IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF 'JUTE' AND 'JUTE' CUTTINGS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey,
Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
'JUTE' AND 'JUTE' CUTTINGS."
Sealed the 30th August 1864, and dated the 5th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
March 1864.
I, THOMAS GRAY, of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF 'JUTE' AND 'JUTE' CUTTINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new method of taking what is commonly called
the knots or bark in long jute and jute cuttings, rendering the fibre perfectly
free from such knots or bark whilst being subjected to the action of a "beater
or separator, and after to the bleaching process. If for long jute it is first
steeped in cold or warm water for the space of 24 to 30 hours; but with some
jute the time may be shortened, depending on the nature of the material, then
place it in a "fulling stocks" or any machine which will cause the fluid to
pass violently through the fibre. During this process there is a stream of
warm or cold water passing in and out of the machine to carry away and
remove all feculent matter, bark, or knots, which may be on the fibre of the
jute. If "roots," or what is technically called cuttings, are to be treated, I
place the material in a tank or a revolving cylinder and admit steam and

page_text: water through a hollow axis and there revolve it for the space of from 6 to 8
hours, but this depends on the nature of the material, as the time may be
varied according to circumstances. I then place the jute or jute cuttings in
the fulling stocks or any such machines, as before described, and wash away
such extraneous matter by either cold or warm water during the process of
cleansing. The material so treated is then taken to the wringing machine or
extractor, and after the superfluous moisture is abstracted it is, if long jute,
ready for the bleaching process; but if cuttings of jute are passed through an
ordinary coarse carding engine or tenter-hook machine it is then ready for the
bleaching process.
My improved method of bleaching consists in using soapsuds and chlorine
bleaching liquor. Take jute or jute cuttings after having been passed through
the stocks and carding machine or tenter-hook machine, then place the same
in a solution of chloride of lime liquor and a solution of soapsuds mixed
together. First take one half ounce of soap and dissolve the same in one
gallon of hot water, and then take about 6 ounces of chlorido of lime and
dissolve the same in one half gallon of cold water and then lot it settle; after
this pour the same into the hot soapsuds and mix together. I then place
about one pound of the raw material in the above mixed solutions. This lays
till the same is partially bleached to a whiteness. To improve the color an
addition of the above mixed solutions is again added to finish the material to a
proper whiteness, say, about 3 ounces of bleaching powder to of an ounce
of soap to same quantity of water, and as above described; after this it is
then washed and hung up for drying. These improvements are additions to
my Patent, No. 886, 8th April 1863.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Gray, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas

page_text: Gray, 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 THE TREATMENT
OF JUTE AND JUTE CUTTINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Gray, 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 Thomas Gray, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
I take the raw material, long jute and jute cuttings, and open the bales,.
I then place the same in a vessel and boil for, say, from six to twelve hours
in water under pressure of steam; or the jute may be laid for 24 to 48 hours
in pits or vessels supplied with hot water arising from condensed steam or
other convenient source. The jute is then placed for about thirty minutes in
ordinary fulling stocks, and while the fulling is being performed I supply hot
or cold water to the jute through a perforated pipe. I next place the material
in a hydro-extractor or clothes dryer, and then pass it through a tenter-hook
or coarse carding machine. I afterwards bleach it by submitting it to the
following mixture:-I dissolve soap in hot water in the proportion of about
half an ounce of soap to one gallon of water; I also dissolve bleaching powder
in cold water in the proportion of about eight ounces of bleaching powder to
two quarts of water and allow to settle. I then pour the bleaching powder
and cold water into the hot soap liquor and place the jute therein in the pro-
portion of about one pound of jute to the quantities above mentioned of soap
and bleaching liquors. I prefer to perform the bleaching in quantities of
about one or two hundredweight in an ordinary rag engine, so that it may be
well agitated. In about an hour I draw off the liquor, and place the jute to
improve its whiteness for about twelve hours in a pit or vessel containing a
second quantity of the soap and bleaching liquors; after being well washed
with water the jute is ready for carding and spinning.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, treating jute and

page_text: jute cuttings by submitting them to the process or operations herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
THOMAS GRAY. (L.S.)