GB240477A - Process for improving or re-conditioning wools, soiled fabrics or other fibrous materials - Google Patents

Abstract

Wools, or other fibrous materials in bulk, or in the form of slivers, threads, soiled fabrics, &c., and particularly wools which have been subjected to a washing or chemical treatment and have thereby been deprived of suint, are treated with concentrated suint at about 4 DEG B<\>ae obtained from raw wools, the treatment in the case of wool in bulk being accompanied by purification of the suint for re-use. The treatment is stated to impart softness, strength, elasticity, and suppleness to the material by re-adsorption from the suint of any principles it may lack. The suint also acts as a detergent and washes the wool. The suint removed from the treated material is purified by a two-stage centrifuge, preceded, if desired, by fibre retaining means, and air may be introduced into the treating vats all in the manner described in Specification 221,521. Further to increase the action of the suint, the volume of the vats is reduced as much as possible; and to decrease the volume of liquor to be purified, the liquor to be centrifuged consists of the flushings from the false bottoms of the vats, and of the liquors expressed by the squeezers. Anti-putrefactive agents may be added to the treating baths as described in Specification 240,499. The material to be treated may be passed through an old soap bath or a solution of carbonate of soda prior to the suint treatment, the material being, in some cases, washed after the suint treatment in one or more soap baths.