AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING THE COLOR KNOWN AS ARTIFICIAL. ULTRAMARINE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt, of Albion Place,
in the County of Surrey, Agent, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING THE COLOR KNOWN AS ARTIFICIAL.
ULTRAMARINE."
Sealed the 17th May 1854, and dated the 17th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Johann
Hoffstaedt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th November 1853.
J, AUGUSTUS JOHANN HOFFSTAEDT, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING THE COLOR
KNOWN AS ARTIFICIAL ULTRAMARINE" to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a mode of rendering the artificial ultramarine
of commerce better adapted as a washing blue applicable for washing
linens and for other purposes where it is required to be used in
solution.

page_text: Hitherto great difficulty has been experienced in using the artificial
where
ultramarine as a washing blue, and for many other purposes
yarns or woven fabrics had to be submitted to its action while in a state
of solution, for instead of imparting to the solution a uniform blue tint
of an equal depth, it often coagulates and causes spots of various depths
to appear on the fabrics, linens, or tissues exposed to its action. To
avoid this and in order to produce an article better adapted to be
advantageously used as a washing blue for washing linens, and also for
bleaching, dyeing, scouring, coloring, and staining yarns, woven fabrics,
or tissues, I propose to give solidity to the color, and for this purpose I
mix with the artificial ultramarine of commerce a sufficient amount of
glutinous matter, such as starch, size, or gum, moistened with liquid
matter, as will produce, when dry, a solid compound, which may pressed
into any desired forms at any period during the drying process. Or, I
mix the artificial ultramarine of commerce with fuller's earth, and
solidify the mixture by the application of pressure; or other binding
mediums not detrimental to the color may be employed. By such
means I am able to convert the powdered color into lumps or balls,
thus rendering it better applicable for general use in the various
processes of washing, dyeing, staining, or coloring linens or yarns or any
kind of woven fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 17th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
AUGUSTUS JOHANN HOFFSTAEDT, of Albion Place, in the County of
Surrey, Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight. hundred and fifty-three,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Augustus Johann Hoff

page_text: staedt, Her special licence that I, the said Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING THE COLOR
KNOWN AS ARTIFICIAL ULTRAMARINE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
My Invention relates to a mode of preparing the artificial ultramarine
of commerce so as to render it applicable (as a washing blue) to the
washing and bleaching of linens, and also to other purposes where a
blue solution is required to be used.
"Hitherto great difficulty has been experienced in using artificial
ultramarine as a washing blue, and for many other purposes where
yarns or woven fabrics had to be submitted to its action while in a state
of solution, for instead of imparting to the water in which it is dissolved
a blue tint of an equal depth throughout, it often coagulates and causes
spots of various depths of color to appear on the fabrics, linens, or
tissues exposed to its action. In order to avoid this inconvenience and
produce an article better adapted for use as a washing blue for washing
linens, and also for bleaching, dyeing, scouring, coloring, and staining
yarus, woven fabrics, or tissues, I propose to give consistence to the
powdered color, whereby it will be prevented from dissolving so readily

page_text: as the coloring matters heretofore used for this purpose, and the
coagulation of loose particles in the water will therefore be avoided:
This effect may
be obtained in various ways; (viz.) with the artificial
ultramarine of commerce I mix a sufficient amount of glutinous
matter (such as starch, size, or gum, moistened with water,) to produce,
when dry, a solid compound. This compound while in a plastic state
I mould into balls or other desired forms; or I mix the artificial ultra-
marine of commerce with fuller's earth, and solidify the mixture by
the application of pressure; or, in lieu thereof, I employ other binding
media not detrimental to the color.
In carrying out the object of this Invention I have also found that
potter's clay may with advantage be used as a medium for solidifying
the ultramarine; this compound I prepare by adding blue clay, one
part by weight to two parts of color. Or, when blue clay is mixed
with other sorts of potter's clay, I apply two parts of clay to seventeen
parts of color. But the mode of preparing the color which I have found
most advantageous, and therefore prefer, is as follows:-I take two parts
by weight of fuller's earth, and mix it with water sufficient to hold it in
suspension; to this I add one part of the ultramarine of commerce,
either in a dry state or mixed with water, and stir the whole well
together. When the fuller's earth and ultramarine are intimately
mixed I allow the solution to rest, and after a short time the compound
of fuller's earth and ultramarine will sink to the bottom. I then run
off the supernatant liquor, and add to the precipitate a small quantity of
size, gum, or other glutinous matter, dissolved in hot water, using one
ounce (more or less) of the gluten for every pound of the precipitate;
having stirred this well in I evaporate the moisture from the precipitate
until it has attained the consistence of dough. It is then in a fit state
for moulding, and may be wrought into the shape of balls, or moulded
into any required form. When dry it will be ready for use.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of "An
Improved Mode of Preparing the Color known as Artificial Ultra-
marine," and explained the means whereby it may be carried into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent I claim the above described mode of rendering artificial
ultramarine applicable to the various uses above indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Johann Hoffstaedt,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. J. HOFFSTAEDT. (L.S.)