Iм- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXTRACT WOOL, AND IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DESTROYING THE VEGETABLE MATERIAL IN MIXED FABRICS, WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Martin, of Toadsmoor Rock Mills, near
Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXTRACT WOOL, AND IN THE PROCESS
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DESTROYING THE VEGETABLE MATERIAL IN
MIXED FABRICS, WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 19th January 1869, and dated the 22nd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Martin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd July 1868.
I, GEORGE MARTIN, of Toadsmoor Rock Mills, near Stroud, in the
County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXTRACT WOOL, AND IN
PROCESS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DESTROYING THE VEGETABLE MATERIAL IN
MIXED FABRICS, WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its chief object the separation of animal from
vegetable fibre in mixed fabrics. The usual mode of operation cm-
ployed for this purpose is to steep the rags or materials composed of
animal and vegetable fibres in diluted sulphuric acid, and then to place

page_text: them in a stove sufficiently heated to carbonize the vegetable fibre,
after which they are placed in a washing apparatus in order to cleanse
them of the carbonized vegetable material, and afterwards dried for
manufacture.
Another mode of treatment is to steep the rags or materials in
diluted sulphuric acid and salt in a suitable vessel, and to boil them
until the vegetable fibre is destroyed, and then to wash and dry them
as before mentioned. The extract wool so obtained is of inferior
quality and the staple more or less damaged, whilst the processes are
tedious and expensive.
By means of the present Invention the desired results are obtained
efficiently and economically. The rags or materials to be operated
upon are placed in a suitable stove or chamber, the machine or apparatus
invented by me, and for which I have obtained Provisional Protection
under the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852, bearing date the
Eighteenth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight, No. 919, being by preference employed for that purpose.
The vessel or chamber is then made air-tight, or nearly so, and
a vacuum or partial vacuum created therein by exhausting the
air therefrom, as well understood. In connection with this vessel
or chamber is placed a generator of any suitable and convenient form,
in which is generated the gas, vapour, or steam necessary for the
operation. The gas, vapour, or steam is allowed to enter the vessel
or chamber by suitable pipes, such vessel or chamber being previously
or during the operation heated to 150° or 200° Fahrenheit; the desired
effect will be thus produced, and all vegetable fibre contained in
the rags or materials under treatment destroyed in a very short time.
The operation may be facilitated by slightly damping the rags, but
the wool is slightly injured by so doing. The object being attained,
the gas, vapour, or steam may be exhausted and collected by the well-
known methods, after which a current of atmospheric air is allowed to
pass into the vessel or chamber to purify the materials. For bleaching
purposés a sulphur stove or retort is connected with the vessel or
chamber and charged with sulphur vapour. The rags or other materials
having been subjected to the influence of the sulphur vapour are then
washed and prepared in the usual manner. It is preferred that all
such parts of the apparatus employed as are exposed to the action of
the gas, vapour, or steam generated from or impregnated with any acids

page_text: which may be used be protected by a silicate or other coating which
will resist the corrosive effects of the acids so employed.
The apparatus employed for the purposes of this Invention is appli-
cable also to other analogous operations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Martin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MARTIN, of Toadsmoor Rock Mills, near Stroud, in the County of
Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Martin, Her
special licence that I, the said George Martin, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Martin,
my executors, administrators, and 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 Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXTRACT WOOL, AND IN THE PROCESS
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DESTROYING THE VEGETABLE MATERIAL IN MIXED
FABRICS, WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLICABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES,'
upon the
condition (amongst others), that I, the said George Martin, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Martin, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its chief object the separation of animal
from vegetable fibre in mixed fabrics. The usual mode of operation
employed for this purpose is to steep the rags or materials composed
of animal and vegetable fibres in diluted sulphuric acid, and then to
place them in a stove sufficiently heated to carbonize the vegetable
fibre, after, which they are placed in a washing apparatus in order
to cleanse them of the carbonized vegetable material and afterwards
dried for manufacture.
Another mode of treatment is to steep the rags or materials in
diluted sulphuric acid and salt in a suitable vessel, and to boil them
until the vegetable fibre is destroyed, and then to wash and dry them
as. before mentioned. The extract wool obtained by these processes
is of inferior quality and the staple more or less damaged, whilst the
processes themselves are tedious and expensive.
By means of the present Invention the desired results are obtained
efficiently and economically. The rags or materials to be operated upon
are placed in a suitable stove or chamber, the machine or apparatus
invented by me, and for which I have obtained Letters Patent
bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight, No. 919, being by preference employed for
that purpose. The vessel or chamber is then made as air-tight as
is practicable, and a vacuum or partial vacuum created therein by
exhausting the air therefrom as completely as possible, as well under-
stood. In connection with this vessel or chamber is placed a generator
of any suitable and convenient form, in which is generated the gas,
vapour, or steam necessary for the operation. The gas, vapour, or
steam is allowed to enter the vessel or chamber by suitable pipes,
such vessel or chamber being previously heated to 150° or 200°
Fahrenheit; the desired effect will be thus produced, and all vegetable
fibre contained in the rags or materials under treatment destroyed in
a very short time. The operation may be facilitated by slightly damping
the rags, but the wool is in some degree injured thereby.. The object
being attained, the gas, vapour, or steam may be exhausted and collected
by the well-known methods, after which a current of atmospheric air
is allowed to pass into the vessel or chamber to purify the materials.
For bleaching purposes a sulphur stove or retort is connected with

page_text: the vessel or chamber and charged with sulphur vapour. The rags
or other materials having been subjected to the influence of the sulphur
vapour are then washed and prepared in the usual manner. It is
preferred that all such parts of the apparatus employed as are exposed
to the action of the gas, vapour, or steam generated from or impregnated
with any acids which may be used be protected by a silicate or other
coating which will resist the corrosive effects of the acids so employed.
The generator for producing the gas, vapour, or steam may be used
if the same is lined with a silicate or made of such material as shall
be capable of resisting the action of the chemicals employed in the
manufacture of hydrochloric acid and sulphate of soda.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim
as constituting the Invention secured to me by the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent are, the processes herein-before mentioned
for the separation of animal from vegetable fibre, and the combination
and arrangement of apparatus employed therein, substantially as herein-
before set forth and described, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Martin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.