GREAT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF DYING AND PRINTING VARIOUS COLOURS, SO AS TO FIX OR MAKE THE SAME PERMANENT OR FAST ON COTTONS, LINENS, SILKS, MOHAIR, WORSTED AND WOOLLENS, STRAW, CHIP, AND LEGHORN
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FRITH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of
October now last past, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Frith, my exors, admors, and assigns,
and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy
or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Robert Frith,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter for the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"GREAT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF DYING AND PRINTING VARIOUS COLOURS,
SO AS TO FIX OR MAKE THE SAME PERMANENT OR FAST ON COTTONS, LINENS,
SILKS, MOHAIR, WORSTED AND WOOLLENS, STRAW, CHIP, AND LEGHORN;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Robert
Frith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Frith, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said. Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the following
description thereof :-
The following preparations or mixtures of metal, solutions, and mordant,
being the materials used in my Invention or improvement in the dying and
printing of the various colours-herein-after mentioned; and as the said
preparations or mixtures will be continually referred to in the description of
such dying and printing, I have for the purpose of better explaining my said
Invention or improvement attached to each preparation or mixture the figures
set opposite thereto.
No. 1.-I take muriatic acid and add No. 1 metals to it for four or five days,
then give it as much of No. 2 metal as it will take during four or five days,
I then give it as much copper and Roman vitriol as it will take during the
same period.
To make Solution No. 2.-I take of nitric acid one gallon, of sal ammoniac
four ounces, and put it to the acid; then give it metal No. 2 till it begins to
thicken, and let it stand four or five days before it is fit for use.
To make Solution No. 3.--I take nitric acid and give it metal No. 1, and
copper turnings or Roman-vitriol alternately, till it begins to thicken, and let
it stand four or five days before fit for use.
To make Solution No. 4.-I take nitric acid and give it No. 1 metal and
iron or sulphate of iron alternately till it begins to thicken, and let it stand
four or five days before it is fit for use.
TO MAKE A MORDANT FROM THE AFORESAID SOLUTIONS.
No. 5. I take four parts of No. 2, one part of No. 3, and two parts
of No. 1, and mix them together; then add one part of water to four parts
of the mixture. Next I add one pint of strong liquor from shumack, galls,
marobilan, or valonia, and add allum after the rate of four ounces to one gallon. 3
The following descriptions relate to the dying of the respective colours upon
the several materials herein-after set forth by means of the before-described

page_text: preparations, and which are referred to by the several figures affixed thereto
in the margin.
".
Yellow and straw. For yellow and straw colours on cotton or silk, I pass
the goods through the said mordant No. 5, then wash off and raise the colour
with welds, or welds and bark, or welds and fustic; then I wash off and dry
them, put them through strong red liquor, or a solution made from two pounds of
alum and one pound of sugar: of. lead to one gallon of water fermented with
two ounces of pearl ashes, then wash off and raise again with welds, or welds
and bark, or welds and fustic; then wash and dry the goods.
Orange and red.-For orange and red I use the same process as for straw
and yellow till I come to the second raising, for which purpose I use welds and
madder, root or crop madder, fustic and madder root or crop madder, then
wash off and dry; but for the red I use more of the madder root or crop
madder than for the orange, according to the shade wanted:
Green. For green on cotton and silk, I dye the goods indigo blue, light,
dark, or middle, according to the shade of green wanted; and use the same.
process as for yellow and straw.
:
Pink. For pink on cotton or silk, I pass the goods through the mordant
No. 5, then wash off and raise with strong galls, shumack, marobilan, or
valonia liquor; then wash off. and dry; then, pass them through the inordant
No. 5; then wash off and raise with cochineal.
Scarlet or red.-For red on cotton or scarlet on silk, I pass the goods
through the mordant No. 5, then wash off. and raise with strong galls,
shumack, marobilan, or valonia liquor; then wash off and dry; then pass them
through the mordant No. 5, and wash off;. then raise with strong gall, shumack,
marobilan, or valonia liquor; then pass them through the mordant 'the third.
time; then wash off and raise with cochineal.
:
Scarlet on cotton.-For scarlet on cotton, I pass the goods through the
same process as for red, with the addition of raising them one time more and
passing them through the mordant once more; then wash off and raise with
cochineal as before.
Black on cotton yarn.--For black on cotton yarn: to one gallon iron of
liquor I add two ounces of verdigris and boil it; then dye the yarn a middle-
indigo blue; then wash off and dry; then pass it through shumack, .gall, or
valonia liquor; then through mordant No. 5; then wash it well off; then raise
with gall, shumack, or valonia liquor, then wash and dry; then pass it through
the before-mentioned iron liquor mixed with an equal quantity of water; then.
dry and wash off, dry again, and raise with madder and a little gall liquor, dry
again, wash off and pass it through the diluted iron liquor onec more; then
raise again as before.
.::

page_text: Olive and drab on cotton.--For olive and drab on cotton yarn and cloth, I
pass the goods through mordant No. 5, and raise with shumack, gall, or
valonia liquor, then wash and dry; then pass it through the diluted iron liquor
before mentioned for black. This is proper for the olive, but the, drab must
have a weaker solution of the iron liquor, videlicit, six waters to one of iron
liquor; then wash and dry; then raise with welds or a little madder and gall.
Crimson, brown, and purple.-For crimson, brown, and purple on cotton or.
silk, I pass the goods through mordant No. 5, and wash off, then raise with a
weak liquor from gall, shumack, marobilan, or valonia; then wash off and dry;
then pass it through a mixture of red liquor and iron liquor consisting of two
parts of red to one of iron; and for dark purple add six waters to one of this
mixture; and for the light shade I take fifty waters to one of this mixture;
then
pass the goods through it, dry and wash them off; then raise with cochineal
or madder or cochineal and madder.
Crimson, garnet. For crimson and garnet, I take more of the red liquor
and less of the iron liquor than before, videlicit, one pint. of the red to one
gallon of the iron; then raise with cochineal or madder, or both together;
then wash off.
Brown. For brown I use the same process as for crimson, except in the
proportions of red and iron liqnor, which is one quart of red liquor to one
gallon of iron liquor. For woollen and mohair I use the same process as
before described for the various colours of silk.
For dying yellow on chip, straw, or leghorn. I mix four parts of solution
No. 2 with one part of solution No. 3, then steep the chip, straw, or leghorn in
the said mixture during two hours; then wash well off; then raise in welds, or
welds and American bark, or welds and fustic; then wash off and dry.
The following descriptions relate to the printing on cotton of the respective
colours herein-after set forth by means of the before described preparations,
and which are also referred to by the said several figures set opposite
thereto in the margin.
1
Purple. For purple, I take solution No. 1, then boil logwood chips in
water till it stands six by Rochetta's hydrometer, then boil four ounces of
cochineal in one gallon of water till it is reduced, one half, then put half pound
of madder to one gallon of water, add two ounces of ground galls, and let it
stand four or five days; then take five quarts of the logwood liquor, one quart
of the cochineal liquor, and one quart of the madder and gall liquor. Put
them together and thicken with starch or flour, or gum tragacanth. When I.
thicken with starch I use four pounds to one gallon of this mixture; when.
with gum tragacanth, I add of it to the mixture till it is thick enough to work,.
then I take six parts of No. 1 solution, one part of No. 2 solution, and one 4

page_text: of No. 3 solution, and mix them together, adding alum after the rate of one
ounce to one gallon; then to one gallon of the thickened colour I add one
quart of the said mixture of solutions. When printed and ready for raising
I use very weak oil of vitriol and water, then wash off.
Crimson. For printing crimson on cotton, I put two pounds of sacchara
saturna, four pounds of alum, six ounces of cream of tartar, and four ounces of
ground galls to one gallon of water, and stir them well for two days, then
ferment with two ounces of pearl ashes, and stir them at times during twenty-
four hours; then I thicken the colour with gum senegal, and to one gallon of
it I add half a pint of No. 2 solution; then I print it, and after three or four
days dung and clean the goods very well; then I raise them in a decoction
of cochineal and madder after the rate of four ounces of each to one piece of
cloth, twenty-eight yards long; then clear with a little bran not too strong nor
too long in operation.
Chemical red. To print chemical red on cotton, woollen, or silk goods, I
take half a gallon of solution No. 2, and one quart of solution No. 3, and
one pint of solution No. 4, and mix them together; then I add one pound of
madder and two ounces of ground galls, and stir them well repeatedly during
twenty-four hours; then take the clear liquor from them, and put to it as much
cochineal as it will dissolve during twenty-four hours, often stirring it; then I
take the clear liquor off and thicken it with gum tragacanth till it is fit for use.
When it has been printed forty-eight hours, wash off in clear water, except
the woollen, which I steam two hours without washing.
Chemical yellow. To print chemical yellow on cotton cloth, I boil
American bark, Turkey yellow berrys or French berries, together or seperate,
in water till it stands No. 4 by Rochetta's hydrometer; then thicken one
gallon of the above decoction with gum tragacanth, starch, or flour, and add
to it one pint of No. 1 solution; then print the cloth and dry it with a very
moderate heat for twenty-four hours, then rince off in water.
Chemical green. To print chemical green on cotton cloth, I take solution
No. 1, and add fine ground Prussian blue till it becomes well thickened, and
stir it well during three weeks; then I take one part of the aforesaid colour,
which I use for the chemical yellow, to one part of the above blue, and mix
them together; then I thicken with gum tragacanth till fit for use; then
print the cloth, and after twenty-four hours very gentle drying rince off in
water.
The following description relates to the printing of red on yellow silk that
is dyed and raised in the manner described under the head of yellow and straw.

page_text: A. I make a strong decoction of cochineal and boil it to stand No. 4 by
Rochetta's hydrometer; then to a part of this decoction I add alum, or a little
of the mordant No. 5, till it breaks; after it is well settled I filter it through
fine cotton or woollen cloth. To one gallon of this decoction I add one pound
of alum, one pound of cream of tartar, and four ounces of verdigris, or instead
of the verdigris three ounces of blue vitriol; keep the mixture hot till all be
dissolved. I then put as much of the filtered lake to it as will produce the
colour, then thicken with gum senegal.
..
B. I make a strong decoction from Brazil wood, to stand four by Rochetta's
hydrometer, and use it the same in every respect as the cochineal described
above under the mark A.
C. I make a strong decoction of peach wood, to stand four by Rochetta's
hydrometer; and treat it the same in every respect as A and B; I then take
an equal quantity of the above thickened colours A, B, C, and print. If I
want different shades I mix two parts of C to one of A; or I take three parts
of B to one of A, and when printed twenty-four hours, then steam for two hours
and wash off.
The following description relates to the printing of black along with the red
on the same yellow silk:--I boil logwood in water till it stands six by
Rochetta's hydrometer, then thicken it with gum senegal, and to one gallon of
the thickened colour I add one pint of solution No. 4, and half a pint of No. 3
solution, and then print, then dry, steam, and wash off as above.
.
The following description relates to the dying of nankeen colour on cotton
yarn or cloth I take mordant No. 5, and add one half water to it; then
pass the yarn or cloth through it; then wash the goods well off, and raise in a
decoction made from any, all, or part of the following, videlicit: galls, valonia,
shumack, marobilan, alder bark, nankeen bark, mahogany bark, or mahogany
sawdust; then pass the goods again through mordant No. 5; then wash off,
and pass the goods through warm soap and water, and dry them.
In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand and seal, the Fifth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-one.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid Robert Frith came before our said
Lord the King in His 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 stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.