IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR SEPA- RATING ANIMAL FROM VEGETABLE FIBRE, AND FOR ADAPTING THE PRODUCTS TO MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Lodwick Newman, of New Church St.,
Bermondsey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR SEPA-
RATING ANIMAL FROM VEGETABLE FIBRE, AND FOR ADAPTING THE PRODUCTS TO
MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 17th March 1857, and dated the 17th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Lodwick Newman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th September 1856.
I, ALFRED LODWICK NEWMAN, of New Church St., Bermondsey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR
SEPARATING ANIMAL FROM VEGETABLE FIBRE, AND FOR ADAPTING THE PRODUCTS
TO MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
My improvements have reference to novel methods of separating animal
from vegetable fibres when the two are combined in waste fabrics, so that the
former may be got out uninjured for further use, and the latter destroyed as
useless.
And my Invention consists, firstly, of protecting the animal fibres from the
action of the agents used for destroying the vegetable fibre, by coating, cover-

page_text: ing, or enclosing them in a compound of earthy or metallic soaps, stearates, or
oleates, formed by the admixture of alum or sulphate of alumina, or certain
acetates, as of lead or alumina, with saponaceous or fatty acids, such as stearic,
oleic, and margaric acids, and mixed in alcohol.
Secondly, my Invention consists of certain mechanical appliances for facili-
tating the operation of disconnecting the distinct fibres, viz., of a series of
endless bands carrying the material through a series of vats containing the
chemical solutions or compounds, when it is squeezed in pressing rolls, and
carried to a drying apparatus.
The drying process consists in causing the material to pass on endless bands
between cylinders or plates heated by steam. By the interposition of such
drying apparatus between the saturating vats and the system of endless bands,
the operation is much expedited, and a great saving effected in time, labour,
and chemical materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Lodwick Newman in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
LODWICK NEWMAN, of New Church Street, Bermondsey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Lodwick Newman, Her special licence, that I, the said Alfred
Lodwick Newman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Lodwick Newman, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCESSES FOR SEPARATING ANIMAL FROM VEGETABLE FIBRE,
AND FOR ADAPTING THE PRODUCTS TO MANUFACTURING PURPOSES, AND IN THE
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Alfred Lodwick Newman, 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,

page_text: 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 Alfred Lodwick Newman, 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 :-
The object of this Invention is to utilize waste pieces or cuttings of woven
fabrics, consisting of a mixture of animal and vegetable fibres or substances,
by destroying the vegetable matter and preserving the woollen fibre in a state
suitable to be again used in the manufacture of textile fabrics, and also to
cleanse unmanufactured wool from vegetable matters often found therein.
The first part of my Invention consists of a process for protecting the animal
fibre from the injurious action of the acids or other agents used for dissolving
the vegetable matter. This process is as follows:-I take the mixed material
from which it is desired to remove the vegetable matter without injuring the
animal fibres, and saturate it by immersion in the two following solutions, that
is to say, the one made of the following chemical agents, namely, alum,
sulphate of alumina, sulphate of zinc, chloride of tin, acetate of lead or
acetate of alumina (but I give the preference to the salts of alumina); the
agent to be employed is to be pulverized and dissolved in the proportions of
from one to five parts of the salt to one hundred parts of water; the exact
proportion being determined by the nature of the fibrous material to be
operated upon, the larger proportion of five per cent. being sufficient for the
thickest and closest material. The solution may be used warm with
advantage.
The other solution is composed as follows:-I take from 1 to 7 (accord-
ing to the strength of the first solution used) parts of oleaic, stearic, or
margaric acids, or of soap or other sapanaceous or fatty matter, and dissolve
it in one hundred parts of water (or the fatty, acid, or sapanaceous matter
may be dissolved in alcohol with advantage, and then added to the water);
this solution should be used at a temperature of between 80 and 95 degrees
Farh*.
The object of the consecutive use of the solutions above described is to
protect the animal fibre or material, and enable it to resist the action of the
chemical acids or salts subsequently used for the destruction of the vegetable
portion of the materials. After having thus protected the animal fibre or
material, I proceed to destroy the vegetable substance by the use of any of
the ordinary and well-known chemical agents usually applied for this purpose,

page_text: such as, for example, chloride of lime, vegetable or mineral acids, or the
sulpho salts, and the course I adopt for this part of the process is as follows:-
I make a solution of the chemical agent, sulphuric acid, for example, of a
strength varying from two to five parts of the concentrated acid to one hundred
parts of water, using the larger or smaller quantity of acid according as the
material to be operated upon is more or less dense and difficult of manipula-
tion. Into this solution I immerse the materials until saturated, and then
dry them thoroughly by artificial heat up to a temperature of 200° Farh*,
after, which the vegetable substance may be shaken out as dust; a lower
degree of temperature will suffice when the acid solution is strong, but the
above degree of beat will be sufficient for the weakest acid solution above
mentioned; or the material may, if preferred, be subjected to a temperature
of about 190°, and then washed in water a little under the boiling point. By
this means the vegetable substance is washed away, while the animal remains
entirely unaffected in its strength, and is therefore suitable for manufacturing
purposes. I would observe, that although I have described the operation as
performed by sulphuric acid, which I consider the most advantageous, any
other of the chemical agents mentioned above as usually applied to the
destruction of vegetable substances may be used for the purpose with success.
And, further, in consequence of the protection afforded by the processes first
herein-before described, the destructive agents may be used of a strength
greater than hitherto practicable without prejudically affecting the animal
substance, by which means the operation can be conducted with safety, and
at a great advantage in point of time.
The above operations may be performed with the aid of any ordinary vats
or utensils, and the drying may be done in chambers heated by open fires or
flues, or any of the usual methods of warming or drying; but I prefer to use
the method of manipulation and the mechanical appliances herein-after
described, being the second part of my improvement, and forming the second
part of my Invention.
I place the vats containing the various solutions before described in the
order in which they are to be used, and through these vats I pass an
endless band or bands of webbing or other suitable material, on which the
material to be operated upon is placed, and made to pass through the various
solutions; the speed at which this part of the operation is conducted being
regulated by ordinary and well-known mechanical means, so that the satura-
tion in each solution shall be of more or less duration, as the density of the
material or other circumstances may render necessary. On issuing from each
vat, the band or bands on which the material is placed are passed between

page_text: squeezing or pressing rollers, by which the surplus liquor of the solution is
removed and returned to the vat; and on issuing from the solution of
saponaceous or fatty matters herein-before described, where a drying operation
is necessary, the band or bands, with the material thereon, (or the materials
alone,) are made to pass over or between rollers or plates heated by ordinary
means, such as steam or gas, to a sufficient degree of heat to deprive the
materials of moisture in passing over or between them; after which the
material is passed through the acidulated or other solution, and then com-
pleted by artificial drying alone, or by drying and washing, as herein-before
described.
I would however have it understood that I do not claim the details of the
arrangement of the vats, or of the system of endless bands, herein-before
mentioned, but only the application of such details and arrangements to
the manipulations requisite in the processes and for the objects herein-before
described.
The third part of my improvements consists in an apparatus or arrange-
ment for performing the operation of thoroughly drying the material, after
saturation in the acidulated or other solution, which is constructed as follows:-
I construct in a chamber erected for the purpose, either on brickwork or iron,
or partly of both, a series of boxes or cylinders placed one above the other with
spaces between them, which boxes or cylinders I heat to a considerable tem-
perature by gas, steam, or other means, steam being in my opinion prefereable.
Through these boxes or cylinders, which are supported at the sides only, I
direct jets of steam, commencing at the lowest in the tier, through which it
passes and escapes by a suitable pipe or communication into the one above,
and so on throughout the series, and finally into an eduction pipe or into a
condenser outside the chamber; or this operation may be reversed, and the
steam passed from the highest to the lowest box or cylinder. Round these
boxes or cylinders I pass, on rollers, an endless band or ladder composed of a
flexible material on either side, with wooden or metal bars at regular intervals,
on which bars I hang loosely the material to be dried; or endless webbing
may be employed, and the material laid on it. These bands or webbings
move at a slow but uniform rate from the coldest to the hottest box or
cylinder, which should be maintained at a temperature varying from 190 to
200 degrees. By this arrangement the necessary drying is gradually but
thoroughly effected, the box or cylinder most distant from the inlet pipe being
of lower temperature than the one in connexion with the boiler or steam
producing apparatus, while each intermediate box or cylinder also gradually
varies in its temperature. On passing from the last box or cylinder, the

page_text: material may be carried through revolving brushes, which assist in removing
the dust of the vegetable matter.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise arrangement of the details herein-before described, as
the same may be varied without departing from the Invention; but what I
claim and desire to secure under the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
Firstly, the process or processes for protecting the animal fibre from the
injurious action of the solvents used for destroying the vegetable matter in
mixed textile fabrics or mixed wool, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the arrangement of the apparatus for conveying the fibrous
materials through the chemical solutions, and for pressing and drying them,
as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the arrangement of the apparatus for finally drying the fibrous
material and cleansing it from the dust of the refuse vegetable matter, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Lodwick Newman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
ALFRED LODWICK NEWMAN (L.S.)
Witness,
CHARLES BARLOW,
Patent Office,
89, Chancery Lane, London.