which differ in solubility. In the place of these compounds it is
probable that a mixture would answer to produce black as suggested by
Hans Wilder for making writing ink. His formula for the mixture is:
II.—Methyl violet 3 parts
Bengal green 5 parts
Bismarck green 4 parts
A quantity of this mixture should be taken equivalent to the amount of
nigrosin directed. These colors are freely soluble in water, and yield
a deep greenish-black solution.
The aniline compound known as brilliant green answers in place of
Bengal green. As to the permanency of color of this or any aniline
ink, no guarantee is offered. There are comparatively few coloring
substances that can be considered permanent even in a qualified sense.
Among these, charcoal takes a foremost place. Lampblack remains
indefinitely unaltered. This, ground very finely with glycerine, would
yield an ink which would perhaps prove serviceable in stamping; but
it would be liable to rub off to a greater extent than soluble colors
which penetrate the paper more or less. Perhaps castor oil would prove
a better vehicle for insoluble coloring matters. Almost any aniline
color may be substituted for nigrosin in the foregoing formula, and
blue, green, red, purple, and other inks obtained. Insoluble pigments
might also be made to answer as suggested for lampblack.
The following is said to be a cushion that will give color permanently.
It consists of a box filled with an elastic composition, saturated with
a suitable color. The cushion fulfils its purpose for years without
being renewed, always contains sufficient moisture, which is drawn
from the atmosphere, and continues to act as a color stamp cushion so
long as a remnant of the mass or composition remains in the box or
receptacle. This cushion or pad is too soft to be self-supporting, but
should be held in a low, flat pan, and have a permanent cloth cover.
III.—The composition consists preferably of 1 part gelatin, 1 part
water, 6 parts glycerine, and 6 parts coloring matter. A suitable
black color can be {411} made from the following materials: One part
gelatin glue, 3 parts lampblack, aniline black, or a suitable quantity
of logwood extract, 10 parts of glycerine, 1 part absolute alcohol, 2
parts water, 1 part Venetian soap, 1/5 part salicylic acid. For red,
blue, or violet: One part gelatin glue, 2 parts aniline of desired
color, 1 part absolute alcohol, 10 parts glycerine, I part Venetian
soap, and 1/5 part salicylic acid.
The following are additional recipes used for this purpose:
IV.—Mix and dissolve 2 to 4 drachms aniline violet, 15 ounces alcohol,
15 ounces glycerine. The solution is poured on the cushion and rubbed
in with a brush. The general method of preparing the pad is to swell
the gelatin with cold water, then boil and add the glycerine, etc.
V.—Mix well 16 pounds of hot linseed oil, 3 ounces of powdered indigo,
or a like quantity of Berlin blue, and 8 pounds of lampblack. For
ordinary sign-stamping an ink without the indigo might be used. By
substituting ultramarine or Prussian blue for the lampblack, a blue
“ink” or paint would result.
«Inks for Hand Stamps.»—As an excipient for oily inks, a mixture of
castor oil and crude oleic acid, in parts varying according to the
coloring material used, is admirable. The following are examples:
_Black._—Oil soluble nigrosin and crude oleic acid in equal parts. Add
7 to 8 parts of castor oil.
_Red._—Oil soluble aniline red, 2 parts; crude oleic acid, 3 parts;
castor oil, from 30 to 60 parts, according to the intensity of color
desired.
_Red._—Dissolve 1/4 ounce of carmine in 2 ounces strong water of
ammonia, and add 1 drachm of glycerine and 3/4 ounce dextrin.
_Blue._—Rub 1 ounce Prussian blue with enough water to make a perfectly
smooth paste; then add 1 ounce dextrin, incorporate it well, and
finally add sufficient water to bring it to the proper consistency.
_Blue._—Oil soluble aniline blue, 1 part; crude oleic acid, 2 parts;
castor oil, 30 to 32 parts.
_Violet._—Alcohol, 15 ounces; glycerine, 15 ounces; aniline violet, 2
to 4 drachms. Mix, dissolve, pour the solution on the cushion, and dab
on with a brush.
«Color Stamps for Rough Paper.»—It has hitherto been impossible to get
a satisfactory application for printing with rubber stamps on rough
paper. Fatty vehicles are necessary for such paper, and they injure the
India rubber. It is said, however, that if the rubber is first soaked
in a solution of glue, and then in one of tannin, or bichromate of
potash, it becomes impervious to the oils or fats. Gum arabic can be
substituted for the glue.
«Indelible Hand-Stamp Ink.»—
I.—Copper sulphate 20 parts
Aniline chlorate 20 parts
Rub up separately to a fine powder, then carefully mix, and add 10
parts of dextrin and incorporate. Add 5 parts of glycerine and rub up,
adding water, a little at a time, until a homogeneous viscid mass is
obtained. An aniline color is produced in the material, which boiling
does not destroy.
II.—Sodium carbonate 22 parts
Glycerine 85 parts
Gum arabic, in powder 20 parts
Silver nitrate 11 parts
Ammonia water 20 parts
Venetian turpentine 10 parts
Triturate the carbonate of sodium, gum arabic, and glycerine together.
In a separate flask dissolve the silver nitrate in the ammonia water,
mix the solution with the triturate, and heat to boiling, when the
turpentine is to be added, with constant stirring. After stamping,
expose to the sunlight or use a hot iron. The quantity of glycerine may
be varied to suit circumstances.
«White Stamping Ink for Embroidery.»—
Zinc white 2 drachms
Mucilage 1 drachm
Water 6 drachms
Triturate the zinc white with a small quantity of water till quite
smooth, then add the mucilage and the remainder of the water.
«STENCIL INKS.»
I.—Dissolve 1 ounce of gum arabic in 6 ounces water, and strain. This
is the mucilage. For _Black Color_ use drop black, powdered, and ground
with the mucilage to extreme fineness; for _Blue_, ultramarine is used
in the same manner; for _Green_, emerald green; for _White_, flake
white; for _Red_, vermilion, lake, or carmine; for _Yellow_, chrome
yellow. When ground too thick they are thinned {412} with a little
water. Apply with a small brush.
II.—Triturate together 1 pint pine soot and 2 pints Prussian blue
with a little glycerine, then add 3 pints gum arabic and sufficient
glycerine to form a thin paste.
«Blue Stencil Inks.»—The basis of the stencil inks commonly used varies
to some extent, some preferring a mixture of pigments with oils, and
others a watery shellac basis. The basis:
I.—Shellac 2 ounces
Borax 1 1/2 ounces
Water 10 ounces
Boil together until 10 ounces of solution is obtained. The coloring:
Prussian blue 1 ounce
China clay 1/2 ounce
Powdered acacia 1/2 ounce
Mix thoroughly and gradually incorporate the shellac solution.
II.—Prussian blue 2 ounces
Lampblack 1 ounce
Gum arabic 3 ounces
Glycerine, sufficient.
Triturate together the dry powders and then make into a suitable paste
with glycerine.
«Indelible Stencil Inks.»—I.—Varnish such as is used for ordinary
printing ink, 1 pound; black sulphuret of mercury, 1 pound; nitrate
of silver, 1 ounce; sulphate of iron, 1 ounce; lampblack, 2
tablespoonfuls. Grind all well together; thin with spirits turpentine
as desired.
II.—Sulphate of manganese, 2 parts; lampblack, 1 part; sugar, 4 parts;
all in fine powder and triturated to a paste in a little water.
III.—Nitrate of silver, 1/4 ounce; water, 3/4 ounce. Dissolve,
add as much of the strongest liquor of ammonia as will dissolve the
precipitate formed on its first addition. Then add of mucilage, 1 1/2
drachms, and a little sap green, syrup of buckthorn, or finely powdered
indigo, to color. This turns black on being held near the fire, or
touched with a hot iron.
«SYMPATHETIC INKS:»
Table of Substances Used in Making Sympathetic Inks.—
For writing and for bringing out the writing:
Cobalt chloride, heat.
Cobalt acetate and a little saltpeter, heat.
Cobalt chloride and nickel chloride mixed, heat.
Nitric acid, heat.
Sulphuric acid, heat.
Sodium chloride, heat.
Saltpeter, heat.
Copper sulphate and ammonium chloride, heat.
Silver nitrate, sunlight.
Gold trichloride, sunlight.
Ferric sulphate, infusion of gallnuts or ferrocyanide of potassium.
Copper sulphate, ferrocyanide of potassium.
Lead vinegar, hydrogen sulphide.
Mercuric nitrate, hydrogen sulphide.
Starch water, tincture of iodine or iodine vapors.
Cobalt nitrate, oxalic acid.
Fowler’s solution, copper nitrate.
Soda lye or sodium carbonate, phenolphthaleine.
A sympathetic ink is one that is invisible when written, but which can
be made visible by some treatment. Common milk can be used for writing,
and exposure to strong heat will scorch and render the dried milk
characters visible.
The following inks are developed by exposure to the action of reagents:
I.—Upon writing with a very clear solution of starch on paper that
contains but little sizing, and submitting the dry characters to the
vapor of iodine (or passing over them a weak solution of potassium
iodide), the writing becomes blue, and disappears under the action of a
solution of hyposulphite of soda (1 in 1,000).
II.—Characters written with a weak solution of the soluble chloride
of platinum or iridium become black when the paper is submitted to
mercurial vapor. This ink may be used for marking linen, as it is
indelible.
III.—Sulphate of copper in very dilute solution will produce an
invisible writing, which may be turned light blue by vapors of ammonia.
IV.—Soluble compounds of antimony will become red by hydrogen sulphide
vapor.
V.—Soluble compounds of arsenic and of peroxide of tin will become
yellow by the same vapor.
VI.—An acid solution of iron chloride is diluted until the writing is
invisible when dry. This writing has the property of becoming red by
sulphocyanide vapors (arising from the action of sulphuric acid on
potassium sulphocyanide in a long-necked flask), and it disappears
{413} by ammonia, and may alternately be made to appear and disappear
by these two vapors.
VII.—Write with a solution of paraffine in benzol. When the solvent has
evaporated, the paraffine is invisible, but becomes visible on being
dusted with lampblack or powdered graphite or smoking over a candle
flame.
VIII.—Dissolve 1 part of a lead salt, 0.1 part of uranium acetate,
and the same quantity of bismuth citrate in 100 parts of water. Then
add, drop by drop, a solution of sal ammoniac until the whole becomes
transparent. Afterwards, mix with a few drops of gum arabic. To
reveal the characters traced with this ink, expose them to the fumes
of sulphuric acid, which turns them immediately to a dark brown. The
characters fade away in a few minutes, but can be renewed by a slight
washing with very dilute nitric acid.
«TYPEWRITER RIBBON INKS.»
I.—Take vaseline (petrolatum) of high boiling point, melt it on a water
bath or slow fire, and incorporate by constant stirring as much lamp or
powdered drop black as it will take up without becoming granular. If
the vaseline remains in excess, the print is liable to have a greasy
outline; if the color is in excess, the print will not be clear. Remove
the mixture from the fire, and while it is cooling mix equal parts of
petroleum, benzine, and rectified oil of turpentine, in which dissolve
the fatty ink, introduced in small portions, by constant agitation.
The volatile solvents should be in such quantity that the fluid ink is
of the consistence of fresh oil paint. One secret of success lies in
the proper application of the ink to the ribbon. Wind the ribbon on
a piece of cardboard, spread on a table several layers of newspaper,
then unwind the ribbon in such lengths as may be most convenient, and
lay it flat on the paper. Apply the ink, after agitation, by means of
a soft brush, and rub it well into the interstices of the ribbon with
a toothbrush. Hardly any ink should remain visible on the surface. For
colored inks use Prussian blue, red lead, etc., and especially the
aniline colors.
II.—Aniline black 1/2 ounce
Pure alcohol 15 ounces
Concentrated glycerine 15 ounces
Dissolve the aniline black in the alcohol, and add the glycerine. Ink
as before. The aniline inks containing glycerine are copying inks.
III.—Alcohol 2 ounces
Aniline color 1/4 ounce
Water 2 ounces
Glycerine 4 ounces
Dissolve the aniline in the alcohol and add the water and glycerine.
IV.—Castor oil 2 ounces
Cassia oil 1/2 ounce
Carbolic acid 1/2 ounce
Warm them together and add 1 ounce of aniline color. Indelible
typewriter inks may be made by using lampblack in place of the aniline,
mixing it with soft petrolatum and dissolving the cooled mass in a
mixture of equal parts of benzine and turpentine.
«COLORING AGENTS:»
Red.—
I.—Bordeaux red, O. S. 15 parts
Aniline red, O. S. 15 parts
Crude oleic acid 45 parts
Castor oil enough to make 1,000 parts
Rub the colors up with the oleic acid, add the oil, warming the whole
to 100° to 110° F. (not higher), under constant stirring. If the color
is not sufficiently intense for your purposes, rub up a trifle more of
it with oleic acid, and add it to the ink. By a little experimentation
you can get an ink exactly to your desire in the matter.
Blue-Black.—
II.—Aniline black, O. S. 5 parts
Oleic acid, crude 5 parts
Castor oil, quantity sufficient to 100 parts.
Violet.—
III.—Aniline violet, O. S. 3 parts
Crude oleic acid 5 parts
Castor oil, quantity sufficient to 100 parts.
The penetration of the ink may be increased _ad libitum_ by the
addition of a few drops of absolute alcohol, or, better, of benzol.
«Reinking.»—For reinking ribbons use the following recipe for black:
One ounce aniline black; 15 ounces pure grain alcohol; 15 ounces
concentrated glycerine. Dissolve the aniline black in the alcohol and
then add the glycerine. For blue use Prussian blue, and for red use red
lead instead of the aniline black. This ink is also good for rubber
stamp pads. {414}
«WRITING INKS.»
The common writing fluids depend mostly upon galls, logwood, or aniline
for coloring. There are literally thousands of formulas. A few of the
most reliable have been gathered together here:
I.—Aleppo galls (well bruised), 4 ounces; clean soft water, I quart;
macerate in a clean corked bottle for 10 days or a fortnight or
longer, with frequent agitation; then add of gum arabic (dissolved in
a wineglassful of water), 1 1/2 ounces; lump sugar, 1/2 ounce. Mix
well, and afterwards further add of sulphate of iron (green copperas
crushed small), 1 1/2 ounces. Agitate occasionally for 2 or 3 days,
when the ink may be decanted for use, but is better if the whole is
left to digest together for 2 or 3 weeks. When time is an object, the
whole of the ingredients may at once be put into a bottle, and the
latter agitated daily until the ink is made; and boiling water instead
of cold water may be employed. Product, 1 quart of excellent ink,
writing pale at first, but soon turning intensely black.
II.—Aleppo galls (bruised), 12 pounds; soft water, 6 gallons. Boil in a
copper vessel for 1 hour, adding more water to make up for the portion
lost by evaporation; strain, and again boil the galls with water, 4
gallons, for 1/2 hour; strain off the liquor, and boil a third time
with water, 2 1/2 gallons, and strain. Mix the several liquors, and
while still hot add of green copperas (coarsely powdered), 4 1/2
pounds; gum arabic (bruised small), 4 pounds. Agitate until dissolved,
and after defecation strain through a hair sieve, and keep in a bunged
cask for use. Product, 12 gallons.
III.—Aleppo galls (bruised), 14 pounds; gum, 5 pounds. Put them in a
small cask, and add boiling soft water, 15 gallons. Allow the whole to
macerate, with frequent agitation, for a fortnight, then further add of
green copperas, 5 pounds, dissolved in water, 7 pints. Again mix well,
and agitate the whole once daily for 2 or 3 weeks. Product, 15 gallons.
«Brown Ink.»—I.—To make brown ink, use for coloring a strong decoction
of catechu; the shade may be varied by the cautious addition of a
little weak solution of bichromate of potash.
II.—A strong decoction of logwood, with a very little bichromate of
potash.
«Blue Ink.»—To make blue ink, substitute for the black coloring
sulphate of indigo and dilute it with water till it produces the
required color.
«Anticorrosive or Asiatic Ink.»—I.—Galls, 4 pounds; logwood, 2 pounds;
pomegranate peel, 2 pounds; soft water, 5 gallons. Boil as usual; then
add to the strained, decanted cold liquor, 1 pound of gum arabic,
lump sugar or sugar candy, 1/4 pound; dissolved in water, 3 pints.
Product, 4 1/2 gallons. Writes pale, but flows well from the pen, and
soon darkens.
II.—Bruised galls, 14 pounds; gum, 5 pounds. Put them in a small cask,
and add of boiling water, 15 gallons. Allow the whole to macerate,
with frequent agitation, for 2 weeks, then further add green copperas,
5 pounds, dissolved in 7 pints water. Again mix well, and agitate the
whole daily for 2 or 3 weeks.
«Blue-Black Ink.»—Blue Aleppo galls (free from insect perforations),
4 1/2 ounces; bruised cloves, 1 drachm; cold water, 40 ounces;
purified sulphate of iron, 1 1/2 ounces; pure sulphuric acid (by
measure), 35 minims; sulphate of indigo (in the form of a paste),
which should be neutral, or nearly so, 1 ounce. The weights used are
avoirdupois, and the measures apothecaries’. Place the galls, then
bruised with the cloves, in a 50-ounce bottle, pour upon them the
water, and digest, often daily shaking for a fortnight. Then filter
through paper in another 50-ounce bottle. Get out also the refuse
galls, and wring out of it the remaining liquid through a strong, clean
linen or cotton cloth, into the filter, in order that as little as
possible may be lost. Next put in the iron, dissolve completely, and
filter through paper. Then the acid, and agitate briskly. Lastly, the
indigo, and thoroughly mix by shaking. Pass the whole through paper;
just filter out of one bottle into another until the operation is
finished.
NOTE.—No gum or sugar is proper and on no account must the acid be
omitted. When intended for copying, 5 1/2 ounces of galls is the
quantity. On the large scale this fine ink is made by percolation.
«Colored Inks.»—Inks of various colors may be made from a strong
decoction of the ingredients used in dyeing, mixed with a little alum
or other substance used as a mordant, and gum arabic. Any of the
ordinary water-color cakes employed in drawing diffused through water
may also be used for colored ink. {415}
«COPYING INK.»
This is usually prepared by adding a little sugar to ordinary black
ink, which for this purpose should be very rich in color, and
preferably made galls prepared by heat. Writing executed with this
ink may be copied within the space of 5 or 6 hours, by passing it
through a copying press in contact with thin, unsized paper, slightly
damped, enclosed between 2 sheets of thick oiled or waxed paper, when a
reversed transcript will be obtained, which will read in proper order
when the back of the copy is turned upwards. In the absence of a press
a copy may be taken, when the ink is good and the writing very recent,
by rolling the sheets, duly arranged on a ruler, over the surface of a
flat, smooth table, employing as much force as possible, and avoiding
any slipping or crumbling of the paper. Another method is to pass a
warm flatiron over the paper laid upon the writing. The following
proportions are employed:
I.—Sugar candy or lump sugar, 1 ounce; or molasses or moist sugar,
1 1/4 ounces; rich black ink, 1 1/2 pints; dissolve.
II.—Malt wort, 1 pint; evaporate it to the consistence of a syrup, and
then dissolve it in good black ink, 1 1/4 pints.
III.—Solazza juice, 2 ounces; mild ale, 1/2 pint; dissolve, strain,
and triturate with lampblack (previously heated to dull redness in a
covered vessel), 1/4 ounce; when the mixture is complete, add of
strong black, 1 1/2 pints; mix well, and in 2 or 3 hours decant the
clear.
After making the above mixtures, they must be tried with a common steel
pen, and if they do not flow freely, some more unprepared ink should be
added until they are found to do so.
«Alizarine Blue.»—In 20 parts of fuming sulphuric acid dissolve 5 parts
of indigo, and to the solution add 100 parts of extract of aqueous
myrobalous and 10.5 parts iron filings or turning shavings. Finally add:
Gum arabic 1.5 parts
Sugar 7.5 parts
Sulphuric acid, 66° B 10.5 parts
Aniline blue 1.5 parts
Carbolic acid 0.5 parts
Mirobalan extract to make 1,000 parts.
This ink when first used has a bluish tint, afterwards becoming black.
«Alizarine Green.»—In 100 parts of aqueous extract of gall apples
dissolve:
Iron sulphate 30 parts
Copper sulphate 0.5 parts
Sulphuric acid 2 parts
Sugar 8 parts
Wood vinegar, rectified 50 parts
Indigo carmine 30 parts
«Copying Ink for Copying Without a Press.»—An ordinary thin-paper
copying book may be used, and the copying done by transference. It is
only necessary to place the page of writing in the letter book, just
as one would use a leaf of blotting paper. The superfluous ink that
would go into the blotting paper goes on to the leaf of the letter
book, and showing through the thin paper gives on the other side of
the leaf a perfect transcript of the letter. Any excess of ink on the
page, either of the letter or of the copying paper, is removed by
placing a sheet of blotting paper between them, and running one’s hand
firmly over the whole in the ordinary manner. This ready transcription
is accomplished by using ink which dries slowly. Obviously the ink
must dry sufficiently slowly for the characters at the top of a page
of writing to remain wet when the last line is being written, while it
must dry sufficiently to preclude any chance of the copied page being
smeared while subsequent pages are being covered. The drying must
also be sufficiently rapid to prevent the characters “setting off,”
as printers term it, from one page on to another after folding. The
formula for the requisite ink is very simple:
Reduce by evaporation 10 volumes of any good ink to 6, then add
4 volumes of glycerine. Or manufacture some ink of nearly double
strength, and add to any quantity of it nearly an equal volume of
glycerine.
«Gold Ink.»—Mosaic gold, 2 parts; gum arabic, 1 part; rubbed up to a
proper condition.
«Green Ink.»—A good, bright green, aniline ink may be made as follows:
Aniline green (soluble) 2 parts
Glycerine 16 parts
Alcohol 112 parts
Mucilage of gum arabic 4 parts
Dissolve the aniline in the alcohol, and add the other ingredients.
Most of the gum arabic precipitates, but according to the author of the
formula (Nelson) it has the effect of rendering the ink slow-flowing
enough to write with. Filter. {416}
«Hectograph Inks» (see also Hectograph).—I.—Black.—Methyl violet, 10
parts; nigrosin, 20 parts; glycerine, 30 parts; gum arabic, 5 parts;
alcohol, 60 parts.
II.—Blue.—Resorcin blue M, 10 parts.
Dissolve by means of heat in a mixture of:
Dilute acetic acid 1 part
Distilled water 85 parts
Glycerine 4 parts
Alcohol, 90 per cent 10 parts
III.—Green.—Aniline green, water solution, 15 parts; glycerine, 10
parts; Water, 50 parts; alcohol, 10 parts.
«Paste Ink to Write with Water.»—I.—Black.—Take 4 parts of bichromate
of potash, pulverized, and mixed with 25 parts of acetic acid; 50 parts
of liquid extract of logwood; 1/4 part of picric acid; 10 parts of
pulverized sal sorrel; 10 parts of mucilage; and 1/4 part of citrate
of iron, and mix well. The liquid extract of logwood is prepared by
mixing 3 parts of an extract of common commercial quality with 2 parts
of water.
II.—Red.—Take 1 part of red aniline mixed with 10 parts of acetic
acid; 5 parts of citric acid, and 25 parts of mucilage, all well mixed.
For use, mix 1 part of the paste with 16 parts of water.
III.—Blue.—Take 2 parts of aniline blue mixed with 10 parts of acetic
acid; 5 parts of citric acid, and 40 parts of mucilage, all well mixed.
For use, mix 1 part of the paste with 8 parts of water.
IV.—Violet.—Use the same ingredients in the same proportions as blue,
with the difference that violet aniline is used instead of blue aniline.