CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING TEXTILE FIBRES AND FABRICS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George White, of No. 5, Laurence Pountney Lane,
Cannon Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING TEXTILE FIBRES AND FABRICS."-
A communication from, M Charles Lanth, Chemist, of Mulhouse,
France...
Sealed the 12th May 1857, and dated the 3rd February 1857.
!
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George White at the
Office of the Commissioners' of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February-1857.
I, GEORGE WHITE, of. No. 5, Laurence Pountney Lane, Cannon Street, in
the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING TEXTILE FIBRES AND FABRICS,"
a. communication from M' Charles Lanth, Chemist, of Mulhouse, France,
to be as follows:-.
The Invention relates to certain improved modes of applying murexide, a
coloring substance obtained from uric acid, to the dyeing and printing of textile
fibres and fabrics, whether in the rough state, or spun into yarns, or woven
into fabrics. The Invention consists chiefly in the composition and mode of
using certain mordants, by which the textile materials are rendered fit for
:

page_text: receiving and retaining a proper portion of a solution of murexide applyed to
them. Salts of lead, zinc, mercury, bismuth, copper, tin, manganese, anti-
mony, silver, lime or barytes, and proper acids, as also suitable thickening
matters, serve for the composition of the said mordants. The Invention
applies as well to vegetable fibrous materials, such as cotton, flax, hemp, or
other sorts, as to animal fibrous materials, such as wool, alpaca, silk, and
other sorts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WHITE, of No. 5, Laurence Pountney Lane, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George White, Her special licence that I, the said George White, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
White, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING
AND PRINTING TEXTILE FIBRES AND FABRICS," a communication from Mr
Charles Lauth, Chemist, of Mulhouse, France, in the Petition, by mistake,
described as Mr Charles Lanth, of Mulhouse, France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George White, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 George White, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following
statement:-
These improvements relate to 'the application of murexide, or other coloring
products derived from uric acid, to the dyeing and printing of every description
of fibrous materials and fabrics, whether in the rough state, spun into yarns, or
made up into fabrics; the Invention having principally for its object certain
modes of fixing the said murexide, or other colouring products derived from
uric acid, on the fibrous materials by means, of. suitable salts or metallic bases,
and thus form metallic purpurates on the said fibrous materials, which may
be donc, 1, by passing the said fibrous materials through a proper mordant,
and afterwards, through a solution of murexide, or other coloring matter
derived from uric acid, such as alloxan, and others; or, 21, by passing the
fibrous materials through a suitable mordant mixed with the solution of
'murexide, or other coloring matter derived from uric acid; or, 3%, by passing
fibrous materials through a solution of murexide, or other coloring matter
derived from uric acid, and by fixing afterwards the murexide, or other
coloring matter derived from uric acid by means of a metallic salt. Each of
these methods permit of submitting the fibrous materials to any of the
processes made use of in dyeing or printing textile or other fibrous materials,
such as brightening, padding, reserving, discharging, discoloring, steaming, or
others.
And in order to make the Invention better understood; I now will describe
more particularly in what manner I operate for different descriptions of
-fibrous materials.
As for the murexide, the same may be applied in the pure or impure state,
or I may make use of its metallic derivatives or congeneers, or of the colorless
but colorable derivatives of uric acid in general. I further must observe, that
as the printing processes differ from the dyeing processes principally in the
quantity and nature of the thickening material mixed with the coloring matters,
it will suffice. to describe either the printing or the dyeing process to make
them both understood.
Dyeing and printing of cotton and other vegetable fibrous materials.-
Various means may be adapted for dyeing or printing the said materials,
viz. 1, they may be submitted to a solution of the dyeing materials' and
afterwards passed through a solution of a suitable metallic salt, such, for
instance, as a solution of a salt of the bioxyde of mercury, or others. 2, they
may receive a suitable quantity of a colorless but colorable product derived
from uric acid or its congeneers, such, for instance, as alloxan, or a solution of
uric acid in a suitable oxydizing agent, after which the red color is produced

page_text: on the fibres by means of an elevated temperature, by exposing to the air, or
any other suitable agency, after which the fibrous materials are passed through
a solution of a suitable salt of mercury, or of any other suitable fixation agent.
3, they may be impregnated with a solution of a proper salt of mercury,
which is to be fixed or not on the fibres, after which they are passed through
a solution of murexide, or through a solution of á colorless but colorable
product derived from uric acid or its congeneers; of which colorless product the
color is raised afterwards in the manner as has.. already been explained.
4 they may receive a proper mordant or not, and be submitted after that to
a compound solution, containing the elements of murexide, or other suitable
product derived from uric acid, and a proper. salt of mercury. 5, they may
be dyed at once in a compound bath, containing the elements of murexide; or
other coloring product derived from uric acid, and any suitable metallic salt
other than a salt of mercury, such; for instance; as the salts of lead; of zinc, of
tin, or otliers; and the colors thus: obtained may be either retained in this
state, or the same may be raised; brightened, or modified in any suitable
manner, as, for instance, by passing them through a solution of a proper salt
of.mercury. 6, they may receive a proper mordant by any suitable metallic
salt or salts, and they may then be passed through a bath of murexide, or
other coloring product derived from uric acid, or through a compound batli, as
has been already explained, and the colors thus obtained may be kept in this
state, or the same may be raised or brightened, or suitably modified, by passing
them through a solution of a proper salt of mercury. It is further to be
observed, that as vegetable fibrous materials have but little affinity for coloring
matters, I generally prefer fixing the murexide on them in combination with
a suitable metallic agent; thus, for instance, after having impregnated cotton
with a compound: solution of murexide and the bichloride of mercury, I fix the
color on the fibres: by passing them through a solution of an alkali, or of an
alkaline salt, such, for instance, as the carbonate or acetate' of potash, or any
other salt capable of precipitating the purpurate of mercury on the fibres:
I now will at once give an example of the manner of acting when applying the
-before-mentioned coloring matters to the printing of calico or other fabrics
composed of vegetable fibrous materials.
For block printing, I make use of a solution of a salt' of mercury, properly
thickened by any suitable thickening agent, to which solution I prefer adding
a small quantity of murexide. After the goods have been printed I submit
them to a proper fixation bath, such; for instance, as a weak solution of
ammonia, after which follows dunging and rinsing, in the usual manner, and
finally the goods receive the murexide dye by cold, or by hot solutions of the

page_text: same: The goods are then again washed, and the colors are brightened. by
passing the goods through: a compound solution of a proper salt of; mercury,
such, for instance, as one composed of corrosive sublimate,; acetate of soda,
and acetic acid...
For copper-plate or cylinder printing, I prefer employing a salt of lead,
and fixing this: latter by a suitable. alkaline agent, after which the goods
are washed and dyed, and as soon as the color is well raised, the goods
are. again thoroughly washed; and finally the color; brightened by means
of a solution of a proper salt. of mercury. The process. which has given
the best results consists in making use of a compound solution of murexide
and of a suitable metallic salt,, such, for instance, as, nitrate of lead; an
acid neutral, or basic acetate of lead, acetato of zinc,. or any other salt
capable of dissolving the murexide,, aiding the fixation of this latter, and
not injuring the copper-plates or cylinders used for printing the goods. After
printing, the goods are left to dry for a day, or, two,, though this is not exactly
required; they are then passed through a solution of a proper salt of mercury,
for which I prefer using a solution of pure or impure neutral acetate of
mercury; or, before the fixation by the salt of mercury, the goods are passed
through a bath capable of fixing. the coloring matter. in combination, with its
base, and, whatever may be the process made use of, after brightening, the
goods are thoroughly washed and, finally extended for drying:
By these
processes I obtain shades varying from deep purple to rose, and the same may
be more or less, niodified by combining with the colors obtained by means of
the murexide, or other coloring products derived from uric acid, other suitable
colors, such, for instance, as black, grey, nankeen, catechu, ultramarine,
madder, and steam colors. In this manner. I obtain, for instance, by means
of salts of zinc, orange with the same facility as purple; or this orange may be
obtained with a solution of a salt; of zinc on a purple ground formed by the aid
of mercury salts, or. the orange may be obtained by printing at once with a
solution of a purpurate of zinc.
:
For the dyeing and printing of silks the various processes described..for
vegetable fibrous materials may be made use, of,, observing thereby; that as
animal fibres,have much more affinity for coloring' matters, as is the case with
vegetable fibrous materials, consequently alkaline agents of less strength.are
to be employed, offering the advantage of less injuring the fibres.
For wool, or other animal fibres of the same nature, the processes
described are likewise applicable, but it will be good. assisting in the fixation
of the colors on the fibres either by an increased temperature, or by a
prolongation of the .duration of the processes, or. by a. combination of these

page_text: "means; and in general for wool, or other fibres of the same nature, I prefer the
⚫processes described under the heads 5 and 6, as well for dyeing as for printing.
On animal as well as on vegetable fibrous materials discharges and reserves
on the purple may be easily obtained; thus, for instance, after a purple
grounding by one of the described processes, I may print thereon with an acid
a disoxidizing or any other agent capable of discharging or removing the
color; or I may form colored discharges by mixing with the agent that has to
destroy the murexide a coloring material capable of fixing itself on the fibres;
thus, for instance, yellow enlevage may be made on a purple ground on silk
or wool by printing thereon with picric acid mixed with an acid capable of
destroying the murexide. Orange enlevages on the same grounding are
obtained by printing thereon with an acid sait of zinc, and more or less decp
grays by means of a protosalt of tin. The colors obtained by murexide may
further be variegated by making double dyeings, that is to say, by applying,
during, before, or after the grounding in with murexide, other colors on the
.fibrous materials; thus, for instance, very rich violets are obtained by dyeing
with murexide on an indigo blue ground; Indian red may be obtained by
applying first a yellow coloring agent and dyeing afterwards in murexide. Very
rich enlevages and white or colored discharges may be obtained in this manner,
which is also applicable as well to vegetable as to animal fibrous materials.
Substances having a great propensity for putrefaction, such, for instance, as
albumen, caseine, gluten, and other similar substances, exert a peculiar action
on murexide, and particularly on the colorless but colorable products derived
from uric acid; thus, for instance, on printing with alloxan thickened by means
of albumen very deep reds are very soon raised, which colors may then be
acted upon
in the manner above described.
For dyeing, as well as for printing, I also. make use of the metallic
purpurates obtained in the state of lacs or colored powders, and I add to
these laes suitable dissolving agents, or any suitable vehicle, or I use any
suitable means for fixing the colouring matter of these lacs or metallic pur-
purates on the animal or vegetable fibrous materials.
And having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the application and
fixing by means of metallic salts, or bases of murexide, or other coloring
matters derived from uric acid, whether the said coloring matters are colored
or colorless, and whether the same are made use of in the state of solutions or
of lacs, to the dyeing and printing or fixing by any other means on the fibres
of all descriptions of vegetable or animal fibrous or filamentous materials, raw
or manufactured products thereof, and textile fabrics, whether in the natural

page_text: state or oiled, or whether the same are spun or not, woven, or otherwise made,
up into fabrics; also on flocks used for paper hangings; or otherwise on
feathers, artificial flowers, tanned and tawed skins and bides, paper, card or
pasteboard, or pulp for manufacturing the same, and this by the means
described in the above Specification, by which applying and fixing of the said
coloring matters on the fibres I particularly insist on the method of sub-
stituting one base by another, in the manner as has been explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said George White, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
GEO. WHITE. (L.S.)