or Printing Calico and other Fabrics.
Year: 1886

page_text: or Printing Calico and other Fabrics.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
:
This invention relates chiefly to an improved mordant for fixing aniline or
other dies on cotton yarn or cloth. The improved mordant is composed of
antimony dissolved in lactic acid, and is used in combination with tannin or other
suitable materials, as I will now proceed to describe.
In carrying my said invention into practice I take four hundred pounds of lactic
acid (of preferably twenty five per cent strength) and add thereto fifty pounds of
nitric acid, full strength, and some powdered antimony, using not less than the
acids are capable of dissolving. I then heat the mixture to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
The nitric acid converts the antimony into antimonious oxide which is dissolved by
the lactic acid, the nitric acid being destroyed. I raise the heat slowly and finally
boil the mixture until all action on the antimony ceases.
Care must be taken not to raise the heat too much at first, as some of the
antimonious oxide (Sb, O₁) is converted into antimonic oxide (Sb. O,) which
is insoluble in lactic acid.
When the action has ceased, I pour off the liquor from the undissolved antimony,
and add seventy pounds of dry carbonate of soda, or its equivalent. This
neutralizes two thirds of the lactic acid but does not precipitate the antimony.
In cases where the acid mordant is not hurtful I do not add the soda.
In using my mordant for dyeing, I first run the cotton yarn or cloth through a
tannin bath of suitable strength and then slightly wash it to remove the loose
tannin from the outside of the fibre. I then pass the yarn or cloth through a bath
of the above described lactate of antimony, of suitable strength, to which I prefer
to add some carbonated alkali to neutralize a part of the lactic acid; the cloth is
then thoroughly washed to remove the loose mordant, when it is ready for the dye
rice 4d1

page_text: bath. For deep shades I use four or five pounds of lactate of antimony for one
hundred pounds of yarn or cloth.
The antimony remains in solution, if the bath be cold, even though all the acid
has been neutralized, and is in the most perfect state to combine with the tapnin
in the cotton fibre, allowing the bath to be completely exhausted of antimony.
This bath may also be diluted to any extent desired without the antimony
separating in any insoluble form, as is the case when oxymuriate of antimony
is used.
This compound may be used in calico printing whenever antimony is a desirable
mordant, the neutral properties of the improved compound especially fitting it for
such use.
Heretofore, antimony mordants composed of tartar emetic or the double oxalate
of antimony and potash have been used. The use of these compounds soon renders
the bath so acid as to prevent the further or complete union of antimony and
tannin, at the same time injuring the tone of the colour. This objection docs not
apply to my improved lactate compound. Oxymuriate of antimony," a trade
name for Sb Cls, made in a manner well known to dyers, has also been used, but it
cannot be used advantageously on account of its highly acid character and its
property of forming an insoluble "oxychloride" (Sb. O. Cl.) when diluted with
water. This objection does not apply to the lactate compound, because, as before
stated, the lactate of antimony may be diluted to any desired extent without
separation.
The lactate being non-crystallizable may be dissolved in water, readily to any
extent, so that it is especially useful where a concentrated neutral solution of
antimony is required.
The lactate of antimony is much cheaper than the antimony mordants heretofore
employed, and is free from the objections which apply to said mordants, viz; the
insolubility of the oxymuriates in dilute solutions, and the property which all have
of becoming acid when the bath is partially exhausted, the acid preventing the
union of the antimony with the tannin.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. An improved mordant for dyeing or calico printing, consisting of anti-
monious oxide dissolved in lactic acid.
Second. An improved mordant for dyeing or calico printing, consisting of
antimonious oxide dissolved in lactic acid wholly or partially neutralized by an
alkali, as set forth.
Third. The improvement in dyeing, which consists in fixing aniline or other
dyes on cotton fibre by treating it with tannin or its equivalent, and lactate of
antimony partially or wholly neutralized, as set forth.
1
1006
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.