Improvements in the Manufacture of Alizarine-lumps.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Alizarine-lumps.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been com-
municated to me by the Badische Anilin and Soda Fabrik, of Ludwigshafen-on-
Rhine, in the Empire of Germany) to be as follows:-
Alizarine is used in dyeing in the form of a paste (usually twenty per cent.)
when this becomes dried the colouring-matter loses its capacity for dyeing. Many
attempts have been made to produce dry alizarine, which, on treatment with water,
could be converted into a paste suitable for dyeing. Three methods for this purpose
are described in the Specifications of German Letters Patents Nos. 36289, 38454
and 81230. According to these specifications the following bodies are mixed with
alizarine before drying, viz.:-the chlorides of sodium, potassium and ammonium,
potassium sulphate, glycerine, syrup, molasses and starch, and the mixtures so
obtained are described as possessing the above mentioned properties.
My foreign correspondents have discovered that certain insoluble mineral bodies
can be used with advantage for producing alizarine lumps of any desired percentage.
Silica in the form for instance known as tripoli and in commerce usually termed
tripolite being silica which is in a fine state of division, or of Kieselguhr (infusorial
earth), or in the form of its compounds, as, for instance, Fuller's earth, pipe-clay,
and the like is especially suitable.
The lumps so produced have the advantage over dry alizarine manufactured
with salts molasses or the like that they can be more easily converted into a paste
by means of water, and that they can be produced of any desired percentage of
colouring-matter, even down to ten per cent. They are further much cheaper than
the dry alizarine produced by means of starch as the insoluble mineral bodies
suited to the purposes of this invention are extremely cheap and as the lumps can
be produced in concentrations below thirty per cent. All bodies hitherto employed
in producing dry alizarine either dissolve, when treated with water, or they swell
with water, for instance sodium chloride, molasses and the like dissolve in water,
and starch swells in water, but the materials used according to this present inven-
tion are insoluble in water and are not changed by it, and it is the discovery of
my foreign correspondents that such insoluble materials have an effect on the
physical nature of the alizarine on drying and that by their use the possibility of
a greater range in the composition of the lumps can be achieved with considerable
economy in cost.
The following example will serve to further illustrate the invention but I do not
limit myself to the details.

page_text: bodies, filter in a filter-press and dry the press-cakes so obtained at a temperature
of about fifty-five degrees Centigrade.
Dated this 17th day of September 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Alizarine-lumps.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by the Badische Anilin and Soda Fabrik, of Ludwig-
shafen-on-Rhine, in the Empire of Germany) and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Alizarine has hitherto been used in dyeing in the form of a paste (usually
twenty per cent.); when this becomes dry the colouring matter loses its capacity
for dyeing. Many attempts have been made to produce dry alizarine, which, on
treatment with water, could be converted. into a paste suitable for dyeing. Three
methods for this purpose. are described in the Specifications of German Letters
Patents Nos 36289, 38454, and 81230. According to these specifications the
following bodies are mixed with alizarine before drying, viz. the chlorides of
sodium, potassium and ammonium, potassium sulphate, glycerine, syrup, molasses
and starch, and the mixtures so obtained are described as possessing the above
mentioned properties.
My foreign correspondents have discovered that certain insoluble mineral bodies
in a state of fine division or fine aggregation can be used with advantage for pro-
ducing alizarine-lumps of any desired percentage. Silica in the form for instance
known as tripoli and in commerce sometimes termed "tripolite," being silica
which is in a fine state of division, or in the form of kieselguhr (infusorial earth),
or in the form of its compounds, as, for instance, Fuller's earth, pipe-clay and the
like, is especially suitable.
The lumps so produced have the advantage over dry alizarine manufactured
with salts, molasses, or the like, that they can be more easily converted into a
paste by means of water, and that they can be produced of any desired percentage
of colouring-matter even down to ten per cent. They are further, much cheaper
than the dry alizarine produced by means of starch, as the insoluble mineral
bodies, suited to the purposes of this invention, are extremely cheap and as the
lumps can be produced in concentrations below thirty per cent. All bodies hitherto
employed in producing dry alizarine either dissolve, when treated with water, or
they swell with water; for instance sodium chloride, molasses, and the like, dissolve
in water, and starch swells' in water; but the materials, used according to this
present invention, are insoluble in water and are not changed by it, and it is the
discovery of my foreign correspondents that such insoluble materials have an effect
on the physical nature of the alizarine on drying, and that by their use the possi-
bility of a greater range in the composition of the lumps can be achieved with
considerable economy in cost.
The following example will serve to further illustrate the invention but I do
not limit myself to the details.

page_text: EXAMPLE.
Mix thoroughly about one thousand parts by weight of twenty per cent. alizarine
with from about four thousand to six thousand parts by weight of water and about
two hundred parts by weight of either of the insoluble mineral bodies above referred
to; filter in a filter-press, and dry the press-cakes so obtained at a temperature of
about fifty-five degrees Centigrade.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. The manufacture of alizarine-lumps by mixing alizarine paste with an
insoluble finely aggregated or divided mineral body hereinbefore defined and
drying the mixture at a low temperature.
2. As a new article of manufacture alizarine-lumps consisting of a mixture of
alizarine paste and an insoluble finely aggregated or divided mineral body as
herein before defined which alizarine lumps can be readily converted into a paste
by means of water and can be produced containing from ten per cent. of colouring-
matter upwards substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. The manufacture of alizarine-lumps as hereinbefore described in the example.
Dated this 30th day of December 1897.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.