IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OR TREATING FABRICS MADE OF FIBROUS MATERIAL, FOR COVERING ROOFS, AND THE BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND OTHER SURFACES, AND FOR OTHER USES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
NAPIER, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present' most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eleventh day of April, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Napier, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said James Napier, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Napier, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OR
TREATING FABRICS MADE OF FIBROUS MATERIAL, FOR COVERING ROOFS, AND THE
BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND OTHER SURFACES, AND FOR OTHER USES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said James
Napier, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Napier, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention consists.

page_text: in preparing and treating fabrics made of fibrous materials, such as hemp, flax,
wool, silk, hair, cotton, or other animal or vegetable fibres, woven, twisted,
pressed, or otherwise manufactured into cloth, linen, canvass, woollen, silk,
calico, cord, thread, rope, paper, pasteboard, felt, or other similar fabric or
manufacture, by coating, covering, or incorporating the same with metal or
metals, whereby such materials may be rendered applicable to the purposes
herein-before described.
And I, the said James Napier, do further declare that the manner in which
my said Invention is to be performed consists in depositing metal or metals
from a solution containing the same upon the fabric by means of an electric
current, whether such electric current be derived from a galvanic battery or
any other source.
Although I do not confine myself to any particular mode of conducting the
process, I shall, for the better understanding of the method of performing my
said Invention, describe some of the methods which I have employed and
invented, and shall divide my description into two parts; the first, having
reference to the preparation of the fabric so as to give it a conducting surface;
and in the second part I shall describe methods of conducting the process of
electro-deposition.
With regard to the preparation of the fabric, so as to give it such a con-
ducting surface as shall cause the metal to be deposited upon it when exposed,
in a proper solution to the electric current, I employ any of the methods well
known to chemists of reducing the metal on the surface, as more particularly
practised in regard to gold and silver, and also plumbago or black lead, or
bronze, or metal powder; but I do not claim these, however, as my Invention;
but I do claim, a method of making the plumbago or black lead adhere to and
enter into the pores or interstices of the fabric by grinding the same very fine,
agitating it with water and immersing the fabric therein, and sometimes
boiling the fabric in the same.
...I also claim the use of a compound of iron and zinc, produced by keeping
zinc mixed with pieces of iron exposed to a temperature just below that at
which it distils, in an iron vessel closely luted, with the exception of a pipe
issuing out of the furnace, as in the usual processes of distilling zinc. By this
exposure to heat for some hours, the zinc on cooling is reduced to a crystalline
compound; which may be readily powdered. I grind this compound to a fine
powder and mix-it with the black lead, and as this compound readily reduces
many metallic salts in consequence of its great affinity for oxygen, it is very
useful in obtaining a metallic surface.
Another method which I also claim for obtaining a metallic surface consists

page_text: in. using, plates-or other convenient. pieces of metal closely attached to the
opposite side of the fabric.
I also claim-another mode of obtaining a copper conducting surface, which
consists in first-impregnating the fabric with a salt of copper, and afterwards
reducing such salt, by the aid of the liquid termed glycerine, by, chemists.
Any of the substances-known to chemists as-reducing agents may be employed
for the reduction of the metal in the, fabric. previously, impregnated with the
solutions of a salt of metal, and the metal may also be reduced by connecting..
the cloth or fabric with a galvanic-arrangement, so that the hydrogen generated
is made to pass-through-it...
I also claim another mode of reducing the metal, particularly applicable to
gold and silver, which consists in exposing the, fabric impregnated with
metallic salt to the action of a current of phosphoretted hydrogen and other
gases, in the particular mode which I shall now describe. For this purpose I
place the fabric in a chamber made of any suitable material which can be
rendered-air-tight, and-into which at one extremity is introduced the end of
the retort in which the phosphoretted hydrogen is to be, generated, whilst at
the other extremity, a small bent pipe issues, opening, under the surface of
water in an ordinary, pneumatic cistern; near to the part where the end of the
retort is inserted I also introduce another pipe, proceeding. from a gasometer,
gas pipe, or other, reservoir, whereby the chamber can be filled, with hydrogen
gas or ordinary coal gas obtained by any of the usual methods; I pass a
current of these last gases through the chamber, until, by examination of the
air issuing through the bent pipe of the pneumatic cistern, I find the whole of
the atmospheric air filling the chamber has been expelled; I then cause the
phosphuretted hydrogen to pass through the chamber, by which the-reduction
of the metal is completed; and I generate this gas in the usual manner by
means. of phosphorus and caustic-potash in solution, covering the surface of the
caustic potash with a portion of ether, which, being volatilized on the applica
tion of heat, expels the air from the retort, and prevents the combustion of the
phosphuretted hydrogen, which would otherwise ensue on coming into contact
with atmospheric air..
.
I also claim, as a method of producing a stronger bond of union, between
the fabric and the metal, the introduction or weaving of thin metallic wires at
intervals into the fabric.
I also, further claim, the use of phosphorus dissolved in sulphuret of
carbon, which may be diluted with turpentine, as another mode of reducing
metallic salts with which the fabrics are to be impregnated after having been
first dipped in the solution- of phosphorous..
;

page_text: I shall now proceed, in the second place, to describe a method of conducting
the process of electro-deposition on fibrous materials or fabrics, which I more
particularly claim as my Invention. The arrangement I use is as follows:-
I take a sheet of iron, the one side of which I protect or cover by a porous
diaphragm, using any of the materials ordinarily employed in sustaining
galvanic batteries. What I have found succeed, and claim as my Invention, is,
a mixture of equal quantities of plaster of paris and roman cement, with which
I coat one surface of the iron plate; on the other side of this sheet of iron I
fix the fabric to be deposited upon by means of wax, or any other suitable
substance not soluble in the metallic solution. Having thus arranged two or
more sheets I connect them as follows; the whole, thus arranged, being
placed in a large vessel containing the solution of metal to be deposited..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
v, v, v, is a vessel containing the solution; I, I, are the sheets of iron;
C is the cloth or fabric attached to the iron; P, the porous diaphragm upon
the opposite side of the iron; W is the wire which connects the one piece
of iron to the cloth on the adjoining sheet or plate, so that the whole forms a
galvanic series. The action may be assisted by interposing between the two
poles an ordinary galvanic battery.
Another mode of depositing metal upon the fabric, which I further claim,
consists in closely attaching the fabric to a plate or other suitable form of
metal so as to surround the same, and I find paste a convenient made of
attaching the same, but I do not confine myself to the use of paste. I gene-
rally make use of a plate of metal similar to that to be deposited, but this is
not absolutely necessary, the chief point being to obtain a good metallic
conducting surface on the opposite side of the cloth or fabric, and immediately
in contact therewith. Sometimes I mix black lead or plumbago, or the finely
powdered compound of zinc and iron before mentioned, or finely precipitated
metal, or glycerine, with the paste, and sometimes I rub the same upon the
surface of the fabric after it is attached to the metal; if paste is employed
it must be allowed to dry before the surface is black-leaded, or otherwise
prepared.
Another method which I find to answer well, and which I particularly
claim, is, using a plate of amalgamated zinc or other metal covered with
quicksilver, and when the fabric has been pasted thereon I rub the finely
pounded compound of zinc and iron upon the surface; the fabric attached to
the metal is then to be placed in a suitable metallic solution and attached to
the zinc plate of a galvanic battery, whilst another plate or piece of the metal

page_text: to be deposited upon is attached to the copper plate of the battery and the
electro-deposition is to be conducted in the usual manner. I have already
stated that the fabric, being properly prepared, by having its surface made a
good conductor, may be deposited upon by the ordinary galvanic battery,
immersing the fabric in a solution of the metal to be deposited, and connecting
it with the zinc extremity of a galvanic battery, whilst a plate of the metal to
be deposited is immersed opposite to it in the same solution, and connected
with the copper extremity of the same battery, care being taken that the wire
leading to the cloth or fabric is well connected with the conducting surface.
In conclusion, what I claim is, the method of preparing or treating the
fabrics herein-before described, by impregnating and covering them with metal
or metals by electro-deposits, so as to obtain a material which, on account of
its lightness and other valuable properties, is peculiarly suitable to covering
roofs, and the bottoms of ships and vessels, and other surfaces, as well as for
many other useful purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Napier, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
JAMES (L.S.) NAPIER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid James Napier came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.