run, partially dry them-
selves, until the mixed fabrics contain no more moisture or water for every
one hundred pounds of mixed fabrics than seven hundred and sixty-eight
ounces of water by weight, this water I call "the water of partial saturation."
I then make a destroying agent as follows:-One thousand four hundred
imperial pints of water, two hundred and thirty-seven and one half pounds of
sulphuric acid, specific gravity 1-847, and one hundred and twenty-two pounds
of chloride of sodium (common salt), these I mix and let stand a few hours.
These quantities may be varied a little. This mixture or solution I call
solution A. In order to use solution A, I take one hundred and forty-eight
pounds of the mixed fabrics containing the water of partial saturation, and
place them in a pair of fulling stocks, or other mechanical contrivance
answering the same purpose, and add from ninety to one hundred & forty
imperial pints of solution A. I then set the stocks or other mechanical con-
trivance in motion for fifteen or more minutes, until the solution A is perfectly
mixed with the water of partial saturation, and the fabrics well permeated
with it. I then put the mixed fabrics into a room heated from 150° to 180°
Fahrenheit, and when well dried, I place the mixed fabrics in a pair of fulling
stocks, or other mechanical contrivance answering the same purpose, and add
a little water. I then set the stocks or other mechanical contrivance in
motion, and keep adding water until the action of the stocks or other
mechanical contrivance renders the whole into a thick pulp-like mass, and
loosens all the vegetable fibre from the animal fibre. I now place the mass in
a dash wheel with much water, and well wash and afterwards dry it, and the
animal fibre remains free from vegetable matter. Or in place of using
solution A, I make the following mixture:-Twenty gallons of water, three

page_text: gallons of bydrochloric acid, specific gravity 1.200, and two quarts of sulphuric
acid, specific gravity 1-847. After these are mixed, I add two pounds of
chloride of sodium (common salt). These quantities may be varied a little.
This mixture I call solution B. If it is intended to use solution B, I steep
the mixed fabrics moistened with the water of partial saturation in a cold
solution, or in a hot solution of from 80° to 100° Fahrenheit of sulphate of
soda, two ounces to the gallon of water. This solution I call "the protecting
agent for the animal fibre." I again let the mixed fabrics run partially dry,
or press them, or use other mechanical means to take the moisture from the
fabrics until they contain no more moisture than seven hundred and sixty-
eight ounces by weight of the last solution to every one hundred pounds of
the mixed fabrics weighed when dry. I then place one hundred and forty-
eight pounds of the mixed fabrics so steeped in "the protecting agent for
the animal fibre," and partially dried in a pair of fulling stocks or other
mechanical contrivance answering the same purpose, and add from ninety to
one hundred & forty imperial pints of solution B, and set the stocks or other
mechanical contrivance in motion, and proceed as before directed when
solution A is used. Solution B can, however, be varied, by the introduction
of sulphate of soda, in the proportion of one pound to each twenty gallons of
the solution, and if this variation be adopted, I do not steep the fabrics
moistened with the water of partial saturation in "the protecting agent for
the animal fibre," but to one hundred and forty-eight pounds of the mixed
fabrics so moistened with the water of partial saturation, and placed in a pair
of fulling stocks, or other mechanical contrivance answering the same purpose,
I add from nine to fourteen imperial pints of solution B to which the sulphate
of soda has been added in the proportions before mentioned, I then set the
stocks or other mechanical contrivance in motion, and proceed as before
directed when solution A is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Sidebottom in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
SIDEBOTTOM, of Crown Street, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, Consulting
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord

page_text: 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 Alfred Sidebottom, Her special licence that I, the said
Alfred Sidebottom, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Sidebottom, my executors, administrators, or 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 MODE OR PROCESS OF SEPARATING ANIMAL FIBRE FROM
MIXED FABRICS OF ANIMAL FIBRE AND COTTON, OR OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRE," upon.
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Sidebottom, 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 months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Sidebottom, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the employment of the processes, substances, and
apparatus substantially as herein-after described, the quantities and pro-
portions of the chemical substances employed may be slightly varied, practical
experience will however be the best guide in making the slight alterations
that may be required, and the proportions and quantities I have found to bo
the most suitable are those herein-after stated. I first put the mixed fabrics
to be separated or operated upon (which are usually rags) into a machine such
as is used generally by paper makers, and called a dusting machine, having a
wire cage and a revolving motion. In this machine I let the mixed fabrics
stop so long as any dust remains in them, I then prepare an alkaline bath of
potash, soda ash, carbonate of soda, (the common soda of commerce) carbonate
of ammonia or liquid of ammonia and water, I use these alkalies either
separately or in conjunction with each or any other of them. The requisite
proportions will be determined best by experience according to the strength of
the materials employed, the object to be attained being a bath which is made
just alkaline or slippery to the fingers. It may be used cold or not heated
above 90° Fahrenheit, I find the fingers the best test for tho proper strength

page_text: of this bath, as the alkalies vary greatly in their strength. Their power as
detergents also is very much altered by the quality of the water used, as it
may be hard or soft, if soft then it will require less alkali to render the bath
just slippery as before stated, and if the water is hard then it will require
more alkali to produce the same effect; of the alkalies above enumerated I
prefer soda ash containing 45 or 50 per cent. of pure alkali. To this bath
I add about ten pounds of the best soft soap or its equivalent of bar soap for
every two thousand gallons of the above bath. The quantity of soap required
will vary with the quantity of grease contained in the mixed fabrics, and if
they are not very greasy then the soap may be omitted; the soap must be well
mixed with the alkaline solution. I then saturate the mixed fabrics with tho
alkaline solution and pile them in a heap and let them stand from twelve to
twenty-four hours, I then put the mixed fabrics into a dash wheel (such as is
usually used by bleachers) having a rotary motion, and containing a large
supply of water, or into any other suitable apparatus of a similar construction.
I set the wheel in motion and let the fabrics stop in so long as there remain
any dirt or alkaline solution in them. The use of the bath, and the mechanical
action of the dash wheel with much water is, they act as a detergent. I then
take the mixed fabrics from the dash wheel or other apparatus used, and
place them in an hydro-extracter having a rotary motion or other similar
apparatus, such, for instance, as that now manufactured by Messieurs Manlove
and Allot, of Bromsgrove, near Nottingham. I then set the machine in motion
and draw as much water from them as the extractor will draw or throw out,
so that the mixed fabrics may contain about seven hundred and sixty-eight
ounces of water, or forty-eight pounds by weight to every one hundred pounds
of mixed fabric, that is, every one hundred pounds of dry mixed fabric will
when so moistened with water, and partially dried, weigh about one hundred
and forty-eight pounds. This water, so left in the fabric, I call the water of
partial saturation. I then make a destroying agent by mixing one thousand
four hundred imperial pints of water about three hundred and seventy pounds
of sulphuric acid, specific gravity 1.847, and 190 pounds of common salt,
these when mixed I let stand a few hours. These quantities may be varied a
little if the strength of the materials employed should render it advisable, as
will be easily ascertained by those practically acquainted with the process, but
for economical reasons I prefer using the solution of the strength indicated,
though one of somewhat less strength might answer if a proportionately
greater quantity of it were used. This mixture I call solution A, and its
component parts may be varied by using in place of one hundred and ninety
pounds of common salt its equivalent of pure chloride of sodium, but it is not

page_text: so economical, and I prefer the salt. In order to use solution AI take
one hundred and forty-eight pounds of the mixed fabrics containing the water
of partial saturation, and place them.in a pair of fulling stocks having a turn
head such as is used by woollen finishers or other similar apparatus. I add
from 80 to 90 imperial pints of solution A. In all cases it will be necessary
to use a sufficient quantity to effect perfect saturation, and if an excess be
used there will be a waste of the solution, I then set the stocks in motion for
fifteen minutes, more or less, until the solution A is perfectly mixed with the
water of partial saturation, and the fabrics well permeated with it, thereby
rendering the chemical effect of the destroying agent more certain and equal,
this destroying agent has reference to the vegetable fibre only. The protecting
agent for the animal fibre is contained in the solution A in the form of
sulphate of soda, I then put the mixed fabrics, treated as above, into a room
heated from 150° to 180° Fahrenheit, and when perfectly dry I again place
the mixed fabrics in a pair of falling stocks or other similar apparatus, which
I then set in action, and keep adding water until the motion of the stocks or
other similar apparatus renders the mixed fabric and water into a thick pulp
like mass. This mechanical action of the stocks or other similar apparatus
with the water loosens all the vegetable fibre from the animal fibre. I now
place the pulp-like mass in a dash wheel, which I then set in motion and
supply much water until the charred or carbonised vegetable fibre leaves
the animal fibre clean, I then dry the resulting product which consists of
separated and recovered animal fibre. Or in place of using solution A, I make
the following mixture, twenty gallons of water, three gallons of hydrochloric
acid, specific gravity 1.200, and two quarts of sulphuric acid, specific gravity
1.847; after these are mixed I add two pounds of common salt. These
quantities may be varied a little as may be found requisite in their practical
use, this mixture I call solution B, and its component parts may be varied by
using in place of two pounds of common salt its equivalent of pure chloride
of sodium, but it is not so economical, and I prefer the salt. If it is intended
to use this solution, I steep the mixed fabrics moistened with the water of
partial saturation in a cold solution or in a hot solution of from 80° to 100°
Fahrenheit, of sulphate of soda, two ounces of sulphate of soda being used
with a gallon of water. This solution I call the "protecting agent for the
animal fibre," I again return the mixed fabrics into an hydro-extractor or
other similar apparatus, which I set in motion, and let them remain until the
necessary quantity of the solution is extracted from them, so that the mixed
fabrics may contain about forty-eight pounds of the sulphate solution for every
one hundred pounds of mixed fabrics. The result is that each one hundred

page_text: pounds of dry mixed fabrics is so saturated with the solution as together with
it to weigh one hundred and forty-eight pounds. I then place one hundred
and forty-eight pounds of the mixed fabrics so steeped in the protecting agent
in a pair of fulling stocks or other suitable apparatus, and add from eighty to
ninety imperial pints of solution B. In using solution B, I proceed in a
manner similar to that already described for solution A; solution B can
however be varied by the introduction of sulphate of soda in the proportion of
about one pound to each twenty gallons of the solution, and if this variation
be adopted I do not steep the mixed fabrics in the protecting agent. I then
introduce one hundred and forty-eight pounds of the mixed fabrics containing
the water of partial saturation into the fulling stocks or other suitable
apparatus, and add from eighty to ninety imperial pints of solution B, so
altered by the addition of sulphate of soda, and proceed as if solution A had
been used.
Having now described my Invention I would have it understood that I do
not confine my claim to the use of the precise quantities mentioned, as in this,
and other chemical operations, it is possible to vary quantities in some degree
according to the circumstances and scale on which the manufacture is carried,
without departing materially from my Invention; but I claim the application
of the process herein described for the purposes set forth. Also the use of the
alkaline bath as above described. Also the use of the solutions A and B as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Sidebottom, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE GREEN,
884, Euston Road.
ALFRED SIDEBOTTOM. (L.S.)