US13486A - Improvement in preparations of wool-oil - Google Patents

Description

iINire STATES .ATENI Fries.

THOMAS BARROl/VS, OF DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARATION S OF WOOL-OIL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs BARROWS, of Dedham, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have made an invention or discovery of a new and useful improvement in the treatment of wool preparatory to its being carded, spun, or woven; and I do hereby declare that the following is adesoription of the principle and application of my invention.

To facilitate the mechanical operations on wool it is the common practice to use oil preparatory to carding it, by which the fibers are loosened, and the naturally-adhering varnishlike matter not removed in the scouring is softened. In the subsequent steps, in forming the rovings and spinning, the oil previously added prevents or much diminishes the excitation of electrical attraction, which in the colder months would very much interfere with the production of good rovin gs or even thread. The oil'as usually added to some extent overcomes these obstacles to the certainty and uniformity of the manufacture of wool by machinery, but its use involves the increased expenses of removing it from the fabricated articles wholly or, as usual, only partially by the use of soap or some other chemical agents,

and especially before the goods can be perfectly dyed,-as the oil under the management does not fully efl'ect all that is desired. Manufac turers of yarns or cloth from wool, in order to produce the required results, are often led into experimenting on different kinds of oils and mixtures of oils, or mixtures of oils and saponaceous compounds. The general requirement I have found to be the presence of aqueous moisture through all the steps of the mechanical operations. Purely oiled wool has a strong tendency to lose even the naturally-combined water of its fibers, the different kinds of oil showing in this connection different characters in inducing this loss. Hence in order that water might be retained entangled by the oil manufacturers have used oil andammoniawater in the form of an emulsion. Gelatinous bodies-like common gluehave been used, which, aside from putrefying, often render impossible the oleansin g of the fabricated articles in cold fluids. My own experiments, continued through many years, have led me to the use of peculiarmucilaginous substances, combined or mixed with oil, either naturally or artificially. As an instance, the mucilage of flaxseed and similar seeds contains much entangled oil, and with a small addition of oil will answer as a substitute for oil within certain limits of time; but most of theseoils having a drying nature, wool on which the mucilage has been used cannot be safely stored on ac count of the danger there is of spontaneous combustion. I have resorted to the use of those kinds of mucilage which, retaining water, do notbecome dry or adhesive when used alone or mixed with oil; and my invention, discovcry, or improvement has as its principle the use of such mucilage from plants and seeds as is of a kind that retains moisture, does not readily dry, and yet can be mixed uniformly with oils. In forming the mixture I also keep in view the nature of the oil, and, avoiding the use of siccative oils, prefer the purified oleic acid, or so-called elaine, which is to a small extent soluble in water, and is an article of great importance in the treatment of wool. Its application thereto I do not claim to have been the first to make.

In applying my invention the first step is I the preparation of a clear mucilageby boiling in water the substance affording mucilage, such as carrigeen, Irish moss, or other marine plants of allied species yielding mucilage freely. These I prefer for the qualities ofthe matter extracted, as well as for the abundance and cheapness of the material, it being an almost worthless product on most parts of our sea-coast. One pound (avoirdupois) of Irish moss or similar plants affording mucilage, after having been carefully washed in cold water, so as entirely to remove the sea-salt, may be dissolved in eight or ten gallons (wine measure) of water by steepingfor six or twelve hours while the water is tepid, and afterward boiling by a dry steam pipe or coil until solution takes place. Seeds and mosses may be treated in the same Way or by boiling over the fire and constant stirring. The clear mucilage may then be used to impregnate the wool, using from one to two and one-half galions for every one hundred pounds of wool, and afterward adding from one to one and one-half gallon of oil to the moistened wool; or in most cases it is preferable to follow a uniform emulsion by agitating ten gallons of the mucilage with one or one and one-halfgallon of oil.

Having thus obtained the mixture of mucilage and oil, I apply it to ordinary grades of wool, using it in the proportion of eleven or twelve gallons to one hundred pounds of wool, and which afterward may be submitted to the usual operations of carding and spinning. At each step of these operations the wool is found to be better adapted than when oiled with oil solely, and all tendency to become electrically excited is destroyed; but the advantage attending the use of this mixture is more fully realized when the yarn or flannel is to be cleansed. It is then found that the moisture of the mucilage has loosened the dressing and other adhering matter of the fibers, so that a weak solution of carbonate of soda or prepared soda-ash will at once remove oil, mucilage, and dressing, leaving the fibers clean and of unusual whiteness. hen the flannel in the process of manufacture is to be fulled I add to it, while it is still imbued with oil and mucilage, so much of a solution made in the proportions of and from one pound of carbonate of soda or prepared soda-ash to eight gallons of water as may be required to produce a consistent soapy mixture on the cloth. This done, the flannel is to be placed directly in the mill, Where the fulling proceeds in an even and expeditious manner. After this operation has been performed the goods may be washed in the usual manner, no addition of soap being required. It will be observed that the volume of mucilage is large in comparison with that of the oil, the intention being to preserve a due degree of moisture in the fiber through the successive steps of the manufacture. The oil is used in connection with the mucilage for the purpose of forming a soap with the alkaline base of the prepared soda-ash among the fibers when the yarn or cloth is to be cleansed, or for lubricating and softening the imbrications on the fibers, so that theylwill readily felt in the falling-mill when the flannels are to be milled. The risk and expense attending the use of soap in the ordinary mode of fulling cloth are thus avoided. I use and prefer the elaine instead of ordinary oils for l forming the emulsion, as the latter do not so easily make soaps in uniting with the base of the carbonated alkali, unless after several weeksexposuretoair. Inthesubsequentsteps the manufacture of the goods is carried on as usual, the effect of the mucilage and oil in more perfectly cleansing the cloths being apparent in the finish obtained.

Gummy substances have been used for imparting a fugitive gloss to the pins and surfaces of goods; but my improvement renders such a resort unnecessary, and it has no con- -nection with such means of finishing.

In basing my claim of invention or improvement on the mucilaginous matter, I do not include albuminous or gelatinous matter of animal origin nor ammoniacal or other alka line emulsions which have been before used, but restrict myself to the use of those watery solutions of mucilage from plants and seeds whose muculent character is distinguished from the gum or glue-like character of those substances heretofore used-by not drying out from the mixture with oil when on the fibers of the wool. I use any of the oils adapted to oiling wool in mixture with mucilage, although such mixture, by rest for a longer or a shorter time, will become separated into oil, which floats, and mucilage, which subsides; but prefer the prepared oleic acid or elaine mixture, as it often remains uniform several days. I, however, lay no claim to the application and use of oleic acid, as described; but .VVhat I claim as my invention or discovery For the treatment and imbuing of wool during or previous to its manufacture into yarn or cloth, the application thereto of mucilage possessing an attraction for water, such being found in sea-mosses and allied vegetable product-ions, or in various seeds-such as fiaxsecd or quince-seed-it being used either alone or in mixture with an oil or some other material.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 12th day of May, A. D. 1855.

THOMAS BARROWS.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.