Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 23rd Nov.. 1888
W333
I, ALEXANDER MCNAB, manager of Midtownfield Bleach Works, Howwood, in the
County of Renfrew do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
In the operations of boiling or bleaching and washing textile fabrics as ordinarily
practised the fabric to be treated is coiled in a kier or pot wherein it is subjected for a
prolonged period to the action of alkalis or other reagents and it is thereafter removed
from the kier or chamber and led through a washing machine consisting of a series of
rollers fitted over a water trough in which the fabric is cleansed by means of water.
The object of my invention is to economise time, labour, and alkali or similar material
by combining the boiling or bleaching and washing operations and effecting them in a
continuous manner and to that end I adapt the machine ordinarily employed for the
washing operation to serve as a boiling or bleaching machine.
The trough of the machine I charge with alkali or other lye or liquor of the kind
usually employed in the boiling pots and heat or boil it by the use of steam pipes
carried along the bottom of the trough or by other well known means, and through the
liquor in the trough I carry the fabric which is led round a roller rotating in the
liquor and between expressing rolls fitted over the trough the fabric being entered at
one end of the machine and stretched back and forth between the under and upper
rolls in a continuous length towards the opposite end of the machine where it is led
out the operation being repeated as often as desired. The fabric may then be rinsed
through water and is in a condition to be subjected to the usual whitening or chloring
process. The rollers which may be made of iron or steel or of porcelain to withstand
the action of the lye are enclosed in a casing formed over the trough, openings being
formed for the passage of the fabric where it enters and leaves the machine; and to the
casing is connected a fan or exhauster which is operated to withdraw the steam or
vapour generated in the machine. The trough is by preference divided into a number

page_text: of sections each heated by a separate steam pipe so that whilst the liquor in the section
through which the fabric first passes may be rapidly cooled down by the fabric passing
through it the heat of the liquor in the other sections may be fully maintained. The
repeated soaking of the fabric in the hot lye or liquor as it passes round the lower
roller alternating with the expression of the liquor as the fabric passes between the
upper rollers results in extremely rapid action of the lye or liquor on the fabric whilst
the washing of the fabric is at the same time effected; and by providing conduits or
other means for leading back to the trough the lye expressed from the fabric passing
through the upper rolls great saving of material is effected as compared with the
process of boiling in kiers or pots.
Dated this Twenty first day of January 1888.
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
624
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boiling or Bleaching and Washing Textile Fabrics
and in Apparatus therefor.
I, ALEXANDER MCNAB, Manager, of Midtownfield Bleach Works, Howwood in the
County of Renfrew, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :—
In the operations of boiling or bleaching and washing textile fabrics as ordinarily
practised the fabric to be treated is coiled in a kier or pot wherein it is subjected for a
prolonged period to the action of alkalis or other reagents and it is thereafter removed
from the kier or chamber and led through a washing machine consisting of a series of
rollers fitted over a water trough in which the fabric is cleansed by means of water
these operations being frequently repeated and followed by the usual chloring and
souring processes. The object of my invention is to economise time, labour and alkali
or similar material by combining the boiling or bleaching and washing operations and
effecting them in a continuous manner, and this end I attain by subjecting the fabric
to the action of hot lye or liquor whilst running in rope form through apparatus
upon in a
resembling the ordinary washing machine, whereby the fabric is acted
comparatively open form and piece-meal instead of in bulk and being alternately soaked
in the liquor and passed through expressing rolls as in washing the boiling and
washing operations are in effect combined.
The combined boiling and washing apparatus as represented in end and front
elevations at figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings consists of a series of
rollers A, B, B and CC fitted to rotate in and over a trough D, one, two or more of
the rollers (C) being immersed in the lye or liquor with which the trough is charged
and two or more (A, B) being fitted at a higher level and arranged to act as expressing
rollers for pressing out of the fabric the liquor taken up by it in passing through the
trough. The lye or liquor placed in the trough is of the kind employed in the usual
boiling kiers or pots and is heated or boiled and maintained at the requisite temperature
by means of steam pipes E carried along the bottom of the trough or by other means.
The fabric to be treated in the machine after the usual preliminary washing with water
in an ordinary washing machine and steaming or boiling in a kier is led round or
under the roller immersed in the lye or liquor, thence up and between the expressing
rollers, back under the roller in the trough, and is threaded or stretched back and
forth between the under and upper rollers in a continuously coiled rope or hank form
from one end of the machine to the other. In passing through the machine the fabric
is subjected alternately and in rapid succession to soaking in the lye or liquor as it
passes round the lower rollers and wringing out as it passes between the expressing
rollers and this repeated soaking alternating with the expression of the liquor results
in extremely rapid action of the lye or liquor on the fabric the washing or cleansing of
the fabric being at the same time effected.

page_text: After this treatment the fabric may be led back and coiled into a kier or pot,
wherein it is maintained in a hot state by means of steam and from which the lye or
liquor carried in the fabric and drained off therefrom through a perforated or false
bottom in the kier or pot may be returned to the trough by suitable piping or other
means. After steaming or boiling the fabric is removed and washed with water in an
ordinary washing machine and is in a condition to be subjected to the usual chloring
and souring processes.
The machine rollers which may be made of iron or steel or of porcelain to withstand
the action of the lye or liquor and which may be rotated in unison by suitable gearing
to prevent strain on the fabric passing round and through them are enclosed in a
casing G formed over the trough, openings being made for the passage of the fabric
where it enters and leaves the machine, and to the casing is or may be connected a
fan or exhauster which is operated to withdraw the steam generated in the machine.
The herein before described process is also applicable in the boiling and washing of
yarns in hank, the hanks being connected in rope form and passed through the
combined boiling and bleaching or washing machine in the manner described as applied
to textile fabrics.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim
is :
1. The boiling and bleaching or washing of fabrics in the improved manner and by
means substantially such as herein before described.
2. The improved apparatus for effecting at one operation the boiling and bleaching
or washing of fabrics substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this Twentieth day of October 1888.
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agents.