APPARATUS FOR BLEACHING LINENS, COTTONS, &c. - United States Patent 622

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UKITED STATES PATEHT OFFICE.

LEMUEL W. WEIGHT, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.
APPARATUS POR BLEACHING- LISTEN'S, COTTONS, &c.
Specification of Letters Patent Wo. 622, dated March 3, 1838.

To all whom it may concern :

Be it known that I, Lemuel Wellman
Weight, a citizen of the United States of
America, now residing in Manchester, Eng- .
6 land, have invented certain, new Improve-
ments in Machinery or Apparatus for
Bleaching or Cleansing Linens, Cottons or
other Fabrics, Goods or other Fibrious Sub-
stances, and that the following is a full and

10 exact description of the same, together with
the machinery and apparatus for effecting:
it as invented by me.

My improvements in bleaching or cleans-
ing linens cottons or " other fibrous sub-

15 stances and in the machinery or apparatus
for effecting the same consist, firstly, in the
peculiar construction of ah air-tight vessel
in which the goods or fibrous materials in-
tended to be bleached are to be packed in

20 close contact; secondly, in the manner of'
passing the alkaline solutions through the
compact mass of goods or fibrous materials
by the agency of steam at a high pressure
which has the effect of opening the fibers

25 of the material under operation; thirdly, in
the mode of rinsing or washing out the al-
kali or other chemical matters used in the
process of bleaching by means of high pres-
sure steam ; fourthly, in the manner of forc-

30 ing the solutions of chloric! of lime and sul-
furic acid through the goods in the bleach-
ing vessel by hydraulic and pneumatic pres-
sure and fifthly, in the mode of washing-
cleansing or rinsing the chemical matters

35 from the goods after the bleaching operation
has been completed, and, sixthly, in the
mode or manner of drying the fibrous goods
or other substances by passing high pressure
steam through them in a compact state be-

40 fore removing them from the bleaching ves-
sel or keir.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1
represents the complete apparatus as seen
in front elevation with the pipes employed

45 for conducting the fluids into and out of the
several vessels. Fig. 2. is a side or end ele-
vation of the same in which the positions
and forms of some of the pipes are more evi-
dently seen than in the former figure. Fig.

50 3, is a plan or horizontal representation of
the same apparatus as it would appear if
seen from above and Fig. 4 is. a sectional
elevation of the complete apparatus taken
through the vessel in which the packed

55 goods are to undergo the bleaching and

cleansing process, through the vessel intend-
ed to contain th'fc alkalinle solution, .and
through some of the pipes or tubes commu-
nicating with the several vessels, the similar
letters of reference pointing out the same 60
parts of the apparatus in the several figures.

The keir or bleaching vessel a. a. a. is of a
rectangular form made of cast iron and ta-
pering downward at the sides and ends
near the bottom. This vessel I propose to 65
line with slabs of slate or any other mate-
rial that will not be subject to be acted upon
by the chemical matters which have to pass
through the vessel. A lid or cover of the
same material is made to fit airtight and is 70
held down by swivel bolts and screw caps.
A false bottom h. of slate with ribs on its
underside fits into the lower part of the ves-
sel and is perforated with small holes for
the purpose of allowing the liquors to flow 75
through into the pipe c. below. The goods
(say raw flax or linen) being packed in the
vessel a. as at d. cl. to the height of the bev-
eled part and resting upon the false bottom
are to be pressed down by a grating e. e. 80
made of large slabs of slate or other suitable
material which grating may be weighted by
blocks of stone if necessary. A vessel /. con-
tains the alkaline liquor which is admitted
into the keir a. through the pipe g. and 85
when the keir a. is nearly full that is up to
the height of the pipe g. the stop-cock h. is
then to be closed.

Steam at a high pressure (say from 30 to
100 lbs. upon the square inch according to 90
the nature of the materials to be operated
upon) is now to be admitted into the keir a.
by a pipe i. leading from a steam boiler situ-
ate in any convenient place nearly contigu-
ous. The steam thus introduced being al- 95
lowed to continue acting upon the alkaline
liquor in the close vessel a. for a considerable
time it will cause the liquor to boil and the
ebullition thus produced under the great
pressure of the steam will force the alkaline 100
liquor through the substance of the compact
goods and in so doing open and separate
fibers of the material and soften the gummy
and coloring matters.

When the liquor has completely pene- 105
trated through the entire mass of the mate-
rial intended to be bleached the stop-cock j.
in the pipe c. is to be opened which will al-
low the whole of the liquor in the vessel a.
by the force of the steam to be drawn 11 0

2

622

through the goods or materials under opera-
tion and to rise through the pipe c. c. c. into
the vessel /. This operation must be repeat-
ed according to the nature of the articles op-
5 erated upon (that is to say) the alkaline
liquor from the vessel /. must be passed
through the pipe _g. into the keir a. and then
by letting on the steam as before the alkaline
liquor must be forced through the material
10 again and again until the gummy or color-
ing matter is sufficiently removed. The al-
kaline liquor must now be discharged from
the vessel a. which is done by closing the
cock j. and opening the cock in the descend-
15 ing pipe k. when by the pressure of the
steam the liquor will be forced through the
• goods and through the pipe k. into a stone
cistern below.

In order to remove the remaining alkali
20 from the goods, the vessel / must be filled
with clean water and this water be passed
through the goods several times in the same
way and by the same means as the operations
of the alkaline solution were performed, oc-
25 casionally withdrawing the foul water and
supplying clean water as may be required
for rinsing the alkali out of the goods.

The goods in the vessel a should now be
cooled down to about 100 Fahrenheit by
30 passing cold water through them merely
by hydraulic pressure unassisted by the force
of steam, which is done by the attitude of
the water flowing from the vessel / or by the
pressure of air forced into the vessel a by
35 an air pump the stop-cocks in the several
connecting pipes being closed. Having thus
reduced the temperature of the hoods or
fibrous materials, a solution of chloric! of
lime or bleaching powder with the ordinary
40 proportions of water such as bleachers use
is now to be passed through them from the
stone cistern I, by the pipe m, and cock n
and this pipe m communicating with the in-
duction pipe, ff, of the vessel a the liquor Is
45 made to percolate through the goods by
hydraulic or pneumatic pressure and flow
away by the eduction pipe c and through the
cock o and branch pipe p, into a cistern ff,
below. From this cistern the chlorid liquor
50 is to be raised by a pump r through the pipe
s, again into the vessel I, and the operation
upon the material may be repeated accord-
ing to the judgment of the operator, and
having passed the bleaching liquor through

the goods as many times as may be required 55
it is left in the cistern g, below.

In order to wash the chlorid from the
goods or fibrous materials clean water from
the vessel / must be forced through by steam
pressure as before described taking care 60
to close all the cocks except those which pass
the water from the vessel / through the keir.

The operation called souring is performed
by conducting a weak solution of sulfuric
acid and water (such as is commonly used 65
"by. bleachers) through the goods or fibrous
materials in the keir a from the vessel t, by
the pipes u, in the same manner as the
chlorid liquor was conducted ; and after this
sour liquor has passed through the goods 70
in the keir it is discharged by the pipe i>,into
the cistern u and the. operation repeated if
required..

In order to remove all the acid from; the
fibers of the goods, (first reducing the tern- 75
perature of the goods as before : described)
rinsing water must be forced by high pres-
sure steam through the keir a, in the man-
ner before described, and when the rinsing
has been completed high pressure steam 80
alone is allowed to pass through the goods
or fibrous materials which will remove the
moisture and leave the goods nearly dry.

I propose performing the chlorid and
scouring operation by having a separate keir 85
or vessel which may be made of stone or
wood lined with lead of the same dimensions
and shape as the keir a, into which the goods
or fibrous substance may be packed and
chlorid and souring process to be performed 90
as before described. It, is obvious that the
machinery or apparatus as above described,
may be varied in its form and construction,
I do not therefore intend to claim as my
invention any of the separate parts thereof 95
as applicable to other purposes; but I do
claim as my invention —

The application of high pressure steam to
be used with the improved combination and
arrangement of the several parts as appli- 100
cable to bleaching or cleansing linens, cot-
tons or other fabrics goods or other fibrous
substances as before described.

LEMUEL W. WEIGHT.

Witnesses :

Sam. Pearce,
Wm. P. Meeker.