IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH DYEING COTTON YARNS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Albert Gatty, of Accrington, in the County
of Lancaster, Dyer and Calico Printer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AND CONNECTED WITH DYEING COTTON YARNS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Albert Gatty at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th March 1881.
FREDERICK ALBERT GATTY, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer
and Calico Printer. " IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH DYEING COTTON
YARNS."
My improvements relate to the dyeing of cotton yarns on cops, spools, bobbins,
or in other compact condition where water will not readily penetrate, and consist
in the use of alcohol, wood spirit, acetone, ethers, or the derivatives of the same
spirits in place of water.
My reason for using alcohol or any of the other spirits named above in place of
water is on account of their great penetrating powers, making the yarn wet after a
few minutes immersion. After the yarns have been soaked or impregnated with
the mordant or the dye materials dissolved in or mixed with the alcohol or any of
the other spirits named above they are left for a few hours, and are then put into a
close vessel, the latter being in connection with a condensing apparatus; I then
apply heat or steam in order to drive out the spirit which is condensed, and can be
used over again.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Frederick Albert Gatty in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th September 1881.
66
FREDERICK ALBERT GATTY, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer
and Calico Printer. IMPROVEMENTS IN. AND CONNECTED WITH DYEING COTTON
YARNS."
My Invention relates to the dyeing of cotton yarns in the cops on spools, bobbins,
or in other compact condition where water will not readily penetrate, and consists
in the use of alcohol, wood spirit, acetone, ether, or the derivatives of the same
spirits in place of water. My reason for using alcohol or any of the other spirits
named above in place of water is on account of their great penetrating powers,
making the yarn wet after a few minutes immersion. After the yarns have been
soaked or impregnated with the mordant or the dye materials dissolved in or
mixed with the alcohol or any of the other spirits named above they are left for
a time, and are then put into a close vessel, the latter being in connection with a
condensing apparatus; I then apply heat or steam in order to drive out the spirit
which is condensed and can be used over again.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood I will describe how
the same is or may be performed.
I mix with alcohol or any of the other spirits named above the necessary
ingredients for dyeing the colours required; these ingredients are the same as
those used when yarns are dyed in the ordinary way when water is used (except
those which are not soluble in alcohol), but in order to be fully understood I will
give a few examples. For the class of colours which require the yarns to be
prepared with sumac or other substances containing tannic acid, before dyeing I
prefer to use tannic acid, of which I dissolve eight ounces in every gallon of alcohol
or any of the other spirits named above, the strength of which depends upon the
quality of the cotton; a liquid containing about twenty per cent. of alcohol will
permeate some kinds of cotton, while another description will require a stronger
spirit; this is easily ascertained by steeping a cop in the liquid, and seeing if it
has penetrated to the inside; the strength of the spirit does not affect the colour
providing the alcohol or other spirit is strong enough to penetrate to all parts of
the yarn.
After having dissolved the tannic acid as described above I steep the
dry yarns in the solution for about ten minutes, and then take them out and let
the excess of liquid drain off, or I extract it by putting the yarns into a hydro-
extractor. I then put them into a vessel which is closed and connected with an
ordinary condensing apparatus, and apply heat to the outside and admit a little
steam inside the vessel in order to drive off the alcohol or other spirit, as the case
may be, which is condensed and recovered. These yarns are then ready for
dyeing with any of the substances usually employed for dyeing cotton yarns which
have been prepared with tannic acid or any other substance containing tannin.
For grays I mix one gallon of acetate of iron of ten degrees of Twaddle's hydrometer
with four gallons of alcohol or any of the other spirits named above, and steep the
yarns prepared with tannic acid in it for about ten minutes; I then take them out,
and after about an hour I put them into a hydroextractor in order to free them
from the excess of liquid. I then put them again into the close vessel for
recovering the alcohol and proceed as described above. If the yarns are not dry
when they come out of the close vessel I dry them in any convenient way. When
I use tar colours I prepare solutions of them in the usual way; those soluble in
water, such as violets, greens, saffranine, magenta, and others I dissolve in water at
the rate of about four ounces per gallon, and those which are insoluble in water,

page_text: such as opal blue, I dissolve in the usual way in alcohol. I prefer to prepare these
solutions beforehand in order to have them perfectly clear and free from sediment.
For dyeing I mix one to one and a half gallons of any of these solutions, according
to the shade required, with four gallons of alcohol or any of the other spirits named
above of the requisite strength to penetrate the yarns in the cop or other compact
form, and steep the yarns previously prepared with tannic acid, as described above,
in it for about ten minutes, when they are taken out and treated in the same way
as described for dyeing gray. For preparing the yarns for blacks, browns, and
other dark colours I give preference to an iron mordant, such as acetate of iron; I
use one part of acetate of iron at ten degrees Twaddle's hydrometer to three parts
of alcohol or one of the other spirits in which the yarns are steeped and afterwards
treated as described for preparing them with tannic acid; for dyeing I use the
colouring matters commonly used for dyeing these colours, such as logwood liquor,
fustic liquor, bark liquor, and other suitable colouring matters which are mixed
with alcohol or any of the other spirits; the yarns prepared with the iron mordant
are steeped in these liquors and treated in the same way as described for dyeing
the other colours, of which I have given examples above, but in this instance
prefer to use the dye bath heated to from one hundred and thirty to one hundred
and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and I leave the yarns about half an hour in the liquid.
For alizarine red I prepare the yarns with an aluminous mordant, such as acetate
of alumina, and then dye them with alizarine, again, using alcohol or any of the
other spirits named above (in place of water) heated to from one hundred and
thirty to one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. For indigo blues I take a
solution of deoxidized indigo in an alkali, such as soda, potash, or ammonia
prepared in the ordinary way, and add strong alcohol or any of the other spirits
named above in sufficient quantity to give the liquid the property of penetrating
the yarns. After an immersion of the yarns for about a quarter of an hour I take
them out of the liquid and expose them to the air for about half an hour; I then
put them into a close vessel, and add water containing one ounce of alum for every
gallon of water in sufficient quantity to cover the yarns, I then apply heat and boil
the water until all the spirit has been driven out, which is condensed as described
before. The water is then run off and the yarns taken out of the vessel and
dried.
The methods of dyeing many more colours might be described, but the principal
and system of all remains the same.
Having now stated the nature of my Invention, and described how I perform the
same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the colours which
I have given as examples or to the exact proportions or combinations of ingredients
described above, as these may be varied in many ways, and I make no claim to the
use of alcohol or other spirits herein named as a solvent of dyeing materials, but
what I do claim as my Invention is,―
The use or employment of alcohol, wood spirit, acetone, ether, or the derivatives
of the same to convey mordants and dyeing materials to all parts of cotton yarn
when in the cop, on bobbins, spools, or in other compact form in order to dye the
yarn, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Albert Gatty, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and eighty one.
F. A. GATTY. (L.S.)