IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street, in
the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING." -A communication from
abroad by Adolphe Jean James d'Andiran and Gustave Wegelin, of
Paris, France, Manufacturers.
Sealed the 3rd November 1868, and dated the 7th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th July 1868.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street, in the City of
Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING," a communication to
me from abroad by Adolphe Jean James d'Andiran and Gustave Wegelin,
of Paris, France, Manufacturers, to be as follows:-
In dyeing unspun textile fibres many difficulties are experienced in
using substances such as madder, garancine, and the like, the insoluble

page_text: parts of which remain adhering to the fibres and can only be separated
therefrom incompletely and at great cost. This fact is known to all
dyers, and the present Inventors have succeeded in surmounting it so
that all difficulty disappears. For this purpose they propose to operate
in the following manner :-The unspun fibres are mordanted in the
usual manner, supposing that they are intended to be violet they are
mordanted by the ordinary process in iron mordant. This mordanting
is so well known to all dyers that it is superfluous to speak further
of it here. The mordanting being effected and the fibres having been
well dunged, to a sufficient quantity of water (corrected if it con-
tains too much lime) is added such an amount of extract of madder
as a previous trial on a small scale shall have indicated as necessary
for the dyeing of the fibres. If the extract employed be acid or if the
water used be too pure it is to be neutralized by adding a small quantity
of chalk, for example, about one quarter to five per cent. The quan-
tities of the extract or of the chalk cannot be precisely specified because
the commercial extract is of so variable a quality in relation to its price,
concentration, purity, and neutrality that it is necessary to make trial
of each quantity obtained of this matter in order to ascertain its strength
and state of neutralization. These preliminary trials are found to be of
great advantage and are mentioned here as almost indispensable for
regular work. The bath of dye being thus prepared as above described
the mordanted and dunged fibres are introduced therein and dyed in
the usual manner, and the Inventors state that the dyeing is effected
quicker than with the other derivatives of madder or with madder itself
and that the addition of glycerine to the madder or extract accelerates
the dyeing still more. If there is no great hurry fuel can be economized
by dyeing at a less heat but for a longer time. However in practise it
is found advisable to dye in about an hour and a half to two hours at
a boiling heat. When the dyeing in extract of madder is finished there
are several methods of brightening the color or it may be washed with
soap as is usually done in dye works with madder violet, or derivatives
of madder. To be precise the fibres are to be submitted to the same
treatment which a calico printer employs with madder violet calicoes,
that is to say, soaped either with or without previous washing and
submitted or not to the action of chloride of lime (very weak and cold)
before soaping; or they may be submitted simply to the action of
boiling water, which removes that portion of the coloring matter which
is the least intimately combined. It will be understood that the

page_text: apparatus usually employed for the manipulation of unspun fibres is
better adapted for this process than that employed for woven fabrics.
Besides these means of brightening the Inventors have discovered a
new method which is very advantageous both on the score of economy
and also for the beauty and diversity of the shades obtained. It consists
in adding to the water in which the fibres are boiled after dyeing certain
artificial coloring matters which adhere thereto sufficiently for most
of the uses to which these fibres are to be applied. A great number of
artificial coloring matters give good results and the number of coloring
matters possessing the requisite properties in this case being already
very large and tending from day to day, owing to fresh discoveries, to
become innumerable it is impossible to enumerate them here, it will
suffice to state that one of these artificial coloring matters possesses the
property discovered and claimed by the Inventors from the moment
that it is attracted by the madder dyed fibres as above mentioned and
more fully described herein-after. It may be stated first and foremost
that aniline violet called "Perkins' violet," made with the chromate of
potash or ammonia or a salt of copper or otherwise, and which is well
known in commerce, possesses in a high degree the property in question.
Soluble "Hoffmann" violet, the blue called "soluble Lyons blue," and
soluble "fuchsine" belong to the same category. These examples
being given it is sufficient in order to know whether any particular
coloring matter possesses this property to dye therewith some fibre
previously dyed with extract of madder and see whether the adhesion of
the second dyeing is stronger, weaker, or as strong as that of one or
other of the artificial coloring matters above enumerated. It will then
be known whether they posses in a greater, lesser, or equal degree the
property discovered and claimed by the Inventors and common to a
great number of artificial coloring matters.
Having thus described the class of artificial coloring matters of which
a new property has been discovered and which the Inventors claim,
and in order that the designation of these matters should be still clearer,
it may be further stated that the adhesion in dyeing which is established
between them and the fibres should always be greater when these fibres.
have been dyed with extract of madder than when they have not been
dyed in this extract, and in some instances the adhesion is null or almost
null when the dyeing in extract of madder has not preceded the dyeing
in these matters. Besides the improvements which are effected by sub-

page_text: stituting the extract of madder for the other derivatives of madder or
for madder itself, the second part of the Invention, by the combination
of artificial coloring matters with the colors obtained by extract of
madder, is susceptible of interesting and economical variations in most
cases, especially when instead of unspun and unwoven fibres spun
threads and woven fabrics are to be acted on. For in these cases, and
especially in the case of woven fabrics where the washing is effected
without difficulty, the ligneous or other insoluble particles which adhere
mechanically during the dyeing can easily be eliminated, the extract
may without inconvenience be replaced by other derivatives of madder or
by madder itself, and the expense of making the extract be thus saved.
In these cases the novelty of the Invention consists solely in the
employment of the artificial coloring matters mentioned to modify or
brighten the tints obtained by madder, flower of madder, garancine,
alizarine, rubialine, and so forth, and obtaining thereby improved shades
more economically. It will be understood that in proportion to the
quantity of "Perkins' violet" (for example) used in the second dyeing
the result will gain in intensity and beauty; and for equal intensity
these artificial violets are cheaper than violets from madder or deri-
vatives thereof, and thus an increase of beauty and a diminution of cost
are combined. The additional intensity given by the artificial violet
requires the employment of weaker mordants and the latter will be
still weaker in proportion as a greater amount of artificial coloring
matter is employed, it is impossible also to give the exact proportion
of the reduction in strength of the mordaunt as that will depend
entirely upon the exact tint desired. Each operator by printing or
dyeing together several specimens of different strengths will thus
ascertain the exact amount of concentration which his mordant should
have.
The method of operating upon unspun vegetable fibres and the
advantages derived therefrom have been described. The Inventors have
discovered a further improvement which may be effected by this In-
vention. Hitherto in dyeing fibres, threads, or fabrics composed of
vegetable and animal matters, it is difficult to impart to the vegetable
fibre as solid and beautiful a dye as to the animal fibres, but by dyeing
the vegetable fibres in madder colors we can then by means of spinning
or weaving mix these fibres with those of animal origin and then proceed
to dye the whole by the artificial coloring matters. Wools and silks

page_text: are dyed thereby by means of their natural aptitude, and the vegetable
(previously dyed with madder) mixed therewith will take the dye in
the same bath and at the same time their supplement of the artificial
coloring matter. It should be here observed that the vegetable fibres
will not be of so pure a tint as the animal fibres owing to the presence
of the madder colors, but nevertheless the mixture of the fibres will
produce a good effect, and threads or fabrics thus produced will have
the great advantage of possessing a color and solidity hitherto unknown.
In this case for violet it is necessary to use iron mordant, and for red
or rose color a mordant of alumina, and in the latter case to give the
supplementary dyeing in "fuchsine" or "geranosine."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Davies, Her special licence
that I, the said George Davies, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others, as I, the said George Davies, 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 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DYEING," (a communication to me from abroad by Adolphe Jean James
d'Andiran and Gustave Wegelin, of Paris, France, Manufacturers,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davies,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 George Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say :-
In dyeing unspun textile fabrics many difficulties are experienced in
using substances such as madder, garancine, and the like, the insoluble
parts of which remain adhering to the fibres and can only be separated
therefrom incompletely and at great cost. This fact is known to all
dyers, and the present Inventors have succeeded in surmounting it so that
all difficulty disappears. For this purpose they propose to operate in the
following manner:-The unspun fibres are mordanted in the usual
manner, supposing that they are intended to be violet they are mordanted
by the ordinary process in iron mordant; this mordanting is so well
known to all dyers that it is superfluous to speak further of it here. The
mordanting being effected and the fibres having been well dunged to a
sufficient quantity of water (corrected if it contained too much lime) is
added such an amount of extract of madder as previous trial on a small
scale shall have indicated as necessary for the dyeing of the fibres. If
the extract employed be acid or if the water used be too pure it is to be
neutralized by adding a small quantity of chalk, for example, about one
quarter to five per cent. The quantities of the extract or of the chalk
cannot be precisely specified because the commercial extract is of so
variable a quality in relation to its price, concentration, purity, and
neutrality that it is necessary to make trial of each quantity obtained
of this matter in order to ascertain its strength and state of neutralization.
These preliminary trials are found to be of great advantage, and are men-
tioned here as almost indispensible for regular work. The bath of dye
being thus prepared as above described the mordanted and dunged fibres
are introduced therein and dyed in the usual manner, and the Investors
state that the dyeing is effected quicker than with the other derivatives
of madder or with madder itself, and that the addition of glycerine to the
madder or extract accelerates the dyeing still more.
If there is no great

page_text: hurry fuel can be economized by dyeing at a less heat but for a longer
time. However in practice it is found advisable to dye in about an hour
and a half to two hours at a boiling heat. When the dyeing in extract
of madder is finished there are several methods of brightening the color,
or it may be washed with soap as is usually done in dye works with
madder violet or derivatives of madder. To be precise the fibres are
to be submitted to the same treatment which a calico printer employs
with madder voilet calicoes, that is to say, soaped either with or without
previous washing and submitted or not to the action of chloride of lime
(very weak and cold) before soaping. Or they may be submitted simply
to the action of boiling water, which removes that portion of the coloring
matter which is the least intimately combined. It will be understood
that the apparatus usually employed for the manipulation of unspun
fibres is better adapted for this process than that employed for woven
fabrics. Besides these means of brightening the Inventors have
discovered a new method which is very advantageous both on the score
of economy and also for the beauty and diversity of the shades obtained.
It consists in adding to the water in which the fibres are boiled after
dyeing certain artificial coloring matters which adhere thereto sufficiently
for most of the uses to which these fibres are to be applied. A great
number of artificial coloring matters give good results, and the number
of coloring matters possessing the requisite properties in this case
being already very large, and tending from day to day to fresh dis-
coveries to become innumerable, it is impossible to enumerate them
here, it will suffice to state that one of these artificial colouring matters
possesses the property discovered and claimed by the Inventors from the'
moment that it is attracted by the madder dyed fibres as above mentioned
and more fully described herein-after. It may be stated first and fore-
most that aniline violet called "Perkins' violet," made with the chromate
of potash or ammonia or a salt of copper or otherwise, and which is
well known in commerce, possesses in a high degree the property in
question, soluble "Hoffman" violet, the blue called "soluble Lyons
blue," and soluble "fuchsine" belong to the same category. These
examples being given it is sufficient in order to know whether any
particular coloring matter possesses this property to dye therewith
some fibre previously dyed with extract of madder, and see whether
the adhesion of the second dyeing is stronger, weaker, or as strong as
that of one or the other of artificial coloring matters above enumerated.
It will then be known whether they possess in a greater, lesser, or

page_text: equal degree the property discovered and claimed by the Inventors
and common to a great number of artificial coloring matters.
Having thus described the class of artificial coloring matters of which
a new property has been discovered and which the Inventors claim, and
in order that the designation of these matters should be still clearer, it
may be further stated that the adhesion in dyeing which is established
between them and the fibres should always be greater when these fibres
have been dyed with extract of madder than when they have not been
dyed in this extract, and in some instances the adhesion is null or almost
null, when the dyeing in extract of madder has not preceded the dyeing
in these matters.
Besides the improvements which are effected by substituting the
extract of madder for the other derivatives of madder or for madder itself,
the second part of the Invention, by the combination of artificial coloring
matters with the colors obtained by extract of madder, is susceptible of
interesting and economical variations in most cases, especially when
instead of unspun and unwoven fibres spun threads and woven fabrics
are to be acted upon. For in these cases and especially in the case
of woven fabrics where the washing is effected without difficulty, the
ligneous or other insoluble particles which adhere mechanically during
the dyeing can easily be elimated, the extract may without incon-
venience be replaced by other derivatives of madder or by madder itself,
and the expence of making the extract be thus saved.
In these cases the novelty of the Invention consists solely in the
employment of the artificial colouring matters mentioned, to modify or
brighten the tints obtained by madder, flower of madder, garancine,
alizarine, rubialine, and so forth, and obtaining thereby improved shades
more economically. It will be understood that in proportion to the
quantity of "Perkins' violet" (for example) used in the second dyeing
the result will gain in intensity and beauty. And for equal intensity
these artificial violets are cheaper than violets from madder or
derivatives thereof, and thus an increase of beauty and a diminution of
cost are combined. The additional intensity given by the artificial
violet requires the employment of weaker mordants, and the latter will
be still weaker in proportion as a greater amount of artificial coloring
is employed. It is impossible also to give the exact proportion of the
reduction in the strength of the mordant, as that will depend entirely
upon the exact tint desired. Each operator by printing or dyeing

page_text: together several specimens of different strengths will thus ascertain
the exact amount of concentration which his mordant should have. It
is evident that madder and garancine dyes being more economical (with
equal intensity) than those of commercial alizarine, rubialine, and the
like, the Inventors give the preference to the former without however
excluding the employment sometimes of the higher priced materials.
As madder or madder flower give when not soaped shades not more
costly than garancine the employment of the madder is equally
advantageous when the madder violets are finished with artificial
violet. The residue of the madder serves as usual to make garancine.
When the yarns or fabrics have been printed the oxidation and ungum-
ming are effected as usual the dyeing in garancine is also effected in the
ordinary manner. They must then be washed as well as possible,
chloruretted if desired, and then introduced into a dye vat containing a
sufficiency of cold water to which "Perkins" violet is added according
to the desired shade (about one to five parts of this violet for each one
hundred parts of the garacine employed will give a shade wherein the
artificial violet will not predominate. It has already been stated that
the quantity of artificial colouring matter will vary according to the
shade desired, and that it will be the duty of the dyer to ascertain by
previous trials, more especially as the quality of the artificial coloring
matters differs with the various makes. I would also add that when
making the madder dye from extract of madder a good (but more costly)
result is obtained, and the Inventors therefore do not reject the employ-
ment of the extract in this case although they prefer the use of the more
economical materials above named. When the garancine or other dyed
fabrics are introduced into the dye vat they become saturated with the
water and "Perkins violet," and are then manipulated in the ordinary
manner; first cold until the violet has been distributed as uniformly
as possible over the fabric, heat is then applied without ceasing to
turn the pieces and increased to the boiling point, the boiling is
continued for five or ten minutes, or a little more if it is seen that the
ebullition continues to improve either the printed or the white parts
of the fabric. All that remains then is to wash and clear by the usual
processes, chlorine for instance.
The method of operating upon unspun vegetable fibres and the
advantages derived therefrom have been described.
The Inzantam have discovered C further improvement which

page_text: be effected by this Invention. Hitherto in dyeing fibres, threads, or
fabrics composed of vegetable and animal matters it is difficult to impart
to the vegetable fibre as solid and beautiful a dye as to the animal
fibres; but by dyeing the vegetable fibres in madder colors we can
then, by means of spinning or weaving, mix these fibres with those of
animal origin and then proceed to dye the whole by the artificial
coloring matters. Wools and silks are dyed thereby by reason of their
natural aptitude, and the vegetable (previously dyed with madder)
mixed therewith will take the dye in the same bath and at the same
time their supplement of the artificial coloring matter. It should be
here observed that the vegetable fibres will not be of so pure a tint as
the animal fibres, owing to the presence of the madder colors, but
nevertherless the mixture of the fibres will produce a good effect and
threads or fabrics thus produced will have the great advantage of
possessing a color and solidity hitherto unknown. In this case for
violet it is necessary to use iron mordant, and for red or rose color a
mordant of alumina, and in the latter case to give the supplementary
dyeing in "fuchsine" or "geranocine "coralline" or other artificial
red coloring matter.
This Invention and its different application may be summed up as
producing more beautiful, more economical, and better dyes. The
economy might be carried still further by combining with the mordant
in conjunction with the madder coloring matter dye stuffs which are
habitually associated with madder or rather garancine, such as for example
the coloring matter of red woods, Campechy wood, and others, such as
quercitron, yellow wood, sumac, gall nutts, and so forth. The presence
of these substances does not take away from the coloring matter of
madder its aptitude for making (with the mordants of iron and alumina)
mordants for the artificial coloring matters specified, on the contrary
several of these matters increase the attractive power of the metallic
mordants for the artificial coloring matters in question, but unfortunately
the stability of the final shades obtained suffers considerably, the
colors produced are not so well dyed. However in some cases the
economy gained by this latter method compensates for the diminished
stability of the colors. Therefore the Inventors do not exclude this
method of applying their Invention. Although the artificial coloring
matters might be mixed with the primitive dyes, and thus only one
dyeing be necessary, it is preferable to dye separately with the artificial

page_text: coloring matters, the result is more certain, and a considerable loss of
the artificial coloring matters is avoided.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention
for Improvements in Dyeing," together with the manner in which
the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect,
I would remark in conclusion that I claim as the Invention communi-
cated to me by the above named Adolphe Jean James d'Andiran and
Gustave Wegelin,-
Firstly. Dyeing unspun vegetable fibres in extract of madder with
or without the addition of other coloring matters.
Secondly. Dyeing yarns or fabrics of vegetable origin, whether printed
or not, when such dyeing is produced by the coloring matter of madder
with the addition of certain other coloring matters herein-before specified.
Thirdly. Dyeing woven fabrics or yarns or threads of vegetable origin,
printed or otherwise, when such dyeing is produced by the coloring
matter of madder with the addition of other vegetable coloring matters
and with certain other coloring matters above referred to.
Fourthly. Preliminary dyeing in madder (or extract of madder or other
derivatives of madder) vegetable fibres intended to be mixed by
spinning, weaving, or otherwise with fibres of animal origin.
Fifthly. The acceleration of dyeing in extract of madder by the aid or
addition of glycerine.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
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