IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MIXED FABRICS TO OBTAIN ANIMAL FIBRE AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Pitt of Sutton in the County of Surrey for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF MIXED FABRICS TO
OBTAIN ANIMAL FIBRE AND OTHER PRODUCTS THEREFROM "
communicated to
him from abroad by Madame Robert of Iseron in the Republic of France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Pitt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th November 1883.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey.
TREATMENT OF MIXED FABRICS TO OBTAIN ANIMAL FIBRE AND OTHER PRODUCTS
THEREFROM" [communicated to him from abroad by Madame Robert of Iseron in
the Republic of France]
This Invention has for its object improvements in the treatment of mixed
fabrics to obtain animal fibre and other products therefrom.
The process which is the object of the present description consists in taking
the matters to be treated, and after having washed them to separate the dust and
impurities which they may contain plunging them into a chemical bath hereinafter
described.
The chemical bath in question is composed of water to which under suitable
conditions sulphuric acid and a lay of caustic soda are added.
The bath should by preference be composed for each 100 kilogrammes of liquid
of about 75 kilogrammes of sulphuric acid of 25 degrees, and about 25 kilogrammes
of caustic soda lay of 5 degrees (Pese-acid).
These matters should be filtered before being mixed to form together a bath
marking by preference 20 to 22 degrees. The whole is raised to the boiling point
before immersion of the matters to be treated, which should be left there a very
short time, ten minutes is sufficient in most cases. During this time the boiling
should be continued; afterwards the materials are rapidly taken out, they are
plunged into a stream of water in a washer, the circumference of which is perforated
Price 4d1

page_text: to let impurities pass away; also to remove the last traces of acid the washing
water may be rendered very slightly alkaline.
The liquid in the bath after the materials have been removed may serve
indefinitely for the preparation of other baths, provided that it be decanted after
depositing matters held in suspension, and completely brought back to the original
strength. The bye products resulting from the precipitation are dried and form
an excellent manure very rich in nitrogen.
The decantation need only take place when found to be necessary, but generally
after every 24 hours working; the bath meanwhile being renewed by gradual
additions concurrently as fresh charges are treated.
The matters thus washed and treated are suitable to be at once remanufactured,
the wool being entirely separated from all vegetable fibres.
Rags which were originally colored, and which have retained their color should
be decolored by ordinary processes before they are again brought into use.
Different proportions may be used; thus-the bath may be composed, for each
100 kilogrammes of liquid, of 50 kilogrammes of sulphuric acid at 66 degrees, and
50 kilogrammes of caustic soda at 14 degrees.
With this composition it is desirable to add also 10 kilogrammes of borax or of
alum.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Sydney Pitt in the Patent Office on the 27th May 1884.
SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF MIXED FABRICS TO OBTAIN ANIMAL FIBRE AND OTHER PRODUCTS
THEREFROM"
A communication to me from abroad by Madame Robert of Iseron
in the Republic of France
This invention has for its object improvements in the treatment of mixed fabrics
to obtain animal fibre and other products therefrom.
The present invention has for its object the treatment of fabrics rags clippings &
having a cotton warp, also other fabrics or scraps of fabrics of wool or animal
fibre mixed with cotton or other vegetable fibre, so as to destroy the vegetable
fibres without attacking the animal fibres and reducing the latter to a state to be
again manufactured; thus providing a raw material which is much more economical
than the original wool.
This operation has already been attempted by many inventors but without any
good results; the processes were long and complicated, and did not yield so good
a result as that hereinafter described.
The process which is the object of the present description consists in taking
the matters to be treated and after having washed them to separate the dust and
impurities which they may contain plunging them into a chemical bath herein after
described.
This chemical bath is placed in a boiler of any form and dimension which may
be suitable and either of wood or metal; it should be placed over a furnace.or
provided with any suitable heating apparatus to raise the liquid to the boiling
point. The boiler should be readily accessible for the introduction of the chemicals
and for the rapid immersion and extraction of the matters to be treated.
The chemical bath in question is composed of water to which under suitable
conditions sulphuric acid and a lay of caustic soda are added.
Sulphuric acid has already been employed for the same object but with other
bases and under different conditions; it does not appear that it has ever been
proposed to associate it in this operation with a lay of caustic soda and under the
conditions to be presently indicated; conditions which alone after numerous
experiments are found to present economical, rapid and sure results such as to
constitute a new and advantageous manufacturing process.
The bath should by preference be composed for each 100 kilogrammes of liquid
of about 75 kilogrammes of sulphuric acid of 25 degrees and about 25 kilogrammes
of caustic soda lay of 5 degrees (Pese-Acid).
These matters should be filtered before being mixed to form together a bath
marking by preference 20 to 22 degrees. The whole is raised to the boiling point
before immersion of the matters to be treated which should be left there a very
short time, ten minutes is sufficient in most cases. During this time the boiling
should be continued; afterwards the materials are rapidly taken out, they are
plunged into a stream of water in a washer the circumference of which is perforated
to let impurities pass away; also to remove the last traces of acid the washing
water may be rendered very slightly alkaline.
The liquid in the bath after the materials have been removed may serve indefi-
nitely for the preparation of other baths, provided that it be decanted after
depositing matters held in suspension, and completely brought back to the original
strength. The bye-products resulting from the precipitation are dried and form an
excellent manure very rich in nitrogen.

page_text: The decantation need only take place when found to be necessary, but generally
after every 24 hours working; the bath meanwhile being renewed by gradual
additions concurrently as fresh charges are treated.
The matters thus washed and treated are suitable to be at once remanufactured
the wool being entirely separated from all vegetable fibres.
Rags which were originally colored, and which have retained their color should
be decolored by ordinary processes before they are again brought into use.
Different proportions may be used; thus the bath may be composed for each
100 kilogrammes of liquid, of 50 kilogrammes of sulphuric acid at 66 degrees, and
50 kilogrammes of caustic soda at 14 degrees.
With this composition it is desirable to add also 10 kilogrammes of borax or of
alum. In the new process the presence of the soda tempers the action of the acid
and its causticity exerts in other ways an action upon the fabric; the high
temperature also of the bath accelerates the operation.
It is unnecessary to say that the proportions indicated as well as the time of
'immersion should vary according to the nature of the matters under treatment and
according to the strength of the chemical products available and that the operation
has no other precise limit from this point of view than the strength which it is
found convenient to give to the bath according to the nature of the rags.
I claim as that which I desire to protect by the present patent the process
substantially as described above consisting in separating and destroying in fabrics,
cuttings, rags & having a cotton warp, the cotton or other vegetable fibres without
attacking the wool or other animal fibre entering into the composition of the fabric
treated by submitting these matters to the action of a boiling bath composed of
sulphuric acid and caustic soda followed by washing in water either pure or slightly
alkaline under the conditions and with the object indicated above.
In witness whereof I the said Sydney Pitt have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twenty sixth day of May in the year of our Lord One' thousand
eight hundred and eighty four.
:
SYDNEY PITT (L.S.)