AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR CLEANING WOOL OR HAIR
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR CLEANING
WOOL OR HAIR."-A communication from abroad by Charles F. A.
Simonin, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Edward W. Coffin, of
Glendale, New Jersey, both in the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th April 1870.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR CLEANING
WOOL OR HAIR," a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention has reference to the cleaning of wool or hair by
removing its natural oil or grease preparatory to spinning, dyeing, or
any other manufacture. I take any of the lighter hydrocarbons

page_text: produced by the distillation of petrolcum or coal, such as naptha,
benzine, benzole, and gasoline, and cleanse it by means of the hydro-
carbon vapor obtained therefrom.. The hydrocarbon is distilled and
the vapour passed upward through the wool or hair, which is laid on
racks or on a grating. That part of the vapour which takes up the oil
and grease is deposited below in a receiver as a liquid hydrocarbon
holding the oil and grease in solution. This liquid is then re-distilled,
leaving the oil and grease in the bottom of the still. The hydrocarbon
thus separated from the grease is passed into a condenser, after which it
is ready to be used again, or it may be used immediately on a fresh
portion of wool or hair without previously condensing it. That portion.
of the vapour which has passed through the wool without taking up any
oil or grease, and which has consequently not been condensed may be
either condensed or immediately used again. By means of this process
the natural oil or grease of hair or wool which has hitherto been wasted
is saved, and may be purified and used for mercantile purposes. Further-
more the hair and wool are much more thoroughly cleaned by the aforesaid
process than by the alkaline treatment commonly in use which frequently
leaves so much oil in the wool that it will not take the desired color
and the dyer is obliged to re-wash it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during a

page_text: 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 "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS FOR CLEANING WOOL OR HAIR," a communication to me
from abroad by Charles F. A. Simonin, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
and Edward W. Coffin, of Glendale, New Jersey, both in the United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 :—
The said Invention has reference to the cleaning of these substances
by removing the natural oil or grease preparatory to spinning, dycing,
felting, or any other manufacture. I take any of the lighter hydrocarbons
produced by the distillation of petroleum or coal, such as naptha, benzine,
benzole, or gasoline, and apply the vapor thereof to the wool or other
substance to be cleansed. For this purpose I distil the hydrocarbon and
pass the vapor upward through the wool or hair, which is laid on racks
or on a grating. That part of the vapor which takes up the oil and
grease is deposited below in a receiver as a liquid hydrocarbon holding
the oil and grease in solution. I then re-distil this liquid, leaving the
oil and grease in the bottom of the still. The hydrocarbon thus separated
from the grease is passed into a condenser, after which it is ready to be
used again, or it may be used immediately on a fresh portion of wool or
hair without previously condensing it. That portion of the vapor which
has passed through the wool or other substance without taking up any
oil or grease, and which has consequently not been condensed may be
either condensed or immediately used again. By means of this process
the natural oil or grease of hair or wool is saved and may be purified
and used for mercantile purposes. This process is also more effective
than that of washing the substance to be cleaned in the liquid hydro-
carbon, as the vapor pervades all parts of the wool much more thoroughly

page_text: than the liquid can. This process moreover requires no mechanical
arrangement for washing which must be employed when the liquid is
used. Again the hair and wool are much more thoroughly cleaned by
this process than by the alkaline treatment commonly in use which
frequently leaves so much oil in the wool that it will not take the desired
color and the dyer is obliged to re-wash it.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, and shewn how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I wish it under-
stood that although I have above particularly described the same as
applied to the washing of wool and hair, yet this process is equally
applicable to woollen fabrics, feathers, hides, and other animal substances
which contain natural hair or grease, and I therefore claim, the process
of cleaning wool, hair, and other analogous substances by means of the
vapor of the lighter hydrocarbons distilled from petroleum or coal, such
as naptha, benzine, benzole, or gasoline.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and
seventy.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)