CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS FOR DYING AND PRINTING
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
MERCER, of Oakenshaw, Clayton-le-Moors, Chemist, and JOHN GREENWOOD, of
Irwell Springs, Bacup, Turkey Red Dyer, both in the County of Lancaster,
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 Fifteenth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Mercer and John Greenwood, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John
Mercer and John Greenwood, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Mercer and John Greenwood, our exors, aduiors, 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, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS FOR DYING AND PRINTING;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said John Mercer
and John Greenwood, or one of us, shall cause a particular dascription of the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hands

page_text: and seals of one of us, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Mercer and John Greenwood, do hereby declare that the nature of our
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:-
Our Invention relates to improvements in preparing cotton and other fabrics
with oil, called in the art of dying turkey red, the oiling process, and consists
in having the cloth or fabric wet with water or watery solutions when passed
through or impregnated with oil; and in order that the Invention may be fully
understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the
means pursued by us.
We take cotton, cloth, or other fabric in the usually partially bleached state,
and wet it with water or a watery solution of carbonate of potash or soda, at
the rate of four or five ounces to the gallon. We prefer wetting the cloth or
fabric by the padding machine, and whilst in this wet state we pass it through
olive oil at a heat below that of boiling water, preferring from 140° to 160 degrees
of Fahrenheit. The oil is contained in a cistern having a series of rollers in
and at the end a pair of padding bowls; the wet cloth is made to pass through
the oil and under and over these rollers immersed therein, then through the
padding bowls. The cloth or fabric is then taken to the stove and dryed at
160° to 180° Fahrenheit, afterwards it is alternately acted on with dilute
solutions of carbonated alkalies and stoved in the usual well-known manner;
or in place of using the oil at a temperature below that of boiling water, the
heat of the oil may be above the heat of boiling water. In such case we prefer
the heat of the oil to be at from 240° to 300° of Fahrenheit thermometer, and
proceed in all respects as above described.
In this case the heat of the oil changes the water in the cloth, while passing
through it, into steam, which makes its escape up through the oil. We prefer
olive oil which has been made to desolve six or eight ounces of carbonate of
potash or soda to the gallon, similar to what is stated in the second part of the
Specification to the Patent granted to us in One thousand eight hundred and
forty-six, for "Improvements in dying and printing turkey red and other
colours."
We do not confine ourselves to any particular mode of wetting the cloth or
other fabric, nor do confine ourselves to the use of any particular alkaline salt

page_text: the oil may hold in solution, nor to any particular kind of oil, nor to the tem-
perature of the oil, nor to the apparatus or way of applying the oil; but what
we claim is the causing the cloth or fabric to be wet with water or watery
solution when passed through or impregnated with oil.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Mercer and John Greenwood, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirtieth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
JOHN (L.s.) MERCER.
JOHN (L.S.) GREENWOOD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid John Mercer and John Greenwood
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.