CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Félix Alexandre Victor Delarbre, of No. 9,
Broad Street Buildings, in the City of London, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 17th February 1854, and dated the 17th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Félix Alexandre
Victor Delarbre at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 17th August 1858.
I, FELIX ALEXANDRE VICTOR DELARBRE, of No. 9, Broad Street
Buildings, in the City of London, Gentleman, do hereby declare that the
nature of the Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making use of certain agents,-Firstly, to
kill the chrysalises of the silk cocoons, and to dry and expand the
fibres of the latter.
Secondly, to obtain a permanent expansion of the fibres of silk, wool,
and other fibrous substances, for the purpose of fitting them to receive
and retain a larger amount of the dyeing matter.
Thirdly, to extract the dampness of the said substances by a com-

page_text: plete and absolute desiccation in order to ascertain and determine their
real value and invoice weight.
In carrying out my Invention I make use of steam, which I bring
into contact with the cocoons and chrysalises, and moisten the other
fibrous substances. I employ also heat by radiation, which I raise to a
high temperature by any suitable agent. I submit the substances to
the sucking pump, to obtain a vacuum, and heat them alternately or
simultaneously according to circumstances. To ascertain whether the
lessiccation is completely obtained I weigh them in the same apparatus
in which I have operated, taking care to previously re-establish the
atmospheric pressure, though maintaining at the same time a high
temperature within it. I operate for my Invention with any convenient
apparatus into which I can introduce chloride of calcium or any other
suitable absorbing agent.
ADDITION TO PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, FELIX ALEXANDRE VICTOR DELARBRE, of No. 9, Broad Street
Buildings, in the City of London, Gentleman, do solemnly and sin-
cerely declare the nature of the Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in killing the chrysalises of the silk
cocoons in humecting and drying the said cocoons to produce the
swelling or permanent expansion of their fibres in order to facilitate
their unwinding, and to obtain better and more productive supply.
Secondly, in obtaining by the same means a permanent expansion
of the fibres of silk, wool, and other fibrous substances for the pur-
pose of rendering them more fit to receive and retain a larger amount
of dyeing matter, producing in addition a better result when woven.
Thirdly, in exhausting the dampness of silk, wool, cotton, &c., by a
complete and absolute desiccation, in order to ascertain and determine
the amount of water they may contain, thereby fixing their real value s
and invoice weight.
To carry out-my improvements for the two first-named applications
only, I make use of water or of any other suitable fluid steam, which I
bring into immediate contact with the cocoons to kill the chrysalises, to

page_text: mollify the cocoons, and humect the silk and other fibrous substances,
during the several transformations they receive by the different manu-
facturing applications made of them. I employ also heat by radiation,
which I carry to a very high temperature by any suitable agent.
To facilitate the rapidity of the desiccation of the fibrous substances
I submit them to a sucking pump, or to any other suitable agent pro-
ducing the same effect, and by which I obtain and maintain as com-
pletely as possible a vacuum, and I heat them alternately or
simultaneously according to circumstances.
To determine the real weight without dampness, that is to say, to
ascertain whether the desiccation is complete and absolute, I make use
of any suitable apparatus prepared in such a manner that the fibrous
substances are weighed at a certain moment in the same apparatus in
which I have operated, taking care to re-establish previously the
atmospheric pressure within the said apparatus, and maintaining all the
while a high temperature.
I never put the fibrous substances in immediate contact with steam
when I have to determine only their real value and invoice weight by
means of their complete and absolute desiccation.
I operate with any convenient apparatus, and in which I can intro-
duce chloride of calcium or any other suitable absorbing agent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Felix Alexandre Victor Delarbre in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FELIX ALEXANDRE VICTOR DELARBRE, of No. 9, Broad Street Buildings,
in the City of London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing late the Seventeenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the

page_text: seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Felix Alexandre Victor
Delarbre, Her special licence that I, the said Felix Alexandre Victor
Delarbre, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Felix Alexandre Victor Delarbre, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Felix Alexandre Victor Delarbre,
by an instrument 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 Felix Alexandre Victor Delarbre,
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 following statement thereof, that is to say:
The first part of my Invention consists in treating silk, wool, and
other fibrous substances, of which the real value is to be ascertained, in
a vacuum, by radiated heat, by absorbents, chemical or otherwise, in
order to ensure absolute and complete desiccation.
My apparatus consists of a vessel in the form of an inverted bell
with a double bottom. It is open at top and provided with a moveable
lid shutting it as closely as possible. In the interior of the bell I place
the substances to be treated, and submit them to the action of radiated
heat conveyed from the double bottom. An outer casing surrounds
the apparatus, and serves to retain the heat. To hasten the evaporation
of the moisture contained in the substances, I lessen as much as pos..
sible the atmospheric pressure in the interior of the bell by the agency
of a sucking pump, or other machine producing a like effect, put into

page_text: communication with it, and which draws off from the apparatus the
vapor as it is evolved, and thus facilitates the desiccation.
The lid of the apparatus is provided with an aperture through which
passes the beam of a balance holding the substances treated, which may
be thus weighed without removing them from the drying apparatus.
The lid must be so constructed that the vacuum can always be formed
underneath. As for the aperture it is necessary to keep it closed by a
suitable stopper: except at the moment of weighing. A high tempera-
ture (from about 220 degrees to 250 degrees, Fahrenheit) is main-
tained during the weighing, and the atmospheric pressure is re-esta-
blished in the apparatus; the latter is effected by cutting off at first
the communication with the sucking pump, and opening a tap to admit
the air. This portion of air can be driven from the space provided for
it, between the bell and the outer casing; thins the air introduced is
already heated.
As additional means of facilitating the drying operation, I include
the use of chemical compounds or convenient substances having a
considerable affinity for water, and which must be frequently renewed.
.
The second part of my Invention consists in expanding and opening
the fibres of the silk cocoons, and at the same time killing the chry-
sales. For this purpose I introduce into the chamber or apparatus in
which they are enclosed steam, at a temperature higher than boiling
water. After a convenient time I shut off the steam, and heat by
radiation. I put the apparatus in communication with the machine
producing the vacuum. The cocoons and chrysales may be thus com-
pletely desiccated by sufficiently prolonging the operation.
This treatment produces a permanent expansion and opening of
the fibres, facilitates the winding, and renders the cocoons more easily
preserved.
To effect the permanent expansion of the fibres of silk, raw, thrown,
boiled off, or in tissue, I introduce water or any other suitable liquid
in a state of vapour into the apparatus, and heat them by radiation,
simultaneously or alternately, according to circumstances. To dry the
matters treated I lower the pressure of the atmosphere about them,

page_text: and heat them. The temperature is regulated according to the sub-
stances treated thus for treating wool a lower temperature is required
than for silk.
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that I do not claim any of the organs or apparatus herein-before
described; nor do I confine myself to the precise details of operation or
of the construction or materials of the apparatus, nor to the means of
producing radiated heat or vacuum, or to the absorbents employed.
But what I claim as of my Invention, and intended to be protected by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
Firstly, the treating of silk, wool, and other fibrous substances by
vacuum, by radiated heat, and by chemical or other absorbing agents,
to ensure their more rapid desiccation, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the freating of silk, wool, and other fibrous substances by
vacuum, by steam, by radiated heat, and by absorbing agents, to pro-
duce a permanent dilatation, expansion, and opening of their fibres as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, J, the said Felix Alexandre Victor Delarbre,
have hereto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hun-
dred and fifty-four.
A. V. FELIX DELARBRE (L.S.)