IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING
Year: 1835

page_text: HENDRIKS, of Grove House, Blackheath, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of March, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Herman Hendriks, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Herman Hendriks, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Herman Hendriks, my exors, adñors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said Herman Hendriks, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next 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
Herman Hendriks, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained
in the Plates or Drawings annexed to these Presents, and the following is
an explanation thereof:-
Description of the Plates or Drawings Nos. 1 and 2, which relate to the
improvements in dyeing as far as regards the dyeing of wool, woollen fabrics,

page_text: woollen and other skeins, and other articles of blue colours without the use of
indigo:-
Plate or Drawing No. 1, for dyeing wool in the flock or fleece.-A, vessel
pierced all round, and at the bottom with holes; B, frame or horse on which
the vessel A is to rest on the baths, as shewn by dotted lines on the bath No. 4;
C, crane; D, vessels in which the liquids or baths are contained; E, steam
pipe for heating the baths; F, pipe to convey water to the baths.
Plate or Drawing No. 2, for dyeing cloths, stuffs, &c. in the piece.-A, vessels
in which the baths are formed; B, cocks to draw off the contents of the baths;
C, roller on which the cloth is wound before entering the baths; D, rollers,
over and under which the cloth passes in bath No. 4; E, pressing rollers for
equalizing and pressing the liquid out of the cloth. These rollers should be
covered with coarse cloth; F, rollers; G, pressing rollers, same as E; H, rollers,
the first one to guide the cloth into the bath, and the other one to pass it regularly
through the liquid, or the cloth may be wound on this last one previous to
ascending into the air; I, roller; J, roller on which the cloth may be wound,
or it may descend into the bath at liberty; K, inclosure, which should be
heated by steam or otherwise to about the same temperature as the baths
Nos. 6 and 7. This is not absolutely necessary, but it is recommended;
L, guiding rollers; M, pipes introduced into the baths for heating them with
steam; N, pipe for heating enclosure K; 0, carriage to receive the cloth after
it is dyed; P, guiding roller to conduct the cloth into the carriage O.
The following is the description of the improved method or methods of
dyeing blue colours without indigo, and of the baths, &c. employed therein.
Acid bath, No. 1.-This bath is prepared with one hundred parts water
in weight to one part of sulphuric acid (muriatic or any other acid is fit for
this purpose, but where the contrary is not mentioned, it is to be understood
that sulphuric acid is referred to), and is to be employed at eighty to one
hundred degrees Fahrenheit. This bath should always remain of an acid taste
after the wool, &c. has passed through it.
Washing bath No. 2 consists of water, to be used at the ordinary temperature;
or warm, and its use is only recommended for economy's sake to wash off the
excess of acid which may remain on the cloth, wool, &c., on being withdrawn
from bath No. 1.
Alkaline bath, No. 3, prepared with water and a small quantity of alkali, but
in preference to others with the carbonate of soda, videlicet, one part and a
quarter of alkali in weight to one hundred parts of water, to be employed at
about seventy-five to eighty degrees Fahrenheit.
Prussiate bath, No. 4, is prepared with the ferruginous prussiate of potash

page_text: (any other ferruginous prussiate will answer the same purpose), and should be
about three degrees strength by Beaume's areometer for salts, and be employed
at about ninety to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. As this bath should
always be kept in an acid state in preference to an alkaline one, one pound of
acid may be added to every three hundred gallons of water.
Ferruginous bath, No. 5, to be formed with a prosulphate of iron and
water (any other protosalt of iron may be used with more or less success) and
to mark about four degrees of Beaume's areometer for salts, and should be
employed at about one hundred and sixty to one hundred and seventy degrees
Fahrenheit. This bath may be acidulated like No. 4, or be used in the
neutral state.
Bath, No. 6, composed of water heated to about one hundred or one hundred
and ten degrees Fahrenheit, to which should be added a small quantity of acid,
say like No. 5.
Bath, No. 7, composed of water heated to about one hundred degrees
Fahrenheit, to which should be added half a part of acid in weight to one
hundred parts of the water. The liquid which drains from the cloth, wool, or
other matters, on being withdrawn from this bath, should always be of an acid
taste.
Stove bath, No. 8, is employed without immersing the dyed matter in a
liquid. It is simply a place or stove made close, and heated to about one
hundred degrees Fahrenheit, in which the dyed material is to be placed. This
place should be covered with woollen at the top, in order that the humidity
may pass off.
Ammoniacal bath, No. 9, is composed and employed as follows:-A close
place being prepared, as for No. 8, the dyed stuff is to be hung up, and some
highly concentrated liquid ammonia is to be placed on the ground (or ammo-
niacal gas may be introduced in any other convenient way), the vapour arising
from the ammonia will have an instantaneous effect, and produce a darker
colour. The liquid ammonia may also be used in another form, namely, put
as much of it in water as may be necessary to produce the desired colour, and
pass the cloths or stuffs regularly through it. Practice can only dictate the
quantity, as the quality of the ammonia and the water employed may differ,
It is to be used cold, or heated to sixty or seventy degrees. When it is intended
to dye very light blues, the baths No. 4 and 5 must be made weaker; bath
No. 1 will be useful for about twenty operations; bath No. 2 for five opera-
tions; No. 3 for ten operations; No. 4 for one hundred operations; No. 5 for
fifty operations; No. 6 for four operations; No. 7 for seven operations; No. 9,
so long as any of the ammoniacal gas remains. The baths Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,

page_text: and 9, require being kept in the order indicated, that is, by adding the various
things with which they are formed from time to time.
When the baths
Nos. 4 and 5 are no longer fit for use, they may be mixed together in equal
volume, and Prussian blue be made with the deposit. The vessels containing
the baths intended for dyeing wool in the flock or fleece, or in skein, should be
made of a round form. Those intended for piece dyeing should be of an
oblong square form, and the baths Nos. 4 and 5 should be heated by steam in
contact, and not condensed; for the other baths steam may be introduced by
contact or condensation.
Process or method of dyeing wool in the flock or fleece of blue colour
without indigo.-Take wool which has been well cleaned by the ordinary
process, say any quantity, but here I will suppose about two hundred pounds;
put it into a vessel like the one A, Plate or Drawing No. 1, of sufficient
capacity, and made so as to enter the vessels containing the liquid baths with
facility. The vessel containing the wool should be pierced all round and at
the bottom with holes; raise this vessel by means of a crane (which should
be placed in the centre of the building which contains the baths), and lower it
into bath No. 1; let it remain there ten minutes; then raise it just out of the
liquid; let it drain for ten minutes; then lower it again and let it remain ten
minutes; then raise it and allow it to drain for ten or fifteen minutes, and pass
it into baths Nos. 2 and 3, observing the same rule and following the same
plan for each of these baths as No. 1; then take the wool out of vessel A and
have it cleaned and washed in plenty of water by the means ordinarily resorted
to. The wool being now quite clean and well drained, or, if dry, would be
preferred, is to be again put in the vsssel A, and conducted into bath No. 4,
where it should be treated in the same manner as in bath No. 1, and after the
last immersion it should be allowed to drain for ten minutes suspended to
the crane; then it should be lowered on a frame placed across the bath, and a
false cover pierced with holes should be placed on the vessel A, and the vessel
and wool be turned upside down, and allowed to remain in that position for
ten minutes. This operation being intended to distribute the liquid as equally
as possible over every part of the wool, then turn the vessel into its original
position, and pass it promptly into bath No. 5, where the vessel A should be
occasionally turned round or be raised and lowered for about a quarter of an
hour; then raise it just clear of the bath, and allow it to drain for about twenty
minutes; then pass it into bath No. 6, where the immersions should be made
similar to those in regard to bath No. 1, after which pass it into bath No. 7,
where two immersions at intervals of fifteen minutes. will be sufficient. If the
wool has not now attained the desired density of colour, it must be repassed in

page_text: the same manner into baths Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, until each colour be obtained,
observing the same method as at the first passage into these baths. It must
then be taken out of the vessel A, washed in plenty of cold water, be dried by
the ordinary means, and then be placed in the stove bath No. 8 for about
three quarters of an hour; this will complete the operation of dyeing, and the
wool may be treated as though dyed by any other process. In all cases where
the tissue made with this wool is intended to be fulled, it will be necessary to
take care that the soap employed is not too caustic, and that it is perfectly
dissolved and cold before it is applied, and that the cloth is rendered a little
humid before the soap is added. If, however, it should happen that the soap
renders the colour less brilliant, let the cloth be submitted to the action or
contact of steam, and it will become quite fresh again. The ammoniacal bath
may be used after the wool has been worked up, or previously in all cases
where it may be desired to apply ammonia.
Method or process for dyeing woollens in the piece.-The cloth or stuff
being freed from grease and fulled (where the latter operation is necessary), it
should be passed through the baths Nos. 1, 2, and 3, in any ordinary sort of
vessels, and by the means ordinarily employed by dyers. After the bath No. 3,
the cloth, &c. should be stocked or cleaned with fuller's earth, and be well
washed in plenty of cold water. The cloth being well drained (or dried in
preference), attach cords at each end of it, and wind it on the roller C, Plate
or Drawing No. 2; then pass the cords on the one end over and under the
rollers D in the bath No. 4, and by means of a handle placed in the end of one
of two pressing rollers E, let the cloth be very slowly passed through the baths,
and from it through the pressing rollers, and by means of the cords, let it pass
the rollers F of the bath No. 5, and through the pressing rollers G, and from
thence over and under the rollers H of the bath No. 6; then by the roller I and
under the roller J of the bath No. 7, in which it should be wound; then by
means of the cords at this end of the cloth it should be brought back and rede-
scended in the bath No. 6, then again into bath No. 7, and wound on the roller
H, or it may be passed into the baths Nos. 6 and 7 without being wound on
the rollers, that is to say, quite at liberty. The cloth or stuffs should be passed
four or five times alternately from bath No. 6 into bath No. 7, and vice versa,
for the purpose of raising the colour or fixing the oxide of iron. After this, if
the intensity of colour desired is not obtained, it must be repassed through the
baths Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, in the same manner as has been recommended, until
the desired colour is obtained, after which the cloth, &c. should be stocked and
cleaned with fuller's earth, and be washed with cold water, in the same way as
is generally resorted to for the purpose of cleaning cloths, &c. Then dry the

page_text: cloths on tenters, and afterwards place it on tenter hooks in the stove bath
No. 8, which has already been described, for about three hours, and, if desired,
let it afterwards be submitted to the action of ammonia in the bath No. 9,
which has also been described, or be passed through a liquid ammoniacal bath.
The application of ammonia is only resorted to in certain cases where particular
colours are wanted, but the more so where a species of redness is desired.
The system of rollers shewn in the Drawing are recommended, and particularly
the pressing cylinders or rollers, which should be made very true and flexible,
but they are not absolutely necessary; they are employed for the purpose of
equally distributing the liquid on and through the tissue, but any other means
may be applied, by which this absolutely necessary point can be obtained.
When dyeing any other sort of tissue cloths or skeins made of other materials
than wool, the bath Nos. 1, 2, and 3, are not necessary, that is to say, the
operations should commence with the bath No. 4, and be continued as bas
been explained.
Method or process for dyeing skeins.-The same baths are to be employed
as have been recommended for the wool in the fleece, cloths, &c., and the same
observations attended to as regards time, that is to say, the skeins should
remain in and out of the baths the same length of time as has been referred to
in respect to wool in the flock or piece, and care must be taken that the skeins
are equally drained either by letting them remain suspended, or by squeezing
or twisting them with sticks, and in either of these cases care should be taken
to change the position of the skeins when either left to drain at liberty, or when
sticks are employed; that is to say, turn the under part uppermost, and vice versa.
This observation applies only after being withdrawn from bath No. 4 before
entering bath No. 5 and on being withdrawn from No. 5 before entering bath
No. 6. For that bath, and the one No. 7 this care is not necessary, and
unless every means recommended is attended to for equally distributing the
liquid contained in the baths Nos. 4 and 5 on the matter intended to be dyed,
an evenness and uniformity of colour will never be obtained. Silks and
cottons intended to be dyed by this process should be well freed from the oil
or gum which they contain by any ordinary known process. The skeins may
be passed through a soap bath, if necessary, to cleanse them.
Having thus described that part of my Invention which relates to dyeing
Llue colours, I would have it understood that I lay no claim to any of the
apparatus shewn and described, nor do I confine myself to the exact construc-
tion; but confine my claim to the improved process of dyeing blue by the
:double decomposition of a soluble ferrocyanate or prussiate, and a salt of iron
by the means above described.
.

page_text: The following is a description of my Invention as relates to improvements
in dyeing green colours, and of the baths to be used, and the manner in
which the operation is to be performed. Bath No. 1 is to be formed with
the acetate of lead (or any other soluble salt of lead), of the specific gravity
5 of about two degrees of Beaume's areometer for salts, and this bath
is to be heated by the contact of steam, not condensed, to about one
hundred to one hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit. Bath No. 2 to be
prepared with the chromate of potash or the bichromate of potash (the
chromate of soda will answer equally well) of the specific gravity of about
three degrees of Beaume's arcometer for salts, and this bath is to be heated
by the same means as No. 1 to about one hundred and sixty degrees
Fahrenheit. Bath No. 3 consists of water, which may be used of the
ordinary temperature or a little warmer. Bath No. 4 consists of water so
slightly acidulated with the acetate of lead so as only to be of a very feint
acid taste, and may be used at the ordinary temperature, or a little warmer.
The baths No. 1 and 2 will serve for a great number of operations on adding
to them such quantity of the matter with which they are formed as is requisite
to keep them in the state of specific gravity before mentioned, but whenever
it may be desired to empty the vessels the contents of the two vessels or baths
may be mixed together, and the deposit therefrom will be the chromate of lead
known as an article of commerce for painting, &c., and when it is necessary
to change the waters in baths Nos. 3 and 4 the chromate of lead will also be
obtained by mixing them together, and if necessary to cause a quick deposit
a small portion of the liquid contained in baths Nos. 1 and 2 may be added;
experience will be the best guide as regards the quantity of either or both of
these liquids; the baths No. 3 and 4 are only used for economy, and where
it may be found inconvenient to place them they may be dispensed with, and
the material dyed may be washed in water in any convenient manner, such as
is ordinarily resorted to in dyeing by the ordinary methods. The wool, cloth,
or woollen fabrics, silk, worsted, or other matter, either in skein or piece,
having been dyed blue by the means already described, are to be passed
through the baths Nos. 1 and 2 in the way described for dyeing blue, or by any
other convenient mode, and are then to be washed in the baths 3 and 4, or by
any other convenient mode; but when dyeing woollen cloths it is recommended
to stock-wash them in the ordinary way with fuller's earth after they are dyed;
but for merinoes, serges, camlets, moreens, or other light stuffs or fabrics
composed of other matter than woollen, it will only be necessary to wash them
in the ordinary way in plenty of cold water.
Having thus described that part of my Invention which relates to dyeiug

page_text: green colours, I confine my claim of Invention of improvements in dyeing to
the application of the process of decomposition of the chromate of potash or
the bichromate of potash, or the chromate of soda, and soluble salt of lead in
the process of dyeing, and thus producing green colours on wool, woollen
fabrics, silk, or other matter which has been previously dyed blue by the
means already described.
The following is the means to be employed when it is required to obtain
black bronzes or other colours after the wool or woollen fabrics or other
matters have been dyed blue or green by the means already described. It
will only be necessary to obtain such colours as black bronzes or others to
form a bath or baths with such vegetable substances as are generally employed
to obtain these colours, observing also such manipulations as are ordinarily
resorted to; but before passing the matter intended to be dyed through the
bath or baths it is recommended to add one pound of boracic acid to every four
hundred pounds of water or thereabouts (cream of tartar will answer the
purpose nearly as well), and when the matter already dyed blue is passed
through a bath formed with galls or any substance containing gallic acid with
its black or tanning property, a uniform and fast black colour will be obtained.
In obtaining or dyeing blacks, bronzes, or other colours, I confine my claim of
Invention to the dyeing of the blue and green colours by the means already
described, and to the application of the baths containing the vegetable
colouring matter, gallic acid, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herman Hendriks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.