IMPROVE- MENTS IN BLEACHING FEATHERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BLEACHING FEATHERS."-A communication from abroad by
Adolphe Pierre Viol, and Cèsaire Pierre Duflot, Feather Manufacturers,
both of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 8th May 1866, and dated the 20th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
November 1865.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING FEATHERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the bleaching and dyeing of all kinds of feathers.
Certain kinds of feathers, such as those of the ostrich or vulture, are naturally
of a black, brown, grey, or other more or less unsuitable color, which have
only hitherto been used in a natural state or after being dyed black.
This Invention relates to a method of removing the natural color so as to
render the feather white, or nearly so, in order to afterwards dye them of any
color or shade by the ordinary processes.
The following is the method of operation:-I first bleach the feather by
depriving it of its natural color by means of chlorine in solution or in a gaseous
state; or I I may use for this purpose chlorides, chlorites, or chlorates, sulphurous

page_text: acid, either in solution or in a gazeous state, sulphites, chromates, bichromates,
and all kinds of salts and oxygenated or other acids; or, lastly, by means of
alkalies, soda, or potash, all of which means may be employed either separately
or simultaneously.
The method furnishing the best result in the bleaching of feathers in order
to extract their natural color consists in steeping them in a weak solution of
azotic acid, which contains chromate or bichromate of potash. The feathers
when steeped in this bath lose their natural color, the carbon and coloring
matters contained in the feather and quills are consumed by the matters, and
so caused to disappear, the plume becoming white, or sufficiently so to enable
it after washing to be dyed in the ordinary way.
The Invention thus consists in bleaching all kinds of feathers for the purpose
of depriving them of their natural color, so as to render them white, or nearly
so, in which state they may be employed, or they may afterwards be dyed and
metallized or otherwise ornamented as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Clark, 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 BLEACHING FEATHERS," a communication to me from abroad by
Adolphe Pierre Viol and Césaire Pierre Duflot, Feather Manufacturers, both
of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in

page_text: 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 William Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the bleaching and dyeing of all kinds of feathers.
Certain kinds of feathers, such as of the ostrich or vulture, are naturally black,
brown, grey, or other more or less unsuitable colors, which have only hitherto
been used in a natural state or after being dyed black.
This Invention relates to a method of removing the natural color, so as to
render the feathers white, or nearly so, in order to afterwards dye them of any
color or shade by the ordinary processes.
The following is the method of operation:--I first bleach the feather by
depriving it of its natural color by means of chlorine in solution, or in a
gazeous state; or I may use for this purpose chlorides, chlorites, or chlorates,
sulphurous acid, either in solution or in a gazeous state, sulphites, chromates,
bichromates, and all kinds of salts and oxygenated or other acids; or, lastly,
by means of alkalies, soda or potash, all of which means may be employed
either separately or simultaneously.
The method furnishing the best result in the bleaching of feathers in order
to extract their natural color consists in steeping them in a weak solution of
azotic acid, which contains chromate or bichromate of potash. The feathers
when steeped in this bath lose their natural color, the carbon and coloring
matters contained in the feathers and quills are consumed by the matters, and
so caused to disappear, the plume becoming white, or sufficiently so to enable
it after washing to be dyed in the ordinary way.
The Invention thus consists in the method of bleaching all kinds of feathers
for the purpose of depriving them of their natural color, so as to render them
white, or nearly so, in which state they may be employed, or they may be
afterwards dyed of any color, metallized, or otherwise ornamented as desired.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would remark that I am aware that it is common to dye white
feathers; but that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, bleaching or extracting the
color from black or brown feathers by the herein-before described means, in

page_text: order to render them white or nearly so, they being afterwards dyed in one or
more colors by the ordinary processes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (LS.)