IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOFING" AND- FINISHING TEXTILE FARRICS AND VARNE." —A
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bernoulli Barlow, of the City of Manchester,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOFING" AND-
FINISHING TEXTILE FARRICS AND VARNE." —A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th March 1854.
I, HENRY BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-
PROOFING AND FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS" to be as follows:-
The articles to be operated on may be of wool, silk, hair, and such like
animal substances, or a mixture of all or any of those substances with cotton,
linen, flax, and such like vegetable matters.
In the case of plain fabrics and yarns, I immerse them in a solution of
greater or less strength, according to the effect intended to be produced, of an
oxide or salt of metal. I prefer to use sulphate and nitrate of copper, and
acetate and nitrate of lead, as cheap and well-known articles; but other
metallic salts and oxides will answer the purpose. I dry the goods thus treated;
then I enclose them in a blanket of woollen or other suitable material, saturated
with a solution of an alkaline sulphuret, preferring those of calcium, potassium,
sodium, and ammonium; but any other sulphuret or compound that will yield

page_text: volatile sulphur or sulphuretted hydrogen gas will do; and I wind the goods
on a hollow cylinder of metal, perforated with holes, or place them in a close
vessel, well known by the name of a steam chest, and then apply high pressure
steam. By this means a metallic lustre (a sulphuret) is formed in and
on the cloth, which not only renders it waterproof, but gives it a beautiful
finish. These goods can afterwards be-dyed or printed in various colours.
On plain dyed fabrics the effect is produced by mixing the above metallic
salts or oxides with the dye previous to the pieces being dyed. Or I take the
plain pieces, dye them, and then pass such dyed goods in a solution of the
above metallic salts or oxides; and after such pieces have been so prepared,
they are submitted to the action of steam and volatile compounds of sulphur,
as herein-before mentioned.
By employing metallic salts and metallic oxides, such as those of antimony,
tin, manganese, zinc, and arsenic, I obtain coloured sulphurets, by submitting
goods printed or dyed with the above-named salts or oxides to the action
of steam and volatile compounds of sulphur, in the manner herein-before
mentioned.
+
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BERNOULLI BARLOW, of the City of Manchester, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, 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 Henry Bernoulli Barlow, Her special license that I, the said Henry Ber-
noulli Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATERPROOFING AND FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS," being a
communication from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, by an instrument in writing

page_text: 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 Henry Bernoulli Barlow, 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 said Invention consists of a mode or modes of waterproofing and
finishing certain textile fabrics and yarns made of wool, silk, hair, and such
like animal substances, or a mixture of all or any of those substances with
cotton, flax, or such like vegetable matters, or any of those materials with other
fibrous materials, by rendering them to a certain extent repellant of water,
and imparting to them.a finish of a lustrous or metallic appearance. To effect
this purpose, I impregnate the fibres of the fabrics or yarns with a salt or a
compound of a metal. I prefer to use one of the following:-Acetate, nitrate,
or chloride of copper, acetate and nitrate of lead, nitrate and acetate of bismuth,
or any other salts or compounds of those metals, except the sulphates; but
the salts of the first-named metals are most used by me, as cheap and well-
known articles; and I then subject the fabrics or yarns so impregnated to
the action of steam, charged or mixed with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, or any
other volatile compound of sulphur. When I impregnate the plain, dyed, or
printed fabrics or yarns with one of the above-named acetates, nitrates, and
chlorides, or other salt or compound of the metals aforesaid, I immerse
them in a bath containing a solution of any of the above-named' acetates,
nitrates, and chlorides, or any other salts or compounds of the above metals, of
a specific gravity of from one-eighth of a degree to three degrees of Twaddle's
hydrometer. If the solution be heated, the fabric or yarn will be more speedily
impregnated; but some description of printed or dyed goods will not bear the
application of heat without injuring the colors, and in such cases, therefore,
the solution must be used cold, or at a temperature sufficiently low to avoid
injury to the color or colors, the time of immersion being proportionately
lengthened. When the solution is heated to a high temperature (say about
two hundred degrees of Fahrenheit), and the goods are not very thick, a suffi-
cient impregnation will generally be effected in a few minutes; but if the
solution be cold, or the goods very thick, it may be necessary to continue the
immersion as long as from two to three hours, in order to ensure a perfect
impregnation. Instead of simply immersing the fabrics or yarns in the
solution, mechanical action or agitation may also be applied, for the purpose

page_text: of expediting or ensuring a regular uniform impregnation of the whole of
the goods immersed. After impregnation, I subject the fabrics or yarns to
the action of rollers or a press, for the purpose of depriving them as much
as possible of the superfluous solution which they contain, so as to prevent
the waste of it; I then wash the fabrics or yarns, and afterwards express the
water from them by rollers or a press, or I place them in a hydro-extractor.
If the goods be thin or fine, or of a delicate color, I dry or partially dry them
before they are subjected to the action of the sulphuretted hydrogen, or any
other volatile compound of sulphur, for the purpose of obtaining or
promoting a more uniform action of those agents.
If it be desired to impart a water repellant property or finish of a lustrous
appearance to some parts only of the plain or previously dyed fabrics or yarns,
that object may be effected in two modes. By these means a pattern, or
ornamental appearance, or variety of effect, may be produced. According to
one of these modes, I first impregnate the plain or previously dyed fabrics or
yarns with any of the acetates, nitrates, and chlorides of copper, lead, and
bismuth, above-named, or any other salts or compounds of those metals, except
the sulphates, and wash, press, and dry them, in manner above described. I
then, by means of printing blocks or rollers, or any other convenient means,
apply to or cover those parts of the fabrics or yarns which are not to be rendered
water repellant, or have a finish of a lustrous appearance, with some material
which will protect them from the action of sulphuretted hydrogen, or any
other volatile compound of sulphur, during the operation herein-after described,
the other parts of the fabrics or yarns being uncovered, so as to be subjected
to its action. This protecting material may be British gum, or any other
material sufficient to afford the requisite protection, and made up into a paste of
about the same consistence as the printing colors used in printing textile fabrics;
the fabrics or yarns being then dried, will be ready to be subjected to the·
action of the steam. and sulphuretted hydrogen, or any other volatile compound
of sulphur, as herein-after described. The other of those two modes consists in
applying an acetate, nitrate, or chloride, or any other salt or compound of the
above-named metals, to those parts of the surfaces of the plain or previously
dyed fabrics or yarns which are intended to be made water repellant, or have a
finish of a lustrous appearance; and this I do by mixing up the salt or
compound of the metal intended to be used with a small quantity of British
gum, or any thickening substance, to about the same consistence as the printing
colors above mentioned, and then, by means of printing blocks, printing rollers,
or other convenient means, print or impress a portion of the mixture of salt or
compound, and gum or thickening, upon the parts to which the lustrous finish

page_text: is to be imparted. The fabrics or yarns being then dried, are ready for being
submitted to the action of the steam and sulphuretted hydrogen, or any other
volatile compound of sulphur; plain fabrics and yarns intended to be dyed or
printed with any color or colors may be dyed with, or the colors may contain
or be composed in part of, any of the acetates, nitrates, or chlorides of copper,
lead, or bismuth, or any other salts or compounds of those metals, except the
sulphates. The plain fabrics or yarns which have been dyed with the acetate,
nitrate, chloride, or other salts or compounds of copper, lead, or bismuth,
except the sulphates, are then to be subjected to the action of sulphuretted
hydrogen, or any other volatile compound of sulphur and steam, for the purpose
of decomposing or acting chemically upon the metallic acetate, nitrate, chloride,
or other salt or compound with which they may have been dyed, or enter into
the composition of the colouring matter fixed thereon, so imparting a water-
repelling property, or bright, lustrous, or glossy finish to the colors or fibres of
the fabrics or yarns. The process of producing a metallic sulphuret on or in
the yarn or fabric may be effected by enclosing the yarn or fabric in a steam
chest or chamber, and then introducing steam impregnated or mixed with
sulphuretted hydrogen, or any other volatile compound of sulphur, or the
sulphuretted hydrogen and steam may be introduced without first mixing them.
The steam or mixture of sulphuretted hydrogen, or any other volatile compounds
of sulphur and steam, should be injected into the chest or chamber until the
requisite chemical action has been produced, which will generally be effected
in from five to thirty minutes. I also find that I can operate with the sul-
phuretted hydrogen or any other volatile compounds of sulphur in rolling
the fabrics together in a wrapper round the steam cylinders, such as are usually
employed in print works for steaming goods, and then introducing into the
centre part of the cylinder sulphuretted hydrogen gas, together with the steam,
or the steam itself may be impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen or any
volatile compound of sulphur previous to its introduction into the cylinder;
or I roll round the cylinder, together with the wrapper, or piece of flannel or
calico, moistened with a solution of an alkaline sulphuret, or any other
sulphuret or compound that will yield volatile compounds of sulphur or
sulphuretted hydrogen; but I prefer to use one of the sulphurets of potas-
sium, sodium, ammonium, calcium,, magnesium, barium, or strontium, and on
such saturated cloth I place another wrapper of flannel or calico, and then
the fabric to be operated upon, and all these are rolled round the cylinder
at the same time. The whole is then covered with a thick wrapper of the
above materials, and submitted to the action of steam, during a space of time.
varying from five to thirty minutes. The fabrics or yarns may then be washed,

page_text: dried, and treated in the ordinary methods, so as to prepare them for the
market, according to the purpose to which they may be intended to be applied.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, as of the said
Invention, the waterproofing of fabrics and yarns by rendering them to a certain
extent repellant of water, and the imparting of a finish of bright, lustrous, or
glossy appearance on plain or colored fabrics or yarns, as aforesaid, by
impregnating them with chloride, acetate, and nitrate of copper, acetate and
nitrate of lead, acetate and nitrate of bismuth, or any other salt or compound
of such metals, except the sulphates, and decomposing such acetates, nitrates,
chlorides, and other salts, or compounds of those metals, except the sulphates,
by means of sulphuretted hydrogen, either generated as a gas, or by the decom-
position of a sulphuret, by steam, or by the employment of a volatile compound
of sulphur, capable of forming on the fabric or yarn a sulphuret with the metals
above mentioned, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bernoulli Barlow, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
H. B. BARLOW. (L.S.)