AN IMPROVEMENT OB IMPROVEMENTS FOR OBTAINING COLORING MATTER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Leese, junior, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OB
IMPROVEMENTS FOR OBTAINING COLORING MATTER."
Sealed the 9th November 1855, and dated the 28th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Leese at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
May 1855.
I, JOSEPH LEESE, junior, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS FOR OBTAINING COLORING MATTER" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in extracting indigo from waste; by waste, I mean
linen and cotton rags of every description which have been dyed or printed
with indigo, and rendering such colouring matter available for subsequent use.
The following are the processes by which my Invention is carried into effect:-
First, I saturate the rags with a solution of any protosalt of iron, and then
treat the rags with an alkali.
Second, I saturate the rags with a solution of any protosalt of tin, and then
treat the rags with any alkali, or I saturate the rags with a solution of protoxide
of tin in an alkali.
Third, I treat the rags with alkali circulating through metallic tin in a
minute state of division.
Fourth, I submit the rags to the action of double sulphuret of arsenic and
sodium or potassium, produced by the mixture of arsenic and soda and potash.
Fifth, I saturate the rags with glucose and then treat them with alkali, or I
saturate the rags with a mixture of glucose and alkali.
In the above processes I find it desirable to use heat, although they may be

page_text: used cold. The vessels in which these processes are conducted are arranged in
a series, so that the liquors used may be circulated by pumps or otherwise from
one to the other; the object of this arrangement being the economy of material
and water necessary to extract the coloring matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Leese in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
LEESE, junior, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Calico Printer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Leese, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Leese,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Leese, 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 OR
IMPROVEMENTS FOR OBTAINING COLOURING MATTER," upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said Joseph Lecse, 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 Joseph Leese, 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, to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in extracting indigo from waste; by waste, -1-mean
linen and cotton rags of every description which have been dyed or printed with
indigo, and rendering such colouring matter available for subsequent use. The
following are the processes by which my Invention is carried into effect :-
First, I saturate the rags with a solution of any protosalt of iron, and then
treat the rags with an alkali.

page_text: Second, I saturate the rags with a solution of any protosalt of tin, and then
treat the rags with any alkali, or I saturate the rags with a solution of protoxide
of tin in an alkali.
Third, I treat the rags with alkali circulating through metallic tin in a
minute state of division.
Fourth, I submit the rags to the action of double sulphuret of arsenic and
sodium or potassium, produced by the mixture of sulphuret of arsenic and soda
or potash.
Fifth, I saturate the rags with glucase, and then treat them with alkali, or
I saturate the rags with a mixture of glucase and alkali.
In the above processes I find it desirable to use heat, although they may be
used cold. The vessels in which these processes are conducted are arranged in
a series, so that the liquors used may be circulated by pumps or otherwise from
one to the other; the object of this arrangement being the economy of material
and water necessary to extract the colouring matter. For instance, the blue
rags are entered into the first vessel of the series, and are taken out of the last,
the materials used for extracting the indigo being entered into the latter and
circulated through all the others seriatim.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and manner in which the
same may be performed and carried into effect, I claim,-
Firstly, the various processes described at the processes first, second, third,
fourth, and fifth.
And, secondly, the use of vessels arranged in a series, for the purpose of
carrying out my Invention, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Leese, junior, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH LEESE, JUN. (LS.)
Declared at Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, by the said Joseph Leese, junior, this
Twenty-second day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five, before me,
JAMES BARROW,
A Commissioner to administer Oaths
in Chancery in England.