AN IMPROVED METHOD' OF CLEANSING WOOLS FROM BURR AND SEEDS, AND FOR THE DISINTEGRATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Godefroy Sirtaine, of Verviers, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Industrial, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD'
OF CLEANSING WOOLS FROM BURR AND SEEDS, AND FOR THE DISINTEGRATION OF
Sealed the 16th January 1874, and dated the 19th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Godefroy Sirtaine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th July 1873.
I, GODEFROY SIRTAINE, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Industrial, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF CLEANSING WOOLS FROM BURR AND SEEDS, AND FOR THE
DISINTEGRATION OF VEGETABLE MATTERS GENERALLY," to be as follows:
.
:-
In order to disintegrate vegetable matter, and especially for the
cleansing of wool from burr and seeds, I use the acid and alkaline gases
produced in any industrial process, but more particularly those generated
in the manufacture of chemical products and manures,

page_text: In Instantaneous discharge of the acid gas.
And Thirdly. The immediate substitution of alkaline gas, mechanical
· means being employed, if desired, in addition to the attractive force of
the substances employed.
The nature of this Invention will be readily understood by taking as
an example a work erected for carrying on certain industrial operations,
say, for instance, in one part the manufacture of sulphate of soda, pro-
ducing hydrochloric gas to be transformed in the liquid hydrochloric
acid of commerce. In another part the manufacture by the treatment
of manures of ammoniacal gas to be made into liquid ammonia. In
such an establishment I should, for the purpose of cleansing wool from
burr and seeds, use the hydrochloric and ammoniacal gases by forcing
them to pass through the wool placed in a chamber hermetically closed,
by means of mechanical ventilation adding its effect to the attractive
force of water for the gases. This chamber is closed by a cover placed
on the top. The interior is divided horizontally into two equal parts by
a screen formed of wire, which has received a covering of lead. On this
screen the wool is spread. The upper part of this chamber is provided
with two inlets, which can be opened or closed from the outside, as
required. One is used for the admission of the acid, the other for the
alkaline gas, each being in communication with a water tank, in which
the gas is converted into hydrochloric or ammoniacal liquor. The lower
part of the chamber has three outlets, which can be opened or closed
from the outside, as required. One of such outlets is used to discharge a
the hydrochloric gas, the second to discharge the ammoniacal gas, and

page_text: the third to allow of the escape of the air driven into the chamber by a
ventilator through the tubes of a boiler charged with live steam.
With this apparatus I operate in the following manner :-The hydro-
chloric gas is first admitted singly, and as soon as the lower half of the
5 chamber is filled with this gas the inlet is closed, that of the warm air is
opened, and the ventilator is set in motion. After the very short time
required by the hydrochloric gas and the warm air to disintegrate the
wool in passing through it the outlet for the escape of the gas is opened,
and the gas having been expelled the outlet is closed, and the ventilator
) is stopped. The inlet of warm air is closed, and that for the introduc-
tion of ammoniacal gas opened. This gas is blown into the chamber as
it is generated from solid or liquid excrement or other substances, treated
by milk of lime, and kept at a temperature of 35° Reaumur (110°
Fahrenheit). A sufficient quantity of this gas having been forced
through the wool to neutralize the acid which may have remained in it,
the outlet for its escape is opened.
In wool thus treated the vegetable matters will be found disintegrated
and easily got rid of by the simple process of beating, or even in the
processes of the spinning only. In certain cases however it has been ascer-
tained that it is desirable that the acid gas and also the hot air and the
alkaline gas should circulate during a certain time through the
substances submitted to their action, varying it according to the nature
thereof. To effect this it suffices to open a channel through which the
blast from the ventilator can reach that part of the chamber into which
the acid gas, the hot air and the alkaline gases are driven after having
passed through the wool, so that by the blast of the ventilator these
gases are forced back under the metallic screen, and forced to pass
through the wool again, the process being repeated as often as may be
found necessary to complete the operation.
It is however necessary, if this system be adopted, to substitute for
the tubular steam boiler another mode of heating, a stove, for instance,
but not constructed of iron, which does not resist the action of acid gas,
and for the same reason the ventilator should have a coating of tar
varnish. Moreover, when I desire to increase the efficacy of the action
of alkaline gas, the use of which for the purpose of neutralizing acid
introduced into a substance undergoing the process of disintegration by
any method whatever, is one of the cardinal points of my Invention, I

page_text: pass through the wool before admitting the gas a jet of steam, which
wets it in condensing.
Finally, the blowing in of air by mechanical means may be replaced
by the use of centrifugal forces, a turbine, for instance, or drying
apparatus, such as in use for extracting water from washed wool. It
will suffice to inject into the centre of this turbine filled with the
substance to be operated on, and set in motion the acid gas and warm
air, and then the alkaline gas, all of which can be successively collected
at the outled arranged at the bottom of the case, or which can be made
to circulate by means of the ventilator as already described.
The above described series of operations can be carried on without
interrupting the production of the hydrochloric acid or the liquid
ammonia, and the gases need only be placed in direct communication
with the water, as well as with the chamber above described, so that
when their admission to this last is cut off they will flow through the
direct channel to the water, and vice versa.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Godefroy Sirtaine in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GODEFROY
SIRTAINE, of Verviers, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Industrial, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Godefroy Sirtaine, Her special licence that I, the said
Godefroy Sirtaine, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Godefroy Sirtaine, 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

page_text: producing hydrochloric gas, to be transformed into the liquid hydrochloric
acid of commerce. In another part the manufacture, by the treatment
of manures, of ammoniacal gas to be made into liquid ammonia. In
such an establishment I should, for the purpose of cleansing wool from
burr and seeds use the hydrochloric and ammoniacal gases by forcing
them through the wool placed in a chamber hermetically closed by
means of mechanical ventilation, adding its effect to the attractive force
of water for the gases. This chamber is closed by a cover placed on the
top. The interior is divided horizontally into two equal parts by a
horizontal screen formed of wire, which has received a covering of lead.
On this screen the wool is spread. The upper part of this chamber is
provided with two inlets, which can be opened or closed from the
outside, as required. One is used for the escape of the acid, the other
for that of the alkaline gas, each being in communication with a water
tank, in which the gas is converted into hydrochloric or ammoniacal
liquor. The lower part of the chamber has three outlets, which can be
opened or closed from the outside, as required. One of such outlets is
used for the admission of the hydrochloric gas, the second for the
admission of the ammoniacal gas, and the third to allow of the admission
of the air driven into the chamber by a ventilator through the tubes of a
boiler charged with live steam.
With this apparatus I operate in the following manner :-'
-The hydro-
chloric gas is first admitted singly, and as soon as the lower half of the
chamber is filled with this gas the inlet is closed, that of the warm air is
opened, and the ventilator is set in motion. After the very short time
required by the hydrochloric gas and the warm air to disintegrate the
wool in passing through it, the outlet for the escape of the gas is opened,
and the gas having been expelled the outlet is closed, and the ventilator
is stopped. The inlet of warm air is closed, and that for the introduc-
tion of ammoniacal gas opened. This gas is blown into the chamber as
it is generated from solid or liquid excrement or other substances, treated
by milk of lime, and kept at a temperature of about 35° Reaumur (110°
Fahrenheit). A sufficient quantity of this gas having been forced through
the wool to neutralize the acid which may have remained in it the outlet
for its escape is opened.
İn wool thus treated the vegetable matters will be found disintegrated
and easily got rid of, by the simple process of beating, or even in the
processes of the spinning only. In certain cases however it has been

page_text: ascertained that it is desirable that the acid gas, and also the hot air and
the alkaline gas should circulate together during a certain time through
the substances submitted to their action, the acid gas and the warm air on
the one hand, and the alkaline gas on the other hand, the duration of
such circulation for each of the two gases being varied according to the
nature of the substances under treatment. To effect this it suffices to.
employ a channel through which the blast from the ventilator can reach
that part of the chamber into which the acid gas, the hot air, and the
alkaline gases are driven after having passed through the wool, so that
1 by the blast of the ventilator these gases are forced back under the
metallic screen, and caused to pass through the wool again, the process
being repeated or continued as often or as long as may be found necessary
to complete the operation.
It is however necessary, if this system be adopted, to substitute for the
tubular steam boiler another mode of heating, a stove, for instance, but
not constructed of iron, which does not resist the action of acid gas, and
for the same reason the ventilator should have a coating of tar varnish.
Moreover, when I desire to increase the efficacy of the action of alkaline
gas, the use of which for the purpose of neutralizing acid introduced
into a substance undergoing the process of disintegration by any method
whatever is one of the chief points of my Invention, I pass through
the wool before admitting the gas a jet of steam which wets it in
condensing.
;
Finally. The blowing in of air by mechanical means may be replaced
by the use of centrifugal forces, a turbine, for instance, or drying
apparatus, such as in use for extracting water from washed wool. It
will suffice to inject into the centre of this turbine filled with the
substance to be operated on and set in motion the acid gas and warm
air, and then the alkaline gas, all of which can be successively collected
at the outlet arranged at the bottom of the case, or which can be made
to circulate by means of the ventilator, as already described.
The above described series of operations can be carried on without
interrupting the production of the hydrochloric acid or the liquid
ammonia, and the gases need only be placed in direct communication
with the water as well as with the chamber above described, so that
when their admission to this last is cut off they will flow through the
direct channel to the water and vice versa.

page_text: Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim
as constituting the Invention secured to me by the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the improved method of cleansing wools
from burrs and seeds, and of disentegrating vegetable matters generally
by the operation of acid and alkaline gases, hot air, and ventilation, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Godefroy Sirtaine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.