IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING FIBROUS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ALEXANDER BROQUETTE, of Rue Honre St. Nicholas St. Martin, in the
Republic of France, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Alexander Broquette, my exors, admors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Charles Alexander Broquette, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Alexander Broquette, my exors, adiñors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND
DYEING FIBROUS AND OTHER MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Charles Alexander Broquette, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large, appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Alexander Broquette, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof; that
is to say :-
My Invention has for its object peculiar means of treating or preparing
cotton and other fibrous substances, and also other substances, whereby their
surfaces are caused to be impregnated with animal matter, and so as to cause
them to be more capable of taking and retaining color, as hereafter explained;
and cotton and other vegetable fibres are thus rendered more usefully appli-
cable to be used in combination with wool and with silk, as well as for being
used separately. And the Invention consists of employing a combination of
nitrogenous compounds with an alkaline earth in preparing colors for printing
fabrics and substances, and also in preparing cotton and other vegetable
substances to receive color. And in order that my Invention may be most
fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the.
means pursued by me.
I prefer to employ nitrogenous compounds obtained from milk, or from
the muscular parts of the flesh of animals; and although I make no claim
to the preparation of the nitrogenous compounds employed by me in carrying
out my Invention, I will proceed to describe what I believe to be the best
means of obtaining the same. I do not, however, confine myself to the use of
such nitrogenous products as are produced by the following means. If
obtained from milk, the milk to be employed having been well skimmed and
become sour, either by time or by the introduction of chemical agents to
produce fermentation, caseous matters will be deposited; these are to drain on
a cloth until the mass has acquired the consistency of a firm paste. At the
end of some hours this mass is to be separated by being rubbed through a wire
seive having eight or ten holes to the inch. The product is then placed into
boiling water, and kept at the boiling point for about twenty-five minutes. It
is then to be withdrawn, and in the hot state placed on a cloth filter, and it is
to be washed until the water which comes through will not redden litmus
paper. The solid, matter is then to be again rubbed through a wire sieve
having the holes considerably smaller, say twenty to twenty-five holes to the
inch; the product is then dried. The seives I use are galvanized iron wire.
If the nitrogenous matters are obtained from, fibrine, I take the muscular
parts of the flesh of animals and triturate it well with water, and wash it until

page_text: it assumes a yellowish white color. The water is then to be well drained from
it, and the product is to be dissolved in a weak ley of caustic potash (about
1010 s. g.) at a temperature à littte below boiling water, taking care that
when the ley is well saturated there should be a portion of the fibrine not
dissolved. This solution, after having been strained through a cloth, might be
employed for the purposes of my Invention, but I prefer to obtain a precipi-
tate from this solution, which is done by the introduction of an acid (I prefer
to use acetic acid). The precipitate so obtained is to be washed until the
water will not redden litmus paper, then the solid product is to be dried.
In order to redissolve the fibrine thus obtained more readily, I mix it with
cold water containing ammonia somewhat more than when acting on the
nitrogenous product obtained from milk, as hereafter explained. When the
mixture assumes a gelatinous appearance, which it will do after some hours, it
is then to be boiled in order to liquify it, and before it becomes cold, oil and an
alkaline earth are to be added, as hereafter explained, by preference when the
temperature of the liquid is about eighty-six degrees of Fahrenheit, the whole
being kept constantly stirred until the liquid is cold.
The nitrogenous products are, when used for the purposes of my Invention,
to be combined with an alkaline earth. I employ by preference slacked lime,
the object being that the combined matters shall, when acted on by steam,
coagulate on or in the texture of the cotton or other fibre or substance, and thus
give to the surfaces not previously so an animal property, whereby they will be
rendered more suitable for taking and retaining colors or coloring matter,
particularly the colors from orchil, than heretofore. I first dissolve the
nitrogenous compound, when from milk, in hot water, at the rate of ten
pounds of the nitrogenous compound and fifty to sixty pounds of water and
one pound of ammonia. I place the nitrogenous compound in an earthenware
or wood vessel, with about half the quantity of water, and add the ammonia,
and continue to stir the whole, and add the remainder of the water. When
this solution is getting cold I add about three per cent. of olive oil (which
I believe to be the best oil for the purpose), and stir the same well
in, in order that the soap which will be formed may be diffused equally
throughout. When this result is obtained I add at the rate of two per
cent. (of the whole) of cold slacked lime, well stirring the matters; and
in this condition the same are suitable for being used with colors for
printing fabrics or yarns made of cotton or other fibres, or paper or other
substance, giving to the substances not before possessing that property
an animal character. The lime or alkaline earth and the color are only
to be added just previous to use. The colors to be employed are to be

page_text: such as is well known will not be injured by the lime and ammonia. If the
colors I employ are insoluble, I reduce them to a state of fine powder, so that
they may be incorporated with the solution of the nitrogenous compound and
alkaline earth with oil. The fabrics or yarns or substances printed therewith
are to be steamed, as is well understood. When the combined matters are to
be used as a mordant, they are combined as above described; but in place of
three per cent. of oil I find it desirable to employ about fifteen per cent. of
oil, which combined matters being applied to the fabrics or substances, and
such matters then steamed as before mentioned in respect to printed goods,
will give to such substances the desired animal character. I have found this
preparation of matters does not combine so well with thread yarn or fabrics
of cotton and other vegetable fibrous substances when in the unbleached state.
I have found that by treating yarn of cotton, or other vegetable fibre, before
weaving, with such combined matters, that the same may be woven with wool
or silk, or alone, and the fabric dyed or printed with greater advantage than
heretofore. And in using the combined matters in preparing warps of cotton,
or other vegetable fibrous yarn, I perform the process in like manner to those
now practiced with respect to dressing warps of cotton; but I avoid using a
reed or comb of copper, in order that no injurious effects may take place, and
steam such yarn as before stated; and I find that some nitrogenous matters,
such as albumen, serum, &c., have the property of coagulating by the action
of steam or chemical agents, in which case I employ them as a mordant with-
out the alkaline earth, mixing them with oil & gum, when the mordant is to
be thickened. When I wish to dye a piece of cotton fabric, or fabric of other
vegetable matter, and the yarns have not been previously treated as above
explained, I cause such fabrics to be saturated with the combined matters and
steamed, when they may be dyed, which I do by having the dye liquid in a
boiling state.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would state, that although I have mentioned
alkaline earths, which are what I prefer, yet some of their salts, or matters
containing them, may be employed, but I believe with less advantage, so long
as means be resorted to for obtaining the alkaline earths therein to act with
the nitrogenous compounds in the manner above explained. And I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the particular details so
long as the peculiar character of my Invention be retained; but what I claim
is, the employment of nitrogenous compounds in combination with an alkaline
earth in the printing and dyeing cotton and other vegetable and other fibres
and substances.

page_text: And I also claim the employment of nitrogenous substances coagulable by
heat alone, or by chemical agents, as a mordant, for the impregnation of
vegetable fibre.
In witness whereof, the I, the said Charles Alexander Broquette, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.