Improvements relating to the Preparation and Treatment of Textile Fibres.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Preparation and Treatment of Textile
Fibres.
I, ALFRED MARIE PAUL BOUILLIANT, of 127, Rue Lafayette, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Agricultural Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:―
My invention relates to an improved process for the preparation and treatment
of textile fibres (such as flax, hemp, ramie and the like) the object of which is
not only to remove the gums, gum-resins and resins which surround and unite
the fibres, but also to impart to these latter a brilliant and silky appearance.
My process is chiefly based upon the employment of saturated solutions of
salts which permit, by reason of their great density and the temperatures to
which they can be raised, the elimination of the gums and resins contained
between the fibres. This novel process can be considered as a kind of osmosis;
the phenomena of endosmosis and exosmosis taking place continuously during
the first part of the operations.
I prefer to employ a saturated solution of sea-salt (chloride of sodium).
As an example I will describe the process in its application to the treatmen;
of ramie, but it is to be understood that other plants containing textile fibres
can be treated in a similar manner by my improved process.
I place about 500 kilogrammes of ramie in a suitable vat, having a double
bottom, and heated by an open fire, and add thereto a sufficient quantity of
saturated solution of chloride of sodium to completely cover the fibres. The
whole is raised to and maintained at a temperature of 105 to 110 degrees Centi.
grade during five hours (this temperature may be varied according to the nature
of the material). Under the influence of this temperature, the resins, gum-
resins and like substances become semi-fluid and in this state are replaced by the
phenomena of osmosis and exosmosis, by the solution of chloride of sodium,
these phenomena being facilitated by the great density of the solution.
All matter enclosed between the fibres rises to the surface of the liquid where
it can be skimmed off.
After this treatment, the ramie is washed with tepid water to remove the
greater part of the sea-salt.
The material is afterwards placed in another vat and covered with a 10 per
cent. solution of soap, boiled for two hours, and the ramie again washed in tepid
water to remove the greater part of the soap.
This done, the fibre is steeped for some minutes in a cold acid solution (by
preference a 1/1000 solution of sulphuric acid). The object of this operation is
to decompose the soap which remains in the cells of the fibres and to replace
such soap by a fatty acid which will protect the fibre during the process of
bleaching and give it a brilliant and silky appearance.
The fibres removed from the acid bath are drained and bleached by the ordi-

page_text: nary methods, such, for example, as cold maceration in hypochlorite of soda
which cannot then attack the fibre.
Data thức 14h
T..1.. 1000
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Freparation and Treatment of Textile
Fibres.
I, ALFRED MARIE PAUL BOUILLIANT, of 127, Rue Lafayette, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Agricultural Engineer, 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 invention relates to an improved process for the preparation and treatment
of textile fibres (such as flax, hemp, ramie and the like) the object of which is
not only to remove the gums, gum-resins and resins which surround and unite
the fibres but also to impart to these latter a brilliant and silky appearance.
My process is chiefly based upon the employment of saturated solutions of
salts which permit, by reason of their great density and the temperatures to
which they can be raised, the elimination of the gums and resins contained
between the fibres. This novel process can be considered as a kind of osmosis;
the phenomena of endosmosis and exosmosis taking place continuously during
the first part of the operations.
I prefer to employ a saturated solution of sea-salt (chloride of sodium), but
I can employ other saline sclutions such as a solution of chloride of calcium,
sulphate of sodium, sulphate of potassium, borate of sodium, acetate of potassium,
hyposulphite of sodium or nitrate of sodium, etc.
As an example I will describe the process in its application to the treatment
of ramic, but it is to be understood that other plants containing textile fibres
can be treated in a similar manner by my improved process.
I place about 500 kilogrammes of ramie in a suitable vat, having a double
bottom, and heated by an open fire, and add thereto a sufficient quantity of
saturated solution of chloride of sodium to completely cover the fibres. The
whole is raised to and maintained at a temperature of 105 to 110 degrees Centi-
grade during five hours (this temperature may be varied according to the nature
of the material). Under the influence of this temperature, the resins, gum-
resins and like substances become semi-fluid and in this state are replaced by the
phenomena of osmosis and exosmosis, by the solution of chloride of sodium
these phenomena being facilitated by the great density of the solution.
In general, any saturated solution of a salt (or of any substance which will
not affect the fibre), of which the density is such that the temperature can be
raised to a high degree (for example 105 to 110 degrees Centigrade and above)
by heating, can be employed in place of the solution of chloride of sodium.
All matter enclosed between the fibres rises to the surface of the liquid where
it can be,skimmed off..
After this treatment, the ramie is washed with tepid water to remove the
greater part of the sea-salt.
The material is afterwards placed in another vat and covered with a 10 per
cent. solution of soap, boiled for two hours, and the ramie again washed in tepid
water to remove the greater part of the soap.

page_text: This done, the fibre is steeped for some minutes in a cold acid solution (by
preference a 1000 solution of sulphuric acid). The object of this operation is
to decompose the soap which remains in the cells of the fibres and to replace
such soap by a fatty acid which will protect the fibre during the process of
bleaching and give it a brilliant and silky appearance.
The fibres removed from the acid bath are drained and bleached by the ordi-
nary methods, such, for example, as cold maceration in hypochlorite of soda
which cannot then attack the fibre.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A novel process for the preparation and treatment of textile fibres in which
the gums, gum-resins and resins held between the fibres are eliminated by
physical action set up by heating the materials in a concentrated salt solution
(preferably a bath of sodium chloride), to a temperature of about 105 degrees
to 110 degrees Centigrade in such a manner that the melted resins and gums
rise to the surface of the bath and the saline solution is substituted therefor upon
the fibre, by reason of the difference of densities existing between the said resins
and the said solution, the fibres being afterwards washed, and treated with an
acid solution, substantially as described.
2. In the process claimed in Claim 1 removing the traces of the salt by
washing the fibre in tepid water, completing the cleansing by immersion in
soap solution, and afterwards rinsing the fibre in tepid water, substantially as
described.
3. In the process claimed in Claim 1, steeping the fibre in a cold solution of
an acid to decompose the soap and to impregnate the fibre with a fatty acid in
order to protect the fibre when it is subjected to the process of bleaching and to
give to it a brilliant and silky appearance, substantially as described.
Dated this. 12th day of March 1900
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.