IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOL IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE, AND IN THE PRE- PARATION OF MATERIALS THEREFOR." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Paterson, William Alexander Sanderson,
Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, all of the Firm of R.
and A. Sanderson and Company, of Gala Mills, Galashiels, in the
County of Selkirk, Scotland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF WOOL IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE, AND IN THE PRE-
PARATION OF MATERIALS THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Paterson,
William Alexander Sanderson, Robert Sanderson, and James
Sanderson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th July 1872.
We, WILLIAM PATERSON, WILLIAM ALEXANDER SANDERSON, ROBERT
SANDERSON, and JAMES SANDERSON, all of the Firm of R. and A. San-
derson and Company, of Gala Mills, Galashiels, in the County of Selkirk,
Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOL IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE, AND
IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention, relates to the preparation and use of certain materials
for the treatment of wool in process of manufacture for the purpose of
lubricating and whitening.
'
For lubricating the wool before carding and spinning and while it is
undergoing other processes of manufacture, we prepare a saponaceous
oil or emulsion as follows:-We cause a quantity of caustic potash to
be boiled with a quantity of oil or fatty matter sufficient to neutralise
the causticity of the alkali, and dissolve the product in water in the
proportion of about one part of the product by weight to seven parts of
water. We treat the wools with this solution, in the same manner as
wools are ordinarily treated with oils in the process of manufacture. For
wools containing a quantity of natural sap, such as home grown wools
which are washed on the sheeps' backs, a weaker solution may be employed.
For dyed wools whence the natural sap has been withdrawn, or where it
has been neutralised by the use of bichromate of potash, or otherwise, by
the process of dyeing, and for white wools that have been scoured with
strong soda, we pass them before drying through a bath containing
potash soap, in the proportion of one pound or one pound and a half to
the stone of wool, or thereby.
:
On some wools we use the above solution with a farther admixture of
one part of olive or other oil to eight parts of the solution by weight, or
thereby, producing a creamy emulsion.
These methods furnish at a cheap rate emulsions having the effect of
restoring the wools to the soft condition which they had before scouring
and dyeing, and of imparting to the yarns a smooth and round appear-
ance, and of rendering the goods in the finished state soft in the hand.
For the purpose of whitening, purifying, and clearing the white
colours in the woollen yarns and woven fabrics, we dilute hydrated
sulphurous acid with water in a wooden or earthenware tank.
The proportions vary according to the class of goods to be treated,
but practically we find that one pound of the hydrated acid of the
ordinary strength of commerce is sufficient for the treatment of from
fifteen to twenty pounds of woollen goods.
By means of rollers we cause the yarns or cloths to pass slowly
through the solution, each portion being several times returned through

page_text: it so as to prolong the steeping and change the surfaces exposed to its
action.
This treatment being continued for about two hours has the effect of
whitening the yarns and goods with great uniformity, and without
affecting the colours dyed thereon. The process, as above described,
effects a great economy over the ordinary process of sulphuring, and
produces a superior whiteness, inasmuch as it constitutes a process in
the finishing after milling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Paterson, William Alexander Sanderson,
Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th January 1873. -
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
PATERSON, WILLIAM ALEXANDER SANDERSON, ROBERT SANDERSON,
and JAMES SANDERSON, all of the Firm of R. and A. Sanderson and
Company, of Gala Mills, Galashiels, in the County of Selkirk, Scotland,
send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Paterson, William Alexander
Sanderson, Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, Her special license
that we, the said William Paterson, William Alexander Sanderson,
Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Paterson, William
Alexander Sanderson, Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOL IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE, AND IN
THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS THEREFOR,' upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Paterson, William Alexander Sanderson,
"

page_text: Robert Sanderson, and James Sanderson, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us.or them, 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 William Alexander Sanderson, on
behalf of myself and the said William Paterson, Robert Sanderson, and
James Sanderson, do hereby declare the nature of the 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:-
This Invention relates to the preparation and use of certain materials
for the treatment of wool in process of manufacture for the purpose of
lubricating and whitening.
For lubricating the wool before carding and spinning, and while it is
undergoing other processes of manufacture, we prepare a saponaceous oil
or emulsion as follows:-We take a quantity of the soft potash soap of
commerce, which may be prepared by boiling caustic potash with a
quantity of oil or fatty matter sufficient to neutralize the causticity of
the alkali, and dissolving it in water we employ the solution in various
processes of the woollen manufacture, with or without olive oil or other
cloth oils..
In these various processes we employ different proportions to suit
particular classes of work, some of which proportions, such as we have
found practically advantageous, may be stated as follows:-
1. For preparing dyed wools, where the natural sap has been with-
drawn or neutralized by the use of bichromate of potash, logwood or
other drastic dyes or otherwise in the dyeing process, we pass them
before drying through a bath of the soap solution, dissolving in the bath
from 1% to 1% pounds of potash soap to the stone (24 lbs.) of wool.
2. For burring wool we employ a dilute solution made as follows :-
We weigh out 4 oz. potash soap and 24 oz. water per stone of wool.
The soap is dissolved and mixed with the water, and is applied to the
wool in the way that oil is generally applied before teasing or willeying.
'

page_text: .
3. For carding and spinning wools we treat them as they are ordinarily
treated with olive oil or other cloth oils in mixing or teasing, but we
greatly reduce the quantity of oil used by applying with it a quantity of
the soap solution.
The proportion in which the oil and soap should be applied vary
considerábly according to the nature of the wools under treatment.
Some proportions which we have found practically advantageous are as
follows:-
For Colonial, Buenos Ayres, and Merino wools in their white state,-
Round yarns:
8 oz. of potash soap,
4 lbs. of water,
16 oz. of olive oil,
Small yarns.
10 oz. of potash soap,
4 lbs. of water,
24 oz. of olive oil,
to 24 lbs. of wool.
It is preferable to apply the olive oil separately from the soap
solution.
For wools of like character that have been dyed black and that have
been treated before drying as above described (see 1), we employ for
round yarns about 10 oz. of potash soap, 4 lbs. of water, and 16 oz. of olive
oil, to 24 lbs. of wool, and for small yarns the same as stated above for
small yarns in the white state. If such wools have been treated with
the solution before burring (see 2), the quantity of soap is reduced by
an amount equivalent to that previously. so applied.
For wools containing a quantity of natural sap, such as home grown
and other round fibred wools that are washed on the sheep's back, a
weaker solution may be employed. Such wools in their white and
unscoured state may be treated as follows:-
Round yarns.
% of an ounce of potash soap,
3 lbs. of water,
18 ounces of olive oil,
Small yarns.
3% of an ounce of potash soap,
3 lbs. of water,
24 ounces of olive oil,
:
to 24 lbs. of wool.

page_text: For home grown or low foreign wools or mixtures of the same that
have been dyed black and have been treated as described above (sec 1)
before drying, the following proportions will be found serviceable: -
Small yarns.
Round yarns.
10 ounces of potash soap.
10 ounces of potash soap,
For home grown or low foreign wools or mixtures of the same that
have been dyed black and have been treated as described above (sec 1)
before drying, the following proportions will be found serviceable
Round yarns.
10 ounces of potash soap.
4 lbs. of water,
18 ounces of olive oil,
Small yarns.
10 ounces of potash soap,
4 lbs. of water,
24 ounces of olive oil,
to 24 lbs. of wool.
For mixtures of black or other dyed wools with white wools, the black
or coloured wool should be treated as above described in reference to
black wool, and the white should be treated as described above in refer-
ence to white wool; and it will be found advantageous to add to the
whole of these wool mixtures 8 oz. of olive oil per stone over all the
batch of wool.
When the colours are very hard and dry the soap may be increased to 1
14 ounces and the oil to 24 ounces for round yarns, and to 30 ounces for
small yarns per stone of wool. With the solutions such as are described
above, cloth oils other than olive oil, such as Price's cloth oil, may be
used with advantage, practically reducing the proportion of potash soap.
With white colonial wool, for example, the quantity of soap may be
reduced to one half, and with black wool to about four-fifths.
4. Certain classes of wool can be carded and spun employing the soap
solution without any oil. The action of the soap solution may be
generally stated to be that to wools of a hard or dry nature it imparts
the softness necessary for carding and spinning, and to wools of a soft
and slippery character it imparts the requisite adhesiveness.
These methods furnish at a cheap rate emulsions having the effect of
restoring the wools to the soft condition which they had before scouring
and dyeing, of imparting to the yarns a smooth and round appearance,
and of rendering the goods in the finished state soft to the hand.
3
For the purpose of whitening, purifying, and clearing the white colours
in the woollen yarns and woven fabrics, we apply to the goods or yarns
a bath of liquid sulphurous acid diluted with water in a wooden or
carthenware tank. The proportions of the acid solution vary according
to the kind of goods to be treated, but practically we find that about 3
one pound of the liquid sulphurous acid of the ordinary strength of
commerce, when diluted, is sufficient for the treatment of fifteen to
twenty pounds of woollen material.

page_text: By means of rollers we cause the yarns or cloths to pass slowly through
the acid solution, each portion of the material being several times caused
to return through it, so as to continue the steeping and change the
surface exposed to the action of the acid.
This treatment being continued for about two hours has the effect of
whitening the yarns or cloths with great uniformity, and without affecting
prejudicially the colours. dyed thereon. This process effects a great
economy over the ordinary process of sulphuring, inasmuch as it clears
the white colours of webs woven in the oil, and imparts a superior
whiteness to finished goods by reason of its being the last process in the
wet stale.
Although we have described above the applications of lubricating and
whitening materials and processes to woollen goods, it is to be under-
stood that they may also be applied in the manufacture of goods from
other animal fibres or from mixtures of wool or other animal fibres with
cotton, silk, or other fibrous materials.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we claim,—.
First. The use and application of a solution of potash soap, with or
without oil, in the various processes of manufacturing wool, substantially
as herein described.
Second. The use and application of diluted sulphurous acid in the
clearing and purification of the white colours of woollen goods and yarns,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Alexander Sanderson, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
WILLIAM ALEX³. SANDERSON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM ALEX³. SANDERSON. (L.S.)