A Process for Tinting Fabrics with Fast Colours.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by VICTOR G. BLOEDE, of Baltimore, State of Maryland,
United States of America.]
A Process for Tinting Fabrics with Fast Colours.
I, WILLIAM MATHER of Salford Iron Works, Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Fabrics are usually coloured by dyeing them with soluble colours, many of which
are liable to fade or are capable of being washed out. My invention relates to
means of tinting fabrics with insoluble colouring matters that are permanent, not
liable to fade nor capable of being washed out. Among such colouring matters
may be mentioned carbon, many metallic oxides and other insoluble precipitates,
which in a state of fine subdivision can be suspended without being dissolved in
water or some other liquids, and which when so suspended can be made to penetrate
a fabric and to remain in its interstices, giving it a tint of permanent character.
The fine subdivision of the tinting substance may be effected in various ways. In
many cases it can be at once obtained by taking the substance as it is precipitated
in very fine particles from a weak solution. In other cases the material has to be
finely pulverised or ground. The finely divided solid matter may be suspended in
water, and the fabric can be tinted by passing it once or several times through
this bath from which it receives particles of the tinting substance deposited in its
interstices. It is found however, that when the particles are merely suspended in
water, the tint is apt to be wanting in. uniformity. It is therefore in all cases
necessary to suspend the colouring particles in some liquid of a more or less viscid
character which maintains them more uniformly in suspension than water does.
Two kinds of viscid liquid may be employed for the purpose; the water may
be thickened with starch or gum, which after the colouring particles have been
deposited from it in the interstices of the fabric, can be washed out leaving the
particles in the fabric; or the water inay be thickened by saponified fatty matters,
and after the colouring particles are deposited in the fabric, the fatty matters can
be rendered insoluble by subjecting the fabric to a chemical bath such as a solution
of chloride of calcium. Whether substances of the kind of starch or gum, or.
whether soap he used for giving viscidity to the suspending liquid, it is preferred
to comminute the colouring particles in the first instance by grinding them along
with the thickening substance, as this ensures their more uniform distribution in
suspension.
For producing certain classes of goods, the thickening may be carried so far as to
form a paste in which the colouring particles are suspended, as, for example, by
boiling a starch mixture or by adding clay, baryta or other thickening matters to a
soap mixture. This paste can be applied to the fabric as a dressing: It may be
painted on, but a convenient and simple way of applying it is by means of what is
known as the "Scotch Mangle" consisting of a pair of pressing rollers between which
the fabric is passed. The lower roller, which is of wood, revolves in a trough con-
taining the colour paste; the upper roller, which is of metal, revolves with greater
surface speed than the lower roller. The fabric is thus made to receive the colouring
paste pressed into its pores, all surplus being rubbed off its surface by the lower roller
which has less surface speed than the fabric travelling with the upper roller. In this
case, as when the fabric is tinted by a more or less liquid bath, the viscid vehicle of
the colour particles can be removed by washing with water when the vehicle is of a
starchy or gummy nature, or when the vehicle is of a saponaceous character, the fatty
matter can be rendered insoluble by the chemical bath.

page_text: The viscid vehicle of the insoluble colouring particles may itself be coloured by
soluble dyes, the tint of the fabric being in that case due partly to the dye and partly
to the deposit of the insoluble particles.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Process for Tinting Fabrics with Fast Colours.
I, WILLIAM MATHER, of Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, 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 :-
Fabrics are usually coloured by dyeing them with soluble colours, many of which
are liable to fade or are capable of being washed out.
My invention relates to means of tinting fabrics with insoluble colouring matters
that are permanent, not so liable to fade or to be washed out as many dyes. Among
such colouring matters may be mentioned carbon, many metallic oxides and other
insoluble precipitates, which in a state of fine subdivision can be suspended without
being dissolved in water or some other liquids, and which when so suspended, can be
made to penetrate a fabric and to remain in its interstices, giving it a tint of permanent
character.
The fine subdivision of the tinting substance may be effected in various ways. In
many cases it can be at once obtained by taking the substance as it is precipitated in
very fine particles from a weak solution. In other cases the material has to be finely
pulverised or ground. The finely divided solid matter may be suspended in water
and the fabric can be tinted by passing it once or several times through this bath
from which it receives particles of the tinting substance deposited in its interstices.
It is found, however, that when the particles are merely suspended in water, the tint
is apt to be wanting in uniformity. It is therefore in all cases necessary to suspend
the colouring particles in some liquid of a more or less viscid character which main-
tains them more uniformly in suspension than water does.
Two kinds of viscid liquid may be employed for this purpose; the water may be
thickened with starch or gum, which after the colouring particles have been deposited
from it in the interstices of the fabric, can be washed out leaving the particles in the
fabric or the water may be thickened by saponified fatty matters and after the
colouring particles are deposited in the fabric, the fatty matters can be rendered
insoluble by subjecting the fabric to a chemical bath such as a solution of chloride of
calcium. Whether substances of the kind of starch or gum, or whether soap be used
for giving viscidity to the suspending liquid, it is preferred to comminute the colouring
particles in the first instance by grinding them along with the thickening substance,
as this ensures their more uniform distribution in suspension.
For producing certain classes of goods, the thickening may be carried so far as to
form a paste in which the colouring particles are suspended, as for example by boiling
a starch mixture or by adding clay, baryta, or other thickening matters to a soap
mixture. This paste can be applied to the fabric as a dressing; it may be painted on,
but a convenient and simple way of applying it is by means of what is known as the
"Scotch Mangle" consisting of a pair of pressing rollers between which the fabric is
passed. The lower roller, which is of wood, revolves in a trough containing the
colour paste; the upper roller which is of metal, revolves with greater surface speed
than the lower roller.
The fabric is thus made to receive the colouring paste pressed into its pores all
surplus being rubbed off its surface by the lower roller which has less surface speed
than the fabric travelling with the upper roller. In this case, as when the fabric is
tinted by a more or less liquid bath, the viscid vehicle of the colour particles can be

page_text: to a certain extent removed by washing with water when the vehicle is of a starchy
or gummy nature, or when the vehicle is of a saponaceous character, the fatty matter
can be rendered insoluble by the chemical bath.
The viscid vehicle of the insoluble colouring particles may itself be coloured by
soluble dyes, the tint of the fabric being in that case due partly to the dye and
partly to the deposit of the insoluble particles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The herein described process for tinting fabrics by passing them through a bath
of water, suspending insoluble colouring particles in a state of minute subdivision and
rendered viscid by admixture of gummy or saponaceous matters.
2. The modified process described for tinting fabrics by dressing them with a paste
suspending insoluble colouring particles in a state of minute subdivision.
Dated this 27th day of September 1889.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.