IMPROVE- 'MENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING FABRICS OF COTTON AND OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LIGHTFOOT, of Broad Oak, within Accrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Lightfoot, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Lightfoot, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Lightfoot,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
'MENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING FABRICS OF COTTON AND OF OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I,
the said Thomas Lightfoot, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Lightfoot, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:―
My Invention consists, first, in the employment of archil or cudbear in
printing fabrics composed wholly or partly of cotton, linen, or other vegetable
fibre, when such fabrics have been first prepared according to some of the
means herein-after explained. And, secondly, my Invention consists of em-
ploying the coloring matters of archil or cudbear in combination with a pre-
vious preparation of the vegetable fibrous matters, as hereafter explained,
when producing dyed fabrics composed wholly or partly of cotton, linen, or
other vegetable fibre. I prepare such fabrics with a basis of oils or fats, and I
prefer for this purpose the preparation for the Turkey red process, but varia-
tions may be resorted to, so long as the preparation is with a basis of oils or
fats. The fabric, when of cotton or of linen, or of other vegetable fibre, is
first partially bleached by boiling six or seven hours in water with two ounces
of crystallized carbonate of soda (common soda crystals of commerce) to each
pound of fabric, then wash it in clean water and steep it in a mixture of sul-
phuric acid and water at one degree on Twaddle's hydrometer for about one
hour, then wash the fabric again and let the previous operation be repeated,
then dry it in the ordinary manner ready for the oil process; I charge the
fabric with the following mixture:-To each pound weight of fabric half an
ounce of pearlash dissolved in one and a quarter pints of water at one hun-
dred degrees of Fahrenheit, add this solution to two and a half ounces of olive
oil, and mix all well together, immerse the fabric in this mixture till it is
absorbed, or pad the fabric in this mixture in the usual way by a padding
machine, allow the fabric to rest two or three hours, then hang it in a stove
and raise the heat gradually during five or six hours to one hundred and forty
degrees Fahrenheit, then allow it to remain in the stove till next morning,
when it will be ready to pass through the second operation. The second
and third operations are exactly similar to the first.
The fourth operation is as follows:-The fabric is impregnated with one
and a quarter pints of water (to each pound of fabric) at one hundred and
ten degrees of Fahrenheit, and allowed to rest two or three hours, when it is
again stoved, as stated in the first operation.

page_text: The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth opera-
tions are exactly similar to and are mere repetitions of the fourth. After the
twelfth operation the fabric is steeped for a day and a night in a solution of
pearlash mixed in the proportion of one and a half ounces of pearlash to four
pints of water for each pound of fabric, such solution being at a temperature of
one hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit at the time the fabric is immersed.
The fabric is then rung out or (squeezed) well washed two or three times in
clean water and dried in the stove. The fabric is then padded with acetate of
alumina, commonly called red liquor, and the mordant thus applied is fixed by
hot water in a manner well understood. In some cases, such as where there
are only archil or cudbear colors to be used, I pad with aluminate of potash
or soda, which does not require the fabric to be treated with hot water before
printing; when, however, I desire to obtain scarlet, I omit the aluminous mor-
dants. The fabric thus prepared by the turkey red process is now in a fit state
to have the archil or cudbear colouring matter printed upon it. I would here
remark that I do not confine myself to the above mode of preparing by the use
of oils or fats, nor do I make any claim to the Turkey red process of preparation,
the same being well known, nor do I make any claim to any process of pre-
paring fabrics by oils or fats when uncombined with the subsequent use of
archil or cudbear colors. Another mode I adopt to prepare a fabric of cotton
or linen or other vegetable fibre is with earthly or metallic bases when about
to print it with archil or cudbear, for this purpose I employ salts, either of
magnesia, lead, copper, tin, zinc, bismuth, cobalt, or nickel, by impregnating the
fabric with a saturated solution in water of any of these salts. The fabric so
impregnated is dried and then passed through a weak solution of potash or
soda or ammonia; I generally employ carbonate of soda in the proportion of
one pound of soda to one gallon of water. The fabric so prepared, washed,
and dried, may be now printed with archil or cudbear, and I would here
remark that the fabric so prepared by any of these salts will fix the archil or
cudbear color, but each salt produces a different tint of color. Another mode
I adopt to prepare fabrics of cotton or linen or other vegetable fibre is with
alkalies or alkaline solutions of earths, or alkaline solutions of metallic oxides,
and for this purpose I employ aluminated potash, aluminated soda, a solution of
oxide of lead, in lime, or potash, or soda, or a solution of oxide of tin in potash
or soda, or a solution of oxide of arsenic in potash or soda, or a solution may
be employed of either of the fixed alkalies (potash or soda) alone; any of these
solutions will fix the coloring matter of archil or cudbear, but will produce
different tints, and although saturated solutions produce the fullest effect, yet
solutions which are not saturated produce weaker shades or tints of the same

page_text: color, which in some cases are desired.
The fabric is to be impregnated with
any of these solutions, either by padding or by other means, and when dried the
fabric is ready to be printed with coloring matter of archil or cudbear.
Although I have in the above description spoken only of prepared fabrics
made of cotton, linon, or other vegetable fibre, I here declare that prepared
fabrics composed of other fibrous matters, in combination with cotton, or
linen, or other vegetable fibre may be printed with archil or cudbear according
to my Invention. When I use alkaline solutions, or metallic oxides to
prepare cotton, linen, or other vegetable fibre to be printed upon, I do
so before they are manufactured into a fabric with animal fibres, but when
I adopt the Turkey red process of preparation, I do so either before or after
the vegetable fibres are combined in fabrics with animal fibres. I prepare
archil or cudbear in the following manner :-I take archil, or a preparation
of cudbear, or a lake prepared from them, and mix it with gum senegal
dissolved in water, or other substances used by printers for thickening colors;
but I prefer gum senegal, and when such coloring matters have been printed on
such fabrics in the manner usually adopted by printers, they are then steamed,
as is well understood, in a vessel, for a period of forty-five minutes, more or
less, to fix them, depending on the other steam colors used on the same fibres,
the coloring matters of archil or cudbear requiring less time than most other
steam colors, after which the fabrics are washed, and then, in order to brighten
the colors, I treat the printed fabrics by passing them through a weak solution
of aluminated potash or aluminated soda; but other matters may be used, such
as lime water, or a solution of potash or soda, or arsenate of soda or potash, or
stannate of soda or potash, or silicate of soda or potash, or other alkali or
alkaline earth; such solutions should be about one degree on Twaddle's
hydrometer, after which they are to be washed. In cases where the fabrics
have other colors printed upon them (in addition to the archil colors, which
would be injured by passing through such alkaline solutions, then in place of
passing such fabrics into the solution, I thicken such alkaline solutions (pre-
ferring the alluminates of potash or soda), and print with them on the parts where
archil or cudbear colors have been printed. I can obtain a like result by
combining magnesia with archil or cudbear colors before printing therewith, for
which purpose I add at the rate of about twenty-four ounces of recently
prepared hydrated carbonate of magnesia, or twelve ounces of caustic or
calcined magnesia (using more or less, according to the hue desired,) to each
gallon of the color, and this combination of maguesia is also beneficial when
printing fabrics of silk or wool.
'I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which consists in

page_text: dyeing, with the coloring matters of archil or cudbear, cotton, linen, or other
vegetable fibrous matters previously prepared with oils or fats or the matters
herein described. I would state that the object of this part of my Invention is
to give to the vegetable fibres an oil or fat, or other preparation, which will
have the property of fixing the coloring matters of archil or cudbear thereon,
and for this purpose I find the Turkey red preparation, as in the case of printing
above described, to be the best preparation for the purpose, particularly when
vegetable fibres are used with animal fibres; and, further, the alkaline prepa-
rations are difficult to be employed when dyeing, by reason of their being liable
to be washed off in the process of dyeing, but the process of preparation may
be varied. The archil or cudbear colors employed are prepared as if about to
dye wool or silk therewith, and the process of dyeing is performed in the
manner heretofore resorted to when dyeing wool or silk, with this difference,
that I employ in the dye liquor aluminated soda, in the proportion of two
ounces thereof, at twenty-four degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer to one pound
of cudbear of ordinary strength, or in place thereof aluminated potash, or lime
water, or arsenite of potash or soda, or stanate of potash or soda, or silicates of
potash or soda, or other alkali or alkaline earth of equivalent strength.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that I do not confine myself to the details so
long as the peculiar character of any part of my Invention be retained, but
what I claim is,―
First, the printing of archil and cudbear coloring matters on fabrics
composed wholly or partly of cotton, linen, or other vegetable fibre, when such
fabrics have been first prepared, as herein-before explained.
And I also claim the use of magnesia, mixed with archil or cudbear colors,
for printing on fabrics therewith.
And, secondly, I claim the use of archil or cudbear coloring matters in
dyeing the prepared fibres of fabrics composed wholly or partly of cotton, linen,
or other vegetable matters.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lightfoot, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
THOMAS (L.S.) LIGHTFOOT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Thomas Lightfoot came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the !
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty.