IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, TREATING, DA WYSEAT SUBSTANOR
Year: 1870

page_text: .LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Cattell, Doctor of Medicine, 188, Strand,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, TREATING,
DA WYSEAT SUBSTANOR "
Sealed the 26th August 1870, and dated the 28th February 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Cattell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1870.
I, THOMAS CATTELL, Doctor of Medicine, 188, Strand, London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING, TREATING, AND PURIFYING FIBROUS VEGATABLE AND FIBROUS ANIMAL
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These are, first, in the treatment of vegetable substances. I take in
particular rheea fibre or China grass, New Zealand, Japan, Italian flax,
and flax grown in any other country, jute and hemp, esparto grass, straw,
peat, cotton, and cotton waste which has been used in machinery, and

page_text: other similar vegetable substances from which fibre can be produced,
which in reference have been well washed or otherwise prepared in cold
water, and submit them to a bath which may be composed as follows,
namely: Corate, or biborate, or phosphate, or tungstate, or silicate, or
aluminate, or carbonate of soda, of potash, or of ammonia, or af any
other salt of the alkalies having corresponding or analogous chemical
reactions, or any combination or mixture of one, two, three, or more of
these salts, to which may be added cinzole, petroleum spirit, coal tar
naptha, brsulphide of carbon, rectified turpentine, or other volatile solvent
having an action on resin or resinous matters, wax, or cerumenous matters,
fatty or oliagenous matters. The bath is then heated to a temperature
which may vary according to the materials by preference-being-agitated
or kept in motion. The liquid contents are the bath are there drawn off,
and by preference the material is thoroughly washed in heither hot or cold
water. This I call my first process. The bath is now made up of a solution
composed of either of the carthy or of the alkaline sulphides, preferring
on account of their cheapness the sulphides of lime or the sulphides of
soda; the bath is then brought to boiling, and maintained at that
temperature for several hours, the strength of the bath and the time of
operation in all cases being regulated by the nature of the materials
under treatment; the liquor is then drawn off and the materials,
without washing, are treated with sulphurous acid either in the gaseous
state or liquid state, or in solution. When these materials have been
sufficiently acted upon by the sulphurous acid they are then pressed and
afterwards thoroughly washed and dried, and in this state they may be
made use of for various manufacturing purposes. This I call my second
process. But in some cases it may be deemed necessary to submit the
materials to further bleaching processes, when by preference I use a
solution of chlorine or a clear solution of a hypochlorite or chlorine gas,
afterwards washing the material well with water, and further submitting
it to a solution of a sulphite, or a bisulphite, or a hyposulphite of the
alkalies, or of the alkaline earths, or to a solution of a salt such as is
produced after the treatment of the materials above by sulphurous acid,
and this bleaching process may be repeated.
The second part of my Invention consists in the treatment of animal
substances, amongst which may be specially named wool and woollen
substances, feathers, silks, hair, mungo, shoddy, or other similar animal

page_text: substances, and consists in submitting them to the processes described
for the treatment off vegetable substances under the first head, but I
either and altogether the process which I call my second process, or
when I do apply it I modify the. action of the sulphide both according.
to the nature of the animal material under operation by having the bath
properly deluted, while at the same time I moderate the temparature and
likewise limit the duration of the operation..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Cattell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS.
CATTELL, Doctor of Medicine, 188, Strand, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Cattell, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Cattell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Cattell, 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 Iste
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, TREATING, AND
PURIFYING FIBROUS VEGETABLE AND FIBROUS ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Cattell, my executors:
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under mỹ, 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 Thomas Cattell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to-

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
These are, first, in the treatment of vegetable substances. I take in
particular rheea fibre and other Indian fibres, New Zealand flax, and flax
the growth of any other country, hemp, jute, cotton and cotton waste,
straw, esparto, peat, and other ligneous fibres, also the husks or skins
of grains and seeds, and fibrous vegetable substances generally, from
which textile fabrics and paper can be produced, which in preference
have been washed in water and have undergone whatever mechanical
treatment may be regarded as necessary, namely, crimping, breaking,
bruising, scraping, scutching, brushing, and combing, and submit-them-
to a bath which may be composed of borate or biborate of soda, phos-
phate, silicate, tungstate, aluminate, cheomate, bichromate, manganate,
permanganate, or carbonate of soda, or of potash, or of ammonia, or any
of the soluble salts of the alkalies, alkaline earths, or metals having.
corresponding er analogous chemical reactions, or any combination or
mixture of one, two, three, or more of these salts, to which may be
added benzole, petroleum spirit, coal tar naptha, bisulphide of carbon,
turpentine, or other volatile solvent having an action on resin or resinous
matters, wax or cerumeneous matters, fatty or oleaginous matters, the
relative amount of the presence of these impurities in any of the afore-
mentioned vegetable substances determining not only the strength of
the saline constituents of the bath to be used, but also the length of
time and the temperature required for the operation, the materials in
preference being meanwhile kept in a state of agitation. The liquid
contents of the bath are then drawn off, and by preference the materials
are thoroughly washed in either hot or cold water. In some instances
the character of the material under operation may be such as to render
it desirable to apply to it for a second time the foregoing process.
Second. Fibrous vegetable substances, either before or after the
foregoing treatment, are submitted to a bath made of a solution of
either of the earthy or of the alkaline sulphides, preferring on the
ground of economy the sulphides of lime or the sulphides of soda, care
being taken not to employ in the constitution of the baths an undue.
proportion of sulphur and too high a temperature. In the carrying out
of this process the nature of the materials under treatment will deter-
mine the length of time, the strength of the baths, and the temperature

page_text: required, as no invariable rule can be laid down; as 'the form and
manner of using these reagents may vary, but as soon as the desired
result is obtained, the liquid is drawn off, or the materials removed
from the bathi and treated with sulphurous acid either. in the gaseous
or liquid state or in solution. And when the materials have been
sufficiently acted upon by the sulphurous acid they are then pressed,
drained, washed, and dried; but if the materials are found not to be
sufficiently acted upon by the foregoing process the operation is repeated
until the desired effect is produced. It may be necessary to remark
here that whenever the materials are discolored by the first process this
second process must always be applied to them.
Third. Fibrous vegetable substances may in some cases require a
further treatment in order to thoroughly bleach them, when I use
chlorine, or a solution of chlorine, or a clear solution of a hypochlorite,
chlorite, or any chlorine compound having bleaching properties, after-
wards washing the materials well with water, and further submitting
them to a solution of a sulphite, bisulphite, or hyposulphite of the
alkalies or of the alkaline earths, or to a solution of a salt such as is
produced after the treatment of the materials by sulphurous acid under
the second head of this Invention.
Fourth. In treating animal substances, that is to say, wool and
woollen substances, feathers, šilk, hair, skins, or other analogous animal
substances, I submit them to the processes described under the first or
second heads of this Invention, or to both processes, as a consecutive
operation depending upon the nature or properties of the animal sub-
stances under treatment. Thus skins by the first process are rendered
fit to be immediately tawed, tanned, dyed, or otherwise finished, whereas
discolored wools, silks, hairs, and feathers are in my opinion not
perfectly fitted for their various uses until they have undergone the
operations described under the first as well as under the second head of
this my Invention.
The processes described under the first and second head of this my
Invention are also applied to the purification of manufactured goods,
generally consisting of wool, cotton, flax, silk, hemp, jute, hair, feathers,
and skins.
In carrying out the foregoing processes it may be found advantageous
for specific purposes to add to the baths oils, fats, or glycerine, but

page_text: успиоц.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Cattell, hath hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.