IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ANILINE COLOURS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Phillips, of Holborn Hill, in the City of
London, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION
OF ANILINE COLOURS."
Sealed the 7th June 1864, and dated the 30th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Phillips at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
December 1863.
I, GEORGE PHILLIPS, of Holborn Hill, in the City of London, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF ANILINE COLOURS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of "Improvements in the Production of Aniline Colours"
consists in the production of lilac and purple colours from aniline and its
homologues, or from salts of the same, when treated in the way herein-after
described, with protoxide of iron, or a suitable salt of the same, with hypo-
chlorite of lime. As an example of my improved process I will take, say,
100 parts of sulphate of aniline and dissolve the same in either hot or cold
water, and then I add thereto 300 parts of protosulphate of iron, commonly
known as " green copperas." This salt of iron is also dissolved in water, either
hot or cold, and then I add 40 parts of hypochlorite of lime or bleaching
powder mixed with cold water. When these ingredients are thus prepared
I mix the whole together and submit the mixture to a temperature ranging

page_text: from 180° to 212° Fahr. for about three hours, more or less, according to the
shade of colour required. When the liquid is filtered the colour will be fit for
the dye bath, and may be used to dye any suitable material of lilac and purple
colour; or, if desired, the dye liquor may be concentrated for topical or surface
printing. Although, for convenience, I prefer to use "bleaching powder,"
I do not confine myself to it, as chlorine water and chlorine may be used;
neither do I confine myself to the proportions of the materials herein named
to produce the colours. These proportions are merely given as an example,
and these may be varied with advantage according to the shade of colour
required. If materials dyed with these colours are subsequently passed through
a bath of ferri-cyanide of potassium or other analogous salt, the blue color will
be very much intensified. I therefore, in some cases, propose to employ this
additional bath.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Phillips in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PHILLIPS, of Holborn Hill, in the City of London, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Phillips, Her special license that I, the said
George Phillips, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said George Phillips, 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 of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ANILINE COLOURS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Phillips, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly described 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Phillips, 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 (that is to say) :-
The whole is then
My Invention of "Improvements in the Production of Aniline Colours"
consists in the production of lilac and purple colours from aniline and its
homologues, or from salts of the same, treated in the manner herein-after
described, combined with protoxide of iron or its salts and hypochlorite of
lime or bleaching powder. The proportions in which the several ingredients
may be combined to produce the desired result may be varied,,but I have
found by repeated experiments that a satisfactory result, may be obtained by
combining about three hundred parts of protosulphate of iron (which is the
salt I prefer) with about one hundred parts of sulphate of aniline or its homo-
logues, and adding thereto, in the manner herein-after explained, the requisite
proportion of hypochlorite of lime or bleaching powder, according to the shade
of color it may be intended to produce. As an example of the mode in which
I proceed I may state that one hundred parts of sulphate of aniline should bé
combined with three hundred parts of protosulphate of iron, commonly known
as green copperas, and to this forty parts of hypochlorite of lime (known as
bleaching powder) dissolved in water are to be added. It is preferable to
dissolve the aniline and iron salt in hot water, and when the solution is cold
the solution of hypochlorite of lime may be added to it.
to be kept at a temperature of about two hundred and twelve degrees Fahren-
heit for from one to four hours, according to the shade of colour required.
The particular colour or shade produced will depend upon the per-centage or
proportion of hypochlorite of lime which is employed in the process, and
therefore by varying the quantity of the hypochlorite of lime various shades
or tints may be obtained. The length of time the boiling process is to be
kept on must depend upon the quantity of hypochlorite of lime or bleaching
powder employed in the operation. The colour thus obtained is soluble in
water and fit for the dye bath upon being filtered, and will dye silk, wool,
linen, and other materials of a durable lilac or purple, as the case may be; or
it may be obtained in a solid state by the ordinary well-known methods. The
colour may be formed either in hot or cold solutions, but I prefer to apply
heat in the way described. The colour may also be produced by mixing the
materials together in a solid state, with or without the addition of water, and
submitting the mixture to a temperature of about two hundred and thirty
degrees Fahrenheit, when a dark mass will be formed from which water will
dissolve out the colour. Although, for convenience, I prefer to use bypo-

page_text: chlorite of lime or bleaching powder, I do not confine myself to it, as chlorine
from any source, such as chlorine water and chlorine gas, may be used.
It will be seen from what has been stated that the requirements to produce
the colours herein referred to are simply a deoxidating body in the presence of
aniline or its salts combined with protoxide of iron or its salts, and that the
proportions of the different substances may be so arranged as to produce
various shades of colour, the protoxide of iron and its salts playing an important
part in controlling the action of the liberated oxygen on aniline and its salts
in producing the shades of colour required.
Fabrics dyed with the colour herein described may, where desirable, bave
the blue shade intensified by passing the dyed material through a solution of a
suitable salt, such as ferrocyanide of potassium, or the colour itself may have
the blue shade intensified by the addition of a small quantity of hydrochloric
or other suitable acid added to the bath before the material to be dyed is
passed through it.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Production
of Aniline Colours," and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as my Invention the combining with aniline or its homo-
logues protosulphate of iron or other suitable proto-salt of iron or protoxide of
iron, for the purpose of controlling the action of the nascent oxygen which is
liberated during the process by the addition of any suitable agent.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Phillips, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
G. PHILLIPS. (L.S.)