IMPROVE- MENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING."
Sealed the 25th May 1869, and dated the 28th November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th November 1868.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the
3 City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in dyeing and printing.
At the present time sumach is much used in dyeing and printing in
order to cause other dyes to take better on to the fabrics or fibres or
materials to be dyed or printed.
Now according to my Invention I substitute for the sumach an
extract of the bark of the hemlock tree, and I so obtain the desired

page_text: result more effectually and economically. The extract which I prefer to
employ is that known in commerce as "extract of hemlock bark."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Lee Norton, Her special licence
that I, the said James Lee Norton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Lee Norton, 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 yend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND
PRINTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Lee Norton, 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 James Lee Norton, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in dyeing and printing.
At the present time sumach is much used in dyeing and printing in

page_text: order to cause other dyes to take better on to the fabrics or fibres or
materials to be dyed or printed.
Now according to my Invention I substitute for the sumach an
extract of the bark of the hemlock tree, and I so obtain the desired
result more effectually and economically. The extract which I prefer to
employ is that known in commerce as "extract of hemlock bark."
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe more in detail the
way in which I operate in order to obtain a number of different colours,
and from the information thus conveyed the practical dyer and printer
will be enabled to apply the extract of hemlock bark in lieu of sumach
in the production of other shades.
To dye 20 lbs. weight of cotton a magenta colour.-I take 3 lbs. of
Miller's extract of hemlock bark as it is imported from Canada, and boil
it with 20 gallons of water, and then lay the. cotton in the liquid for a
night, and in the morning I add 3 pints of red cotton spirits diluted with
20 gallons of warm water, and work afterwards the cotton in this for
50 minutes. I then bring it out and wash twice with cold water, and
afterwards with warm water. Then I take 20 gallons of fresh water
heated to 160 degrees, and put 2 pints roseine solution into it and work
the cotton in this liquor till the colour is full enough. I then wash the
cotton and dry it.
To dye a primula color.-I proced as before, only using a solution
of Hoffman's violet instead of roscine, and work at the same tem-
perature (160), or a bluer tint may be obtained by increasing the heat,
or a redder by lessening it.
To dye a lavender color.-I take of extract of hemlock bark 1 lbs.
to 20 lbs. cotton, and work the cotton in the extract diluted with 20
gallons of water for an hour. I rinse and wash in cold water, and
then in warm. I take of red cotton spirits 1 pint diluted with 20
gallons of warm water, and work the cotton in it for 15 minutes, then
wash in two warm waters. Afterwards I work the material in a bath
consisting of 1 pint of Nicholson's No. 2 blue solution, with one gill
of nitric acid at about 100 degrees. I then wash the cotton and dry it.
To dye a green color.-I prepare with 4 lbs. of extract of hemlock
bark mixed with 20 gallons of water; I lay the cotton in this for
1 hours at a boiling heat; then I prepare a bath with 20 gallons of

page_text: cold water and 2 pints of double muriate of tin, and work in this an
hour. I then wring the cotton out and wash off well to kill the strong
acid. Afterwards I take 20 gallons of water at a temperature of 170 or
180 degrees, and put into it 1 pint or nearly so of iodine green paste
diluted with 1 gill of methylated spirits; if a yellow shade is required
add a little picric acid. I work the material in this for about 20 minutes,
then wash and dry it.
To dye a gold color.-I prepare with lb. of extract and 1lb.
turmeric dissolved in 2 gallons of water. I work at a heat of about
90 degrees; then cool down and add gill nitric acid; if the colour is
not red enough I add a little annatto, if not deep enough I repeat until
the shade required is obtained.
To dye black. I take 4 lbs. of extract of hemlock bark and boil it
with 20 gallons of water, and then lay the cotton in this liquid for a
night, and in the morning I take it out and put it into a cold lime water
bath of 4 degrees, and work in this for 10 minutes. I wring out and
sodden with 15 gallons of old sumach liquor, 14 lbs. of copperas, and
2 gallons of urine. I work it in this for 15 minutes, wring out, and
again put it into the lime liquor and work in it for 10 minutes, and then
wring out. I afterwards scald 6 lbs. of chipped logwood with 15
gallons of boiling water, and work in this for 20 minutes, and then give
the cotton 3 turns in 15 gallons of cold water, in which 1 lb. of copperas
has been dissolved; then I soap it with 1 lb. of soap in 20 gallons
of warm water, and wash off in cold water and dry.
To dye brown. I proceed as above, only with 4 lbs. of the extract,
and in the morning take the cotton out and work it for 30 minutes in
20 gallons of cold water, to which I add 2 pints of red cotton spirits;
then I wash off in 2 cold and 1 warm waters. I then scald 7 lbs. of
chipped logwood with 15 gallons of boiling water and let it cool a little,
and then work the cotton in it for 30 minutes; then I take the cotton
out and add 1lb. of alum to the bath, and work the cotton again for
the shade required. I wash off in cold water and dry.
I would remark that by red cotton spirits I mean a compound of
about 2 parts of aquafortis to 1 pint spirit of salts, to which block tin
is added for the purpose of killing it before using.
The quantities directed to be used of the several aniline dyes are appli-
cable to the most usual commercial strengths, or to the strengths at

page_text: which the several dyes are sold by Brooke, Simpson, and Spiller, of
No. 9, Fenchurch Street, London. The extract of hemlock bark may be
similarly used in preparing cotton for printing.
Other fabrics, fibres, and materials may be treated in the same way as
cotton, but the Invention is more especially valuable in its application to
vegetable fibre.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the use of the extract of hemlock bark in the processes of
dyeing and printing, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.