PROCESS FOR THE REMOVAL OF VEGETABLE IMPURITIES FROM WOOL BY CHEMICAL MEANS IN COMBINATION WITH STEAM to be as follows:-
Year: 1885

page_text: Chemical Means in Combination with Steam.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for "PROCESS FOR THE REMOVAL OF VEGETABLE
IMPURITIES FROM WOOL BY CHEMICAL MEANS IN COMBINATION WITH STEAM to
be as follows:-
.
"
This invention relates to a process for the removal of vegetable impurities in
wool by chemical means, and consists mainly in the application of steam to wool
that has been previously acidulated and impregnated with suitable chemical
substances that will destroy the vegetable impurities. This method of treatment
by the direct action of steam considerably reduces the duration of the carbonising
operation, inasmuch as the wool can be readily treated with steam at a tempe-
rature of from 257° to 266° Fahr., which is considerably above that at which
the wool can be treated with hot air. Moreover, the wool treated by means of
steain can be delivered at once to the combing process, without being subjected to
a rinsing, drying and beating process such as is usually employed when treating
with hot air.
The suppression of the drying process has the advantage of avoiding the
hardening of the burs, straw and other vegetable impurities that have already been
acted upon by the chemical treatment and the steaming process, so that their
removal is rendered easy in the processes preparatory to spinning, such as carding,
combing &c.
The said process of carbonisation by direct contact with steam can be applied to
the treatment of raw wool, to carded or combed wool, to woollen rags &c.
In practically carrying out the said process in its application to raw wool, the
wool is first steeped in a bath containing sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, chloride
of aluminium or of zinc, sulphate of alumina or of zinc, or other suitable chemical
substances; but by preference a bath formed of 17 pints of water, 8 pints of
commercial sulphuric acid, 17 pints of hydrochloric acid, 5 lbs. of pure zinc, and
17 pints of hydrochlorate of alumina is employed.

page_text: This mixture is boiled, and after adding 54 pints of water it is allowed to stand
24 hours.
The reaction produced between the zinc and the acids causes the former to be
converted into sulphate and chloride.
On removal from the bath, the wool is passed between pressing rollers or is
otherwise deprived of excess of liquid, and it is then placed in a vat having a
perforated double bottom on which may be placed a woollen mat for the raw wool
to rest upon.
In the space between the double bottom is placed a perforated coil
through which steam issues in finely divided streams so as to penetrate uniformly
through the body of wool in an upward direction. The vat being closed by
hinged cover at top, the wool is subjected in a moist condition to the action of the
steam until the carbonisation of the vegetable matters is completed, and the wool
is then delivered in this moist condition to the combing operations.
a
Instead of treating the wool in a vat as described, it may be subjected to the
action of the steam in a stove, similar to those employed heretofore for treatment
with hot air, the wool being carried upon perforated trays or upon movable aprons
arranged one above the other.

page_text: Chemical Means in Combination with Steam.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to a process for the removal of vegetable impurities in
wool by chemical means, and consists mainly in the application of steam to wool
that has been previously acidulated and impregnated with suitable chemical
substances that will destroy the vegetable impurities. This method of treatment
by the direct action of steam considerably reduces the duration of the carbonising
operation, inasmuch as the wool can be readily treated with steam at a tempe-
rature of from 257° to 266° Fahr., which is considerably above that at which
the wool can be treated with hot air. Moreover, the wool treated by means of
steam can be delivered at once to the combing process, without being subjected to
a rinsing drying and beating process such as is usually employed when treating
with hot air.
The suppression of the drying process has the advantage of avoiding the
hardening of the burs, straw and other vegetable impurities that have already been
acted upon by the chemical treatment and the steaming process so that their
removal is rendered easy in the processes preparatory to spinning, such as carding,
combing &c.
The said process of carbonisation by direct contact with steam can be applied
to the treatment of raw wool, to carded or combed wool, to woollen rags &c.
In practically carrying out the said process in its application to raw wool, the
wool is first steeped in a bath containing sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, chloride
of aluminium or of zinc, sulphate of alumina or of zinc, or other suitable chemical
substances; but by preference a bath formed of 17 pints of water, 8 pints of
commercial sulphuric acid, 17 pints of hydrochloric acid, 5 lbs of pure zinc, and
17 pints of hydrochlorate of alumina is employed. This mixture is boiled, and
after adding 54 pints of water it is allowed to stand 24 hours. The reaction
produced between the zinc and the acids causes the former to be converted into
sulphate and chloride.
On removal from the bath, the wool is passed between pressing rollers or is
otherwise deprived of excess of liquid, and it is then placed in a vat A shewn in
vertical section and sectional plan at Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, which vat has a
perforated double bottom B on which may be placed a woollen mat for the raw
wool C to rest upon. In the space between the double bottoms B and E is placed
a perforated coil F, through which steam issues in finely divided streams so as to
penetrate uniformly through the body of the wool in an upward direction. The
vat being closed by a hinged cover D at top, the wool is subjected in a moist
condition to the action of the steam until the carbonisation of the vegetable
matters is completed, and the wool is then delivered in this moist condition to the

page_text: combing operations. Instead of treating the wool in a vat as described it may be
subjected to the action of the steam in a stove similar to those employed heretofore
for treatment with hot air, the wool being carried upon perforated trays or upon
inovable aprons arranged one above the other.
In treating carded or combed wool or woollen fabric according to this invention,
it is sufficient to substitute jets of steam for the injection of hot air into the
carbonising chamber heretofore employed for treating these materials.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The process herein described of treating wool for the removal of vegetable
impurities therefrom, whereby the wool is first acidulated or treated with chemical
substances and is then subjected to the action of steam for the carbonisation of the
impurities.