CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING ⚫ RHEEA' AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND FIBRES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS PROVISIONAL SP
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Smithies, of Manchester; in the County of
Lancaster, and George Lancelot Smithies, of the same Place, Clerk, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING
⚫ RHEEA' AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND FIBRES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Sunithies and
George Lancelot Smithies at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1863.
We, CHARLES SMITHIES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Commission Agent, and GEORGE LANCELOT SMITHIES, of the same Place, Clerk,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING "RHEEA," AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
AND FIBRES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO BLEACHING YARNS OR
PIECE GOODS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates particularly to the preparing and bleaching of fibres
or fibrous materials obtained from a plant known commercially as "rheea,"
but is also applicable to the preparing and bleaching of other fibrous materials,
yarns, and piece goods.
The improvements consist in treating the fibres or materials to be

page_text: prepared and bleached, after their having been properly cleaned and opened,
first with cold soft water for about twenty-four hours, which is then withdrawn
and replaced with clean soft water, which is to be heated by steam to about
ninety degrees Fahrenheit, and the fibres or materials are to be kept at
such temperature for the space of twenty-four hours. This is conducted
whilst the fibres or fibrous materials are enclosed in perforated galvanized
iron trays, baskets, or receptacles which are placed in chambers, cisterns, or
vats. The fibres are now to be removed and passed between grooved or fluted
rollers to extract the water and impure matters, and also to break and soften
the fibres, and then to be treated if required with animal, vegetable, or mineral
oils, and replaced in baskets or receptacles having partitions to keep the fibres
straight, which receptacles are to be placed with their contents in a steam-
tight and air-tight chamber having a moveable grid or perforated false top and
bottom. The air is now to be exhausted by any ordinary means from the
chamber and the bleaching liquor allowed to enter, which consists of a
solution of alkali, or caustic alkali, and heated from one hundred and twenty
degrees to two hundred and twelve degrees, according to requirement, and
thus saturated they are to remain for about twelve hours.
Atmospheric air is now admitted, the alkali solution drawn off, and steam,
made or arising from water mixed with soap and crystal soda deprived of
carbonic acid, is passed by force pumps or suitable means through the fibrous
material until deprived of all coloring matter, when the alkaline and sapon-
aceous matter is removed by the admission of clean soft water, and then
or superheated steam is passed through the material until it is
perfectly white, lustrous, open, and nearly dry. In bleaching yarns and piece
goods plain instead of grooved and fluted rollers are used to extract the water
and dirty matter, and in bleaching piece goods the trays or receptacles are
th
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters' Patent, led
by the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot Smithies in the 3
Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
SMITHIES and GEORGE LANCELOT SMITHIES, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot Smithies, Her special
licence, that we, the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot Smithies,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Charles Smithies and George Lancelot Smithies, our 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING "RHEEA," AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS AND FIBRES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO BLEACHING YARNS OR PIECE GOODs," upon the condition (amongst others) that.
we, the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot Smithies, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot
Smithies, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our Invention relates particularly to the bleaching of fibres or fibrous
materials obtained from a plant known commercially as "rheea," but it is
also applicable to the preparing and bleaching of other fibrous materials
yarns, and piece goods.
The fibres or fibrous materials after having been properly cleansed and
opened by scutching machinery, are placed in trays, skips, or baskets made of
galvanized iron wire or other suitable material and provided with handles to
facilitate their being moved about and raised from or lowered into cisterns
or vats by cranes or other suitable appliances. The trays or baskets with
their contents are now immersed in cold soft water contained in vats or
cisterns having removable grids at the bottom to admit of the separation
of any deposit or sedimentary matter, and the fibre is allowed to soak therein
for a space of about twenty-four hours, at the end of which time the water is
to be withdrawn. The cisterns or vats are then refilled with clean soft water,
which with the fibrous materials or fibres is maintained at a temperature of

page_text: from 90° to 100° Fahrenheit for a space of twenty-four hours by passing steam
into the cisterns or vats by means of any convenient apparatus connected
therewith. The fibrous materials are then removed, and passed between
grooved or fluted rollers under a suitable pressure to express the water and
various impurities dissolved by the foregoing treatment, and also to break and
soften the fibre, and are then treated with vegetable, animal, or mineral oils,
if necessary, and replaced in trays or baskets constructed in the manner
herein-before described, but provided in this case with partitions or divisions
for keeping the fibres straight and preventing matting, and said baskets or
trays are then placed in an air-tight chamber or vat having a removable grid or
removable perforated false top and bottom. After the air has been exhaused by
any ordinary means from the chamber or vat, the bleaching liquor, which
consists of a solution of caustic soda or other caustic alkali, is admitted at the
bottom, and forced up through the fibrous materials untill said vat or chamber
is filled, and the materials are to remain thus saturated for about twelve hours
at a temperature of 120° to 212° Fahrenheit according to the nature
of the fibrous materials acted upon and the purpose for which they are
intended. The air is then to be admitted into the vat or chamber and the
waste liquor drawn off, when the fibrous materials are subjected to the action
of a solution of soap and soda, or caustic soda, or other alkali, untill the colour-
ing matter has been removed. The soap and alkali or caustic alkali may be
applied either by forcing into the vat or chamber a solution of these ingredients,
or they may be conveyed into the fibrous materials by means of steam, in
which latter case, either steam raised from a solution of soap and alkali or
caustic alkali is passed through the materials, or steam generated in the
ordinary way is passed through a strong solution of soap and alkali or caustic
alkali contained in a separate vessel, before coming in contact with the
fibrous materials, which latter become thereby impregnated with these
ingredients. When the colouring matter has disappeared, the alkaline and
saponaceous matters are removed by the admission of cold soft water into the
vat or chamber, and after that steam or superheated steam is passed through
the material untill it is perfectly white, lustrous, open, and nearly dry. In
bleaching yarns and piece goods, plain instead of grooved or fluted rollers
are used to extract the water and dirty matter, and in bleaching piece goods,
the trays, skips, or baskets are dispensed with.
Having now set forth the nature of our said Invention, and described what
we consider the best manner of carrying the same into effect, we would observe
in conclusion that we do not claim. as original all the processes of which we
have occasion to make use, as we are aware that some of them have been

page_text: often used before, either alone or as forming part of other combinations; but
what we claim under the aforesaid in part recited Letters Patent is, the com-
bination and arrangement of the various processes, and the apparatus and
appliances to be used therein, substantially in the manner and for the purpose
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Smithies and George Lancelot
Smithies, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fifth
day of July, in the year of our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three.
10
Witness,
CHARLES SMITHIES.
(L.S.)
ALEX. MANN,
GEORGE LANCELOT SMITHIES. (L.B.)
London.