US1759752A - Process for the manufacture of vegetable wool - Google Patents

Description

Patented May 20, 1930 PATENT OFFICE J'EANJ'ULES nmnnnorn, or nxnrrn, FRANCE PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE WOOL 1T0 Drawing. Application filed Hay-31, 1929, Serial No. 367,637, and in France June 9, 1928.

This invention relates to a new application of the treatment of vegetable fibers disclosed in the application Serial No. 290,049 of July 2nd, 1928. y

6 Said new application not only prevents the treated fibers from putrefaction but lends them sufiicient strength to resist subsequently a treatment with acids or soda for the purpose of giving them the appearance of animal 10 Wool.

The process disclosed in above mentioned patent application consists essentially in causing the penetration, into any vegetable fibers, of a fat (mineral oil or any other fatty matter) introduced at high temperature in a boiling bath of saponified fats, specially containing mineral oils.

According to this invention, above means applied in a new way are combined with various treatments which give the textile fibers the appearance of animal wool.

As an example of the manner this invenvention can be carried out, a succession of treatments of vegetable fibers will be described hereinafter.

The fibers are first treated mechanically for the purpose of rendering them flexible and in order to separate the small pellicles and part of the gum whichmay adhere to said so fibers.

After this mechanical treatment has been achieved, the flexible fibers are ihtroduced into a suitable vat in which is circulating a hot bath containing, for one liter of water,

3 grams of oleic acid,

2 grams of mineral oil,

1 gram of 36 B. soda lye,

1 gram of sodium carbonate. This hot bath circulates at a great speed in said'vat which contains the vegetable fibers, this speed being approximately one meter per second. The duration of the operation may last from one and a half to four hours according to the kind of fibers.

The mineral oil, which is saponifiedor emulsified by the presence of the base, lubricates'the fibers and protects them against the corrosive and destructive action of the subsequent treatment described hereinafter. This lubrication permits the retention in the fibers of thewhole of the cellulose they contain.

The fibers thus lubricated are thereupon plunged into a cold bath of caustic soda of 10 to 24 B., the contents of the bath in soda being subject to variations according to the kind of fibers treated. This immersion is continued during a time which may vary, also according to the kind of fibers, from fifteen minutes to three-hours. As in the previous bath this bath of caustic soda will pass rapidly through the vat in which the fibers are maintaineCL- After this treatment the fibers are rinsed and submitted to the action of baths which circulate rapidly and which are suitably acidified in order to neutralize the excess of caustic soda which may be contained in the fibers.

The fibers are then submitted to the bleaching action of a bath of sodium hypochlorite containing twenty five grams per liter or to any equivalent treatment.

The fibers are then rinsed and finally submitted to a softening bath containing a neutral soap and sodium monosulfide; these compounds may be contained in the bath in the ratio of 10 grams of soap and one gram of sodium monosulfide for a liter of water. The duration of the immersion in this bath varies from half an hour to two hours according to the kind of fibers.

Finally the fibers are wrung and dried by the means usually used for mineral wool.

A vegetable wool with the appearance of 8 animal wool is thus obtained.

It is to be understood, as said before, that the proportions of materials contained in the various baths to which they are submitted may vary according to the kind of fibers to which this process applies. It is also to be understood that, without altering the scope of the invention, the kind of the materials entering into the composition of the baths may be altered in some cases as long as the properties of said baths do not suffer thereby.

What I claim is Process of treatment of vegetable fibers, to give them the properties of animal wool, comprising a mechanical treatment for the loo sajfaration of small pellicles and part of the hering ms, a protective lubricating-treatment of t e fibers with a hot saponifying bath, a treatment with a rapidly circulating cold caustic lye, a neutralization by immersion in an acidulated and rapidly circulating bath, the bleaching of the fibers, the rinsing of the fibers, the treatment by a softening bath containing neutral soap and sodium monosulfide and the wringing and dr ing of the fibers;

In testimony whereof I ave signed this specification.

JEAN JULES LAMBREOTH.