IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Albert Gatty, of Accrington, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chomist, and Emile
Kopp, of Accrington aforesaid, Professor of Chemistry, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING COTTON,
WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Albert
Gatty at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 14th December 1853.
We, FREDERICK ALBERT GATTY, of Accrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, and EMILE KOPP, of Accrington
aforesaid, Professor of Chemistry, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING COTTON,
WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the use of lactic acid, and its neutral and
acid salts, as substitutes for tartaric, citric, and other acids, and
their neutral and acid salts, when such acids and salts are used.

page_text: Firstly, as a resist, printed on cloths to be afterwards padded or
printed over with mordants.
Secondly, as a discharge, to be printed on cloths previously impreg-
nated with mordants.
Thirdly, to precipitate the red coloring matter of safflower from its
alkaline solutions.
Fourthly, in dyeing silk and wool those colors to which vegetable
acids or salts are required.
Fifthly, for the preparation of steam colors, especially those containing
alkaline prussintes.
And sixthly, as white and colored discharges upon Turkey red and
other colors
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Albert Gatty in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
FREDERICK ALBERT GATTY, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, and EMILE KOPP, of Accrington, aforesaid,
Professor of Chemistry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Frederick Albert Gatty and
Emile Kopp, Her special license that we, the said Frederick Albert
Gatty and Emile Kopp, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Frederick Albert Gatty and Emile Kopp,
our 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING COTTON, WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Frederick Albert Gatty and Emile Kopp, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
cither of us, 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 we, the said Frederick Albert Gatty and
Emile Kopp, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 :-
The nature of our Invention consists in the use of lactic acid and
it's neutral and acid salts, as substitutes for tartaric, citric, and other
acids, and their neutral and acid salts; and in order that our Invention
may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the saine :-
When we use lactic acid as a resist, it is thickened with starch or
other thickening substance, and then printed by block or roller upon
cloth, which is afterwards printed or padded with mordants, as is well
understood by calico printers. In lieu of one gallon of lemon juice at
fifty degress of Twaddle's hydrometer, we use one gallon of lactic acid
at about forty degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer.
For the preparation of certain resists the lemon juice is previously
saturated with an alkali; in such cases we saturate the lactic acid, and
use it in the same manner as the saturated lemon juice is generally
used.
When we use the lactic acid as a discharge it is thickened as in the
above case, and printed upon cloth impregnated with mordants, which
it discharges by forming soluble salts with the oxides constituting the
mordants.
In using lactic acid to precipitate the colouring matter of safflower
from it's alkaline solution, the alkali is saturated by the lactic acid in

page_text: the same manner as when citric or tartaric acids are used. In lieu of
three pounds of tartaric acid, four pounds of lactic acid, at about forty
degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer, are required.
In dyeing certain colours (such as Prussian blue; scarlet, crimson,
and some others) on silk or wool, tartaric acid or cream of tartar is
generally used. In such cases we apply the lactic acid or the bi-lactate
of soda or potash, and perform the different operations in the same
manner as when tartaric acid or cream of tartar is used. In lieu of
every pound of cream of tartar, we take about one pound and a quarter
of bi-lactate of soda or potash, at about sixty-six degrees of Twaddle's
hydrometer.
When we use lactic acid for steam colours it is substituted for
tartaric acid, in the proportion already stated, the preparation of the
colours being the same as when tartaric acid is used, which is well
understood by calico printers.
In applying lactic acid in the preparation of white and coloured dis-
charges upon Turkey red and other colours, we proceed exactly in the
same manner as when tartaric acid is used; we have only to observe
that after printing, the cloth should not be exposed to a long continued
heat, which, owing to a slight volatilisation of the lactic acid, would
reduce its discharging properties.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that what we
claim is, the application of lactic acid and its salts for the purposes
stated above.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frederick Albert Gatty and
Emile Kopp have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth
day of June, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.