IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING WOOL, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND FIBRES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Nightingale Palmer, of Lansdowne
Road, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING WOOL, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND FIBRES.”—A
communication from abroad by Louis Prospère Hippolite Plantron
Balna of Reims in the Bonublic of France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Nightingale
Palmer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th November 1874.
I, THOMAS NIGHTINGALE PALMER, of Lansdowne Road, Dalston, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING WOOL, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND
FIBRES," a communication, to be as follows:-
In carrying out the said Invention I employ a vat of any required
dimensions made of white firwood, into which the materials to be
bleached are dipped. This vat is provided with three elbow pipes, two

page_text: of which are connected with gas generators of a convenient form. The
third elbow pipe connects with an apparatus by which oxygeneous air is
blown into one of the gas generators. I introduce into one of the latter
sub-carbonate of magnesia (the same as used in pharmacy) with
bi-carbonate of soda, to which is added sulphuric acid of 60 degrees.
From these a gas is evolved which passes through the elbow pipes into
the water contained in the vat, saturating it thoroughly. Into the
second generator I introduce sulphuric acid of the above-mentioned
degree with a quantity of charcoal and water. By means of a suitable
heating apparatus under the gas generator this charcoal is brought to a
boiling point, the evaporation ascending through the elbow pipe into the
water contained in the vat. When the water in the bleaching vat is
saturated with these different gases I blow atmospheric oxygen into it
which results in the thorough bleaching and cleansing of the materials
in the vat.
Or the above described carbonic, sulphurous, or oxygenated gases may
be produced by any other known means, or chloride of calcium may be
used in the water saturated with the gases as above mentioned always
with the addition of air or oxygenous gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
NIGHTINGALE PALMER, of Lansdowne Road, Dalston, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Nightingale
Palmer, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Nightingale
Palmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; ·
the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: 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 BLEACHING WOOL,
TEXTILE FABRICS, AND FIBRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, 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:-
In carrying out the said Invention I employ a vat of any required
dimensions made of white firwood, into which the materials to be
bleached are dipped. This vat is provided with three elbow pipes, two
of which are connected with gas generators of a convenient form. The
third elbow pipe connects with an apparatus by which oxygeneous air is
blown into one of the gas generators. I introduce into this gas generator
sub-carbonate of magnesia (the same as used in pharmacy) with
bi-carbonate of soda, to which is added sulphuric acid of 66 degrees.
From these a gas is evolved which passes through the elbow pipe into
the water contained in the vat, saturating it thoroughly. Into the
second generator I introduce. sulphuric acid of the above mentioned
degree with a quantity of charcoal and water. By means of a suitable
heating apparatus under the gas generator this charcoal is brought to a
boiling point, the evaporation ascending through the elbow pipe into the
water contained in the vat. When the water in the bleaching vat is
saturated with these different gases I blow atmospheric oxygen into it.
The combination of these gases saturating the water and the oxygenated
air results in the thorough bleaching and cleansing of the materials in
the vat in a few minutes; or bi-carbonate of soda and sub-carbonate of
magnesia (magnesia as used in chemistry) may be placed direct into the
bath or water in the vat, air being introduced into the said bath under

page_text: pressure when a dissolution of the carbonate of magnesia takes place,
producing the bleaching process. :
The above described carbonic, sulphurous, or oxygenated gases may
be produced by any other known means, or chloride of calcium may be
used in the water saturated with the gases as above mentioned always
with the addition of air or oxygeneous gas.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Nightingale Palmer, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.