IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING COTTON WASTE, AND IN UTILIZING THE FLUIDS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Ford, of Woburn Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MODE OF CLEANING COTTON WASTE, AND IN UTILIZING THE FLUIDS EMPLOYED
THEREIN.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Ford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1874.
I, ALFRED FORD, of Woburn Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF CLEANING COTTON WASTE, AND IN UTILIZING THE
FLUIDS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:
-
This Invention relates to improvements in the mode of cleaning cotton
waste, and in utilizing the fluids employed therein of the character
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, dated
22nd January 1874, No. 269, and the novelty of my present improve-

page_text: ments consists in employing oleaginous substances for the purpose of
liquefying the oil contained in dirty cotton waste, and thereby enabling
the same to be effectually pressed out. For this purpose instead of
placing the dirty cotton waste (as described in the Specification before
referred to) in turpentine or some other volatile hydrocarbon I place it
in heavy non-drying oil, such as is usually employed for lubricating or
burning purposes. Drying oils would answer the same purpose, but
would be more expensive and less available. I raise the temperature
of such oil to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabout, and subject it and
the waste which it contains to agitation and pressure in a suitable
vessel or apparatus for the purpose of cleansing the waste from the thick
oil and dirt which it contains. This process will occupy about an hour,
and I then remove the waste, still hot, from the said vessel or apparatus
and subject it to further pressure for the purpose of expressing as nearly
as possible all the oil and dirt which it contains. I then place it in
turpentine, naphtha, petroleum, or some other volatile hydrocarbon for
the purpose of removing all trace of grease or dirt, and when this is
done I dry the cotton waste either by air or heat, or both, in a suitable
chamber, taking care to condense and recover the spirit. I recover the
oil I thus employ and obtain from the oily waste by distillation and
refining in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Ford in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
FORD, late of 21, Woburn Square, in the County of Middlesex, now of
19, Blandford Square, in the said County, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Ford, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Ford, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Ford, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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 MODE OF CLEANING COTTON WASTE, AND IN UTILIZING THE FLUIDS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Ford, 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 Alfred Ford, 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 :-
I charge with a sufficient quantity of oil, of the kind referred to in
my Provisional Specification, a suitable tank or vessel provided with one
or more metal coils for conveying steam, or in some other way fitted for
the generation of heat, and also fitted with some one or other of the
approved instruments or modes of producing agitation, and having raised
the said oil to the temperature of about 212° Fahr., more or less, I
place in it a quantity of cotton waste after it has fulfilled the purposes
for which it is usually employed; and is charged with oil, grease, or dirt,
and subject it for one hour, more or less, to the action of the agitator in
the oil. I then remove the waste so treated to another vessel, also
charged with heated oil, and subject it to a squeezing action by passing
it several times through fluted rollers acting in the oil for the purpose of
more effectually cleansing it. I then remove the waste so treated, and
whilst still saturated with the hot oil subject it to great pressure, either
in hydraulic presses, fluted rollers, or some other approved machine for
that purpose, so as to express as far as possible the oil and dirt contained
in the said waste. I then place the waste thus far prepared in a vessel,
also fitted with some agitating instrument and closely covered to prevent
loss by evaporation, and pour upon it a quantity of turpentine, or some
other light hydrocarbon sufficient to cover the said waste. I then set
the agitator in motion and continue it until I think the oil and dirt still
attaching to the waste has been removed, when I again transfer the

page_text: waste so treated to a pressing machine in order to express from it as far
as possible the spirit or fluid it has absorbed in the last process. I then
place the waste thus prepared in a heated chamber supplied with some
of the known appliances for collecting and condensing the vapour after
the manner of a still, the waste is thus dried, and is then clean and fit &
for use.
I recover the spirit & oil employed & expressed by ordinary
distillation.
I do not claim as new any of the instruments or machinery which I
employ in my process of cleaning cotton waste, other than in so far as
they are specially applicable to my Invention, or any of the fluids which 1
I employ in such cleaning, other than the oil; but I do claim-as-new
the using of oils such as I have described, either at their natural tempe-
rature, or heated as I prefer them, for the purpose of liquifying and
removing the grease and partly oxidized oil, and with them the dirt con-
tained in dirty and oily cotton waste, and recovering the products and 1
reusing them, in and after the manner herein-before mentioned and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Ford, have hereunto set