IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Schischkar, of the firm of James Akroyd and
Son, of Halifax, in the County of York, Manufacturer, and Frederick
Croce Calwant of the City of Manchesten Duclose
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Schischkar and
Frederick Crace Calvert at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 5th January 1854.
We, EDWARD SCHISCHKAR and FREDERICK CRACE CALVERT, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING AND
PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS" to be as follows:
Our Invention consists in applying to dyed or printed textile fabrics or yarns,
or in the introduction in the colours used either for dyeing or printing textile
fabrics or yarns, of a quantity (more or less) of sulphate of lead, copper, or
bismuth, or metallic oxide of copper, lead, or bismuth, and then submitting the
articles so dyed or printed to the action of steam, charged with sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, or carburetted hydrogen, camphor, alcohols, ethers, and aldehydes
in an apparatus as much as possible confined or hermetically closed, and by
which means a brighter metallic lustre is produced on the surface of the goods
or yarns submitted to this process.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Edward Schischkar and Frederick Crace Calvert in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 4th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
SCHISCHKAR, of the firm of James Akroyd and Son, of Halifax, in the County
of York, Manufacturer, and FREDERICK CRACE CALVERT, of the City of
Manchester, Professor of Chemistry, send. greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, 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 us, the said
Edward Schischkar and Frederick Crace Calvert, Her special licence that
we, the said Edward Schischkar and Frederick Crace Calvert, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Schischkar
and Frederick Crace Calvert, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DYEING AND PRINTING TEXTILE FABRICS AND YARNS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Edward Schischkar and Frederick Crace
Calvert, 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 per-
formed, 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 we, the said Edward Schischkar and Frederick
Crace Calvert, 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 thereof (that is to say):—
Our said Invention consists of a mode or modes of improving the colors of
certain textile fabrics and yarns made of wool or silk, or a mixture of wool and
silk, or made of a mixture of both, or either of those materials with other
fibrous materials by imparting a lustre or lustrous appearance to such fabrics
or yarns.
To effect this purpose we impregnate the fibres of the fabrics or yarns
with a sulphate or an oxide of copper, lead, or bismuth, and then subject the

page_text: fabrics or yarns so impregnated to the action of steam charged or mixed with
sulphuretted bydrogen gas.
When we impregnate the fabrics or yarns with sulphate of copper or
bismuth, we immerse them in a bath containing a solution of sulphate of copper
or bismuth in water of a specific gravity of from half 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 descriptions of printed or dyed goods will
not bear the application of heat or of much 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 200° of Fahrenheit), and the goods are not very thick,
a sufficient 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 be also applied for the purpose of expediting or
ensuring a regular uniform impregnation of the whole of the goods
immersed.
After impregnation we 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.
We then wash the fabrics or yarns in or pass them through cold water, so as
to remove the remaining surplus solution which they contain, and then express
the water from them by rollers or a press, and this we do quickly, in order
to remove only the free solution contained in the fabrics or yarns, and
not the solution with which the fibres of the fabrics or yarns have been
impregnated.
If the goods be thin or fine or of a delicate color, we dry or partially dry
them before they are subjected to the action of the sulphuretted hydrogen,
for the purpose of obtaining or promoting a more uniform action of that
agent.
When we desire to impregnate the fabrics or yarns with either of the above
named metallic oxides for the purpose of submitting them to the action of
sulphuretted hydrogen and heat, as herein-after described, we immerse them in
a bath containing a solution in water of any soluble salt of copper, lead, or
bismuth, of about the specific gravity above mentioned, and having impregnated
the fabrics or yarns with such solution in manner above described, we express

page_text: the superfluous solution from them, and slightly wash them in manner above
mentioned.
We then immerse the fabrics or yarns in a bath containing a solution of a
caustic alkali or alkaline earth, generally preferring soda, and selecting such
alkali or alkaline earth as will not injure materially any color of the fabrics
or yarns.
We use this bath at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere continuing
the immersion, and using agitation or mechanical means to insure a thorough
action on every part of the goods until the salt of copper, lead, or bismuth
contained in the fibres has been decomposed, and an oxide of the metal
produced, after which we wash the fabrics or yarns thoroughly in water and
express the water from them in manner above mentioned.
When we desire to impregnate the fabrics or yarns with a sulphate of lead
for the purpose of submitting them to the action of sulphuretted hydrogen and
heat, we first impregnate them with a soluble salt of lead in manner above
mentioned, and then express the superfluous solution from them, and also wash
them and press the water from them as above mentioned.
We then decompose the soluble salt remaining in the fibres of the fabrics or
yarns, and convert it into a sulphate of lead by the action of dilute sulphuric
acid or a solution of some soluble salt containing sulphuric acid, selecting the
one or the other agent according to the nature and color of the fabrics or
yarns, avoiding sulphuric acid whenever its action would be injurious. The
dilute sulphuric acid or sulphate in solution is placed in a bath or convenient
vessel into which the fabrics or yarns are thrown until the decomposition has
been completed, which will be speedily effected more particularly if some
agitation or mechanical action be applied. After this the fabrics or yarns are
thoroughly washed in water, and have the water expressed out of them in
manner above mentioned, when they are ready to be subjected to the action of
steam and sulphuretted hydrogen, as herein-after described.
If it be desired to impart a lustre or lustrous appearance to some parts only
of the fabrics or yarns, that object may be effected in two modes, and by
these means a pattern or ornamental appearance or variety of effect may be
produced.
According to one of those modes we first impregnate the fabrics or yarns
with a sulphate or oxide of copper, lead, or bismuth, and wash and press them
in manner above described. We 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 lustrous with some material which will
protect them from the action of sulphuretted hydrogen during the operation

page_text: 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, as
herein-after described.
The other of those two modes consists in applying a sulphate or oxide of
copper, lead, or bismuth to those parts of the surfaces of fabrics or yarns
which are intended to be inade lustrous, and this we do by mixing up the salt
or oxide intended to be used with a small quantity of British gum or "thicken-
ing" 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 oxide and gum or
thickening upon the parts to which a lustre 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.
Fabrics and yarns dyed or printed, or intended to be dyed or printed, with
any color or colors, may be impregnated with sulphates or oxides as abovo
described for the purpose of giving lustre, brilliancy, or gloss to the colors or
fibres thereof, taking care to use such a sulphate or oxide as will not materially
injure or be materially injured by any color already imparted or intended to
be imparted thereto by dyeing or printing.
The fabrics or yarns which have been impregnated with the metallic
sulphates or oxides above mentioned are then to be subjected to the action of
sulphuretted hydrogen and steam at a high temperature, for the purpose of
decomposing or acting chemically upon the metallic sulphates or oxides with
which they may have been impregnated, and so imparting a bright, lustrous, or
glossy appearance to the colors or fibres of the fabrics or yarns.
This may be effected by enclosing the goods in a steam chest or chamber
and then introducing high pressure steam impregnated or mixed with sul-
phuretted hydrogen, or the sulphuretted hydrogen and steam may be introduced
without first mixing them.
The stream or streams of sulphuretted hydrogen 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 twenty to thirty minutes.
In operating upon fabrics, however, care should be taken that the surface of
the fabric shall be freely exposed to the action of the sulphuretted hydrogen.

page_text: The fabrics or yarns may then be dried, finished, or otherwise treated accord-
ing to the purpose to which they may be intended to be applied.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as of our said
Invention the imparting a bright, lustrous, or glossy appearance to the colors
or fibres of such fabrics or yarns as aforesaid, by impregnating them with
sulphates or oxides of copper, lead, or bismuth, and decomposing such sulphates
or oxides by means of sulphuretted hydrogen, in manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Schischkar and Frederick Crace
Calvert, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
EDWARD SCHISCHKAR. (L.S.)
F. CRACE CALVERT.
(L.S.)