CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF DYEING AND SCOURING PIECE GOODS AND OTHER FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS WHEREBY THE SAME IS PERFORMED
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HELLEWELL, of Springfield Lane, in the Borough of Salford and County of
Lancaster, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Hellewell and AARON FEARN, of the same place, Dyer, His
special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Jaines Hellewell and Aaron Fearn, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as we, the said James Hellewell and Aaron Fearn, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
other, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF DYEING AND SCOURING PIECE GOODS
AND OTHER FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS WHEREBY THE SAME
IS PERFORMED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we,
the said James Hellewell and Aaron Fearn, or one of us, should cause a
particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of

page_text: Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Hellewell, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in the Drawings hereto annexed, and by the following
explanation thereof, that is to say :-
Our Improvements in the Process of Dyeing and Scouring Piece Goods
and other Fabrics, and in the Machinery or Apparatus whereby the same is to
be performed, consist,-
Firstly, in a mode of conducting the various operations required in dyeing
and scouring in consecutive connection, that is dipping or
"saddening,"
fixing or raising, and rincing or scouring, by one combined series of
operations.
And secondly, in the construction, adaptation, and arrangement of certain
apparatus and machinery suited to perform those operations.
In order that the improved manner in which the cloths and other goods
intended to be dyed and scoured are conducted through these processes may
be clearly understood, I proceed in the first instance to describe the arrange-
ment of the improved machinery to be employed.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section
a series of vessels with rollers, nearly resembling those usually denominated
"jiggers," which vessels are connected together and fixed in a cast-iron frame.
Figure 2 is an elevation of one side of the frame which encloses the vessels;
Figure 3 is a similar elevation of the reverse side; and Figure 4 is a hori-
zontal view of the same, as seen from above, in which several Figures are
also represented the pullies, shafts, gearing, and other mechanism by which
the rollers and other parts of the apparatus are put into effective operation.
A, A, A, A, are a series of four vats or vessels of wood, intended to contain
the "saddenings" or dyeing liquor, which is allowed to flow from one vessel
to another through longitudinal pipes a, a, a, for the purpose of preserving
a level and an uniformity of strength of the liquor throughout all these vessels.
B, B, B, are a series of three other vats or vessels of wood, connected also
by longitudinal pipes b, b, which are designed to contain the chemical solution
required for fixing the dye or colour in the goods. C, C, C, are a further
series of three vessels or vats of wood or other suitable material, which are to
contain pure water or other liquor for rincing, cleansing, or scouring the goods.
These last-mentioned vessels may, by means of longitudinal pipes c, c, be

page_text: .
made to communicate with each other, or if that is not required, these pipes
may be closed by stopcocks. In each of the vessels or vats A, A, A, A, B, B, B,
C, C, C, near their bottoms, three loose rollers d, d, d, are mounted in transverse
positions, which rollers are intended to distend the piece goods or other fabrics
whilst passing through the liquids. Other transverse conducting and tension
rollers e, e, e, are mounted over the several vats, their axles turning loosely
in standards, and some of which are weighted in order to distend the fabric
tightly. A roller f, extending transversely over each vat, and mounted in
standards in the side frames, is driven by toothed gear, for the purpose of
drawing the piece goods or other fabrics through the liquors in the several
vats; and a corresponding roller g, the axle of which turns loosely in morticed
standards, bears upon the periphery of each roller f, and is pressed down
thereon by weighted levers; consequently, by the friction of the two surfaces,
the rollers g are made to revolve. These several pairs of rollers f, g, operate
both as conductors of the goods and as squeezers, for the purpose of expressing
the liquors from the fabric as it passes between them. The driving pulley h,
which receives its rotary motion from a steam engine or other first mover, is
fixed upon the transverse shaft i, and at the reverse end of this shaft there
is a bevil pinion k, taking into a bevil wheel l, fixed on the longitudinal
shaft m, m, m.
This longitudinal shaft m carries a series of bevil toothed
pinions n, m, n, which respectively take into corresponding wheels o, 0, 0, fixed
on the ends of the several rollers f, f, f; hence, by the rotation of the shafts i
and m, the rollers f, and 9 are actuated, which conduct the fabrics through
the apparatus. There are also square wooden shafts p, p, p, extending across
the interior of each vat or vessel near the bottom, which are made to
revolve by the series of small straps and pullies q, q, q, fixed upon the ends of
their axles, these pullies receiving their rotary motion from the common
line shafting of the works through the drum r, the shaft s, and the pulley t
which are altogether independent of the other driving parts of the machinery.
These shafts p, p, p, are for the purpose of agitating the liquors contained in the
several vats, and keeping them in constant motion, thereby preventing any
sediment or precipitation from taking place. The apparatus is supplied with
either dyeing or other liquors through the pipes u, u, u, with hot water through
the pipes v, v, v, or with cold water through the pipes w, w, w, as may be
required preparatory to or during the process of the operations. And there are
also pipes a, a, a, which may be supposed to be in connection with the ordinary
steam boiler upon the premises, and furnished with stopcocks in order to admit
steam when required into the system of vats A, A, A, A, B, B, B, and C, C, C, in
order that they may preserve any required degree of heat during the operation;

page_text: but it will be evident to the practical dyer that the whole of these pipes, as well
as the various reservoirs and boilers (necessarily employed in connexion with
the apparatus described), must be accommodated both as to situation and
capacity to circumstances. It must therefore be understood that the pipes
are merely shewn in the Drawings by way of illustration. The piece goods or
other fabrics intended to be operated upon are to be introduced into the
machine in a continuous length of twenty or more pieces, connected end to
end, in order that the whole of the operations of dipping, dyeing, cleansing,
and scouring, or any such process, may be performed consecutively, thereby
dispensing with the ordinary manner of repeatedly immersing or dipping the
goods in the dyeing liquor by hand, and afterwards removing them, to be fixed
or raised, and rinced or cleansed, in other situations, which improvement in
the process will be found to save both a considerable portion of time and of
labour, and also to effect the dyeing operation with much more regularity and
evenness.
By reference to Figure 1 it will be perceived that a piece of goods is there
represented as being conducted through the improved apparatus in the manner
in which it would pass when undergoing the processes of dyeing and cleansing.
The goods being first laid in a heap upon the scray or platform, as shewn at
the left-hand end of the apparatus in Figure 1, the end of the goods is passed
over an adjustable breast beam or rail, and thence, in the direction of the
arrows) is conducted under a guide or tension roller, and over the conducting
or leading rail y, down under the first tension roller d in the first vat A, by
which the fabric becomes immersed in the liquor, and receives the first
colouring matter, whence, passing over and under the several rollers e, d, e, d,
is alternately immersed in the liquor and withdrawn therefrom, and thereby
exposed to the action of the dyeing liquor and to that of the atmospheric
air. The fabric then passes between the drawing and squeezing rollers f
and 9, which carry it forward, and force the colouring matter through
the fabric, at the same time expresses the surplus liquor. It then conducts
the fabric into the next vessel; and the operation is continued onward in the
same manner through the whole series of dyeing, fixing, and rincing vessels;
and after the entire length of goods has thus been passed through the whole
series of vessels, the "plaiter" z, z, which is worked by a pulley and band in
any ordinary way, is applied to deliver the fabric in folds on to the scray at
the other end of the machinery. It may be necessary here to remark, that in
order to keep one uniform quantity of liquor in the dyeing vessels, and preserve
a uniformity of strength therein, we feed the dyeing vessels by passing the
dyeing liquor through a trough (a*), and regulate the supply by a stopcock in

page_text: the pipe u, according to the quantity taken up by the goods in passing through
the vessels A. As respects the fixing liquor in the vessels B, we supply
that through the trough (*), regulating its strength and quantity by
stopcocks as circumstances may require; and as respects the washing or
rincing vessels, we feed them with hot or cold water, as may be required,
through one or more troughs (c*), regulated by suitable stopcocks, and, if
desired, allow the foul water to run off from each vessel separately, or from.
one to the other, and ultimately into a waste pipe or drain.
In conclusion, I desire-it to be understood that though in this my Specifi-
cation I have necessarily alluded to the ordinary processes of dipping, dyeing,
cleansing, scouring, &c. of piece goods and other fabrics, and also to the use
of an apparatus something like the well-known apparatus called the "jigger"
as applied to those purposes, yet we do not intend to claim any novelty in
those operations separately performed, nor in that apparatus separately used;
but that which we claim as our Invention is the manner of carrying on
those operations consecutively by one combined series of apparatus, and the
construction and arrangement of the apparatus for effecting that object, as
described and exhibited in the Drawings hereto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hellewell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.