IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLD MANU- FACTURED FABRICS, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN USEFUL FIBROUS PRODUCTS THERE- FROM
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Dirk Veerkamp and Charles Frederic Augustus Van
Trigt, of 11, Mercers Terrace, Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF OLD MANU-
FACTURED FABRICS, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN USEFUL FIBROUS PRODUCTS THERE-
FROM."
Sealed the 22nd May 1863, and dated the 27th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Dirk Veerkamp and
Charles Frederic Augustus Van Trigt at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th November 1862.
We, DIRK VEERKAMP and CHARLES FREDERIC AUGUSTUS VAN TRIGT, of 11,
Mercers Terrace, Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
OLD MANUFACTURED FABRICS, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN USEFUL FIBROUS PRODUCTS
THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in treating old manufactured
fibrous fabrics, such as ropes, canvass, sails, sacks, matting, and other old
fabrics, in order to separate their fibres and clean and bleach or dye them in
order to obtain useful fibres therefrom suitable for remanufacture. We first

page_text: take the old rope or other fabric to be treated, and partly separate the same by
untwisting or tearing it asunder.
In operating upon a rope, it may be untwisted by the well-known machine
used in the manufacture of rope. It is then to be cut into the requisite lengths.
It is afterwards to be boiled in water mixed with soda, such as the carbonate, or
with other suitable alkali, and subjected to the action of a beater or agitator
descending into the boiler & worked vertically by means of a crank or other
movement, whereby the tar, pitch, or other foreign matters will be dissolved
out, and the first stage of the cleanliness will be accomplished. The fibrous
fabric is then to be boiled a second time in another boiler containing water
and soda or other alkali, whereby it becomes more completely purified, and
adopts a greater degree of softness, and acquires a condition suitable for
bleaching. We then rinse the fibres in clean water, after which we remove
them, and take out nearly all the moisture by means of any suitable drying
machine, such as the centrifugal apparatus in ordinary use.
The fibres being now in a separated state, and free from all impurities, may
be bleached by placing them in tubs of water mixed with any convenient
quantity of chloride of lime, and when they have acquired the requisite white
appearance, they are to be rinsed in soap and water, with or without the
addition of a small quantity of potash, after which the fibres are to be partly
dried by aid of the drying machine, and then completely dried by being
subjected to the action of dry or warm air. The fibres are then in a state
ready to be combed or carded, whereby they acquire a silky appearance, and
be brought to any degree of softness, whiteness, and equality of texture.
Thé liquids contained in the boilers may serve to treat several different quantities
of old material without the necessity of renewing their solutions, thus lessening
the expenses of working.
may
In lieu of bleaching the fibres they may be dyed with any darker color in
readiness to be remanufactured.