Produced by Chris Curnow, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
PIGMENTS, PAINT
AND
PAINTING
PIGMENTS, PAINT
AND
PAINTING
_A PRACTICAL BOOK FOR PRACTICAL MEN_
BY
GEORGE TERRY
[Illustration: colophon]
London
E. & F. N. SPON, 125 STRAND
New York
SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 12 CORTLANDT STREET
1893
INTRODUCTION.
In days gone by, the painter who served the usual term of
apprenticeship was deemed to have done all that was required to
qualify him for his trade. He may have learned little or much, but he
had “served his time,” and that was all that was expected of him. So
far as it went, the training was good, because it was nothing if not
practical, and practice is an essential element of skill. But nowadays
such a training can only be considered partial; mere practice, without
any scientific knowledge of the principles which underlie it, is but
half a qualification for the workman who aims at being really a master
of his trade.
When competition was unknown, and the low prices of raw material
offered no inducement for passing off inferior or fraudulent
substitutes, there was less need for a high degree of knowledge.
But under modern conditions, the painter who is unable to gauge the
qualities of the materials he uses, and who is ignorant of the rules
which govern those qualities, and of the principles which determine the
use of this and the rejection of that article, cannot long survive in
the struggle for supremacy or even livelihood.
Hence the need for a handbook such as this volume aims at being.
Granted that our technical schools and colleges are affording a liberal
and invaluable education to the workman who will avail himself of
the opportunities given him, still a man does not remain for ever at
school, and he needs a guide-book, handy of reference and accessible in
price, to refresh his memory and supplement the information gained in
the class-room and workshop.
To fulfil this useful purpose is the aim and object of this
unpretending volume.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.
PAGE
Colour 1
Pigments 3
CHAPTER II.
BLACKS.
General 5
Animal-black 6
Bone-black 6
Frankfort or Drop-black 11
Ivory-black 11
Lamp-black 11
Unimportant blacks--Aniline,
candle, charcoal, coal, cork,
German, iron, lead, manganese,
Prussian, prussiate,
Spanish, tannin 25
CHAPTER III.
BLUES.
Cobalt blues--Cœruleum;
Cobalt blue; smalts 27
Copper blues--Bremen
blue; Cæruleum; Lime
blue; Mountain blue or
Azurite; Péligot blue; Verditer 34
Indigo 42
Manganese blue 49
Prussian blue--General;
Yellow prussiate; Combination
of the cyanide and iron
solutions; Antwerp blue;
Bong’s blue; Brunswick
blue; Chinese blue; Paris
blue; Saxon blue; Soluble
blue; Turnbull’s blue 49
Ultramarine 70
CHAPTER IV.
BROWNS.
Asphalt or Bitumen 101
Bistre 101
Bone brown 102
Cappagh brown 102
Cassel earth 102
Chicory brown 102
Cologne earth 102
Manganese brown 103
Mars brown 103
Prussian brown 103
Rubens brown 104
Sepia 104
Ulmin 105
Umbers 105
Vandyke brown 107
CHAPTER V.
GREENS.
Baryta 109
Bremen 112
Brighton 112
Brunswick 113
Chinese 118
Chrome 118
Cobalt 119
Douglas 120
Emerald 121
Guignet’s 125
Lokao 129
Malachite 129
Manganese 130
Mineral 130
Mitis 130
Mountain 131
Paris 132
Prussian 132
Rinmann 132
Sap 132
Scheele’s 133
Schweinfurth 134
Terre verte 134
Titanium 135
Verdigris 135
Verditer 136
Verona earth 136
Victoria 137
Vienna 137
Zinc 137
CHAPTER VI.
REDS.
Antimony vermilion 138
Baryta red 143
Cassius purple 143
Chinese red 144
Chrome orange 144
Chrome red 144
Cobalt pink 144
Cobalt red 144
Colcothar 145
Derby red 145
Indian red 147
Lead orange 147
Minium 148
Orange mineral 150
Oxide reds 150
Persian red 153
Realgar 153
Red lead 153
Rouge 153
Venetian red 153
Vermilion 153
Victoria red 169
CHAPTER VII.
WHITES.
Baryta white 170
Blanc fixe 172
Charlton white 172
China clay 172
Enamelled white 183
English white 183
Gypsum 183
Kaolin 183
Lead whites or White leads 183
Lime white 245
Lithophone 245
Magnesite 245
Mineral white 245
Orr’s enamel white 245
Paris white 246
Permanent white 246
Satin white 246
Spanish white 246
Strontia white 246
Terra alba 246
Whiting 246
Zinc whites 247
CHAPTER VIII.
YELLOWS.
Arsenic yellow 257
Aureolin yellow 257
Cadmium yellow 258
Chrome yellows 258
Gamboge 270
King’s yellow 271
Naples yellows 271
Ochres 272
Orpiment 280
Realgar 280
Siennas 281
CHAPTER IX.
LAKES.
Brazil-wood lake 283
Carminated lake 283
Carmine 283
Cochineal lake 284
Madder lake 284
Yellow lakes 285
CHAPTER X.
LUMINOUS PAINTS 286
CHAPTER XI.
EXAMINATION OF PIGMENTS.
Fineness 293
Body or covering power 293
Colour 293
Durability 294
CHAPTER XII.
VEHICLES AND DRYERS.
Generalities 295
Ground-nut oil 297
Hempseed oil 298
Kukui or Candle-nut oil 298
Linseed oil 299
Menhaden oil 303
Poppy-seed oils 305
Tobacco-seed oil 306
Walnut oil 307
Wood or Tung oil 308
Extraction of seed oils 308
Dryers 316
Litharge 316
Cobalt and manganese benzoates 318
Cobalt and manganese borates 318
Resinates 318
Zumatic dryers 318
Manganese oxide 318
Guynemer’s dryer 319
Manganese oxalate 319
Boiled oil 320
CHAPTER XIII.
PAINT MACHINERY.
Wright & Co’s 339
Hind and Lund’s 345
Brinjes & Goodwin’s 346
CHAPTER XIV.
PAINTING.
The surface 351
Priming 352
Drying 353
Filling 354
Coats 355
Brushes 355
Water-colours 356
Removing odour 356
Discoloration 356
Composition 358
Area covered 360
Measuring 360
Carriage and Car painting 361
Woodwork painting 368
Iron painting 369
Fresco painting 378
INDEX 383
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE PAGE
1, 2. BONE-BLACK FURNACE 8
3-11. APPARATUS FOR MAKING LAMP-BLACK 12-22
12. FURNACE FOR ROASTING COBALT ORES 31
13. FURNACE FOR MAKING SMALTS 33
14-17. YELLOW PRUSSIATE FURNACE 60
18-20. HANNAY’S WHITE LEAD FURNACE 217
21-25. LEWIS’S WHITE LEAD FURNACE 226, 230
26, 27. MACIVOR’S WHITE LEAD PROCESS 233, 239
28. APPARATUS FOR MAKING ZINC OXIDE 248
29. APPARATUS FOR MAKING ZINC SULPHIDE 253
30-32. FURNACE FOR ROASTING OCHRES 278
33-39. APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING SEED-OILS 309-315
40-44. WRIGHT & CO.’S PAINT MILLS 340-344
45. HIND & LUND’S PAINT MILL 346
46-48. BRINJES AND GOODWIN’S PAINT MILLS 347, 348
49. NOAKES & CO.’S METALLIC KEG 350
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.
=Colour.=--The term “colour” is inappropriately given by common usage
to material substances which convey a sense of colour to the human eye,
but is properly restricted to that sense itself. The material colour
should be called “pigment” or “dyestuff” in the raw state, and paint
when compounded with other substances for application in the form of a
coating.
The sense of colour is due to light. In the absence of light there
is no colour, only blackness; and black is really no colour, but an
absence of colour. Very many conditions combine to cause different
colour sensations, some of which are understood, while others we are
not able to explain.
For instance, take the action of heat upon a solution of chloride of
cobalt. As soon as the liquid becomes warm, the pink colour disappears
and gives place to blue; but on pouring water into it, the blue
vanishes and the pink reappears. Again, on heating the blue crystals
of sulphate of copper they become white, but the blue colour comes
back when water is added, and the solution assumes a deeper tint as it
dissolves more of the white powder.
If all the rays are cut off from an electric light except those which
are in and beyond the violet, and a flask containing a solution
of sulphate of quinine is held in that portion of the spectrum, it
will become luminous. The same thing will occur even more strikingly
on placing a piece of uranium glass in the ultra-violet rays. The
explanation of this phenomenon is that beyond those rays which give
light there are others which do not give light, i. e. which do not
cause us to experience the sensation of light; the reason being that
their vibrations are too rapid. But when certain other substances, such
as sulphate of quinine, or a thin slip of uranium glass, are placed in
the path of the rays, this rapid motion is arrested and modified, and
these rays, which in themselves are not luminous, are reflected back
to our eyes as luminous rays. The rapidity of the vibrations being
moderated, our retinas become sensible to them as rays of blue light.
Colour does not depend only upon chemical composition nor solely upon
the aggregation of the particles, but upon these and other things
besides not yet explained. All matter is in a state of motion. If
you heat a substance you communicate an increased activity of motion
to the particles of which it consists. When certain coloured rays of
light are falling upon a substance, these coloured rays of light have
a motion peculiar to themselves. It may be that the degree of motion
in that substance, either existing in it naturally without heating,
or communicated to it by artificial heating, is such that these rays
of light are precisely those which that substance is not capable of
sending back to our eyes. They are then absorbed or destroyed in some
way, by the particular state of that substance upon which they fall;
and those rays which the substance is capable of reflecting back are
mainly sent back to our eyes. Certain colours, such as blue, yellow,
and green, absorb certain rays more or less perfectly, and reflect back
in the main blue, yellow, and green to our eyes. Hence it is incumbent
on those who are studying colour, and who are interested in the purity
and permanency of colour, to comprehend at least the principles of
that science of light which tells of the action of light upon various
bodies that are used as pigments in painting.
If we put together two substances one of which destroys or modifies
the chemical condition or state of the other, then certainly one of
those substances, and very probably both, will lose the colour which it
had before it came into contact with the other. It is therefore most
important that all engaged in the preparation and use of colours should
make a study of this science of light. Of almost equal value is a study
of the science of heat. We have seen what heat can do in changing the
conditions of a substance. To give another instance. The black sulphide
of mercury, after sublimation by heat, exhibits properties, imparted
to it by the heat, which it did not possess before, i. e. it can, by
trituration, be brought to display a red colour.
On showing the spectrum on a screen, if some solution of soda or other
sodium salt be held in the course of the light, almost all the coloured
rays but one will be cut off, and a little band is seen in the yellow
part of the spectrum. This is because the sodium flame is almost
“monochromatic,” or single-lined: it cuts off all the colours but the
yellow. Again, if metallic thallium is held in the flame, the only band
remaining in the spectrum will be the green; and if a lithium salt, the
only surviving colour will be red.
=Pigments.=--The term “pigments” is applied to those colouring matters
which are mixed in a powdery form with oil or other vehicle for the
purpose of painting. They differ in this respect from the dyestuffs,
which are always employed in solution. A very large proportion of
the pigments in common use are derived from the mineral kingdom, the
most notable exceptions being found in the blacks and lakes. All
pigments are required to possess “body,” or density and opacity; to be
insoluble in water and most other solvents, except the stronger mineral
acids; and to be inert, or incapable of exercising chemical or other
influence on each other or on the vehicle or drier with which they are
mixed prior to use. They may be conveniently classified according to
their colours in the first place, reserving the consideration of their
preparation for use for a later chapter. The chief classes are Blacks,
Blues, Browns, Greens, Reds, Whites, and Yellows.