IM- PROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, WASHING, OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wallace, junior, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, WASHING, OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND
MATERIALS.
"
Sealed the 26th June 1855, and dated the 25th April 1855..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wallace at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
April 1855.
I, JAMES WALLACE, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, WASHING, OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND
MATERIALS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improvements in connection with the ordinary
"dash wheel" as at present in use in various manufacturing processes, the
object of the said improvements being the rendering the dash wheel more
extensively available as a bleaching and cleansing agent for textile fabrics and
materials than has hitherto been the case. According to one modification

page_text: under which this Invention is carried out in practice, the dash wheel, which in
its general features is constructed like those hitherto in use, is mounted upon a
hollow shaft, which is put in communication with a steam pipe by means of
a suitable stuffing-box joint. Steam is thus supplied through the hollow shaft
into the several compartments of the wheel, either through perforations in the
shaft itself, or through openings in branch pipes connected to the shaft, such
branch pipes being arranged in any convenient manner in the compartments.
The introduction of the steam alone into the dash wheel is sufficient to
improve greatly the ordinary bleaching, washing, and cleansing and "posting"
effect of the wheel, but with the further introduction of acids, alkalis, soap,
and other bleaching or preparing ingredients the dash wheel is made directly
available as an excellent bleaching apparatus. Various classes of goods may
be thus treated, but the Invention is especially applicable for the treatment of
"sewed muslins" or embroidered goods. It is obvious that various mechanical
arrangements may be adopted in thus modifying and applying dash wheels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Wallace in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WALLACE, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Wallace, junior, Her special license that I, the said James
Wallace, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Wallace, junior, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BLEACHING, WASHING, OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS,'
"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Wallace, junior, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 James Wallace, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improvements in connection with the ordinary'
"dash wheel" as at present in use in various manufacturing processes, the.
object of the said improvements being the rendering the dash wheel more:
extensively availablo as a bleaching and cleansing agent for textile fabrics and
materials than has hitherto been the case. According to one modification
under which this Invention is carried out in practice, the dash wheel, which in
its general features is constructed like those hitherto in use, is mounted upon.
a hollow shaft, which is put in communication with a steam pipe by means
of a suitable stuffing-box joint. Steam is thus supplied through the hollow
shaft into the several compartments of the wheel, either through perforations
in the shaft itself, or through openings in branch pipes connected to the
shaft, such branch pipes being arranged in any convenient manner in the
compartments.
The introduction of the steam alone into the dash wheel is sufficient to
improve greatly the ordinary bleaching, washing, and cleansing and "posting "
effect of the wheel, but with the further introduction of acids, alkalis, soap,.
and other bleaching or preparing ingredients the dash wheel is made directly
available as an excellent bleaching apparatus. Various classes of goods
may be thus treated, but the Invention is especially applicable for the
treatment of "sewed muslins " or embroidered goods. It is obvious that
various mechanical arrangements may be adopted in thus modifying and
applying dash wheels.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front elevation of a dash wheel as
constructed according to one modification for the purposes of my Invention;

page_text: Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section, shewing the internal construction of
the wheel; and Figure 3 is a partial plan of the apparatus. The dash wheel
consists of a large cylinder A, in this instance constructed of wood, but which
may be made of iron or other suitable material, and which is divided internally
into four separate chambers by four radiating partitions B, indicated by dotted
lines in Figure 1, and lying behind the external iron straps C, through which
they are bolted to the ends of the cylinder. The cylinder is mounted upon a
tubular shaft D, which is carried in bearings E and F, and a steam pipe G
communicates with the open end of the tubular shaft which lies in the bear-
ing E, a suitable joint being formed which prevents the escape of the steam,
whilst it allows of the rotation of the shaft, independently of the steam pipe.
The portion of the tubular shaft D which is inside the cylinder A is perforated
as at H, to admit the steam into the cylinder. The steam first finds its way into
a square space I, formed by boards J, which unite the several partitions B
near the centre of the wheel, and it thence passes through perforations in the
boards J into the compartments in which the articles to be operated upon are
placed. Each compartment is provided with an opening K, by which the
articles to be operated upon are introduced, and these opening are closed in
the usual way by tightly-fitting lids L. The dash wheel is made to rotate
in the usual way, being driven by means of a bevil wheel M fast upon the shaft
D, and in gear with a bevil wheel N loose upon a first motion shaft O, running
behind the dash wheel or behind a series of dash wheels. The bevil wheel N
put into gear with the shaft O by means of the clutch P, worked by a forked
lever on a shaft Q below. The shaft Q has fast on it a lever R, which is
linked to a lever S on another shaft T, passing to the front of the dash wheel,
and furnished with a hand lever U, by means of which the clutch is moved
into or out of gear. The articles to be bleached and operated upon by the
dash wheel are introduced into the compartments by the openings K, and
the bleaching ingredients being added, the wheel is put in motion, and the
steam is let on through the tubular shaft, and the operation is completed
in a much shorter time than is necessary according to the processes hitherto
in use.
is
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, İ may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my-Invention; but what I consider to be

page_text: novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus,
or means to be used in bleaching, washing, or cleansing textile fabrics and
materials, as here-before described.
Second, the system or mode of aiding the action of dash wheels or rotating
chambers used in cleansing textile fabrics and materials by introducing steam
therein, as here-before described.
Third, the system or mode of bleaching textile fabrics and materials in ordi-
nary dash wheels or in rotating chambers with the aid of bleaching agents and
steam, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wallace, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
JAS WALLACE, J. (L.S.)