AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN COLOURS TO BE USED FOR PRINTING COTTONS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. LIGHTLY
SIMPSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato at West-
minster, the Sixth day of December, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for
Ilimself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Lightly
Simpson, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, is special license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Lightly Simpson, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lightly Simpson, my exors, adiiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years thereon expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PREPARATION OF CERTAIN COLOURS TO BE USED FOR PRINTING COTTONS AND OTHER
FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I,
the said Lightly Simpson, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendár
months then next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and

page_text: by the same Letters Patent (reference being thereunto bad) will inore fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lightly Simpson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, by the
following description and explanation thereof:-
By my improvement in the preparation of certain colours to be used for
printing cotton and other fabrics, I mean that I have discovered a new method
of applying certain colouring matters, sometimes called preparing the colours,
to cotton and other fabrics, and this my Invention is the new application,
(whilst printing calicoes, muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics of certain
colours herein-after mentioned by blocks, usually termed block printing,) of a
certain mucilage or thickening produced from a herb or plant of the fucus
kind, found in abundance on the shores of Ireland, known (as an article of
commerce) by the name of Carragheen moss, and is denominated botanists'
"choudrus crispus," belonging to the order of alga marticulatæ or sea weeds
without joints, mixed with or as a substitute (to the extent and in the manner
berein-after expressed and set forth) for foreign and British gums calcined and
uncalcined, farina, starch, and other substances heretofore employed in the
producing of mucilage or thickening, mixed with certain colours, sometimes
called preparing colours (herein-after mentioned). When applied in the
printing of calicoes, muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics by blocks, and
which certain colours are (so far as I have yet been able to prove and ascer
tain) black, drab, slate, buff, lavendar, violet, olive, brown, red, pink, purple,
yellow, orange, green, and blue. I produce the mucilage or thickening from
the Carragheen moss by washing the Carragheen moss well in cold water for
the purpose of cleaning it, after which I pour off the cold water and pour upon
the moss boiling water in the proportion of about one gallon of boiling water
to from every five to eight ounces of Carragheen moss to produce a mucilage
or thickening of the consistency necessary for the style of printing required;
the quantity of Carragheen moss to be used will vary in the proportions before
mentioned, some styles of printing requiring a different consistency of the
mucilage or thickening used to others, as is well known, and the operator
well knows the consistency which each style will require. As soon as the
boiling water has been poured upon the Carragheen moss, the whole should
be stirred up well together for about half an hour, and then allowed to cool
when cool it must be poured through a sieve or strained through a cloth (the
kind of cloth I use is of that description well known by the name of cheese
cloth); the mucilage or thickening is then ready to mix with the colours. I

page_text: order to be applied in the usual manner in printing the cloth or fabric by.
blocks, the whole of the mucilaginous matter of the Carragheen moss is not
then, however, entirely extracted by the before-mentioned process, and therefore
to extract the remainder I add to the Carragheen moss to the extent of half tho
quantity of boiling water which I before applied, and stir it together for about
half an hour, and then allow it to cool, and when this second mixing is cooled
I sieve or strain it off as before, and I have then by such process a quantity
of thin mucilage produced, which is very useful in thinning or reducing the
consistency or strength of the mucilage or thickening first produced, as
the style of printing or occasion may require. It is not necessary that the
water poured on the moss should be at a boiling heat, for water poured on at a
temperature of one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit will answer
the purpose, but in such case it is necessary that the mixture should be kept
to that temperature for about twelve hours, and the mixture should be
occasionally stirred up during that period, and after the mixture is allowed
to grow cool it will be ready for use after sieving or straining, as before
mentioned. In printing, however, of drab, slate, lavendar, purple, orange,
brown, red, pink, green, and blue by blocks, I find it desirable and almost
necessary to add to the mucilage or thickening prepared from the Carragheen
moss, as before mentioned, a portion (as the case may require) of British gum,
flour, farina, or starch thickening prepared in the common way.
:
And my Invention also consists in the use and application (in the printing
of calicoes, muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics, certain colours next
berein-after mentioned by machines usually termed machine printing) of the
mucilage or thickening prepared from Carragheen moss (which mucilage or
thickening I prepare in the manner herein-before set forth), mixed with or as
a substitute (to the extent and as herein-after expressed and set forth) for
foreign and British gums, calcined and uncalcined, farina, starch, and other
substances heretofore employed in the producing or making of a mucilage or
thickening used in the mixing of certain colours applied in the printing
of calicoes, muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics by machines, and commonly
called "machine printing," which certain colours, so far as I have yet been able
to prove and ascertain, are black, drab, slate, buff, lavendar, violet, olive,
brown, red, pink, purple, yellow, orange, green, and blue; but in using or
applying the mucilage or thickening, which I have produced as aforesaid
from Carragheen moss, in printing the last-mentioned colours by machine,
I invariably mix the mucilage, prepared as aforesaid from Carragheen moss,
with foreign or British gum, flour, farina, or starch thickening prepared in the
common way, in the proportions varying from one-fifth to four-fifths of the

page_text: mucilage prepared from Carragheen moss as aforesaid, according to the nature
of the colour and the style of the printing and the quality of the gum, flour,
farina, or starch used, and therefore the exact proportion must be left to the
judgment of the operator according to the circumstances aforesaid, and a
person acquainted with the mixing of colours for printing will easily ascertain
the exact proportion required, which in my operations I find to vary from two
to eight gallons of the mucilage or thickening prepared from Carragheen moss
in an admixture of ten gallons of mucilage prepared by an admixture of the
mucilage prepared from Carragheen moss with foreign or British gum, flour,
farina, or starch thickening.
And my Invention also consists in the application and use, as before men-
tioned, of the mucilage prepared from Carragheen moss as aforesaid, for the
purposes aforesaid, whether used by itself or in conjunction with gum, flour,
farina, starch, or other substances now or heretofore employed as thickening
for the purposes aforesaid. And I do hereby declare that I consider my claim
of Invention to extend to the application (in the printing calicoes, muslins, or
other cotton or linen fabrics of certain colours firstly herein-before mentioned
by blocks usually termed block printing,) of the mucilage or thickening produced
from Carragheen moss mixed with or as a substitute (to the extent and as
herein-before mentioned and set forth) for foreign and British gums, calcined
or uncalcined, farina, starch, and other substances heretofore employed in the
producing of a mucilage or thickening used in the mixing or preparing of the
colours first herein-before mentioned, applied in the printing of calicoes,
muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics by blocks, usually termed block
printing; also to the use and application (in the printing of calicoes, muslius,
or other cotton or linen fabrics certain colors lastly herein-before mentioned
by machines, usually termed machine printing) of such mucilage or thickening
produced from Carragheen moss, mixed with or as a substitute (to the extent
and as herein-before mentioned, expressed, and set forth, for foreign and
British gums, caleined and uncalcined, farina, starch, and other substances
now or heretofore employed in the producing of a mucilage or thickening used
in the mixing or preparing of the colours lastly herein-before mentioned
applied in the printing of calicoes, muslins, or other cotton or linen fabrics by
machines, commonly called machine printing; also to the use and application,
as before mentioned, of the mucilage produced from Carragheen moss as
aforesaid for the purposes aforesaid, whether used by itself or in conjunction
with gum, flour, farina, starch, or other substances heretofore employed as
thickening, or in the making of thickening for the purposes aforesaid. And I
do declare that I do not claim as any part of my Invention the producing

page_text: of a mucilage or thickening from Carragheen moss, but only the application
of such mucilage or thickening as above stated for the purposes aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lightly Simpson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
LIGHTLY SIMPSON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Lightly Simpson came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.