An Improved Dressing or Finishing Compound for Woven Fabrics.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Dressing or Finishing Compound for Woven Fabrics.
I ERNST ROBERT LOUIS BLUMER Junior, trading as Hermann Zwieger,
Nachfolger, of Zwickau, Saxony, in the Empire of Germany, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My said invention relates to an improved dressing or finishing compound for
woven fabrics. Dressing as at present prepared and containing chlorate of
magnesium is subject to this disadvantage that fabrics treated therewith and dyed or
printed with aniline colours are apt, when being calendered, to have the printed or
dyed colours altered by the development, through heat, of hydro-chloric acids. In
addition to this the chlorute of magnesium is a great absorbent of damp with the
result that goods treated therewith when kept warehoused or in the course of water
carriage are apt to become spotted and stained.
According to my invention I produce a dressing or finishing which while
retaining chlorate of magnesium as an element, will nevertheless not affect the colours
in fabrics and is not of a hygroscopic nature, that is to say is not so readily affected
by atmospheric changes and is not easily affected by damp. The improved dressing
also imparts greater pliability to the material.
The means whereby my improved dressing avoids altering the colours of the
fabrics consists in the addition of a proportion of borax to the dressing, while the
tendency of the dressing to attract damp is met and remedied by the addition of a
certain quantity of rye-flour.
In preparing a dressing in accordance with my invention I take say 15 lbs. of
chlorate of magnesium, 5 lbs. of water and 1 lb. of borax and boil them together
till they become a neutral solution. I then take 17 lbs. of starch, and 5 lbs. of ryo-
flour and boil these with 100 lbs. of water by the aid of high pressure steam or other
means, and then add the before mentioned solution.
The improved dressing which is of the consistence of thin paste is now complete
and may be poured into casks or oilier convenient receptacles. The borax in the
dressing prevents the developement of hydrochloric acid so that aniline colours in the
fabric are not affected or destroyed. The rye-flour has the property of preventing the
absorption of damp and prevents the crystallization of the chlorate of magnesium thus
preserving the pliability of the fabric. The rye-flour bas also the effect of preventing
the appearance of markings on the surface of the cloth, by folding for example or by
the buyer's test of drawing the thumb-nail over the cloth.
My improved dressing might also contain other ingredients such as are well
known in dressings of this nature, such for instance as Epsom salt, size, syrup,
dextrine and the like.
The relative proportions of the materials I have mentioned might be varied from
those set forth without departing from the spirit of my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to bo performed 1 declare that what
I claim is.
1. The improved dressing or finishing compound for woven fabrics substantially
as hereinbefore set forth.
2. In a dressing or finishing compound for the treatment of woven fabrics

page_text: containing aniline colours and dyes, the combination of water, chlorate of magnesium
and starch with a proportion of borax for the purposes and substantially as set forth.
3. A dressing for the treatment of woven materials and consisting in the
combination of chlorate of magnesium, water, starch, and borax with a proportion of
rye-flour for the purposes and substantially as herein before set forth.
Dated the 14th day of December 1896.
For the Applicant,
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
15 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agents.