IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lightfoot, of Accrington, in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND
DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS."
Sealed the 24th March 1863, and dated the 17th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lightfoot at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
January 1863.
I, JOHN LIGHTFOOT, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING AND DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the production of a black color on textile
fabrics or yarns by printing or staining them with a salt of aniline or any of
its analogous mixed with certain oxidizing agents hereafter described.
I take one gallon of water and dissolve in it four ounces of chlorate of
potash; to this I add aniline, or any of its analogues, by preference aniline,
in the proportion of eight 'ounces per gallon, and an equal weight of hydro-
chloric acid. After stirring well I add one pint of acetic acid per gallon and
eight ounces measure of perchloride of copper at 88° Twaddle, four ounces of
salamoniac or an equivalent quantity of other alkaline chloride. I steep the
fabric or yarn in this solution, wring out and dry, age two nights, and pass.
through a weak solution of alkali or soap, or, by preference, diluted hypochlorite
of lime. An intense black is thus produced.
For printing on fabrics or yarns I take one gallon of starch paste or other
suitable thickening and dissolve in it four ounces chlorate of potash, eight
ounces aniline, eight ounces hydrochloric acid, and four ounces measure of

page_text: perchloride of copper at 88 Twaddle, and two ounces salamoniac, or an
equivalent quantity of other alkaline chloride. After printing this color I
age three nights, and raise in weak alkali or soap or hypochlorite of lime as
before.
I do not confine myself to perchloride of copper as other salts of copper will
do if mixed with alkaline chlorides; and in some cases I use instead of copper
salts of chlorides of antimony or chlorides of iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lightfoot in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LIGHTFOOT, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Lightfoot, Her special licence that I, the said John Lightfoot, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Lightfoot, my executors, administrators, and assign's, 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 PRINTING
AND DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Lightfoot, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lightfoot, 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, that is to say :-
These improvements consist in the production of a black dye on textile

page_text: fabrics or yarns by printing or staining them with a salt or salts of aniline or
any analogous, homologous, or isomeric compounds mixed with certain metallic
salts or their oxides as a mordant, as herein-after described.
I take 1 gallon of water and dissolve in it 4 oz. chlorate of potash; to this
I add aniline or any analogous, homologous, or isomeric matters, using, by
preference, aniline in the proportion of 8 oz., previously combining it with
8 oz. of hydrochloric acid at 32° Twaddell. After stirring well, I add 1 pint
of acetic acid and 8 oz. measure of perchloride of copper at 88° Twaddell; then
I add 4 oz. salammoniac or an equivalent quantity of other suitable alkaline
chloride. I steep the fabric or yarn in this solution, wring out and dry, then
I expose the goods in a room at from 60° to 70° Fahrenheit for two or three
days;
the goods are now passed through water alone or a solution containing
alkaline or metallic salts (which develope the black much sooner and better).
The alkalies and alkaline earths may be used for raising the black, such as
caustic soda, caustic potash, caustic ammonia, caustic lime in solution in
water; or the goods may be passed, after "printing" and "dyeing," through
a box containing rollers supplied with "ammoniacal gas" (which I prefer,
when the black is printed along with "steam colours" prior to steaming the
goods). When the black is printed along with "madder" or "garancine"
color's they are aged or exposed in a room at from 60° to 70° Fahrenheit for
three days and dunged, dyed, washed, and passed through a solution of soap or
dilute hypochlorite of lime, whereby an intense black is produced.
age
For printing on fabrics or yarns I take one gallon of starch paste (con-
taining 1 lb. starch per gallon) or other suitable thickening ingredient and
dissolve in it 4 oz. chlorate of potash and 8 oz. aniline, previously combined
with 8 ounces hydrochloric acid; I then add 4 ounce measure of perchloride
of copper at 88° Twaddell and 2 ounces salammoniac, or an equivalent
quantity of other suitable alkaline chloride. After printing this color I
for 3 nights and raise in water alone or weak alkali, or soap or hypochlorite
of lime, as before. Although in the proportions given chloride of copper only
has been named other metallic salts may be substituted, as antimony and
iron, and when such other salts are used they are employed in proportions
equivalent to the proportion of copper named. In some cases I pad the cloth
in a solution of any of the metallic salts named, either separately or mixed
together, dry, and print or pad on a thickened salt of aniline in combination
with chlorate of potash, age three to four nights, and finish as previously
stated; or I pad the cloth in a solution of any of the metallic salts named, as
before. I then precipitate the oxide of the metal or metals used into the
cloth by passing-through a solution of alkali suitable to the metal used, wash,

page_text: dry, and print or pad on a thickened acid salt of aniline in combination with
chlorate of potash, age three or four nights, and finish as before.
I have named the production of a black by the use of aniline salts with
certain metallic salts or the analogues of aniline. By the analogues of aniline
I mean napthylamine or toluidine, and when certain shades of black are
required I use a mixture of aniline with these analogous bodies, but in all
cases a certain quantity of a salt of aniline must be used for the production of
a good black.
And although I have described the use of the metallic salts of
copper as used with aniline, I find that these salts may be replaced with some
advantages by the use of the salt known as red prussiate of potash, and when
this salt is used it is used in substitution of other metallic salts, and I use it
in the proportion of four to six ounces red prussiate of potash to one pound of
a salt of aniline, or mixtures of aniline and its analogues, contained in one
gallon of water. When red prussiate of potash is used, I also add to each
gallon of color two ounce oxalic acid or other suitable acid, by preference,
oxalic acid. The material to be dyed or printed must be first aged and after-
wards steamed 30 to 50 minutes in the ordinary manner of steaming.
I do not confine myself to the precise details herein mentioned, nor to the
exact quantities herein stated, as they may be slightly modified without
departing from the spirit of my Invention; but what I claim as my Invention
is, the use of metallic salts or their oxides, either alone or combined with
chlorate of potash, and then mixed with a salt or salts of aniline or mixtures
with any analogous, homologous, or isomeric compounds, either singly or
mixed together, as well as the process or series of processes, as previously
described, for the production of a black dye or stain.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lightfoot, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said John Lightfoot in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN LIGHTFOOT. (L.S.)