IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND CLEANSING PIECE GooDs
Year: 1851

page_text: RICHARDS
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
RICHARDSON, of Halifax, in the County of York, Dyer, send greeting.
year
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of March, in the fourteenth of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Richardson, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Joseph Richardson, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph Richardson, my exors,
adñiors, 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 mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DYEING AND CLEANSING PIECE GooDs;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Richardson, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled 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, refer-
ence being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Richardson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being

page_text: had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
"
My Invention of "Improvements in Dyeing and Cleansing Piece Goods
refers, firstly, to improved apparatus for immersing woollen and worsted goods,
or goods containing woollen or worsted, in the dye liquor, whereby an economy
in manual labour as well as in the cost of the dye liquor will be effected.
And, secondly, my Invention refers to an improved arrangement of appa-
ratus for washing piece goods after they have been submitted to the dye bath,
the object being to expedite that operation.
In the accompanying Drawing forming part of this my Specification,
Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the improved apparatus for dyeing piece goods;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in the
line 1, 2, of Fig. 2. It consists of a shallow vessel or dye vat a, supported
on a framing b, and furnished with guide rollers c, c, c, which conduct the
pieco goods through the dye liquor. Bolted to one end of the vat a is a
metal frame d, which forms a bearing for one end of the axles of the rollers
e, e*, their other ends being squared, and made to fit into square sockets in
the bevilled pinions f, f. These pinions are carried by a frame 9, 9, which
also serves to support a driving shaft h, the rotary motion of which is com-
municated to the rollers c and e* alternately, through the pinions i, *, which
gear into the pinions f, f. At the bottom of the vat is a steam pipe k,
pierced with fine holes, through which steam is admitted into the dye liquor to
raise it to the boiling point; 7 is a pipe for running off the dye liquor.
In operating with this apparatus dye liquor is run into the vat to a sufficient
height to cover the top guide rollers, and insure the perfect submersion of the
fabric whilo passing through the vat. The goods to be dyed having been
sewn together in the ordinary way to form one continuous length, are then
wound on the roller, as shewn in the Drawing; the other extremity of the
connected pieces is passed over a fixed bar m, bolted to the top of the vat,
then under the first of the guide rollers c, over a second, under a third, and
so on until it emerges from the vat on the other side thereof, and passes over
a second bar m, to the roller c, on which it is wound. Rotary motion is now
communicated from any first mover through the driving shaft to the roller e,
which will then revolve in the direction of the arrow, and draw the fabric
from the full roller e into the dye liquor, and under and over the guide
rollers, winding it up until all the fabric has been unwound from the roller c*.
During this passage through the vat the fabric will have become saturated
with the dye liquor, but in order to impart to the fabric the proper color, it is
recessary to subject it to several immersions. For this purpose the rotation

page_text: of the rollers e, c, is reversed by throwing the pinion i out of gear with the
pinion f, and bringing the pinion into gear with the pinion f, the roller
will then be caused to unwind the fabric from the roller c, and draw it
again through the dye liquor. When it has wound all the fabric on to its
own periphery the gearing is again shifted, and the reverse action takes place,
and this is again and again repeated until the attendant finds that a proper
shade of color has been imparted to the fabric. The proper tension of the
fabric when passing through the liquor is insured by a weighted cord n, which
is laid over a pulley on the end of the full roller to act as a drag upon the
roller.
From the foregoing description it will be evident to the practical dyer that
a considerable saving in manual labor is effected by the use of the apparatus,
and that by the small capacity of the dye vat compared to those in ordinary
use much less liquor will be required than at present to ensure the
proper sub-
mersion of the fabric, and consequently the waste will be greatly reduced.
When the fabric is properly dyed it is removed from the dye vat, together
with the roller on which it is wound, and carried to the improved washing or
cleansing machine. This machine is shewn in side elevation at Fig. 4, and in
longitudinal vertical section at Fig. 5. It consists of a large vat a, a, divided
into three compartments by partitions b, b. Immediately above the vat is a
series of octagonal rollers c, c, set equidistant from each other and running in
bearings in the outside framing, and near the bottom of the vat is another
series of similarly shaped rollers c*, c. The vat is supplied with water from
a perforated pipe d, which directs it in jets on to the fabric near a pair of
nipping rollers e, e, and thus fills the first compartment; the overflow of this
compartment fills the second, and the third is in like manner filled by the
overflow of the second compartment, and discharges itself by the cock 7. The
lower roller e turns in bearings in the framing, and the upper roller e* is mado
to bear upon it by means of weighted levers f,f, which are jointed to the
framing, and through their pendent rods g, g, communicate a downward pres-
sure to the roller . The weighting of the levers f,f, is effected through the
rods and levers h, i, on either side of the machine. The roller containing the
fabric which has just been dyed is set in bearings provided for it at the end of
the vat, as shewn in the Drawing, and the fabric which it carries is attached
to a cotton cloth, which is passed over and under the two series of rollers c, c*,
as shewn, thence over a small roller k, and between the nipping rollers, the
lower one of which receives rotary motion through suitable gearing, not shewn
in the Drawing. The pulley on the shaft of the roller e is shewn connected
by a strap to the apparatus employed for folding the cloth as it comes from

page_text: the washing machine, but as this apparatus forms no part of the present In-
vention it will be needless to describe its action. By rotary motion being
given to the roller e, and the roller being pressed down upon it, the fabric
will be drawn forward through the water in the several compartments, and
will thus be in great part cleansed from the superfluous dye when it emerges
from the water at the other end of the vat; it then passes over the roller k,
and immediately before it undergoes the pressure of the rollers to rid it of the
moisture it contains, it is submitted to a stream of clean water issuing from
the perforated pipe d, which completes the cleansing process; the nipping
rollers then express the water from the fabric, and it is led off from the appa-
ratus by the roller m. By dividing the vat into compartments and keeping
up a continuous supply and escape of water, the cleansing operation is very
expeditiously performed, and that without any great expenditure of water.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in dyeing and cleansing
piece goods, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, I claim,-
First, the means herein described for subjecting woollen and worsted piece
goods, or piece goods containing woollen or worsted, to the action of the
liquor in the dye vat.
And, secondly, I claim the arrangement of apparatus described for cleansing
piece goods.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Richardson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one
JOSEPH (L.S.) RICHARDSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Joseph Richardson came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation 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 Thirtieth day of September, in tho year of our Lord One
thousand night hundred and fifty ane