COMPOUNDING AND APPLYING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS TO RENDER FABRICS WATER REPELLENT
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 10, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, and 18, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "COMPOUNDING
AND APPLYING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS TO RENDER FABRICS WATER REPELLENT."
-A communication from Robert Orpheus Lowrey, residing at
Salem, in the County of Washington and State of New York,
United States of America.
Scaled the 31st August 1869, and dated the 19th June 1869.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 19th June 1869, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 10,
Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, and 18,

page_text: Chaussée d'Antin, l'aris, in the Empire of France, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "COMPOUNDING
AND APPLYING CERTAIN COMPOUNDS TO RENDER FABRICS WATER REPELLENT," a
communication from Robert Orpheus Lowrey, a person resident at
Salem, in the County of Washington and State of New York, United
States of America, and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and made solemu Declaration that it is a communi-
cation.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the production of
new and useful water repellent compositions, and in the application of
them to the raw material used in the manufacture of paper, cloth, and
like fabrics, or to the fabrics themselves when manufactured, for the
purpose of rendering them water repellent.
I make use of the compounds of lime and grease by taking any
quantity of quicklime desired, slaking it with water, and while the
process of slaking is going on and the lime still warm and in a mastic
state add grease, oil, or any substance containing fatty acids, and
thoroughly mix them. The quantity of grease used may be varied so
as to secure a compound of a greater or less repellent power adapted
to the specific purpose for which it may be designed. And when desired
the strength of the lime may be partially destroyed by adding vinegar or
acetic acid to it before combining the grease with it, or the acid may be
added to the compound. This compound I mix and incorporate by
any suitable device or mechanism with the animal, vegetable, or mineral
fibre used in manufacturing paper, cloth, or similar fabrics, or I treat
these fabrics with a coating of the compound, applying it to their
surfaces with a sponge or brush. In either case the fabrics will be
found to possess a strong water repellent character.
I make another water repellent compound equally useful for the
purpose desired by taking common soap (or for some purposes one made

page_text: "
of difficrent gums, resins, and fatty substances in proportions suitable
for the purpose desired), and dissolve it in water until it becomes a
thin solution, and then add a quantity equal by weight to about one-
half the weight of the soap of any alums or sulphates or acetates,
either alone or in combination with any chlorides or substances pos-
sessing a saline character. As these salts dissolve and combine with
the soapy solution an insoluble compound is formed free from water.
This compound I then remove from the water and dry in any couvenient
manner and call it "artificial gum.' This gum so produced I reduce
if necessary to a fine or powdered condition and place it in a suitable
vessel, preferably one that can be closed air-tight, and add a sufficient
quantity of any readily evaporating or volatile liquid to dissolve and
hold the gum in solution, such as benzole, benzine, turpentine, chloro-
form, bi-sulphide of carbon, or any similar substance. This I allow
to stand until the solution is perfect, or hasten it if desired by the
application of heat. When the solution is completed the product will be
a water repellent fluid of an excellent character.
The artificial gum above described may, if desired, be combined with
other gums, resins, oils, greases, or fatty substances before it is united
with the volatile liquid.
Instead of the artificial gum described I sometimes take sperma-
ceti, stearin, or paraffine, and combine them with the volatile liquids
mentioned.
The mixtures or compositions thus produced I designate as "water
repellent fluids," and apply them as in the case of the first above described
composition, either to the raw fibres or to the manufactured fabric,
and with the desired results in either case.
When it is desired to make the fabric fast colored as well as water
repellent I first take soap and glue in about the proportions of seven
parts of soap to one of glue, and dissolve them in water until the specific
gravity of the solution is about 1° of Baume's hydrometer. For this
solution I prefer to use a soap composed of two parts by weight of
resin to one part of tallow or other fatty substance, saponified by caustic
alkali in the usual manner, and made as neutral as possible so that
neither the grease nor the alkali will be in excess. This solution I
place in any suitable vessel or sizing tub and call it solution No. 1.

page_text: I then take alum and salt in about the proportions of two parts of alum
to one of salt, and dissolve them in water until the specific gravity
of the solution is about 3° of Baume's hydrometer, and then place
it in a vessel or sizing tub similar to that occupied by the first solution.
This solution I call No. 2. Both of these tubs are provided with pressuro
rollers or wringers. When I desire simply to render the fibre or the
fabrics water ropellent without reference as to the permanancy of their
colors I pass them through solution No. 1, thon through the pressure
rolls to remove the excess of the solution, and then through solution
No. 2. After this I thoroughly dry and rinse them, and then calender
and finish or not as may be desired.
To render the fabrics fast colored as well as water repellent, I first
dye them the desired color, then dry, and pass them through and
thoroughly saturate them with solution No. 1; when thus saturated
I pass them through the pressure rolls, removing all surplus of the
solution, and then in like manner saturate them with solution No. 2,
and pass them again through the pressure rolls, after which I thoroughly
rinse them in a tub through which a stream of clean water is kept
constantly passing, and then dry by passing them over steam cylinders
or in a drying room or in the open air; after this I saturate them
again with water, using it warm in the first instance for the purpose
of hastening the operation, and then pass them through the pressure
rolls into a tub through which a stream of clean cold water is running,
and then pass them out of this tub in such a manner as to be left very
wet, when they are piled up and left undisturbed for twelve or twenty-
four hours; then rinse them again in clear running water, then pass
them through pressure rolls, pressing them as before; they are then
dried either with steam cylinders or in a drying room or in the open
air and sprinkled and callendered in the usual manner. The fabrics
thus treated will be found to be both water repellent and fast colored.
When it is desired to render the fabrics soft and pliable I treat or
saturate those that have been made water repellent by the lime and
grease compound or by the artificial gum, spermaceti, stearin, or
paraffine compound, with a solution of glycerine or saccharine matter,
and when it is desired that the fabrics treated by the solutions
Nos. 1 and 2 have these qualitics I either incorporate the glycerine
or saccharine matter with solution No. 1, or saturate the fabrics with

page_text: the glycerine or saccharine solution after they have been rendered
water repellent.
In making any of the solutions above described I do not confine
myself to any exact proportions of soap, gluc, alum, salt, lime, grease,
etc., but easy them to suit the character of the finish or the strength
of the repellent quality desired to be given to the fabrics, neither do
I confine myself to salt (chloride of sodium) or alum (sulphate of
aluminia and sulphate of potassa), as other chlorides or substances having
a saline quality, and other alums, sulphates, or acetates may be used
with results somewhat similar, yet varying in some respects in their
characteristics, and instead of the glue I sometimes use gum arabic,
gum tragacanth, dextrine, vegetable or animal albumen, either alone
or in combination with the glue.
Having thus described this Invention, and the manner in which it
is to be performed, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent
is as follows:-
First. A water repellent compound consisting of lime and grease,
or oil or fatty substances, or their equivalents when combined substan-
tially in the manner and proportions herein described.
Second. A water repellent compound consisting of the artificial gum
made as hercin set forth when combined with the evaporating or
volatile liquids in the manner substantially as herein described.
Third. A water repellent compound consisting of spermaceti, stearin,
or paraffine, and the evaporating or volatile liquids or their equivalents
when combined, substantially as herein described.
Fourth. A water repellent compound consisting of two solutions, ono
of soap and glue and the other of alum and salt, when combined sub-
stantially as herein described and used alternately as set forth.
Fifth. Rendering raw fibre or manufactured fabrics water repellent
by either of the compounds by applying the same in the manner sub-
stantially as herein described.
Sixth. Rendering raw fibre or manufactured fabrics after being colored
water repellent and fast colored in the manner substantially as herein
described.
Seventh. The use of glycerine or saccharine matter when incor-
porated with solution No. 1, or when applied to the fabrics after being

page_text: made water repellent, substantially as herein described, for the purpose
of giving the fabrics a soft and pliable quality, as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
ninc.