IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon and
Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS." A communication from abroad by Henry Dorr
Dupee, of Boston, County of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, United States of
America.
•
Scaled the 8th September 1877, and dated the 29th June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th June 1877.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 1, Rue Laffitte,
Paris. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS." [A communication from
abroad by Henry Dorr Dupee, of Boston, County of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts,
United States of America.]
Many coloring matters used in printing woven fabrics are fixed or mordanted
thereon by being thoroughly intermixed with some viscid substance which adheres
well to the fibres of the cloth when solidified thereon, and is capable of becoming
to a high degree insoluble by exposure to steam. Among the cementing agents or
vehicles for these so-called "steam colors" albumen is the most important and the
best hitherto known; but its relatively high cost materially increases the expense
of printing by this mode. Gluten and caseine, each in combination with some
chemical agent to promote insolubility, have also been employed for this purpose to
a limited extent; but the comparative inefficiency of these and other proposed
substitutes for albumen, and the practical difficulties attending their application,
have prevented the adoption of them into general use.
The object of this Invention therefore is to provide a cheap and practically
available agent for cementing coloring matters upon textile fabrics, and this my
communicant has accomplished by the employment of gelatine and chromic acid so
combined as to form a comparatively insoluble mordant capable of fixing the colors
intermixed therewith firmly upon the fibres of the cloth. For this purpose glue
Prins AJI

page_text: may be used instead of the purer form of gelatine; and the chromic acid employed
may be in the crude commercial condition. Moreover, certain of the acid chromates,
such, for instance, as dichromate of calcium, wherein the base does not wholly
counteract or seriously interfere with the action appropriate to free chromic acid,
may produce good practical results..
The following is found to be an efficient mode of practising the Invention:-
Four parts of a solution of glue of good quality having a specific gravity of 5°
Beaumé at a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit are mixed with one part of a solution
of chromic acid at 2° Beaumé, and then a sufficient quantity of the proper pigment
or dye to produce the color and shade desired is added and intimately commingled
therewith. The color mixture so prepared should, while using, be kept warm
enough to prevent undue thickening by congelation, and the cloth after being
printed therewith is dried, steamed, and finished in the usual manner for such
styles.
The color mixture may also be made by introducing the coloring. matter into the
solution of glue; and the cloth, after being printed or padded therewith, may be
passed through a solution of chromic acid at 1° Beaumé; or the cloth may first be
padded with the solution of chromic acid, and then the glue solution containing the
color may be printed thereon; but the cloth so treated should then be washed and
dried before steaming and finishing. By this means it is possible to produce upon
textile fabrics "fast colors" equal and even superior in degree of durability and
permanence to those obtained by the use of albumen and at much less expense.
The coloring matters to which the Invention is applicable embrace all pigments,
lakes, and dyes, which are not decomposed or injuriously affected by the chromic
acid, or which in turn do not interfere with the proper function of either of the
constituents of the cementing agent itself; such, for instance, as ultramarine blue,
guignet green, carbon gray, iron buff, and, in fact, a large part of the entire class of
colors hitherto fixed with albumen; also fuchsine, aniline purple, methyl and iodine
green, and other dies.
The proportion of chromic acid may sometimes be considerably greater than that
above stated without materially affecting the practical result; but in most cases it
is desirable to use as little of it as is consistent with its efficient action upon the
gelatine.
The mordant with the color contained therein may also be fixed upon the cloth
by prolonged exposure to heated air, but such treatment is less efficient and more
troublesome than the-application of steam for that purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Williain Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th December 1877.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 1,. Rue Laffitte.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS.' A communication from abroad
by Henry Dorr Dupee, of Boston, County of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, United
States of America.
:
Many coloring matters used in printing woven fabrics are fixed or mordanted
thereon by being thoroughly intermixed with some viscid substance which adheres
well to the fibres of the cloth when solidified thereon, and is capable of becoming
to a high degree insoluble by exposure to steam. Among the cementing agents or
vehicles for such colours albumen is the most important and the best hitherto
known;. but its relatively high cost materially increases the expense of printing by
this mode.. Gluten and caseine, each in combination with some chemical agent to
promote insolubility, have also been employed for this purpose to a limited extent;
but the comparative inefficiency of these and other proposed substitutes for albumen,
and the practical difficulties attending their application, have prevented the adoption
of them into general use.
The object of this Invention therefore is to provide a cheap and practically
available agent for cementing colouring matters upon textile fabrics; and it is
accomplished by the employment of gelatine and chromic acid so combined as to
form a comparatively insoluble mordant capable of fixing the colors intermixed
therewith firmly upon the fibres of the cloth. For this purpose glue may be used
instead of the purer form of gelatine, and the chromic acid employed need not be
chemically pure, but commercial samples of good quality should be chosen, and
those with too much free sulphuric acid should be avoided. Moreover, certain of
the acid chromates, such, for instance, as dichromate of calcium, wherein the base
does not wholly counteract or seriously interfere with the action appropriate to free
chromic acid may produce good practical results.
The following is an efficient mode of practising this Invention -Four parts of a
solution of glue of good quality having a specific gravity of 5° Beaumé at a
temperature of 100° Fahrenheit are mixed with one part of a solution of chromic
acid at 2° Beaumé, and then a sufficient quantity of the proper pigment or dye to
produce the colour and shade desired is added and intimately commingled therewith.
The colour mixture so prepared should, while using, be kept warm enough to
prevent undue thickening by congelation, and the cloth, after being printed there-
with, is dried, steamed, and finished in the usual manner for such styles.
The color mixture may also be made by introducing the coloring matter into the
solution of glue, and the cloth, after being printed or padded therewith, may be
passed through a solution of chromic acid at 1° Beaumé; or the cloth may first be
padded with the solution of chromic acid, and then the glue solution containing the
color may be printed thereon; but the cloth so treated should then be washed and
dried before steaming and finishing. By this means it is possible to produce upon
textile fabrics "fast colors," equal and even superior in degree of durability and
permanence to those obtained by the use of albumen, and at much less expense.
The coloring matters to which the Invention is applicable embrace all pigments,
lakes, and dyes which are not decomposed or injuriously affected by the chromic
acid, or which in turn do not interfere with the proper function of either of the
constituents of the cementing agent itself; such, for instance, as ultramarine blue,
guignet green, carbon grey, iron buff, and, in fact, a large part of the entire class of
colors hitherto fixed with albumen; also fuchsine, aniline purple, and other dyes.
The proportion of chromic acid may sometimes be considerably greater than that
above stated without materially affecting the practical result; but in most cases it

page_text: is desirable to use as little of it as is consistent with its efficient action upon the
gelatine.
The mordant with the color contained therein may also be fixed upon the cloth
by prolonged exposure to heated air, but such treatment is less efficient and more
troublesome than the application of steam for that purpose."
It should be observed, however, that in each case the printing operation must be
followed by the application of heat in some form, such as that of steam or
heated air.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Invention
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, it should be understood that what
is claimed embraces,―
First. The use of chromic acid and gelatine in combination with colouring matters
for printing on textile fabrics, substantially as described and for the purpose set
forth.
Second. The production of an improved compound suitable for being used as a
mordant in printing textile fabrics, and consisting of chromic acid or its equivalent
combined with gelatinous matter, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
Third. The use of chromic acid in the process of printing colours on textile
fabrics in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, (L.S.)