IMPROVEMENTS IN COLORING FABRICS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Ripley, of Bradford, in the
-
County of York, Dyer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COLORING FABRICS."-A communication from abroad by Charles
Depoully, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Ripley
•
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th January 1872.
I, HENRY WILLIAM RIPLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COLORING FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements on the process patented by
C. E. Brooman, dated August 19th, 1867, whereby coloring liquor is
delivered on to fabrics in the form of mist or fine spray. It is now pro-
posed to discharge or deposit liquids upon fibrous substances by the use
of means which will ensure a more reliable result than could be obtained.

page_text: by the process referred to. According to Brooman's Patent the liquid
intended to be deposited on the piece goods under treatment as it leaves
the discharge nozzle in the form of a jet is met or overtaken by a blast
which
of air or steam, and the jet is thereby split up into a fine spray,
falling upon or striking against the goods imparts a stippled tint thereto.
It has however been found that a variation in the pressure of the air
will render uneven the shade of the colour by causing an unequal dis-
tribution thereof over the fabric, and the same defect will also occur
should any
disturbance of the atmosphere of the apartment in which
the operation is proceeding take place. To avoid these difficulties it is
now proposed to pass the goods which it is desired to treat in an
extended state into and through a closed or partially closed chamber,
and to take the blast from a reservoir to which air is supplied by means
of air pumps, and kept at the required uniform pressure by weighted
valves or their equivalent so as to ensure the delivery of the blast at an
uniform pressure.
The chamber used is preferred to be a long narrow vertical chamber.
The bottom of the chamber will incline slightly towards the middle to
allow of any liquor that may deposit thereon draining away through a
central pipe. A short distance above the bottom of the chamber a
horizontal slit is cut in each end of the chamber to allow of the passage
through the chamber of the goods to be operated upon. - Guide rollers
are provided externally of the chamber and at each end thereof to
facilitate the passage of the goods through the chamber.
Supposing woven piece goods are intended to be operated upon, the
goods are conveniently led up by guide rollers through the floor which
carries the series of closed chambers. The pieces are then drawn
through the chamber and passed down to a drying drum or heated
plates, or through a small chamber supplied with hot or cold air, after
which they are wound upon a loose roller by any suitable means in the
form of a roll. Through the entrance end of this chamber, or at the
opposite end, or at the sides or both, and at any suitable height above
the fabric passing through the chamber, an opening is made for the
In front of the
admission of the liquor that is to form the spray.
rows of vertical
opening or openings and transversely thereof a row or
or inclined jet tubes are arranged, the same being connected with a
trough or supply pipe leading from a vessel containing the liquid to be
discharged. Above this row of jet tubes is set a series of tuyerers pro-

page_text: jecting from an air supply pipe leading from the air reservoir before.
referred to. The ends of the tuyeres meet the ends of the jet pipes
at an angle for the purpose of delivering over the jet pipes streams
of air at an unvarying pressure; this will have the effect of impelling
upwards, and dispersing in the form of mist, jets of the liquor, and the
mist or spray thus produced will be dispersed in the chamber and fall
like dew upon the fabric beneath, which travelling through the chamber
at an uniform speed will receive an even deposit of the liquor.
This operation may be repeated on one or both sides of the cloth as
often as it may be necessary for obtaining the required shade or tint.
To prevent any drops of liquor from falling on the goods gutter
shields are provided above the entrance and exit openings to catch and
run off any droppings that may fall, and to carry off any vapour that
may escape from the chambers, the chambers are made with double
ends, and the compartments thus formed connect by ventilating pipes
with the atmosphere.
The above-described mode of depositing liquids upon piece goods
applies not only to the colouring of such goods, but to the depositing of
softening, stiffening, and other liquids, and it is equally applicable to
the treatment of spun and unspun fibres as well as to piece goods.
Unspun fibres will however require some suitable carrying apparatus as
an endless web or wood or metal laths, or wirework or netting, travelling
upon guide and supporting rollers.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry William Ripley in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 30th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILLIAM RIPLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York, Dyer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Henry William Ripley, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry William Ripley, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry William
Ripley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLORING FABRICS," being a communication
to me from abroad by Charles Depoully, of Paris, France, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry William Ripley, 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 William Ripley, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to improvements on the process patented by
C. E. Brooman, dated August Nineteenth One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven, whereby colouring liquor is delivered on to fabrics in the
form of mist or fine spray. It is now proposed to discharge or deposit
liquids upon fibrous substances by the use of means which will ensure a
more reliable result than could be obtained by the process referred to.
According to Brooman's Patent the liquid intended to be deposited on
the piece goods under treatment as it leaves the discharge nozzle in the
form of a jet is among other plans met or overtaken by a blast of air,
and the jet is thereby split up into a fine spray, which falling upon or
striking against the goods imparts a stippled tint thereto. It has how-
ever been found that a variation in the pressure of the air will render
uneven the shades of the colour by causing an unequal distribution
thereof over the fabric, and the same defect will also occur should any
disturbance of the atmosphere of the apartment in which the, operation

page_text: goods are conveniently led up by guide rollers. d' through the. floor,
carrying the series of closed chambers. The pieces are then drawn
through their respective chambers, and passed down to a drying drum e,
from which they pass severally to a loose roller supported on and driven
by friction of contact with a rollér f, and are thus wound up into the
form of a roll. At the entrance end of the chamber A at a suitable
height above the fabric passing through the chamber a transverse
opening is made for the insertion of the spray forming apparatus. This
apparatus consists as heretofore of two sets of pipes with contracted
nozzles set at or about right angles to each other, and so relatively
disposed that the air pipes g will throw a jet of air across the nozzles of
the liquor pipes h which dip into a colour trough h¹, the rush of which
jets of air will cause the colour to rise up the pipes h, and be dispersed
in the chamber A in the form of fine spray. This spray forming
apparatus is shewn on an enlarged scale at Fig. 4. The air pipes
connect with the main transverse pipe, which is supplied by air from a
receiver G. This air receiver is kept charged by an air pump or a rotary
fan, and it is furnished with a pressure gauge to indicate to the attendant
the state of compression of the air, his duty being to maintain the
supply of air during the working of the apparatus at a uniform pressure.
The receiver is also fitted with a blow-off valve, which it will be the
business of the attendant so to regulate as to prevent any excess of
pressure within the receiver. The trough is placed in connection
with an elevated dye liquor vat indicated at H, Fig. 2, and a good
supply of dye liquor is thus maintained in the trough.
A similar arrangement to that just described may be provided at the
side of the chamber A as at I, Figures 1 and 2, as well as or instead of
the arrangement shewn at Fig. 1. Immediately above the spray forming
apparatus, and also above the openings b and c, gutter shields i are pro-
vided for the purpose of catching and running off any droppings that
may fall from the ends of the chamber. Both the chamber A and the
compartments B, B', are provided with doors to give the attendant access
thereto..
It will now be understood that on piece goods being passed through
the operating chambers, and the spray forming apparatus being set in
action, the colouring liquor will be dispersed through the chambers in
the form of mist or spray, and will fall like dew upon the fabric beneath,
which fabric travelling through the chamber at an uniform speed will

page_text: receive an even deposit of the liquor. This operation may be repeated
on one or both sides of the cloth as often as it may
be necessary for
obtaining the required shade or tint. The compartments formed at the
ends of the chambers will by their connection with ventilating pipes or
flues open to the atmosphere serve to conduct away any vapour that may
escape from the chamber A.
The above-described mode of depositing liquids upon piece goods
applies not only to the colouring of such goods, but to the depositing
liquids thereon preparatory to and subsequently to the colouring of the
same with the view of preparing the goods and of fixing the colours.
The improvements are also equally applicable to the treatment of
spun and unspun fibres as to piece goods. Unspun fibres will however
require some suitable carrying apparatus such as an endless web or wood
or metal laths, or wirework or netting, travelling upon guide and sup-
porting rollers, which contrivance may be readily applied to the operating
chambers by any competent mechanic.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improve-
ments in Coloring Fabrics" as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The means above described for ensuring the delivery of the
blast on to the jets of colour at an uniform pressure.
Secondly. The use of the operating chambers A fitted in the manner
and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry William Ripley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the 27th day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
HENRY W. RIPLEY. (L.S.)