CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING COTTON, SILK, WOOLLEN, AND OTHER STUFFS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HANCOCK, of Grosvenor Place, in the County of Middlesex, Artist, 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 Eighth day of February, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Heir heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Hancock, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Hancock, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Charles Hancock, my exors, admors,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her said United
Kingdom of Great and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
COTTON, SILK, WOOLLEN, AND OTHER STUFFS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that I, the said Charles Hancock, shall cause a full and
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, under my hand and seal, 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 in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at largo
annear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Hancock, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improvements
consists in printing cotton, silk, woollen, and other stuffs with oil or oil colors
without any previous preparation of the stuffs by mordants, sizes, or otherwise,
and also in printing them partly with oil or oil colors, and. partly with water
colours or dischargeable resists, whereby the ordinary process of printing is
greatly abridged; and I declare that the following is the manner in which
the said improvements are to be performed, that is to say :-
To obtain a suitable medium for the colours, I first mix linseed oil, nut oil,
or other drying oil (preferring linseed oil, because of its drying quality and of
its retaining its fluidity at lower temperatures than most others), and raw or
burnt Turkey umber together in the proportion of about one gallon of the oil
for about every pound of the umber, and I boil this mixture over a slow fire
in an open metal pan of large area and of sufficient depth to allow it to rise
without boiling over, continuing the boiling until the mixture gives indication
of having nearly parted with most of its evaporable constituents, and taking
care to, draw the fire before any deposition. of carbon takes place, which. would
have a discoloring effect on the contents of the pan. When these constituents
have been duly observed, the resulting product is a viscid substance of an
uniform consistency,, resembling that of dissolved caoutchouc,. 'flowing freely
on: the application of a slight heat, or spreading by: slight mechanical pressure;
and neither soiling nor running: on being brought into, contact with textile
fabrics or paper. Or, instead of mixing the umber with the oil, I use oil alone
for a medium (but preferring the former), boiling the oil in the same manner
as aforesaid till it. has acquired a like "consistency; and like properties. 'In
either case; instead of completing the process at one boiling, it may be effected.
with less risk of failure, though more slowly, by several boilings, allowing the
mixture or the oil to cool each time the fire is drawn: A metal cover may be
suspended over the pan by weighted chains or ropes. passing: over pullies,"so
that in the event of the inflammable gases: disengaged catching fire; the cover
may be instantly lowered and the flame extinguished: When it is desirable
for any particular. purpose: to have the medium of a more drying or more.
adhesive quality-than usual, I add; as the case may be, to the mixture or oil:
when in the pan, either a little white vitriol, litharge, sugar of lead, or other
drier, or a little of any suitable.resin: Before the product of the boiling or
boilings has become quite cold it may be thinned down; if desired, with highly
rectified oil of turpentine; or any other sufficient solvent. In order to combine
the composition or medium, the nature and, preparation of which I have thus
described, with any of the pigments or other matters suitable for the printing

page_text: of cotton, silk, woollen, and other stuffs, the combination is best effected in
vessels heated by steam, according to the mode usually adopted in colour
manufactories and laboratories. When the colors are to be applied. to the
stuffs, it may be done without any previous preparation of the stuffs by mor-
dants, sizes, oils, or otherwise, and by means either of cylinder printing
machines, or plates, or blocks. If the medium has been previously thinned
sufficiently by oil of turpentine or other solvent, the colours may be applied in
a cold state; or, if the medium has not been so previously thinned, then; in
order to make the colors flow freely, the color troughs, tearing sieves, plates,
and cylinders must be kept warm by steam, or some other transmitter of a
gentle heat, by any of the well-known methods commonly employed for such
purposes. The colours do not rest on the surface, but penetrate the body of
the stuff, and this without running. Any smell imparted by the oil or tur-.
pentine may be dissipated by exposure to the air. The medium possesses of
itself a considerable degree of colour, and may be used for printing stuffs
without the intermixture of any other coloring matter.
The stuffs so
printed on may be of any colour or colours.
In the processes hitherto described, it has been supposed that the figures,
designs, or patterns are to be printed with the oil or oil colors, but instead
thereof, the figures, designs, or patterns may be produced in the manner of
resists by some fugitive water color, gum, or paste, and an oil or oil color, pre-
pared as before directed, be made use of to produce only the general ground,
the stuff being washed afterwards to discharge the resist, and then aired, as
before directed, to get rid of any smell of the oil or turpentine.
And having now described the nature of my said improvements, and the
manner in which the same are to be performed, I declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is,―
First, the printing of cotton, silk, woollen, and other stuffs (without any pre-
vious preparation of the stuffs by mordants, sizes, oils, or otherwise,) with oil
or oil colors, prepared or compounded, and applied in the manner herein-before
set forth.
Second, the printing of stuffs, as aforesaid, with oil or oil colors, compounded
or prepared in the same manner as before set forth, however differently the
saine may be applied.
Third, the printing of stuffs, as aforesaid, with oil or oil colors, applied in
the same manner as before set forth, however differently such colors may be
prepared or compounded.
Aud; fourthly, the printing-of-stuffs, as aforesaid, partly with oil or oil colors

page_text: and partly with water colors or any dischargeable resist, in the manner before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Hancock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.