AN IMPROVED A communication from PROCESS OF BLEACHING MANUFACTURED COTTON
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
A communication from
PROCESS OF BLEACHING MANUFACTURED COTTON."
abroad by Jacob Albort Engeler, of Wintherthur, Switzerland.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd June 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF BLEACHING MANUFACTURED COTTON."
[A communication from abroad by Jacob Albert Engeler, of Wintherthur,
Switzerland.]
This Invention relates to a dry process of bleaching manufactured cotton, and
more particularly cotton wound on spools or reels. The process consists in the
following method of operating:
In a closed vat of wood lined with lead or of enamelled sheet or cast iron,
say, 3 metres long, 2 metres wide, and 1/2 metres deep, are placed about
150 kilogrammes of spooled or recled cotton contained in baskets, or crates, or
otherwise. The vat is put into communication by means of an indiarubber pipe or
other suitable conduit with an apparatus mado of stoneware or glass, in which are
mixed 1 part of unslaked lime and 1 part of chloride of lime, with 1 part of spirits
of wine or acetic acid and 4 parts of water, the whole being treated with sulphuric
acid, whereby about 2%. cubic metres of vapors of chloroform are produced. The
said vapors under a pressure of about 2 atmospheres will thoroughly bleach in
2 hours the whole of the cotton contained in the vat.
The cotton is disinfected after bleaching by introducing into the vat through a
suitable tube hydrogen mixed in a Woolf apparatus with carbonic acid and
sulphuric ether, whereby in about 15 minutes all smell will have been destroyed
and the cotton is fit for sale.
The proportions of the elements of the mixture and the arrangement of the
apparatus may be varied without departing from the Invention, and any one
or more of the substances mentioned may be replaced by any other chemical
equivalent.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Molville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on tho
22nd December 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF BLEACHING MANUFACTURED COTTON."
A communication from abroad by Jacob Albert Engeler, of Wintherthur,
Switzerland.
This Invention relates to a process of bleaching manufactured cotton, and more
particularly cotton wound on spools or reels. The process consists in the following
method of operating :-
In a closed vat of wood lined with lead or of enamelled sheet or cast iron, say,
ten feet long, 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 5 feet deep, are placed about 330 lbs. of
spooled or reeled cotton contained in baskets or crates or otherwise. The vat is
put into communication by means of an indiarubber pipe or other suitable conduit
with an apparatus made of stoneware or glass, in which are generated or evolved
about 88 cubic feet of chloroform vapor by treating with sulphuric acid a
mixture of 1 part of quick lime, 1 part of chloride of lime, 1 part of spirits of wine
or acetic acid, and 4 parts of water. The chloroforma vapors under a pressure of
about two atmospheros will in about two hours thoroughly bleach the whole of the
cotton contained in the vat. The cotton is disinfected after bleaching by
introducing into the vat through a suitable tube a mixture of hydrogen gas,
carbonic acid gas, and sulphuric ether vapor (the said mixture having been
previously effected in a Woulfe's apparatus), whereby in about 15 minutes all
smell will have been destroyed and the cotton rendered fit for sale.
The proportions of the elements of the mixture for generating the chloroform
vapor and the arrangement of the apparatus may be varied without departing from
the Invention, and any one or more of the substances mentioned may be replaced
by any other chemical equivalent.
Having described the nature of the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1st. The dry process of bleaching cotton by means of chloroform, as herein
described.
2nd. The employment in the dry process of bleaching cotton of chloroform vapors
generated by the action of sulphuric acid upon a mixture of quick lime, chloride of
lime, spirits of wine or acetic acid, and water in suitable proportions, as specified.
3rd. The treatment of cotton after it has been bleached with chloroform, as
described, by means of a mixture of hydrogen gas, carbonic acid gas, and the vapor
of sulphuric ether, as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty second day of December, A.D. 1880.