IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Lauth, of Paris, Rue de Fleurus,
.
No. 81, Chemist Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DYEING AND PRINTING."
Sealed the 5th November 1869, and dated the 10th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Lauth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1869.
I, CHARLES LAUTH, of Paris, Rue de Fleurus, No. 31, Chemist
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING," to be as follows:-
Aniline black has hitherto only met with practical application for
printing upon cotton fabrics, and only to a very small extent for dyeing
vegetable fibres, while it has not been capable of application for cither
dyeing or printing animal fibres.
The present Invention consists of improved processes for dycing and
printing with aniline black, whereby this is rendered applicable both to
animal and vegetable fibres.
For dyeing vegetable nores, such as cotton, linen, hemp, wood, or
[Price 8d.]

page_text: other fibre, the fibres are first mordanted in a concentrated solution of
a salt of manganese; after dessication the oxide of manganese is
liberated by passing the fibre through an alkaline solution, and this
oxide is transformed into sesquioxide or binoxide by exposure to the
atmosphere or by passing through chloride of lime. The fibre may also
be steeped in an alkaline manganate or permanganate, so as to fix the
binoxide of manganese.
Any known process whereby the fixing of the superior oxides of
manganese is effected may be employed for the purpose of my Invention.
The fibres thus covered with binoxide of manganese are washed. and
steeped in a solution of aniline, whereupon they immediately become
dyed black.
The bath for dyeing may be composed as follows:-One hundred parts
by weight of water to five parts by weight of aniline, and ten parts by
weight of hydrochloric acid. On removal from the bath the black is
of a greenish hue, which is always the case in the presence of an acid;
the fibre is then washed in water, or preferably in an alkaline or soap
bath, whereupon an intensely black colour will be obtained. After
washing the fibre may be passed through a solution of bichromate of
potash, whereby a still more intense black may be obtained.
Any of the known methods for printing with aniline black instead of
dyeing may be employed successfully with the above preparatory
processes.
For dyeing animal fibre, such as wool, silk, skins, feathers, hair, or
ivory, the same processes as those described for vegetable fibre arc
employed but I prefer to mordant with manganates and perman-
ganates.
Each of the above-named substances require to be treated in a some-
what different manner; thus wool should be treated at a higher tempera-
ture than would be used for silk; skins and feathers should be treated
with weaker solutions than wool or silk, but which facts it is hardly
necessary to mention, as these are well-known precautions in dyeing,
and are not special to my process.
The dyeing should be effected in a bath of analagous composition to
that described for vegetable fibres.
It will be therefore evident that I prefer to employ as mordants those
insoluble substances that are rich in either oxygen or chlorine, suscep-

page_text: tible of the easiest decomposition, and consequently capable of develop-
ing aniline black by simply placing them in contact with an acid solution
of aniline.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Lauth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
LAUTH, of Paris, Rue de Fleurus, No. 31, Chemist Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Lauth, Her special licence that
I, the said Charles Lauth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Lauth, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Lauth, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Charles Lauth, 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):-
Aniline black which has hitherto been so extensively used in printing
upon cotton fabrics has only to a very small extent been employed for

page_text: ayeing vegetable fibres, while it has not been capable of successful appli
cation for either dyeing or printing animal fibres.
None of the processes hitherto adopted for these
purposes have
succeeded, either because they presented insurmountable practical
difficulties or because they failed to produce the real aniline black, which
is a product of considerable intensity and solidity.
This Invention therefore consists of improved means whereby both
animal and vegetable substances can be dyed or printed with aniline
black.
Firstly. For dyeing and printing upon vegetable fibres I commence
by fixing thereupon bioxide of manganese preferably by means of a per-
manganate dye, but any process that will thoroughly fix the superior
oxides of manganese is applicable to my Invention. The fibres thus
covered with bioxide of manganese, and generally known as plain goods,
are caused to undergo a process of washing for the purpose of separating
those parts that do not combine with the fibre, and that would eventually
fall away in the dyeing bath, and thus cause considerable loss in
alkaloids. I then proceed with the dyeing process by using a cold bath
composed of from 10 to 50 grammes (from 35 to 176 of an ounce) of
any alkaloid, whether aniline, toluidine, naphthylamine, or any other,
per litre (quart), and from 100 to 200 grammes (3 to 7 ounces) of
acid. These proportions, as well as the nature of the acid, whether it
be chlorhydric, sulphuric, nitric, arsenic, oxalic, or any other, will vary
according to the shade and intensity of tone required. The dye acts
instantaneously, and after taking the fibres out of the bath I wash
them in running water until all the acid is eliminated, which may be
readily ascertained (aniline black having a green tinge in the presence
of acids), and the process is completed by drying the yarn or dyed
goods. The shade of the dye obtained by these means may be modified
at pleasure by a process of heightening or intensifying the color or
oxidation, which is effected by passing the yarn or the dyed fabrics
through a tepid or boiling solution of various substances, such as chloride
of lime, salts of chromium, of copper, iron, or mercury, (either alone or
combined with chlorate of potassium), the ferricyanide of potassium,
and the chromates, of which I regulate the nature and intensity
according to the shade desired to be produced. I then wash the fabrics
in water, and pass them through boiling soap or other alkali in order
to extract those particles of color not combined with the fibre. As I

page_text: have already observed, the concentration of the dyeing bath, and the
nature of the acid, can be varied at will, as well as the concentration of
the mordant and the nature of the organic alkaloid (whether aniline,
toluidine, naphthylamine, or any other), and thus I can obtain all the
various shades, ranging from grey and grey blue to black, and from
brown to puce and violet.
Secondly. For dyeing and printing animal fibres, such as wool, silk,
skins, feathers, and others, the same treatment may be adopted, the
bixoide of manganese being preferably fixed by passing the fibre through
a salt of manganese and subsequent oxidation, or by a passage through
a permanganate; then dyeing in an acid solution of aniline; after which
the fibre or fabric is washed, or, if preferred, heightened in color before
being washed. This process may be modified by mixing the peroxide
of manganese (whether regenerated or precipitated) with any neutral
salt of aniline and salts of ammonia or other agent that will decompose
the peroxide of manganese under the influence of steam; then printing
with this color and vaporizing, by which means aniline black will be
obtained.
The sesquioxide and bioxide of manganese can be replaced, if
required, by other metallic oxides or acids rich in oxygen, as, for example,
plumbic acid, or even by certain salts, such as manganates and per-
manganates (baryta, copper, and others), or by chlorite of lead, and
many others.
The following are a few of the articles or fabrics to the dycing or
printing of which my process is applicable:-
1. Dyeing wool, silk, and cotton black.
2. Black grounds picked out with colored tints.
3. Dyeing and printing in grey by means of weaker mordants than
those used for dyeing black.
4. Printing black mixed with grey or with any other shade that will
resist the actions of the substances above described, viz., iron, chromc,
copper, indigo, cashoo, and others.
5. Articles derived from the simultaneous application of indigo and
black, double blues, or a blue ground with white corrosion and black
prints.
6. Dyeing and printing in all shades of brown by the use of other
alkaloids than aniline, as, for instance, naphthylamine.

page_text: Third. Dispensing with the ordinary oxidizing chambers.
Fourth. The harmless nature of the agents employed, so far as con-
cerns the strength and unchangeability of the fibres.
Fifth. The manifest utility of the dyeing baths, the alkaloids not
being acted upon until the gradual introduction of the oxidizing agent;
morcover this oxidizing agent combines intimately with the fibre, is
insoluble in the bath, cannot spread over the surface, and therefore
cause the formation of colors in the bath instead of, developing
them upon the fibre, a disadvantage common to all ordinary
processes.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my Invention I
claim, the production of different solid colors, such as black grey, grey
blue, puce, brown, and others, by means of the acid solutions of various
organic alkaloids in which I plunge the fabric or yarn to be dyed,
covered with a mordant (preferably bioxide of manganese) which is
insoluble in the solutions and susceptible by reason of its richness in
oxygen of an easy decomposition, so that the colors will be developed
simply by its contact with the alkaloid solutions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Lauth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
CHARLES LAUTH. (L.s.)