IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING AND BLEACHING
Year: 1862

page_text: Hosier, át present residing at Hyson Green, Nottingham, in the County
of Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING AND
BLEACHING." Partly a communication from abroad by Theodor Schnebely,
residing at Moscow aforesaid. "
Sealed the 27th May 1862, and dated the 13th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kent at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th March
1862.
I, JOHN KENT, of Moscow, in the Kingdom of Russia, Hosier, at present
residing at Hyson Green, Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING
AND BLEACHING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cleansing and bleaching.
Heretofore in cleansing and bleaching cotton, linen, and other vegetable fibres
(which is generally done in the yarn, or, when the fibre is made into fabrics),
it has been usual to employ milk of lime, or milk of lime and soda, and then
to boil therein for several hours. In some cases the fabrics are boiled first in
water, and then boiled in milk of lime, or in milk of lime and soda, for
several hours. Now the improvements consist in subjecting cotton and other
vegetable fibre, whether in the form of yarn or thread, or made up into fabrics

page_text: or otherwise to the following process:-Lime and soda are mixed with water
and allowed to stand to settle, when the clear liquor is drawn off or separated
from the solid matters. It is found that the strength of the liquor when used
should mark about one and a half to two and a half degrees of Twaddle's
hydrometer. The yarn, thread, or fabric, or other preparation of vegetable
fibres, is steeped in this liquor for thirty or fifty minutes, more or less, as the
case may require. The process of cleaning and bleaching is then finished in
the ordinary manner by washing, and then treating the fibrous materials with
dilute sulphuric or muriatic acid and chloride of lime, but this part of the
process requires less time than heretofore, by reason of the fibrous materials
not having been boiled for a great length of time with the crude materials
as has heretofore been the practice. By these means ordinary bleaching is
accomplished in hours in place of occupying days. When the fabrics are to
be dyed with madder in order to render them suitable to be so dyed, or as it
is commonly called "madder bleached," the fabrics, after being steeped and
prepared as before explained, are boiled for two or three hours in a solution
of carbonate of soda and resin, it being preferred to use a solution somewhat
weaker than has heretofore been employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kent in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KENT, of Moscow, in the Kingdom of Russia, Hosier, at present residing at
Hyson Green, Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Kent, Her special licence that I, the said John Kent, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Kent,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING AND
BLEACHING," partly the result of communication from abroad made to me by

page_text: Theodor Schnebely, a person resident at Moscow aforesaid, and partly of
Invention and discovery. made by myself, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Kent, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 John Kent, 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 cleansing and bleaching.
Heretofore in cleansing and bleaching cotton, linen, and other vegetable fibres
(which is generally done in the yarn, or when the fibre is made into fabrics),
it has been usual to employ milk of lime, or milk of lime and soda, and then
to boil therein for several hours. In some cases the fabrics are boiled first in
water, and then boiled in milk of lime, or in milk of lime and soda, for several
hours. Now the improvements consist in subjecting cotton and other vegetable
fibre, whether in the form of yarn or thread, or made up into fabrics, or other-
wise, to the following process:-Lime and soda are mixed (in the proportion
of about 2 lbs. of carbonate of soda to 1 lb. of lime) with water, and allowed
to stand to settle; when the clear liquor is drawn off or separated from the
solid matters. It is found that the strength of the liquor when used should
mark about one and a half to two and a half degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer.
A strength of one and a half degrees is found sufficient for fine light goods, and
for heavier goods a greater strength is required. The yarn, thread, or fabric,
or other preparation of vegetable fibres, is steeped in this liquor for from thirty
to fifty minutes, more or less, as the case may require. Fine goods require
about thirty minutes, and stouter ones a longer time in proportion. The pro-
cess of cleaning and bleaching is then finished in the ordinary manner by
washing, and then treating the fibrous materials with dilute sulphuric or
muriatic acid and chloride of lime as heretofore, but this part of the process
requires less time than heretofore, by reason of the fibrous materials not having
been boiled for a great length of time with the crude materials as has hereto-
fore been the practice. A workman will readily judge of the effect produced,
and he will find that it is not necessary to retain the yarns or fabrics in either
of the liquors more than from forty or fifty minutes. By these means ordinary
bleaching is accomplished in a few hours in place of occupying days. When

page_text: the fabrics are to be dyed with madder in order to render them suitable to be
so dyed, or as it is commonly called "madder bleached," the fabrics after
being steeped and prepared as before explained, are boiled for two or three
hours in a solution of carbonate of soda and resin, it being preferred to use a
solution somewhat weaker than has heretofore been employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kent, have hereunto set my hand!
and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN KENT. (L.S.)