IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARTS OF DYEING AND CALICO PRINTING, BY THE USE AND APPLICATION OF A CERTAIN VEGETABLE MATERIAL, OR CERTAIN VEGETABLE MATERIALS
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HANMER BAKER, of the Island of Antigua, but now residing in Saint Martin's
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Hanmer Baker, His especial licence, that I, the said James Hanmer
Baker, my executors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Hanmer Baker, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARTS OF DYEING AND CALICO PRINTING, BY THE
USE AND APPLICATION OF A CERTAIN VEGETABLE MATERIAL, OR CERTAIN VEGETABLE
MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said James Hanmer Baker, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Hanmer Baker, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say):-
green,
My said improvements in the arts of dyeing and calico printing consists in
the use of the husk and shell of the cocoa-nut, as well as of the whole and
every part of the cocoa-nut tree as dyeing or tinging materials. The husk
which incloses the nut, and the foot stalks of the leaves, are, however, the parts
which I prefer, both as being the cheapest and most convenient for use. The
only preparation which the husks and leaf stalks requiro previous to their
being shipped, is to be thoroughly dried by the sun or in any other con-
venient way; but when they have been gathered from the tree while it
will be best to slice them before drying them. The trunk and roots may be
split and afterwards dried. If (in order to save freightage, or for any other
reason,) it be required to separate the tinging and other useful parts from the
woody fibre, this may be done by making an infusion in hot water of the husk,
leaf, stalks, trunk, branches, roots, &c., and evaporating such infusion to the
state of a soft or dry extract, care being taken that no vessels or articles of iron
be employed, either in making the infusion or bringing it to the state of an
extract; I do not, however, advise to reduce the materials above enumerated
to the state of an extract, because in so doing, the colouring matter undergoes
certain changes which considerably diminish its utility. Previous to the above-
named materials being used I find it convenient either to crush them by
means of rollers, or to reduce them to small picces, or to a coarse powder, by
grinding, rasping, or any other of the modes usually in practice. I extract the
tinging and other saluable parts useful in dyeing and calico printing, by means
of mere water, either hot or cold, or I assist the action of the water by the
addition of lime, potash, ammonia, or other alkaline salts or substances. The
cold infusion I prepare in the following way:-I chargo a wooden vat with any
of the above materials either singly or mixed together (but preferably with the
husks or leaf stalks). prepared as above, and place a frame of wood upon them
to prevent them from rising, I then pour in cold water till it just covers the
charge. In two or three days, according to the warmth of the weather, the
water will have acquired a high yellowish brown or wine colour; it is then to
be drawn off clear by opening a cork at the bottom of the vat. A second and
a third portion of water may be put on the charge in the vat and be treated as
above. When the last made infusion is weaker than those which preceded it

page_text: (which I ascertain by its lighter colour), I renew the charge in the vat by
taking out the spent materials and putting in fresh ones, returning the last
infusion on the new charge, in order to secure nearly an equality of strength in
all the infusions. I dye cotton, wool, hemp, flax, or silk, of a nankeen colour,
by steeping them in the infusion prepared as above, till they have acquired tho
requisite tint, and the cotton, &c. previous to emersion, may be either
cleansed or not cleansed, mordanted or not mordanted, and if mordanted, it
may be so by any of the modes and materials usually employed for this pur-
pose by dyers, excepting by any of the salts or preparations of iron. The
mordant which, however, I prefer for cotton goods, is a solution of pure alum,
neutralized by chalk, in the way usually practiced by dyers, I apply tho above-
described cold infusion to printed goods in the following way, viz:-Those
parts of the pattern intended to be white, I cover with any of the mixtures
employed by the calico printers as reserves, and then steep the cloth thus
prepared till the parts not covered by the reserve have acquired a nankeen
colour of the proper tint, the cloth then tinged and finished in the usual
manner. The hot infusion of the aforesaid dyeing materials is made by: me in
the following way:-I take of these materials (but preferably of the cocoa-
nut husk or leaf stalks) a quantity proportioned to the required strength of the
infusion, and boil them for an hour or more in any suitable vessel employed
for similar purposes by dyers and calico printers, taking care that no iron shall
be used in the boiler or in the other utensils. Cotton and other goods may
be dyed by merely dipping them in this infusion while scalding hot, and then
drying them, and then repeating the dipping and drying till the required depth
of colour is obtained; but the durability of the colour is much encreased by
previously passing the goods through the alum mordant aforesaid, and then
drying them. Another method in which I apply the hot infusion to cotton
goods is either to steep them in it once or twice, drying them between whiles,
and then to dip them (in order to raise the colour) in a weak solution of
muriate or nitromuriate of tin, or nitrate of lead, or in any other of the
solutions of tin or lead, either separately or combined, or in a solution of
oxymuriate of lime, after which I immediately rince them out well in cold
water; this precaution is especially necessary when the oxymuriate of lime is
used, as it will otherwise destroy the colour after having raised it; or the
operation may be performed by first impregnating the articles with a mordant,
and then steeping them in the dye stuff until the required colour is obtained,
always keeping in remembrance that the goods should be put in the boiler
when the liquor is at a blood heat, at which temperature the liquor is to be
kept for some time, and then for a finish it is to be raised to a boiling heat.

page_text: The dyeing materials aforesaid, which form the subject of this Patent contain,
besides colouring matter, a considerable quantity of the substances called tannin
and gallic acid. The infusion, therefore, whether prepared in the cold or hot
way as above specified, will give with any of the salts of iron a blue-black colour,
modified by the proper colour of the infusion itself, and by the action of the
aluminous or such other usual mordants as may be applied. The salt of iron,
which I prefer for this purpose, is the common iron liquor of the dyers and
calico printers, made by dissolving iron in pyroligneous acid; I also in such
case (that is, when I intend to use iron liquor or any other ferruginous
mordant) prefer to extract the color and other soluable matters from the
cocon-nut husk, &c. as aforesaid, by boiling it in water, to which quicklime,
pearlash, ammonia, or any other alkaline matter has been added from these
ingredients; and by following the methods and manipulations now in use by
dyers and calico printers in the use of quercitron bark, weld, and other astrin-
gent yellow and red colouring materials, I obtain olives, drabs, browns, slates,
greys, and dove colours of great beauty and durability. In consequence of the
quantity of tannin and gallic acid contained in the cocoa-nut husk, the leaf,
stalks, and every part of the cocoa-nut tree, I also employ the infusion of these
articles (whether made by means of cold or hot water, as above described,) as
a substitute for the infusion of nutgalls or other astringent substances used in
dyeing Turkey red and other colours, using it precisely in the same manner as
the infusion of nutgalls and those substances as are commonly applied by
dyers for that purpose. In this Specification I have described several methods
of preparing infusions or solutions of the colouring parts, and other parts useful
to dyers and calico printers, contained in the husk and shell of the cocoa-nut,
and of the leaf, stalks, stems, branches, roots, and other parts of the cocoa-nut
tree. I have also described the methods or processes used by me in applying
the above solutions or infusions to the arts of dyeing and calico printing.
These methods, manipulations, and processes, being the same as those already
in use by dyers, calico printers, and others, I lay no exclusive claim to; but I
do claim the exclusive right to use the husk and shell of the cocoa-nut, as well
as the whole and every part of the cocoa-nut tree, as dyeing or tinging
materials, in what way soever the same may be applied, or may be applicable
to these purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hanmer Baker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
Our Lord One thousand eight hundand and b
JAMES HANMER (L.B.) BAKER,

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid James Hanmer Baker, came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
5 above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourth day. of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.