INK INDUSTRY.
IMPORTANCE OF HONEST INK MANUFACTURE--ABSENCE
OF INFORMATION AS TO NAMES OF MOST ANCIENT INK
MAKERS,--WHERE TO LOOK FOR ANCIENT INK--THEIR
PHENOMENAL IDENTITY--INK AND PAPER AS ASIATIC
INVENTIONS ENTER EUROPE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY--
BOTH IN GENERAL USE IN THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY--MONKS AND SCRIBES AS THEIR OWN INK
MANUFACTURERS--MODERN INDUSTRY OF INK BEGINS
IN 1625--ITS GROWTH AND PRESENT SITUATION--THE
GENERAL IGNORANCE OF THE SUBJECT--INK INDUSTRY
IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY--THE FIRST PIONEERS
ABROAD AND THOSE AT HOME--OBSERVATIONS
RESPECTING INK PHENOMENA OF THE PAST EIGHTY
YEARS--WHAT SOME INK MAKERS SAY ABOUT IT--LITTLE
DEMAND FOR PURE INKS--SOME SKETCHES OF THE
LEADING INK MANUFACTURERS OF THE WORLD--ESTIMATION
OF QUANTITY OF INK MADE IN THE UNITED
STATES--THE "LIFE" OF A MARK MADE WITH ORDINARY
WRITING FLUID--ESTIMATION OF MOST INKS BY PROFESSORS
BAIRD AND MARKOE--FORMULA OF THE OFFICIAL
INK OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS--VIEWS
OF SOME PROMINENT INK MANUFACTURERS ABOUT
SUCH INK--SOME COMMERCIAL NAMES BESTOWED ON
DIFFERENT INKS--THE 200 OR MORE NAMES OF INK
MANUFACTURERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
THE consideration of the effect of the use of ink
upon civilization from primitive times to the present,
as we have seen, offers a most suggestive field and
certifies to the importance of the manufacture of honest
inks as necessary to the future enlightenment of
society. That it has not been fully understood or
even appreciated goes without saying; a proper generalization
becomes possible only in the light of corroborative
data and the experiences of the many.
History has not given us the names of ancient ink
makers; but we can believe there must have been
during a period of thousands of years a great many,
and that the kinds and varieties of inks were without
number. Those inks which remain to us are to be
found only as written with on ancient MSS.; they
are of but few kinds, and in composition and appearance
preserve a phenomenal identity, though belonging
to countries and epochs widely separated. This
identity leads to the further conclusion that ink making
must have been an industry at certain periods,
overlooked by careful compounders who distributed
their wares over a vast territory.
"Gall" ink and "linen" paper as already stated are
Asiatic inventions. Both of them seem to have entered
Europe by way of Arabia, "hand in hand" at the very
end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth centuries
and for the next two hundred years, notwithstanding
the fact that chemistry was almost an unknown science
and the secrets of the alchemists known only to the
few, this combination gradually came into general
vogue.
In the fourteenth century we find one or both of
them more or less substituted for "Indian" ink, parchment,
vellum and "cotton" paper. It was, however,
the monks and scribes who manufactured for their
own and assistants' use "gall" ink, just as they had
been in the habit of preparing "Indian" ink when
required, which so far as known was not always a
commodity.
As an industry it can be said to have definitely
begun when the French government recognized the
necessity for one, A. D. 1625, by giving a contract
for "a great quantity of 'gall ink' to Guyot," who
for this reason seems to occupy the unique position
of the father of the modern ink industry.
Ink manufacture as a growing industry heretofore
and to a large extent at present, occupies a peculiarly
anomalous situation. Other industries follow the law
of evolution which may perhaps bear criticism; but
the ink industry follows none, nor does it even pretend
to possess any.
Thousands are engaged in its pursuit, few of whom
understand either ink chemistry or ink phenomena.
The consumer knows still less, and with blind confidence
placidly accepts nondescript compounds labeled
"Ink," whether purchased at depots or from "combined"
itinerant manufacturing peddlers and with
them write or sign documents which some day may
disturb millions of property. And yet in a comparative
sense it has outpaced all other industries.
With the commencement of the eighteenth century
we find the industry settling in Dresden, Chemnitz,
Amsterdam, Berlin, Elberfield and Cologne. Still
later in London, Vienna, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin,
and in the first half of the nineteenth century in
the United States, it had begun to make considerable
progress.
Among the first pioneers of the later modern ink
industry abroad, may be mentioned the names of
Stephens, Arnold, Blackwood, Ribaucourt, Stark,
Lewis, Runge, Leonhardi, Gafford, Bottger, Lipowitz,
Geissler, Jahn, Van Moos, Ure, Schmidt, Haenle, Elsner,
Bossin, Kindt, Trialle, Morrell, Cochrane, Antoine,
Faber, Waterlous, Tarling, Hyde, Thacker, Mordan,
Featherstone, Maurin, Triest and Draper.
In the period covered by the nineteenth century
at home, the legitimate industry included over 300
ink makers. Those best known are Davids, Maynard
and Noyes, Carter, Underwood, Stafford, Moore, Davis,
Thomas, Sanford, Barnes, Morrell, Walkden, Lyons,
Freeman, Murray, Todd, Bonney, Pomeroy, Worthington,
Joy, Blair, Cross, Dunlap, Higgins, Paul, Anderson,
Woodmansee, Delang, Allen, Stearns, Gobel, Wallach,
Bartram, Ford and Harrison.
The ink phenomena included in the past eighty
years has demonstrated a continuing retrogression in
ink manufacture and a consequent deterioration of
necessary ink qualities. When the attention of some
ink makers are addressed to these sad facts, they
attribute them, either to the demand of the public
for an agreeable color and a free flowing ink, or to an
inability to compete with inferior substitutes, which
have flooded the market since the discovery of the
coal tar colors; they have been compelled to depart
from old and tried formulas, in the extravagant use
(misuse) of the so-called "added" color.
An exceptional few of the older firms continue to
catalogue unadulterated "gall" inks; but the demand
for them except in localities where the law
COMPELS their employment, is only little.
Interesting deductions can be made from the accompanying
brief sketches of the leading ink manufacturers
of the world.
The "Arnold" brand of inks possesses a worldwide
reputation, although not always known by that
name, beginning A. D. 1724 under the style of R.
Ford, and continuing until 1772, when the firm name
was changed to William Green & Co. In 1809 it became
J. & J. Arnold, who were succeeded in 1814 by
Pichard and John Arnold, the firm name by which it
is known at the present day. This last named concern
located at 59 Barbican, on the site of the old
City Hall in London, and later moved to their present
address, No. 155 Aldersgate street. The inks made
by the "fathers" of the firm were "gall" inks WITHOUT
"added" color. At the commencement of the nineteenth
century we find them making tanno-gallate of
iron inks to which were added extractive matter from
logwood and other materials to form thick fluids for
shipment to Brazil, India and the countries where
brushes or reeds were used as writing instruments.
For the more civilized portions of the world similar
inks but of an increased fluidity were supplied, that
the quill pens might be employed. The demands for
still more fluid inks which would permit the use of
steel pens, resulted in the modern blue-black chemical
writing fluid, the "added" blue portion being
indigo in some form. It was first put on the market
in 1830. They manufacture over thirty varieties of
ink, but only one real "gall" ink without "added" color.
In the early part of May, 1824, Thaddeus Davids
started his ink factory at No. 222 William street,
New York City. His first and best effort was a
strictly pure tanno-gallate of iron ink, which he
placed on the market in 1827 under the name of
"Steel Pen Ink," guaranteed to write black and to
possess "record" qualities. In 1833 he made innovations
following the lines laid down by Arnold and
also commenced the manufacture of a chemical writing
fluid, with indigo for "added" color. Many
more "added" colors were employed at different
periods, like logwood and fustic, with the incorporation
of sugar, glucose, etc. In the early fifties the
cheap grades of logwood ink after the formula of
Runge (1848) and which cost about four cents per
gallon was marketed, principally for school purposes;
it was never satisfactory, becoming thick and "color
fading." Mr. Davids made many experiments with
"alizarin" inks in the early sixties but did not
consider them valuable enough to put on the market.
In 1875 the firm introduced violet ink made from the
aniline color of that name. Experimentations in 1878
with the insoluble aniline blacks and vanadium were
unsuccessful; but the soluble aniline black (blue-
black) known as nigrosine they used and still use in
various combinations. During this long period their
establishments have been in different locations. From
No. 222 William street it was changed to Eighth
street, with the office at No. 26 Cliff street. In 1854
the works were removed to New Rochelle, Westchester
county, N. Y. In 1856 the firm name was
Thaddeus Davids and Co., Mr. George Davids having
been admitted as a partner and their warehouse and
offices at this time were located at Nos. 127 and 129
William street, where a business of enormous proportions,
which includes the manufacture of thirty-three
inks and other products, is still carried on at the
present day under the name and style of "Thaddeus
Davids, Co." The old "Davids' Steel Pen Ink" continues
to be manufactured from the original formula
and is the only tanno-gallate of iron ink they make,
WITHOUT "added" color.
The Paris house of "Antoine" as manufacturers of
writing inks dates from 1840. They are best known
as the makers of the French copying ink, of a violet-
black color, made from logwood, which was first put
on the market in 1853 under the name of Encres
Japonaise. In 1860 an agency was established in
New York City. They make a large variety of writing
inks but do not offer for sale a tanno-gallate of
iron ink without "added" color.
"Carter's" inks came into notoriety in 1861, by the
introduction of a "combined writing and copying
ink," of the gall and iron type and included "added "
color. It was the first innovation of this character.
At the end of the Civil War, John W. Carter of Boston,
who had been an officer of the regular army,
purchased an interest in the business, associating with
himself Mr. J. P. Dinsmore of New York, the firm
being known as Carter, Dinsmore & Co., Boston, Mass.
In 1895 Mr. Carter died and Mr. Dinsmore retired
from the business. The firm was then incorporated
under the style of "The Carter's Ink Co." They do
an immense business and make all kinds of ink. Of
the logwoods, "Raven Black" is best known. When
the state of Massachusetts in 1894 decided that recording
officers must use a "gall" ink made after an
official formula, they competed with other manufacturers
for the privilege of supplying such an ink and
won it. They do not offer for sale, however, "gall"
ink WITHOUT added color. Their laboratories are
magnificently equipped; the writer has had the pleasure
of collaborating with several of their expert chemists.
The "Fabers," who date back to the year 1761, are
known all over the world as lead pencil makers. They
also manufacture many inks and have done so since
1881, when they built now factories at Noisy-le-Sac,
near Paris. Blue-black and violet-black writing and
copying inks of the class made by the "Antoines"
are the principal kinds. They do not offer for sale,
tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color. A
branch house in New York City has remained since
1843.
"Stafford's" violet combined writing and copying
ink was first placed on the New York market in
1869, though it was in 1858 that Mr. S. S. Stafford,
the founder of the house, began the manufacture of
inks, which he has continued to do to the present
day. His chemical writing fluids are very popular,
but he does not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink
without "added" color, for the trade.
Charles M. Higgins of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1880
commenced the manufacture of "carbon" inks for
engrossing, architectural and engineering purposes,
and has succeeded in producing an excellent liquid
"Indian" ink, which will not lose its consistency
if kept from the air. It can also be used as a writing
ink, if thinned down with water. He does not
make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added"
color.
Maynard and Noyes, whose inks were much
esteemed in this section for over fifty years, is no
longer in business, as is the case with many others well
known during the first half of the nineteenth century.
The enormous quantities of ink of every color,
quality and description made in the United States
almost surpasses belief. It is said that the output for
home consumption alone exceeds twelve millions of
gallons per annum, and for export three thousand gallons
per annum.
It is very safe to affirm that less than 1/50 of 1 per
cent of this quantity represents a tanno-gallate of
iron ink WITHOUT "added" color. Most colored inks
and "gall" ones which possess "added" color if
placed on paper under ordinary conditions will not
be visible a hundred years hence.
This statement of mine might be considered altogether
paradoxical were it not for associated evidential
facts, which by proving themselves have established
its correctness and truth. To repeat one of them is
to refer to the report of Professors Baird and Markoe,
who examined for the state of Massachusetts all the
commercial inks on the market at that time.
"As a conclusion, since the great mass of inks
on the market are not suitable for records, because
of their lack of body and because of the quantity of
unstable color which they contain, and because the
few whose coloring matters are not objectionable
are deficient in gall and iron or both, we would
strongly recommend that the State set its own
standard for the composition of inks to be used in
its offices and for its records."
An official ink modelled somewhat after the formula
employed by the government of Great Britain was
contracted for by the state of Massachusetts. It read
as follows:
"Take of pure, dry tannic acid, 23.4 parts by weight.
of crystal gallic acid, 7.7 parts.
of ferrous sulphate, 30.0 parts.
of gum arabic, 10.0 parts.
of diluted hydrochloric acid, 25.0 parts.
of carbolic acid, 1.0 part.
of water, sufficient to make up the mixture
at the temperature of 60 degrees F.
to the volume of 1,000 parts by
weight of water."
Such an ink prepared after this receipt would be a
strictly pure tanno-gallate of iron ink WITHOUT any
"added" color whatever.
The estimation in which such an ink is held by the
majority of the ink manufacturers is best illustrated
by quoting from two of the most prominent ones, and
thus enable the reader to draw his own conclusions.
"We do not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink
without added color, and so far as we know, there
is no such ink on the market, as it would be practically
colorless and illegible."
* * * * * * *
"There is no such ink (a tanno-gallate of iron ink
without added color) manufactured by any ink-
maker as far as I know. It is obsolete."
The commercial names bestowed on the multitude
of different inks placed on the market by manufacturers
during the last century are in the thousands.
A few of them are cited as indicative of their variety,
some of which are still sold under these names.
Kosmian Safety Fluid, Bablah Ink, Universal Jet
Black, Treasury Ledger Fluid, Everlasting Black Ink,
Raven-Black Ink, Nut-gall Ink, Pernambuco Ink, Blue
Post Office Ink, Unchangeable Black, Document Safety
Ink, Birmingham Copying Ink, Commercial Writing
Fluid, Germania Ink, Horticultural Ink, Exchequer
Ink, Chesnut Ink, Carbon Safety Ink, Vanadium Ink,
Asiatic Ink, Terra-cotta Ink, Juglandin Ink, Persian
Copying, Sambucin, Chrome Ink, Sloe Ink, Steel Pen
Ink, Japanese Ink, English Office Ink, Catechu Ink,
Chinese Blue Ink, Alizarin Ink, School Ink, Berlin
Ink, Resin Ink, Water-glass Ink, Parisian Ink, Immutable
Ink, Graphite Ink, Nigrilin Ink, Munich Ink,
Electro-Chemical, Egyptian Black, "Koal" Black
Ink, Ebony Black Ink, Zulu Black, Cobalt Black,
Maroon Black, Aeilyton Copying, Dichroic, Congress
Record, Registration, "Old English," etc.
The list of over 200 names, which follow, includes
those of manufacturers of the best known foreign and
domestic "black" inks and "chemical writing fluids"
in use during the past century, as well as those
of the present time.
Adriana
Allfield
Anderson
Antoine
Arnaudon
Arnold
Artus
Ballade
Ballande
Barnes
Bart
Bartram
Beaur
Behrens
Belmondi
Berzelius
Bizanger
Blackwood
Blair
Bolley
Bonney
Bossin
Boswell
Bottger
Boutenguy
Braconnot
Brande
Bufeu
Bufton
Bure
Carter
Caw
Cellier
Champion
Chaptal
Chevallier
Clarke
Close
Cochrane
Collin
Cooke
Coupier and Collins
Coxe
Crock
Cross
Darcet
Davids
Davis
Delunel
Delarve
Delang
Derheims
Dize
Draper
Druck
Duhalde
Dumas
Dumovlen
Dunand
Dunlap
Ellis
Eisner
Faber
Faucher
Faux
Featherstone
Fesneau
Fontenelle
Ford
Fourmentin
Freeman
Fuchs
Gaffard
Gastaldi
Geissler
Geoffroy
Gebel
Goold
Goupeir
Grasse
Green
Guesneville
Gullier
Guyon
Guyot
Haenles
Hager
Haldat
Hanle
Hare
Harrison
Hausman
Heeren
Henry
Herepath
Hevrant
Higgins
Hogy
Hunt
Hyde
Jahn
James
Joy
Karmarsch
Kasleteyer
Kindt
Klaproth
Kloen
Knaffl
Knecht
Lanaux
Lanet
Larenaudiere
Lemancy
Lenormand
Leonhardi
Lewis
Ley Kauf
Link
Lipowitz
Lorme
Luhring
Lyons
MacCullogh
Mackensic
Mathieu
Maurin
Maynard and Noyes
Melville
Mendes
Meremee
Merget
Minet
Moller
Moore
Mordan
Moser
Morrell
Mozard
Murray
Nash
Nissen
Ohme
Ott
Paul
Payen
Perry
Peltz
Petibeau
Platzer
Plissey
Pomeroy
Poncelet
Prollius
Proust
Pusher
Rapp
Reade
Redwood
Reid
Remigi
Reinmann
Rheinfeld
Ribaucourt
Ricker
Roder
Ruhr
Runge
Sanford
Schaffgotoch
Schleckum
Schmidt
Schoffern
Scott
Seldrake
Selmi
Simon
Souberin
Souirssean
Stafford
Stark
Stein
Stephens
Stevens
Syuckerbuyk
Swan
Tabuy
Tarling
Thacker
Thomas
Thumann
Todd
Tomkins
Trialle
Triest
Trommsdorff
Underwood
Vallet
Van Moos
Vogel
Wagner
Walkden
Wallach
Waterlous
Windsor and Newton
Winternitz
Woodmansee
Worthington