IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRODUCING FROM ROSANILINE BLUE AND VIOLET COLOURING MATTERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes
and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRODUCING FROM ROSANILINE
BLUE AND VIOLET COLOURING MATTERS."-A communication from abroad
by Prosper Monnet, of Lyons, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 17th April 1866, and dated the 10th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th November 1865.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PRODUCING FROM ROSANILINE
BLUE AND VIOLET COLOURING MATTERS," a communication to me from abroad
by Prosper Monnet, of Lyons, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of transforming certain chemical agents upon
the salts of rosaniline for producing blue and violet colouring matters.
Heretofore the violet colouring matter has been insoluble in water, and

page_text: necessitated the use of alcohol to effect its dissolution in the process of
dyeing or printing fabrics or yarns, the use of alcohol being prejudicial to
the production of fine shades. In the alcoholic dissolution of the ordinary
violet, the colour being thrown into the dye bath of cold water, it is
precipitated in an insoluble state upon the textile material, without
imparting all the brightness and freshness that violet is capable of giving.
This improved violet colour being in a state of perfect dissolution in the
dye bath produces the finist shades, the dyeing and printing being at the
same time more easily accomplished and less expensive, the alcohol being
simply omitted and replaced by water to effect the dissolution. I obtain
the improved violet colour in the following manner :-One part of ordinary
violet of rosaniline of commerce is dissolved in six parts of sulphuric acid
at 66° Baumé. The dissolution is facilitated by heat, but it must not
exceed 60° centigrades (or 108° Fahrenheit), and when the dissolution is
perfect the temperature of the mixture is raised to 130° centigrades (or
234° Fahrenheit), and the vessel drawn back from the fire. This sulphuric
dissolution is treated with three or four times its weight of water, then
partially saturated with an alkali, soda, potash, or ammoniac, a very slight
acid reaction being given to the liquor. By the nearly complete saturation
or neutralization of the sulphuric acid the violet is precipitated and after-
wards collected upon a filter, washed with pure water, and dried. The dry
violet thus obtained is reduced to a fine powder, and to it is afterwards
added thirty per cent. of its weight of dry carbonate of soda, or an
equivalent quantity of another alkaline carbonate). When the mixture of
carbonate and violet is effected the whole is moistened with a sufficient
quantity of pure cold water to form a thick paste of a gummy appearance,
which is afterwards dried at a low temperature. When the violet. to be
rendered soluble is of a very red tint, the thirty per cent. of dry carbonate
of soda is replaced by an equivalent quantity of caustic soda or potash in
concentrated dissolution. This new dry violet when produced is in the
form of grains and of a bright metallic appearance, it being perfectly
soluble in about 200 parts of cold water, and the dyeing and printing of
the fabrics is effected in the manner usually adopted for treating other
aniline colors, whether obtained by a pure dissolution, or acidulated by a
mineral or vegetable acid, or by preference sulphuric acid.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents, 123,
Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Thomas Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, 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 MEANS OF PRODUCING FROM ROSANILINE BLUE AND VIOLET
COLOURING MATTERS," a communication to me from abroad by Prosper Monnet,
of Lyons, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument 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 Edward Thomas Hughes, 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 (that is to say :-
The ordinary violets of rosaniline require the employment of alcohol for
their dissolution, but the object of this Invention is to render soluble in
water the violets of rosaniline of all shades, from those which approach to
red as well as those which approach to blue, and thus considerable economy
is realized in consequence of the alcohol being dispensed with. The several
operations for making from the ordinary violet of rosaniline violet colour-
ing matters soluble in water without the use of alcohol are as follows:-

page_text: In six parts of sulphuric acid, monohydrate of commerce (66° Beaume),
is added in small quantities and stirring continually one part of ordinary
violet of rosaniline. For facilitating the dissolution the mixture is heated
to a maximum of 80° centigrades. When the dissolution is complete the
temperature is raised to 130° centigrades. This temperature is kept up for
about ten minutes, when the vessel containing the mixture is drawn back
from the fire. After it has become quite cold it is poured several times
into its bulk or volume of cold water, and then the violet will be partly
precipitated, and by neutralizing the sulphuric acid with an alkali or an
alkaline carbonate the violet will be completely separated, and then the
violet precipitate is collected upon a filter, washed several times in cold
water, and afterwards pressed and dried. With one part of this violet in
a dry and finely powdered state is mixed thirty per cent. of its weight of
dry powdered carbonate of soda, or any other alkaline carbonate or caustic
alkali in a like proportion (according to the chemical equivalents). The
mixture of these two bodies being effected, a weight of water is added
equal to one and a half times the weight of the violet employed. The
whole is then heated with care until the mixture becomes a glutinous and
tenacious mass of a brown color in a very homogenous state. This result
obtained, the product is dried at a low temperature, and the product is the
desired new violet. To obtain a violet of a very red tint, the dry carbonate
of soda is substituted by a corresponding quantity (according to the
chemical equivalents) of a fixed alkali, soda, potash, or other equivalent in
concentrated dissolution, and the same treatment is observed as with the
carbonate of soda. This new violet is perfectly soluble in less than 200
parts of pure boiling water, and is applicable to the printing and dyeing of
stuffs, fabrics, and similar materials, and either in a pure or acidulated
aqueous dissolution. To bring out all the richness of color of the new
violet, it will be found preferable to employ the sulphuric acid as a
brightening mordant in place of other acids. The operations described
apply to all the shades of violet colours, but to those colours only, and
therefore I disclaim the intention of making blue colours or their shades,
as mentioned in the title and the first part of my Provisional Specification,
the word "blue" having been used by mistake.
Having now described the nature and particulars of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed as communicated to
me, I desire it to be understood that I claim,-
First, the violet colouring matters before described, and the processes
for obtaining the same.

page_text: And, secondly, the application of the said violet colouring matters to the
dyeing and printing of textile fabrics, yarns, stuffs, cotton, paper, and
similar materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, One thousand eight
set
hundred and sixty-six.
E. T. HUGHES. (L.S.)