434 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



133, they will be odorless and clean. For silk, velvet, plush, 

 etc., Venetian turpentine is applied by gently rubbing spots 

 of paint, tar, etc., with a good sponge or woolen rag. Tur- 

 pentine that has become turbid by use may be purified by 

 stirring it well with y^- of its volume of oil of vitriol, and al- 

 lowing it to settle overnight, and then, as a precautionary 

 measure, filtering it through a felt bag. A beautiful bluish 

 tint can be imparted to pure white goods by tinting the ben- 

 zine employed, by adding to it some benzine which has been 

 colored by steeping in it a piece of cotton colored with ani- 

 line blue. 26 (7, 1874, vl, 52. 



DRY OR CHEMICAL CLEANING WITH BENZINE. 



Scouring with benzine has proved to be, undoubtedly, one 

 of the very best methods, since the end is perfectly accom- 

 plished without shrinkage or injurious effect upon the color 

 or finish, so that the most elegant garments need not be taken 

 apart, nor lace nor velvet trimmings be taken off; while 

 with men's clothing it is not noticeable that they have been 

 washed. The articles, freed from dust and dirt by beating 

 them while dry, are first simply thoroughly moistened with 

 benzine in a tinned-copper or stone-ware vessel, and well 

 squeezed in it with the hands, silk pieces, ribbons, and heav- 

 ier portions that may require it, being brushed well on a zinc- 

 covered table supplied with a tube beneath for re-collecting 

 the benzine. The deepest stains are marked and treated 

 more thoroughly. The articles are similarly treated in a 

 second bath of benzine, and then carefully dried in a centrif- 

 ugal machine for ten to fifteen minutes, the benzine being 

 re-collected in a vessel beneath. On removal from it they 

 are smoothed out and hung in a warm drying-room, with ac- 

 cess of air. It will require ten to twelve hours, after they 

 are dry, to remove the odor completely. Since benzine acts 

 principally .upon fatty matter, stains of street mud, etc., may 

 remain, and must be removed by gently rubbing with a soft 

 sponge dipped in cold water to which a little alcohol has 

 been added, and then drying with a soft silk cloth. Sugar, 

 champagne, and egg stains are also removed with cold wa- 

 ter, and the color is brought up again with a little acetic 

 acid and alcohol in water, the spots being well rubbed out. 

 Blood spots are treated similarly. In all these cases the 



