THE USE OR APPLICATION OF A CERTAIN SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES IN THE SIZEING, STIPFENING, OR OTHER- WISE PREPARING COTTON, LINEN, OR OTHER YARNS AND WOVEN FABRICS."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Leigh, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Surgeon, for the Invention of "THE USE OR APPLICATION OF
A CERTAIN SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES IN THE SIZEING, STIPFENING, OR OTHER-
WISE PREPARING COTTON, LINEN, OR OTHER YARNS AND WOVEN FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Leigh at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th April
1856.
I, JOHN LEIGH, of the City Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE USE
OR APPLICATION OF A CERTAIN SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES IN THE SIZING, STIFFENING,
OR OTHERWISE, PREPARING COTTON, LINEN, OR OTHER YARNS AND WOVEN FABRICS,'
to be as follows:-
I propose to employ alkaline silicates, as potash, soda, &c., either alone or
mixed with sulphate of barytes, or other white substance, to give body and
whiteness to the silicate; or, I mix it with flour starch, or other substances
now generally used in the sizing or stiffening of yarns or fabrics.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Leigh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOIN
LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Surgeon, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Leigh, Her special licence that I, the said John Leigh,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Leigh, 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 "THE USE OR APPLICATION
OF A CERTAIN SUBSTANCE OR SUBSTANCES IN THE SIZING, STIFFENING, OR OTHERWISE
PREPARING COTTON, LINEN, OR OTHER YARNS AND WOVEN FABRICS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Leigh, 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
Royal Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Leigh, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say)—
My Invention consists of the application of silicate of soda or silicate of
potash to the sizing, dressing, stiffening, or otherwise preparing yarns and
woven fabrics, instead of flour starch, or other substances hitherto used for
that purpose, which silicates I use either alone or in combination with sulphate
of barytes, four starch, or other similar substances. The said silicates may be
prepared by fusing together in a suitable furnace pure white siliceous sand,
quartz, or similar matter with caustic soda or carbonate of soda, caustic potash,
or carbonate of potash, in proportions varying with the solubility or alkalinity

page_text: of the silicates intended to be obtained. A little charcoal may be mixed with
the sand or quartz, and the said carbonates if desirable, but care must be taken
that no lime or alumina be present in undue quantity, as it would render the
resulting glass less soluble. The proportions for making the silicate of potash
may be about equal weights of clean sand or quarts and dry carbonate of
potash, and for the silicate of soda about equal weights of clean sand and soda
ash, containing about fifty per cent. of real alkali; but these proportions may.
be varied according to circumstances, or to answer the purpose for which the
respective silicates are intended; but as they are articles of commerce it is
unnecessary for me to describe their mode of manufacture more particularly.
For the application of the silicates to the before-mentioned purpose or purposes,
I dissolve them by steam or hot water in suitable vessels made of copper, or
clean iron, or other suitable material. To the solution, thus obtained, I add so
much of a solution of hypochlorite of lime or soda (commonly called bleaching
liquor) as may destroy any brown tint, and render colourless the dissolved
silicates; the liquor must be briskly agitated or stirred during the whole time
of the addition. I then cautiously and slowly pour in so much of a diluted
acid (and I prefer to use the sulphuric acid of commerce diluted with about
eight parts of water) as shall take up any free alkali that may exist in the
silicate of soda or potash; I add the diluted acid with brisk agitation until
flocks or flakes of silica begin to separate from the solution and float in the
mixture; but if the quantity of free alkali be inconsiderable, it may not be
necessary to introduce the acid, although I prefer to do so. I pour the solution
of silicate of soda or potash thus prepared into clean boilers, made of copper
or iron, and boil it down to the strength required, which will vary with the
weight or quality of the cloth to be manufactured, and when cool I pour it into
clean glass carboys ready for use. For sizing with this solution, it must be
reduced to the requisite consistency by the addition of clean water or steam
to the gravity required; but it will be clearly evident that the said consistency
must vary according to the kind of cloth for which the yarn is intended, or the
particular purpose for which it is to be employed. The said reduction of the
solution may be effected in the sizing trough or sizing vessel, which ought to be
made of copper, clean iron, or other suitable material. A quantity of tallow, or
other grease or soap, may be introduced at the same time into the trough
or sizing vessel, as is often done in sizing with flour paste.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of my said Invention
or discovery, and the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I desire
it to be distinctly understood that I do not claim any particular method of

page_text: making or manufacturing the silicates of potash or soda, nor any particular
form or construction of apparatus for sizing, dressing, or stiffening; but. I
claim as my Invention or discovery, and. which, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, has not been hitherto used within this realm, the use or application
of silicate of potash and silicate of soda, however the same may be made or
prepared, either alone or in combination with other substances, for preparing,
sizing, dressing, or stiffening yarns or woven fabrics, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Leigh, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Leigh, in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN LEIGH. (L.S.)