SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF VARIOUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF DYEING AND PRODUCING COLOR, ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION AND USE OF SEVERAL CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DYEING AND PRO- DUCING COLOUR NOT. HITHERTO MADE USE OF
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SWINDELLS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of June, in the seventh year of er reign, and in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give. and grant unto me, the said John Swindells,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Swindells, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others, as I, the
said John Swindells, 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, expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF VARIOUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE
PURPOSE OF DYEING AND PRODUCING COLOR, ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION
AND USE OF SEVERAL CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DYEING AND PRO-
DUCING COLOUR NOT. HITHERTO MADE USE OF;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said John Swindells, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Swindells, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, is
described and set forth as follows. that is to say:
One part of my improvements in dyeing and producing color consists (when
madder, madder-root, or munjeet is made use of to produce some given color)
in preparing the madder as follows:-I.take.any.given weight of any madder,
and when reduced to a fine powder I mix the same with as much of a solution
of caustic ammonia, potash, or soda as will thoroughly carbonise the yellow or
fawn colouring matter therein. Different kinds of madder require different
proportions; what is called best French madder requires one eighth part of its
weight of caustic alkali, or of ammonia as much of the solution as will be
equivalent in saturating a given weight of any acid as the one eighth of potash.
I thoroughly mix any of these solutions with the powdered madder, and expose
them to heat, not exceeding one hundred and seventy-five degrees Fharenheit.
This, when dissolved in water, will be ready to operate with in dyeing or
forming madder lakes or pinks, or the madder may be first treated with
sulphuric acid, as in making guaraneim, and the alkali afterwards applied,
which will then not require to be operated on by heat but simply dissolved in
a solution of any of the alkalies or their carbonates, or other salts thereof,
but I prefer for any of these purposes caustic solution of ammonia, as pro-
ducing the best effects. In dyeing cottons or linens with this prepared madder,
or with the common kinds, as also with other vegetable matter, I prepare the
cotton for receiving the color as follows:-After it has been bleached or
thoroughly cleansed from impurities I steep it for some hours in a solution of
gelatine or albumen (the strength of solution which I prefer is a specific
gravity of 1-04): After removing from this I pass the goods into a strong
solution of tannin for twelve hours. I then wring them out and dry thoroughly
either in the air or a stove. This s process may be repeated or not according to
the depth of color required. I then go through the remainder of the processes
of dyeing in the usual manner.
"
My next improvement consists in preparing for dyeing blues and similar
colors the compounds of cyanogen and ammonia as follows:-My first
improved method consists in preparing a substitute for the hoof and horn, and
other animal materials usually made use of. This I accomplish by grinding
to a fine powder or paste common coal, cannel coke, or charcoal, or any other
carbonaceous matter, and mixing therewith a solution of gélatine, albumen, or

page_text: a mixture of each, and then thoroughly drying the compound. I use it in the
same way as the hoof and horn is now made use of.
My second improved method of producing the compounds of nitrogen, namely,
cyanogen
or prussuic and ammonia, consists in combining nitrogen gas, or the
oxides of nitrogen, with carbon as follows:-If nitrogen be made use of it may be
produced from the atmosphere, or from any of its compounds or mixtures, by
passing it through heated carbonaceous matter of any description (but I prefer
charcoal or coke), so as to form oxygen (if it be atmospheric air) into carbonic
acid. To accelerate the process 1 propel or force the mixed nitrogen and
carbonic acid through lime (by means of appropriate machinery), either in a
semi-fluid state or in the state of hydrate, or it may be passed through
solutions of any alkali or alkaline earth, so as to combine the whole of the
carbonic acid therewith, and also condense any aqueous vapour that may be
present. Nitrogen gas, moderately free from other gasses, will then remain.
This nitrogen I then pass through charcoal or any carbonaceous matter pre-
viously saturated with potass or soda, kept at a full red or approaching a white
heat, in a perfectly close retort or any other convenient apparatus until the
required quantity of cyanide is produced. If ammonia is to be produced I
pass the nitrogen gas, together with one fourth its volume of steam or aqueous
vapour, through charcoal or other carbonaceous matter at a red heat, and
condense the ammonia so produced by the usual process or processes, or
atmospheric air may be made use of along with aqueous vapour, and passed
through heated carbonaceous matter at a red heat, either in close or open
vessels. If the protoxide, deutoxide, or nitrous vapour be operated on for the
production of cyanogen I proceed as before described in operating with
nitrogen gas, or the process of separating the oxygen may be dispensed with,
and by making due calculation of the quantity of oxygen in the compounds of
nitrogen operated on, adding potass or soda sufficient to combine with the
carbonic acid, which will be produced in the process when passed through the
heated carbonaceous matter. In forming ammonia or its compounds from the
oxides of nitrogen or nitrous vapour I pass them, in conjunction with their
own volume of steam, through charcoal or other carbonaceous matter, at a red
heat, either in close or open vessels; but if a compound of carbon and
nitrogen, namely, cyanogen, is to be formed or produced, the apparatus con-
taining the heated carbonaceous matter must be air tight. I wish this to be
minutely attended to, as it is necessary to the process of producing cyanogen
to exclude oxygen, carbonic acid, or aqueous vapour, and constitutes the
difference betwixt' a process some time ago patented for producing cyanogen
by pumping atmospheric air through heated charcoal; and my process as

page_text: before described. My improvements in applying several chemical salts or
compounds in dyeing or producing colour consists in using or operating on a
class of salts not hitherto used for these purposes. In dyeing or producing
color from the cyanides, ferrocyanides, or other compounds or salts of cyanogen,
I separate the acid required from its combination with barium, strontea, or
calceum, but of these I prefer the salt of barium, which I operate on by pre-
cipitating the barium by its equivalent quantity of sulphuric acid, diluted with
as much water as may be necessary to produce the required strength of acid to
be made use of. My improvements also consist in the application of the
chromates and bickromates of barytes, strontea, and lime, whose bases I also.
separate by an equivalent proportion of sulphuric acid and water, according to
the strength of the solution required. In operating on manganic salts I make
use of the manganate of barytes, strontea, or lime, and separate the base by
the equivalent quantity of sulphuric acid and water, as already described in
preparing chromic acid. The solution of the acids of chrome and manganese,
when separated from their bases, I apply in raising, dycing, and oxydating
various coloured fabrics.
I claim, therefore, as my Invention,-
First, I claim the use of ammonia or other alkalies for preparing a madder
dyeing liquor.
Second, I claim the process of preparing cotton or linen by subjecting them
to the action of gelatine or albumen and tannin.
Third, I claim the method of preparing materials for the manufacture of
cyanogen or prussiates by using gelatine or albumen, mixed or ground together
with carbonaceous matter of any description.
Fourth, the production of cyanogen and its compounds by operating on
nitrogen gas, after having removed any other gas or aqueous vapour therefrom
before introducing it to the heated carbonaceous matter.
Fifth, I claim the production or manufacture of cyanogen or its compounds
by operating on the oxides of nitrogen or nitrous vapour, however procured, by
bringing them in contact with heated carbonaceous matter, either after having
separated the oxygen or without separating it.
Sixth, I claim the production or manufacture of ammonia or its salts by
operating on the nitrogen of the atmosphere, or any other oxides of nitrogen,
in conjunction with aqueous vapour, and passing the same through heated
carbonaceous matter.
Seventh, I claim the application or use of the cyanide, ferrocyanide, or
chlorocyanide, or any other combination of cyanogen and barium, strontea, or
calceum, in dyeing, printing, or producing color.

page_text: Eighth, I claim as new the use and application of chromate or bichromate
of barytes, strontia, or lime, for the purpose of dyeing, printing, and producing
color.
Ninth, I claim also the use and introduction of the manganate of barytes,
strontia, and lime, for the same purposes.
All which being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new, and never
before practised in that part of Her Majesty's Dominions called England,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I deliver this as my true and faithful
Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Swindells, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.