IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Septimus Losh, of Wreay Syke, near
Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING."
Sealed the 16th January 1855, and dated the 22nd July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Septimus Losh
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd July 1854.
I, WILLIAM SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, near Carlisle, in the County
of Cumberland, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in steeping or washing the fibre or other substance to
be bleached in a solution of a soluble earthy sulphuret, or in a mixture of a
soluble earthy sulphuret and the hyposulphite of the same base. After
steeping or washing with the above-named solution, the fibre or substance
so treated is washed with water until the water comes off quite or nearly
colorless. I now proceed to bleach in the ordinary way, viz., with chloride of
lime, chlorine gas, or sulphurous acid gas.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Septimus Losh in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SEPTIMUS LOSH, of Wreay Syke, near Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Septimus Losh, Her special licence that I, the said William
Septimus Losh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Septimus Losh, 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 BLEACHING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Septimus Losh, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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. William Septimus Losh, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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) :-
My Invention consists in the employment of a solution of a soluble earthy
sulphuret, or of a soluble earthy sulphuret and the hyposulphite of the same
base, for the purpose of steeping or washing vegetable fibres previous to their
being submitted to ordinary bleaching processes. The soluble earthy sul-
phurets which I prefer to employ are those of calcium and lime, which usually
contain an admixture of the hyposulphites of the same bases; but other soluble
carthy sulphurets possessing like properties may also be employed.
The best method of carrying my Invention into effect with which I am at
present acquainted is as follows:-I prepare a solution of bi-sulphuret of
calcium, or of any of the soluble sulphurets of lime or calcium, (which, as
before mentioned, generally contain an admixture of the hyposulphites of the

page_text: same bases,) of a strength of about 15° Twaddle, and in the proportions of
about one gallon to every twenty pounds weight of the vegetable fibres to be
treated. I then immerse the vegetable fibres (whether of a textile nature or
such as are employed for paper making) in the solution, and allow them to
remain therein for about twenty-four hours. I then remove the fibres from
the solution, and dry them in the open air for about twenty-four hours, after
which I wash them well in clean water, when the fibres will be ready for
bleaching. The bleaching inay be performed by any of the ordinary methods,
such as by the use of chlorine gas, chloride of lime solution, sulphurous acid
gas, &c. Should the fibres not bleach perfectly after undergoing the above
process, I repeat it in the same manner as before described, and then submit
them again to the bleaching operation.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is, the treatment of vegetable fibres preparatory to the bleaching
thereof, by immersing them in a solution of any of the soluble combinations
of sulphur with an earthy base, such as the bi-sulphurets of calcium or lime,
alone or combined with the hyposulphite of the same base, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Septimus Losh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM SEPTIMUS LUSH. (L.S.)