IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING SILK
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND
PREPARING SILK." -A communication from abroad by Adolphe Philippe
and Gustave Fortier, both of Lyons, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
81st January 1867.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
AND PREPARING SILK," to be as follows:-
In most cases the silks which are to be dyed must be freed from the gummy,
gelatinous, and resinous matters with which they are covered or impregnated.
This preliminary operation is usually effected by means of soap and the aid
of three successive manipulations, which are, 1st, extraction of gum; 2nd,
extraction of gum; 3rd, boiling.
The object of this Invention is to considerably economize this first
treatment.
The following are the operations:-1st, the silk is moistened with or steeped
in ordinary water; 2nd, it is immersed in a bath composed of ordinary water

page_text: ten times the weight of the raw silk, ammonia 25 to 50 per cent. of the
weight of the raw silk, according if the color of the gummy or other matter
be white or yellow, or according to the nature of the silk, whether soft or
bard; 3rd, the whole for the space of an hour is kept at the temperature of
from 175 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit in a nearly close vessel to avoid loss
of the ammonia; 4th, the whole is kept boiling for an hour or an hour,
according to the nature of the silk; lastly, to give the silk the necessary bril-
liancy and finish it can be dipped in a bath of boiling soap, which bath having
hardly anything to extract will serve for 10 consecutive operations at least.
The economy of this process is based on the suppression of a considerable
portion of the soap actually employed and its replacement by a dose of
ammonia, the commercial value of which is about the quarter or half of the
commercial value of the soap replaced.
Instead of ammonia an equal dose of dissolved carbonate of ammonia can
Le employed; the solution preferred is about 18° to 20° Baumé. The opera-
tion is conducted in the same manner. In many cases the ordinary soap can
be altogether dispensed with, the treatment and preparation by the ammoniacal
products above named being sufficient. The Invention applies not only to the
treatment of raw silk, but also to silk waste and silk in a manufactured form.
I do not confine myself to the proportions of ammonia given, nor to the tem-
perature or length of time of boiling, which is varied according to the origin
of the silk material and the greater or less quantity of gummy or other matter
which covers it. The liquid arising from the above treatment when made
exclusively with ammoniacal products contains a substance very analogous to
gelatine, and which I extract by simple evaporation; this substance possesses
valuable properties, and thereby forms another advantage derivable from this
Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her special licence that I, the, said Clinton
Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 TREATING AND PREPARING SILK," (communicated to me
from abroad by Adolphe Philippe and Gustave Fortier, both of Lyons, France,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman, 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
In most cases the silks which are to le dyed must be freed from the gummy,
gelatinous, and resinous matters with which they are covered or impregnated.
This preliminary operation is usually effected by means of soap and the aid of
three successive manipulations, which are, 1st, extraction of gum; 2nd,
extraction of gum; 3rd, boiling.
The object of this Invention is to considerably economise this first
treatment.
The following are the operations:-1st, the silk is moistened with or steeped
in ordinary water; 2nd, it is immersed in a bath composed of ordinary water
ten times the weight of the raw silk, ammonia 25 to 50 per cent. of the weight
of the raw silk, according if the colour of the gummy or other matter be white
or yellow, or according to the nature of the silk, whether soft or hard; 3rd,
the whole for the space of an hour is kept at the temperature of from 175 to
195° Fahrenheit in a nearly close vessel to avoid loss of the ammonia;
4th, the whole is kept boiling for half an hour or an hour according to the
nature of the silk; lastly, to give the silk the necessary brilliancy and finish
it can be dipped in a bath of boiling soap, which bath having hardly anything
to extract will serve for 10 consecutive operations at least. The economy of

page_text: this process is based on the suppression of a considerable portion of the soap
actually employed and its replacement by a dose of ammonia, the commercial
value of which is about the quarter or half of the commercial value of the
soap replaced.
Instead of ammonia an equal dose of dissolved carbonate of ammonia can
be employed; the solution preferred is about 18° to 20° Baumé. The opera-
tion is conducted in the same manner. In many cases the ordinary soap can be
altogether dispensed with, the treatment and preparation by the ammoniacal
products above named being sufficient. The Invention applies not only to
the treatment of raw silk, but also to silk waste and silk in a manufactured
form. I do not confine myself to the proportions of ammonia given nor to the
temperature or length of time of boiling, which is varied according to the
origin of the silk material and the greater or less quantity of gummy or other
matter which covers it. The treatment of silk in the manner described
does not injure or diminish its strength. The liquid arising from the above
treatment when made exclusively with ammoniacal products contains a sub-
stance very analogous to gelatine, and which I extract by simple evaporation;
this substance possesses valuable properties, and thereby forms another
advantage derivable from this Invention.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim treating and
preparing silk, substantially by the means and in manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
C. E. BROOMAN. (L.S.)