IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WOOL AND HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF YARNS AND PIECE GOODS
Year: 1864

page_text: ·LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Ripley, of Bradford, in the County:
of York, Dyer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WOOL
AND HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF YARNS AND PIECE GOODS."
Sealed the 25th April 1865, and dated the 12th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Ripley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th November 1864.
I, HENRY WILLIAM RIPLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York, Dyer, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
WOOL AND HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF YARNS AND PIECE GOODS," to be, as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing wool and hair
for the manufacture of yarns and piece goods. For these purposes wool or
hair is, whilst in the state of fibres, dyed and then steamed to fix the colors.
It is preferred that the fibres of wool or hair should be subjected to the
process of dyeing and steaming in. the state of slubbings, but this is not
essential so long as the fibres are in. an open. state. The fibres of wool
or hair having been dyed they are subjected to the action of steam in
chambers in like manner to that in which some descriptions of printed yarns
are now steamed. The fibres of wool or hair having been thus dyed and
steamed may then be washed with soap or otherwise without prejudice to the-
colors. The processes. of. preparing for and spinning and weaving the fibres.

page_text: may then be gone through as heretofore when employing unsteamed wool or
hair. The piece goods thus manufactured will admit of being finished by
ordinary processes and yet still retain their colors in a high degree of
perfection.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry William Ripley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th May 1865.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILLIAM RIPLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry William Ripley, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
William Ripley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Henry William Ripley, my 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING WOOL AND HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF YARNS AND PIECE
Goops," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry William
Ripley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, 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 I, the said Henry William Ripley, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing wool and hair
for the manufacture of yarns and piece goods. For these purposes wool or
hair is, whilst in the state of fibres, dyed and then steamed to fix the colors.
It is preferred that the fibres of wool or hair should be subjected to the

page_text: process of dyeing and steaming in the state of slubbings, but this is not
essential so long as the fibres are in an open state. The fibres of wool or
hair having been dyed they are subjected to the action of steam in chambers
in like manner to that in which some descriptions of printed yarns are now
steamed. The fibres of wool or hair having been thus dyed and steamed may
then be washed with soap or otherwise without prejudice to the colors. The
processes of preparing for spinning and weaving the fibres may then be gone
through as heretofore when employing unsteamed wool or bair. The piece
goods thus manufactured will admit of being finished by ordinary processes
and yet still retain their colors in a high degree of perfection.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
The mode of dyeing wool or hair which I adopt is that ordinarily in use
when dyeing unspun wool or hair (which is well known) and then I subject
the wool or hair whilst in a moist or wet state to the process of steaming in
like manner to that in which printed yarns are now steamed, that is, in a
closed chamber into which the steam is admitted for the necessary length of
time, as when steaming printed yarns. The wool or hair is kept as open as
possible, either being laid upon perforated trays or otherwise, so as to admit
of the action of the steam on all the fibres of the wool or hair under operation.
The colors of dyed wool or hair are thereby more permanently heightened
and fixed, and the fibres of such wool or hair having been thus dyed and
steamed may then be washed with soap or otherwise and afterwards treated in
the ordinary way for the manufacture of yarns and goods.
I would state that I make no claim to the process of dyeing unspun wool or
hair, nor do I claim the process of steaming separately, but what I claim is
the subjecting of wool and hair to the processes of dyeing and steaming before
spinning.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry William Ripley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY WILLIAM RIPLEY. (L.S.)