IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE- PARATION OF EXTRACTS FROM MADDER, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME DIRECTLY TO FABRICS IN ORDER TO DYE OR COLOUR THEM
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Woolbert, of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRE-
PARATION OF EXTRACTS FROM MADDER, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME
DIRECTLY TO FABRICS IN ORDER TO DYE OR COLOUR THEM."-Partly a com-
munication.
Sealed the 15th January 1856, and dated the 19th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Woolbert
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1855.
I, JOHN HENRY WOOLBERT, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF EXTRACTS FROM MADDER, AND IN THE APPLICATION
OF THE SAME DIRECTLY TO FABRICS IN ORDER TO DYE OR COLOUR THEM," to be as
follows:-
The principal heads of this Invention consist in the combination of coloring
matters obtained from madder, by the processes hercin-after described, with
various thickening substances, so as to admit of their being directly applied
to the fabrics as a pulp or paste, and in the mode of making that application to
the fabrics with a view of dying or coloring them.
The latter operation is one of great simplicity, and consists in the employ-
ment of an extract of madder, thickened with dextrine or any other known

page_text: thickening; this is applied to the fabric, and a mordant of acetate of alumina
is used when a red or rose color is required, and one of acetate of iron when
blue or black is wanted.
The following is the method of preparing the extract of madder-I take a
kilogramme (2.205 pounds avoirdupois) of madder, & having reduced it to an
impalpable powder I macerate it for 24 hours in a liquid, which I call a solvent
composed of a kilogramme of volatile alkali of 90° degrees of strength, and
one hundred grammes (154-3 grains troy) of alcohol; I dilute this mixture
with a kilogramme of water, and I place the whole over a slow fire for 30 or
40 minutes, during which time it should be well stirred. I now remove it from
the fire and add one hundred grammes of alcohol; I place the mixture when
become homogenous in a canvass bag, and submit the whole to pressure in
some kind of mechanical press in order to extract the coloring matter.
The madder remaining in the bag is then removed, and again treated in the
same way; it is replaced in a bag and submitted to pressure a second time.
When the madder has been thus treated, I place it in one kilogramme of
ammoniacal water for 12 hours, and afterwards submit it for a third time to
pressure. This third extract contains a small quantity of coloring matter, & I
use it in treating madder for the first or second time in place of the water, with
which I have above directed the mixture of madder, volatile alkali, and alcohol
to be diluted. The solvent of which I have spoken may be composed of poppy
oil, of alcohol mixed with water, or of caustic alkali.
The exhausted madder can also be turned to account by the following
process I place the madder in a tub or trough lined with lead or spruce
wood; I add its own weight of sulphuric acid of 8 degrees of strength, and I
boil the whole for one hour. I perform this operation in a vessel furnished
with two cocks; I wash the madder until the water comes off clear, and finally
I wash it in cold water in which subcarbonate of soda is dissolved in tho
proportion of 20 grammes (30.8 grains troy) of soda to a litre (453 of an
imperial gallon), to remove any acid that may still remain.
The exhausted madder thus treated may be used in ordinary madder dying.
Instead of employing the above extract of madder, a substance prepared in the
following manner-may be-used-but-the result is--not so good as that before
described Put the same quantity of the solvent to a kilogramme of madder,
after a maceration of twenty-four hours, reduce the madder operated upon to
an impalpable powder treated as in the process previously described, and when
a homogenous pulp has been obtained, can be applied directly to the fabric.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Woolbert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY WOOLBERT, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Woolbert, Her special license that I, the said John Henry
Woolbert, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Woolbert, 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 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 IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF EXTRACTS FROM MADDER, AND IN THE APPLICA-
TION OF THE SAME DIRECTLY TO FABRICS IN ORDER TO DYE OR COLOR THEM," partly
a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said John
Henry Woolbert, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
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 J, the said John Henry Woolbert, 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 in writing, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the combination of coloring matters obtained
from madder by the processes herein-after described, with various thickening
substances, so as to admit of their being directly applied to the fabrics as a
pulp or paste, and in the mode of making that application to the fabrics with
the view of dyeing or coloring them. The latter operation is one of great sim-
plicity, and consists in the employment of an extract of madder thickened with
dextrine or any other known thickening; this is applied to the fabric, and a
mordant of acetate of alumina is used when a red or rose color is required, and
one of iron when blue or black is wanted.

page_text: The following is the method of preparing the extract of madder :-I take a
kilogramme (2.205 pounds avoirdupois) of madder, and having reduced it to
an impalpable powder I macerate it for 24 hours in a liquid, which I call a
solvent, composed of a kilogramme of volatile alkali 22° degrees of strength,
Baumé, and one hundred grammes (154.8 grains troy) of alcohol; I dilute
this mixture with a kilogramme of water, and I place the whole over a slow
fire for thirty or forty minutes, during which time it should be well stirred.
I now remove it from the fire and add one hundred grammes of alcohol; I
place this mixture when become homogeneous in a canvas bag, and submit the
whole to pressure in some kind of mechanical press in order to extract the
coloring matter. The madder remaining in the bag is then removed, and again
treated in the same way; it is replaced in a bag and submitted to pressure a
second time.
When the madder has been thus treated, I place it in one kilogramme of
ammoniacal water for twelve hours, and afterwards submit it for a third time
to pressure. This third extract contains a small quantity of coloring matter,
and I use it in treating madder for the first or second time in place of the
water, with which I have above directed the mixture of madder, volatile alkali,
and alcohol to be diluted. The solvent of which I have spoken may be
composed of poppy oil, of alcohol mixed with water, or of caustic alkali.
The exhausted madder can also be turned to account by the following
process I place the madder in a tub or trough lined with lead or spruce
wood; I add its own weight of sulphuric acid of eight degrees of strength, and
I boil the whole for one hour. I perform this operation in a vessel furnished
with two cocks; I wash the madder until the water comes off clear, and finally
I wash it in cold water in which subcarbonate of soda is dissolved, in the pro-
portion of twenty grammes (30.8 grains troy) soda to a litre (453 of an
imperial gallon), to remove any acid that may still remain.
The exhausted madder thus treated may be used in ordinary madder dyeing.
Instead of employing the above extract of madder, a substance prepared in
the following manner may be used, but the result is not so good as that before
described-Put the same quantity of the solvent to a kilogramme of madder,
-after-a-maceration of twenty-four hours, reduce the madder operated upon to
an impalpable powder, treat it as in the process previously described, and when
a homogenous pulp has been obtained, it can be applied directly to the fabric.
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 I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to

page_text: describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but 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
peculiar treatment of madder, and the combination of the coloring matters
obtained therefrom with thickening substances, and the application of the same
direct to fabrics in the form of a pulp or paste, for the purpose of dyeing or
coloring such fabrics, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Woolbert, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN HENRY WOOLBERT. (L.S.)