IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FIBRE AND FABRICS, FOR PRESERVING OR WATERPROOFING THE SAME
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Henson Henson, of 38, Parliament Street,
in the City of Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FIBRE AND FABRICS, FOR PRESERVING OR
WATERPROOFING THE SAME."
Sealed the 14th July 1857, and dated the 16th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Henson Henson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th January 1857.
I, HENRY HENSON HENSON, of 38, Parliament Street, in the City of
Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FIBRE AND FABRICS, FOR PRE
SERVING OR WATERPROOFING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to prevent the absorption or retention of
water by vegetable or animal fibres intended to be used in the manufacture of
fabrics or thread, yarn, ropes, felts, and similar articles, and particularly of
fabrics that, when in use, are exposed to the action of water, fresh or sea water,
to rain or damp atmospheres, or damp situations of any kind, and by such
prevention of absorption to obviate or check the tendency to rotting or decay
incidental to fibres and to fabrics when so exposed.
And my Invention consists in impregnating the said fibres either in their
raw or manufactured state, or at any stage of their preparation or manipula-
tion for thread, yarn, ropes,&c., as such, or for manufacturing purposes, with
some substance or substances having the property of filling up the capilliary
D

page_text: tubes or pores, or of coating the surfaces of the said fibres in such a manner
as shall destroy therein all capilliary or interstitial or superficial attraction for
water; and of several materials that may be so employed I prefer to use some
soluble silicate, and preferably the silicate of soda, and I either leave this
silicate itself in the fibres, or I so treat it, after the fibres have been impreg-
nated with it, as to separate the alkali and leave only the silicic acid itself
in contact with or impregnating or covering the fibres, an effect which can be
attained by the application of several well-known chemical operations for
decomposing an alkaline silicate and removing the alkali, and which act of
decomposition will in this case leave the fibres covered or impregnated, or
their capilliary tubes or interstices filled up with insoluble silicic acid, and so
rendering the fibres to a great extent impervious to water or to atmospheric
or other moisture. Or, I take the fabrics themselves and impregnate them
with the said soluble silicate, and then decompose this silicate, and leave the
insoluble silicic acid in such fabrics as yarns, ropes, canvas, sacking, matting
sail cloths, umbrella cloth, wearing apparel, and every other variety of like or
similar fabrics, thus leaving them also impervious to water or to atmospheric
or other moisture or dampness.
And
my Invention also consists in effecting the preservation from rotting
or decay of certain manufactured fabrics (whether or not made of the pre-
pared fibres, as just described), by covering or impregnating the material on
one side or surface of such fabrics with some waterproofing material, so as to
render such side or surface impervious to dust and moisture, such as carpet
or hair cloths, druggets, felted fabrics of any kind, tickings, seatings, canvas
sacking, matting, and other like or similar articles, are covered on one side
with some composition having the property of effectually coating and of closing
the pores or interstices, and thereby precluding the transmission through
them of all dust or moisture, or their injurious accumulation within or about
the fabrics.
up
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Henson Henson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HENSON HENSON, of 38, Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Henson Henson, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Henson Henson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Henson Henson, my executors, administrators, 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 TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FIBRE AND FABRICS, FOR
PRESERVING OR WATERPROOFING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, 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 Henry Henson Henson, 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:-
The object of my Invention, in the first place, is to prevent the absorption
of water by vegetable or animal fibres that are used in the manufacture of
fabrics of thread, yarn, rope, felt, or of other similar articles, which articles,
when in use, are exposed, or liable to be exposed, to the action of water,
whether in the form of sea or of fresh water, or of rain or damp atmospheres,
ordamp situations of any kind, and consequently to the rotting and decaying
influences of such moisture and of such exposure.
And the object of my Invention, in the second place, is to prevent upon
certain manufactured articles the influence of moisture, of dust, and of injurious
gaseous and volatile matter.
And my Invention, as to the first part, consists in impregnating such fibres
(either in their raw or unmanufactured state, or during any stage of their
preparation or manipulation in or for manufacturing purposes) with some
substance or substances whose application shall result in filling up the capil-
liary tubes or pores, or of coating the surfaces, or of filling up the interstices
of the said fibres in such a manner as to destroy all capilliary action, to act as
a repellent or preventative of absorption of water.
And my Invention, as to the second part, consists in covering one side of

page_text: certain manufactured articles with a coating of some material impermeable to
moisture or to dust, or to injurious gaseous or volatile matters.
In order practically to carry out the first part of my Invention, I treat the
said fibres in one or other manner as follows, namely,-I first prepare a
soluble alkaline silicate, and preferably use any of the silicate of soda for
this purpose. The modes of preparation of these compounds are well known,
and need not be here described. In a solution of the silicate I cause the
fibie to be immersed or steeped till it is fully impregnated therewith; the
excess of the solution adhering to the fibre is then allowed to drain off, and
then treated in one or other way, as follows:-For decomposition of the sili-
cate that is thus left absorbed by or superficially in contact with the fibre, in
order by suchdecomposition to separate or remove the alkaline base, and leave
within the pores or tubes, or adhering to and covering the surface of the fibre,
insoluble silicic acid or silica; or, in order by addition of certain other com-
pounds to theimpregnated fibre, to leave within the pores or tubes, or adhering
to and covering its surface, certain insoluble, or partially insoluble double
silicates, that is to form when in contact with the fibre precipitates of the
alkaline silicate, combined with some earthy or other silicate.
Todecompose the silicate of soda, in order to leave in contact with the fibre
the silicic acid itself, I expose the impregnated fibre to the action of atmo-
spheric air, or preferably to an atmosphere of carbonic acid, or to any gaseous
mixture containing carbonic acid, whereby the decomposition of the alkaline
silicate is effected, and the neutral alkaline carbonate is then either left in the
fibre or removed by washing with water, and then the fibre is dried by exposure
to air, or by any convenient method, thus leaving the silicicacid within or upon
the surface of the fibre. "
I do not confine my Invention to the use of air or of carbonic acid, since
this decomposition may beaccomplished by exposing the impregnated fibre to
the action of other matters, as, for example, to that of a solution of some
salt of ammonia, or to other gaseous patter or to other acids, and the acids
used may be in form of dilute solutions, into which the impregnated fibre is
immersed or dipped, and then washed to remove all soluble saline or acid
matter, and dried previous to use.
To leave within or upon the fibre certain double silicates, I proceed as
follows-To the fibre, when impregnated with (for example) the silicate of
soda, I add a solution of some other compound, according to the kind of
double silicate intended to be formed, and preferably this addition is best made
by dipping the impregnated fibre into a solution of the selected compound.
In this way I employ baryta or lime, or a solution of alumina in soda or

page_text: potash and other preparations, but using preferably the hydrated baryta ;
for this purpose I first steep the fibre in the solution of (say) silicate of soda,
drain off the excess of the solution, and then dip the impregnated fibre to a
solution of (say) the baryta, then drain and air-dry the fibre, upon which,
for most purposes, it is fit for use in the manufacture of fabrics; or, if
desired, previously to being applied for manufacturing purposes, it may be
washed in water, and then dried by exposure to the atmosphere, or by any
other convenient method.
Another method by which I render the fibre and the articles afterwards
manufactured therefrom impervious to moisture, &c., consists in filling up the
pores or capilliary tubes, or in covering its outer surface with some oleaginous
or fatty matter, and this I prefer to accomplish in one or other of the modes
as follow, namely,-first, I form a soap by combination between an alkali,
preferably soda, and linseed oil. In a solution of this soap I steep the fibre till
it is fully impregnated therewith, then I expose this impregnated fibre to the
action of an atmosphere of carbonic acid, or of any gaseous matter containing
carbonic acid, in order so to decompose the soap that by or upon subsequent
immersion or washing in water, the alkaline constituent of the soap may be
removed, and the oleginous or fatty matter only be left within or upon
the surface of the fibre. Or, in place of using carbonic acid for this
purpose, I use liquid acids, such as a dilute solution of hydrochloric or of
acetic acid or others, which on dipping into such dilute acid the soap
impregnated fibre, after washing, the alkaline base of the soap is removed,
and the oleaginous or fatty matter only left in contact with the fibre. Or,
in place of removing the alkali, and leaving only the fatty matter, I prefer
in some cases so to conduct the operations that for the alkaline base (say
the soda), there shall be substituted an earthy base in combination with
the fatty acid of the soap; in other words, that there shall be left within or
upon the surface of the fibre, and as the final result of the operation, an
insoluble soap, that is, a combination of the fatty acid present with an earthy
instead of an alkaline base. And for this purpose I prefer to proceed as
follows: Having, as already described, impregnated the fibre with a solution
of a soluble soap, formed (say) of linseed oil and soda,) I then dip this
impregnated fibre into a solution of some salt (say) of baryta or of lime, and
using preferably in this case the chloride of barium. The result of this
treatment is to form, with the soda of the soap, a soluble chloride of sodium
(removeable by subsequent washing, if desired),and an insoluble soap formed
of the baryta and the fatty acid present, which insoluble soap remains in

page_text: contact with the fibre, and renders it and its after manufactured articles
impervious to moisture.
In using the linseed oil as the oleaginous base of the soap, as above
described, and in those operations which leave the oil itself (or the fatty acid
peculiar to a soap so formed) itself,finally in contact with the fibre, it is neces-
sary practically to bear in mind and prepare against the tendency of such an
oil, when in contact with fibrous matter, to heat in the act of drying. But in
drying the fibre so prepared before its manufacture into articles, it is necessary,
as a precaution against overheating, only to very freely expose it to atmo-
spheric air or to currents of air, and not to heap it up or otherwise confine
the fibre before its covering of oil has become fully dry.
I do not confine my Invention to the use of linseed oil, but apply equally
in a similar manner to other oil or fatty matter, or I use resinous matter
or any other matter capable of forming, in the first place, a soluble soap
then of being decomposed, or of forming, by substitution, insoluble soaps, as
above described.
The several operations just described as applicable to fibres, it will be
understood are equally applicable to fabrics and articles in their manufactured
state when made from such fibres, that is, such manufactured articles can be
made impervious to moisture and other injurious matter by being treated,
after their manufacture, in the manner herein-before described.
And my Invention also consists in effecting the preservation from rotting or
decay of certain manufactured fabrics (whether or not made of the prepared
fibres as just described), by covering or impregnating the material on one side
or surface of such fabrics with some waterproofing material, so as to render
such side or surface impervious to dust and moisture.
In order practically to carry out this second part of my Invention, I
prefer to employ as the waterproofing and dust excluding materials one or
other of the following preparations, but I do not confine my Invention to
the use of these preparations alone, since many compositions that are in
common use for other purposes can be applied with advantage to these
purposes. But I prefer to employ the following, namely, the insoluble soaps
that are formed by combination of the oleic acid of linseed oil with baryta, or
lime, or other earthy matter. Any of the usual and well-known methods
of spreading the material over the surface of the fabric may be en ployed
in applying the material to the fabrics.
The manufactured articles referred to are such as carpet or hair cloths,
druggets, felted fabrics of any kind, tickings, seatings, railway and other

page_text: carriage linings of all kinds, canvas, sacking, or sacks, matting goods, wrap
pering cloths and other like or similar articles are covered on one side with
some composition, having the property of effectually coating, and of closing
up the pores or interstices, and thereby precluding the transmission through
them of all dust or moisture, or their injurious accumulation within or about
the fabrics.
Having thus fully described my Invention, I wish it to be distinctly under-
stood that I do not claim any particular machine or apparatus for the purpose
of waterproofing, or applying waterproofing material to fibres or fabrics
according to the first part of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention,
first, the rendering impervious to moisture of vegetable and animal fibres
howsoever effected, and of treating fibres and fabrics, or articles manufactured
from animal and vegetable fibres, for the purposes and in the manner as
herein-before described. And respecting the second part of my Invention, I do
not claim any particular machine or kind of apparatus for the purpose of
applying the waterproof and dust-proof material on one side of such fabrics
as herein-before named; but I claim, secondly, as my Invention, the rendering
impervious to moisture, to dust, and to injurious gaseous and volatile matters,
the several manufactured fabrics and articles herein-before specified, and in the
manner as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Henson Henson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Signed by the within-named Henry Henson
Henson, in the presence of
HENRY FLETCHER, Patent Agent,
H. H. HENSON. (L.S.)
123, Chancery Lane, London.