IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
from Honer Bouchet
Sealed the 22nd May 1857, and dated the 2nd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition; on the 2nd December 1856.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Flect Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING," communicated to me by Henry Bouchet, a
foreigner residing abroad to be as follows:-
This Invention applies to the bleaching of textile fabrics, cloths, cottons,
rag pulp, and vegetable fibres; and the Invention consists in certain methods
of bleaching by means of chloride of lime, employed in combination with
certain agents, by means of which the material under treatment resists the
injurious effects which the chloride of lime might otherwise exercise.
To bleach pulp, say 2 cwt., place 20 lbs. of chloride of lime in 100 gallons
of clear river water. In a separate vessel dissolve from 2 to 4 lbs. of soft
soap in 50 gallons of warm water. This solution is to be poured upon the
pulp, which must be moistened with clear soft water, the soapy solution thrown

page_text: over it, thoroughly stirred, and then the chlorido of limo solution must be
thrown in in pailsfull, the pulp being kept well stirred until about three-fourths
of the lime solution has been thrown on to it; mix and agitate every ten
minutes, and if at the expiration of two hours the bleaching is not proceeding
sufficiently quickly, add one-half or the whole of the remaining solution of
chloride of lime. The lime solution should be prepared sometime before
being used, so that it may settle and be quite clear.
The waters which have been used as above described are drawn off into
another vessel, containing 2 cwt. of pulp with little or no water mixed with
it. The pulp must be agitated and stirred several times within the hour,
and if in that time bloaching has not progressed sufficiently then 25 to 50
gallons of the chloride of lime solution must be added.
These waters, which are called "thirds," are not yet quito spent, and are
mixed with 2 cwt. of pulp, which they assist in bleaching to such extent that
the pulp may be bleached by a bath similar to that first mentioned in two
hours, while sufficient activity will remain in the second waters that no
addition of chloride of lime will be necessary for the second bath for which
they are to be employed.
The inventor terms his bleaching bath a."milk" bath. Or the "milk "
bath may be made by dissolving two to four pounds of American ashes or
salts of soda in fifty gallons of boiling water; the ashes or soda take the
place of the soft soap; preference, however, is given to the bath first described,
as the ashes or soda decompose the chloride of lime too quickly.
For the bleaching of cotton cloths:-The cloths must be assorted into
different lots, according to the degrees of coarseness or fineness, as the duration
of the bleaching and the strength of the baths vary with the resistance of the
cloths to be bleached. The fabrics are boiled from 2 to 4 hours, according
to their texture; they are then washed and wrung, and placed in a bath of
seconds or second waters, before described, for two hours; the fabrics are
removed without being wrung, and are placed in warm water for 5 to 10
minutes, then removed; drained, and placed about an hour in the seconds
bath, after which they are washed in clear water, and then placed and boiled
in soapy water, containing 8 lbs. of soft soap to. 2 cwt. of fabric, for about 2
to 4 hours, according to their coarseness; then wash in warm water and
immerse in the milk bath, containing, chloride of lime and soft soap, marking
from 1 to 2 or 24° Baumé, according to the coarseness, for from 2 to 4 hours
or longer, until the bleaching has been effected;. lastly, thoroughly wash in
clear water. Each time the cotton goods are placed in the baths they should
be stirred about. For bleaching cotton threads the process is the same, but

page_text: the fresh milk bath" should not mark abovo 1 to 2°, and they should not
be kept in the bath so long as the-fabrics.
For bleaching cambrics and fine linens :-They are boiled in clear water.for
about four hours, and then washed and wrung, immersed for 3 hours in a bath
of "seconds," marking 2°, from which they are removed, and, without being
wrung, are thrown into warm water; removed from which in about a quarter of
an hour and again returned, for from 2 to 3 hours, to their bath of "seconds;"
next, washed in warm water and placed for about 6 hours in soap and water,
there being from 10 to 12 lbs. of soft soap for every 2 cwt. of cloth. After being
removed from the soapy water the cloths are to be washed in clear water, again
immersed for 2 hours in the "seconds" bath, which must be brought up to 2°
by the addition of fresh materials, and on being removed therefrom.the cloths
are washed in hot water, then wrung and dried. As soon as dry the cloths are
to be immersed in a fresh "milk "bath of 2° for about 2 to 3 hours, after,
which they are taken out, and without being wrung or pressed, are placed
in warm soap suds for an hour. The cloths.are removed and again immersed.
in the milk bath, which must be raised to 2°, and left there from two to
three hours; finally, the cloths are thoroughly washed and are ready for
being finished. In every bath the cambrics or fine linens must be well turned
over and stirred. If the previous operations have not produced the desired
degree of whiteness, the cloths may be submitted to another bath of soft:
soap and water and to another milk bath, marking 2° at the outside, for
from two to three hours, and if the bleach should not be then perfectly
satisfactory an acidulated bath of 1° of sulphuric acid may be resorted to.
For stouter linens the same processes may be followed as for cambrics, but
then the soft soap and milk bath last referred to are essentially necessary.
For linen threads the process is the same as for cambrics.
For the coarsest linen cloths:-They are first passed through clear water
and immersed from 18 to 24 hours in the "thirds." After the expiration of,
this time they are washed and rinced; then immersed from 20 to 24 hours
in a vessel two-thirds full of clear water, to which 14 to 16 lbs. of flour, of
barley, or oats, dissolved in from 8 to 10 gallons of water, for every 2 cwt. of
of cloth, are added with about 25 per cent. of second waters or "seconds,".
where they are allowed to ferment. Slight gentle heat is applied to the.
vessel for the first 5 or 6 hours. On removing the cloths they are washed.
and rinced, and then soaked for 6 hours in a "seconds" bath of 2°, next.
washed and put into soapy water, containing 14 to 16 lbs. of soft soap for every
2 cwt. of cloth, for 8 hours. On coming from the soapy water the cloths are.
washed in clear water, and subjected to a fresh "milk" bath of 3° for 4.

page_text: hours; after which, without being wrung, they are removed, and placed for an
hour in warm water; then the cloths are taken therefrom and replaced in
the "milk" bath for 3 hours; next washed and placed in soapy water, and
afterwards in a second fresh "milk bath" similar to the first, only at 21°, from
3 to 4 hours. Lastly, the cloths are washed and rinced in clear water, and
are ready for being finished.
For hempen cloths, a potash ley, rendered slightly caustic by water saturated
with lime, is substituted for the first soft soap ley, and the remainder of the
process is the same as for coarse linen cloths.
The various washings mentioned in the course of the above operations
must be thoroughly performed, especially the last, as all trace of acid should
be entirely removed, and for this object the proto-chloride of tin is recom-
mended. The method of using it is this:-On removing the linen, cotton,
or hempen cloth from its last bath it should be thrown in a vessel containing
clear water: then throw in 375 to 450 grains (troy) proto-chloride of tin
for every cwt. of cloth, and stir from 20 to 25 minutes, when the chloride
will be rendered inert and will be precipitated; lastly, the cloth is to be
thoroughly washed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 1st June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 S
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING," (communicated to me by Henry Bouchet, a
foreigner residing abroad) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Richard Archibald Broonan, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
.
This Invention applies to the bleaching of textile fabrics, cloths, cottons,
rag pulp, and vegetable fibres; and tho Invention consists in certain methods
of bleaching, by means of chloride of lime employed in combination with
certain agents, by means of which the material under treatment is preserved
from the injurious effects which the chloride of lime might otherwise
exercise.
To bleach pulp, say 2 cwt., place 20 lbs. of chloride of lime, to which are
added from 1 to 2 oz. of crystallized salts of soda, in 90 gallons of clear
river water. The chloride solution should indicato 4° Baumé if the chloride
of lime be from 90° to 100°. In a separate vessel dissolve from two to four
pounds of soft or other soap in 45 gallons of warm water. This solution is to
be poured upon the pulp, which must be first moistened with clear soft water;
the mixture must next be thoroughly stirred for about ten minutes, and then
the chloride of lime solution must be thrown in gradually, the pulp being kept
well stirred until about three-fourths of the lime solution has been thrown on
to it. It is mixed and agitated every ten minutes, and if at the expiration of
two hours, the bleaching is not proceeding sufficiently quickly, add one-half or
the whole of the remaining solution of chlorido of lime. After the materials
have been one or two hours in the bath, they may be placed in hot water for
about a quarter of an hour, and then replaced in the bath for one or two
hours. The lime solution should be prepared sometime before being used, so
that it may settle and be quite clear. The various stirrings may be effected
by either manual or mechanical power.
The waters which have been used as above described, and which are called
"seconds," are drawn off into another vessel, containing two cwt. of pulp with
little or no water mixed with it. The pulp must be agitated and stirred several
times during about two hours, and if in that time bleaching has not progressed
sufficiently, then ten to twenty gallons of the chloride of lime solution must
be added.

page_text: These waters, which are called "thirds," are not yet quite spent, and are
mixed with two cwts. of pulp, which they assist in bleaching to such extent
that the pulp may be bleached by a bath similar to that first mentioned in
two hours, while so much strength will remain in the second waters that no
addition of chloride of lime will be necessary for the second bath for which
they are to be employed.
The inventor terms his bleaching bath a milk bath. This milk bath may
be made by dissolving two to four lbs. of pearl ashes, or of 'crystallized sub-
carbonato of soda, or of sulphate of soda in fifty gallons of boiling water, the
ashes or subcarbonate take the place of the soap; or, equal parts of soap,
crystallized subcarbonate of soda, and sulphate of soda may be used. Pre-
ference, however, is given to the bath first described, as the ashes or carbonate
of soda decompose the chloride of lime too quickly.
The advantages of the foregoing process of bleaching the pulp over previous
processes may be enumerated as follows:-First, the operation may be effected
in an average period of from four to five hours; secondly, a single operation is
alone necessary; thirdly, the length of time expended on the washing of the
materials may be shortened; fourthly, at the cost of previous processes, the
desired whiteness may be produced in the materials without danger of injuring
the fibres of the same; fifthly, the pulp is rendered less harsh and is more
easily worked in the subsequent processes; sixthly, the manufacturer is enabled
to dispense with costly apparatus which is otherwise necessary.
For the bleaching of cotton cloths-The cloths must be assorted into
different lots according to the degrees of coarseness or fineness as the duration
of the bleaching and the strength of the baths vary with the resistance of the
cloths to be bleached. The fabrics are boiled from two to four hours according
to their texture, they are then washed and wrung and placed in a bath of the
seconds or second waters; before described, for two hours. They are next
removed without being wrung, and are placed in warm water for from 5 to 10
minutes, then removed, drained, and placed for about an hour in the seconds
bath, after which they are washed in clear water, and then placed and boiled
in soapy water, containing 8 lbs. of soft soap to two cwt. of fabric, for about
two to four hours, according to their coarseness. They are then washed in
warm water, and. immersed in the bath containing chloride of lime and soft
soap marking from 1° to 2° or 2° Baumé, according to the coarseness, for
from two to four hours or longer, until the bleaching has been effected.
Lastly, they are thoroughly washed in clear water. Each time the cotton
goods are placed in the baths they should bo stirred about. For bleaching
cotton threads the process in the same, but the fresh "milk bath" should not

page_text: mark above 14° to 2°, and they should not be kept in the bath so long as the
fabrics: For bleaching cambrics and fine linens, they are: boiled in clear
water for about four hours, and then washed and wrung, immersed for three
hours in a bath of "seconds" marking 2°, from which they are removed, and;
without being wrung, are thrown into warm water, removed in about a
quarter of an hour, and from which again returned, for. from two to three hours;
to their bath of "seconds;" next washed in warm water and placed for about
six hours in soap and water, there being from ten to twelve pounds of soft
soap for every 2 cwt. of cloth. After being removed from the soapy water
the cloths are to be washed in clear water;. again immersed for two hours in
the "seconds." bath, which must be brought up to 2. degrees by the addition
of fresh. materials; and on being removed therefrom the cloths are washed
in hot water, then wrung- and dried. As soon as dry the cloths are to. be
immersed in a fresh milk bath of 2° for about two to thrée hours; after which
they are taken out, and without being wrung or pressed, are placed in warm
soap suds; and turned about therein. for an hour.. The cloths are removed. and
again. immersed in. the milk bath, which must be raised to 24, and left there
from two to three hours; finally the cloths are thoroughly. washed, and.are
ready for being finished. In every bath the cambrics. or. fine linens must be
well turned over and stirred. If the previous operations have not produced the
desired degree of whiteness, the cloths may be submitted to another bath of
soft soap and water. and to another milk bath; marking 2° at the outside, for
from: two to three hours, and if the bleach should not be. then perfectly.
satisfactory, au. acidulated bath at 1° of sulphuric acid may be resorted to:
For stouter linens. the same processes are followed as for cambrics, but then
the soft soap and milk bath last referred to are essentially necessary... For
linen threads the process is: the same as for cambrics..
For the coarsest linen cloths:-They are first passed through clear water
and immersed from eighteen to twenty-four hours in the "thirds." After the
expiration of this time they are washed and rinsed; then immersed from twenty
to twenty-four hours. in a vessel two-thirds full of clear water, to which 14 to
16 pounds of flour of barley, or oats, dissolved in from eight to ten gallons of
water, for every 2 cwt. of cloth, are added with about twenty per cent. of second
waters or "seconds," where they are allowed to ferment; slight gentle heat is
applied to the vessel for the first five or six hours. On removing the cloths they
are washed and rinsed, and then soaked for six hours in a seconds bath of 2°,
next washed and put into soapy water, containing fourteen to sixteen lbs. of soft
soap, for every 2 cwt. of cloth, for eight hours. On coming from the soapy water
the cloths are washed in clear water, and subjected to a fresh "milk bath "of 3°

page_text: for four hours; after which, without being wrung, they are removed, and placed
for an hour in warm water; then the cloths are taken therefrom and replaced
in the "milk bath" for three hours; next washed and placed in soapy water,
and afterwards in a second fresh "milk" bath similar to the first, only at 24°,
from 3 to 4 hours. Lastly, the cloths are washed and rinsed in clear water,
and are ready for being finished.
For hempen cloths, a potash ley rendered slightly caustic by water saturated
with line is substituted for the first soft soap ley, and the remainder of the
process is the samo as for coarse linen cloths.
The various washings mentioned in the course of the above operations must
be thoroughly performed, especially the last, as all trace of acid should be
entirely removed, and for this object the use of proto-chloride of. tin is
recommended. The method of using it is this:-On removing the linen,
cotton, or hempen cloth from its last bath, it should be thrown in a vessel
containing clear water, then throw in 375 to 450 grains troy of proto-chloride
of tin for every cwt. of cloth, and stir from 20 to 25 minutes, when the
chloride will be rendered inert, and will be precipitated; lastly, the cloth is to
be thoroughly washed.
The Inventor reserves to himself the right of varying both the temperatures
and the proportions of the materials employed in the processes before
described.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the bleaching of
textile fabrics, cloths, cottons, rag pulp, and vegitable fibres, by means of
chloride of lime in combination with certain agents, by means of which the
material under treatment is preserved from the injurious offects which the
chloride of lime might otherwise exercise, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)