US2395085A - Wool scouring process and compositions - Google Patents

Description

Fatented Feb, to, Wed

asoaoss WWYPL SEO i: ll G PRGCESS AND Samuel T. Woodside, @hicago, 11]., assiznor, by

means assients, to Lucson Qorporation, Chicase, at, a corporation oi minois No Drawing, Application September 1, 1939,

Serial No. 293,051

a one. (cease-12?) My invention relates to improvements in wool scouring compositions and method oi scouring wool and has for one object to provide a composition. the use oi which will result in decreased involves the treatment of the wool in a series of baths, the first one containing soap and soda ash in solution at relatively low concentration, the next bath containing soap and soda ash in solution at relatively high concentration.

For example, the alkalinity in the first bath in the second bath will preferably be approximately 1.25 by weight of the amount of water used in the scouring bath. The wool is first treated in the bath with relatively low alkalinity, then with relatively high. a The third bath is a rinse of water to remove the soap and the fourth bath is a bluing bath in which the wool is treated with bluing similar to or perhaps identical with ordinary laundry bluing.

The causticity or alkalinity of the soda ash bath is such that the wool fibers or the outer surfaces of the wool fibers or part of the outer surfaces of Y the wool fibers tend to be dissolved so that the actual weight and volume of wool fiber itself is somewhat reduced by the treatment above out lined. Moreover, the outer fine soft fiber cover-= ing tends to be eaten away leaving a relatively harder under surface of the fiber exposed. Thus, as a result of the treatment above outlined, the wool tends to be harsh, and wiry, thus giving a wool which spun into thread is somewhat weaker the same purpose. An efiort has been made to use pine oil in this connection but again the pine oil, while it would clean the wool, left the wool with an unpleasantsmell which stayed with it to the end of its life.

I have found that when there is added to the caustic soda ash and soap baths above referred to, kerosene and pine oil in approximately equal quantities or perhaps with a slight excess of kerosene, then it is possible to materially reduce the alkalinity of the bath, accomplish the scour in: result and obtain a satisfactory merchantable will preferably be approximately .9, the alkalinity than the thread woven of the wool not so treated. 1

Moreover, the cloth woven-oi such wool, because of the smooth character oi the fibers tends to shine more rapidly and to be less resistant to wear.

It has been proposed in the past to obviate the difliculties above'pointed out by adding to the soda ash soap bath, other materials. Kerosene for instance has been used in the hope that this 'a bath oi lower caustlcity, it leaves a character istic ofiensive smell which makes the wool relatively unsalablel It has also been proposed to use pine oil for product because the combination of kerosene and pine 011' results in a substantially non-odorous condition. In other words, the kerosene and pine .oil cancel out each other's smell or neutralize the respective odors so that there is not added to the wool any extrinsic odor or smell characteristic of either kerosene or pine oil.

Preferably my composition of kerosene and pine oil will be assembled in advance ior use by wool scourers. A suitable formula will be 51.5 percent kerosene; 48.47 percent pine oil; and .02 percent oil of bergamot. The oil of bergamot is introduced for the purpose of giving a characteristic pleasant odor to the compound and may, it de sired, be dispensed with, in which case the proportion of pine oil would be increased accordingly.

In carrying out my process I propose for en= ample, to provide the first bath of soap and soda ash having an alkalinity of approximately .4 per cent. To the first bath my pine oil and kerosene composition will be added in the proportion of three and one-half gallons to one thousand gallons of water. In the second bath, my composition will be added in the proportion of live and five-eighths gallons to one thousand gallons of water,

The pine oil and kerosene will thus be premixed before being added to the bath and the soda ash and soap will be mixed in the bath be= i'ore my composition is added.

The presence of the kerosene and pine oil does not change or interfere in any way with the alkalinity of the bath so that in making determinations of causticity the contents of the bath may be titrated independent of the presence of kerosene and pine oil. The reduced causticity or alkalinity of the two baths resultsin a decrease in the shrinkage of the wool and a decrease in the extent to which the wool fibers are eaten away.

The practice of using first a bath oi relativel low alkalinity, second a bath of relatively higher valkalinity will be carried out in connection with my process just as in the past because experience teaches that to first introduce the wool into a bath of too high alkalinity sometimes tends to fix deleterious color in the wool.

I have referred specifically in the specification and in the claims to kerosene and pine oil because they are suitable examples of a relatively wide range of materials which may be used in combination and cooperation to accomplish my pur pose. The pine oil is preferably pine oil, the boiling point of which ranges from 417 to 437 Fahrenheit, the fiash point of which is high enough so that the oil can be shipped without special precaution, and which is steam distilled pine oil as distinguished from pine oil derived by destructive distillation. The kerosene must be a colorless or substantially colorless fluid because if it contains color or coloring matter in any appreciable quantity it will tend to color the wool.

By kerosene therefore, I mean such distillates of crude petroleum of coal and of synthetic products made of natural gases and also derivatives of all these products as will be colorless or substantially colorless and be of the general specific gravity range characteristic of commercial kerosene or derivatives thereof.

In other words, such a product can be a petroleum product or distillate thereof containing sulphurous compounds in general and specifical- 1y naphthenic acids and without the same if desired.

By industrial pine oil I mean, as above referred to, the better grades of pine oil, resin oils or turpentine oils, crude and refined or resin and pine distillates containing abietic acid or oils distilled from resins, balsams and gums or volatile or distilled oils of plants and leaves or terpene oils, camphors and camphor oils.

The terms kerosene and pine oil in my claims are intended to mean and to covernot only kerosene and pine oil but such similar and equivalent chemicals and derivatives as those above listed and described and I wish that the claims where they refer to pine oil and kerosene be interpreted as covering broadly-such reagents.

Resin oils, pine oils and turpentines cannot be exactly defined because their specific chemical constituents varies from distillation to distillation. They are, however, all of them products of the distillation from the resin of various pine trees or are products of dry or similar distillation of pine logs.

I claim:

1. A wool scouring composition comprising substantially equal proportions of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil.

2. A wool scouring composition comprising ordinary, unrefined kerosene in the amount of approximately 51.5 percent; pine oil in the amount of approximately 48.47 percent.

3. A wool scouring composition comprising ordinary, unrefined kerosene in the amount of approximately 51.5 percent; pine oil in the amount of approximately 48.47 percent and oil of heme.- mot in the amount of approximately .02 per cent.

4. A wool scouring bath comprising water, soda ash and soap, the alkalinity of which is approximately four tenths percent and approximately equal quantities of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in the proportion of approximately three and one-half gallons of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil together to one thousand gallons of the bath.

5. A wool scouring bath comprising water, soda ash and soap, the alkalinity of which is approximately four tenths percent, and approximately equal quantities of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in the proportion of approximately five and five-eighths gallons of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil together to one thouof which contains soap and soda ash in solution in substantially the same concentration, each bath containing in addition ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in'generally equal proportions, the concentration of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil being greater in the second bath than in the first bath, the concentration of soap and soda ash in each solution being such that the alkalinity is approximately four tenths percent.

8. The process of scouring wool which consists in washing the wool in two successive baths each of which contains soap and soda ash in solution in substantiall the same concentration, each bath containing in addition ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in generall equal proportions, the concentration of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil being greater in the second bath than in the first bath, the ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in the first bath being approximately in the amount of three and one-half gallons to each one thousand gallons of the bath.

9. The process of scouring wool which consists in washing the wool in two successive baths each of which contains soap and soda ash in solution in substantially the same concentration, each bath containing in addition ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in generally equal proportions, the concentration of ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine 011 being greater in the second bath than in the first bath, the ordinary, unrefined kerosene and pine oil in the second bath being approximately in the proportion of five and five-eighths gallons to one thousand gallons of the bath.

SAMUEL T. WOODSIDE.