John Mercer (1791 to 1866) was an English dye and fabric chemist and fabric printer who developed the cotton treatment called mercerization. Born on 21 February 1791 at Dean near Blackburn, Lancashire, he received no formal education and began work as a bobbin winder at the age of nine, later teaching himself dyeing, working as a hand-loom weaver and then as a chemist for Fort Brothers. In 1844 his investigation of the action of caustic soda, sulphuric acid and zinc chloride on cotton cloth led to the textile process that bears his name, in which the fibres become thicker and shorter and the strength of the cloth is greatly increased. The same experiments led to parchment paper, which he patented in 1850. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1852 and died on 30 November 1866.
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John Mercer
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John Mercer (1791-1866) was an English dye and fabric chemist and fabric printer.
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John Mercer (1791-1866) was an English dye and fabric chemist and fabric printer.
Associated With: Mercerization, Notes
Prior to the introduction of the Mill engraving machine and the present methods of producing rainbow, or ombre effects, these were obtained by means of the ribbon roller, the invention of John Mercer, a pioneer in the calico-printing industry, whose name is a household one as the inventor of the process of mercerising cotton cloth.
Invented: Mercerization, Notes
Prior to the introduction of the Mill engraving machine and the present methods of producing rainbow, or ombre effects, these were obtained by means of the ribbon roller, the invention of John Mercer, a pioneer in the calico-printing industry, whose name is a household one as the inventor of the process of mercerising cotton cloth.
In Group: Textile Machinery Inventors, Notes
Prior to the introduction of the Mill engraving machine and the present methods of producing rainbow, or ombre effects, these were obtained by means of the ribbon roller, the invention of John Mercer, a pioneer in the calico-printing industry, whose name is a household one as the inventor of the process of mercerising cotton cloth.
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