+--------+----------------------+----------------------+
|Course. |Quantity by measure of|Quantity by measure of|
| | No. 1. | water or mucilage. |
+--------+----------------------+----------------------+
| No. 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 11 | 1 |
| 3 | 10 | 2 |
| 4 | 8 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 6 | 4 | 8 |
| 7 | 2 | 10 |
| 8 | 2 | 12 |
| 9 | 2 | 14 |
| 10 | 2 | 16 |
| 11 | 2 | 18 |
| 12 | 2 | 20 |
+--------+----------------------+----------------------+
I shall now give examples of working this style by the block and
cylinder:--
Impression of a single blue with small dots.
For the block, blue No. 5. thickened with starch.
For the cylinder, No. 4. thickened with gum.
_Impression of two different blues with the block._
First blue, No. 4. with starch.
Second blue, No. 9. with gum.
_Impression of three blues with the block._
First blue, No. 5. with starch.
Second blue, No. 7. with starch.
Third blue, No. 10. with gum.
After printing-on the blues, the pieces are hung up for two days in a
dry and airy place, but not too dry; then they are dipped as
follows:--Three vats are mounted, which may be distinguished by the
numbers, 1., 2., 3.--
No. 1. 300 pounds of lime to 1,800 gallons of water.
No. 2. Solution of sulphate of iron of spec. grav. 1·048.
No. 3. Solution of caustic soda of spec. grav. 1·055; made from soda
crystals, quicklime, and water, as usual.
The pieces being suspended on the frames, are to be dipped in the first
vat, and left in it ten minutes; then withdrawn, drained for five
minutes; next plunged into the second vat for ten minutes, and drained
also for five, &c. These operations will be most intelligible when put
into the form of a table:--
Dip in the 1st vat. During 10 minutes. Drain during 5 minutes.
2 -- --
1 -- --
2 -- --
3 -- --
2 -- --
1 -- --
2 -- --
1 -- --
2 -- --
3 -- --
In the dipping of China blues, care should be taken to swing the frames
during the operation; and when the last dip is given, the piece is to be
plunged upon its frame into a fourth vat, containing dilute sulphuric
acid of spec. grav. 1·027. This immersion is for the purpose of removing
the oxide of iron, deposited upon the calico in the alternate passages
through the sulphate of iron and lime vats. They are then rinsed an hour
in running water, and finally brightened in the above dilute sulphuric
acid, slightly tepid. Sometimes they are subjected to a soap bath, at
the temperature of 120°. By the addition of nitrate of lead to the
indigo vat, the blue becomes more lively. Some use the roller dyeing
apparatus for running the pieces through the respective baths instead of
the square frames. (See WINCING.) But the frame-dip gives the most
evenly dyes, and preserves the vats in good condition for a much longer
time.
The various phenomena which occur in the dipping of China blues, are not
difficult of explanation with the lights of modern chemistry. We have,
on the one hand, indigo and sulphate of iron alternately applied to the
cloth; by dipping it into the lime, the blue is deoxidized, because a
film of the sulphate of iron is decomposed, and protoxide of iron comes
forth to seize the oxygen of the indigo, to make it yellow-green, and
soluble, at the same time, in lime-water. Then, it penetrates into the
heart of the fibres, and, on exposure to air, absorbs oxygen, so as to
become insoluble and fixed within their pores. On dipping the calico
into the second vat of sulphate of iron, a layer of oxide is formed upon
its whole surface, which oxide exercises an action only upon those parts
that are covered with indigo, and deoxidizes a portion of it; thus
rendering a second dose soluble by the intervention of the second dip in
the lime-bath. Hence we see that while these alternate transitions go
on, the same series of deoxidizement, solution, and re-oxidizement
recurs; causing a progressively increasing fixation of indigo within the
fibres of the cotton. A deposit of sulphate of lime and oxide of iron
necessarily falls upon the cloth, for which reason the frame should be
shaken in the lime water vat, to detach the sulphate; but, on the
contrary, it should be held motionless in the copperas bath, to favour
the deposition of as much protoxide upon it as possible. These
circumstances serve to account for the various accidents which sometimes
befall the China blue process. Thus the blues sometimes scale off, which
may proceed from one of two causes:--1. If the goods are too dry before
being dipped, the colour swells, and comes off in the vats, carrying
along with it more or less indigo. 2. If the quantity of sulphate of
lime formed upon the cloth be considerable, the crust will fall off, and
take with it more or less of the blue; whence arise inequalities in the
impression. The influence of temperature is important; when it falls too
low, the colours take a gray cast. In this case it should be raised with
steam.
VI. The decolouring or _enlevage_ style; not by the removal of the
mordant, but the destruction of the dye. The acid, which is here mixed
with the discharge paste, is intended to combine with the base of the
chloride, and set the chlorine free to act upon the colour. Among the
topical colours for this style are the following:--
1. _Black._--Take one gallon of iron liquor of spec. grav. 1·086.
One pound of starch; boil together, and while the paste
is hot, dissolve in it
One pound of tartaric acid in powder; and when cold, add
Two pounds of Prussian blue, prepared with muriatic acid,
see p. 226.
Two ounces of lamp black, with four ounces of oil.
2. _White discharge._--Take one gallon of water; in which dissolve
One pound and a half of oxalic acid,
Three pounds of tartaric acid; add
One gallon of lime juice of spec. grav. 1·22;
and thicken with
Twelve pounds of pipe clay, and six pounds of
gum.
3. _Chrome-green discharge._--
Take one gallon of water, thicken with 18 ounces of
starch; boil and dissolve in the hot paste
Two pounds and a half of powdered nitrate of lead,
One pound and a half of tartaric acid,
Two pounds of Prussian blue, as above.
4. _Blue discharge._--Take one gallon of water, thicken with
18 ounces of gum; while the boiled paste is hot,
dissolve in it
Two pounds of tartaric acid, and mix one pound
of Prussian blue.
5. _Chrome-yellow discharge._--This is the same as the chrome-green
given above, but without the Prussian blue.
6. _A white discharge on a blue ground_, requires the above white
discharge to be strengthened with 8 ounces of strong sulphuric acid,
per gallon.
7. _White discharge for Turkey red_ needs to be very strong.
Take one gallon of lime juice of sp. grav. 1·086; dissolve in it
Five pounds of tartaric acid; thicken with
Eight pounds of pipe-clay, four pounds of gum; then dissolve in the
mixture
Three pounds of muriate of tin in crystals; and add, finally,
Twenty-four ounces of sulphuric acid.
8. _Yellow discharge for Turkey red._--
Take one gallon of lime juice of spec. grav. 1·086; in which
dissolve
Four pounds of tartaric acid,
Four pounds of nitrate of lead; thicken the solution with
Six pounds of pipe-clay, and three pounds of gum.
9. _For green discharge_, add to the preceding 24 ounces of Prussian
blue, as above.
The decolouring or chlorine bath is usually formed of wood lined with
lead, and has an area of about 5 feet square, with a depth of 6 feet. A
square frame, mounted with a horizontal series of rollers at top and
bottom, may be let down by cords, at pleasure, into the cistern. The
pieces are introduced and guided in a serpentine path, round the upper
and lower rollers alternately, by a cord.
This bath is filled with a solution of chloride of lime, of the spec.
grav. 1·045, whose decolouring strength is 65° by Gay Lussac’s indigo
chlorometer. It ought to be made turbid by stirring before putting in
the goods, which should occupy three minutes in their passage. The piece
is drawn through by a pair of squeezer cylinders at the end of the
trough, opposite to that at which the piece enters. With black, white,
and blue impressions of all shades, the goods are floated in a stream of
water for an hour; then rinsed and dried. When there is yellow or green,
the pieces must be steeped in water, then merely washed by the wince,
and passed through solution of bichromate of potash, containing from 3
to 5 ounces of the salt per piece. Here the pieces are winced during 15
or 20 minutes, rinsed, and next passed through dilute muriatic acid to
clear the ground; then rinsed and dried.
_Discharge by the intervention of the chromic acid._
After having dipped the pieces to the desired shade, they are padded in
a solution of bichromate of potash; dried in the shade without heat; and
then printed with the following mordant:--
Take 1 gallon of water; dissolve in it
2 pounds of oxalic and 1 pound of tartaric acid; thicken with
6 pounds of pipe clay, and 3 pounds of gum; lastly, add
8 ounces of muriatic acid.
After the impression, the pieces are winced in chalky water, at 120° F.,
then washed, and passed through a dilute sulphuric acid.
M. Daniel Kœchlin, of Mulhausen, the author of this very ingenious
process, considers the action of the bichromate here as being analogous
to that of the alkaline chlorides. At the moment that the block applies
the preceding discharge to the bichromate dye, there is a sudden
decoloration, and a production of a peculiar odour.
The pieces padded with the bichromate must be dried at a moderate
temperature, and in the shade. Whenever watery solutions of chromate of
potash and tartaric acid are mixed, an effervescence takes place, during
which the mixture possesses the power of destroying vegetable colours.
This property lasts no longer than the effervescence.
VII. _Steam colours._--This style combines a degree of brilliancy with
solidity of colour, which can hardly be obtained in any other way,
except by the chintz dyes. The steam apparatus, employed for fixing
colours upon goods, may be distributed under five heads:--1. the column;
2. the lantern; 3. the cask; 4. the steam-chest; and, 5. the chamber.
The column is what is most generally used in this country. It is a
hollow cylinder of copper, from three to five inches in diameter, and
about 44 inches long, perforated over its whole surface with holes of
about one sixteenth of an inch, placed about a quarter of an inch
asunder. A circular plate, about 9 inches diameter, is soldered to the
lower end of the column, destined to prevent the coil of cloth from
sliding down off the cylinder. The lower end of the column terminates in
a pipe, mounted with a stop-cock for regulating the admission of steam
from the main steam-boiler of the factory. In some cases, the pipe fixed
to the lower surface of the disc is made tapering, and fits into a
conical socket, in a strong iron or copper box, fixed to a solid
pedestal; the steam pipe enters into one side of that box, and is
provided, of course, with a stop-cock. The condensed water of the column
falls down into that chest, and may be let off by a descending tube and
a stop-cock. In other forms of the column, the conical junction pipe is
at its top, and fits there into an inverted socket connected with a
steam chest, while the bottom has a very small tubular outlet, so that
the steam may be exposed to a certain pressure in the column, when it is
encased with cloth.
The pieces, after being printed with the topical colours presently to be
described, and dried, are lapped round this column, but not in immediate
contact with it; for the copper cylinder is first enveloped in a few
coils of blanket stuff; then with several coils of white calico; next
with the several pieces of the printed goods, stitched endwise; and
lastly, with an outward mantle of white calico. In the course of the
lapping and unlapping of such a length of webs, the cylinder is laid in
a horizontal frame, in which it is made to revolve. In the act of
steaming, however, it is fixed upright, by one of the methods above
described. The steaming lasts for 20 or 30 minutes, according to the
nature of the dyes; those which contain much solution of tin admit of
less steaming. Whenever the steam is shut off, the goods must be
immediately uncoiled, to prevent the chance of any aqueous condensation.
I was much surprised, at first, on finding the unrolled pieces to be
free from damp, and requiring only to be exposed for a few minutes in
the air, to appear perfectly dry. Were water condensed during the
process, it would be apt to make the colours run.
Steam colours are all topical, though, for many of them, the pieces are
previously padded with mordants of various kinds. Some manufacturers
run the goods before printing them through a weak solution of the
perchloride of tin, with the view of brightening all the colours
subsequently applied or raised upon them. I shall now illustrate steam
calico-printing by some examples, kindly furnished me by a practical
printer near Manchester, who conducts a great business with remarkable
success.
_Steam blue._--Prussiate of potash, tartaric acid, and a little
sulphuric acid, are dissolved in water, and thickened with starch; then
applied by the cylinder, dried at a moderate heat, and steamed for 25
minutes. They are rinsed and dried after the steaming. The tartaric
acid, at a high temperature, decomposes here a portion of the
ferrocyanic acid, and fixes the remaining ferrocyanate of iron (Prussian
blue) in the fibre of the cloth. The ground may have been previously
padded and dyed; the acids will remove the mordant from the points to
which the above paste has been applied, and bring out a bright blue upon
them.
_Steam purple._--This topical colour is made by digesting acetate of
alumina upon ground logwood with heat; straining, thickening with gum
senegal, and applying the paste by the cylinder machine.
_Steam pink._--A decoction of Brazil-wood with a small quantity of the
solution of muriate of tin, called, at Manchester, new tin crystals[15],
and a little nitrate of copper to assist in fixing the colour; properly
thickened, dried, and steamed for not more than 20 minutes, on account
of the corrosive action of muriate of tin when the heat is too strong.
[15] This preparation is made by adding 3 libs. of sal ammoniac to 1
gallon of solution of tin (_see_ SCARLET DYE, and TIN), evaporating,
and crystallizing. The sal ammoniac seems to counteract the separation
of the tin by peroxidizement.
_Cochineal pink._--Acetate of alumina is mixed with decoction of
cochineal, a little tartaric acid and solution of tin; then thickened
with starch, dried, and steamed.
_Steam brown._--A mixed infusion of logwood, cochineal, and Persian
berries, with cream of tartar, alum (or acetate of alumina), and a
little tartaric acid, thickened, dried, and steamed.
_Green, blue, chocolate, with white ground, by steam._--Prussiate of
potash and tartaric acid, thickened, for the blue; the same mixture with
berry-liquor and acetate of alumina, thickened, for the green; extract
of logwood with acetate of alumina and cream of tartar, thickened, for
the chocolate. These three topical colours are applied at once by the
three-colour cylinder machine; dried and steamed. Though greens are
fixed by the steam, their colour is much improved by passing the cloth
through solution of bichromate of potash.
In France, solution of tin is much used for steam colours.
VIII. _Spirit or Fancy colours._--These all owe their vivacity, as well
as the moderate degree of permanency they possess, to their tin mordant.
After printing-on the topical colour, the goods must be dried at a
gentle heat, and passed merely through the rinsing machine. Purple,
brown, or chocolate, red, green, yellow, blue, and white discharge; any
five of these are printed on at once by the five-colour cylinder
machine. See RINSING MACHINE.
_Chocolate_, is given by extract of Brazil-wood, extract of logwood,
nitromuriate of tin, with a little nitrate of copper; all mixed,
thickened, and merely printed-on.
_Red_, by extract of Brazil-wood and tin, with a little nitrate of
copper.
_Green_, by prussiate of potash, with muriate of tin and acetate of
lead, dissolved, thickened, and printed-on.
The goods after rinsing must be passed through solution of bichromate of
potash, to convert the Prussian blue colour into green, by the formation
of chrome yellow upon it.
_Blue._--Prussian blue ground up with solution (nitromuriate) of tin;
thickened, &c.
_Yellow._--Nitrate of lead dissolved in solution of tartaric acid,
thickened, tenderly dried, passed through the bichromate vat or padding
machine, washed and dried.
This yellow is pretty fast; though topical, it can hardly, therefore, be
called a fancy colour.
When _purple_ is to be inserted instead of the above blue, extract of
logwood with tin is used in the place of the Prussian blue. Tartaric
acid is a useful addition to tin in brightening fancy colours.
_Chocolate._--A good topical chocolate is made by digesting logwood with
liquid acetate of alumina, adding a little cream of tartar to the
infusion; thickening, applying by the cylinder, drying, washing, then
passing through solution of bichromate of potash, which serves to darken
and fix the colour.
I shall conclude my account of the printing of cotton goods with some
miscellaneous formulæ, which were given me by skilful calico-printers in
Lancashire.
_Prussian blue_ is prepared for topical printing by grinding it in a
handmill, like that for grinding pepper or coffee, and triturating the
powder with solution of muriate of tin.
_Green._--The deoxidized indigo vat liquor is mixed with a little
pearlash, and thickened with gum. This is applied by the cylinder or
block to goods previously padded with nitrate of lead; the goods, after
being dried, are passed through milky lime-water, rinsed, and then
winced or padded through the bichromate of potash bath.
_Another green._--Nitrate of lead, prussiate of potash, and tartaric
acid, dissolved, and mixed with a little sulphate, nitrate, and muriate
of iron; this mixture is either thickened for cylinder printing, or used
in its liquid state in the padding trough. The goods subjected to one of
these two processes are dried, padded in weak solution of carbonate of
potash, which serves to precipitate the oxide of lead from the nitrate;
they are finally padded with bichromate of potash, which induces a
yellow upon the blue, constituting a green colour of any desired tint,
according to the proportion of the materials.
_Chocolate and black, with white discharge; a fast colour._--The cloth
is padded with acetate of alumina, and dried in the hot flue; it is then
passed through a two-colour machine, the one cylinder of which prints-on
lime-juice discharge, thickened with gum senegal; the other a black
topical dye (made with logwood extract and iron liquor). The cloths are
now hung up to be aired during a week, after which they are dunged, and
dyed up with madder, fustic, and quercitron bark, heated with steam in
the bath.
_Blue, white, and olive or chocolate._--1. Pad with the aluminous
mordant; 2. Apply thickened lemon juice for discharge by the cylinder;
3. Dung the goods after they are thoroughly dried; 4. Pass them through
the bath of madder, fustic, and quercitron, which dye a brown ground,
and leave the discharge points white; then print-on a reserve paste of
China clay and gum with sulphate of copper; dry, dip in the blue vat,
which will communicate an olive tint to the brown ground; or a
chocolate, if madder alone had been used.
When a black ground is desired, with white figures, the acid discharge
paste should be printed-on by the cylinder, and dried before the piece
is padded in the iron liquor. By following this plan the whites are much
purer than when the iron is first applied.
_Green, black, white._--The black is first printed-on by a mixture of
iron liquor, and infusion (not decoction) of logwood; then resist or
reserve paste is applied by the block, and dried; after which the goods
are blued in the indigo vat, rinsed, dried, passed through solution of
acetate of lead; next, through milky lime water; lastly, through a very
strong solution of bichromate of potash.
_Turkey red, black, yellow._--Upon Turkey red cloth, print with a strong
solution of tartaric acid, mixed with solution of nitrate of lead,
thickened with gum; dry. The cloth is now passed through the chloride of
lime bath, washed, and chromed. Lastly, the black is printed-on by the
block as above, with iron liquor and logwood.
_Black ground dotted white, with red or pink and black figures._--1.
Print-on the lime juice discharge-paste by the cylinder; dry; 2. Then
pad with iron liquor, containing a little acetate of alumina, and hang
up the goods for a few days to fix the iron; 3. Dye in a logwood bath to
which a little madder has been added; clear with bran. The red or pink
is now put in by the block, with a mixture of extract of Brazil-wood,
nitromuriate of tin, and nitrate of copper, as prescribed in a preceding
formula.
_Orange or brown; black; white; pink._--The black is topical, as above;
it is printed-on, as also the lemon-juice discharge and red mordant,
with muriate of tin (both thickened), by the three-colour machine. Then,
after drying the cloth, a single-cylinder machine is made to apply in
diagonal lines to it a mixture of acetate of iron and alumina. The
cloth, being dried and dunged, is next dyed in a bath of quercitron,
madder, and fustic.
Here the orange is the result of the mordant of tin and alumina; the
brown, of the alumina and iron; white, of the citric acid discharge. The
tin mordant, wherever it has been applied, resists the weaker mordant
impressed in the diagonal lines. The pink is blocked-on at the end.
_Orange brown, or aventurine; black and white._--The topical black (as
above), and discharge lemon juice, are printed-on by the two-colour
machine; then the cloth is subjected to the diagonal line cylinder,
supplied with the alumino-iron mordant. The cloth is dried, dunged, and
dyed in a bath of bark, madder, and fustic.
The manganese or _solitaire_ ground admits of a great variety of figures
being easily brought upon it, because almost every acidulous mordant
will dissolve the oxide of manganese from the spot to which it is
applied, and insert its own base in its place; and of course, by dyeing
such mordanted goods in various baths, any variety of coloured designs
may be produced. Thus, if the paste of nitrate of lead and tartaric acid
solution be applied, and the goods after drying be passed first through
lime water, and then through a chrome bath, bright yellow spots will be
made to appear upon the bronze ground.
_Manganese bronze, buff and green; all metallic colours._--Pad-on the
manganese solution, and dry; apply the aceto-sulphate of iron, of spec.
grav. 1·02, and Scheele’s green (both properly thickened), by the
two-colour machine. The goods are next to be dried, and padded through a
cold caustic lye of spec. grav. 1·086. They are then rinsed, and passed
through a weak solution of chloride of lime, to raise the bronze, again
rinsed, and passed through a solution of arsenious acid to raise the
green.