IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING COTTON WASTE THAT HAS BEEN USED BY RAILWAY COMPANIES, AND PREPARING IT TO BE USED AGAIN
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas, Greenshields, of George Street, Derby, in
the County of Derby, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
COTTON WASTE THAT HAS BEEN USED BY RAILWAY COMPANIES, AND PREPARING
IT TO BE USED AGAIN."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenshields at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1854.
I, THOMAS GREENSHIELDS, of George Street; Derby, in the County of Derby,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING COTTON WASTE THAT HAS BEEN USED BY RAILWAY COMPANIES, AND PRE-
PARING IT TO BE USED AGAIN," to be as follows (that is to say):-
Cotton waste is extensively used in cleaning locomotive and other engines,
and in the, various workshops belonging to the railway companies. After being
used, nearly the whole has been burnt or otherwise destroyed in consequence
of the danger arising from its liability to spontaneous combustion, and from
the large quantity so destroyed, and the increasing requirements of railway
companies, the price of cotton waste has very much increased.
The improvements consist in treating the waste after being used (containing
oil, fatty-matter, turpentine, fine dust, and other impurities) to prevent spon-

page_text: taneous combustion when collected in quantities, and to prepare the waste fit
to be used again. This is effected by sorting the waste as it is collected into
three or more qualities, having having reference to the amount of impurity con-
tained in the waste; each portion is then to be placed in suitable receptacles,
and saturated with a cheap alkaline solution, as lime water, made with fresh
burnt lime, or with a weak solution of caustic alkali, and it is preferred that the
saturating solution should be hot. By this means spontaneous combustion will
be prevented, should it be required to collect a large quantity as a stock for
cleaning; but it is preferred, after it has laid one night in the alkaline solution,
to remove it into an iron pan containing a boiling weak solution of caustic
alkali, adding the waste until the solution just covers it, keeping the tempera-
ture at or a little below the boiling point. The oily & fatty matter and the
lighter impurities will rise to the surface as a scum. This scum is to be
carefully removed as it forms, and is to be kept in casks or other vessels.
When the scum ceases to rise, the water is to be let off; the waste is then to
be washed with clean water until the water runs off clear; the waste is then
to be examined, and if found still to contain greasy matter, it is again to be
subjected to the operation with a weak caustic alkali solution, and then washed
as before described, and so on, until all the impurities are removed, and then
washed perfectly clean; after which it is to be passed through rollers, or other-
wise deprived of as much moisture as possible; after which operation it is to
be placed in a stove to dry. When dry, the dust and grit still remaining in
the waste is to be well-shaken out, when it will be fit for use.
The scum that has been removed from the surface.and.collected as before
described is to be purified, by boiling with water or with steam, and is to be
examined from time to time. If the impurities are not removed, small portions
of carbonated or caustic alkali is to be added, until the impurities are separated
from the fatty matter. When these are cold, they can be removed and used
in combination with other materials for making soap or railway grease, as may
be determined by the quality of the fatty matter (in combination with alkali)

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Greenshields, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Greenshields, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas Greenshields, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CLEANING COTTON WASTE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Greenshields, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Greenshields, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
-
The cotton waste after being used is to be sorted into two qualities, light
and heavy, the heavy having the greatest amount of impurity. It will require
about 3 cwt. of heavy, and a little more than 2 cwt. of the light, to produce
1 cwt. of clean waste. The waste when sorted is to be well shaken, and the
parts matted together opened out, so as to make it as loose as possible; it is
then to be placed in suitable receptacles, and saturated with a hot solution, as
herein-after described. The pans or boilers that have been found to work
best to operate at one time on a quantity that will produce 1 cwt. of clean
waste, are four pans made out of two old cylindrical steam boilers, about
9 feet long, and about 4 feet in diameter, each cut longitudinally, to form two
semi-cylindrical paus. The bottom of one of these pans is to be set (with a
suitable fire-place) at least six inches above the top of the other pans when
set. The alkaline solution is to be made in this pan, to have a pipe 11in.
in diameter, with taps to supply cach pan with the solution. Two of the pans
are then to be set, with fire-places by the side of the last-described pan, but
leaving a passage between the pans, the top of the pans to be 2 ft. 6 in. above
the floor, these pans_being_numbered-No.-1-and-No-2. No.-3-pan-is to be a
flat
at pan, and placed next to No. 2, and set with fire bars; door, &c.-to-be

page_text: 12 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 12 inches in depth; the top of the pan to be on
a level with No. 2 pan. No. 4 pan is one of the semi-cylindrical pans, set as
before: described. All. the pans should have discharge pipes, at least 3 inches
in diameter, and fixed so as to run off the solution and dirty water quickly,
and leave the bottom of the pans quite dry; the supply of water should be
such as to occasion as little delay as possible either in filling or changing the
water in the pans. The solution for decomposing the oil in the heavy waste
is made in the following manner-150 gallons of water is run into the pan
first described, and 21 lbs. of alkali, known as white ash, and the same quan-
tity of quick-lime in powder is to be added, and the whole boiled during
20 minutes. When the lime has subsided, 130 gallons of the clear solution is
run into No. 1 pan, and the quantity of dirty waste to produce 1 cwt. of clean
is put into the solution, boiled and well agitated during 20 minutes, when a
picce is to be taken out and washed in hot water to ascertain if it will wash
nearly clean; if it will not, the boiling must. be continued and well agitated
for ten minutes longer, and again. examined, as before. When the effect is
obtained, the solution that has become thick is to be run off into a suitable
receiver, to be treated as herein-after described; 200 gallons of water is. then
to be run into-the pan, and the waste well washed, by changing the water until
no more colouring matter is given out; it is then allowed to drain in the pan.
When drained, 130 gallons of the solution (prepared after the first was used)
is run into the pan, and kept at a temperature of about 208° "Farenheit" for
20 minutes, being well shaken the whole of the time, when a piece must be
taken out and washed-in-hot water to ascertain if it will wash perfectly clean;
if it will not, the boiling and agitation must be continued until it will wash per-
fectly clean (adding 5 or 6 gallons of the solution, if necessary); it is then to
be drawn and-placed on racks, so as to drain into the pan. When drained it
is to be passed into No. 3 pan, containing boiling water, and well shaken and
agitated until nearly clean; then placed to drain, and passed into No. 4 pan,
containing cold water, and well shaken, changing the water until-the-last-water-
remains quite clear. The waste is then to be taken out of the pan and passed
between rollers, having sufficient pressure to deprive it of as much moisture
as possible, then shaken loose, and placed in a suitable room or stove, heated
by means of steam or hot water pipes. When dry, it is to be well shaken to
remove all remaining grit and dust, when it will, be ready for use. The solution
left in No. 1 pan is to have a similar quantity of dirty waste put into it, and
proceed with the operation in the manner before described. The operations
in No. 2 are the same in every particular as before described for No. 1 pan,
except, when light waste is operated upon; 19 lbs: of alkali, and- 19 lbs. of

page_text: lime must be used instead of 21 lbs., as described to be used for heavy waste.
The thick solution run from the pans No. 1 and 2 into the receiver is to be
removed to a suitable boiler and kept boiling, and portions of tallow or fat
added from time to time to absorb the alkali not in combination with the oil,
&c., and the process conducted as in the first operation for making soap, as is
well understood; or the solution may be mixed with wood ashes, sulphate of
lime in powder, and muriate of sodium in equal or other proportions, as may
be required to form an artificial manure. After the whole of the solution has
been run out of the pan in which it was made, 100 gallons of water is to be
run into the pan, and when it is clear it is to be run into No. 3 pan. When
the water in No. 3 pan requires changing, it is to be run hot into the recep-
tacles containing the dirty waste, before described. I do not confine myself to
the exact form or size of the pans, or to the exact quantity of the materials to
make the solution; I do not claim the use of the alkali ând lime as being new ;
but what I do claim is, the alkaline solution made and used in the manner
described for-cleaning cotton waste that has been used by railway companies
to make it in a fit state to be used again; I also claim the mode of using the
thick alkaline solution in the manner before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Greenshields, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
THOMAS GREENSHIELDS. (L.S.)