Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/716

 SPiLL V. celluloïd makdf'g co. 709 �of my invention relates to the bleaching of xyloidine, and is as follows : When it is desired to bleach or whiten the xyloid- ine, I bleach it directly after the removal of the acids, and before removing it from the vat. This I do by any of the well-known means, preferring a solution of chlorine, or a solu- tion of chloride of lime or soda, which I add to the xyloidine, making use of alternate stirrings and resta, for a sufficient time, until the xyloidine is whitened. The solution is again drained off, and the xyloidine is repeatedly washed with water, in order to remove any excess of bleaching agents or any residue from such agents, wlien it will be found to be ready to be submitted to pressure in order to free the same from water, and may then be opened out, so as to prepare it for drying, dissolving, or other purposes." The second claim is in these words: "The proeess of bleaching xyloidine in the manner herein specified." That portion of the specification which precedes the statement of the second part of the invention relates to the treatment of vegetable fibre or lignine with acids, to couvert it into xyloidine and render it soluble in suitable solvents. The fibre is intimately mixed with the acids by appropriate means, then the acids are strained and pressed from the fibre, which is now xyloidine, and it is sub- jected to a washing and stirring with water until it is nearly or quite free from acids, and the water is then drained off. The washing is doue in a washing vat. The bleaching, as before stated, is done "directly after the removal of the acids," and before the xyloidine is removed from the vat.' The evi- dence shows that the real invention of the plaintiff, in this regard, was to bleach xyloidine by ordinary bleaching agents, directly after the converting acids had been washed out of it, and before anything had been mixed with it which might interfere with the action of the bleaching agents. This is, fairly, the sense of the specification. Whether the bleaching is done in the washing vat or not, or in a solution of the ordinary bleaching agent, or by such agent not in a solution, are immaterial matters. The essential discovery was, that an ordinary and well-known bleaching agent, of the character of chlorine, or chloride of lime or chloride of soda, if applied ����