CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS FOR SPINNING AND FELTING, AND IN YARNS AND FELTS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
CLAUSSEN, of Great Charlotte Street, Blackfriars, in the County of Surrey,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Claussen, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I the said Peter Claussen, my
exors, admňors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Claussen, my
exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from.
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING AND IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS FOR
SPINNING AND FELTING, AND IN YARNS AND FELTS" (part of which improve-
ments was communicated from abroad); in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Peter Claussen, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal,

page_text: to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said
Peter Claussen, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the present Specification thereof (that is to say) :-
Firstly, my said Invention, in so far as respects improvements in bleaching,
has reference to the bleaching of all kinds of vegetablo productions, and of
fabrics or articles composed of such productions, and consists of the following
improved process-According to the usual methods of bleaching fabrics, such
as calico, the goods are first immersed in a bleaching liquor (commonly the
solntion of hypochlorite of lime, the chloride of lime of commerce), and then
are steeped in a bath of water acidulated with sulphuric acid. By this plan
the chlorine is set free, either in its simple form, or in combination with
oxygen (as chlorous or hypochlorous acids), or in chemical union with the
hydrogen of the water (as hydrochloric acid), and thus either is wasted by its
escape, or.is rendered injurious to the fabric by remaining too long in contact
with it. Now, instead of this, I adopt the following process, whereby the
whole, or a great portion of the chlorine or chloro compound is kept in a
combined state, and recovered for future use, by the term chloro compound.
I do not mean a salt containing "chlorine," but an acid having "chlorine" for its
base, such as chlorous or hypochlorous acids. In this process then of
bleaching, I take the goods after they have passed through the bleaching
liquor (say a solution of the bypochlorite of lime), and then steep them in a
strong solution of some salt whose acid has a more powerful affinity for lime
than hypochlorous, and thus a strong solution of sulphate of magnesia may be
employed, the sulphuric acid of which, having a strong affinity for lime,
combines with the earthy base of the bleaching salt above mentioned, and
forms sulphate of lime, and the chloro compound, being thus liberated,
unites with the magnesia of the sulphate of magnesia, a new salt (hypo-
chlorite of magnesia), having bleaching properties, similar to the lime salt
first employed. This newly formed compound may be in the next instance
used as a primary bleaching agent, and may again be subjected to the
process of double decomposition, as in the foregoing example. Thus, the
goods having been exposed to the action of hypochlorite of magnesia in
solution, may then be steeped in a liquid holding in solution some carbonate
or other salt, for whose base the hypochlorous acid bas a greater affinity than

page_text: for the magnesia. In such a case, the carbonic acid, having also a strong attrac-
tion for the magnesia, combines with it to form a carbonate of that earth, and the
liberated chloro compound, instead of escaping or remaining so long in contact
with the goods as to injure them, combines with the base of the carbonate
employed to produce decomposition, and forms a new salt having bleaching pro- .
perties. This salt may also be brought under the same laws of double decompo-
sition as exemplified before, and with similar results. Thus, if the carbonate
employed in the foregoing instance had been carbonate of barytes, and a solution
of sulphate of magnesia or of lime were brought into contact with the resulting
chloro..compound salt of barytes, a precipitate of the base as a sulphate of
barytes, will take place, and the chloro compound will unite with the lime or
magnesia to form a bleaching salt. I would mention, however, that in
bleaching flax, or other like vegetable material for making linens, no com-.
pounds should be used which are likely during their decomposition to evolve
any gaseous matters, such as carbonic acid or chlorine, as, by their develope-
ment and expansion in the fibrous tubes, the flax, or any similar material,
would be rendered not so fit for spinning with the ordinary flax spinning
machinery; but in bleaching flax, or any similar material, which is to be
combined with other materials for spinning and felting according to my
Invention, compounds evolving gas may be safely used, as I shall hereafter
more fully specify and explain. For the purpose of bleaching by the method
of double decomposition, I do not confine myself to the compounds already
mentioned as examples, nor to any particular salts or class of salts, but I claim
a right to use any which, when placed under the like circumstances as before
exemplified in the case of goods treated by the hypochlorite of lime and the
sulphate of magnesia, will be subject to the same chemical law of decom-
position, and will produce the same result. However, I may particularize, as
among the salts suitable for decomposing, the chloro compound salts; or assist-
ing themselves in the process of bleaching, the carbonates, such as the carbo-
nate or bicarbonate of soda) sulphates (as sulphate of magnesia, &c.), nitrates
(as nitrate of soda, &c.), acetates (as acetates of potash and of lead, &c.), prus-
siates (as prussiates of potash, &c.), chromates (as chromate and bichromate of
potash, &c.), tartrates (as tartrate and bitartrate of potash, &c.), but I repeat
that I do not confine myself to these, which are merely given as examples.
Another mode of bleaching which I sometimes employ, and which is
especially applicable to goods composed of both animal and vegetable fibres, is
as follows:-I take the goods after they have been steeped in any of the
ordinary bleaching liquors, such as the solution of hypochlorite of lime
(chloride of lime), and while they are still wet I expose them to the fumes of

page_text: sulphur slowly burning in a suitable chamber or stove. In this case I have
two powerful bleaching agents at work, viz, the hypochloritic compound, and
the sulphurous acid produced by the combustion of the sulphur. A portion of
the sulphurous acid combines with the base of the chloro compound salt
to form a sulphite of lime or magnesia, as the case may be, and a small
portion of sulphuric acid may also in this case be formed, which with the oarth
or base would form a sulphate. In this way the chlorine or chloro compound
remaining in the wetted goods is liberated, and allowed to act freely upon the
articles to be bleached. In this last method of bleaching, I have ascertained
that there may be occasionally substituted for the ordinary and known
bleaching liquids, certain chromates, manganates, and hypermanganates.
Secondly, my improvements in the preparation of materials for spinning
and felting have special relation to flax and hemp, and other plants to which
the same may be applicable; and the processes I use to prepare the same,
though possessed of some features common to the whole, vary according
to the purposes to which the fibre obtained from the said materials is to be
applied; that is to say, according as the fibre is required to be long or short,
fine or course, and the machinery in which it is to be spun is adapted to the
spinning of one or other sort of fibre. By the term "fibre," as used through-
out the Specification, I mean that portion of each plant which is capable of
being spun or felted, and my Invention applies to the fibre surrounding the
stems of dicotylidenous plants, and to that existing in the stems and leaves of
monocotylidenous plants. In the following exemplifications of my improved
modes of preparation, I shall throughout suppose flax or hemp to be the
material operated upon. If I have to deal with the plant from the time of its
being first cut down or pulled for use, I take it in the state of straw (after the
seed has been stripped from it), and subject it to the following, which I call
my primary process. I first steep the straw in a solution of a caustic alkali,
of about one degree of Twaddel's hydrometer, and for such a length of time
as may be most convenient. If dispatch is required, I use the solution in
a boiling state, in which case an immersion of about six hours is sufficient.
If more time can be conveniently allowed, I employ a solution of a tempera-
ture of about 150° Fahrenheit, and prolong the immersion for about twelve
hours, and so in proportion to the degree of temperature. The solution may
be even used at a lower temperature, at a corresponding prolongation of time,
but in no case need the immersion exceed a couple of days at the utmost.
The object of the preceding treatment is two-fold-First, to decompose,
dissolve, or remove (more or less) as required the glutinous, gummy, or other
matters which connect the fibre with the woodly portion of the plant; and,

page_text: second, to discharge or decompose any oleaginous, colouring, or extraneous
matter contained in the straw, without allowing the matters so discharged
to stain the fibre, and these results are obtained by the action of the alkaline
solution. In the proceding mode of preparing vegetable materials, I generally
use a solution of caustic soda, but other alkaline liquors will answer the
purpose, such as a solution of caustic, potash, or lime, dissolved in or diffused
in water; or indeed any substanco having the like power of removing, dis-
charging, or decomposing the colouring or glutinous, gummy, or other foreign.
matters contained in the straw, and which would interfere with the whiteness
of the fibre, or with its ready separation and manufacture. If the fibre is
required to be long, like that now commonly spun in flax machinery, I subject
the straw to a second process for the purpose of getting rid of any of the
alkali still adhering to the straw or fibre, and for the purpose. of completing
(if necessary) the removal of any glutinous, gummy, colouring, or extraneous,
matters. To this end I take the straw from the alkaline solution and steep it for.
about two hours in water acidulated by sulphuric acid, and in the proportion of.
about one part of the acid to from two to five hundred parts of water. Some
other dilute acids will also answer the purpose, such as dilute muriatic acid, &c.,.
but sulphuric acid is to be preferred. Or, I transfer the straw, while yet wet
with the alkaline solution, to a suitable chamber or stove, where I.subject. it to
the action of sulphurous acid, or the fumes produced by the slow combustion
of sulphur. In both cases, the acid combines with any free alkali remaining
on the straw or fibre to form a sulphite or sulphate, according to the acid
employed, while an excess of either sulphuric or of sulphurous acid will
complete the decomposition, discharge, or removal of the glutinous, colouring,
and other matters. I next remove the straw from the acid bath or sulphur
chamber or stove, and wash or otherwise treat it with water till all soluble
matters are removed. If the fibre is required to be decolorized, the straw may
now be exposed to one of the bleaching processes which I have already
described, or to any of the other known bleaching processes. It may then be
dried, ready for breaking and scutching by the means ordinarily followed in the
manufacture of long flax. I would mention here, that in some cases it will be
found advantageous to pass the straw between rollers, or to break it roughly
or partially before subjecting it to the process above described, for the purpose
of facilitating the action of the chemical agents upon it. By the aforesaid
method I am enabled to remove from the straw certain matters which water
alone cannot discharge. The fibre thus prepared is also freer to heckle, and
the straw more easy to scutch, than fibre and straw treated in the ordinary way.
Much time and much niaterial are also saved, while the noxious exhalations

page_text: attendant upon the water rotting system are wholely prevented. If the fibre is
required to be short, so that it may be felted or carded, and adapted for
spinning on. cotton, silk, wool, worsted, or tow spinning machinery, either
alone or in combination with cotton, wool, hair, fur, silk, or shoddy, I take
the fibre, after treating it by the processes just described, and divide it in
proper lengths by some suitable instrument or machine. I then transfer the
straw or fibre to a bath, containing a strong solution of bicarbonate, sesqui-
carbonate, or even carbonate of soda, or any other suitable compound, but the.
first two of these are to be preferred as most abounding in carbonic acid. In
this bath I allow it to remain for about three or four hours, during which time
the fibre becomes well saturated with the salt. I then immerse the materials
impregnated with the solution of the carbonates before named for about a
couple of hours.in water acidulated by sulphuric acid, of about the strength of
one part of acid to two hundred parts of water. Or, instead thereof, I expose
the saturated materials while wet to the action of the burning sulphur in a
suitable chamber or stove. In this operation it appears that a certain portion
of gas being developed in the fibrous tubes, splits and divides them by its
expansive power into filaments, having the character and appearance of fine,
cotton wool, in which state they may be dyed and manufactured like cotton or
wool. The same means of effecting the splitting of the fibre may of course be
employed in the preparation of long fibre, and I do not limit myself to its use
for the preparation of short fibre alone; but when the fibre is of its original
length, the solution employed takes a longer time to penetrate the interior.
The decomposition of the bicarbonate of soda, or other suitable compound with
which the fibre is saturated, may be also effected by means of electric agency,
when a like evolution of gas and splitting up of the fibre will take place.
After the fibre has been subjected to the splitting process, it must be carefully.
washed to remove all soluble matters, and then dried. The splitting process
may
be applied to the plant either in the straw (the wood of which is to be
afterwards removed by proper means, and machinery), or. in the state of long
fibre, whether prepared by my before-described process, or by any of the usual
and known processes.
Thirdly, my Invention, in so far.as it relates to improvements in yarns and
felts, consists in composing the same of the following new combinations of
materials I manufacture a yarn, which I call flax cotton yarn, composed
partly of flax fibre, prepared and cut into short lengths as aforesaid, and partly
of cotton, varying the proportions at pleasure. This yarn is much stronger
than yarn. composed of cotton alone, and also much whiter and more glossy,
while it is equally capable of being spun in the ordinary cotton-spinning

page_text: machinery. I also manufacture yarns composed in like manner partly of hemp
fibre, or of jute, or of phormium tenax, or of other like vegetable fibre (China
grass excepted), prepared and cut into short lengths as aforesaid, and partly of
cotton, which yarns each possess the same properties (more or less) as the flax
cotton yarn. I manufacture also a yarn, which I call flax yarn, composed
partly of flax prepared and cut into short lengths as aforesaid, or any other
like vegetable fibre (cotton and China grass excepted), and partly of wool, or
of that description of it called "shoddy," or partly of furor hair, or partly of any
two or more of the said materials, which yarn is stronger than any yarn
composed of wool alone. Some wools also, which are too short to be spun by
themselves, may, by being mixed with flax fibre cut into short lengths, form a
material very suitable for spinning. I manufacture also a yarn composed
partly of flax or other like vegetable fibre (China grass excepted), prepared
and cut into short lengths as aforesaid, and partly of waste silk, that is, silk of
the short lengths in which it exists before reeling; or silk rags cut into short
lengths and carded.
Lastly, flax felts of a fineness and softness equal to the best felts, composed
wholly of wool, and superior to them in point of durability, are also produced
by a mixture of flax fibre, prepared and cut into short lengths as aforesaid,
with wool, fur, hair, or any other feltable material.
:
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the part communicated to
me from abroad was all that part relating to the combination of flax cut into
short lengths with shoddy, the knowledge of which I derived from one
Ahnesorge, of Holstein. And I declare that what I claim, as secured to me by
the said Letters Patent, is as follows:-
First, I claim the method of bleaching by double decomposition before
described, whereby the various bleaching agents and compounds used may be
recovered and economized.
Second, I claim the method of bleaching, the combined action of chlorides,
or carbonates, or chromates, or any other bleaching agent, with fumes of
sulphur, as before described.
Third, I claim the preparing of flax and hemp, and of all vegetable fibre
capable of being spun or felted, from whatever descriptions of plants obtainable,
by steeping the plant from which the fibre is derived, while in the state of
straw, stern, leaf, or fibre, first in a solution of caustic, soda, or other solution
of like properties, and then in a bath of dilute sulphuric or other suitable acid,
as before exemplified and described.

page_text: Fourth, I claim the preparing of the said vegetable fibre for spinning in
cotton and silk machinery, and for being combined with cotton, wool, raw silk,
or other materials of short staple, by firstly steeping the same in a solution of
caustic, soda, or other solution of like properties; secondly, steeping them in a
bath of dilute sulphuric, or other suitable acid, or exposing them to the fumes
of sulphur; thirdly, saturating them with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, or
any other like agent, and then decomposing such salt (however such decompo-
sition may be effected); and fourthly, cutting them up into short lengths, all
as before. exemplified and described.
Fifth, I claim the employment generally in the preparation of flax, hemp,
and other sorts of vegetable fibre, of the mode of splitting by gascous expansion
as before described, whether the fibre is long or short, and whatever may be
the purpose to which the same is to be applied.
Sixth, I claim the manufacture of yarns and felts from a conibination of
flax or like vegetable fibre (China grass excepted), prepared and mixed
aforesaid with cotton, wool, shoddy, silk waste, fur, and hair, all or any of
them as before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Claussen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord