IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF COLORS FOR DYEING AND PRINTING.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Taylor Beale, of Greenwich, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, and Thomas Nesham Kirkham, of Upper Halliford, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF COLORS FOR DYEING AND PRINTING.
Sealed the 4th November 1859, and dated the 13th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Taylor Beale and
Thomas Nesham Kirkham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 13th May 1859.
We, JOSHUA TAYLOR BEALE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
and THOMAS NESHAM KIRKHAM, of Upper Halliford, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF COLORS POR DYEING AND PRINTING," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to employ aniline, or the matters containing
aniline, for the preparation of colors for dyeing and printing. To this end we
treat aniline, or a salt of aniline, with a solution of chlorine or hypochlorite of
lime, or other soluble hypochlorite, with or without the addition of heat, and
we then add a mineral or vegetable acid and alcohol, and thereby obtain a
fast dye. By this process we are enabled to obtain dyes of various colors and

page_text: tints, the variations being secured by the use of different proportions of the
ingredients. In addition to purple and lilac, which are the only colors that
aniline has hitherto been found capable of yielding for the purposes of the
dyer, we are enabled to obtain drabs, greens, blues, and reds of great beauty,
and these colors may be varied in tint by the usual means and processes used
by dyers. To obtain a precipitate from aniline specially useful for printing
purposes, we treat the aniline with chromic acid, and we are thus enabled to
throw down amongst other colors a dark blue, green, or black, according to
the strength of the solution employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joshua Taylor Beale and Thomas Nesham Kirkham in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSHUA
TAYLOR BEALE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, and THOMAS
NESHAM KIRKHAM, of Upper Halliford, in the County of Middlesex,.,Civil
Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Joshua Taylor Beale and Thomas Nesham Kirkham, Her special license
that we, the said Joshua Taylor Beale, and Thomas Nesham Kirkham, our.
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joshua
Taylor Beale and Thomas Nesham Kirkham, our 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 THE PREPARATION OF COLORS FOR DYEING AND
PRINTING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joshua
Taylor Beale, and Thomas Nesham Kirkham, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of. us, 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..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joshua Taylor Beale and Thomas
Nesham Kirkham, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of our Invention of improvements in the preparation of colors
for dyeing and printing is to employ aniline, or the matters containing aniline,
for the preparation of colors for dyeing and printing. To this end we treat an
acid solution of aniline, or a salt of aniline, with a solution of chlorine or
hypochlorite of lime or bleaching powder, or other suitable hypochlorite, with
or without the addition of heat, and we thereby obtain a fast dye. By this
process we are enabled to obtain dyes of various colors and tints, the variations
in colour or shade being produced by the use of different proportions of the-
ingredients. In addition to purple and lilac, which are the only colors that
aniline has hitherto been found capable of yielding for the purposes of the
dyer, we are enabled to obtain drabs, greens, blues, and reds of great beauty,
and these colors may be varied in tint by the usual means and processes used by
dyers. It will, of course, be understood that the treatment of aniline with the
acids and chlorine or chlorinated compounds admits of considerable variation,
according to the result desired to be produced, and that it would be impossible
to give a detailed explanation of all the modifications of which the process is
susceptible; we will therefore content ourselves with explaining the most.
distinctive features of the process, and must leave the practical chemist or
dyer to modify the process to suit his particular wants..
In carrying out our Invention we take a salt of aniline in solution, such as
the nitrate, the hydrochlorate, the acetate or other salt, or a saturated solution
of aniline in water; to this solution we add an equal quantity, by measure,
of acetic acid; to this acid solution of aniline we next add a solution of
chlorine, or some hypochlorite, such as the hypochlorite of lime, or bleaching:
powder, and the change in color in the solution will then take place, and the
liquid dye be thereby produced: We do not find it necessary in practice to
apply heat at this stage of the process, but we have found that by the applica-
tion of heat the operation of the various chemical ingredients is somewhat
accelerated, and the tint modified to some extent; we, however, prefer to
operate with cold liquors or solutions at ordinary temperatures. By varying
the proportions and strengths of the materials employed, a variety of
colors and shades may be produced. The liquor thus obtained. may then be
used as a dye in the ordinary manner to dye 'blue if the liquid be used at
once, but if the liquor. be kept for a few hours, it will dye lilac and purple.
.

page_text: The dye, after the exhaustion of one color; may be used to dye other colors
in succession, from blues, violets, and lilacs, down to slates, browns, straws,
&c., by the addition of more or less chlorine or hypochlorite. When pre-
paring the liquor for dyeing, the chlorine or bypochlorite must be added
cautiously in small quantities until the exact shade or tint required has been
obtained.
As examples of some of the more desirable modes of producing the im-
proved dye according to our Invention, we give the following proportions and
modes of operating :-We take one measure of aniline water saturated, and add
thereto one measure of acetic acid, say of five strengths, and one measure of
hypochlorite of lime, of, say, specific gravity 1010. The hypochlorite should
be carefully added, in order to admit of producing the particular shades of violet
blues required, as shades of varying depth may be produced by increasing
or decreasing the proportion of the hypochlorite. After a while the dye will
become lilac, and will dye lilac of various intensities, depending on the quantity
of hypochlorite of lime and water that may be mixed with the dye. Instead
of adding a solution of chlorine or hypochlorite of lime to the liquor, we some-
times pass chlorine gas through the latter, carefully watching the same during
'the process, in order to arrest the further supply of the gas when the desired
effect has been produced, on the liquor..
As another example, we take one measure of hydrochlorate of aniline, of,
say, specific gravity 1010, to which we add one measure of acetic acid, say, of
five strengths, and of hypochlorite of lime, of, say, specific gravity 1010, the
hypochlorite being added carefully in small quantity, as before mentioned.
This preparation will dye violet blues, and after a time it will produce lilacs,
as in the former instance. The intensity and tint of the color may be much
modified by varying the proportions and strengths of the acid and chlorine,
and the quantity of water and other ingredients, as before explained. If the
nitrate or other salts of aniline are treated in the manner above explained,
different shades will be obtained. Denser dyes suitable for printing may be
made from the salts of aniline by using them and the acid chlorine or
bypochlorite proportionately stronger. The improved preparation of colors
above described will be found particularly applicable for dyeing silken fabrics
or tissues without the use of mordants. Our improved preparation of aniline
may also be employed for dyeing other fibrous substances, for which purpose
mordants may be used at the discretion of the dyer.
We have spoken of acetic acid as the acid to be used for the purposes of
our Invention, and for most purposes this acid will be found the most conve-

page_text: nient in practice; we do not, however, mean or intend to confine ourselves to
the use of any particular acid, as other acids than that above named may be
employed.
Having now described our Invention of improvements in the preparation
of colors for dyeing and printing, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, the treating of aniline, or the salts of aniline, with chlorine,
or some hypochlorite in combination with any suitable acid, as above described,
for the purpose of producing various colors of different shades and degrees of
intensity for the purpose of dyeing and printing.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joshua Taylor Beale and Thomas
Nesham Kirkham, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-nine.
J. T. BEALE.
(L.S.)
T. N. KIRKHAM. (L.S.)
J. T. BEALE.
(L.S.)
T. N. KIRKHAM. (L.S.)