IMPROVED PREPARATIONS APPLICABLE TO WOVEN AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE PURPOSE PROALATION THE PURPOSE OF RENDERING THE SAME UNINFLAMMABLE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Donald Nicoll, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the
City of London, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
PREPARATIONS APPLICABLE TO WOVEN AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE PURPOSE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Donald Nicoll at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st May 1872.
I, DONALD NICOLL, of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED PREPARATIONS APPLICABLE TO WOVEN AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF RENDERING THE SAME UNINFLAMMABLE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a facile means of rendering
vegetable tissues uninflammable. The Invention applies to cotton and
linen fabrics, and also to paper; but the treatment of the latter material
will somewhat differ from that of the former.

page_text: To render textile fabrics non-inflammable it will be convenient to give
them this property when applying starch or a stiffening material thereto.
To this end I make a new preparation of starch, which may be used like
ordinary starch. Thus I take, for example, say, sago flour 25 per cent.,
and rice flour or its equivalent 20 per cent. These I mix together in a mill,
adding thereto ultramarine in quantity sufficient to bring up the color.
To this flour I add of dry sulphate of ammonia, say, 45 per cent., which I
mix intimately. I then prepare a mixture in equal proportions of
powdered borax and dextrine moistened with water. These I place in a
vessel maintained at a heat somewhat exceeding 200 deg. to effect
their thorough amalgamation. When this is effected I add to the starch
compound 10 per cent. of this mixture, and reduce the whole to a fine
powder by grinding. A dry compound is thus prepared which may be
employed like ordinary starch for stiffening woven fabrics. The sulphate
of ammonia in this compound serves to render the fabrics to which it is
applied uninflammable; and it is this same material which I propose to
apply to paper for the like purpose. Instead however of providing in this
case a dry preparation I find it convenient to manufacture a solution
suitable for application to the paper. Thus to a gallon of water I
add, say, four ounces of alum; and to this solution I add a mixture
of sulphate of ammonia and dextrine. Of the sulphate of ammonia I
take, say, eight ounces, and of the dextrine half an ounce for each
gallon of the solution to be made. These two substances I place in a
closed vessel, and rotate the same in a bath of steam or water somewhat
exceeding a temperature of 200 degrees. When these substances have
been well mixed I add the alum water, close up the vessel, and continue
its rotation until all the ingredients are dissolved. The solution thus
obtained is to be kept in closed vessels until required for use.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Donald Nicoll, Her special licence that
I, the said Donald Nicoll, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Donald Nicoll, 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 "IMPROVED PREPARATIONS
APPLICABLE TO WOVEN AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RENDERING
THE SAME UNINFLAMMABLE,' upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Donald Nicoll, my executors or administrators, 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 Donald Nicoll, 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) :-
The object of this Invention is to provide a facile means of rendering
vegetable tissues uninflammable. The Invention applies to cotton and
linen fabrics, and also to paper; but the latter material will require
a somewhat different treatment from that of the cotton and linen
fabrics.
To render the textile fabrics non-inflammable, according to my
Invention, it will be convenient to give them this property at the time
of applying starch or a stiffening material thereto. In furtherance of
this end I make a new preparation of starch, which may be used after
the manner of ordinary laundresses' starch. Thus I take, for example,
say, sago flour five pounds, and rice flour or its equivalent four pounds;
these I mix together in a mill, adding thereto ultramarine sufficient to

page_text: bring up the colour. To this flour I add, say, ten pounds of the com-
pound, which I will now describe. I first prepare a mixture in equal
proportions of powdered borax and dextrine moistened with water.
These substances I place in a vessel maintained at a heat somewhat
exceeding two hundred degrees to ensure their thorough amalgamation.
To this mixture I add dry sulphate of ammonia in the proportion, say, of
nine pounds of this substance to two pounds of the borax and dextrine,
and mix the ingredients intimately, whereby a compound is produced
suitable for admixture with the starch. When this is effected I reduce
the whole to fine powder by grinding. A dry compound is thus pre-
pared which may be employed like ordinary starch for stiffening woven
fabrics. Instead of combining the sulphate of ammonia with the
dextrine and borax mixture, as above described, it may be added to
the starch (together with the other materials) without such preparatory
combination, and a like result will be obtained by grinding the several
substances together in the mill.
In treating paper, according to my Invention, to render the same
uninflammable, instead of providing a dry preparation I manufacture a
solution suitable for application to the paper in the following manner :—
In one gallon of water I dissolve, say, four ounces of alum, and to this
solution I add a mixture of dry sulphate of ammonia and dextrine. Of
the sulphate of ammonia I take, say, eight ounces, and of the dextrine
half an ounce for each gallon of the solution to be made. These two
substances I place in a closed vessel, and rotate the same in a bath of
steam or water somewhat exceeding a temperature of two hundred
degrees. When these substances have been well mixed I add the alum
water, close up the vessel, and continue its rotation until all the ingre-
dients are dissolved. The solution thus obtained, if not required for
immediate use, is to be kept in closed vessels. The paper to be rendered
uninflammable is to be steeped in or run through a bath of the above-
described solution, and it may then be dried in the manner now
commonly practised by paper manufacturers.
I would remark that although I have given definite proportions of
the materials which I employ in the manufacture of the dry preparation
and of the solution, yet I do not limit myself to those proportions, as
they may doubtless be varied, without materially affecting the desired
result.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Pre-
parations applicable to Woven and other Fabrics for the Purpose of
Rendering the same Uninflammable," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the dry and liquid pre-
parations above described, and their application to woven and other
fabrics for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Donald Nicoll, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
DONALD NICOLL. (L.S.)