IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING COLOR IN CLOTH
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
KÖBER, late of No. 46, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, but now of
Leeds, in the County of York, Cloth Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventh day of March, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Köber, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Köber, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Köber, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING
COLOR IN CLOTH;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said Charles Köber, by an instrument under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Köber, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention consists,

page_text: first, in the use of bichromate of potash as a medium for uniting the colouring
ingredients or wares used dyeing with the wool, whereby a faster, brighter,
and cheaper color is obtained, and the color is more effectually fixed in the
cloth than by using the mordants usually employed, such as sulphate of
iron and sulphate of alumina and potash, or commonly called copperas and
alum.
I do not claim the bichromate of potash as part of my Invention, but I
claim the use and application of it for the purpose of dyeing wool and fixing
the color in cloth.
In consequence of the great affinity of bichromate of potash to the wool as
well as to the coloring ingredients, a comparatively small quantity of bichromate
of potash will fix the dye wares, (that is to say,) one pound weight of bichro-
mate of potash can be used instead of from three to four pounds weight of
alum or copperas; besides which the color produced by the use of bichromate
of potash is fast, in alkali and air, and better resists the operation of scouring
and the milling process employed in the manufacturing of cloth, and less coloring
ingredients are required to be used than by the ordinary mode, because the
color produced thereby being faster, no loss of color will take place by
scouring the cloth with soap, and the fibres of the wool, in the dying of which
bichromate of potash is employed, will not be injured, as they hitherto have
been, by the acids contained in alum or copperas, and, on the contrary, the
cloth will be softer and easier to be scribbled and milled, and consequently the
same quantity of wool will produce a greater and better quantity and quality
of cloth than by the method usually employed. I find the use of the bichro-
mate of potash most successful in preparing the wool for the reception of the
coloring ingredients, and particularly for fixing logwood, fustic, and wold, whilst
red woods and madder are less advantageously acted upon. As the ordinary
coloring ingredients are employed in my application of bichromate of potash,
and as every different shade and color requires a different proportion of ingre-
dients, and as the dye wares differ so much in quality, that sometimes a double
quantity of them is required; it is impossible to state the different propor-
tions in which the bichromate of potash should be used with them, the weight
of bichromate of potash to be employed varying according to the quantity of
ingredients to be fastened to the wool; but I generally employ three pounds
weight of bichromate of potash for preparing one hundred pounds weight of
scoured wool, and I sometimes add two pounds weight of argol or tartar, and
in the liquor thus produced I boil the wool for one hour and a half, and on
the next day I fill the color up with as much of the coloring ingredients as the
desired shade may require.

page_text: My Invention consists, secondly, in obtaining green colors perfectly fast in
acids, alkali, and air by dying the wool blue and then manufacturing the
cloth from the blue wool, so as to make it what is called partly finished cloth
with a white or light colored list and head ends, and then adding the yellow
wares or ingredients to the cloth instead of to the wool, by which means a per-
fectly fast green color will be obtained, in appearance like to wool dyed green
but much faster. The mode of dyeing yellow is too well known to require
any explanation. Every kind of yellow ware is applicable to my Invention, but
I prefer fustic for its fastness; and in thus dyeing the partly finished cloth
yellow, and in order to fasten the color, I use hydrochloric acid saturated with
tin, to which I add as much water as will give the solution a specific gravity
of 12612, or 30° Baume, and of this solution I use from six to seven pounds
weight for every one hundred pounds weight of cloth, besides the usual quantity
of alum and argol. This solution could not be applied to wool in fleeces, as
it would be destructive to the use of soap, and consequently to the milling
process.
My Invention, thirdly, consists in the use of soda and bran for dissolving the
indigo in the vats for dyeing blue, whereby the indigo is better fixed to the
wool and at a less expence than is incurred by the use of woad, madder, and
bran, which are usually employed for that purpose. I use soda in the propor-
tions and in the manner next herein-after described, that is to say:-In a seven
feet vat I heat the water to one hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit;
I then throw into the vat sixty-five pounds weight of bran, thirty-five pounds
weight of common soda (which has about twenty-three per cent. of carbonate
of soda, and four pounds weight of indigo; I then proceed in the same manner
as is usual in woad vats, by adding the usual and requisite quantity of lime;
I then work the vat from one hundred and ten degrees to one hundred and
eighteen degrees Fahrenheit three or four times during the day without
stirring, and in the evening I again heat the vat to a temperature of one hun-
dred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit, adding an additional quantity of
about four pounds weight of lime, six pounds weight of bran, and five pounds.
weight of soda, with such an additional quantity of indigo as I may require to.
consume on the following day and in the evening after this addition is made I.
stir the vat as usual at the above-named temperature of one hundred and
twenty-five degrees. If the vat has been working during the day I add the
above quantity of lime, bran, and soda every evening, which is necessary to'
keep the vat in a proper working state even if no indigo is added. The vat.
being kept in such working state, I from time to time add as much additional

page_text: indigo in the evening as I may require to consume the following day. It is
impossible to state the exact quantity of indigo to be added; any quantity of
indigo from half a pound weight to twenty-five pounds weight may be
added, according to the shade of color required to be produced the following
day. After proceeding in this way for about eight or ten weeks I do not
empty the liquor in the vat, but I withdraw or take out the sediment, and
with the liquor in the old vat I set a new vat, adding thirteen pounds
weight of bran and ten pounds weight of soda, with as much lime and
indigo as I may require. As the use of lime is to check the fermentation
produced by the bran it is impossible to state the exact quantity of lime
which may be required; I employ as much lime as will check the fer-
mentation in the vat to such a degree as will be sufficient to deprive the indigo
of its oxygen without an immoderate fermentation, which is very preju-
dicial. The same observation and application is necessary in working what I
call my soda vat as it is in the ordinary woad vats, except that I do not
employ any woad or madder; but soda may be used in conjunction with woad,
madder, or bran, but I prefer using the soda with the bran only. The vat in
which I use the soda must be perfectly yellow, (that is to say,) the indigo must
be perfectly deprived of its oxygen, or, as it is generally termed, the indigo
must be "sprung," in which case the vat appears yellow. By the use of soda
ashes, (which have forty-six per cent. of carbonate of soda,) instead of common
soda, half the quantity will produce the same effect; pearlash may likewise be
employed if the price will admit of it, and fine sharps may be used instead of
bran. I therefore claim as my Invention,--
First, the use of the bichromate of potash as a substitute for copperas,
alum, and other mordants.
Secondly, the production of perfectly fast green colors by dyeing the wool in
blue and adding the yellow ingredients after it has been manufactured into
cloth.
Thirdly, the use and application to indigo of soda and bran or soda ashes
and bran, either by themselves or mixed with woad and madder, whereby the
color is fixed to the wool better and cheaper than by the use of woad and
madder alone. And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifica-
tion doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the

page_text: proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained,
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Köber, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.
CHARLES (L.s.) KÖBER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid Charles Köber came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.