IMPROVEMENTS IN DISINTEGRATING, SCOURING, AND CLEANSING RAW WOOL AND WOOLLEN FABRICS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISINTEGRATING, SCOURING, AND CLEANSING RAW
WOOL AND WOOLLEN FABRICS."-A communication from abroad by
Charles Meunier, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Scaled the 28th July 1868, and dated the 29th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th January 1868.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 17, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISINTEGRATING, SCOURING, AND CLEANSING
RAW WOOL AND WOOLLEN FABRICS," a communication to me from abroad
by Charles Meunier, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows,
that is to say :-
This Invention consists essentially in treating raw wool so as to
clear it of thistles and other vegetable substances, and in disintegrating
or separating cotton from woollen fabrics.

page_text: The raw wool is to be first deprived of its grease and cleansed in
water, and next it is to be dried, when dried the wool is immersed in a
bath composed of ammonia and sulphuric acid, instead of using sulphuric
acid, muriatic, nitric, citric, or oxalic acids may be resorted to. The
quantities employed may vary according to the specific strength of
cach, and the quality or fineness of the wool, the terperature of the
atmosphere is also to be taken into account. In place of ammonia,
chlorate of potash, nitrate of potash, or nitrate of lime may be used,
the wool thus treated must then be dried and submitted to a high
temperature. When dry the wool is well beaten in order to separate
the thistles or cotton warp from the wool; the wool after this operation
is to be replaced in its scouring water and immersed in another bath
composed of carbonate of potash, liquid ammonia, and borax; after
being thus treated the wool will be found softened and cleaned of
heterogeneous substances. When woollen rags mixed with cotton are
submitted to the above treatment bisulphuret of soda and tartaric acid
must be added to the scouring bath, the last operation consisting in both
cases in cleansing the wool or woollen stuffs in running water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight,
in the 31st year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson,
Her special license, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Henry Johnson, executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DISINTEGRATING, SCOURING, AND CLEANSING
RAW WOOL AND WOOLLEN FABRICS," a communication from abroad Charles
Meunier, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature 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, that is to say :-
The said Invention consists essentially of a peculiar mode of treating
raw wool and wool waste in order to clear it of thistles and other
vegetable substances, also of a peculiar mode of disintegrating or
separating cotton from wollen fabrics.
In carrying out this Invention the raw wool is to be first deprived
of its grease and well rinced in running water, after which it is to be
dried, when dried the wool is immersed in a bath composed of, say, 220
gallons of water, and from one and three-quarter to three and one-
quarter ounces of liquid ammonia, with a sufficient quantity of sulphuric
acid of a strength of sixty-six degrees to raise the density of the bath from
at least three and one-half degrees to six degrecs at the most; or instead
of using sulphuric acid sufficient muriatic acid may be used to raise the
bath two degrees. The sulphuric and muriatic acids may be replaced by
nitric, citric, oxalic, or chlorhydric acids; the quantities employed may
vary according to the specific strength of each, and the quality or
fineness of the wool, the temperature of the atmosphere is also to be
taken into account. In place of the liquid ammonia herein-before
referred to chlorate of potash, nitrate of potash, or nitrate of lime may
be used. The previous observation with regard to the quantities of acids
to be employed apply equally to the salts; the wool should remain in
this bath from two hours to three and a half hours at the most, but the
general period will be about three hours. The wool thus treated must
be dried, and submitted to an elevated temperature of from 176° to

page_text: 253° Fah. in any convenient stove or oven; the duration of this heating
process will vary according to the thickness and quality of the wool.
The wool is next to be subjected to the action of a powerful beater
in order to separate or remove the particles of thistles or other remains
of vegatable matter therefrom. The wool after this operation is to be
replaced in its scouring water where it need remain only for a very
short period, and is to be then immersed in another bath composed of
two hundred and twenty gallons of water, liquid ammonia three-quarter to
one and three-quarter ounces, salt of tartar or carbonate of potash from
one and a quarter to one and three-quarter pounds, and borax from three-
quarter to one and three-quarter ounces. The equivalents of ammonia
and of carbonate of potash may be used but will not produce so good a
result. The period during which the wool remains in this bath varies
from fifteen to thirty minutes, the object being to precipitate all the
acids absorbed by the wool when in the first bath. After having been
thus treated the wool will be found to be perfectly freed from foreign
substances, and will have regained all its softness and other natural
properties; a final rinsing in clear water completes the process. In
treating woollen rags mixed with cotton with a view to the disintegration
or separation of the cotton from the wool, the rags are to be immersed
in a bath consisting of two hundred and twenty gallons of water; liquid
ammonia three-quarters to one and a half ounces, and sufficient
sulphuric acid to raise the bath from ten to fifteen degrees; the
sulphuric acid may be replaced by muriatic, chlorhydric, oxalic, citric,
or nitric acids, the quantity of each varying with their relative strengths,
the quality of the rags and the temperature of the atmosphere. The
liquid ammonia may also be replaced by chlorate of potash, nitrate of
lime, or nitrate of potash. The rags should remain in this bath from
five to eight hours, and be then dried and subjected to a stoving process
at a temperature of from 176° to 253° Fahrenheit, after which they
are to be well beaten to remove the dust produced by the destruction of
the cotton and other vegetable matters contained therein. The separated
wool is then placed in a scouring bath consisting of two hundred and
twenty gallons of water, bisulphuret of soda one and a quarter to one and
three-quarter pounds, or tartaric acid one and three-quarters to two and
three-quarters ounces, or carbonate of potash, or salt of tartar, or carbonate
of soda, or chlorate or nitrate of potash, or nitrate of lime, each from two
and three-quarters to four ounces, but in all cases the bisulphuret of soda
and tartaric acid are preferable. The wool is finally well rinsed in

page_text: running water and dried, when it will be found to be perfectly
disintegrated, pure, and in an excellent condition for being re-
manufactured.
The various proportions of ingredients herein-before specified may
be varied slightly without materially affecting the results, but those
I have given will be found in practise to answer the purpose.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
First. The cleansing of raw wool and wool waste by the peculiar
process or mode of treatment herein-before described.
Second. The peculiar process or mode of treating woollen rags
containing cotton with a view to disintegrating the same and separating
the cotton from the wool as herein-before described.
In witness whereof I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day
of July, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
TEENDY ΤΟ ΤΑΤΟΙΟΑΣ
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)