IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND DRYING OF FIBRES OR FIBROUS MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE- MENTS IS APPLICABLE TO THE DRYING OF WOVEN AND OTHER TEXTILE MANUFACTURES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julius Augustus Roth, of the City of. Phila-
delphia, State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America,
Chemist, for the Invention. of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND
DRYING OF FIBRES OR FIBROUS MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS IS APPLICABLE TO THE DRYING OF WOVEN AND OTHER TEXTILE
MANUFACTURES."
Sealed the 12th December 1853, and dated the 20th October 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julius Augustus
Roth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th October 1853.
I, JULIUS AUGUSTUS ROTH, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BLEACHING AND DRYING OF FIBRES
OR FIBROUS MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO
THE DRYING OF WOVEN AND OTHER TEXTILE MANUFACTURES," to be as fol-
lows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the bleaching of yaru in the hank.
by means similar to that which I employ under my patented process
for bleaching flax straw; and, secondly, the Invention relates to certain
novel apparatus, whereby the yarn, as well as other matters requiring

page_text: such treatment, may be deprived of moisture, by the action thereon of a
current or currents of air. In order to bleach the hanks of yarn, they
are hung upon a frame in rows one above another in the same vertical
plane, which frame is constructed to receive several of these planes, the
number being proportioned to the length of the vat in which it is
intended to immerse the hanks. The hanks are held in the frame by
means of removable combs or other suitable holders. In performing the
bleaching operation I prefer to use seven vats, and to fit each with a
serios of pairs of rollers, which, when the frame lets down into the vat,
will severally close upon one of its compartments. Thus when the
hanks are drawn out of the vat, after having been immersed for a
sufficient length of time in the liquor, the squeezing rollers will express
from the hanks the liquor which they have absorbed. One of these
vats contains an alkaline solution, such as caustic soda, which is kept
boiling by the admission of a stream at the bottom of the vat; the
second vat contains clean water, kept clean by a constant supply and
discharge, and is employed for washing away the matters dissolved out
of the flax by the alkaline solution; the third vat contains dilute sul-
phuric acid; the fourth vat contains chloride of lime in solution; the
fifth vat contains dilute sulphuric acid; the sixth vat contains a solution
of what is known as anti-chlorine; and the seventh vat contains soap
and water for rinsing the prepared material.
I find the bleaching operation considerably facilitated by raising and
lowering the frames frequently while in the vat. When the hanks of
yarn have been properly bleached I suspend them on a carriage or
frame, with running wheels, and submit them to the drying process. In
carrying out this operation I provide a rectangular chamber, having
doors at one or both ends to admit the carriage, and into this chamber
I admit a blast of air through branch pipes, which air circulates
through the chamber, and passes out through perforations at the bottom,
carrying with it the moisture contained in the yarn. When drying
unspun flax by this method I pile up the flax in bundles on the floor
of the carriage, laying it as loose as may be to facilitate the circulation
of air through the mass. When drying cloth I stretch it over and
under rollers fitted to the chamber, and traverse it backwards and for-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Julius Augustus Roth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JULIUS AUGUSTUS ROTH, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Penn-
sylvania, in the United States of America, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Julius Augustus Roth, Her special
license that I, the said Julius Augustus Roth, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Julius Augustus Roth,
my exccutors, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BLEACHING AND DRYING OF FIBRES OR FIBROUS
MATERIALS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO THE DRYING OF
WOVEN AND OTHER TEXTILE MANUFACTURES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that 1, the said Julius Augustus Roth, 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 Julius Augustus Roth, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertain
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing

page_text: hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
This Invention relates to the bleaching of yarn in the hank by means
similar to that which I employ under my patented process for bleaching
flax straw. The apparatus which I employ is shown in several views
in the accompanying Drawings, and consists,―
First, of a series of combs, and of a frame to which the combs are
attached, for the purpose of supporting the yarn in a loose or open state,
whereby the manufacturer is enabled properly to expose it to the
chemical action of certain solutions.
Secondly, of a series of vats furnished severally with a set of moveable
squeezing rollers, in which vats the frame just mentioned, when charged
with yarn, is in succession suspended for the purpose of saturating the
yarn. The use of the squeezing rollers is to deprive the yarn, when
withdrawn from the successive vats, of the greater portion of the
solution which it has absorbed by being immersed therein.
Fig. 1, is a side elevation of the frame for carrying the combs which
nold the yarn; and Fig. 2, is an end elevation of the frame, showing
the combs in their place. Figs. 3 and 4, are partial views on an
enlarged scale of one of the combs, and showing also the mode of
securing them to the frame. Fig. 5, is a front view of one of the spring
catches with which the frame is provided for retaining the combs in
their proper position. The comb frame consists of a rectangular cast
iron frame «, furnished with a strong hook a*, by which it is to be sus-
pended, and from the opposite sides of this frame rods b, b, are pendent.
These rods are set at equal distances apart, and are secured together in
pairs by cross bars c, as shown at Fig. 2. Between each pair of rods a
series of combs d, d, is placed, and these combs are held in a horizontal
position by projections from one end of the combs entering notches (see
Fig. 3) made in one of the rods to receive them, and by a projection at
the opposite end of the comb entering a recess formed in a spring
catch e, (see Fig. 4,) affixed to the opposite rod; or, instead of this
arrangement, the combs may be connected to the frame by hooks from
the end of the combs entering lugs attached to the frame, or by any
other convenient means. The combs d, are made of brass, copper, or

page_text: hard wood, and are shaped somewhat like an ordinary straight hair
comb. The yarn is placed upon the teeth in hauks, so as to hang
parallel, straight, and vertical, or nearly so; and above the teeth, and
fitting down upon them, is a retaining bar, which works upon a hinge,
so as to open and close upon the extremities of the teeth, and thus
keep the yarn on the combs after it has been once placed there. The
combs are set one above the other, at the distance apart of from two
to four inches, and when they are required to be released from the
frame this may be done by merely pressing back the spring catch e.
The frame is suspended by a long cord immediately over the vat into
which the flax is to be immersed. This cord is attached above to a
hoisting apparatus, so that the whole frame can be lowered or raised at
pleasure.
Fig. 6, is a plan view of the vat into which the yarn, when suspended
from the combs, is to be immersed. Fig. 7, is a longitudinal vertical
section, and Fig. 8, is a cross section of the same. In all thesc Figures
the squeezing rollers, and the mechanical arrangement for working
them, is shewn; but in Fig. 9, which represents this part of the appa-
ratus in side elevation as detached from the vat, the means for opening
and closing the squeezing rollers is most clearly exhibited. The vat f
is rectangular, and its dimensions in horizontal section are somewhat
greater than the corresponding section of the yarn frame above
described. It is made of wood, and lined with lead or copper, so as to
be water-tight, and it is of sufficient depth to allow all the combs of
the yarn frame to descend into it. Fitted to the upper part of the vat
are two sliding frames 9, 9, which carry the squeezing rollers h, h*.
These frames are each composed of two side bars, connected together
at one end by a cross bar, and provided with Ings at their other end.
Before these side bars are bolted to their respective cross bars the
side bars of the upper frame are passed through the lugs formed on the
bars of the under frame, and the side bars of the under frame are
passed through the lugs of the bars of the upper frame, by which means
the two frames are linked securely together, as shown in the Drawing,
and can mutually slide upon each other.
The rollers, h, are set across these respective frames, and at such

page_text: listances apart that when the frames are slidden together the corre-
sponding rollers on cach frame will constitute a series of pairs of
squeezing rollers, and when the two frames are slidden apart the
rollers of each pair will recede from cach other. These rollers turn in
bearings with which the frames are provided, and they are made of
brass, and are about one or one and a half inches in diameter. The
distance between the pairs of rollers is made to correspond with the
listance between the pendent rods of the yarn frame. In order con-
veniently to slide the frames g, gout and in, and thus open or close the
squeezing rollers, a weighted chain i, is fastened to the cross piece of
each sliding frame, and passed over a pulley carried by a bracket at the
end of the vat. The use of the weights pendent from the chains is to
draw cach sliding frame in towards the vat, and thus close the series of
squeezing rollers. The sliding apart of the frames (so as to open the
squeezing rollers) is effected by means of a pinion wheel, mounted
between and gearing into two racks m, m. The rack m is carried
by the franc g, and the rack me by the frame g. The arbor of this
pinion is carried by a bracket n, bolted to the side of the vat; and
secured to the arbor is an arm e, which by means of a rod is connected
to a treadle l. The effect of the depression of this treadle is to rotate
the wheel, whereby the frames will be slidden simultaneously in oppo-
site directions, and carry with them their respective rollers. The treaddle
is made to fit into a rack or ratchet p, so that the sliding frames and
the rollers can be retained in any desired position. In preparing and
bleaching yarn, I make use of seven vats, each constructed and fitted
exactly like the vat just described; and I immerse the yarn in the liquid
contained in the vats in the following order :-The first vat contains an
alkaline solution, such as caustic soda, of which about fifty pounds are
added to two hundred gallons of water, and this solution is kept boiling
by the admission of steam at the bottom of the vat; the second vat
contains clean water, kept clean by a constant supply and discharge,
and is employed for washing away the matters dissolved out of the yarn
by the alkaline solution; the third vat contains dilute sulphuric acid,
of about four pounds of acid to two hundred gallons of water; the
fourth vat contains chloride of lime in solution, the strength of which

page_text: solution is preferred to be about 4° Beaumic; the fifth vat contains
dilute sulphuric acid, of the strength above indicated; the sixth vat
contains a solution of what I term anti-chlorine (and which has been
fully described in my Patent herein-before referred to), the proportions
being about four pounds of anti-chlorine to two hundred gallons of
water; and the seventh vat contains warın water for rinsing the yarn.
Having described the vat, and its arrangement of squeezing rollers,
I will now proceed to explain my improved mode of treating yarn:
-The yarn frame with the yarn attached having been suspended
over the vat, as before described, the treadle is depressed, so as to
separate the pairs of squeezing rollers; the yarn frame is then caused
to descend by any convenient hoisting apparatus, so that the combs
shall pass down between the rollers and effect the entire immersion of
the yarn; the frame is then kept moving up and down in the vat, in
order that the yarn may be brought into more intimate contact with
the solution in the vat, and so that the solution may be made to act
thoroughly on every part of the yarn.
All this time the squeezing
rollers are kept apart, but when the yarn has been sufficiently acted
upon, the frame is required to be withdrawn from the vat, the treadle is
released from the rack p, and the squeezing rollers are caused to close
upon the yarn by reason of the drag of the weights pendent from the
chains. The yarn, therefore, as it is drawn up out of the vat by the
hoisting apparatus connected with the yarn frame, will, by the pressure
of the rollers, be deprived of the greater part of the liquid which it had
absorbed, and which liquid when expressed from the yarn will fall back
into the tank. The next operation is to transfer the yarn frame from
the vat containing the alkaline solution to a second vat filled with clean
water. The yarn is here subjected to the same alternate rising and
falling motion, and also to the same final squeezing, and it is then
transferred to the third vat, and so on to the seventh.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into operation, I wish it to be understood that .L
claim,―
First, the employment of a series of combs for sustaining the varn

page_text: to be operated upon, constructed and arranged in the manner substan-
tially as is herein described.
Second, the yarn frame, and method of arranging the combs in con-
bination therewith, substantially as herein-before described.
Third, the method of increasing and expediting the action of the
solutions, by constantly agitating or moving the combs containing the
yarn when immersed therein, as herein-before described.
Fourth, and lastly, I claim the mode of treating yarn as above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Augustus Roth, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four 185
C. M. S. LESLIE,
JULIUS AUGUSTUS ROTH. (L.S.)
50, So. 4th St., Philad".
GEORGE HARDING,
90, So. 4th St., Philadelphia.