IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF BLEACHING AND DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mason, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE PROCESSES OF BLEACHING AND DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND
FABRICS."
Sealed the 3rd June 1853, and dated the 15th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mason
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th December 1852.
I, JOHN MASON, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF BLEACHING AND DYEING
TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in performing processes in bleaching and
dyeing within closed chambers, in which a vacuum or partial
vacuum has been formed. This may be done by an ordinary air
pump, or by other methods, and after the materials or fabrics
have been thus submitted to the necessary fluids, a pressure may
be put thereon by a force pump, or by other means, so as to effect
a more intimate combination.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Mason in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOIN MASON, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Mason, Her special
license that I, the said John Mason, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Mason, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF BLEACHING AND
DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Mason, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Mason, 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 statement, and accompanying
Drawings (that is to say):
The processes of bleaching and dyeing cotton, wool, silk, flax,
and other textile materials, embrace, as is well known, several
operations, as washing, or scouring, souring, chemicking, mor-

page_text: danting, &c., and for them various substances are used in the
fluid state. The object of my Invention is to bring such fluids
into more intimate and speedy connection with the goods than is
now practicable. For this purpose I operate upon them in closed
vessels, from which the air, or a portion thereof, is extracted by an
air pump or by other means, and after this, if necessary, I apply
hydraulic, atmospheric, or other pressure, in order to cause a more
effectual saturation. The form and construction of apparatus to
be employed may be varied to a considerable extent. I have,
however, to this my Specification appended an illustrative Drawing,
which will enable all competent persons to modify the apparatus
according to particular applications, or to suit convenience of
situations.
Figure 1, is a sectional view of a simple form of appara
tus suitable for saturating the textile materials or fabrics. The
vessel a, is supposed to be made of cast iron, but the material
will, of course, be adapted to the substances to be used. Between
the flanges of the vessel and the cover b, is a washer of india
rubber, or other material, which will make an air-tight joint. To
the sides of the vessel a, are attached pins c, which serve as centres
for the bosses of an arch d, through the top of which a screw e,
provided with a handle, passes. By turning this handle the screw
will be caused to force the cover b, downward, so as to make an air-
tight joint between its flange and that of the vessel a; but when it
is desired to gain access to the interior, the screw by being moved
back will allow the arch d, to be turned down on its centre pins c,
so as to admit of the cover being raised. On one side of the vessel
a, is a pipe e, and on the other a second pipe f, each of which is
provided with a cock. One of these (say e) is in communication with
an air pump, or other exhausting apparatus, and the other with a
vessel containing the fluid with which the goods are to be saturated.
At 9. there is a perforated false bottom, and at h, a pipe provided
with a cock for allowing the discharge of fluid. An ordinary
vacuum guage is placed in connection with the interior of the
vessel a; at i, for instance, the goods to be treated are placed upon

page_text: the false bottom g, the cover then applied and secured air tight,
and the pipes f, h, closed; the air pump, or other exhausting
apparatus is then caused to operate through the pipe e, by which
means the greater part of the air contained in the vessel a, and
within the goods may be abstracted. The cock of the pipe f, is
then to be opened, and the fluid admitted, and as there is but little
obstructing air, and that much attenuated, the saturation of the
goods will be effected. The cover may, if desired, be now removed,
and the fluid drawn off by the pipe 7, but if, according to the
experience of the operator, the goods are difficult of saturation,
the immersion may be continued, and the exhausting apparatus
brought into operation from time to time, in order to draw off the
air which will arise from the fluid, and thus permit the extrication
also of a small quantity which may linger within the goods. If
additional pressure be now required to that which arises from the
fluid entering a partial vacuum, the cock of the pipe e, may be
closed, and pump employed for forcing the fluid through the
pipe f, inté, e vessel a; or if the cistern containing the fluid be
placed sufficiently above it, the pressure may be obtained by the
descending column thereof; or instead of hydrostatic pressure,
steam or air may be employed, the latter for converting the air
pump (if such be used) into a force pump; but the use of these
agents must depend upon whether the fluid would be injured by
them. When this extra pressure is to be employed, its force will,
of course, be exerted against the cover b, the flange of which
should therefore be bolted to that of the vessel a, and an ordinary
pressure guage should be adapted. If it be intended to use the
exhausting apparatus after the fluid is admitted, the level thereof
must be kept below the pipe e; this may be done by using an
ordinary water guage, or by employing no more fluid than will rise
to the required height in the vessel a. The operation above
described may be conducted with a cold or hot fluid as desired; for
the latter it will merely be necessary to heat it by the naked fire,
internal steam pipes, steam jacket, or by other ordinary means.
Some descriptions of goods (cotton cops, for instance) would be

page_text: liable to float on the liquid. In order to prevent this, a grating may
be applied above them. I have hitherto spoken of withdrawing air
from the vessel a, before the fluid is admitted: Such course of
operation, however, is not indispensable; for in some cases the
material and the fluid intended to saturate it may be placed in the
vessel together, the lid and necessary cocks then closed, and the
exhausting apparatus brought into operation. · The saturation
being completed, the fluid may be withdrawn through the pipe h,
and the goods wrung or pressed out, or treated in any ordinary
manner.
Figure 2, represents in section an apparatus suitably arranged
for the processes above described, and also for causing a circu-
lation of the fluid through the goods, and may be used for
boiling or scouring with ley or other matters, as in the bleaching
kier, or for other purposes in which it is desirable that the fluids
should circulate. Certain parts of this apparatus being marked
with letters corresponding to Figure 1, no repetition of description
thereof will be necessary. To the pipe f, is connected a pipe j,
which terminates in a globular vessel k, to the lower part of which
is connected to a pipe terminating in the pipe h, before mentioned.
The globular vessel k, is partly surrounded by a jacket 7, to which
steam is admitted from any convenient source. The goods having
been placed in the vessel a, the cocks m, n, are to be opened, and
the air exhausted as before, and also from the chamber k; the
impregnating fluid is then to be admitted so as to fill the vessels a,
and k, and also the pipes which connect them. The cock f, being then
closed, steam is to be admitted to the jacket l, which, by heating
the fluid, will cause that contained in the pipe j, to be displaced by.
the colder and heavier column within the chamber a, and thus a
circulation may be kept up as long as desired. It will, of course,
be understood that. before admitting the fluid, the exhaust pipe e is
to be closed. In order to provide for the expansion of fluid and
for escape of vapour, a pipe o, is adapted, the cock of which will be
closed when the exhausting process is going on.
In the apparatus
just described, the method of causing the circulation is that for.
י

page_text: which, as a bleaching kier, a patent was granted to Richard Bealey,
of Radcliffe. If desired, however, the more ordinary central pipc
may be used.
Figure 3, represents in section an apparatus which may be
used according to my improvements, and subsequently in con-
junction with an ordinary winch for moving the goods through
the fluid; in the same manner stoviers or agitators may be used
when necessary. Through one side of the vessel a, there extends a
shaft passing through a stuffing box made air tight; the other end
of this shaft turns in a step within the vessel a, and it is provided
with winch p. The goods to be treated (say a number of pieces of
cloth stitched together as usual) are passed into the apparatus, and
their ends united over the winch so as to form an endless band as
is now practiced. The operations of exhausting and admitting the
fluid are now to be conducted as before, and when they are
accomplished, the winch may be turned from the outside of the
vessel, so as to cause the material to travel through the fluid.
This may be done while the cover remains on, and while a partial
vacuum is maintained; or after the saturation is is effected, the cover
b, may be removed, and the rotation of the winch carried on. In the
former case it is not necessary that the impregnating fluid should
be above the level of the top of the winch, but in the latter that
condition must be observed. Instead of the precise arrangement
above described, a number of pieces of goods may be saturated,
and then passed over a winch subsequently applied to the top of
the vessel a. If it be desired to introduce stirrers or agitators,
motion may be communicated thereto from the shaft of the winch;
and if heat be required, it may be communicated to the fluid by
any ordinary method.
I have in the foregoing description alluded generally to satura-
tion during bleaching and dyeing. It is not necessary, how-
ever, that the materials should be treated according to my Inven-
tion in all divisions of the said processes, as ordinary methods
may, if desired, be adopted for some of them, or be used to
continue the action already began by my improvement; for when

page_text: the obstruction afforded by the presence of air is removed, the
impregnation and the action of the fluid may be continued with
comparative facility. I also desire it to be understood that I do not
intent to confine myself to the precise methods mentioned of
carrying out my Invention, or to the particular apparatus described;
that which I claim as secured to me being the withdrawal of air by
means of an air pump, or other exhausting apparatus, from vessels
in which cotton, silk, wool, flax, and other textile materials and
fabrics, are placed during the several operations of bleaching and
dyeing, or any portion thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mason, have hereunto set
JOHN MASON. (L.S.)