MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SHORT COARSE ANIMAL HAIR
Year: 1879

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Ezekiel Luther Hamilton, of the City of New York,
United States of America, at present residing at the Golden Cross Hotel,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SHORT COARSE ANIMAL HAIR."
cation from abroad hy Gideon Hamilton, of the City of Brooklyn, in the
State of New York United States of America.
IMPROVE-
A communi-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ezekiel Luther Hamilton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th October 1879.
EZEKIEL LUTHER HAMILTON, of the City of New York, United States of America,
at present residing at the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SHORT COARSE ANIMAL
HAIR." [A communication from abroad by Gideon Hamilton, of the City of
Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of America.]
It is the object of this Invention to obtain from short coarse animal hair a
product which can be spnn or woven, and which possesses in a greater or less
degree the felting properties characteristic of wool or fur, and also possessing in a
greater or less degree the curl and spring suitable for and adapted to upholstering
purposes, thus furnishing a new and cheap substitute for wouls and furs in various
manufactures in which they are used alone or together or mixed with other fibres,
and a new and cheap material useful for mattresses and other upholstery, thereby
extending the economical use of a fibre, to which improved textile, felting, and other
useful properties have been imparted, to many branches of the arts in which the
cost of wools or furs would be restrictive or prohibitory, and this object is
accomplished by subjecting to the novel process herein after described the raw
material mentioned, to wit, coarse animal hair, which in its normal or commercial
condition does not possess these improved properties.
It has been discovered, and by a series of experiments demonstrated, that the
coarse hair which forms the coats of certain animals, to wit, the hair of cows,
calves, bulls, oxen, and horses, which either in its ordinary or in its commercial
condition does not possess the characteristics of the biner animal fibres, which are

page_text: classed as furs or wools, can by a certain chemical treatment have such charac-
teristics imparted to it to such an extent as to make it amenable to the same
treatment as wools or furs, and to render it available for uses similar to those
which heretofore have been peculiar to wools or furs, that is to say, such animal
hair by said treatment is refined and softened, is made lustrous and waved, curled,
crimped, or twisted to a greater or less degree, according to the particular purpose
for which it is intended to be used, and rendered capable of being felted, spun,
woven, carded, and formed into bats or wadding.
As well as can be determined some of the qualities imparted by this chemical
treatment are derived from a change which takes place in the fibres, and which
either consists of the developement on the exterior of said fibres of serrations or
imbrications, like those peculiar to wools or furs, or else imparts to the treated
fibres some equivalent irregularity (not incident to their natural state), which
makes them susceptible of substantially the same felting, spinning, and weaving
processes to which wools or furs are subjected.
In addition to this change in its surface the fibre derives from the process a
spiral, wavy, curly, or twisted form.
The treatment also rids the fibre of its coarse, harsh, stiff, horny, dull, unyielding
and straight character, and gives it fineness, flexibility, softness, and lustre.
To obtain the results above set forth the hair is tronted with an acid solution,
and afterwards immersed in alkaline solution, as hereinafter more fully explained.
I take carbolic acid of commercial strength, and make therewith in a suitable
vessel a solution consisting of five parts of said acid and one hundred parts of
water by volume. This solution I raise to a boiling temperature, and then
immerse therein short coarse animal hair of the kind herein before specified in
the condition in which it is found on sale (or, if it is unduly loaded with foreign
matters, I previously open it out and wash it with water to remove said foreign
matters), and boil the hair in said solution for from two to three hours, at the end
of which time I remove it from the solution and plunge it in a bath of cold water
made slightly alkaline by an infusion of sal-soda, caustic alkali, bicarbonate of soda,
or borax. This alkaline solution should be weak, for example, say, when caustic
soda is used, of a strength of from one quarter of one degree to one degree Beaume's
hydrometer. The hair after being immersed in this alkaline solution is removed,
and allowed to dry slowly in the air. Instead of the above described bath of
carbolic acid I use as an equivalent thereof two and one half parts of commercial
nitric acid to one hundred parts of water by volume, and in this case boil the hair
in said bath for from one hour to an hour and a half and then remove it to an
alkaline solution, as above described.
Again I use as an equivalent for the carbolic acid bath, or for the nitric acid
bath above described, a bath composed of from half a pound to two pounds of
nitrate of copper to each gallon of water, bring it to a boil, immerse the hair in it,
and boil it therein for about three hours, then remove it to the alkaline bath, as
before mentioned.
From the above examples it will be seen that the stronger the bath in which
the hair is boiled, the shorter the time during which the hair is subjected to the
boiling operation therein.
The improved process consisting essentially in boiling the hair in an acid bath,
such as is described, and then washing it in a cold alkaline bath, substantially such
as described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Ezekiel Luther Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1880.
EZEKIEL LUTHER HAMILTON, of the City of New York, United States of America,
at present residing at the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF SHORT COARSE ANIMAL
HAIR." [A communication from abroad by Gideon Hamilton, of the City of
Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of America].
It is the object of my Invention to obtain from short coarse animal hair a
product which can be spun or woven, and which possesses in a greater or less
degree the felting properties characteristic of wool or fur, and also possessing in a
greater or less degree the curl and spring suitable for and adapted to upholstering
purposes, thus furnishing a new and cheap substitute for wools and furs in various
manufactures in which they are used alone or together or mixed with other fibres,
and a new and cheap material useful for mattresses and other upholstery, thereby
extending the economical use of a fibre, to which improved textile, felting, and other
useful properties have been imparted, to many branches of the arts in which the
cost of wools or furs would be restrictive or prohibitory, and this object I
accomplish by subjecting to the novel process hereinafter described the raw
material mentioned, to wit, coarse animal hair, which in its normal or commercial
condition does not possess these improved properties.
It has been discovered, and by a series of experiments demonstrated, that the
coarse hair which forms the coats of certain animals, to wit, the hair of cows, calves
bulls, oxen,
and horses, which either in its ordinary or in its commercial condition
does not possess the characteristics of the finer animal fibres, which are classed as
furs or wools, can by a certain chemical treatment have such characteristics
imparted to it to such an extent as to make it amenable to the same treatment as
wools or furs, and to render it available for uses similar to those which heretofore
have been peculiar to wools or furs, that is to say, such animal hair by said treat-
ment is refined and softened, is made lustrous and waved, curled, crimped, or
twisted to a greater or less degree, according to the particular purpose for which it
is intended to be used, and rendored capable of being felted, spun, woven, carded,
and formed into bats or wadding.
As well as can be determined some of the qualities imparted by this chemical
treatment are derived from a change which takes place in the fibres, and which
either consists of the developement on the exterior of said fibres of serrations or
imbrications, like those peculiar to wools or furs, or else imparts to the treated fibre
some equivalent irregularity (not incident to their natural state), which makes
them susceptible of substantially the same felting, spinning, and weaving processes
to which wools or furs are subjected.
In addition to this change in its surface the fibre derives from the process a
spiral, wavy, curly, or twisted form.
The treatment also rids the fibre of its coarse, harsh, stiff, horny, dull, unyielding
and straight character, and gives it fineness, flexibility, softness, and lustre.
To obtain the results above set forth the hair is treated with an acid solution,
and afterwards immersed in an alkaline solution, as hereinafter more fully
explained.
I take carbolic acid of commercial strength, and make therewith in a suitable
vessel a solution consisting of five parts of said acid and one hundred parts'of
water by volume. This solution I raise to a boiling temperature, and then
immerse therein short coarse animal hair of the kind hereinbefore specified in the
condition in which it is found on sale (or if it is unduly loaded with foreign
matters, I previously open it out and wash it with water to remove said foreign

page_text: matters), and boil the hair in said solution for from two to three hours, at the end
of which time I remove it from the solution and plunge it in a bath of cold water
made slightly alkaline by an infusion of sal-soda, caustic alkali, bicarbonate of soda,
or borax. This alkaline solution should be weak, for example, say, when caustic
soda is used, of a strength of from one quarter of one degree to one degree Beaumé's
hydrometer. The hair after being immersed in this alkaline solution is removed,
and allowed to dry slowly in the air. Instead of the above described bath of
carbolic acid I use as an equivalent thereof two and one half parts of commercial
nitric acid to one hundred parts of water by volume, and in this case boil the hair
in said bath for from one hour to an hour and a half, and then remove it to an
alkaline solution, as above described.
Again I use as an equivalent for the carbolic acid bath, or for the nitric acid
bath above described, a bath composed of from half a pound to two pounds of
nitrate of copper to each gallon of water, bring it to a boil, immerse the hair in it,
and boil it therein for about three hours, then remove it to the alkaline bath, as
before mentioned.
From the above examples it will be seen that the stronger the bath in which
the hair is boiled, the shorter the time during which the hair is subjected to the
boiling operation therein.
The improved process consisting essentially in boiling the hair in an acid bath,
such as is described, and then washing it in a cold alkaline bath, substantially
such as described.
Having thus described the nature and object of my improvement, what I claim
herein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First. The herein before described process of treating the short coarse hair of
cows, calves, bulls, oxen, rses by boiling it in an acid solution, and then
immersing it in an alkaline solution, substantially as and for the purposes
described.
Second. The herein before described process of treating the short coarse hair of
cows, calves, bulls, oxen, and horses by boiling it in a solution of carbolic acid and
water, and then immersing it in an alkaline solution, substantially as and for the
purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ezekiel Luther Hamilton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.