IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF WOOL, HAIR, SILE, AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE FIBRES IN MATERIALS COMPOSED OF MIXED FIBRES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Stuart, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields,
Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, .Chemist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF WOOL, HAIR, SILE, AND OTHER
ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE FIBRES IN MATERIALS COMPOSED OF MIXED
FIBRES."
Sealed the 6th August 1869, and dated the 10th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Stuart at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th February 1869.
I, JAMES STUART, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields, Limehouse, in the
County of Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF WOOL, HAIR, SILK, AND
OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE FIBRES IN MATERIALS COMPOSED OF MIXED
FIBRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to mixed fabrics or fabrics composed partly of
animal and partly of vegetable fibres, and has for its objects, firstly, the
separation of the animal fibres, such as, for example, wool, hair, or silk,
from the vegetable fibres, such as cotton, flax, jute, or other fibre; and;
secondly, the effecting of this separation in such manner that the animal
fibre is obtained uninjured either in substance or quality, and in a great

page_text: measure also in colour. In this way rags, carpet cuttings, old carpet,
and other waste material of mixed fibres may be utilized to a greater
extent than has hitherto been found practicable, and as the separated
animal fibre retains in most cases its colour it can oftentimes be worked
up again into articles for use without the necessity of its being re-
dyed.
The plan hitherto adopted for the purpose of separating such fibres
has been to treat the material to be operated upon with acids. This is,
however, objectionable, inasmuch as the animal fibre is by their action
Now I
rotted, and thereby loses it milling and felting properties.
dispense with the acids, and substitute therefor certain ncutral
substances.
My Invention thus consists in subjecting the rags, carpet cuttings,
old carpet, or other material of animal and vegetable fibre intermixed
to be operated upon to the action of chlorides of the metals, or sulphates
of the oxides of the metals, preferring however to use as my active
agent the chloride of aluminium; and in thus treating the material
certain chemical reactions take place whereby the vegetable fibre is
decomposed, and tho animal fibre is recovered uninjured either in
substance or in colour. It is then in a fit state to be at once rc-
manufactured without recarling, spinning, dyeing, or other operations
that have heretofore been necessitated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Stuart in the Great, Scal Patent Office
on the 9th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STUART, of No. 40, Ropemakers Fields, Limehouse, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year 3
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty,
first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Stuart, Her special licence that
I, the said James Stuart, my executors, administrators, and assigns,.

page_text: or such others as I, the said James. Stuart, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE SEPARA-
TION. OF WOOL, HAIR, SILK, AND OTHER ANIMAL FIBRES FROM VEGETABLE FIBRES
IN MATERIALS COMPOSED OF MIXED FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Stuart, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in 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 James Stuart, 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:-
This Invention relates to mixed fabrics or fabrics composed partly of
animal and partly of vegetable fibres, and has for its objects, firstly, the
separation of animal fibres, such as, for example, wool, hair, or silk,
from the vegetable fibres, such as cotton, flux, jute, or other vegetable
fibre; and, secondly, the effecting of this separation in such manner
that the animal fibre is obtained uninjured either in substance or quality,
and in a great measure also in colour. In this way, rags, carpet cuttings,
old carpet, and other waste material of mixed fibres may be utilized to
a greater extent than has hitherto been found practicable, and as the
separated animal fibre retains in most cases its colour it can oftentimes
be worked up again into articles for use without the necessity of its
being re-dyed.
The plan hitherto adopted for the purpose of separating such fibres
has been to treat the material to be operated upon with acids. This is,
however, objectionable, as the animal fibre is by their action rotted, and
thereby loses its milling and felting properties. Now I dispense with
these acids, and substitute therefor certain neutral substances.
My Invention thus consists in subjecting the rags, carpet cuttings,
old carpet, or other material of animal and vegetable fibre intermixed

page_text: to be operated upon to the action. of chlorides of the metals, or sulphates
of the oxides of the metals, preferring however to use as my active agent
the chloride of aluminium; and in thus treating the material certain
chemical reactions take place whereby the vegetable fibre is decomposed
and the animal fibre is recovered uninjured either in substance or in
colour. It is then in a fit state to be remanufactured without recard-
ing, spinning, dyeing, or other operations that have hitherto been
necessitated.
In order that the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, may be particularly described and ascer-
tained, I now proceed to state the manner in which I treat the material
to be operated upon with the substance I prefer to use, namely, the
chloride of aluminium.
I first make a solution of ingredients in or about the following pro-
portions-In one hundred gallons of hot water I dissolve one hundred
pounds of the sulphate of alumina of commerce; I then add fifty pounds
of chloride of sodium; when this last-named ingredient is added a
reaction takes place; sulphate of soda is formed, and also chloride of
aluminium. With the solution thus made I now saturate or thoroughly
wet the material to be treated. It is then placed on hurdles or in any
suitable arrangement for draining, so as to allow the excess of the
solution to pass therefrom; or the material may be slightly wrung or
pressed for the same purpose. The material is next dried by being
placed in a drying room or by any means convenient for the purpose,
and after being dried it is exposed or subjected either in a drying room
or by some other means to a steady temperature of two hundred degrees
Fahrenheit, and during the time of such exposure or treatment the
chloride of aluminium decomposes, and the resulting volatile products
as they pass off act upon the vegetable fibre, rotting or destroying the
same, but leave the animal fibre uninjured. The material treated is then
scribbled, and the vegetable matter separates in the form of dust. The
vegetable matter may instead be separated by washing, but the fore-
going is the mode I prefer, and the treatment thus described refers more
particularly to rags of light mixed fabrics.
When I treat heavier or denser material, such as carpet cuttings or
old carpet, I make my solution of chloride of aluminium of greater
strength; thus in one hundred gallons of water I dissolve one hundred
and fifty pounds in weight of sulphate of alumina and seventy-five

page_text: pounds of chloride of sodium, and then proceed in the manner herein-
before described.
In some cases I find it more convenient to treat the material by
boiling than by heating in drying rooms, and I then proceed in the
following manner :-I make a solution of sulphate of alumina by dis-
solving one hundred pounds of that substance in one hundred gallons of
water, and with this solution I saturate the rags or other material. They
are then drained, and afterwards placed in a boiling saturated solution
of common salt. In this solution I keep the rags or other material
boiling until the vegetable fibre is decomposed or rotted; the material is
then well washed and dried, and scribbled or carded. I have given the
solution at one hundred pounds of sulphate of alumina to one, hundred
gallons of water, because I find that to be of a good or useful strength
in treating rags; I do not, however, confine myself to those proportions,
nor do I confine myself to two hundred degrees of heat, but may vary
the heat according to the nature of the material under treatment.
The above description shews clearly the manner in which I prefer to
obtain the chloride of aluminium, the agent I prefer to employ for acting
on the vegetable fibre, but there are several other ways of obtaining
solutions of that chloride; and I propose to carry out my Invention for
decomposing the vegetable matter by using a solution of chloride of
aluminium obtained in any way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish
it to be distinctly understood that what I claim is, the separation of
animal from vegetable fibres by the destruction of the latter by means
of the action of such chlorides of the metals or sulphates of the oxides
of the metals as will decompose at or about the temperature of two
hundred degrees of Fahrenheit in the manner illustrated by the
description in this Specification of the action of chloride of aluminium.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Stuart, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JAMES STUART. (L.S.)