AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIJAH
SLACK, of Orchard Street, in the Burgh of Renfrew, North Britain, Gun
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of June, in
the twelfth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Elijah Slack, Her especial licence, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Elijah Slack, my exors, adññors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Elijah Slack, my exors, adñññors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
within the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also
within all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE
USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, requiring that I, the said Elijah Slack, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, shall particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Elijah Slack, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained in
and by this present Instrument in writing as follows, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in treating materials to be used in the
manufacture or production of textile fabrics, in order effectually to remove the
resinous or gummy matter found in such materials in their raw or unmanu-
factured state, and to separate the ligneous or woody portions from the more
fibrous parts of the said materials in a more perfect manner than has been
hitherto effected by any of the methods or processes now in use. The
materials to which my Invention is applicable are fibrous plants and grasses,
some of which are well known, as flax, hemp, and jute, and other plants
and grasses of a like nature, or appertaining to the same family, from which
several plants or grasses, when subjected to the treatment herein-after
described, a finer, more pliable, ductile and silky fibre is produced, and the
colouring or extraneous matter is removed, leaving a clear and very valuable
fibre for the purposes of spinning and manufacture. But the advantages of
my said Invention are greatest when applied in the preparation of the coarser
and originally less valuable classes of materials, either in a raw or partially
manufactured state, some of which are now imported into this country in the
form of sheets, bags, or packages for packing American and other cotton, sago,
rice, sugar, and other produce.
My said Invention is also applicable to the preparation of Kentucky hemp,
Russian hemp, and Italian hemp and grass, and China grass. The material to
be treated according to my Invention is placed in a vessel containing water
heated to from eighty degrees to one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahren-
heit, for the purpose of assisting in the separation of dirt or foreign matters
from the fibres. This steeping action is continued for several hours, six or
seven hours being generally sufficient. The water is then drawn off, leaving
the material to be well drained from moisture. The material is then to be
immersed and boiled for a period of from five to seven hours in a solution of
lime, the quantity of lime used being in the proportion of from one to two and
a half pounds weight to every one hundred pounds weight of material to be
treated. The lime solution is well mixed, so as to prevent what is technically
termed "sludgeing," and it is used in sufficient quantity to cover the material
upon which it is acting; or, in place of lime, a caustic or other alkaline solution,
of a strength equal to from one degree to three degrees of Twaddell's hydrometer,

page_text: After
may be employed. The material is immersed in this solution, which is then
brought to the boiling point, and kept in a state of ebullition for from five to
seven hours, as may be deemed advisable. The solution is then drawn off, and
the material is removed and washed by hand or by machinery, as may bo
found convenient; or it may be washed in the alkali vessel by passing a
stream of water through it, so as to carry off all extraneous matter.
treatment with lime or caustic alkali, as herein-before described, the effect
of which treatment is to separate or subdivide the fibres and remove the
gummy matter, the material is to be immersed in a solution of chloride of
lime as a bleaching and decolorizing agent, this solution being of such strength
that from one-half to two measures of it will change to a yellow colour one
measure of the blue test liquor, well known and used by bleachers, and which
test liquor is usually composed of one part of indigo and seven parts of con-
centrated sulphuric acid, with the addition of water, in the proportion of from
five hundred to seven hundred parts of water to one of indigo. The material
is steeped in this solution of chloride of lime for several hours, from five to
seven hours being generally sufficient for the purpose; it is then passed into
a solution of sulphuric or muriatic acid, of from one to three degrees of
Twaddell's hydrometer in strength. In this solution it is to be steeped for a
period of from five to seven hours, and when removed therefrom it is to bo
well washed. The whole of these processes from the commencement are to
be repeated (if necessary) until the mass has been thoroughly and equally
operated upon, or until the necessary degree of fineness of fibre has been
obtained. Other acidulous solutions may be used in the last-mentioned
process in place of sulphuric or muriatic acid, but these two acids are to be
preferred. Two or three repetitions of the whole of the herein-before
mentioned processes will generally be found sufficient to prepare the material,
and bring the fibre to the required state of fineness. At this stage, after the
material has attained the degree of fineness required, it is to be boiled for four
or five hours, more or less, as may be deemed advisable, according to the
ductile and silky effect produced in an oleaginous solution, compounded in the
proportions of two gallons of gallipoli, or other suitable vegetable oil, added
to one gallon of caustic potash, of a strength of fifteen degrees of Twaddell's
hydrometer, two quarts of this mixture being added to every hundred pounds
of material; or, instead of this composition, a solution of black or other
animal or vegetable soap, using from five to six pounds weight of soap to every
hundred pounds weight of material, may be employed. After this treatment
the material may be washed or not, as may be deemed advisable, and dried as
the final process. The object of the treatment with an oleaginous solution is
4

page_text: to improve the flexibility and silkiness of the fibre, which may have been
affected by the removal of the material fluid matter of the plant in the
carlier processes. Although I have herein mentioned that the material to be
treated is to be removed from one vessel to another in passing through the
several branches of the process, I may remark, that if found advisable the
whole of the operations may be performed in one vessel. I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details of the pro-
resses above described, as it will be evident to practical chemists and manufac-
turers that some of the results herein-before mentioned may be attained by
other well-known means and agents; but what I do claim as my Invention is,
the preparation of materials, and particularly such materials as sheets, bags,
and packing materials, to be used in the manufacture of textile fabrics, by
the treatment and processes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elijah Slack, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-nine.
ELIJAH (L.S.) SLACK.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
WILLIAM JOHNSON, C.E., Glasgow.
JOHN JOHNSON, Sol", Glasgow.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Elijah Slack 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.
Enrolled the First day of December, in the year of our Lord Oue thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-nine.