MECHANICS AND USEFUL AKTS. 91 



rine dresser of Brazil the Amokota of the Cape and the Raj of the Himalaya 

 has e^ch his own style, his own color, his own pattern. Calico Printing has 

 to adapt itself to the Greek of Athens, the Arab of the wilderness, the priest 

 of Benares : the taste of the ladies of Canton, of the Court beauties of Siam, of 

 the harems of Persia and Turkey must be remembered under pain of loss. 

 The records of a manufacture which has to consult so many tastes, and to 

 satisfy such various whims, cannot fail, we repeat, to interest many persons, 

 and to claim a place in every good library. A History of Calico Printing 

 would be a curious, valuable, and appropriate present for Manchester to make 

 to our Library of Contemporary History. 



The plan proposed is as follows : The work is to be divided into six parts ; 

 the first part would be an introductory history of the art from the year 1750, 

 including every department ; the .second would comprise the history of the 

 mechanical department by Mr. Bennet Woodcroft; the third would embrace 

 the history of the coloring matters, chemical compounds, and other materials 

 used in calico printing, by Dr. E. Schunck ; the fourth would be the history 

 of the dyeing process, including color mixing, and the actual printing, by Mr. 

 J. Graham ; the fifth, the artistic department ; the first part of it being 

 devoted to engraving, by Mr. Joseph Lockett, and the' second to include pat- 

 terns, and all particulars relating to taste : the sixth, statistics of calico print- 



ing. 



CBEXXILLE CARPETS. 



At a recent meeting of the N". Y. Mechanics' Club, Mr. Thomas Crossley 

 of Boston exhibited a model of a color printing machine intended to be used in 

 the manufacture of Crennille carpets. The machine was patented in 1854 in 

 our own and foreign countries, but had been allowed to remain quiet until a 

 large one could be finished and tried. This had now been accomplished with 

 snch success that the first yard of stuff passed through the machine unex- 

 pectedly came out absolutely perfect. The manufacture of rich, many colored 

 carpetings is usually very slow and expensive. Colors dyed in the wool are 

 fast or transient according both to the kind of drug and the degree of heat 

 employed in steaming. Scarlet is a fast color, as it is heated to 212 ; but a 

 buff produced by the same drug is heated only to blood-warm, or thereabouts, 

 and is liable to fade when in use. It was very difficult to weave a large 

 number of colors, and only a, small quantity of the wool employed came in 

 sight. To remedy all these evils, a Mr. Whytock of Edinburgh invented a 

 process for printing tapestry carpets, and Messrs. John Crossley & Sons of Hali- 

 fax had engaged very largely in the manufacture. The method was that of 

 printing the warp alone by a slow process on a large cylinder, and afterwards 

 weaving it as carefully as possible. In printing, the tints were impressed on 

 the goods, and the steaming process equally applied to the whole, which 

 rendered printed colors more enduring than dyed. The steaming in either 

 case was supposed to open the pores of the wool and allow the coloring effect 

 to penetrate. Rollers cannot print heavy carpets well, as the coloring matter 

 cannot be retained, but squeezes forward as the rolls draw in the fabric. Flat 

 blocks must be loaded very heavily with colors, and pressed very powerfully 



