IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL PROM REPUSE MIXED FABRICS AND MATERIALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Saville, of Bradford, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Bookkeeper, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEPARATING WOOL PROM REPUSE MIXED FABRICS AND MATERIALS."
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 23rd February 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Saville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1865.
I, SAMUEL SAVILLE, of Bradford, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Bookkeeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL FROM REFUSE MIXED FABRICS AND MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in submitting mixed fabrics or materials containing
wool to the joint action of an acid and another substance with which the said
acid combines, such addition having been found by me to exercise a restrain-
ing power and to prevent injury to the wool, which wool is according to the
usual method treated with an acid only. The substance employed with the
acid may be any alkali, alkaline earth, or metal which will combine with the
acid, or salts of these substances may be used. The proportions to be

page_text: observed may be varied according to my present experience to a considerable
extent. I specially employ the refuse acids which have been employed for
cleaning iron or other metals in manufacturing processes, such as galvanizing
or tinning, or for galvanic batteries, and which are therefore combined more
or less with bases. To these fresh acid may be added if required. The solu-
tions above mentioned may be used hot or cold, and the cotton or other
material combined with the wool washed out, or removed by beating when
dry.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Saville in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
SAVILLE, of Bradford, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Bookkeeper,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the. Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand. eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Saville, Her special license that I, the said Samuel
Saville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Saville, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEPARATING WOOL FROM REFUSE MIXED FABRICS AND MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Saville, by an instru-
ment 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 Samuel Saville, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists in submitting mixed fabrics or materials con-
taining wool to the joint action of an acid and other substances which I
have found to possess a restraining effect, so as to prevent injury to the wool,
and to preserve, or partially so, the dyed colors. The substances I have found
to possess this property when added to the acid employed are alkalis, alkaline
earths and metals, or salts of those substances..
In order fully to explain my Invention, I will describe certain methods
which I have found to answer. A quantity of mixed fabrics or materials is.
placed in a wooden vessel provided with a steam pipe coiled at the bottom
thereof. The liquid known as "spent salts," and which arises from treating
iron with muriatic acid, is then added in sufficient quantity to cover the fabrics
or materials containing the wool to be separated. Steam of sufficient tempe-
rature is now allowed to flow through the pipe so as to cause the ". spent
salts to boil, and when this has continued a sufficient time, cotton or other.
vegetable fibre will have been destroyed, and the wool having been removed.
from the vessel is washed to get rid of remaining acid or other adhering
matter. The time required for the destruction of the vegetable fibre will
depend upon the strength of "spent salts," which will vary considerably,
generally speaking, the operation will be complete in about ten minutes, but
a few trials will enable the operator to judge of the time required. If the
"spent salts" be very weak an addition of fresh acid may be made; as a general
remark, it may be stated that the stronger the solution the quicker will the
desired action take place, and the operator will soon be able to tell by the
woolly appearance of the material when the process is complete..
According to another plan I take the waste.acids which have been used for
galvanic batteries, adding a quantity of fresh acid if the waste be very weak-;
in this the material is plunged and the process continued as before, but if the
acid be sulphuric then the steam pipe is dispensed with and the solution is
used cold. In this case, that is when sulphuric acid is used, the vegetable
fibre is not dissolved, but is merely destroyed in condition, and may after
having been dried in a stove be beaten out and then washed, as is now
practised in known methods of separating wool from vegetable fibre.
Another plan which may be adopted is to use ordinary sulphuric acid, and
add thereto a substance so as to render it analogous to the waste acid. The
following proportions I have found to answer, but they may be varied :-
Sulphuric acid 13 lbs., water 9 gallons, potash or soda ash 3 lbs., the whole
being mixed together, the materials to be separated are added, the solution as
before being cold; when the operation is completed the materials are removed,
dried, beaten out, and washed as before.

page_text: Another process in the cold way consists in the use of muriatic acid, say 3
gallons by measure, and water 9 gallons, to which are added 3 lbs. of zinc or
the same quantity of potash or soda ash; the materials having been immersed
in this cold liquid until they are thoroughly soaked, are removed to the drying
stove, and then well washed, which washing will in this instance remove the
vegetable fibre.
In another process, and illustrating the use of a salt, a solution of alum of
commerce may be used in the proportion of about 2 lbs. of alum to one gallon
of water. This solution when the materials are added is boiled as before
described, a few minutes will complete the operation, and the vegetable fibre
having been dried in the stove is beaten out. It may be remarked generally,
that those processes which are conducted in the cold way preserve the dyed
colors of the wool better than when the solution is used hot, but in both
cases the colors are more or less preserved, and in both cases also the milling
quality of the wool remains in a better condition than wool which has been
separated by the old processes.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the proportions above given, as it will be found
that they may be varied to a considerable extent; also that I do not limit
myself to the particular substances mentioned as added to the acids, for the
restraining effect from which the value of my Invention arises may be pro-
duced by the addition of other substances, as for instance those metallic salts
or salts of the alkalis, which are cheap enough. That which I claim as
secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the separation
of wool from mixed fabrics or materials by submitting them to the joint action
of an acid and an alkali, alkaline earth or metal, or salts of those substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Saville, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
SAMUEL SAVILLE. (L.S.)