CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Leese, junior, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESS OF PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 6th July 1855, and dated the 26th January 1855..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Leese at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th January
1855.
I, JOSEPH LEESE, junior, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CER-
TAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER TEXTILE
FABRICS" to be as follows:—
My improvements consist in the more economical management of what is
called the "resist " used in indigo blue printing. This "resist" is a chemical
compound in the form of a paste, which is printed on to the fabrics for the
purpose of protecting the pattern from the action of. the blue vat or dye, to
which the goods are to be subjected, as is well understood by calico printers.
The ordinary compound of which this "resist" is made is a mixture of salts
of copper and other materials with flour paste; this paste, when printed,
is allowed to dry before the goods are dyed in the blue vat, and the pattern is
defended from the action of the vat partly by the substance of the paste, but

page_text: more effectually by the chemical action of the salts of copper. In this process
of dyeing, the oxide of copper is precipitated on the cloth, and is afterwards
removed by washing and by sulphuric acid.
Now, my improvements as regards this "resist" is the recovery of the
copper from the washings of the cloth, and from the acid solution which is
used subsequently to remove it (and which has heretofore been considered
waste), and I effect this in various ways, hereafter to be described.
Other "resists" which are to be used for the same purpose I form either of
sulphate of manganese, the per-salts of iron, the sulphurets of the same two
metals, or mixtures of these salts, also of resins dissolved either by alkalies or
other solvents; all these I use as substitutes for the salts of copper, already
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Leese in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LEESE, junior, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Leese, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Leese, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Leese, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESS OF PRINTING CALICOES AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Leese, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Leese, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in the more economical management of what is
called the "resist" used in indigo blue printing. This "resist" is a chemical
compound in the form of a paste, which is printed on the fabrics for the purpose
of protecting the pattern from the action of, the blue vat or dye to which the
goods are to be subjected, as is well understood by calico printers. The ordi-
nary compound of which this resist is made is a mixture of, salts of copper
and other materials with flour, paste. This paste when printed is allowed to
dry before the goods are dyed in the blue vat, and the pattern is defended from
the action of the vat partly by the substance of the paste, but more effectually
by the chemical action of the salts of copper. In this process of dyeing, the
oxide of copper is precipitated on the cloth, and is afterwards removed by
washing and by sulphuric acid.
Now, my improvements as regards this resist are the recovery of the copper
from the washings of the cloth, and from the acid solution which is used
subsequently to remove it (and which has heretofore been considered waste),
and I effect this in various ways, hereafter to be described.
(Firstly), I add sulphuric or any other acid that will dissolve oxide of copper,
to the indigo that is washed off the dyed pieces, and which is known in the
trade as "bowlings." I also submit the pieces after the "bowlings" have been
taken from them to weak sulphuric or other acids; the copper remaining on the
cloth is by this means dissolved off. I then filter the indigo from the solution
of sulphate or other acid solution of copper, and evaporate it till it has attained
the strength desired, or is formed into crystals.
(Secondly), I treat the "bowlings" and the cloth as before with acid, but
instead of evaporating the acid solution, I add zinc or iron to it, which causes
the copper to be precipitated in the metallic form.
(Thirdly), instead of acids I use ammonia for dissolving the copper from the
"bowlings" and the pieces after being bowled, so that the copper remaining
in them may be dissolved. I then separate the ammonia from the copper
means of distillation, and thus recover the ammonia by means of the
ordinary still.
(Fourthly), I also form other resists which are to be used for the same
purpose, either of sulphate of manganese, the salts of iron, the sulphurets
of the same two metals, or mixtures of these salts, also of resins dissolved

page_text: JOSEPH LEESE, JUNIOR. (L.S.)
Declared at Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
the Eighteenth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five, before me;
JAMES BARROW,
A Commissioner to administer Oaths
in Chancery in England.