IM- PROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN WASTE SOAP LIQUORS, AND OBTAINING MURDERRAM CERTAIN PRODUCTS APPLICABLE TO PURPOSES NOT HITHERTO KNOWN."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Higgin, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN WASTE SOAP LIQUORS, AND OBTAINING
MURDERRAM CERTAIN PRODUCTS APPLICABLE TO PURPOSES NOT HITHERTO KNOWN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Higgin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
February 1855.
I, JAMES HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN WASTE SOAP LIQUORS, AND OBTAINING
THEREFROM CERTAIN PRODUCTS APPLICABLE TO PURPOSES NOT HITHERTO KNOWN," to
be as follows :—
I propose to economise the soapy liquor left after soaping madder dyed
calico and other fabrics by extracting therefrom a colouring matter, which I
make available for dyeing purposes; the process is as follows:-I run off the
soap liquor when used into a vat, and add thereto sufficient muriate of lime
or any other salt of an alkaline earth or metallic oxide in solution until no
further precipitation takes place; I then allow the precipitate to settle and
decant the supernatant liquor. The precipitate is filtered and put into a pan

page_text: with some muriatic acid, and boiled until all the lime is dissolved. The red
fatty substance when cold is removed by filtration and washed free from acid;
it is then removed from the filter and mixed intimately with about six times
its weight of fine sawdust, or any other suitable fibrous matter, heating and
stirring until a complete union takes place. The substance thus obtained
may be used in dyeing precisely as garancine is at present used. When the
"cutting liquor of French pink goods is found to contain a good deal of
colouring matter, it is advisable to run it into the vat along with the soap
liquor, adding muriate of lime; if the whole of the soap is not precipitated by
this means more colouring matter will be obtained.
In some cases I prefer to run the spent madder and soapy liquor into the
same vat, adding acid to throw down the soap and colouring matter, and then
treating the substance as garancine is made. In using these substances the
fat of the soap remains attached to the woody fibre, and the colouring matter
only dissolves.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Higgin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HIGGIN, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufac-
turing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in tho eighteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Iliggin, Her special licence that I, the said
James Higgin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Higgin, 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 CERTAIN WASTE SOAP LIQUORS, AND OBTAINING
THEREFROM CERTAIN PRODUCTS APPLICABLE TO PURPOSES NOT HITHERTO KNOWN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Higgin, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Royal Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Higgin, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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) :-
**
My Invention relates to the economization of the liquors remaining after
soaping madder dyed fabrics, the said waste liquors being generally charged
with coloring matter in solution, which I extract and make available for
dyeing purposes in the following manner:-I run off the spent soap liquor
into a vat, and add thereto the solution of a salt of a metallic oxide, which
causes a coagulation, the fat acid of the soap uniting with the metallic oxide,
and the alkali of the soap uniting with the acid of the salt used. The com-
pound of fat and base being insoluble precipitates, and the coloring matter is
precipitated along with it. The salts of metallic oxide I prefer are sulphate
of alumina and muriate of lime, but I generally use sulphate of alumina.
When the precipitate has settled to the bottom of the vat, I decant the super-
natant liquid and collect the precipitate on a filter. When it is in the state
of stiff paste, I put it into a vessel with about ten per cent. of its weight of
sulphuric acid of commerce; I then blow steam in by means of a leaden
pipe or other contrivance, and boil the mixture until the colored fat is com-
pletely separated from the base, which will be known by its appearing of an
orange color and of a fatty nature. The mixture must then be cooled, thrown
on a filter and washed with cold water, until the liquor that runs through is
neutral to test paper. The colored fat is then weighed, and an equal weight
of fine sawdust added; the sawdust from deal will be found better than from
other woods, but I do not confine myself to the dust from wood, as other
substances may be found sufficiently practicable. I then put the mixture in
a vessel to be heated by steam, and stirred or agitated until a uniform mixture
is obtained. The matter will now resemble a dye stuff in appearance, and
may be used precisely as garancine and garanceaux are used in the dyeing
process. If muriate of lime or the salt of any base which forms an insoluble
compound with sulphuric acid be used to precipitate the soap, muriatic acid
must be used to decompose the precipitate. In all other respects the process
will be the same, but various modifications may be made in other respects; for
example, the sawdust, spent madder, or other suitable substance may be added
to the soap liquor before adding the precipitant, and then decomposing the

page_text: precipitate with acid, whereby the fat remains combined with a diluting,
fibrous, or powdered substance; and other methods may also be used to
separate the colored fat from the base, as well as other substances used
to dilute it when separated, therefore I do not confine myself to the exact
details herein stated, nor to the exact proportions of the different substances
and compounds herein mentioned.
But I claim, as my Invention, the separating from waste colored soap
solutions a coloring fatty substance, and diluting the same with a finely
powdered or fibrous substance, so that when the said mixture is used in
dyeing, the fat will remain combined with the powdered substance, and be
incapable of staining the whites.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Higgin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named James Higgin in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JAMES HIGGIN. (L.S.)