IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLOURING MATTERS, AND IN " IN APPLYING THE SAME FOR DYEING AND PRINTING FABRICS AND MATERIALS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hanson Greville Williams, of 39, Regent
Square, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLOURING MATTERS, AND IN
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Hanson Greville
Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th April 1859.
I, CHARLES HANSON GREVILLE WILLIAMS, of 39, Regent Square, Gray's Inn
Road, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLOURING MATTERS,
AND IN APPLYING THE SAME FOR DYEING AND PRINTING FABRICS AND MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of coloring
matters, and in applying the same for dyeing and printing fabrics and
materials.
By the destructive distillation of quinine, cinchonine, and strychnine, or
brucine, a series of liquid basic substances are obtained, and it is from such
basic substances that, according to the present Invention, coloring matters
suitable for dyeing and printing fabrics and materials are manufactured.
The process I adopt is the following:-I mix the quinine, cinchonine,
strychnine, or brucine with caustic alkali, and distil the mixture; in this

page_text: manner a liquid of an oily appearance is obtained. This liquid I re-distil, and
in this operation the bodies which pass over at a temperature less than, say,
350° or thereabouts, are separated from those that require a higher tempe-
rature for their volatilization. Both portions of the distillate will yield coloring
matter, but require to be treated by different processes; the portion of which
the boiling point is high, I treat with the iodide or other suitable compound of
amyl or other alcohol radical, and add to the mixture water and ammonia, and
boil until the oil-like liquid assumes a deep blue, lilac, or purple color; the
process is then complete. The blue, lilac, or purple liquid obtained on coming
in contact with fibrous matters (more especially silk) at once communicates to
them a brilliant and permanent color. The portion of the distillate having the
lower boiling point I mix with the amyl or other alcohol radical compound as
before, and I heat the mixture in a close vessel, to say, about 250° Fahrenheit,
afterwards I add water and a suitable oxydizing agent, such as the red oxide
of mercury, or other metallic oxide which is capable of yielding oxygen to the
basic compounds, and the whole is then boiled; the liquid passes through a
series of colors until it becomes blue, lilac, or purple, and the process is then
complete.
Basic bodies, either identical or very similar to those obtained by the
destructive distillation of quinine, cinchonine, strychnine, or brucine, may be
obtained from tar produced in the destructive distillation of coal shale, bones,
and other organic substances. For this purpose the tar is distilled and the
distillate treated with sulphuric acid which combines with and separates from
it the basic bodies. These are afterwards freed from the acid, and treated to
obtain a coloring matter in the manner already described by heating them in a
close vessel with an amyl or other alcohol radical compound, and subsequently
boiling them with water and a suitable oxydizing agent.
In preparing dye baths, when coloring matters manufactured according to
my Invention are employed, I dissolve the coloring matter in alcohol or other
suitable solvent, and mix the solution with water in quantity sufficient to
produce a bath of the desired strength; in this bath the fabric or material to
be dyed is boiled or immersed until the dyeing operation is complete. I in some
cases prepare the fabric or material with a mordant to modify the color
produced by the dye bath. In employing these coloring matters for printing
fabrics and materials I prepare a solution of the colouring matter as before, and
I thicken it with albumen or other suitable substance, and apply the compound
to the fabric or material to be printed (either previously mordanted or otherwise)
by means of blocks or otherwise, as heretofore.
According to this Invention also, coloring matters are obtained by acting on

page_text: -
salts or compounds of aniline, toluidine, xylidine, cumidine, and cymidine, with
permanganate of potash or other salt of permanganic acid, and afterwards
treating the precipitate obtained as is herein-after described. To obtain the
coloring matter in a pure or sufficiently pure state, I proceed in the following
manner I mix with a solution of the aniline or other salt or compound a
solution of permanganate of potash or other salt of permanganic acid; a
precipitate is thus produced which contains a blue, lilac, or purple coloring
matter similar to that which has before been produced by the action of
bichromate of potash on salts of aniline, toluidine, xylidine, and cumidine, but
when permanganate of potash or other salt of permanganic acid is employed
the precipitate is, to a great extent, if not entirely, free from the brown com-
pound produced by the action of bichromate of potash, when the same is
employed. The precipitated coloring matter is purified by boiling it with
naptha or other liquid capable of removing some of the impurities without
dissolving the coloring matter; this is afterwards dissolved in spirit as has been
practised in purifying the precipitate produced by bichromate of potash. By
the action of permanganate of potash or other salt of permanganic acid at the
same time that the blue, lilac, or purple color is precipitated, a second coloring
matter is also produced, which remains dissolved in the liquid, and which dyes
fibrous and other materials (more especially silk) a crimson or scarlet color.
In some cases when this dye is employed mordants are applied to the fabric or
material for modifying the color produced. For printing, the liquid is con-
centrated by evaporation and thickened with albumen or other suitable
material, and applied by blocks or otherwise to the fabric or material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Hanson Greville Williams in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HANSON GREVILLE WILLIAMS, of 39, Regent Square, Gray's Inn Road, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Hanson Greville Williams, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Hanson Greville Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: or such others as I, the said Charles Hanson Greville Williams, my executors,
administrators, and 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 MANUFACTURE OF COLORING
MATTERS, AND IN APPLYING THE SAME FOR DYEING AND PRINTING FABRICS AND
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Hanson Greville Williams, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Hanson Greville Williams,
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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object. improvements in the manufacture
of coloring matters, and in applying the same for dyeing and printing fabrics
and materials. By the destructive distillation of quinine, cinchonine, strych-
nine, or brucine, a series of liquid basic substances are obtained, and it is from
such basic substances that, according to the present Invention, coloring
matters suitable for dyeing and printing fabrics and materials are manu-
factured. The process I adopt is the following:-I mix the quinine,
cinchonine, strychnine, or brucine with caustic alkali, or alkaline earth, such
as potash, soda, or lime, or a mixture of them, such alkali, alkaline earth, or
mixture being in considerable excess. I then distil the mixture in an iron
or other suitable still over the naked fire; in this manner a liquid of an oily
appearance is obtained. This liquid I re-distil, and in this operation the
bodies, which pass over at a temperature of less than say 350°, or thereabouts,
are separated from those that require a higher temperature for their volatili.
zation. Both portions of the distillate will yield coloring matter, but require
to be treated by. different processes. The portion of which the boiling point
is high, I treat with the, iodide sulphates, or other suitable compound of amyl,
or other alcohol radical, and add to the mixture water and ammonia in excess,
and boil until the oil-like liquid assumes, a deep blue,,lilac, or purple color;
and the process is continued till the color ceases to increase in intensity; the
process is then complete The blue, lilac, or purple liquid, obtained on coming

page_text: in contact with fibrous matters (more especially silk), at once communicates
to them a brilliant and permanent color, and such colors are by preference
used in an alkaline condition when dyeing, and as the colors are not readily
soluble in water, alcohol is used to keep them in solution. The portion of the
distillate having the lower boiling point I mix with the amyl, or other alcohol
radical compound as before, and I heat the mixture in a close vessel to, say,
about 250° Fahrenheit; afterwards I add water, and a suitable oxidizing
agent, such as the red oxide of mercury, or other metallic oxide which
is capable of yielding oxygen to the basic compounds, and the whole is then
boiled till the color ceases to increase in purity and intensity; the liquid
passes through a series of colors until it becomes blue, lilac, or purple, and the
process is then complete.
Basic bodies, either identical or very similar to those obtained by the
destructive distillation of quinine, cinchonine, strychnine, or brucine, may be
obtained from tar produced in the destructive distillation of coal shale, bones,
and other organic substances. For this purpose the tar is distilled in the
ordinary manner in which tar is distilled, and the distillate treated with
sulphuric acid in excess, which combines with and separates from it the
basic bodies; these are afterwards freed from the acid by treatment with an
alkali or alkaline earth, and then distilled; the product is then treated to
obtain a coloring matter in the manner already described, by heating them
in a close vessel with an amyl, or other suitable alcohol radical compound,
and subsequently boiling them with water and a suitable oxidizing agent.
In preparing dye baths, when coloring matters manufactured according to
my Invention are employed, I dissolve the coloring matter in alcohol, or other
suitable solvent, and mix the solution with water in quantity sufficient to
produce a bath of the desired strength. In this bath the fabric or material to
be dyed is boiled or immersed, until the dyeing operation is complete. 1 in
some cases prepare the fabric or material with a mordant, to modify and fix
the color produced by the dye bath. In employing these coloring matters for
printing fabrics and materials, I prepare a solution of the coloring matter as
before, and I thicken it with albumen or other suitable substance, and apply
the compound to the fabric or material to be printed (either previously
mordanted or otherwise) by means of blocks or otherwise, as heretofore.
According to this Invention also, coloring matters are obtained by acting
on salts or compounds of aniline, toluidine, xylidine, cumidine, or cymidine,
with permanganate of potash, or other salt of permanganic acid, and after-
wards treating the precipitate obtained as is herein-after described. To obtain
the coloring matter in a pure or sufficiently pure state, I proceed in the

page_text: following manner:-I mix with a solution of the aniline, or other salt or
compound, a solution of permanganate of potash or other salt of permanganic
acid in equivalent proportions; a precipitate is thus produced, which contains
a blue, lilac, or purple coloring matter, similar to that which has before been
produced by the action of bichromate of potash on salts of aniline, toluidine,
xylidine, and cumidine; but when permanganate of potash or other salt of
permanganic acid is employed, the precipitate is to a great extent, if not
entirely, free from the brown compound produced by the action of bichromate
of potash, when the same is employed. The precipitated coloring matter is
purified by boiling it with naptha or other liquid, capable of removing some of
the impurities without dissolving the coloring matter; this is afterwards
dissolved in spirit, as has been practised in purifying the precipitate produced
by bichromate of potash. By the action of permanganate of potash, or other
salt of permanganic acid, at the same time that the blue, lilac, or purple color
is precipitated, a second coloring matter is also produced, which remains
dissolved in the liquid, and which dyes fibrous and other materials (more
especially silk) a crimson or scarlet color. In some cases, when this dye is
employed, mordants are applied to the fabric or material for modifying the
color produced. For printing, the liquid is concentrated by evaporation and
thickened with albumen or other suitable material, and applied by blocks or
otherwise to the fabric or material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Hanson Greville Williams, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
C. H. G. WILLIAMS. (L.S.)