IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING, BLEACHING, AND DYEING WOVEN FABRICS AND PIECE GOODS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Nesham Kirkham, of West Brompton, and
Vernon Francis Ensom, of Highgate, both in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING, BLEACHING, AND DYEING
WOVEN FABRICS AND PIECE GOODS,"
Sealed the 8th November 1864, and dated the 12th May 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham
and Vernon Francis Ensom at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 12th May 1864.
We, THOMAS NESHAM KIRKHAM, of West Brompton, and VERNON FRANCIS
ENSOM, of Highgate, both in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING, BLEACHING, AND
DYEING WOVEN FABRICS AND PIECE GOODS," to be as follows:-
For these purposes the woven fabrics or piece goods are wound on to
rollers which are hollow and perforated, or formed with numerous holes
suitable for the free passage of the cleansing, bleaching, or dyeing fluids or
liquors. By these means the fluids or liquors may be forced through the
fabrics from the interior of rollers outwards, and may also be drawn from the
exterior inwards through the woven fabrics to the interior of the rollers.
These rollers are provided with flanges against which the selvages of the
fabrics come, and in some cases bands or hoops are applied around the lists
or, selvages of the fabrics so as to compress them more or less at their outer
Price 8d.]

page_text: edges. When the rollers are of large diameter the central parts are arranged
to exclude the fluids or liquors by forming the, rollers double with a space
between the two parts of which the roller is composed, the fluids or liquors
being received into such space. These rollers are placed in closed boxes or
chambers within which the fluids or liquors are contained, which by means
of pumps or other apparatus are made to flow from the interior of the rollers
outward or from the interior of the boxes or chambers into the interior of the
rollers.
No claim is made to the apparatus herein described, the peculiarity of the
Invention consisting in the new process, herein described, of cleaning,
bleaching, and dyeing woven fabrics and piece goods.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon Francis Ensom in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
NESHAM KIRKILAM, of West Brompton, and VERNON FRANCIS ENSOM, of
Highgate, both in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon Francis Ensom, Her
special licence that we, the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon
Francis Ensom, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon Francis Ensom,
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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING,
BLEACHING. AND DYEING WOVEN FABRICS AND PIECE GOODS," 'upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon
Francis Ensom, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, should particularly describe and ascertaiu the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: 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 Thomas Nesham Kirkham and
Vernon Francis Ensom, 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:-
For these purposes the woven fabrics or piece goods are wound on to
rollers which are hollow and perforated, or formed with numerous holes
suitable for the free passage of the cleansing, bleaching, or dyeing fluids or
liquors. By these means the fluids or liquors may be forced through the
fabrics from the interior of rollers outwards, and also drawn from the exterior
inwards through the woven fabrics to the interior of the rollers. These
rollers are provided with flanges against which the selvages of the fabrics
come, and in some cases bands or hoops are applied around the lists or
selvages of the fabrics so as to compress them more or less at their outer
edges. When the rollers are of large diameter, the central parts are
arranged to exclude the fluids or liquors by forming the rollers double, with a
space between the two parts of which the roller is composed, the fluids or
liquors being received into such space. These rollers are placed in closed
boxes or chambers, within which the fluids or liquorsare contained, which by
means of pumps or other apparatus are made to flow from the interior of
the rollers outwards or from the interior of the boxes or chambers into the
interior of the rollers.
No claim is made to the apparatus herein described, the peculiarity of the
Invention consisting in the new process, herein described, of cleaning,
bleaching, and dyeing woven fabrics and piece goods.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a cylinder contained in a box or chamber which may be
closed or not at top when in use, and it is to be fluid-tight, so that when fluid
is pumped or forced into the box or chamber it will penetrate into the interior
of the cylinder, and pass away through the hollow axis. Figure 2 shows au
end elevation of the box or chamber and the hollow axis of the cylinder.
Figure 3 shows a transverse section of the cylinder, together with clamps by
which the selvages of the fabrics are pressed and held securely. Figure 4
shows a section on a larger scale of the filling piece b: at the end of the box or
chamber b, b, which is lifted out with the cylinder, and it is kept down when

page_text: in its place and in use by a screw, as shewn. The fabric is wound evenly on
to the cylinder a, a, and the selvages are clamped by the clamps c, c. The
fluids, whether for cleansing, or bleaching, or dyeing, are pumped or forced
alternately through the hollow axis d. d, into the interior of the cylinder a,
thence outwards through the layers of fabric into the box or chamber, then to
the interior of the box or chamber through the layers of fabric into the
interior of the cylinder, and thence out through the hollow axis d, d. The
changing of the direction of the flow of the liquids is to be carried on till the
desired result has been obtained.
.It should be stated that although it is preferred that the woven fabrics or
piece goods treated by these processes should be wound on to a hollow
cylinder, it is evident that the form of the hollow body around which the
woven fabrics or piece goods are wound may be varied, as, for instance, a
comparatively flat hollow body with parallel surfaces may be used in a similar
manner, or the fabrics may be folded in numerous parallel layers, and
arranged between two perforated plates or surfaces, which being placed so as
to divide the box or chamber, and so as to form a partition therein, and the
liquids may then be pumped or forced alternately through from one side of
such partition, and then through the other.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Nesham Kirkham and Vernon
Francis Ensom, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
T. N. KIRKHAM.
(1.S.)
VERNON F. ENSOM. (L.S.)