IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOILING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS, AND IN; APPARATUS THEREFOB.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Horrocks, of Eccles, in the County of.
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOILING,
SCOURING, OR CLEANSING OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS, AND IN;
APPARATUS THEREFOB.'
"
Scaled the 11th July 1873, and dated the 21th February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by tho said James Horrocks.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21th February 1873.
I, JAMES HORROOKS, of Eccles, in the County of Lancaster, do
3 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE BOILING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING OF TEXTILE Fabrics and MATERIALS, AND
IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," to bo as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to the boiling, scouring, or cleansing
of groy cloth or calico, but is or may also be applicable in tho treatment
of other fabrics, or of yarn, or other toxtilo material.

page_text: I have found several advantages to attend the operation of my said
Invention, amongst which advantages I may mention that the goods are
not lessened in strength so much as in the ordinary processes, and that
I am enabled to employ weaker lyes than ordinarily used.
;
₺ SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Horrocks in the Groat Soal Patent Office
on the 23rd August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, James
HORROOKS, of Ecoles, in the County of Lancaster, sond groeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing dato the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the '
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc.
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Horrocks, Her
5 special licenso that I, the said James Horrocks, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Horrocks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agreo with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter,
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
O 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 THE BOILING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING OF TEXTILE FABRICS
AND MATERIALS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said James Horrocks, by an instrument in writing
5 under my hand and scal, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately.
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
) NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Horrocks, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
•
I
"

page_text: and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:
My Invention relates principally to the boiling, scouring, or cleansing
of grey cloth or calico, but is or may also be applicable in the treatment
of other fabrics, or of yarn, or other textile material.
In the ordinary processes the goods are usually placed in an open or
closed kier, and the lye or detergent liquid is maintained at or near a
boiling temperature throughout the operation of the said lye by means
of steam or by the application of heat to the said kier, or to a separate
vessel into which the said lye is conducted after having passed through 1
the said kier, the heat imparted to the said lye causing it to circulate
through the said kier.
In the process conducted in manner according with my said In-
vention the goods are placed in a kier or vessel capable of sustaining a
high pressure, and after the man-holo lid has been secured in the 1
ordinary manner heated lye or detergent liquid is pumped into the space
within the kier above the goods, and is forced by the pump or pumps
through the mass of goods within the kier. The lye flowing from the
lower part of the kier is reheated, and is again pumped into the upper
part of the kier.
2
I prefer to heat the lyo by causing it to flow through a coil or through
a range of pipes outwardly exposed to steam of a suitable pressure, but
any suitable heater may be employed for the purpose. The circulation
of the lye through the heater and through the kier is maintained by the
action of the pump until the temperature of the kier is raised to a 2
suitable degree, the operator having such control over the temperature of
the said lye as to be able to readily increase or decrease the temperaturo
of the contents of the kier as may be necessary or desirable in cach case.
The valves through which the lye flows when entering and leaving the
kier are closed when the desired temperature and pressure are attained, 3
or when the lye has been circulated through the kier as long as is con-
sidered to be suitable in each case. The said kier is then allowed to
remain filled with lye and goods for a considerable time, say, for example,
for about twelve hours.
And in order that my said Invention may be more readily described 3

page_text: a Sheet of Drawings made to a scale of about one inch to the foot, and
marked with letters of reference.
Referring in this place to tho said Drawings, A. is a closed or high
pressure kier, which is provided with a man-holo not scen in the
Drawing; B is a circulating pump; and O is a heater. Tho said kier is
provided with a perforated false bottom a, upon which the goods rest,
and with a central pipe 6, which is perforated at c, c, for the passage of
lye or liquid into the goods, and at d for the flow of lyo from the kier to
the exit pipe e, the flow of liquor, excepting through the goods, being '
prevented by the block f. The liquor enters the kier through the pipe
and the stop valvo h, the said pipe being in communication with the
heater O. The said heater consists of a coil, which is enclosed in a
casing &, which is supplied with steam by means of the pipe 7. The said
coil is connected at one end with the pipo g, and at the other end with
the pipe m, which leads from the outlet passage of the pump B. The
inlet passage of the said pump is connected with the pipe c, which com-
municates with the lower part of the kier, and the said inlet passage is
also connected with the pipo n, which communicates with the preparing
pan in which the lye or scouring fluid is prepared.
My method of operating with the apparatus when scouring groy calico
may be described in manner as follows:-Supposing the kier to have
been charged with goods and the man-hole to have been secured, and
that a lyc has been prepared, tho valve o is opened to admit lye to the
pump, and the valves and p being open the pump is caused to act, and
the lye is thereby forced through the coil, wherein it receives licat, and
thenco through the pipe into the kior, the valve being opened for a
short time to permit the escape of air from within the kier. The
pumping is continued until the kier is filled with lye and until thero is
a pressure within the kier, the amount of such pressure being ascertained
at any time during the operation by inspecting the guage 8. The valve o
is now to be closed and the valve & to be opened, whereby tho pump will
be caused to withdraw lye from the lower part of the kier and to return
it through the heater to the upper part of the kier. The circulation of
the lyo through the kier and through the mass of goods contained:
therein is continued for about two to four hours, the lye being heated to
a temperaturo of about one hundred and eighty to two hundred and
twenty degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures of the lye when entering.

page_text: and leaving the kier are ascertained by reference to the thermometers v
and w. The said circulation having continued for as long a period as
may be considered suitable, and thero being a pressure, say of ten to
forty pounds per square inch within the kier, the action of the pump is
arrested, and the valves h and t are closed. The contents of the kier are
now allowed to remain at rest for about eight to twelve hours, during
which time the pressure and temperature within the kier becomes gra-
dually lower. The lowering of the temperature of the contents of the
kier takes place so slowly that the action of the lye continues during the
period of rest without the application of heat to the lye or to the kier. 1
The lye may now be discharged through the waste valve 2, and the kier
be opened. The goods will now be found to be scoured and cleansed, and
to be bleached or decolourised to a great extent.
}
The details of the apparatus and of the process, as herein-before
described, may be varied to suit different varieties of goods or as may be 1
found suitable in any case, so long as the most important feature is
retained, namely, the allowing of the contents of the closed kier to
remain at rest, subject at the commencement of the period of rest to heat

page_text: Signed and scaled by the said
James Horrocks in the
presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent for the Patentee,
Manchester.
JAMES HORROOKS. (L.S.)