IMPROVE- MENTS IN BOILING AND BLEACHING ALL KINDS OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND VEGETABLE FIBRES AND MATTERS
Year: 1867

page_text: Sealed the 23rd August 1867, and dated the 27th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Murdoch Mackay at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th February 1867.
I, MURDOCH MACKAY, of Surrey Street, Portsea, in the County of Hants,
Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOILING AND BLEACHING ALL KINDS OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND VEGETABLE
FIBRES AND MATTERS:" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in effecting the boiling process and applying the
decoloring agents to the matters to be treated in vacuo instead of in open
vessels or in the presence of free air as heretofore.
To boil and bleach rapidly, effectively, and economically the fibre or substance
either in the damp or dry state or immersed in liquids, it is necessary that
the boiling or bleaching agent at once penetrate to the colour in the fibre
of the article or articles to be boiled or bleached, and this I do by placing
the article or fibre to be boiled or bleached in vacuo. The vessel containing
the articles may be made of any size or form suitable for the purpose; when
the articles are put in the vessel to be boiled or bleached it is hermetically
Price Sd 1

page_text: closed, the air pumped out and the gas or liquors admitted by suitable taps;
the gas or liquors immediately penetrate the fibres, loosen the dirt or extraneous
matter, and instantly destroy all colouring matter, heat may be applied as most
convenient. In bleaching brown cotton or linen it is well-known that by the
present system several immersions in the bleaching liquid of from 8 to 18 hours
are required each time to effect the purpose, but by bleaching in vacuo as
above stated from half an hour to one hour is sufficient.
Boiling cotton or linen by the system hitherto adopted requires several
distinct boilings, each boiling requiring to be continued from 8 to 18 hours,
whereas by boiling in vacuo the time occupied is reduced to 2 or 3 hours besides
requiring one-third less alkali; about three days time and labour are thus
saved besides one-third of the alkali. The present system of boiling rags for
paper making is to boil in an open pan or under steam pressure, which
occupies from ten to twenty hours, but by boiling in vacuo the alkali imme-
diately penetrates the fibre, loosens the dirt, and considerably improves the
colour, consuming one-third less alkali and being finished in from two to three
hours.
Bleaching rags by chloride of lime is well known to injure the fabric, and
the paper made therefrom is liable to turn brown, to remedy this great defect
I first place the rags in a closed vessel, pump out the air, and then admit
purified chlorine gas by suitable tap from the retort which instantly bleaches
but does not injure the fabric, this makes a superior paper which will retain
its beautiful whiteness. I also claim the bleaching by the aforesaid means
of seaweed for making paper or mixing with all all kinds of vegetable pulps,
for making paper, or for mixing with jellies of any kind with isinglass, syrups.
and varnishes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Murdoch Mackay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MURDOCH
MACKAY, of Surrey Street, Portsea, in the County of Hants, Bleacher, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Murdoch Mackay, Her special licence that I, the said Murdoch

page_text: IN
Mackay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Murdoch Mackay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
BOILING AND BLEACHING ALL KINDS OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND VEGETABLE FIBRES
AND MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Murdoch Mackay, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 Murdoch Mackay, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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):-
My Invention consists in effecting the boiling process and applying the
decolouring agents to the matter to be treated in vacuo instead of in open vessels
or in the presence of free air as heretofore.
To boil and bleach rapidly, effectively, and economically the fibre or substance
either in the damp or dry state or immersed in liquids, it is necessary that the
boiling or bleaching agent should at once penetrate to the colour in the fibre
of the article or articles to be boiled or bleached, and this I effect by placing
the article or fibre to be boiled or bleached in vacuo. The vessel containing
the articles may be made of any size or form suitable for the purpose; when
the articles are put in the vessel to be boiled or bleached it is hermetically closed,
the air pumped out and the gas or liquors admitted by suitable taps; the gas or
liquors immediately penetrate the fibres, loosen the dirt or extraneous matter, and
instantly destroy all coloring matter, heat may be applied as most convenient.
In bleaching brown cotton or linen it is well known that by the present system
several immersions in the bleaching liquid of from eight to eighteen hours are
required each time to effect the purpose, but by bleaching in vacuo as above
stated from half an hour to one hour is sufficient.
Boiling cotton or linen by the system hitherto adopted requires several
distinct boilings, each boiling requiring to be continued from eight to eighteen
hours, whereas by boiling in vacuo the time occupied is reduced to two or
three hours, besides requiring one-third less alkali; about three days time and

page_text: labour are thus saved besides one-third of the alkali. The present system of
boiling rags for paper making is to boil in an open pan or under steam pressure
which occupies from ten to twenty hours, but by boiling in vacuo the alkali
immediately penetrates the fibre, loosens the dirt, and considerably improves
the color, consuming one-third less alkali and being finished in from two to
three hours.
Bleaching rags by chloride of lime is well known to injure the fabric, and
the paper made therefrom is liable to turn brown. To remedy this great defect
I first place the rags in a closed vessel, pump out the air, and then admit
purified chlorine gas by a suitable tap from the retort, which instantly bleaches
but does not injure the fabric; this makes a superior paper which will retain
a beautiful whiteness. I may also effect the bleaching by the aforesaid means
of seaweed for making paper, or by mixing with all kinds of vegetable pulps
for making paper, or for mixing with jellies of any kind, isinglass, syrups, and
varnishes.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, boiling and
bleaching all kinds of textile fabrics and vegetable fibres and matters in
closed vessels in which a vacuum has been produced, all as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Murdoch Mackay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
MURDOCH MACKAY. (L.S.)