AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING AND BLEACHING COTTON
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Pye, of Ipswich, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING AND BLEACHING COTTON."
Sealed the 27th January 1857, and dated the 15th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Pye at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th November
1856.
I, GEORGE PYE, of Ipswich, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TREATING AND BLEACHING COTTON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in treating and bleaching
cotton. And the improvement consists of subjecting cotton, whether in the
raw state, or in the state of sliver, or rove, or yarn, or thread, or woven fabric,
to the action of a solution of fuller's earth, by which the natural coloring
matters and the gummy properties are removed, and the subsequent processes
of bleaching and dyeing are accomplished with less injury to the strength of
the fibres.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Pye in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PYE, of Ipswich, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, 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 George Pye, Her special licence that I, the said George Pye, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Pye, 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 IN TREATING AND
BLEACHING COTTON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Pye, 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 George Pyc, do hereby declare the
naturo of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in treating and bleaching
cotton, and the improvement consists of subjecting cotton, whether in the raw
state or in the state of sliver, or rove, or yarn, or thread, or woven fabric, to
the action of a solution of fuller's earth, by which the natural coloring matters
and the gummy properties are removed, and the subsequent processes of
bleaching and dyeing are accomplished with less, injury to the strength of
the fibres.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
My process consists in subjecting the cotton, whether in the raw state or in
the state of sliver, or roving, or yarn, or thread, or woven fabric, to the action

page_text: of a solution of fuller's earth combined with steam and alternating pressure,.
for the purpose of cleansing them from the impurities contained in the raw
cotton, as well as those contracted during the process of manufacture; thus
rendering unnecessary the severe treatment at present in use as a preparation
for bleaching, dyeing, and printing. The solution I prefer is at the rate of
about 5 lbs. to each gallon of water, and I employ the solution warm, say
about 90° of Fahrenheit.
The cotton, by preference in the state of yarn or woven fabric, is to be
steeped in the solution, and is to be subjected to pressure to express out the
fluid, and again allowed to become saturated, and again pressed till the coloring
matter has been sufficiently removed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Pye, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
GEORGE PYE. (L.S.)