IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING MATTER, AND IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF THE SAME
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company,
Patent Solicitors, at Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING MATTER, AND IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF THE SAME." A communication from Wilhelm Meister, Eugen
Lucius, Doctor of Philosophy, and Adolphus Brüning, Doctor of Philosophy,
Persons trading under the Firm of Meister, Lucius, and Brüning, of Höchst-on-
the-Main, in the Empire of Germany.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd December 1878.*
"
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at Frank-
fort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany. IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING
MATTER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME." [A communication from
Wilhelm Meister, Eugen Lucius, Doctor of Philosophy, and Adolphus Brüning,
Doctor of Philosophy, Persons trading under the Firm of Meister, Lucius, and
Brüning, of Höchst-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany.]
:
This Invention relates more particularly to certain improvements in the method
described in the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to me the 29th day
of April, A.D. 1878, No. 1715, and consists in the manufacture of colouring matters
resulting from the action of the two disulfobetanaphtolic acids on the diazo-
compounds of the phenoles and naphtols and their ethers.
According to the present improvements, instead of using the diazo-compounds of
the benzole and their homologues I can also use, in a manner analogous to that
described in the above mentioned former Specification, the diazo compounds of the
phenoles of the series of the benzoles and their ethers produced by the action of
methyl and aethyl, and also the diazo-compounds of the naphtols and their ethers
produced by the action of methyl and aethyl.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st August
.1879.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at Frank-
fort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN COLOURING
MATTER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME." A. communication from
Wilhelm Meister, Eugen Lucius, Doctor of Philosophy, and Adolphus Brüning,
Doctor of Philosophy, Persons trading(under the Firm of Meister, Lucius, and
Brüning, of Höchst-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany.
This Invention relates more particularly to an Invention of "Improvements in
Colouring Matters, and in the Manufacture of the same," for which Letters Patent
were granted to me, sealed the 20th September 1878, and dated the 29th April
1878, and it consists in this, that instead of using for the production of colouring
matters the diazo compounds of the benzoles and their homologues described in the
Specification filed by me in pursuance-of-the conditions of said Letters Patent in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th October 1878, along with one or other of
the two by me first patented, isomeric disulpho-beta-naphtolic acids, or one or other
of the respective salts thereof, in manner described in' the said Specification, I use
in the same manner along with one or other of the said two isomeric acids, or of
the respective salts thereof, described in the said Specification, the diazo compounds
of the phenoles of the series of the benzoles and the diazo compounds of the ethers
of the said phenoles produced by the combination of methyl or ethyl with said
phenoles in place of the hydrogen of the hydroxyl molecule thereof; and, lastly, the
diazo compounds of the naphtholes or of the ethers of said naphtholes produced by
the combination of methyl or of ethyl with said naphtholes in place of the hydrogen
of the hydroxyl molecule thereof. By the diazo compounds of the phenoles of the
series of the benzoles I mean the diazo compounds or derivatives of the monatomic
phenoles not only of benzol but also of the homologues or higher members of the
said series which originate or may be considered as originating through the replace-
ment by the alcohol radicals methyl and ethyl (one or both) of one or more of the
hydrogen atoms of a single benzole nucleus or of the hydrogen atoms of methyl or
ethyl so substituted, as, for example, the diazo compounds or derivatives of the
monatonic phenoles of toluol, or dimethyl benzol, of ethyl benzol, of ethyl methyl
benzol, and of di-ethyl benzol, where the groups methyl or ethyl are substituted in
one or both of the two ways aforesaid. The diazo compounds of the said phenoles
and naphtholes, and those of their ethers are obtained by processes well known to
chemists, and the diazo compounds so obtained are, in order to the production of
colouring matters, treated according to this Invention with one or other of the said
already patented isomeric bisulpho acids of the beta naphthol, or one or other of the
salts thereof, which in the said Specification I called respectively. salt R and salt Y,
in manner described in the said Specification, the salt R being used where red
shades with a bluish "durchsicht," as after explained, or violet shade is required,
and the salt Y where a yellowish or brownish yellow "durchsicht" is required.. In
carrying out the said Invention it has been found that the diazo compounds of the
ethers of the phenoles yield the brighter or more brilliant colouring matters, while
the diazo compounds of the phenoles themselves give only lower toned, duller, and
less useful colouring matters. The preparation of the colouring matters is effected
in the following manuer :-
1. Preparation of red colouring matters having what in Germany is called a
blueish "durchsicht," that is to say; red colouring matters which shew blueish tints
or nuances when the fabric on which the colour is dyed is held on a level between
the eye and the light, and is looked at along its surface. For the preparation of
these colouring matters I use, in manner above indicated, the ethylic and methylic

page_text: £1
ethers of phenol (carbolic acid); kressol, xylenol, ethylphenol, ethyl-methyl-phenol,
and di-ethyl-phenol, and I obtain colouring matters which are all the redder the
more hydrogen of the benzol nucleus or of its side chains of methyl and ethyl there
are replaced by methyl and ethyl, one or both, in manner above mentioned. An
example may illustrate the preparation of these red colouring matters. Seventeen
kilogrammes of amido-phenol-ethyl ether or amido phenetol, obtained from the
volatile nitrophenol, are dissolved in one hundred kilogrammes of water and twenty-
five kilogrammes of hydrochloric acid of 1.2 specific gravity, and into the solution
after cooling there are introduced nine kilogrammes of nitrite of sodium of 100 per
cent. purity. The solution thus obtained of diazo-phenetol-chloride is then intro-
duced into a solution of fifty kilogrammes of the said salt R and twenty-five
kilogrammes of aqueous or liquid ammonia of 10° Beaumé in two hundred kilo-
grammes of water. From this intermixture the colouring matter separates itself
and settles down as a reddish brown paste. It is then dissolved in boiling water,
the solution is filtered and precipitated with common salt, the colouring matter is
separated by filtration, and dried. It is a dull red body which readily dissolves in
water, and it colours wool mordanted with tin or alum about the same as blue
cochineal, but excels the latter in respect of greater brilliancy and resistance to
scouring, while it stands light equally well. If again I replace in the process before
prescribed the amido-phenetol by (e.g.) an equivalent quantity of amido-kressol-
methyl-ether, or of amido-xylenol-ethyl-ether, and so on (using ethers of compounds
in which more hydrogen of the benzol nucleus or of its side chains is replaced by
methyl and ethyl as above mentioned than are so replaced in amido-phenetol), I
obtain redder and still redder colouring matters in proportion as the compound used
contains more methyl or ethyl, or both, and I am able in this way, by the use in the
above described process of the different diazo compounds of methylic or ethylic
ethers of the monatomic phenoles of higher and higher molecular weight as above
described, to produce a series of red colouring matters of entirely different shades of
red, and increasing in intensity with the molecular weight of the phenole, but all
shewing a blueish tint when the fabric is held on the level between the eye and the
light, and looked at along the surface as above mentioned.
2. Preparation of colouring matters of red shade, but shewing brownish yellow
tints or nuances when the fabric is held on the level between the eye and the light,
and looked at in manner above mentioned, I prepare these colouring matters from
the salt of disulpho-acid of beta-naphthol, designated in the said Specification as
salt Y by combining the same in accordance with the hereinbefore written directions
with the diazo-phenol-ethers mentioned in the said directions. These colouring
matters are however not so important since more brilliant and beautiful colouring
matters of a similar kind may be prepared in a cheaper way by using the diazo
compounds of the higher homologues of benzol, as described in my said Specification,
along with the salt R also therein described.
3. Preparation of violet colouring matters. If in the process hereinbefore
prescribed I replace amido-phenetol by amido-naphtol-ethyl (or methyl)-ether I
obtain violet colours which are distinguished by their great capability of with-
standing scouring and light, and which may very well supersede ochil and logwood
in dyeing and printing.
I am aware of the two patents of John Peter Griess, dated 4th day of October
1877 and 20th November 1878, and I make no claim to any of the matters covered
by either of those two Patents.
Having thus described the said Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
exact details of the manner of performing it as herein before described, and I claim
as the said Invention the manufacture of red and violet colouring matters by acting.
in manner before described, or in manner substantially the same, with one or other
of the two isomeric disulpho-beta-naphtholic acids first patented by me as aforesaid,
or of the said salts thereof, upon the diazo compounds of the monatomic phenoles
of the said series of the benzoles or upon the diazo compounds of the ethers of the

page_text: said phenoles produced by the combination as aforesaid of methyl or ethyl with
said phenoles, or upon the diazo compounds of the naphtholes and of their ethers
produced by the combination as aforesaid of methyl or ethyl with said naphtholes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my hand.
and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
“
f
FRANK WIRTH. (L.S.)