AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING COLORS FOR PRINTING AND STAINING FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING COLORS FOR
PRINTING AND STAINING FABRICS."-A communication.
Sealed the 9th November 1855, and dated the 10th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING COLORS
FOR PRINTING AND STAINING FABRICS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of preparing colors for printing upon
or staining fabrics. For this purpose, liquid caoutchouc, whether preserved in
its liquid state by ammonia, or otherwise brought to or retained in that state,
is used as a vehicle for the colors employed. The colors, having been reduced
to a finely divided state, are carefully mixed with the liquid caoutchouc, and
when required to be thickened, to facilitate the operation of printing, gum,
glue, or other thickening inaterial may be employed; or, for the like purpose,

page_text: milk may be advantageously employed, or albuminous substances, such as the
white of eggs. Body colors, such as ultramarine, which enter with difficulty
into the pores of a fabric, will by this Invention be permanently fixed, and
present a velvety appearance not hitherto attainable. When a more fluid color
or bath is desired for dyeing, the caoutchouc may be used alone, or it may even
be diluted with water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING COLORS FOR PRINTING AND STAINING
FABRICS," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the naturo
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 (that is to say):-

page_text: This Invention consists in the employment and use of liquid caoutchouc or
india-rubber, the native juice or milk of the tree, whether preserved in its
liquid state by ammonia, or by any other means, as a vehicle for conveying it
to and fastening upon the fabrics aforesaid any of the mineral pigments, lakes,
and dyes usually employed for coloring, painting, and printing. But the liquid
caoutchouc is more particularly adapted to the fastening of colors in a fine
powder, such as ultramarine, chrome yellow, drop lake, &c.
To enable others skilled in the art to make use of this Invention, I will
proceed to describe the manner of carrying out the improvements.
To the liquid caoutchouc as it comes from the tree is added the pigment
which is required to be prepared, such pigment or color having previously been
reduced to a finely divided state. Those which are not already sufficiently fine
may be ground in an indigo mill, or in any other suitable manner. In order
to give to the material thus prepared a sufficient consistence to enable it to be
applied to the goods and to prevent the pigments from settling, the India
gum juice may be thickened by evaporation, or by incorporating with it
British gum, glue, gum tragacanth, or any gums or substances generally
employed as thickeners. The first of these methods, viz, by evaporating the
liquid itself, is expensive, and is very rarely employed; and it is found that
where the above-mentioned gums are employed, that they are liable to be
washed out before the colour is entirely set, and the beauty and permanency of
the latter is impaired. To remedy this, some economical method of thickening
the caoutchouc liquid became necessary, and the Inventor discovered that this
end might be fully attained by the mixture of milk in certain proportions with
the liquid juice. Although each of these articles alone will readily coagulate,
when exposed to the atmosphere, the liquid separating from the more solid
portions, when mixed they no longer undergo this change, but become much
less fluid than they were before being commingled, and are thereby rendered of
a suitable consistence to be mixed directly with the pigments.
The proportions of the milk and juice to be employed vary with the nature
of the work to be done, the pigment employed, and the fabric to be printed ;
the quantity of the milk varying in extreme cases from ten to seventy-five per
cent. of the india-rubber juice. In place of milk, albuminous substances, such
as the white of eggs, may be employed for the same purpose; and when a
more fluid colour or bath is desired for dyeing, the caoutchouc may be used
alone, or it may even be diluted with water. Those colors, which, like ultra-
marine, enter with difficulty into the pores and fibres of the fabric, and which
require to be applied by means of an albuminous preparation, are permanently
and very perfectly fixed by means of the liquid caoutchouc, at the same time

page_text: that the figure has a raised and velvety appearance, not attainable by any
other means.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Preparing Colors for Printing and Staining Fabrics," as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood, that, under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, I claim the use of liquid uncoagulated caoutchouc,
whether mixed or uncombined with other substances, as a vehicle for the appli-
cation of coloring matter, and the means of rendering it more or less liquid, as
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (LS.)