IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND DYEING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Wilkinson, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Yarn Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING
AND DYEING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 10th June 1879, and dated the 20th December 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Wilkinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1878.
FREDERICK WILKINSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Yarn Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND DYEING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH,'
"
My Invention consists in performing the bleaching and dyeing processes of cotton
and other fibrous materials while they are in those conditions commonly known as
the sliver or lap.
In carrying out my Invention, and supposing the material to be passing from the
carding engine or equivalent machine in the form of a "sliver," I cause it to pass
by means of rollers through a vessel containing a bleaching agent, by which means
it becomes saturated with the said agent, and is allowed to remain in another vessel
for the requisite period. After this it is passed by other rollers through a washing
apparatus, and then, if required, through an acid solution with subsequent washing,
to be finally dried upon steam cylinders or other such usual drying apparatus.
Similar operations are adopted if the material be in a "lap," and the said sliver or
lap may proceed from any machine which is included in what are called the pre-
paration processes, as, for instance, the combing or drawing processes. For dyeing
the material the operations are the same, with the exception of the substitution of
mordaunts, dye liquors, and other such ordinary treatments in place of bleaching
agents.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th June
1879.
FREDERICK WILKINSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Yarn Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND DYEING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
My Invention refers to performing the bleaching and dyeing processes of cotton
and other fibrous materials while they are in those conditions commonly known as
the sliver or lap, and in such manner that the successive treatments necessary for
the said operations are performed by the continuous travelling of the said slivers or
laps in their unaltered condition, that is, as they come from the carding engine or
other preparation machine, and I shall in the first place illustrate this by supposing
that it is desired to bleach cotton which has been deposited in cans from the carding
engine in the form of slivers in the well known manner, and it will be convenient
to consider in the first place (merely for illustration) that one strand or sliver only
is being operated upon, reserving what really takes place in practice. I now refer
to the accompanying Drawing, which represents one form of apparatus I employ.
At a, Fig. 1, is a vat containing any of the usual bleaching liquors, and at b are
pairs of rollers situate above the said vat, supported in any convenient manner, and
caused to revolve by a line shaft by any usual means. Beneath this series of rollers
are other single rollers c-immersed in the bleaching liquid, not driven, but simply
acting as guide rollers, although they might be driven in any ordinary manner by
the adoption of suitable materials for preventing chemical action on the axes. At d
is a skip or other receptacle, into which the sliver is conveyed and deposited by the
last pair of rollers 6'. The operation of this part of the process is that the sliver
drawn from the can A is passed from the first pair of rollers b into the bleaching
liquor, and is then carried up by the second pair 62, which compress it, and by the
squeezing action cause the said liquor to permeate the fibres, the superfluous quantity
falling back into the trough a, and this process goes on until the sliver is deposited
in the skip or other receptacle d. Here it may be desirable to leave it for a certain
time in order to complete the bleaching action, after which it is removed to the
situation shewn at e, and is drawn by the first of a series of rollers f situate above
a tank g, over which there is placed another tank g*, into which water is delivered
at will through a pipe h. This second tank is provided at its bottom with a number
of perforations, and through these the water flows, impinging upon the fibres and
washing out the bleaching liquor, the waste flowing out through a pipe h*, and the
same squeezing action takes place as that above described. After this the bleached
and washed sliver is conducted by a guide roller i into a drying chamber k, where
it passes over rollers driven in any suitable manner, the said chamber being heated
by steam pipes, hot air, or by any other means well known in drying textile or
other materials; or in place of the hot chamber the sliver may pass over steam
heated cylinders, as is well known as applied to such purposes. The sliver is thus
dried, and is then conducted by rollers m, n, to be formed into a lap, as at o, such
lapping being performed in the well known manner when such laps are required;
or it may be delivered into any suitable receptacle, and this concludes the operation
of bleaching.
The operations so far have referred to the bleaching of one sliver only, but in
practice it is not of course the method adopted. It is well known that the can, as
at A, may contain two or more slivers, and à number of these cans are placed at
the end of the trough a, so that there will be a large number of slivers (say, seventy
or eighty) passing through the rollers b at the same time, and the same remark
applies to the washing and dyeing processes. It has been above observed that the
skip or other receptacle d is removed for a time to allow the bleaching action to be
completed, and if that plan be adopted experience will readily show what the period

page_text: should be. By another arrangement however the skips may be dispensed with by
causing the slivers to pass on to a travelling surface which shall lead them to the
washing trough, and in order to save space and afford sufficient time the said slivers
may be laid in folds or pleats by any apparatus commonly employed for such
purposes. In some cases it may be desirable to employ an acid bath.' When this
is required it is simply necessary to place a trough and rollers, like those at a, b,
between the bleaching and washing troughs. Instead of the drying apparatus
shewn the slivers may pass over ordinary steam heated cylinders.
In applying my Invention to dyeing, the proceedings may be precisely the same
as those described in reference to the Drawing, with the exception of substituting a
dye liquor in the trough a; but when the slivers have to pass through two or more
liquors the trough a may be divided by two or more partitions r, as shewn at
Fig. 2, the slivers being conducted from one to another by the rollers b, c, to be
subsequently washed and dried.
In place of using a trough with partitions two or more troughs may be used
containing different dyeing liquors, through which the slivers consecutively pass. In
some dyeing, that of indigo for instance, it may be desirable to expose the slivers
to the air for an extended time between each immersion. When this is the case the
alivers may be conducted upward over another series of rollers 8, as shewn in Fig. 3,
the exposure to air taking place after they have passed the squeezing roller.
It will of course be understood that the rollers and other parts which are in
contact with chemical solutions must be constructed of materials which will not be
affected by their action. I have above spoken of the treatment of slivers, but the
process is just the same when the material is in the form of a lap from the scutcher,
and the said material may come from the carding engine, as mentioned, or from the
combing or other similar machine.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that I
claim as reserved to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent, performing
the processes of bleaching and dyeing cotton and other fibrous materials by passing
slivers or laps thereof as continuous strands through the necessary liquors by the
aid of rollers and troughs, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Wilkinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
FRED. WILKINSON. (L.S.)