MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF COLORING MATTERS OBTAINED FROM ANILINE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF COLORING MATTERS OBTAINED
FROM ANILINE."-A communication from abroad by Henri François Gaul-
tier de Claubry. of Paris, in the Empire of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1864.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF COLORING MATTERS
OBTAINED PROM ANILINE," a communication to me from abroad by Henri
François Gaultier de Claubry, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation for use in dyeing of the coloring
matters obtained from aniline, which are insoluble in water, and consists in
the substitution for the alcohol and other solvents hitherto employed for
dissolving such substances of any substance which shall possess the property
of forming a mucilaginous, gelatinous, or saponaceous solution when mixed
with water, or of thickening the water so as to render it mucilaginous, gelati-
nous, saponaceous, or syrupy.

page_text: As examples of such substances, special mention may bo mado of the
following: Starch and other fecula, gelatine, concentrated decoctions of
the bark or rin known as Panama (Guillaya saponaria), of the rose tribe,
the soap wort of Egypt, the root of the marsh mallow, mucilage prepared
from linseed, dextrine soaps, more especially the soap prepared from tho
oil of sweet almonds, mucilages prepared from plants of the mallow, lily, and
orchis tribes, and from lichens, fucus, or sea wrack, and the seeds of the
quince. There are other substances which, although not possessing the
pro-
perty of rendering water mucilageous, gelatinous, or saponaceous, may be
employed for the purpose above mentioned, such, for example, as glucose
and glycerine. Heat may be employed as may be found requisite in order to
facilitate the action of these various substances, and they may be used either
separately or in any combinations with each other.
In order to accomplish the dissolution or suspension of the coloring matter
it is to be ground in a mortar (which by preference should not be composed
of metal) with one or more of the above-mentioned substances, care being
taken to pour or decant off from time to time the matter which has been
dissolved or suspended in the solution which has been added in sufficient
quantities, the grinding or incorporation being continued until the whole has
been dissolved or permanently suspended and decanted off. The subsequent
operation of dyeing is effected in the well-known manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
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

page_text: lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF COLORING MATTERS
OBTAINED FROM ANILINE," a communication to me from abroad by Henri Fran-
cois Gaultier de Claubry, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 John Henry Johnson, 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:-
The said Invention has for its object new methods of dissolving or causing
to be suspended the colors obtained from what is known in commerce as
aniline, and which are termed aniline colors.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in dissolving or rendering
permanently suspended the coloring matters berein-before referred to by the
aid of fixed products, which shall allow them to combine with textile fibres,
imparting thereto uniform tints capable of being graduated to any shade at
will, and which shall possess the advantages of cheapness and facility of appli-
cation.
The products which have been found to answer the best in practice are
starch and other fecula, gelatine, concentrated decoctions of the bark or rind
known as Panama (Guillaya saponaria), of the rose tribe, the soap wort of
Egypt, the root of the marsh mallow, mucilage prepared from linseed,
dextrine soaps, more especially the soap prepared from the oil of sweet
almonds, mucilages prepared from plants of the mallow, lily, and orchis
tribes, and from lichens, fucus, or sea wrack, and the seeds of the quince. Any
substance, indeed, may be employed which shall possess the property of forming
mucilagenous, gelatinous, or saponaceous solution when mixed with water, or
of thickening the water so as to render it mucilagenous, gelatinous, or sapo-
naceous. There are other substances however, which, although not possess-
ing the property of rendering water mucilagenous, gelatinous, or saponaceous,
may be employed for the purpose above mentioned, such, for example, as
glucose and glycerine. After having reduced the coloring matter to be
employed to a very fine powder, a heated and clear decoction of the substance

page_text: intended to dissolvo the color is gradually poured on to it, taking care to stir
well the color during the addition of the solvent so as to mix them intimately
together. If it be found that the proportion of the solvent is not sufficient to
dissolve the whole of the color, it is allowed to stand for a while, and the
clear liquor is decanted off, the remainder being again well mixed with the
color, after which the whole of the liquors are to bo mixed together. Tho
violets obtained from aniline and other analagous substances being composed
of various elements containing more or less red or blue, if care be not taken
to mix intimately together the liquor solutions will be obtained of different
tints, the red violet dissolving more readily than the blue violets which com-
pose the mass. If these solutions are propared at the dye works themselves,
they may be used directly for the preparation of the bath, but the transport of
tho quantity of liquid obtained presents a serious inconvenience. To avoid
this inconvenience the liquors may be evaporated to the consistence of extracts,
and then be dissolved in hot or cold water when preparing the bath. But
this mode of preparation requires great care, and a long period of ebulition,
even with pure water, injures the color, whilst the presence of organic sub-
stances, the sulphate and above all the carbonate of lime, greatly increase the
injurious effect. It is therefore preferred to employ extracts or thick pro-
ducts of the substances used as solvents, by means of which the coloring
matters aro gradually and carefully diluted. It is then only requisito to
dissolve the product in water to prepare it for dyeing.
Of all the substances indicated as solvents the soap wort of Egypt is found
to give the best results. Common soap wort and the bark or rind of the
Panama also give excellent results. The soap wort of Egypt and Pauama
bark do not readily impart thoir useful principle to water, if they are not
employed in a sufficiently divided state, and to effect this a considerable
amount of mechanical force is required, whilst the acrid properties of the dust
or powder render it exceedingly unpleasant, if not injurious, to the workinen.
To obviate this inconvenience, and to facilitate the mechanical division or
reduction of theso substances, they should be boiled for some time in water,
whereby they are rendered casy of reduction into small fragments by the aid
of a rasp or similar tool. Tho dyeing is effected by the solutions herein-before
described in the same manner as when alcohol or methyline or wood naphtha
or mixtures of the same are employed as solvents, but with this great advan-
tago in favor of the improved mode of preparation, that the solvents do not
volatilize liko alcohol, and uniformity of tint is readily obtained, it being
simply requisite to subject the materials to be dyed for a longer time to the
action of the bath that they may successively take up the colors as in the case

page_text: of ordinary dyeing with mordants. In these baths the fibres take up by their
own action the colors which remain constantly in a state of solution, and
consequently fabrics or fibrous substances dyed by this process do not lose
any of their color by friction. In case it should be desired to continue the
use of alcoholic or mythelic solutions, the cost and inconvenience above
referred to may be greatly reduced by employing a mixed process, which
consists in placing the materials to be dyed in a decoction of soap wort, or in
a solution of its extract, and afterwards subjecting them to the action of tho
bath prepared by the alcoholic solution, to which is added a portion of the
same decoction. By this means it is only necessary to employ the exact
quantity of alcohol requisite for effecting the solution of the color.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the application and use of the various
mucilagenous, gelatinous, saponaceous, and syrupy preparations herein-before
described, or their equivalents, to and in the dissolving or holding in suspension
of the coloring matter obtained from aniline and analagous substances as and
for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)