US58591A - Improvement in dyeing hat-bodies - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED C. BRUSH, OF NORWALK, AND GEORGE C. WHITE, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

lMPROVEMENT IN DYEING HAT-BODIES, 84.0.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 58,591, dated October 9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED O. BRUSH, of Norwalk, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, and GEORGE C. WHITE, of Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in the Process of Dyeing I-Iat- Bodies and other Fabrics; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of our invention.

There ,are at present two well-known processes by which colored hat-bodies may be produced. In one process the wool may be dyed before it is manufactured; in the other the hat-bodies themselves may be dyed after they are sized by felting. The former process is objectionable in many respects, and the lattcr process is the one usually pursued by hatmanufacturers. It, however, is attended with the objection that the material after sizing is of so firm and compact a character that the dye does not readily penetrate and permeate it. Our new process obviates the objectionable features of both the old modes; and it consists in dyeing the hat-bodies after the sizing by felting has been commenced and before it is completed. rendered sufiiciently consistent to withstand the dyeing by the preliminary partial felting, and, on the other hand, it is more readily permeated by the dye than it is after the sizing is completed, and than wool is, because its texture is comparatively more open than that of a sized body and is more even than the loose woo]. Besides, the completion of the sizing process appears to render the coloring more uniform and to set it permanently in the material. The goods produced, also, are much softer than those dyed after sizing and have a finer feeling.

Our invention is applicable to hat-bodies and other felt fabrics made of wool or of fur and of mixtures of these with other materials.

In order that our invention may be fully understood,we will describe the mode in which we have practiced it with success upon wool hat-bodies. Such hat-bodies may be formed and hardened (ready for sizing by felting) in the usual way practiced by hatters. We then place them in the usual way in what is called the poacher or shovermill, which is a By this process the hat-body is I species of fulling-mill in which hat-bodies are felted by the operation of swinging blocks. WVe subject them to the action of this mill about fifteen minutes, after which we take them out and close them in the usual way; then we put them into the mill again and sub ject them to its action for about fifteen minutes more. This preliminary felting constitutes the first step in our process.

Next, we dye the hat-bodies at the dyekettle in the usual manner. This dyeing constitutes the second step in our process.

After the bodies have been dyed we put them in the usual manner into the ordinary falling-mill, used for completing the sizing of hat-bodies, and permit it to act upon them until the sizing is carried to the usual requisite extent, as may be determined by examining them from time to time. In conducting this residual sizing or felting we treat the hatbodies with steam and a little hot water, so as to keep them hot and moist; but we do not find it expedient to let them lie in water in the trough of the fulling-mill. The best mode of applying the steam and water with which we are acquainted is to apply a perforated pipe to the bottom of the trough of the mill and to admit the steam to the hat'bodies by means of this pipe. Within the steam-pipe we place a smaller pipe, by which hot water is admitted, so that the steam carries the hot water with it as it passes to the hat-bodies. The admission of the steam and hot water is regulated by stop-cocks on the pipes, and should there be any surplus water it is permit-ted to drain from the trough of the mill through an aperture formed therein for that purpose. This residual sizing constitutes the third step of our process. When it is completed the hatbodies will be both sized and colored or dyed.

The process thus described is not restricted to the employment of the poacher-mill and fulling-mill as the felting instruments, nor to the use of the peculiar apparatus we have described for applying steam and hot water, be cause other felting-machines may be used in place of those referred to, or the felting may even be effected by hand-labor, and because the steam and hot water may be applied by different means from those described.

for example, the hot water may be applied Thus,

from time to time, as required, to keep the hat-bodies moist by means of a common water- 'ingpot, or by a rose-sprinkler placed above the position of the bodies in the felting-machine.

It willbe seen from the foregoing that our new process occupies an intermediate position I other hand, we retain the advantages due to the dyeing in the hat-body without the disadvantage resulting from the compactness and firmness of fabric caused by the completion of the operation of sizing by felting. save the expense of one blocking and other labor of washing, sorting, &c., as well as much time in the process of manufacturing.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to'seoure by Letters Patent, is

The process of dyeing hat-bodies, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, by applying the dye or coloring-matter to them after the sizing has been commenced and before it is completed.

In testimony whereof" we have hereto set our hands this 30th day of August, 1866.

ALFRED G. BRUSH; GEO. 0. WHITE. Witnesses: I

RoGERAVERILL, HENRY T. HOYT.

We also I