IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING, SCOURING, OR BLEACHING SILK, WOOLLEN, COTTON, AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS, AND IN AGEING FARRICS AND YARNS WHEN PRINTED
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, I, JOHN
THON, of Ardwick, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Calico
Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the
twelfth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said John
Thom, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, solo
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Thom, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said John Thom, my exors, adñors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the
Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING, SCOURING, OR BLEACHING SILK, WOOLLEN,
COTTON, AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS, AND IN AGEING FARRICS AND
YARNS WHEN PRINTED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that if I, the said John Thom, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months, next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,

page_text: and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Thom, 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 Instrument in writing, reference being
had to the two Sheets of Drawings thereunto annexed (that is to say) :-
:-
In the cleansing, scouring, or bleaching of silk, woollen, cotton, and other
woven fabrics and yarns, it has been the practice, after the grosser impurities
have been removed, either to suspend them in a close room or chamber
containing sulphurous acid gas, or to immerse them in or pass them through
a liquid solution such as of chlorine or a liquid solution of some combination
of an agent, such as chlorine combined with line, by which the operation
of cleansing, scouring, or bleaching is promoted. And in the ageing. of
goods it has been the practise to hang them on rails or tenter. hooks in a
room or chamber, and exposed to the air.
Now, my Invention relates to an improved method of effecting these objects,
and consists in moving the goods through or in the bleaching agent in the
state of gas by mechanical means, whereby I am enabled to cleanse, scour,
or bleach the goods in a superior manner than according to the ordinary
practice...
"
Secondly, my Invention consists in passing the goods through a chamber.
containing aqueous vapour for the purpose of ageing. The arrangements
which I employ in carrying out my Invention are represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section through the appa-
ratus for cleansing, scouring, or bleaching woven fabrics or yarns; Figure 2
is a plan view of the same, taken in section through the line Y, Z, on
Figuro 1; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the gas chamber, and of the furnace
in which the sulphur is burnt; and Figure 4 is a transverse sectional elevation
through the line W, X, on Figure 1. In Sheet 2, Figure 5. is a sectional
elevation of the apparatus for ageing printed woven fabrics and yarns
Figure 6 is a transverse section through the line c, d, on Figure 5; and
Figure 7 is a sectional plan view of "the apparatus taken through the line
on Figure 5. In Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereto annexed, J, J, J, J, is
brick box or chamber in which are two rows of wooden rollers B, B, each
Cb,
b

page_text: one of the lower rollers lying opposite to the space between two of the upper
rollers, there being one more roller in the upper than in the lower row, which
lower row is about four inches above the floor or bottom of the chamber.
These rollers revolve in bearings in wooden spars or framework. The roof of
the chamber K, K', and the waste pipe G leading the chimney Q, is of wood,
lead, or other suitable material capable of resisting the action of the gas, and
furnished with.á valve or damper P for regulating the draft. C, C, are rails
or spars to, make the picces of fabric run steady, and which if the rollers
work truly may be dispensed with; E, E, is a floor of fire tiles or fire bricks
pierced with holes about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and about one inch
apart, as seen in the ground plan, Figure 2; D, D, are windows to allow
the process to be watched. These windows serve also as manholes when
required. Outside". the. chamber are supports A', A'; for the roll of pieces A
before passing through the chamber; and A2, A3, are supports for the roll of
picces A which have passed through the chamber. In Figure 2, G', G', are
the driving wheels; H', the main shaft; and F, a handle or rod for starting or
stopping the machine. The driving apparatus is of ordinary construction,
and. may. work by hand with a crank handle or otherwise. On one side of
the chamber is a small furnace n, or suitable apparatus for making the
sulphurous acid gas, which I make by igniting about half a pound of sulphur
Con the bed M of the furnace. The bed M of this furnace is of fire brick or
fire clay, and the roof or dome N of cast iron. The door is seldom
removed, but combustion may be regulated by a small slit closed more or
less by a valve. The communication from the generating furnace to the
chamber should, when sulphurous acid gas is employed, be gently inclined,
say one and a half inches in three feet, so as to allow the sulphur, when it
melts, to spread itself. The furnace described is more particularly for sul-
phurous acid gas. When chlorine is employed, the ordinary methods of
making chlorine which are well known in the trade are to be used. The
chlorine gas made in a lead retort from muriatic acid and black oxide of
manganese, and heated by steam, passes from the retort or still into the space
H, and, into the box or chamber through the holes in the tile floor. I is a
common stove to warm the apartment in which the apparatus is, and to create
a draft in the. flue Q.and pipe. G.
+
The operation of passing the fabrics through the gas is as follows:-The
chamber being filled with gas, a guide cord, previously passed through the appa-
ratus and attached to the. cloth, draws the cloth through the slit K, passing
it over and under the rollers B, B, and out at the slit L, when it is wound
on the roller A³, from whence it is taken to the usual finishing operations.

page_text: The apparatus and arrangements which I employ for ageing fabrics are
represented in the Figures 5, 6, and 7, of Sheet 2 of the Drawings hereto
annnexed. In Fig. 5, G, G, is a flag cistern filled with water, to the level E,
at which height is a pipe and stopcock to run off the surplus water; the water
is heated by steam from a pipe C, or other suitable means. The excess of
steam from the chamber is passed off by a pipe C¹ through the roof D; F
are two rows of shelves or spars placed under the rollers B, the low ones
being wider than the space between the upper ones, so as to prevent the
water below from being spirted on the goods. Above this cistern is a large
wooden box or chamber H, in which are placed two rows of rollers B, B.
The sides of the chamber are vertical, but the roof is at an angle of about
forty-five degrees, so that the condensed steam may trickle along the under side
and be received in a gutter D¹ and conveyed away, and thereby prevented
from falling on the goods. In the sides of the chamber at the upper part
are two slits for the ingress and egress of goods to be operated upon, and
immediately above these slits are rollers K, K, of greater diameter than the
thickness of the side of the chamber, so as to extend inwards and outwards
over the side of the box, and prevent drops of condensed vapour falling on the
goods. These rollers are covered with flannel or other absorbent of moisture,
and driven from the end of one of the other rollers, as shewn at M, M. The
goods being placed on the stool L, and the water heated to about one hundred
and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, vapour arises from the surface of the water
in the cistern, and, passing between the shelves or spars F, fills the chamber.
The goods to be aged are passed through the chamber in a similar manner to
that already described with reference to the first part of the Invention, and
wound on to a roller at A' or plaited down. The goods so operated on will
be found to contain nearly an ounce of moisture for every pound of dry fabric.
The goods, after being so treated, may be raised or dyed immediately, or they
may be hung up in the usual manner on rails or tenter hooks previous to
being raised or dyed.
It will be obvious, that various alterations may be made in the details of
the arrangements herein-before described for the purpose of subjecting the
fabrics to the action of gas or of vapour of water. I do not therefore confine
myself to the details, nor do I claim the parts of the mechanical apparatus
shewn and described. But what I claim is,-
First, the cleansing, scouring, or bleaching goods by passing or moving them
through or in a gas contained in a suitable chamber.
Secondly, I claim the ageing of goods by moving or passing them through
a chamber containing aqueous vapour, as above described.

page_text: And this my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to
be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise,
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, .the said John Thom, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped), by the within-
named John Thom, in the pre-
sence of
JOHN (L.S.) THOM.
Manchester.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid John Thom came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.