IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- PARING AND BLEACHING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Begg, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING AND BLEACHING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS."
Sealed the 20th March 1857, and dated the 1st October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Begg at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st October
1856.
I, JAMES BEGG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS," to be
as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the so arranging preparing and bleaching apparatus
that the goods to be treated may be operated upon by the preparing and
bleaching agents in a continuous and most effective manner.
For this purpose a series of vats, chambers, or vessels are arranged in two
parallel rows, which rows are in communication with each other by means
of pipes or ducts suitably fitted with stop-cocks or valves.
In the first, for example, of one row of these chambers there is placed
a suitable washing or preparing liquor; in the second, a bleaching liquor;
and so on throughout the series, as may be required. The goods to be treated
according to this system are placed in the bottom of a chamber in the opposite
row, all the chambers being heated by steam. In commencing to treat goods in
this way, the valve governing the communication between the washing or pre-
paring chamber and the goods chamber is opened, and a pump or other forcing
apparatus situated on the pipe between the two chambers is then set at work.
By the action of this pump the washing or preparing liquor is drawn from its

page_text: containing chamber and forced into the goods chamber and right through the
goods therein, the liquor being allowed to flow out at the other end of the
goods chamber through a pipe fitted with an escape valve loaded to any
required pressure, and running back again to the bottom of the washing
or preparing liquor chamber. In this way, as the pump continues to work, the
liquor is continually forced through the goods, so as to penetrate and act upon
every fibre of them. When this is done, the branches leading to the bleaching
liquor chambers are successively opened, and the process is repeated until all
the bleaching ingredients have been successively forced through the goods. At
the close of the process the valves and pipes are so adjusted that the pump
draws off all the moisture from the goods, and leaves them dry for removal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Begg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BEGG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Begg, Her special license that I, the said James Begg, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Begg, my
executors, 'administrators, or 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 PREPARING AND BLEACHING
TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Begg, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 James Begg, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in, and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the so arranging preparing and bleaching
apparatus that the goods to be treated may be operated upon by the preparing
and bleaching agents in a continuous and most effective manner. For
this purpose a series of vats, chambers, or vessels are arranged in two parallel
rows, which rows are in communication with each other by means of pipes or
ducts suitably fitted with stop-cocks or valves. In the first, for example,
of one row of these chambers there is placed a suitable washing or preparing
liquor; in the second, a bleaching liquor; and so on throughout the series, as
may be required. The goods to be treated according to this system are placed
in the bottom of a chamber in the opposite row, all the chambers being heated
by steam. In commencing to treat goods in this way, the valve governing the
communication between the washing or preparing chamber and the goods
chamber is opened, and a pump or other forcing apparatus situated on the pipe
between the two chambers is then set at work. By the action of this. pump
the washing or preparing liquor is drawn from its containing chamber and
forced into the goods chamber and right through the goods therein, the liquor
being allowed to flow out at the other end of the goods chamber through
a pipe fitted with an escape valve loaded to any required pressure, and
running back again to the bottom of the washing or preparing liquor chamber.
In this way, as the pump continues to work the liquor is continually forced
through the goods, so as to penetrate and act upon every fibre of them. When
this is done the branches leading to the bleaching liquor chambers are
successively opened, and the process is repeated until all the bleaching in-
gredients have been successively forced through the goods. At the close of the
process the valves and pipes are so adjusted that the pump draws off all
the moisture from the goods and leaves them dry for removal.
And, in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the illustrative Figures on the explanatory Sheet
of Drawings which I have appended hereunto, for the purpose of showing one
modification under which my improvements may be carried out in practice.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation of my improved
apparatus as looking upon the chamber in which the goods to be treated
are placed; Figure 2 is a plan of the entire apparatus, corresponding.
In these views, A is the chamber or vat in which the actual bleaching
action takes place, and B, C, D, is the composite or cellular chamber, containing
supplies of the various liquid ingredients employed in the process. The

page_text: chamber A has attached alongside it a vertical plunger pump E, the plunger or
piston of which is actuated by an overhead eccentric, or by any other convenient
movement. The lower end of this pump communicates by a short transverse
branch F with the bottom of the chamber A, whilst an opposite branch G
communicates by means of a curved pipe H with the short horizontal pipe J,
from which branches K, L, M, pass to the respective cells or divisions of the
chamber B, C, D. This latter chamber is on a higher level than the chamber
A, and all the three branches open into it on a level with its bottom. Another
pipe N, having upon it a loaded valve 0, communicates between the upper
part of the chamber A and the open top of the first cell B in the opposite
chamber. When this apparatus is in action the working of the pump E
draws out the particular preparing or bleaching liquid which may be required,
according to whichever of the pipes, K, L, or M is made to communicate
with the
pump. The liquid so withdrawn is forcibly injected into the mass of
goods contained in the chamber A, and after thoroughly permeating the goods
the used liquid is discharged from the upper part of the chamber through the
weighted valve O on the pipe N, and again conveyed to the containing
chamber. Each pipe is fitted with governing cocks or valves, so that the
action may be quickly changed from one fluid to the other.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describo or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before.in part recited Letters Patent, is, the system or mode of pre-
paring and bleaching textile fabrics, and materials by forcing preparing and
bleaching agents through such fabrics and materials, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Begg, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JAMES BEGG. (L.S.)