Im- PROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CERTAIN COLOURING MATTERS FOR DYEING AND PRINTING
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Wise, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the
City of Westminster, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CERTAIN COLOURING MATTERS FOR DYEING AND
PRINTING." A communication from abroad by Ivan Levinstein, of Berlin,
in the Kingdom of Prussia, Chemist.
Sealed the 8th September 1865, and dated the 13th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Wise at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
March 1865.
I, FRANCIS WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the City of West-
minster, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CERTAIN COLOURING MATTERS FOR
DYEING AND PRINTING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing certain colour-
ing matters for dyeing and printing, and consists in taking the substance
known as rosaniline (which article is usually prepared from aniline and the
homologues thereof), and in then mixing it cold with formic acid, a proportion

page_text: which I have found suitable, being one of rosaniline to one of formic acid.
The mixture is then heated to a temperature of from 284 to 410 degrees
Fahrenheit, by which process it is made to become firstly scarlet red, then red
orange, and finally yellow orange. If the operation be interrupted at scarlet
red, and after the matter treated has been allowed to cool, aniline or its
homologues be added, and the whole again heated to a temperature of between
356 and 410 degrees Fahrenheit, the result is a beautiful brown colouring
matter. To obtain a violet colouring matter I mix the rosaniline with
valerian acid (in the proportion by preference of about one to one) and heat
the mixture carefully in a suitable apparatus to a temperature by preference
of from 820 to 410 degrees Fahrenheit, the result of which is the colouring
matter required. For the purposes of dyeing and printing these colours
may either be used directly, or may be farther purified and used by any of
the well known or other convenient methods employed for working aniline
colours.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Wise in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Wise, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Wise, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Wise, 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 PREPARING
CERTAIN COLOURING MATTERS FOR DYEING AND PRINTING," a communication to me
from abroad by Ivan Levinstein, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Chemist,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Wise, my execu-

page_text: tors 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Wise, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing certain colour-
ing matters for dyeing and printing, and consists in taking the substance
known as rosaniline (which article is usually prepared from aniline and tho
homologues thereof), and in then mixing it cold with formic acid, a proportion
which I have found suitable being one of rosaniline to one of formic acid.
The mixture is then heated to a temperature of from 284 to 410 degrees
Fahrenheit, by which process it is made to become firstly scarlet red, then
red orange, and finally yellow orange. If the operation be interrupted at
scarlet red, and after the matter treated has been allowed to cool, aniline or
its homologues be added, and the whole again heated to a temperature of
between 356 and 410 degrees Fahrenheit, the result is a beautiful brown
colouring matter. To obtain a violet colouring matter I mix the rosaniline
with valerianic acid (in the proportion by preference of about one to one) and
heat the mixture carefully in a suitable apparatus to a temperature by pre-
ference of from 320 to 410 degrees Fahrenheit, the result of which is the
colouring matter required. For the purposes of dyeing and printing these
colours may either be used directly or may be farther purified and used by any
of the well known or other convenient methods employed for working aniline
colours.
I will now proceed to more fully describe the manner of conveniently
carrying the said Invention into effect, for which latter purpose I take one
part by weight of the substance known as rosaniline (which forms the basis
of the red colouring matter known in commerce as roseine, fuchsine, magenta,
and by other names), and I mix this one part of rosaniline with one part by
weight, of formic acid, and half a part by weight of acetate of soda, and heat
the whole to a temperature of from 356 to 392 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermo-
meter. This mixture begins to melt on attaining a temperature of about
284 degrees Fahrenheit, and after a short time, and at a higher temperature,

page_text: it appears
dark brown; if it be then dissolved in wood spirit or alcohol a
scarlet red colour is shewn, or if instead of interrupting the operation when
the mixture appears dark brown as aforesaid, the application of heat be. con-
tinued until the mixture has reached a temperature of, say, 497 degrees
Fahrenheit, and it be then dissolved in wood spirit or alcohol a red orange
colour will appear. By permitting the operation to continue until the mixture
attains a temperature of about 510 degrees Fahrenheit, and then dissolving it
in wood spirit or alcohol a yellow orange color. is shewn. After attaining
either of the several colours named, the matter may be cooled, by which
process it becomes hard and can then be at once used for the purposes of
dyeing and printing.
In order to prepare the beautiful brown colouring matter herein-before
referred to, when the matter has become scarlet red I mix it with aniline
oil, in the proportion conveniently of 3 parts by weight of aniline oil to one
part by weight of scarlet red colouring matter, and I heat the whole to the
requisite temperature, as before explained. The excess of aniline oil may be
separated from the colouring matter by any of the known processes. To
obtain violet colouring matter I mix rosaniline with valerianic acid in the
proportion by preference of one part by weight of rosaniline to one part by
weight of valerianic acid, and heat the same until the mixture begins to
thicken and attains a temperature varying with the tint required, the mixture
ecoming more blue the longer the heat is continued until blue violet is
obtained. I afterwards allow the mixture to cool, and then boil it in water,
after which, on being properly cooled, it is ready for use. By means of the
violet colouring matters, thus obtained silk and wool may be dyed and printed
of a beautiful red violet, or a violet, or a blue violet colour. In preparing the
violet colouring matters, instead of mixing with the rosaniline valerianic acid
as aforesaid, stearic acid or butyric acid, or acetic acid, or olnanthylic acid, as
well as several other acids of the same group, may be substituted, preferring
however to use valerianic acid as before. explained. I should here, remark
that in order to obtain scarlet red, red orange, orange, and yellow orange
colouring matters, the use of acetate of soda is not absolutely necessary, never-
theless its employment may in some cases be found convenient in carrying out
this Invention; likewise that the wood spirit or alcohol does not serve to
produce either of the colouring matters herein-before named, but merely to
show whether the desired colour has been obtained.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manuer the same may be conveniently carried into effect, I would have it

page_text: understood that without strictly confining myself to the precise details set
forth, I claim preparing the several colouring matters herein-before named
substantially as and for the purposes described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Wise, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
FRANCIS (L.B.) WISE.