IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOL, EITHER IN THE RAW OR IN A MANUFACTURED CONDITION.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacob Belirons, of Bradford, in the County of
York, and of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOL,
EITHER IN THE RAW OR IN A MANUFACTURED CONDITION.". -A communi-
cation from abroad by Heinrich Caro, of Mannheim, in the Empire
of Germany, Chemist.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacob Bohrens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1875.
I, JACOB BEHRENS, of Bradford, in the County of York, and of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF WOOL, EITHER IN THE RAW OR IN A MANUFACTURED CONDITION," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Heinrich Caro, of Manheim, in the
Empire of Germany, Chemist, to be as follows:-

page_text: is known as shrinking, curling, or felting, which properties are possessed
by wool in its natural condition, as well as when in a manufactured
state, and consists in submitting wool, either in the raw or in an
unmanufactured or manufactured condition, to the action of chlorine,
until the shrinking, curling, or felting properties possessed by wool in
its natural condition shall have been destroyed or modified.
In carrying out this Invention I cause the wool, either in the crude,
washed, or manufactured condition, to be placed either in closed or in
partly closed, or in open vessels or apparatus, and I cause the chlorine
either in a gaseous state or in solution in water, or evolved from the
decompositions of solutions of hypochlorites, or from other compounds
capable of producing chlorine to be brought in contact with the wool,
and I continue the action of the chlorine until the desired result has
been obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent,
filed by the said Jacob Behrens in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOB
BEHRENS, of Bradford, in the County of York, and of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Jacob Behrens, Her special license that
I, the said Jacob Behrens, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Jacob Behrens, my executors, admini-
strators, or 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 THE TREAT-
MENT OF WOOL, EITHER IN THE RAW OR IN A MANUFACTURED CONDITION," a
communication to me from abroad by Heinrich Caro, of Mannheim, in
the Empire' of Germany, Chemist, upon the condition (amongst others).

page_text: that I, the said Jacob Behrens, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Jacob Behrens, 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, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to the treatment of wool, either in a raw or in
a manufactured condition, so as to diminish or altogether destroy what
is known as shrinking, curling, or felting, which properties are possessed
by wool in its natural condition as well as when in a manufactured state,
and consists in submitting wool, either in the raw or in an unmanu-
factured or in a manufactured condition, to the action of chlorine, until
the shrinking, curling, or felting properties possessed by wool in its
natural condition shall have been destroyed or modified.
In carrying out this Invention I cause the wool, either in the crude,
washed, or manufactured condition, to be placed either in a closed or in
a partly closed, or in open vessel or vessels or apparatus, and I cause the
chlorine, either in a gaseous state or in solution in water, or evolved
from the decomposition of solutions of hypochlorites, or from other
compounds capable of producing chlorine, to be brought in contact with
the wool, and I continue the action of the chlorine until the desired
result has been obtained.
As an example of the method which I have found to answer practi-
cally for treating wool in its raw condition I proceed as follows :—I take
about one hundred parts by weight of wool, either in its natural state or
by preference well cleansed and deprived of the greasy and coloring
matters inherent to or contaminated with the wool in its raw condition,
which may be effected by any of the processes in use for washing wool
previously to dyeing or manufacturing, and I place these said one
hundred parts by weight of wool in a tank, cistern, vessel, apparatus, or
5 machine made either of wood or of stone, or of any other material capable
of resisting the action of weak acids and of chlorine, and constructed by

page_text: preference in such manner that a circular or revolving motion may be
imparted to its contents (in a manner similar to the well known con-
trivances employed for producing paper pulp, or to certain machinery
in use for washing wool) and I place into this tank, cistern, or machine,
say about four thousand parts by weight of cold water, and about fifty
parts by weight of concentrated muriatic acid or spirits of salts. I then
cause the mixture of wool and acidulated water to be well agitated
for some time, say during half an hour, or until the wool has become
thoroughly and evenly impregnated with the weak acid mixture. I then
add from about ten to twenty parts by weight of (by preference) freshly
prepared commercial hypochlorite of lime or bleaching powder of about
one hundred degrees of Gay Lussac's scale, or of such a strength that
one kilogramme will evolve by decomposition one hundred litres of
gaseous chlorine (at 0 degrees centigrade) and seven hundred and sixty
minimeters barometric pressure.
The bleaching powder should be tested before its application, and if
its strength should be found inferior or superior to the above named
strength a correspondingly greater or smaller quantity of bleaching
powder should be taken.
Those aforesaid, from about ten to twenty parts by weight of com-
mercial hypochlorite of lime or bleaching powder are to be dissolved in
from about one thousand to two thousand parts by weight of cold water,
and the solution thus obtained is filtered, or it is allowed to settle, and
when perfectly clear it will be fit to be employed for and in the subse-
quent operations. I then place the thus prepared dilute, and by
preference clear solution of bleaching powder in a vessel provided with
outlets at the superior intermediate and inferior parts, also with gauge
marks on its inside, and I allow the liquor to run slowly into the vessel
containing the wool at such a rate as that about every one part of the
solution of bleaching powder should occupy about one hour in running
in, or the speed of the current should be regulated in such a manner as
that at no time any smell of escaping chlorine should be observed. If
sufficient care is taken to add the solution of the hypochlorite of lime
or of other hypochlorites to the acid contained in the aforesaid tank or
cistern in a very gradual and regular manner, the chlorine produced by 3
the mutual decomposition of the hypochlorite, and the muriatic acid
will immediately become absorbed by the wool without deteriorating its
strength or its whiteness, and the desired result of the treatment, vide.

page_text: licet, the diminution or destruction of the curling, shrinking, or felting
properties of the wool will be obtained in the same ratio as the chlorine
becomes taken up by the wool. On the other hand, any perceptible
excess of chlorine will deteriorate the nature of the wool and affect the
strength and the color of the fibre so that always great care has to be
taken to submit the wool to the action of exceedingly minute quantities
of chlorine at any given moment, allowing sufficient time for each
freshly generated portion of chlorine to be taken up by the wool and to
disappear or to be absorbed entirely from the bath.
In the thus described manner the operation is conducted until the
required quantity of chlorine has been generated in contact with the
wool, and has become absorbed therewith, and until such an amount of
chlorine has been absorbed until the desired effect has been obtained.
The wool is then thoroughly washed with cold water and allowed to
remain or age during several hours or until the adherent smell of
chlorine has entirely disappeared. It may then be dried by the ordinary
processes employed for such purposes or otherwise, and then be sub-
mitted to subsequent manufacturing processes.
In all cases in which it is deemed desirable to deprive the wool
almost completely of its shrinking and other before mentioned properties
I have found that from about twenty parts by weight of bleaching
powder of the above named strength to produce the desired result upon
one hundred parts by weight of wool, but even a greater quantity, say
from thirty to forty parts, may with advantage be employed in
exceptional cases without injury to the wool, provided the before-
mentioned precautions be taken, but where it is only required to
diminish notably the shrinking, &c., properties of the wool without
preventing the manufactured goods from retaining a certain degree of
the properties of being milled or felted (as for flanels), I employ about
ten parts by weight of bleaching powder for every one hundred parts
by weight of wool, and in every case the exact amount of chlorine
necessary to be employed may be ascertained or tested by withdrawing
from time to time a small quantity of the wool and submitting it to a
washing or to a milling process.
In an
analogous mennox I trant manufactured Wall
1

page_text: Although gaseous chlorine, or mixtures capable of producing chlorine,,
may be employed, I may mention that in practice I prefer to effect the
decomposition of hypochlorites in the manner herein-before mentioned
so as to produce good results.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I'
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the In-
vention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the submitting of wool either in a crude, washed, or in a
manufactured condition to the action of chlorine either in a gaseous
condition or when in solution, or when generated either in a nascent or
in other condition for the purpose of depriving the wool of what is
known as its shrinking, curling, and felting properties in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Jacob Behrens, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
ATAKITA