IMPROVEMENTS IN DAMPING AND PRESERVING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND VEGETABLE AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Townsend, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DAMPING AND PRESERVING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND
VEGETABLE AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS."
Sealed the 19th May 1868, and dated the 21st November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Townsend at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st November 1862.
I, JOSEPH TOWNSEND, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DAMPING AND PRESERVING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND
VEGETABLE AND OTHER TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS," to be as follows, that
is to say:-
This Invention has for object the preserving of various vegetable sub-
tances, and more particularly the damping and preserving of vegetable and
other textile materials and fabrics, so as to prevent injury from mildew or
from dry rot, or from partial or complete decomposition when kept or stored,
or during transportation or manufacture.
The vegetable substances to which the Invention more particularly relates
are cotton, flax, hemp, and similar fibrous materials, either raw or manu-
factured, either grey, bleached, dyed, or printed, and either mixed or unmixed
with woollen or other animal fibres. The Invention is also applicable to
starch, vegetable size, stiffening or paste, and to paper, wood, and such like.

page_text: The textile materials and fabrics, the treatment of which is comprised in
the Invention, are, in addition to those included amongst vegetable substances
already referred to, woollen, silk, and other animal fibres when woven or in
course of being manufactured into woven goods.
The Invention consists in using for the before-mentioned purposes solutions
of the compounds of chlorine with magnesium, calcium, and sodium, or with
one or more thereof, and in conjunction or combination with the chloride or
the sulphate of zinc or of tin, or with the chlorides or the sulphates of other
metals. Or in some cases there may by this Invention be used solutions of
sulphate of magnesia in conjunction or combination with other sulphates of
the metals or of the alkalies, or in conjunction or combination with the
chlorides of the metals. The quantity of the chlorides of magnesium, calcium,
or sodium, either alone or mixed, or of the sulphate of magnesia, to be
employed in conjunction or combination with other salts or compounds herein-
before referred to may vary according to the nature of the substances to be
preserved or treated, but solutions conaining from three to twelve per centum
will generally be found to answer.
In practising the improvements the substances or goods are immersed in
solutions of the before-mentioned mixtures or combinations, or they may be
moistened or damped with the solutions, or these may be applied in any con-
venient manner. Thus in the case of some substances the preservative
solutions may be incorporated or mixed therewith in the usual manner.
some cases it may also be found practicable and effective to apply in succession
separate solutions of the ingredients composing the preservative combination.
In
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Townsend in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
TOWNSEND, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufac-
turing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Townsend, Her special licence, that I, the said Joseph Townsend,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph

page_text: Townsend, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN DAMPING
AND PRESERVING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES AND VEGETABLE AND OTHER TEXTILE
MATERIALS AND FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Townsend, my executors or administrators, 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 inmediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Townsend, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that to say:
My said Invention has for object the preserving of various vegetable sub-
stances, and more particularly the damping and preserving of vegetable and
other textile materials and fabrics so as to prevent injury from mildew or
from dry rot, or from partial or complete decomposition when kept or stored,
or during transportation or manufacture.
The vegetable substances to which the Invention more particularly relates
are cotton, flax, hemp, and similar fibrous materials, either raw or manu-
factured, either grey, bleached, dyed, or printed, and either mixed or unmixed
with woollen or other animal fibres. The Invention is also applicable to
starch, vegetable size, stiffening, or paste, and to paper, wood, and such like.
The textile materials and fabrics, the treatment of which is comprised in
the Invention, are, in addition to those included amongst vegetable sub-
tances already referred to, woollen, silk, and other animal fibres when woven
or in the course of being manufactured into woven goods.
The Invention consists in using for the before-mentioned purposes solutions
of the compounds of chlorine with magnesium, calcium, and sodium, or with
one or more thereof, and in conjunction or combination with the chloride or
the sulphate of zinc or of tin, or with the chlorides or the sulphates of other
metals. Or in some cases there may by this Invention be used solutions of
sulphate of magnesia in conjunction or combination with other sulphates of the
metals or of the alkalies, or in conjunction or combination with the chlorides of
the metals. The quantity of the chlorides of magnesium, calcium, or sodium,

page_text: either alone or mixed, or of the sulphate of magnesia, to be employed in con-
junction or combination with other salts or compounds herein-before referred
to, may vary according to the nature of the substances to be preserved or
treated. In general solutions containing from three to twelve per centum
will be found to answer, but where the tendency to mildew or dry rot or
decomposition is excessive, a larger proportion may be advantageously used.
In practising the improvements the substances or goods are immersed in
solutions of the before-mentioned mixtures or combinations, or they may be
moistened or damped with the solutions, or these may be applied in any con-
venient manner. Thus in the case of some substances the preservative
solutions may be incorporated or mixed therewith in the usual manner. In
some cases it may also be found practicable and effective to apply in
succession separate solutions of the ingredients composing the preservative
combination.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1. The using of solutions of the compounds of chlorine with magnesium,
calcium, and sodium in conjunction or combination with the chloride or the
sulphate of zinc or of tin, or with the chlorides or the sulphates of other
metals for preserving or for damping and preserving vegetable substances,
and vegetable and other textile materials and fabrics, substantially as herein-
before described.
2. The using of solutions of sulphate of magnesia in conjunction or com-
bination with other sulphates of the metals, or of the alkalies, or with the
chlorides of the metals for preserving, or for damping and preserving vege-
table substances, and vegetable and other textile materials and fabrics,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Townsend, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOSEPH TOWNSEND. (L.s.)