US57122A - Improvement in cleaning wool and woolen goods - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. GOVERN, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLEANING WOOLAND WOOLEN GOODS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,122, dated August 14, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. GOVERN, of Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Method of Cleansing Wool and Woolen Goods; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in the use of a solution of guano or of the excrements of fowls and birds for the scouring of raw or unwrought wool, and for the cleansing of fabrics made of wool from the oil which is applied during the process of manufacturing to the material of which said fabrics are made.

To enable others skilled in this department of woolen manufacture to use and apply my invention, I will proceed to describe the material employed by me in said cleansing and scouring and the method of using and applying it.

It is necessary for me to describe, briefly, the cleansing processes which it is necessary to employ in manufacturing woolen goods.

First, before the unwrought wool is carded it is generally secured or washed to free it from animal oil and dirt. Soap and soda or some other detersive material or materials are dissolved in the water in which the wool is scoured.

Second, after the securing above set forth, some vegetable, animal, or mineral oil or fatty substance is applied to the wool to render it fit for carding and the subsequent operations of spinning, &c.

Finally, it is necessary to remove from the woven goods or goods otherwise manufactured the oil or grease so applied before carding, which is effected by the action of the fullingmills and washers, soap being applied in proper quantities duringthe operation.

In the operation of scouring first above described I apply to the cleansing mixture a solution of guano, or of the excrements of fowls and birds, the solution being of a strength proportioned to the quality of the wool to be cleansed, different grades of wool requiring different treatment. I have also used the above-named solution as a cleansing mixture without the addition of any other detersive material,- and have also combined the guano or excrements aforesaid with the soap used in the scouring, and the soap so formed I also use in the second operation above described, of cleansing or washing the manufactured goods in the fulling-mills and washers.

In making the soap so used I have employed the following ingredients in the proportions named, to wit: guano, twenty (20) pounds; tallow, one hundred (100) pounds soda, twenty-five (25) pounds. Hot water is applied to these ingredients in sufficient quantity, and the mixture is boiled for several hours-say from eight to ten hours-and then, after cooling somewhat, the larger part of the liquid portion of the contents of the containing-kettle is drawn off, more hot water added to the residue, and the same process of boiling, cooling, and drawing ofi' repeated for two or three times. The liquid or semiliquid so drawn off forms, when cold, the soap.

In describing the process of manufacturing soap for cleansing wool and woolen goods (generally denominated fullers soap) no definite and inflexible rule can be given for determining the relative quantity of the in gredients to be used, the amount of water to be added, or for any of the details of the operation, as all the above will vary with the grades of material and the styles of manufactured goods to which the fullers soap is to be applied.

1 have found that the fresh excrements of fowls and birds are more efficacious for the purposes above set forth than the guano sold in the markets, but have preferred to use guano as being an article more readily and cheaply obtained.

Some of the advantages of my invention I have by actual trial found to be, first, it brightens and enlivens the colors of the goods upon which it is used as aforesaid, and softens the texture; second, it facilitates and shortens the securing and cleansing operations, and requires the use of less of the detergent materials; third, fullers soap can be made more cheaply by the use of guano or the excrements of fowls or birds, substantially as before described, than by the use of am- The use of the articles above named, or either of them, for the cleansing of wool and woolen goods, Whether used alone or in combination with other ingredients, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM A. GOVERN.

In presence of- H. S. ADAMS, J. P. BUCKLAND.