IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING COTTON WASTE, HAIR, WOOL, AND OLEAGINOUS SEEDS FOR THE REMOVAL OF OIL OR GREASE, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE SAME PURPOSE TO HIDES AND SKINS, AND IN PREPARING THE SAME FOR TANNING, AND FOR PREVENTING MILDEW DARDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Granville, of the City of Manchester,
Tanner, and Edwin Eli Johnson, of the same Place, Pharmaceutical
Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING COTTON
WASTE, HAIR, WOOL, AND OLEAGINOUS SEEDS FOR THE REMOVAL OF OIL OR
GREASE, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE SAME PURPOSE TO HIDES AND SKINS, AND
IN PREPARING THE SAME FOR TANNING, AND FOR PREVENTING MILDEW
DARDS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Granville and
Edwin Eli Johnson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 25th July 1878.
We, ARTHUR GRANVILLE, of the City of Manchester, Tanner, and
EDWIN ELI JOHNSON, of the same Place, Pharmaceutical Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING COTTON WASTE, HAIR, WOOL, AND OLBAGINOUS SEEDS, FOR THE REMOVAL
OF OIL OR GREASE, ALSO APPLICAHLE FOR THE SAME PURPOSE TO HIDES AND SKINS,
AND IN PREPARING THE SAME FOR TANNING, AND FOR PREVENTING MILDEW IN

page_text: COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR SUCH PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a treatment of cotton waste, hair, wool,
hides, skins, and oleaginous seeds, whereby the grease, oil, or other fatty
matter contained in them is entirely removed and is preserved for use,
and also to a treatment of cotton and other fabrics for the prevention of
mildew.
Now this Invention consists in the use and application to such
purposes of petroleum spirit, benzoline, or any other similar product of
petroleum having an affinity for grease.
.
In performing our Invention we introduce the cotton waste, hair,
wool, hides, skins or oleaginous seeds into an enclosed air-tight
chamber fitted with a man-hole and surrounded by an outer casing or
jacket, the interior of this chamber communicating with a vessel
containing the petroleum spirit which is then allowed to enter the
enclosed chamber and thoroughly steep or saturate the materials requiring
to be treated, for which purpose such materials may be agitated or stirred
in the presence of the petroleum spirit by suitable machinery, or be so
disposed within the enclosed chamber as to afford ready access for the
spirit in order to bring every fibre or particle more closely into contact
with such spirit or the spirit itself may be forced or drawn through such
chamber by hydraulic or atmospheric pressure for the same purpose.
This intimate contact of the petroleum spirit serves to entirely remove
all greasy or fatty matters from the materials being treated, and it then
only remains to remove the petroleum spirit from such material which
may be performed, except in the case of oleaginous seeds, by pressure or
by evaporation produced by the application of heat, either hot water,
air, or steam, within the outer casing, or heat applied within the
enclosed chamber itself or within a separate vessel, or by pressure and
heat combined, the vapors arising being led into a condenser and so
prepared for use again. The petroleum spirit and grease may then be
separated by distillation and the whole of the grease be preserved.
Hides or skins so treated are thereby preserved and will keep for any
length of time before tanning (for which tanning operation the aforesaid
treatment has specially prepared such hides or skins) whilst the oil from
oleaginous seeds is more perfectly removed than by crushing, and this
without in the least degree injuring the seeds or destroying their
farinaceous or other properties.

page_text: This Invention furthur relates to a method of treating hides and
skins so as to remove the hair or wool without the tedious sweating
operation hitherto employed, and for this purpose we take such hides or
skins after being treated as herein-before described, for the removal of
the grease, or after being treated by any other method which will
effectually remove all grease, and apply on the flesh side of such skins or
hides a coating of sulphide of lime or dip the flesh side of such hides or
skins into sulphide of lime contained in any suitable vessel, when the
hair or wool will in a short time be loosened and may then be easily
removed in the ordinary manner. This application of sulphide of lime
may also be made to hides or sķins without their being previously
treated for the removal of grease.
For preventing mildew in cotton and other fabrics we submit such
fabrics, or the size or material employed in their manufacture, to the
action of petroleum spirit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Granville and Edwin Eli Johnson in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ARTHUR
GRANVILLE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Tanner, and
EDWIN ELI JOHNSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Pharmaceutical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of
; our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Arthur Granville and Edwin Eli
Johnson, Her special license that we, the said Arthur Granville and
Edwin Eli Johnson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
0 others as we, the said Arthur Granville and´Edwin Eli Johnson, our
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,

page_text: within the enclosed chamber as to afford ready access for the spirit, in
order to bring every fibre or particle closely into contact with such
spirit, or the spirit itselt may be forced or drawn through such chamber
by hydraulic or atmospheric pressure for the same purpose. This
intimate contact of the petroleum spirit or other hydrocarbon serves to
entirely remove all greasy or fatty matters from the materials being
treated, and it then only remains to remove the pétroleum spirit or other
hydrocarbon from such material, which may be performed (except in the
case of oleaginous seeds) by pressure, or by evaporation produced by
the application of heat, either hot water, air, or steam, within the outer
casing, or heat applied within the enclosed chamber itself or within a
separate vessel, or by pressure and, heat combined the vapours arising
being led into a condenser and so separaed for use again. The petroleum
spirit and other hydrocarbon and grease may then be separated by
distillation or otherwise and the whole of the grease be preserved.
Hides or skins may be treated either in the green state or at any
stage of their preparation for tanning, and are thereby preserved and
will keep for any length of time before tanning (for which tanning
operation the aforesaid treatment has specially prepared such hides or
skins), whilst the oil from oleaginous seeds is more perfectly removed
than by crushing, and this without in the least degree injuring the seeds
or destroying their farinaceous or other properties.
This Invention further relates to a method of treating hides and skins
so as to remove the hair or wool without the tedious sweating operation
hitherto employed, and for this purpose we take such hides or skins,
after being treated as herein-before described for the removal of the
grease, or after being treated by any other method which will effectually
remove all grease, and apply on the flesh side of such skins or hides a
coating of sulphide of lime, or dip the flesh side of such hides or skins
into sulphide of lime contained in any suitable vessel, when the hair or
wool will in a short time be loosened and may then be easily removed in
the ordinary manner. This application of sulphide of lime may also be
made to hides or skins without their being previously treated for the
removal of grease.
For preventing mildew in cotton and other fabrics we submit such
fabrics, or the size or material employed in their manufacture, to the
action of petroleum spirit or other hydrocarbon either in its liquid state

page_text: Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, we will
now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in
order that the same may be clearly understood, we have annexed
hereunto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the 5
same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in
the following explanation thereof :-
The annexed Drawing represents a vertical section of the whole
apparatus arranged for treating cotton waste, wool, or hair, some slight
modifications alone being necessary to adapt it to the treatment of 1
hides, skins, or oleaginous seeds, or for preventing mildew in cotton or
other fabrics.
A, A, is the vessel in which the oily cotton waste or other material is
placed and treated with the petroleum or shale spirit, or other hydro-
carbon and submitted to hydraulic pressure. B, B, is a retort box 1
heated by steam in which the cotton waste or other material after
treatment and pressure is placed to drive off the remainder of the spirit
and dry the material. C, C, is a tank into which the spirit together
with the oil or grease (which it has extracted from the cotton waste or
other material under operation) is allowed to flow from the vessel or 2
press A; D, D, is a retort heated by steam for distilling or evaporating
the spirit admitted from the tank C, C; E, E, is a worm and cold water
cistern for condensing the spirit evaporated or distilled by the retort,
and F, F, is a tank for receiving the clean spirit; G, G, is a force
pump for returning the clean spirit to the vessel or press A, A.
The cover a, a, of the vessel has connected to it a screw b, b, working
through a screwed nut c, c, in the gallows or crane d, d, so that when
the cover is raised it can be turned or swung round out of the way for
charging and discharging the cotton waste or other material.
The cylinder or vessel A, A, is fitted with a perforated piston e, e,
fixed at the top of a hydraulic ram f,f, working water-tight through a
stuffing box g, g, in the bottom of the cylinder or vessel A, A. h, h, is
the hydraulic cylinder, and i, i, is the pressure pipe leading from the
pumps or head of water; k, k, is the pipe leading from the vessel A, A,
to the tank C, C. By working the perforator piston e, e, up and down
several times the spirit is forced and drawn backwards and forwards

page_text: through the cotton waste or other material until it is thoroughly
cleansed.
If necessary we employ an agitator or agitators of any suitable form
to stir up the contents of the vessel A, A, before applying the piston
to work. The height and dimensions of the vessel A, A, can be varied,
but we claim the principle herein described, the spirit and the oil or
grease extracted from the cotton waste or other material is then run off
by the pipe k, k, into the vessel O, O, and at the same time the
perforated piston is forced upwards so as to press the cotton waste or
other material as dry as possible. When this is effected the cover a, a,
of the vessel A, A, is removed, and the piston being forced up to the top
throws out the cleansed material which is then placed in the trolly 2, 7,
and taken to the retort box B, B, one end B* of which falls down on a
hinge as shown, for the purpose of readily charging and discharging the
same, or it can swing on vertical hinges if preferred.
The box B, B, being charged is closed and steam is then admitted by
the pipe m, m, into the steam jacket n, n, which surrounds the box, and
as the spirit evaporates at a very low temperature it is driven off by the
pipe o, o, into the clean spirit tank F, F, and the purified cotton waste
) or other material soon becomes dry and can then be removed from the
retort box, by which time another charge will have been cleansed in the
vessel A, A, ready for removal to the retort box B, and so on con-
tinuously.
As the mixed spirit and oil or grease and dirt is drawn off from the
5 vessel A, A, into the tank O, O, they will separate spontaneously to a
considerable degree by reason of their very different specific gravities,
the spirit and oil pass off by the pipe p, p, to the retort D, D, whilst the
heavy refuse falls to the bottom of the tank and can be removed by the
tap q, q. Steam being admitted by the piper, r, into the jacket 8, 8,
which surrounds the retort will evaporate the spirit which passes by the
pipe t, t, to the condenser and thence to the clean spirit tank F, F,
whilst the oil or grease not being vaporisable at so low a temperature
will remain in the bottom of the retort and can be drawn off at the
tap u, u; v, v, is the suction pipe for the pump G, G, and w, w, is the
3 feed pipe by means of which the clean spirit is conveyed from the
tank F, F, to the vessel or cylinder A, A; x, x, is a tap for emptying
the clean spirit tank F. It will be evident that by this arrangement

page_text: the operation is rendered continuous and the petroleum, shale spirit, or
other hydrocarbon, is constantly being purified, condensed, and used
over and over again, the only loss by evaporation being when charging
and discharging the vessel A, A, and this must be made good from time
to time by the introduction of an additional quantity of spirit either 5
into the vessel A, A, or the tank F, F.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood
that we claim as our Invention,-
"
Firstly. The removal of oil or grease or fatty matter from used cotton
waste, hair, wool, and oleaginous seeds, by the use of petroleum or shale
spirit, or other hydrocarbon having an affinity for grease.
10
Secondly. Treating hides, skins, or pelts, with petroleum or shale
spirit or other hydrocarbon for the purpose of extracting the grease, oil, 15
or fatty matter therefrom, either previous to, during, or after the tawing
or tanning operation.
Thirdly. The use of petroleum or shale spirit or other hydrocarbon
(either as a liquid or in the form of a vapor) for the treatment of cotton
and other fabrics for the purpose of preventing mildew therein.
And Fourthly. We claim the general construction, arrangement, and
application for such purposes of the apparatus herein-before described
and illustrated by the Drawings annexed, or any mere imitation or
modification thereof, constructed and operating in substantially the
same or a similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Granville, (on behalf of
myself and the said Edwin Eli Johnson,) have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
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