IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING OR STAINING YARNS, FABRICS, OR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lightfoot, of Accrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Calico Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING OR STAINING YARNS, FABRICS, OR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 31st May 1859, and dated the 10th December 1858..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lightfoot at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th December 1858.
I, JOHN LIGHTFOOT, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Calico-
Printer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRINTING OR STAINING YARNS, FABRICS, OR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in making an alkaline solution of colouring matters
and metallic oxides, which solution, if intended for printing, is thickened in
any convenient manner; with this color I print, or with the unthickened
solution I imbue the materials I wish to stain, and I generally dry them,
though this is not essential in all cases; I then neutralize the alkali by
exposing the materials to an acid, either in vapour or solution, or I pass them

page_text: into a solution of an acid, salt, or substance, or a salt capable of neutralizing
the alkali without injuring the color.
I thus fix a colored lake in the material which is then washed with water
and dried
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lightfoot in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LIGHTFOOT, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Calico Printer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ine, the said John Lightfoot, Her special licence that I, the said John
Lightfoot, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Lightfoot, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING OR STAINING YARNS, FABRICS, OR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,
AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lightfoot, by an instrument
in writing, under my hand and seal, 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 John Lightfoot, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement (that is to say) :-
-
My improvements consist in making an alkaline solution of coloring matters
and metallic oxides, with which, when thickened in any convenient manner,
I print fabrics or yarns, or in any other manner stain or imbue them, putting

page_text: the said fabrics afterwards through a subsequent process for the purpose of
developing and fixing the color. The oxides of metals which are available for
the purposes of my Invention are those which have the property of com-
bining with alkalies, so as to form soluble salts, in which the oxide plays the
part of the acid. By mixing a salt of this class with a decoction of coloring
matter, a clear solution is obtained, and when yarn or fabric is stained with
this and passed into a weak solution of acid or acid salt or mixture of acid and
a salt, the alkali is neutralized and a lake is left on or in the fabric or yarn,
the shade of which depends on the coloring material used, and the particular
metallic oxide which had been made use of. Amongst the salts with metallic
acids, I prefer to use the stannate of soda or potash as producing the most
brilliant colors; and as an illustration of the principle, I will proceed to describe
the process followed when operating with cochineal, so as to produce a scarlet,
although simple mixture of stannate of soda with a strong decoction of cochineal
made in the ordinary manner will produce a fine lake when neutralised by an
acid, &c. on the fabric. I prefer, for the most brilliant color, to avoid boiling
down (or concentration) the cochineal decoction, and operate as follows:-I
boil cochineal in a large quantity of water, strain, and to the clear weak liquor
add a precipitant, such as pink salts (perchloride of tin and ammonia) or
stannate of soda first, and a small quantity of sulphuric or other acid afterwards.
The resulting lake or precipitate is collected on a filter, and when drained is
removed, and such a quantity of stannate of soda in solution added as will
entirely redissolve the precipitate, thus giving the alkaline solution described
above. This solution, if for printing, is thickened with gum tragacanth in
powder, or a solution of gum tragacanth added, and the fabric printed and
dried, and where the ground is to be self-colored this thickening is of course
unnecessary, and the fabrics or yarns steeped and wrung out and then dried.
After the goods are dry they are hung up for two nights and then passed
through the following liquid:-One hundred gallons cold water, two gallons
acetic acid, two gallons acetate of lime solution, marking 28° Twaddle's
hydrometer; the goods stay in this solution about two minutes, are then rinsed
in water, washed, and dried.
By proceeding in the same manner, but substituting logwood for cochineal,
purples of superior shade are obtained, but for logwood better results are
obtained by precipitating in the first instance with aluminate of soda and
sulphuric acid, and redissolving this precipitate in aluminate of soda, staining
the fabric with this, and passing through an acid or salt-afterwards.
Having thus fully described the principle of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be carried out, it must be distinctly understood that I

page_text: do not confine myself to the precise details herein stated, as such may be
modified without departing from the principle thereof; but I claim as my
.Invention, and which to the best of my knowledge and belief has not been
hitherto used within the realm, the manufacturing an alkaline compound of
coloring matter, alkali, and a metallic oxide, which is used for imbuing yarns
or fabrics, and from which a lake is precipitated on the fabric by a subsequent
treatment with an acid liquid.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lightfoot, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
'Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Lightfoot, in the presence
of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
JOHN LIGHTFOOT. (L.S.)
Manchester.