In dyehouses where steam is used, it is necessary to boil your bath a
longer time than where the bath comes in direct contact with the fire.
The accommodations of a dyehouse for the re-dying of ostrich feathers
need be very simple and inexpensive; in fact, I have seen a dyehouse
where old re-dyed transient work to the amount of fifty dollars per day
was accomplished with a small cooking stove, a wash-boiler, a wash-bowl
and a tin dipper; costing in all less than six dollars. Of course, in
the manufacture of raw stock it is necessary to have larger vessels and
much better facilities; for instance, instead of from ten to fifty,
or even a hundred feathers, you will of necessity be compelled to dye
lots of from five to ten pounds of goods at one time. Two stationary
tubs or vats, one for use in washing white and bleaching, and the other
for black, with water pipes and steam pipes and connections; a few
large porcelain lined or copper basins for dark colors are essential;
it is also well to have an outer room or inclosed closet to keep your
dyestuffs in, as it is important that they be kept clean. When cans
of color are opened for the purpose of diluting a portion or making a
color, have the cover replaced and returned to closet when through with
it.
Have bench or table whereon rests your basins, while you match shades
in making colors, if possible, where a north light will strike it; and
if cold weather and the windows closed, keep the glass clean. You will
often get various reflections in the dyehouse that cause a great deal
of trouble to the dyer; as, for example, if the sun should be shining
on a red brick wall and the reflection beating into the dyehouse,
it will often lead the dyer astray, and while he thinks he has a
perfect match, when the color goes into the office there is a decided
difference.
The great majority who are expected to be benefitted by this work
are not ostrich feather manufacturers, but the job dyer; and it is
my object to simplify the dyehouse as well as the methods of dyeing.
A small corner of the dyehouse can be used, and a couple of ordinary
wash-bowls, a common wash-boiler and a tin dipper are really all the
utensils that are practically necessary to complete the dyehouse for
the renovator. A couple of hours in the morning devoted to feather
dyeing, and a good practical man can turn out fifty dollars worth at
a cost of only his two hours labor, and perhaps fifty cents worth
of color. Feathers can be dried in an ordinary hot room or, if warm
weather, out in the open air. The dry room where large quantities of
feathers are dried should never be too warm, as the feathers are apt
to dry up quicker than the boys can beat the starch out of them; and,
as a consequence, the flues or fibres are not expanded as they should
be, and the feathers are much harder to curl. The board or table used
to beat the feathers on must be perfectly smooth, as there is otherwise
danger of tearing out the flues.
The drying of feathers is quite an important operation, and if
not understood, can result in ruining a great many by drying them
improperly, allowing the starch to dry up on the flues without beating
it out, and by breaking the quills. The dry room is only used when
the weather is too inclement to dry in the open air, or when you have
not got outside accommodations. The yard or roof is far preferable to
the dry room, and especially so for white and black feathers. After
having been washed and the starch thoroughly removed, it will improve
them greatly to expose them to the sun for an hour or two. Colors,
especially delicate shades, should not be allowed to hang in the sun
only during the actual time required for drying a black made by our
process; it greatly improves upon exposure to the sunlight, giving it
an advantage over all others. Baths of logwood or old garnet baths
that you are desirous of saving for future use, it will be well to
remove them from the copper or tin basins or pans to wooden buckets
or crockery jars, and cover them up for the purpose of excluding all
foreign matter.