CHEMICAL METHOD OF DYING DIFFERENT PERMANENT COLOURS UPON COTTON, LINNEN, WOOLLEN, AND SILK
Year: 1798

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT FRITH,
of Salford, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Dyer, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by his
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth of May, in the thirty-eighth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Robert Frith, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, His special licence, that I, the said Robert Frith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and yend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my new invented "CHEMICAL METHOD OF
DYING DIFFERENT PERMANENT COLOURS UPON COTTON, LINNEN, WOOLLEN, AND SILK;"
in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Robert Frith, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner, the said is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calender
months' next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto, had) may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Frith, do hereby declare that my new invented chemical method of
dying different permanent colours upon cotton, linnen, woollen, and silk,
is particularly described and performed in manner following, that is to say :-
To dye a permanent straw or yellow colour upon cotton, linnen, woollen,
and silk, I take one pound of the best blue galls, and boil them in one gallon

page_text: of water; if the galls be of an inferior quality boil one pound and a half to
one gallon of water, and so in proportion to their quality, untill I have a
sufficient quantity of liquor, or. L. dilute this liquor with water, according to the
strength or fullness of colour I want to dye; I work the goods in this liquor
very well, after which I pass them through aquafortis, kill'd with block tin as
follows: I take one pint of water, with one ounce of sal amoniac dissolved in
it, to which I put one pint of aquafortis; and add to them one ounce and a half
of block tin; to this preparation I mix five or six times its quantity of warm
water, or I pass them through spirits of salts kill'd with block tin only,
and diluted with the same quantity of water; then I wash them well in clear
water, and if the colour is not sufficiently full I repeat as before untill it is,
and then wash them off in soap and warm water, and dry them. Another
method of dying the same colours, after working the goods or cloth through
the gall liquor, prepared as before, I pass them through a liquor made from
ash wood or bark, ground or rasped, or from American oak wood or bark,
ground or rasped, or from crab tree wood or bark, or from apple tree wood or
bark, or from a liquor made from woulds or from shumack, or from two or
more of the above woods or barks, or from all of tliem mixed together, accord-
"ing to the shade or fullness of the colour wanted; as it is impossible to fix an
exact quantity of. woods and' barks for the above liquor; they must be regulated
according to the "goodness and strength of them; and the different shades of
colour I want to dye, making it stronger or weaker as I see occassion; after
which, I pass them through aquafortis, or spirits of salts kill'd with block tin,
as before, and diluted with water, then wash them well in water, after-which
'I wash them in soap and warm water, and dry them; or I add the aquafortis or
spirits of salts, prepared as before, to the liquor, made from the woods or bark,
till I can taste the spirits perfectly in the liquor in which I work the goods
'ten or fifteen minutes, and then wash them as before, and dry-them! Or, another
way to dye the said colours: I pass the goods through the gall liquor, prepared
as before, then I add to the same liquor aquafortis or spirits of salts, prepared
as before with block tin untill I can taste the spirits perfectly in the liquor,
then I work them ten or fifteen minutes through this liqour again,. after which
I wash them off, and dry them as above. To dye a permanent nankeen colour
on cotton or goods made of cotton, linien, woollen, or silk, instead of running
the goods through a liqour made from owler wood for bark, or mahogany
wood or bark, ground or rasped; and then through aquafortis kill'd with
block tin' and diluted with water, which method of dying, this colour I
found out and have practised for these ten years past, but which 'colour' had
not sufficient strength to resist the action of the air upon it. I now dye it as

page_text: follows, which produces as permanent and beautifull colour as any that.is dyed
in the East Indias; and capable of 'resisting the effects of the air upon it.:-
now pass the goods through the gall liqour, prepared as before stated for the
other colours, or diluted with water, according to the .colour wanted, then
through a liquor made from (owler wood or bark; ground or rasped, or mahogany
wood or bark, or slow tree wood or bark, or walliiut tree wood or bark; or
from'elm tree wood or bark, or from poplar wood or bark, ground or rasped,
or from. tea, or froin 'any two of these woods or barks, or tea, or from all of
them, the quantity of ingredients and strength of the liqour to be proportion'd
to 'the shade or fullness of the colour I have to dye; or I mix the gall ligour.
with this liqour prepared from the woods and barks; in proportion of half a
pint or more; according to the colour, to one gallon of the woods or bark liqour;
after which, I, run them througli aquafortis or spirits of salts kill'd with block-
tin as before, and diluted with five or six times its quantity of. warm water,
then wash them in clear water, after that in soap and water, and then dry,
them. Añótlier sietliod of dying the above colour: I pass the goods first,
through the liqours prépared from the woods or barks, or tea, as before stated,
or any two or more of, them, then through aquafortis or spirits of salts killid,
with block tin: as before, after which I wash them well in water, and then- run
them through the gall liqour, made asjbefore and diluted with water, according
to the shade the colour is wanted, then through the aquafortis..or spirits of
salts again; or strong allum water, or a mixture of these together, after which,
I wish them well'in clear water, through soap and warm, water, and dry,
them. To dye a permanent buffcolour-on cotton, or goods made of cotton,
linnen, woollen or silk: I-pass the goods through-the gallaliqour made as.before.
for tlie other colours; then lowork 'it through a liqour made from English oak,
bark, or English: oak wood; ground or rasp'd, or from American oak bark or.
wood, ground or rasped, lor from owler bark for wood; ground or rasped, or,
from crabtree bark or wood; ground or grasped, or from apple tree bark.
or wood; ground or rasped or from shumack, or from two or more of.
them mixid together, according to the shade or fullness of colour wanted;
then I take out the goods and add to the liqour aquafortis or spirit of salts
kill'd with "block-tinas before, till I can taste the spirits perfectly in the
liqour; then I pass of work them well through this: liqour again for ten or,
fifteen minutes, after which I wash them well in water, and if the colour is not
sufficiently strong; I repeat the same operation over again untill it-is, and then
wash them off in warm water and soap, and dry them. Another way to dye the
same colour: Lipass the goods through the gall liqour, made as.before, or diluted
with water, according to the colour I want to dye, then work them through

page_text: the liqour made from the different woods or barks, as stated before, then I pass
them through aquafortis or spirits of salts, kill'd with block tin as before, and
mix'd with five or six times its quantity of warm water, after which I wash
them well in clear water, and if the colour is not sufficiently strong, I repeat the
same method over again untill it is, then I wash them off through warni water
and soap, and dry them. To dye a permanent mud, dove, or drab colour: I take
half a pint of aquafortis and half a pint of clear water, in which I dissolve one
ounce of sal amoniac, and mix them together, to which I add, by degrees,
two ounces of silver, then I take of the gall liqour, or tea, prépared as for the
other colours, or diluted with water, according to the fullness of colour I-wish
to dye, twenty parts to one of the above spirits, and mix them together with a
few drops of copperas water or oil of vitriol, kill'd with iron and water; I
work the goods through this liqour, then dry them; after which, I ririce theñ
through strong American pot or pearl ashes, or lees, or from lees made of limé,
or lime and ashes mix'd together; after which, I wash them well in water and
dry them. Another way to dye the above colours: I take half a pint of
aquafortis, and put to it half a pint of water, to which I add two ounces of quick-
silver, then I take from ten to twenty parts of the gall liqour, prepared as for
the other colours, to one part of the above spirits,, adding to it a few drops of
copperas water, or oil of vitriol kill'd with iron and water, or aquafortis kill'd
with common tin or iron; I work the goods through this liqour, then dry them
after which, I rince them through American pot or pearl ash lees or lime leés,
or through lees made from lime and ashes mixed, after which I wash them
well through clear water, and dry them. Another method of dying the above
said mud, dove, or drab colours upon cotton, or goods made from cotton, linnen,
woollen, or silk: I take half a pint of oil of vitriol, and add to it half a pint of
water, in which I mix, by degrees, one pound of common salt, and half a pound
of manganese; then I take gall liqour, prepared as before for the other colours,
five parts to one of the above spirits, or more or less, according to the colour I
want to dye; then I add to ten or twelve parts of the above liquor mixed, one
part of the aquafortis kill'd with silver, as before stated, or three parts of that
kill'd with quicksilver, or in proportion, as I want it for strength, or fullness of
colour; I work the goods through this liqour, then dry them, after which I rince
them in American pot or pearl ashes, or lees made from lime or lime and ashes
mixed together, then I wash them well, and dry them. To dye a permanent
brown colour on cotton, or goods made of cotton, linnen, woollen, or silk, I
pass the goods through the gall liqour, prepared as for the other colours, or I
dilute it with water, according to the colour I want to dye; then I run thei
through the spirits made from oil of vitriol, common salt, and manganese, as

page_text: stated before; after which, I pass them through strong ash lees, and then through
a slender liqour, made from the oxygineated muriatic acid, diluted from spirits of
salts, manganese, and ashes, or from oil of vitriol, common salt, and manganese;
after which, I wash them well through clear water, and dry them.
In witness whercof, I, the said Robert Frith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight.