A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE VEGETABLE FIBRES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery
"
Lane, in the county of Middlesex for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
PROCESS FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE VEGETABLE FIBRES communicated
to him from abroad by Edmond Frémy, Member of the Institute of France
and Victor Urbain, Engineer and Chemist, both of Paris, France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th February 1883.
"
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the county
of Middlesex, "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE
VEGETABLE FIBRES [communicated to him from abroad by Edmond Frémy,
Member of the Institute of France and Victor Urbain, Engineer and Chemist, both
of Paris, France]
It has been found difficult to render many vegetable fibres, such as those of
Rhea or China Grass, suitable for textile purposes, on account of the cement which
binds the fibres together and the coloured pellicule which envelopes them. The
communicants of this invention have discovered that the substances which have to
be removed in order to render the fibres useful are Pectose, Cutose and Vasculose,
and the present invention consists in a process for dissolving these without injuring
the fibres. This may be effected in two different ways,-first by subjecting the
fibres to the double action of caustic alkali and pressure, the cement and pellicule
being, by this action, transformed into resinous acids, which are soluble in
alkalies; secondly, by subjecting the fibres, in the first place to the action of
oxidants, such as nitric or chromic acids, permanganate of potassa, hypochlorites,
chlorine, bromine, oxygenated water or unstable oxides generally. When the
cement and pellicule are, by the reaction of the oxidants, transformed into resinous
acids, the material is subjected to the action of solutions of alkalies or their
carbonates, or mixtures of these, under ordinary pressure, the resinous acids being
thus dissolved.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th August
1883.
"
JOHN IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex "A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE
VEGETABLE FIBRES A communication to me from abroad by Edmond Frémy,
Member of the Institute of France and Victor Urbain, Engineer and Chemist, both
of Paris, France
It has been found difficult to render many vegetable fibres, such as Rhea or
China Grass, suitable for textile purposes, on account of the cement which binds
the fibres together and the colored pellicle which envelops them. The communi-
cants of this invention have discovered that the substances which have to be
removed in order to render the fibres useful for manufacturing purposes are Pectose,
Cutose and Vasculose, and the present invention consists in a process for discharging-
these substances without injuring the fibres.
The character of the process about to be described has to be more or less varied
according to the proportions in which the ingredients that are to be removed exist
in the crude material, and according to the purpose to which the prepared fibres
are to be applied. If they are to be used for purposes requiring strength and
tenacity, as for cordage, it is better not to remove from the material its cutose and
vasculose, but to remove only its Pectose. If, on the other hand, the fibres are to be
used for textile purposes, they should be thoroughly cleared of the Cutose and
Vasculose as well as the Pectose, so as to obtain them in a soft silky condition, fit
for spinning and weaving very fine textures. Qualities of fibre intermediate
between those applicable for cordage and those applicable for fine textures may be
obtained by treatment to remove the Pectose and Cutose but to leave the whole or
part of the Vasculose. Many of the materials, such as those of the China Grass
kind, though they can be treated in their green or crude condition, are more easily
and thoroughly dealt with after thay have undergone a preliminary process of
As
steaming which furnishes the material in the form of long flexible ribands.
different materials contain the substances to be removed in different proportions, it
is necessary in the first place to ascertain by analysis what those proportions are,
and to modify the treatment accordingly. The nature of the process may, however,
be so far understood by several examples, that the manufacturer aided by proper
analysis could apply it with suitable modifications in other cases.
It has been found by analysis that certain of the materials ordinarily used
(which are set out as examples so as to illustrate the process to be employed)
contain ingredients according to the following Table :-

page_text: Again, in Algerian Rhea, having a pellicle almost exclusively composed of
Vasculose, the Pectose and Vasculose appear in considerable proportion, the Cutose
being in small quantity. In like manner, the proportions in other materials being
first ascertained by analysis the process applicable will be understood as
follows:-
To remove Pectose when it predominates, or when it is desired only to remove
this substance, without (removing the Cutose and Vasculose, so as to leave the
fibres in condition suitable for cordage or such like purposes, the material is boiled
at ordinary pressure for 3 hours in a liquor containing a weight of dry carbonato
of soda equivalent to / of the weight of Pectose, this quantity of carbonate of
soda being, according to the preceding table about 8 per cent of the total weight of
the material treated.
rds
To remove Cutose and Pectose, without removing Vasculose, a similar operation
is applied, but instead of carbonate of soda, caustic soda is used in quantity
amounting to / of the weight of Pectose and Cutose taken together. This
quantity of caustic soda, in the case of Flax or Hemp, would be about 5 per cent
and in the case of Rhea about 4 per cent of the total weight of the dry material
treated. When Vasculose predominates, as in Algerian Rhea, or when it is desired
to have the fibres thoroughly cleared, the material is boiled for three hours, under
a pressure of not less than 60 lbs per square inch, in a solution containing a weight
of caustic soda equivalent to that of the Vasculose to be removed amounting
according to the table to about twelve per cent of the total weight of Algerian
Rhea treated. This treatment for Vasculose serves also to remove the Pectose and
the Cutose, so that no other bath is required for their removal. The complete
purification of the fibres may be tested by subjecting a sample to the action of
bi-hydrated sulphuric acid in which it should dissolve without any residue. Fibres
prepared in this manner but with excess of alkali are suitable for paper pulp.
When it is desired to apply the process to materials other than those mentioned
in the preceding Table, a careful preliminary analysis must be made in order that
the reagents may be applied in suitable proportions. As a guide to the analyst, it
should be noted that dilute hydrochloric acid, boiling, dissolves pectate of lime,
setting free pectic acid, which may be neutralised by an alkali, and it also
transforms pectose into pectine which can be precipitated by alcohol. Cellulose is
dissolved by ammoniauret of copper and boiling hydrochloric acid renders para-
cellulose soluble in ammoniauret of copper. Bi-hydrated sulphuric acid dissolves
cellulose substances. A boiling solution of potassa dissolves cutose, and under
pressure, it dissolves Vasculose. Dilute nitric acid renders Vasculose soluble in
alkaline solutions.
Having thus described the nature of the said invention and in what manner it
is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, I would
have it understood that no general claim is here intended to be made for the
treatment of vegetable fibrous materials with alkalies or their compounds, as this
is frequently done without regard to the particular substances that have to be
acted on, or to the particular proportions in which the reagents should be applied,
but as far as I know there has been hitherto no successful manufacture of the
materials above referred to by treating fibrous bodies according to a regulated
process such as is herein before described. According to that process the character
of the raw fibrous bodies operated upon is first ascertained by analysis and the
chemical agents are applied in a regulated manner which is varied just as analysis
may indicate variation to be necessary, having regard to the purposes for which
the prepared fibrous materials are to be used so that in all cases the required
character of prepared material may with certainty be obtained from the raw
substances acted upon. I therefore claim:
The manufacture of fibrous materials suitable for cordage or for fine textile
fabrics or for intermediate purposes by treating vegetable fibrous bodies in a
regulated manner with the chemical reagents herein before mentioned and substan-

page_text: tially in the manner described, such reagents being employed to remove from the
fibrous bodies any desired proportion of the pectose, cutose and vasculose which
they are found by analysis to contain.
In Witness whereof I the said John Imray have hereunto set my hand and
seal this second day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty three.
TAUN TAD AV Gal