Year: 1886

page_text: I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declaro the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to bring fur, wool, hair or other feltable animal
fibre to a condition in which it will felt more easily and quickly than heretofore,
and to this end it consists in subjecting such fibres to the action of sulphurous
oxide gas or, as it is more commonly termed, sulphurous acid, before subjecting
them to the felting process, or before the completion of the said process.
The process of treatment with sulphurous acid may be performed upon the fibres
by exposing them in a chamber of suitable capacity to sulphurous acid generated
in said chamber or introduced thereinto in any suitable manner; but the simplest
method, and that which I have successfully used, is to place the fibres in a
chamber in which sulphur is burned.
The fur, wool or hair may be subject to the action of the sulphurous acid either
while on the skin or after having been cut from the skin; or, in the employment
of the invention in the manufacture of felt hats, the hat-bodies, after having been
"formed," but before being subjected to the felting operations, may be exposed to
the action of the sulphurous acid, and this treatment of the fibres after they have
been formed into hat-bodies is a special feature of my invention.
In the treatment of the fur, wool or hair while on the skin, the skins are hung
up in the chamber in which they are exposed to sulphurous acid gas; but, in treating
the fibre when in the form of hat-bodies, the bodies, after having been formed are
exposed to the action of the gas while hung up in the said chamber. In treating
the fibre after it has been cut from the skin it may be exposed to the action of the
gas in the chamber in baskets or on perforated shelves or in any suitable perforated
or reticulated receptacle, in which it may be thoroughly permeated by the gas. In
all cases however I prefer to moisten the fibre with water before subjecting it to
treatment with the gas.

page_text: After treatment by my process the manufacture of the fibre into the felted
goods, or the felting of the formed goods which have been subjected to such
treatment may be proceeded with in the usual way.
My process produces on fur a similar effect to that known in the trade as
"carroting" which is employed to increase or assist in the developement of the
felting property.
I am aware that wool and other animal fibres and some vegetable substances
have commonly been treated by exposure to the action of sulphurous fumes and
gas for the purpose of bleaching them long previous to my invention; but I am
unaware that animal fibres have ever been treated with such fumes or gas pre-
paratory to felting them, and I believe that I am the first to make the discovery
of that quality of sulphurous gases upon which this invention is based, viz, the
quality of assisting the development of the felting property of the fibres, and
I also believe fibrous materials intended for the manufacture of felted goods have
never been subjected to treatment with sulphurous gases while in such condition
as to enable that quality to be utilized.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is,
First. The process of assisting the development of the felting property of
animal fibres or increasing that property, consisting in subjecting such fibres-
preparatory to felting-to the action of sulphurous oxide gas or sulphurous acid,
substantially as hereinbefore.described.
Second. The process of assisting the development of the felting property of
animal fibre in hat-bodies or increasing such property, consisting in subjecting the
bat-bodies after they have been formed, but before the felting is performed or
completed, to the action of sulphurous oxide gas or sulphurous acid, substantially
as herein before described.