CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF SIZE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hall, of Stacksteads, near Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PREPARATION OF SIZE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1866.
J, HENRY HALL, of Stacksteads, near Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF SIZE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the preparation of size employed in machines
termed "slashers," "tape legs," and other machinery used for sizing or
dressing cotton and other fibrous materials, and the improvement consists,
first, in the application of steam to the boiling, heating, and preparation
of size whilst contained in closed pipes or vessels which is thereafter
to be applied to the aforesaid mechanism and purposes. The apparatus

page_text: employed may consist of a cistern to contain the size, from which it is
pumped and forced into a length or lengths of straight tube or serpentine or
spiral coil of tubing, which is by preference made of copper, and this tubing
is enclosed within another tube of large diameter to which steam of any
necessary heat is supplied, and which then acts as a steam jacket, being also
fitted with a steam exit or "blow off." pipe. The tubing containing the size
is furnished with a stop tap, by which the size is retained in the tube until
properly heated, and by which it is discharged for use, and an overflow safety
valve or tap is applied, so that should the force pump supply too much size it
escapes again into the cistern. By this method the size is more highly heated
or better boiled or prepared in its passage than is attained by treating it in an
open vessel, which improvement constitutes the principal feature of the
Invention, irrespective of the means or mechanism employed to effect the
purpose, which I am aware may be varied as to form and material in many
ways.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th June
1867.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HALL, of Stacksteads, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Hall, Her special license that I, the said Henry Hall, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Hall, 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 PREPARATION OF SIZE AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Hall, 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

page_text: 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 Henry Hall, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
;
My Invention relates to the preparation of size which is employed in
machines termed "slashers," " tape legs," and other machinery used for
sizing or
dressing cotton and other fibrous materials, and the improvements
consist, first, in the application of steam to the boiling, heating, and preparation
of size whilst contained in closed pipes or vessels which is thereafter. to be
applied to the aforesaid mechanism and purposes. The apparatus employed
consists of a cistern to contain the size from which it is pumped and forced
into a length or lengths of straight tube or serpentine or spiral coil of tubing,
which is by preference made of copper, and this tubing is enclosed within
another tube of-larger diameter to which steam-of-any necessary heat is sup-
plied, and which thus act as a steam jacket, being also fitted with a steam exit
or "blow off" pipe. The tubing containing the size is furnished with a stop-
tap by which the size is retained in the tube until properly heated, and by
which it is discharged for use, and an overflow safety valve or tap is applied
so that should the force pump supply too much size it escapes again into the
cistern. By this method the size is more highly heated or better boiled or
prepared in its passage than is attained by treating it in an open vessel or
unclosed pipes, which improvement constitutes the principle feature of the
Invention irrespective of the means or mechanism employed to effect the
purpose, which I am aware may be varied in many ways.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained-in
detail I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about one inch to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the apparatus employed for preparing
the raw size by converting it into dextrine or British gum, in which view the
force pump and arrangement of piping employed for such
exhibited; Fig. 2 represents a plan view of the same."
purpose are
In Figs. 1 and 2, a, a, is the cistern or receptacle containing the raw or
unboiled size, made as usual of farinaceous matter and water and to the

page_text: b
required consistency, and such raw size is injected by an ordinary construction
of force pump 6 into the pipe c which is connected therewith, and by pre-
ference is made of copper; this pipe passes through the stuffing box d into
and through the steam pipes e and e', and extends the whole length of such
pipes, passing out of the pipe e' through the stuffing box d¹, and this end of
the size pipe, c is supplied with a tap or cock f, by which the exit of the size.
is controlled; these pipes may either be arranged as flow and return, as
shewn, or in one continuous length. At a convenient position a safety or
overflow valve i is applied to the pipe c, so that when the pressure of size in
such pipes becomes excessive it discharges through the valve and returns to
the cistern; the pipes e, e, are supplied with steam by the pipe g, and the
water of condensation is carried off by the pipe h. The action and effect of
the apparatus is as follows:-The cistern a is supplied with raw unboiled.
size, and the steam pipes e are filled with steam; the force pump is then put
in action and the size is injected into the pipe c until it is filled, the tap f
being closed, and as the pump continues its work the superabundant size
escapes into the cistern through the overflow valve, which is weighted to
about the steam pressure in the outer pipes, thus the temperature of the raw
and comparatively cold size is suddenly raised above the boiling point within
the heated pipes to the steam temperature, and by this sudden change the
outer cuticle or membrane of the starch globules becomes burst, and dextrine
is formed and liberated, which cannot be effectually accomplished by the
present method of boiling in an open vessel, nor can size which has been
boiled be converted into dextrine by being operated upon, because the
previous boiling renders the outer membrane tough and elastic, and prevents
or impedes the liberation of the dextrine. The size when thus prepared and
converted is drawn off through the tap f for use.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim,-
"
First, the raising quickly or suddenly the temperature of raw or unboiled
size in closed pipes, tubes, or vessels for the purpose of liberating the dextrine
contained therein, and for subsequent use in such machines as tape legs,"
slashers," and other dressing machines employed in sizing cotton and
fibrous materials.
**
Secondly, the application and use of size thus prepared, and in which the
dextrine has been liberated for the purposes of sizing and dressing cotton and
fibrous materials.

page_text: And, lastly, I claim the general construction, arrangement, and combination
of the apparatus employed for the purpose, as herein-before described, set
forth, and illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witnessed by
JOHN L. DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
HENRY HALL. (L.S.)