THE MANUFACTURE OF LYES OR LIQUORS APPLICABLE TO THE CLEANSING AND BLEACHING OF WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AS WELL AS OF TEXTILE FABRICS.
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "THE
MANUFACTURE OF LYES OR LIQUORS APPLICABLE TO THE CLEANSING AND
BLEACHING OF WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AS WELL AS OF TEXTILE
FABRICS. A communication from abroad by Madame Rosine Saiglan
Bagnères, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
-
Sealed the 15th November 1864, and dated the 17th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by, the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1864.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "THE MANUFACTURE OF LYES OR LIQUORS APPLICABLE TO THE CLEANSING AND
BLEACHING OF WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AS WELL AS OF TEXTILE
FABRICS," a communication to me from abroad by Madame Rosine Saiglan
Bagnères, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture or production of a peculiar
menstruum or lye to be employed in the cleansing and bleaching of wool,

page_text: cotton, silk, and other fibrous substances, as well as of textile fabrics, and
consists essentially in the preparation or production and employment, for the
purposes herein-before referred to, of a menstruum or lye which shall contain
sulphuret of sodium, carbonate of soda, silicate of soda or potash, and alumi-
nate of soda or potash, or sulphuret of sodium, and other alkaline salts having
an alkaline reaction.
In carrying out this Invention in practice the Inventor prefers to employ
the mineral substance called glauberite, which is subjected to the following
treatment: The glauberite is first pulverized and mixed in any suitable pro-
portions with pulverized charcoal and pure or argillaceous limestone or chalk.
The mixture is then calcined in crucibles or in reverberatory furnaces, or by
any other convenient method, until a substance is obtained which the Inventor
terms "sulpho-sodalite," and which is treated with boiling water until all the
soluble constituents are dissolved out. The liquor is then concentrated by
evaporation to the required strength, when it is ready to be employed in the
cleansing and bleaching of the materials to be operated upon. The soluble
matters contained in the sulpho-sodalite and held in solution in the water, and
which consequently exist in the improved cleansing and bleaching menstruum
or lye, are sulphuret of sodium, a little carbonate of soda, silicate of soda, and
aluminate of soda. The fibrous substances or textile fabrics to be cleansed
and bleached are to be dipped one or more times into a vat containing the
menstruum or lye above described, which should be maintained at a suitable
A
temperature according to the nature of the materials under treatment.
temperature ranging from 80° to 200° Fahrenheit will usually be sufficient.
This dipping or immersion has the effect of removing greasy matter and other
impurities from the materials, and imparts a bleached appearance to the same,
after which they may be washed and dried in any convenient manner.
The proportions of the glauberite limestone or chalk and charcoal which
have given the best results in preparing the "sulpho-sodalite" are as
follows: 1 ton of glauberite dried in the sun or roasted, 1 ton of vegetable
or other charcoal, and 1 tons of chalk or limestone, more or less pure or a
little argillaceous. This charge gives as a result about 1½ tons of solid
"sulpho-sodalite," from which lyes of greater or less strength are prepared
according to requirements.

page_text: *SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
.Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "THE MANUFACTURE OF LYES OR LIQUORS APPLICABLE TO
THE CLEANSING AND BLEACHING OF WOOL AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AS WELL
AS OF TEXTILE FABRICS," a communication to me from abroad by Madame
Rosine Saiglan Bagnères, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Jolinson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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 :-
The said Invention relates to the manufacture or production of a peculiar
menstruum or lye to be employed in the cleansing and bleaching of wool,
cotton, silk, and other fibrous substances, as well as of textile fabrics, and
_consists essentially in the preparation or production and employment, for the
purposes herein-before referred to, of a menstruum or lye which shall con-
tain sulphuret of sodium, carbonate of soda, silicate of soda or potash, and

page_text: aluminate of soda or potash, or sulphuret of sodium, and other alkaline salts
having an alkaline reaction.
In carrying out this Invention in practice the Inventor prefers to employ
the mineral substance called glauberite, which is subjected to the following
treatment-The glauberite is first pulverized and mixed in any suitable
proportions with pulverized charcoal and pure or argillaceous limestone or
chalk. The mixture is then calcined in crucibles or in reverberatory furnaces,
or by any other convenient method, until a substance is obtained which the
Inventor terms "sulpho-sodalite," and which is treated with boiling water
until all the soluble constituents are dissolved out. The liquor is then con-
centrated by evaporation to the required strength, when it is ready to be
employed in the cleansing and bleaching of the materials to be operated upon.
The soluble matters contained in the "sulpho-sodalite" and held in solution
in the water, and which consequently exist in the improved cleansing and
bleaching menstruum or lye, are sulphuret of sodium in large quantities, a
little carbonate of soda, silicate of soda, and aluminate of soda. In applying
this menstruum or lye to the cleansing and bleaching of fibrous substances
and textile fabrics they are to be dipped one or more times into a vat con-
taining the menstruum or lye above described, which should be maintained at
a suitable temperature according to the nature of the materials under treat-
ment. A temperature ranging from 80° to 200° Fahrenheit will usually be
sufficient. This dipping or immersion has the effect of removing greasy
matter and other impurities from the materials, and imparts a bleached
appearance to the same, after which they may be washed and dried in any
convenient manner.
The proportions of the glauberite limestone or chalk and charcoal may be
varied to any desired extent, but those which have given the best results in
preparing the "sulpho-sodalite" are as follows:-One ton of glauberite dried
in the sun or roasted, one ton of vegetable or other charcoal, and one and
a half tons of chalk or limestone, more or less pure or a little argillaceous.
This charge gives as a result about one and a half tons of solid "sulpho-
sodalite," from which lyes of greater or less strength are prepared according to
requirements.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that 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 manufacture of lyes or
liquors applicable to the cleansing and bleaching of wool and other fibrous

page_text: substances, and of textile fabrics, substantially in the manner and from the
materials or their equivalents herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)