IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF TREATING THE THREADS OF FLOSS SILK, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE THREADS OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Murdoch, of 7, Staple Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the invention of AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PROCESS OF TREATING THE THREADS OF FLOSS SILK, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE THREADS OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication from
Gabriel Armand, of Lyons.
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the invention of AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PROCESS OF TREATING THE THREADS OF FLOSS SILK, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE THREADS OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication from
Gabriel Armand, of Lyons.
Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 9th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Murdoch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
February 1857.
I, JAMES MURDOCH, of 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE PROCESS OF TREATING THE THREADS OF FLOSS SILK, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE THREADS OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of the principle of the process
adopted in spinning or winding silk from the cocoon to the threads of floss
silk which have been carded and spun (from whatever source such floss or
waste silk may be produced), to give to such threads the appearance of silk
wound from the cocoon, the principle being modified according to the nature
of the materials operated upon and of the transformation it undergoes, as, for
instance, by the addition of size or gum to the hot water in the bath. The
principle is equally applicable to the improvement of raw silk badly spun,
defective, downy, or flaxy, so as to give it an aspect, and quality, similar to

page_text: superior products. The process is likewise applicable to the threads of all
fibrous materials produced by combing or carding, whereby they obtain
smoothness and lustre. The apparatus which I employ in the application of
this process is composed of a vessel filled with hot water, in which gum or
size is dissolved, in which vessel is immersed, by means of a glass rod, the
thread which is to be treated, and which unwinds itself from a bobbin placed
outside the vessel; the thread as it leaves the vessel passes over three or four
sponges placed zig-zag, which deprives it of its water and moisture, whilst at
the same time it undergoes a pressure from the sponges. The result of this
arrangement is, that the thread (which is drawn upwards by a reel, upon
which the said thread is wound, as in winding silk from the cocoon) undergoes
in the water vessel a transformation equivalent to the loss of its twist; then
a kind of opening out, by the drawing, the tension, and the friction against the
sponges, which, after having aired it and almost dried it, deprives it of its
down, and imparts to it a lustre analagous to that of wrought silk, for the
gum and the pressure having drawn together the filaments composing the
thread, and caused them to adhere together, the thread presents an evenness
and unity of fibre like that of wrought silk, which it resembles in appearance,
and may thenceforth be treated like it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Murdoch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MURDOCH, of 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Hér Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Murdoch, Her special licence, that I, the said James Murdoch,
iny executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Murdoch, 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 IMPROVEMENT IN THE
my

page_text: PROCESS OF TREATING THE THREADS OF FLOSS SILK, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
THE THREADS OF OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," a communication from Gabriel
Armand, of Lyons, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Murdoch, my executors or adminstrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Murdoch, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of the Invention is to impart to single threads as produced by
carding and spinning, and more especially to threads of spun floss silk, the
appearance of threads of raw silk, their properties and value, without down,
and without having recourse to twisting or singeing, by replacing factitiously
the gummy portions of the cocoons of silk, and also the crossings of the
spinning or reeling of the cocoons by a rubbing or friction, which produces
smoothness of the threads, to which result the swiftness of the reel upon which
the thread is wound at the close of the operation contributes.
My said Invention is carried out by immersing the threads in water in
which gum or size is dissolved, which has the effect of straightening the fibre
by a kind of untwisting; then these fibres undergoing a sort of drawing or
stretching by their unwinding and recling, their straightened fibres assume
a parallel direction amongst themselves, which is rendered permanent by tho
size or gummy material, and at the same time the friction which the thread.
is exposed to in this wet-state smooths it and renders it soft and glossy, whilst
the fibres cannot become separated, thereby producing a homogeneous thread
as indecomposable as the thread of raw silk; by this means, therefore, is
obtained a smooth, solid, glossy, and shining thread, instead of a downy thread
without strength, like that of spun floss silk.
It will be apparent that the mechanical carrying out of this process may bq
effected in various ways, since it is merely to cause the thread to plunge in a
vessel containing a solution of size or gum, and afterwards to deprive the thread
of its water, at the sanic time causing it to rub against substances which will
render it smooth, and that during this time it shall undergo a species of
drawing or stretching before it is wound, in a dry or nearly dry state, upon the
reel, from which it is afterwards withdrawn to form a skein of larger or smaller

page_text: size. But as this process is based upon that employed in the reeling of the thread
of the cocoon, I have thought that the apparatus employed for this reeling
might serve as a type for the mode of carrying the Invention into effect, I there-
fore think that the best mode of operation consists in the employment of the
known system of spinning, or rather, reeling, of the threads of the cocoon, with
the modification required by the new application of this system, viz', on the
one hand, the addition of size or gum to the water in the pan, with the
addition at the same time of spongey or other analogous substances, to deprive
the thread of its water as it leaves the pan, whilst these substances forming
angles with each other serve to smooth the thread by the rubbing it is exposed
to, besides a sort of drawing or stretching it undergoes in its passage from the
pan to the reel, and which produces that parallelism of the fibres that makes
a thread presenting a smoothness of texture analogous to raw silk.
The materials which I have hitherto employed with the best results as size
or gum are Flanders size, isinglass, gum tragacanth, and gelatine. The pro-
portions may be indefinitely varied, according to the coarseness of the thread;
I have frequently employed them in the proportion of 900 to 1,200 grains to
8 pints of water; I sometimes also mix these gums and size together in
different proportions, so as by their mixture, or their nature, or their propor-
tions to obtain, according to the nature of the thread operated upon, the effect
of the natural gum with which the threads of the silk of the cocoon are
ordinarily impregnated, and which those which I submit to transformation or
rectification by my process no longer possess. Furthermore, it is difficult to
fix precisely proportions which practice only can determine. It is sufficient
that I here point out the nature of the size or gums which I have employed,
to enable others, in case of need, even to substitute other sorts for them which
shall answer the same end, and that I point out the proportions which I think
the best, but which may be varied, according to the circumstances of the
operation.
I now proceed to describe the apparatus by means of which I carry the
Invention into effect, and which is no other than that commonly employed for
the spinning of silk, or rather, the reeling of the cocoons, and in which I have
introduced changes and modifications to suit the new application which I make
of the apparatus. I desire it should be understood that I do not limit myself
to the employment of this particular apparatus for carrying out my Invention,
any other analogous process, or which may be suitable for the reeling of silk,
being equally applicable to the purpose of my Invention when modified in the
same manner that I have modified this apparatus, which has appeared to me
to be the most suitable.

page_text: Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing represents a side elevation of the
machine, and Figure 2 a front elevation of the same. Only one reel is shewn,
as the number may be varied according to the size of the place where the
machine is at work or to the strength of the frame, which is represented as
broken off in the said Figure, which then represents only the two extremities
of the machine. Figure 3 represents a mode of throwing into and out of gear
by friction, to set in motion or to stop the reel (the blue lines indicate the
position of the parts when in gear, and the black lines the position of the parts
when out of gear); Figure 4 shews in plan, the pan divided into two com-
partments, Nos. 1 and 2, in one of which, No. 2, the plunger of the thread
is raised to facilitate the placing of the thread proceeding from the bobbin,
which is charged with the thread to be treated by the process; Figure 5
shews an optional modification of the machine, that is to say, for the two
upper sponges are substituted two cylinders covered with stuff, placed above
the lower sponges, the places of which are indicated in this Figure by, three
lines of reference x, x, a, in blue; Figure 6 is a front view of the same modified
part. In all these Figures the same letters indicate the same parts.
A is the frame of the machine; B, the pan, containing a solution of size or
gum, in which is plunged the thread which is to be operated upon; b, a cock
for wholly or partially emptying the pan; C, a pipe, by which, steam, produced
by any kind of generator, is brought into the pan to heat the water therein;
D is a bobbin, upon which is wound the thread which is to be operated upon,
and which is placed outside the pan; E, the plunger for immersing the thread
coming from the bobbin in the water in the pan in which gum or size is
dissolved. This plunger carries a sponge e, as also a tube of glass e¹, against
which the immersed thread passes, as is likewise clearly shewn in Figure 1, in
which the upper side of the pan is shewn as removed, in order to shew better
the parts above described. Before the thread from the bobbin (shewn in red
upon the Drawing) is immersed in the pan, it passes over a glass roller e",
which serves as a guide and support to it. The effect of this first sponge upon.
the thread is to smooth it in giving it the first pressure. F, sponges, against
which the thread (drawn by the reel, as I shall hereafter explain) undergoes
sundry rubbings for the purpose of pressing and smoothing it, and to deprive
it of the water with which the said sponges become charged by their contact
with the thread. These sponges are held in sliding pincers or sponge holders
f, the inner ends of which are supported by an upright A', connected to the
frame A. of the machine. This end of the sponge holders is fastened to the
upright A' by binding screws f', which allow the sponges to be drawn forward
or backward according to the angle which it is desired they should form with

page_text: each other, with a view to the rubbings, the pressure, or the drawing of the
thread, according as the thread requires to undergo these operations in a
greater or a less degree. Any other means of supporting the sponge holders
may be adopted which will admit of the distance between the sponges being
varied, whether laterally or longitudinally; and although I prefer to use sponges,
yet I reserve to myself the right of making use of any animal or vegetable
material, natural or artificial (as, for instance, woollen cloth), which is of a
nature to answer (or nearly so) the same end as the sponges, that is to say, to
press and smooth the thread as it leaves the pan by the several rubbings to
which I expose it, to give it the smoothness of fibre which appertains to raw
silk wound from the cocoon. G, a glass ring to guide the thread on to the
reel. This ring is mounted upon a sliding bar G¹, suspended from the frame
at g, and is capable of a horizontal movement to and fro by means of the
diagonal guidance produced by the cylinder G", which has a grove g" cut in
it; this cylinder receives motion from the pulley g', which itself is set in
motion by the mover of the machine. This method I need not further
describe, inasmuch as it is used for recling silk from the cocoons, in order to
spread the silk over the reel in different layers, so as to facilitate the sub-
sequent reeling or winding. H is the reel upon which the thread is wound as
fast as it undergoes the treatment which constitutes my Invention, the chief
object of which is to give it that smoothness of texture which it acquires
by the said treatment. It will be readily understood that the end of the
thread being made fast to the said reel, the reel will, in turning, draw
the thread, which will thus be wound upon it. J, a friction roller mounted
upon the axle of the reel II, to cause the latter to turn. The said
roller receives a rotatory motion from the drum K, by contact with it. When
it is wished to stop the reel, the contact is broken, that is to say, a sort
of throwing out of gear is effected, in lieu of the contact by which it is
thrown into gear; Figure 3 shews very clearly this double action. Suppose
this part of the machine to be in gear, as shown by the blue lines in the
Figure 3, if it be wished to throw it out of gear to stop the reel, whether
because a thread has broken or because the reel has enough thread upon it,
the workman draws towards him the handle L, which then becomes heavier
than the weight M; it follows that in causing the handle to turn downwards,
the axis of the roller becomes displaced, as is seen in Figure 3, which effect is a
due to the displacement of the weight M, which being displaced, no longer
causes the contact of the roller J with the drum K, and hence the throwing out
of gear. An opposite manœuvre effects the throwing into gear, that is to say,
the weight being restored to its former position renews the contact or throw-

page_text: ing into gear by the operation of the weight upon the roller. Furthermore,
this method is in use in many kinds of apparatus for reeling silk from cocoons,
and also any other mode of throwing into and out of gear may be substituted
for it, since it is merely an accessory to the operation. N is a pulley fixed
upon the axle of the drum K, which pulley receives the strap P, communicating
motion from any suitable prime mover, as manual labor, or water or steam
power. Figures 5 and 6 represent an optional modification of the machine;
R, R, are two rollers covered with cloth, as shewn at R', on a scale double
that of the rollers in Figures 5 and 6. Upon a small wooden cylinder are
fixed by any suitable means pieces of cloth, standing edgeways or radiating
from the centre; when set close together their periphery presents nearly a
smooth surface, which has the advantage of rendering the thread passing over
it smooth and glossy whilst it is still slightly damp. These rollers are mounted
upon spindles, which admit of their being changed when they become too wet.
Rotatory motion is communicated to them by the wheels S, which are driven
by the pulley T, over which passes a strap, which passes also over another
pulley U, placed upon the axis of the drum K. From what has been said
above, it will be readily understood that when it is wished to treat a thread of
spun floss silk for example, that is to say, a single thread produced by carding,
drawing, and spinning, and not twisted nor combined with other threads, nor
milled, all that is required is to place the bobbin upon which it is wound in a
suitable position near the pan, or the compartment of the pan in which the
thread is to be immersed. We.have seen that in this pan there has been in
the first place dissolved some gelatine or animal size, known as Flanders size
or glue, in the proportion of 900 to 1,200 grains to a pint and a half of water,
or the proportion can be easily determined by a trial or two, according to the
thickness of the thread, 'the quality of the size, the temperature, and other
indications which practice only can give. It is the same with respect to the
heat of the water in the boiler, which should be similar to that in the pans in
which the cocoons are placed when the thread is being wound off them.
Having detached one end of the thread which is on the bobbin, and having
immersed it in the pan through which it continues to pass (being held down
by the plunger), then placing it against the sponges, and having passed it
through the glass ring, and lastly, having made fast the end of the thread to
the reel, a rotatory motion is given to the reel in the manner described, or by
any analogous means, which causes the thread to be reeled off the bobbin,'
which thread becomes moistened, and in stretching occasions an untwisting or
partial separation of the small fibres which are twisted together, so as to place
these fibres parallel to each other, in which position they are retained by the

page_text: gummy substance dissolved in the water. Then, partly to facilitate the
drawing or stretching, and also to render the thread smooth and even by
giving it a gloss, the sponges against which it rubs complete the operation,
which terminates by the drying of the thread by the operation of the reel,
which, therefore, should be rather large than small; thread thus treated may
be subsequently employed in the manufacture of twisted threads, edgings, and
tissues, in the same manner as silk from the cocoon. I will add, that when
the reel is sufficiently charged with thread it is thrown out of gear to stop it,
and it is removed and replaced by another, and the reel which is removed,
charged with thread prepared by my process, is placed upon a rack to dry the
moisture which is upon it. When dried, the thread is removed and folded in
the ordinary way if the reel employed was of the size of those usually employed
in the trade.
.
Sometimes I make this reel of twice the usual size, which facilitates the
drying; but in this case, to reduce the skeins, to the dimensions adopted in
the trade, I reel this large skein on to a smaller recl.. This supplementary
operation is rather favorable than hurtful to the treatment of the thread of
floss silk, rendering it smooth, even, and glossy, without being slack. Some-
times also I. add to the apparatus above the sponges, cylinders, or rollers
covered with stuff or cloth, placed edgeways, and presenting a surface which
smooths and polishes the thread. I also sometimes arrange the surfaces of
these cylinders or rollers (of which I augment or diminish the diameters as
may be requisite) for intermitting rubbings, that is to say, that between the
parts covered with cloth I interpose smooth or polished parts. When I.
operate upon coarse threads of floss silk, I increase the number of sponges,
and where the thread is strong enough to bear it, I even arrange the sponges
at increased angles with each other, so that, on the one hand, the drawing or
stretching may be in proportion to the diameter of the thread, and on the
other hand, the rubbings may be multiplied. In this case also I prefer to uso
a larger reel, in order that the drawing and drying may be better effected.. I
sometimes make use of cold water suitably gummed for certain kinds of fine
floss silk, as is likewise sometimes done in the reeling of raw silk; but this is
an exceptional method, and can only be employed in particular circumstances,
according to the nature of the silk or the purpose for which it is intended.
In cases where threads of floss silk treated by this process are intended to be
scoured and dyed, without being doubled or milled with a strong twist, I
subject them after dyeing to a second operation analogous to the preceding
one, that is to say, that after winding them upon a bobbin, I subject them to
the action of my apparatus as before, but with this difference, that instead of

page_text: Flanders size or glue, I use white isinglass or. fish glue, or glue from fish
scales, or colorless mucilages, or white gums like those which are employed
for dressings; in order that the gums may not cover or disguise the colors, I
sometimes employ in this second operation gelatine which has been colored in
the course of its manufacture to a color like that to which the floss silk has
been dyed after the first operation. This employment of colored gélatine
requires to be made with judgment, in order not to injure the primitive color;
but if the colored gelatine is well chosen, a very brilliant and transparent effect
is produced.
My process is also applicable to the improvement of raw silk badly spun,
downy, or hempy, as well as to all threads of silk of an inferior quality, the
produce of waste silk; and worm-eaten cocoons spun by machinery or other-
wise, which are rectified or improved by the application of my process
lierein-before described.
My process is likewise applicable to threads of cotton, flax, hemp, and
other fibrous materials obtained by what is properly called spinning, in
whatever way conducted, provided only that these threads are not doubled
or milled, and have received no other twist than that which is given in thic
spinning, and which is necessary to maintain the aggregation or blending of
the filaments or fibres which form the thread. In fact, it will be understood
that if, on the one hand, it is necessary that the thread should be single for
the action of the operation herein-before described for floss silk, to be appli-
cable to cotton, linen, hempén, or other threads, on the other hand, it will
be understood that this action will be exerted in like manner as for floss
silk by selecting amongst the sizes or gums those which come nearest to the
essence of the material, or which are employed as dressings for threads of
the kind, and by giving to the bath a temperature suitable alike to the
nature of the different kinds of threads, to their quality, their coarseness,
the purposes to which they are to. be applied, and, in short, to the indications
of practice, which are readily seized by a competent workman.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the exclusive employment of the apparatus herein-before described;
as any apparatus including the same elementary principles may be employed
for carrying out my Invention. I do not claim any particular mechanism
composing the herein-before described apparatus, that is to say, any of its
parts in particular, some of them being already known and employed in the
spinning or recling of silk from the cocoons, and others being merely modified;
but I claim,

page_text: .
Firstly, the transformation, not heretofore effected, of the thread of spun
floss silk into a thread which in evenness, brilliancy, smoothness, and strength
approaches as nearly as possible to raw silk in these respects, that is to say,
without down, and consequently not requiring that stuffs made with such
thread should be subjected to the process of singeing, as in the case of stuffs
made-from threads of floss silk which have not been subjected to my process..
Secondly, the employment for this purpose of the principle of spinning or
reeling silk from cocoons, by adding to the apparatus ordinarily employed,
or to any other apparatus suitable for such reeling, gum or size to the pan,
and in making the wet thread as it leaves the pan pass over spongy or other
analogous substances which have the property of depriving the thread of
the water and making it even by rubbing, at the same time that it undergoes
a sort of drawing or stretching, which in laying parallel the fibres of which
the thread of floss silk is composed gives it a smoothness of texture similar to
that of raw silk; and.causes to disappear the down produced by the manner
in which the small fibres were originally ranged among themselves.
Thirdly, the application of the same process to threads of cotton or wool,
to give them smoothness of texture and the same qualities which the process
gives to threads of floss silk.
Fourthly, the application of the same process to threads of silk, flax, hemp,
or cotton which are defective, badly spun, downy, or hempy, for the purpose
of rectifying them, improving their sorts and qualities, and rendering the use
of them more easy and extensive in manufactured articles, since, in lieu of
shewing a down in these articles and having recourse to singeing, my process
renders the operation of singeing unnecessary..
In witness whereof, I; the said James Murdoch, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
C. COLE.
JAMES MURDOCH. (L.S.)