IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PREPARING HEMP AND FLAX TO BE SPUN
Year: 1854

page_text: 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING, DYEING,
AND PREPARING HEMP AND FLAX TO BE SPUN."-A communication from
Messrs. A. and H. Six, of Wazemmes-les-lille.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of 'Patents, with
his Petition, on the 26th October 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLEACHING,
DYEING, AND PREPARING HEMP & FLAX TO BE SPUN," being a communication
from Messrs. A. & H. Six, of Wazemmes-les-lille, to be as follows:-
The hemp or flax being hackled is hung upon bars fixed in a frame; in that
position it is introduced into baths of chlorine acid lye, dye wash, &c., com-
posed as usual, until the bleaching or dyeing operation is completed. The
hemp or flax is then dried, and in order to make it soft and silky I beat or
bruise it. To separate the fibres I subject them to an operation similar to
hackling, which renders the hemp or flax susceptible of being spun by the
same machinery & with the same facility as if it had neither been bleached
nor dyed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 26th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license,
that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BLEACHING, DYEING, AND PREPARING HEMP AND FLAX TO BE SPUN," being
a communication from Messieurs A. and H. Six, of Wazemmes-les-lille, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures marked thercon, that is to say :--
The Invention communicated to me consists,―
First, in the mode of bleaching or dying unbleached hemp and flax in the
state in which they are found, after they have been submitted to the bruising
and peeling processes, that is to say, when more or less perfectly freed of their
wood or straw. When operating upon certain kinds of peeled hemp, which
are now only employed in the manufacture of common rope, in consequence
of the imperfect steeping process employed, before dying or bleaching the

page_text: matters they are introduced into a copper, at the bottom of which is a steam
pipe; water is afterwards admitted in sufficient quantity to cover the sub-
stances to be treated, and I heat to a temperature of about twenty-five degrees
Reaumur during thirty-six to seventy-two hours, during which time a fermen-
tation takes place, which disengages and softens the fibres. By this mode of
treatment such kinds of hemp are rendered fit to be employed, not only for
fine twine but also for fine thread, which can be made by the band, or by the
engines usually employed for flax spinning.
Secondly, in submitting bleached or dyed hemp and flax to several opera-
tions to give them softness, and render them fit for being worked and spun,
either by the ordinary flax engines or by the hand. By the means herein-after
described finer numbers of spun hemp thau hitherto are obtained with this
material. The chemical processes for bleaching and dying employed are the
same as those generally employed, but the manner in which the matters are
arranged for bleaching or dying is different, and is herein-after described.
I employ an apparatus consisting of a frame of a square form, shewn in the
annexed Drawing; of which Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 an edge view, and
Figure 3 a side view, and provided at its upper part with wooden bars, upon
which the matters to be bleached or dyed are hung, so that the ends should
hang down equally on both sides, as shewn by Figure 3. The dimensions of
the frame may be varied, according to the requirements of the work. The
frame may be constructed of any other suitable form. When the hemp or flax
is placed on the bars, it can be left there until the bleaching or dying is finished,
and may be there alternately submitted, without being disturbed, to the action
of the baths of chlorine acid lyc, to the dying and washing operations, &c.
The frames charged with fibrous matters are moved by means of a crane or
lever, by which they are raised and lowered alternately into the bleaching,
dying, or washing baths, until the materials have reached the requisite degree
of preparation. The cranes also serve to agitate the frames in the baths, in
order to cause the fibrous materials to be impregnated with the bleaching or
dying agents in as perfect a manner as possible.
When the bleaching or dying operations are terminated, the matters are
dried; but as it is found that after they are dried the matters become hardened,
and the hempen or flaxen fibres adhere together, and become thereby unfit for
spinning, I submit the matters to various operations, to render them supple
and more fit for spinning. After the hemp or flax is bleached or dyed and
dried, it is softened either by beating it by the hand with mallets, or by means
of a machine susceptible of producing the necessary softness.
Although the hemp and flax upon which I operate are stripped of the wood

page_text: or straw, I recommend, as a means of softening the matters which have under-
gone the bleaching and dying processes, the application of various processes
employed for bruising the wood of the hemp or straw of the flax; and in
order to complete the disengagement of the fibres, I have recourse to an
operation analogous to that employed for peeling, either by hand or by a
machine. This operation is performed by means ordinarily made use of for
peeling flax.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what I claim is,-
First, the submitting pceled hemp to fermentation by means of hot water,
for softening and separating the fibres, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the contrivance for, and mode of, bleaching and dying flax and
hemp, as herein-before described, and referred to in the Figures of the annexed
Drawing.
Thirdly, the preparing hemp and flax to be spun, after they have been
bleached or dyed, by submitting them to beating and to an operation analogous
to the processes employed for peeling flax, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)

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