US339351A - And henry l - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES Parent Orricu.

EDMUND TLWVEEDY, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT, AND HENRY L. BREVOORT AND ISAIAH L. ROBERTS, OF BROOKLYN, NEv YORK.

PROCESS OF PREPARING FUR FOR FELTlNG.

Application filed May 20, 1855.

To aZZ whom it 72mg concern Be it known that we, EDMUND TwnEDY, a resident of the town of Danbury, county of Fai rfield,and State of Connecticut, and HENRY L. BREVQORT and ISAIAH L. ROBERTS, residents of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, and all citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Process of Preparing Fur for Felting, of which the following is a clear and exact description, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to practice and use the same.

Nitrate of mercury has longbeen used for the purpose of preparing fur for felting. This process has many objections.

Our invention consists in treating the fur, either off or on the skin, with oxidizing-fumes prepared for the purpose.

In carrying out our invention we hang the skins up in a chamber, or we spread the fur upon trays placed in the chamber, such trays having preferably sieved bottoms, and we form in the said chamber, or cause to flow into it, oxidizing-fumes, such as vaporized nitric acid, dioxide of sulphur, nitrous fumes, 82c. lVe prefer to use the vapor or fumes of nitric acid, which we prefer to make by treating saltpeter with sulphuric acid and heat in a retort outside of the chamber, and from which retort the vapor or fumes are introduced into the chamber. When the skins, with the fur upon them, or the fur alone after being treated, are to be removed from the chamber, we prefer prior to such removal to empty the chamber of the fumes by means of a draftbrifice entering into a line or chimney. The fur is to be submitted to the fumes or the vapors for a sufficient length of time to perform the necessary work-to wit, to put it into such a condition that it may be subsequently felted. This period depends upon the strength of the fumes used. We have obtained a very satisfactory result in the following manner: In a box four (at) feet long and three (3) feet wide and three (3) feet deep we have suspended fifty Scotch cony-skins. We then shut the lid to prevent the escape of fumes. The box was provided with an opening in the lower part, which could be shut by a plug or valve. It

PECIIFIJATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,351, dated April 6, 1886.

Serial No. 166,183.

(No specimens.)

was also connected near the top with a pipe leading to a chimney-flue, which could be closed by a damper. The neck of aretort was inserted into a hole in the box near the top, and in the retort was placed one (1) pound of 5 powdered saltpeter and one (1) pound of sulphuric acid. The retort was heated with a gas jet, and the vapor or fumes produced escaped from the retort into the box foraperiod of eight hours, the hole and the pipe leading to the 6c chimney being then shut. The damper on the pipe to the flue was then opened and the plug removed from the opening in the lower part of the box,(the retort being also removed,) which caused a draft, which carried off the fumes. 65 The box was then opened, the skins were removed, the fur was cut from them in the usual manner, and was then felted into hats. No change in the appearance of the fur treated by this process will be noticed by the naked eye after the fuming. The fur may be exposed for varying lengths of time to the fumes, this being a matter under the control of the operator. The stronger or more concentrated the fumes and the less the admixture of atmospheric air the shorter may be the treatment, and, on the other hand, with dilute or Very weak fumes there will be required a longer treatment. By this process it will be observed that the fur is never brought into contact with any liquidssuch as nitrate of mercury and the likeand that no materials are left in the fur which may prove injurious to the workmen in the manufacture of the hat or the felting for any usual manufacture.

Our process produces a superior article of felt.

In the practice of our invention the material or materials from which the fumes are to be produced are of course not to be placed upon the fur, but are to be kept separate and dis tinct therefrom, the fur merely being brought in contact with the fumes produced.

We intend to produce or manufacture the fumes in Various ways, and also to produce or manufacture them in the chamber or box which contains the fur, the precise method of carrying out the process being unimportant or merely a question of convenience, and the gist of the process being the subjection of the fur to intimate contact with the fumes, so that l which the fur is placed, and then conducting the latter may act upon the fur or the substance which coats the fur.

As we understand it, some substance exists on the surface of the fur, which, in its normal state, is a water-repellent, and to enable the fur to be felted this material must be either removed or so changed that hot water used in the sizing or felting operation can come in contact with the fur itself. By our process the oxidizingfumes oxidize this material, and it then ceases to be water-repellent. I-Iowever, whether our theory be correct or not,

the advantageous results herein referred to can be obtained by practicing the process set forth in this specification.

Vhat we claim, and desire to secure by Lctters Patent, is-

1. Subjecting fur to prepared oxidizing fumes or vapors, substantially as described.

2. The process of treating fur, which con sists, first, in the manufacture of suitable oxidizing-fumes, and then, second, submitting the fur to the action of such fumes, substantially as described.

3. The process of treating fur, which consists in subjecting it to the action of oxidizing vapors or fumes when the fur is contained in a chamber to which the fumes are admitted, so that they may be brought into contact with the fur to be treated, substantially as described. 4

4. The process of treating fur, which consists in forming oxidizing vapors or fumes in a suitable apparatus outside of the chamber in the said fumes and vapors into the chamber and permitting them to act upon the fur contained in said chamber, substantially as described.

5. The process of treating fur, which consists in forming oxidizing fumes or vapors,subjecting the fur in a chamber or receptable to such vapors for the desired length of time, then emptying the said chamber of the fumes, and subsequently removing the fur therefrom, substantially as described.

6. The process of treating fur, which consists in subjecting it to oxidizing-fumes which are the product of a material or materials not placed upon or in contact with the fur fibers themselves, substantially as described.

7. The process of treating fur, which consists of the following steps: first, placing the fur in achamber or receptacle; second, closing the said chamber or receptacle; third, causing oxidizing-fumes to fill its interior; fourth, causing the oxidizing-fumes to flow out of the chamber after the fur has been treated; fifth, opening the chamber and removing the treated fur.

8. As a new article of manufacture, fur prepared for felting in the manner herein described.

EDMUND TlVEE-DY. HENRY L. BREVOORT. ISAIAH L. ROBERTS. Vitnesses:

JOSEPH L. LEVY, B. T. VETTERLE'IN.