A NEW COMPOSITION FOR BLEACHING WOOL AND COTTON
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR BLEACHING WOOL AND COTTON."-A com-
munication from abroad by William Joseph Lande of Melbourne,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th December 1870.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR BLEACHING WOOL AND COTTON," a
communication to me from abroad by William Joseph Lande, of
Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, Commission Merchant, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of a new composition for bleaching wool and
cotton, which is made in the following manner :- -I first dissolve sixteen
parts (by weight) of common soap or saponacious material in eighty
parts (by weight) of hot water, and to it I add one part (by weight) of.

page_text: cyanide of potassium, stirring it up together. This mixture or com-
position I then allow to cool, when it becomes a congealed mass fit for
use, and can be kept in bottles or other suitable vessels till required.
For the purpose of bleaching wool it is only necessary to prepare a
sufficient amount of water heated to about eighty degrees Fahrenheit,
and then to add to it a certain amount of the said composition in the
proportion (by weight) of one of composition to fifty of water. The
wool is then to be dipped into this solution, and allowed to remain for
about two minutes, after which it is to be passed through or rinsed in
cold water, and the process of bleaching is completed.
For the purpose of bleaching cotton it is necessary for it to undergo
similar treatment lasting for a longer or shorter period according to its
condition.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license,
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson,
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 "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR BLEACHING WOOL AND COTTON," a communica-
tion to me from abroad by William Joseph Lande, of Melbourne, in
the Colony of Victoria, Commission Merchant, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors

page_text: or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:
The said Invention consists of a new composition for bleaching wool
and cotton, which is made in the following manner:-I first dissolve
sixteen parts (by weight) of common soap or saponicious material in
eighty parts (by weight) of hot water, and to it I add one part (by
weight) of cyanide of potassium, stirring it up together. This mixture or
composition I then allow to cool, when it becomes a congealed mass
fit for use, and can be kept in bottles or other suitable vessels till
required.
For the purpose of bleaching wool it is only necessary to prepare a
sufficient amount of water heated to about eighty degrees Fahrenheit,
and then to add to it a certain amount of the said composition in the
proportion (by weight) of one of composition to fifty of water. The wool
is then to be dipped into this solution, and allowed to remain for about
two minutes, after which it is to be passed through or rinsed in cold
water, and the process of bleaching is completed.
For the purpose of bleaching cotton it is necessary for it to undergo
similar treatment lasting for a longer or shorter period according to its
condition.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of performing it, I would have it understood that I do not con-
fine myself to the precise details herein set forth and described, such as
the precise proportions of the ingredients mentioned; neither do I
confine myself to the use of soap with cyanide of potassium so long as
the latter article itself is used for the purpose herein set forth and
described; but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the use of cyanide of potassium in combination

page_text: preaching wool and cotton.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Second day of June.
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.