Improvements in and relating to Thickeners or Vehicles for Colours, Mordants, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left. 17th Aug.. 1895--Accepted, 16th Nov., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Thickeners or Vehicles for Colours,
Mordants, and the like.
1, WILLIAM WILSON HORN, of the Firm of Horn, Son & Co., of 151 Strand,
London, W.C. Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a
communication to me from William Maybury, of the City and County of Los
Angeles, in the State of California, United States of America, Inventor) to be as
follows :―
This invention relates to improvements in and relating to thickeners or vehicles
for colours, mordants and the like, and my improved thickener is more especially
applicable to colours, mordants and the like used in the printing, finishing and
filling of all kinds of textile fabrics, warp and other yarns and in printing, staining
and filling wall and other papers. The object of my invention is to make a
thickener or vehicle for colours, mordants and the like, which thickener or vehicle
will be more perfect in every respect than any thickeners or vehicles which have
been hitherto employed.
The thickeners or vehicles hitherto almost exclusively employed in the printing,
finishing and filling of all kinds of textile fabrics, warp and other yarns, and ia
printing, staining and filling wall and other papers, are gum, flour and starch; it
is well known that neither of these is satisfactory on account of the acids and
alkalies which are mixed with the colours and mordants for the purpose of
keeping them soluble, so that they may permeate the fibres of the material printed
or padded destroying the thickening quality of said gum, flour or starch, and
causing the colour or mordant to become either too thin or too thick. It is also
well known that permanganate of potash and also chromatic acid cannot be used
in the printing of calicoes and the like on account of the fact that the moment the
permanganate of potash comes in contact with a vegetable or animal thickener, it
is immediately oxidised and becomes worthless for its intended purpose.
I overcome these objections by my improved thickener or vehicle which consists
of a certain kind of mineral earth or clay or clay rock, ordinarily known as Soap
Rock which I term a mineral tragacanth and which I treat in the manner hereinafter
described.
Said clay or rock which is largely found in New Zealand and the Western
States of North America has a greasy nature and has a waxy appearance when
rubbed with a nail, it only slightly adheres to the tongue and is generally of a
creamy colour, with bright brown streaks in it, and sometimes with dark as well as
with yellow streaks in it. Said clay or rock consists in its amorphous state or
condition of the following constituents in about the proportions stated, viz. :-
--
Silica or silicon
Alumina or aluminum
Magnesia or magnesium
Iron
Phosphoric acid
Lime-trace
Magnesium oxide
Grit and dirt
64.76
16.87
3.45
4.62
1.22
00
+45
8.63.

page_text: In treating the clay or rock, I break or grind a sufficient quantity up into
suitable sized pieces, which I put in a tub or tank having a finely perforated
bottom. I then pour a mixture of H.Cl. and H2O of the strength of one degree
of Twaddles hydrometer when mixed, and let said mixture percolate through said
rock or clay in order to take or dissolve out a part or the whole of the iron if
necessary. 1 next wash the whole with clean cold water so as to remove
any H.Cl. that may be left and also to clean the clay or rock of any sand or grit
that it may contain.
I next remove said clay or rock to a suitable tank or vessel having a capacity
equal to 10 or more times the bulk of said clay or rock, and for every pound of
said clay or rock I add five pounds or more of cold water or other suitable liquid
and let the whole remain in this state until the whole of the water is absorbed by
the clay or rock, which generally takes from three to five days according to the
amount treated. The said clay or rock will swell out to seven or more times its
original bulk and will form a fine plastic paste of a greasy nature, which paste can
be further thinned or diluted with any amount of water or other suitable liquid to
suit the purpose it is intended to serve.
If my improved thickener is intended to be used for finishing or filling purposes,
I omit the treatment with the H.Cl. and treat it with a solution of alum and water
of the strength of one half of one degree of Twaddles hydrometer, which solution I
find gives me a much whiter paste.
I next pass the paste or thickener through a suitable strainer so as to free it
from all grit it may contain, which if left in would be detrimental to the printing of
first class and fine work.
My improved thickener or vehicle prepared as above described, possesses the
following advantages over vegetable thickeners or vehicles, viz. :—
1st. It will not mildew.
2nd. It will not form a skin on the top.
3rd. It will not grow thin with age.
4th. Colors mixed with this thickener or paste can be kept any length of time
and will not spoil.
5th. It does not undergo decomposition or ferment.
6th. It saves coal or heat, as it needs no heat to cook it.
7th. It is perfectly suitable to all colors I have tried it with.
Dated this 17th day of November 1894.
HORN, SON & Co.,
Applicant's Agents.
Improvements in and relating to Thickeners or Vehicles for Colours,
Mordants, and the like.
I, WILLIAM WILSON HORN, of the Firm of Horn, Son & Co. of 151 Strand,
London, W.C., Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a
communication to me from William Maybury, of the City and County of Los
Angeles, in the State of California, United States of America, Inventor) and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in and relating to thickeners or vehicles,
for colours, mordants and the like, and my improved thickener is more especially
applicable to colours, mordants and the like used in the printing, finishing and
filling of all kinds of textile fabrics, warp and other yarns and in printing, staining
and filling wall and other papers. The object of my invention is to make a
thickener or vehicle for colours, mordants and the like, which thickener or vehicle

page_text: will be more perfect in every respect than any thickeners of
been hitherto employed.
The thickeners or vehicles hitherto almost exclusively employed in the printing,
finishing and filling of all kinds of textile fabrics, warp and other yarns, and in
printing, staining and filling wall and other papers, are gum, flour and starch; it
is well known that neither of these is satisfactory on account of the acids and
alkalies which are mixed with the colours and mordants for the purpose of
keeping them soluble, so that they may permeate the fibres of the material printed
or padded destroying the thickening quality of said gum, flour or starch, and
causing the colour or mordant to become either too thin or too thick. It is also
well known that permanganate of potash and also chromic acid cannot be used in
the printing of calicoes and the like on account of the fact that the moment the
permanganate of potash comes in contact with a vegetable or animal thickener, it is
immediately oxidised and becomes worthless for its intended purpose.
I overcome these objections by my improved thickener or vehicle which consists
of a certain kind of mineral earth or clay or clay rock, ordinarily known as Soap
Rock which I term a mineral tragacanth and which I treat in the manner herein-
after described.
Said clay or rock which is largely found in New Zealand and the Western
States of North America has a greasy nature and has a waxy appearance when
rubbed with a nail, it only slightly adheres to the tongue and is generally of a
creamy colour, with bright brown streaks in it, and sometimes with dark as well as
with yellow streaks in it. Said clay or rock consists in its amorphous state or
condition of the following constituents in about the proportions stated, viz. :-
Silica
Alumina
Magnesia
Iron (sesquioxide of)
Phosphoric acid
Lime-trace
Water
Grit and dirt
-
-
64-76
16.87
3.45
4.62
1.22
00
5.01
4.63
It will be understood that these proportions may vary without very materially
affecting the general result of their employment.
In treating the clay or rock, I break or grind a sufficient quantity up into
suitable sized pieces, which I put in a tub or tank having a finely perforated
bottom I then pour a mixture of H.C1 and H2O of the strength of one degree of
Twaddles hydrometer when mixed, and let said mixture percolate through said
rock or clay in order to take or dissolve out a part or the whole of the iron if
necessary. I next wash the whole with clean cold water so as to remove any
H.Cl. that may be left and also to clean the clay or rock of any sand or grit that
it may contain.
I next remove said clay or rock to a suitable tank or vessel having a capacity
equal to 10 or more times the bulk of said clay or rock, and for every pound of said
clay or rock I add five pounds or more of cold water or other suitable liquid and let
the whole remain in this state until the whole of the water is absorbed by the clay
or rock, which generally takes from three to five days according to the amount
treated. The said clay or rock will swell out to seven or more times its original
bulk and will form a fine plastic paste of a greasy nature, which paste can be
further thinned or diluted with any amount of water or other suitable liquid to suit
the purpose it is intended to serve.
If my improved thickener is intended to be used for finishing or filling purposes,
I omit the treatment with the H.Cl. and treat it with a solution of alum and water
of the strength of one half of one degree of Twaddles hydrometer which solution
I find gives me a much whiter paste.
I next pass the paste or thickener through a suitable strainer so as to free it from

page_text: all grit it may contain, which if left in would be detrimental to the printing of first
class and fine work.
My improved thickener or vehicle prepared as above described, possesses the
following advantages over vegetable thickeners or vehicles viz.
1st. It will not mildew.
2nd. It will not form a skin on the top.
3rd. It will not grow thin with age.
--
4th. Colours mixed with this thickener or paste can be kept any length of time
and will not spoil.
5th. It does not undergo decomposition or ferment.
6th. It saves coal or heat, as it needs no heat to cook it.
7th. It is perfectly suitable to all colours used for the purposes hereinabove
referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. An improved thickener for colours, mordants and the like used in printing,
finishing and filling textile fabrics, warp and other yarns, and in printing staining
and filling of wall and other papers, said thickener consisting essentially of the
within referred to mineral tragacanth.
2. An improved thickener for colours, mordants and the like used in printing
finishing and filling textile fabrics, warp and other yarns and in printing staining
and filling of wall and other papers, said thickener consisting essentially of the
within referred to mineral tragacanth treated substantially as described.
Dated this 17th day of August 1895.
HORN, SON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.