IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING AND RENDERING WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS AND LEATHER WATERPROOF
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
HEATON HALL, of Doncaster, in the County of York, 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 Fifth day of December, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Heaton Hall, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Heaton Hall, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Heaton Hall, my exors, adiñors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING AND RENDERING
WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS AND LEATHER WATERPROOF;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Heaton Hall, 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 said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said 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 Heaton Hall, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to the application of certain chemical combinations to
which the materials to be waterproofed or preserved are to be subjected, as
hereafter described.
First Preparation.-Take of alum powdered, two ounces; pure water, rain
or distilled, one pint, of sixteen ounces to the pint, and dissolve the alum in
the water; then take of dry white lead of commerce one ounce, rubbed well
down in half of a pint of pure water; when well united, put the two solutions
together, and let the precipitate subside, which done, decant the supernatant
liquid, and pass the cloth, &c. through it immediately. Or take of dry white
lead of commerce and alum powdered, of each one ounce, and of acetic acid
two fluid drachms; pure, distilled or rain water, one pint imperial; rub the
white lead down in a little of the water, and dissolve the alum in the remaining
water mix the acetic acid with the dissolved alum, and then mix the solution
of white lead and water with the solution of alum and acetic acid; let the
precipitate subside, and then pass or immerse the cloth, &c. through the
supernatant liquor directly. I recommend it to be done directly, because I
consider it better to do so, though it is not essentially necessary. Having
submitted the woollen or other fabrics or leather to either of the above prepa-
rations or chemical combinations, they may be submitted to the following
preparation Take of quicklime half a pound, mix it with one and a half
gallons of water, cold, pure, distilled or rain, and pass the fabric or leather
through this preparation. When this has been done, dry or partially dry the
fabric or leather, and pass it through a solution formed thus:-Take of clean
picked Irish moss (moss carrageen), two ounces, to be boiled in three gallons of
pure water, distilled or rain, to be boiled down to two gallons; then strain through
a fine flannel or other bag, so that no specks are seen in the solution; when
strained, add to it two gallons more of pure water, and then when well mixed
pass the fabric or cloth through the liquor, taking care to press the fabric so
that too much of the fluid mucilagineous matter does not remain, but only just
sufficient to fix the waterproofing material in the fabric, &c. The preservative
solution is made thus:-Take of camphor, one ounce; two drachms crude
arsenic reduced to powder, eight ounces; white soap, eight ounces; salt of
tartar of the shops, three ounces; prepared chalk reduced to a fine powder,
one ounce. Cut the soap into fine slices and put it into a pot over a slow fire
with a little water, stirring it often with a wooden spoon or spatula; when
melted, put in the salt of tartar and prepared chalk, take it off the fire, and
add the arsenic, triturate the whole gently; lastly, put in the camphor, which

page_text: must be in fine powder. To make the preservative liquid, take the above
preparation and add to it one gallon of pure, rain or distilled water; and one
of my processes is sometimes to add one ounce of this preservative preparation,
made as above, with one gallon of water in the proportion of an ounce to the
pint of the first and second preparations, whichever is employed, and so water-
proof and preserve at the same time.
I would remark that, when the first preparation is used in its simple state,
the process of the lime water is not necessary. When I am operating on
thin fabrics, I prefer to partially dry them before passing them through the
solution of lime.
I would remark that, although I have been particular in describing exact
quantities which I have generally employed, I do not confine myself thereto;
and when preserving fabrics or leather the camphor may be omitted in the
mixture if the smell be objected to; and further, if extra strong thick fabrics
be operated on, I make the mixtures stronger than those above given. After
the fabrics have been heated, as above explained, I dress and press them for
the market in the ordinary ways now practised in respect to the particular
fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Heaton Hall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.