269 



THE SPECTATOR, No. 7. 



STEAM APPLIED TO DYEING. 



A highly ingenious mode of applying Steam to the 

 purpose of Dyeing, may be seen at the establish- 

 ment of Mr. Dawe, Navy Row, Morice Town, and 

 as it is the only thing of the kind in the West of 

 England, it will be found well worthy the inspec- 

 tion of the curious. Mr. Dawe, the proprietor and 

 inventor of the apparatus, is always willing to gratify 

 any visitor, by accompanying him through the dif- 

 ferent apartments of his dye-house. 



In the lowest story of the dye-house, a steam 

 generating boiler has been fitted up : from the up- 

 per part of this boiler arises, in a vertical direction, 

 an iron main pipe ; with this is connected another 

 pipe, nearly as large in bore as the former, which 

 passes in a horizontal direction along two sides of 

 the apartment. From the last mentioned pipe, se- 

 veral smaller ones descend into copper baths, con- 

 taining various dyes, each of these smaller pipes is 

 provided with a stop cock, by means of which a 

 current of steam, greater or less, may be always 

 passed through any of the baths of dye, or through 

 the whole of them at the same moment, by which 

 means they may be heated to any degree of tem- 

 perature, up to the point of ebullition. Thus the 

 absolute contact of fire with the dyeing coppers is 

 dispensed with, and consequently the wear and tear 

 of these is ultimately much diminished. 



The boiler is provided with two safety valves, one 

 of which is attached to a pipe passing to the outside 

 of the building : when the steam has been generated 

 in such quantity as to exert a given pressure within 

 the boiler, it escapes by the latter valve. 



A cistern, which is in an apartment above the 

 boiler, supplies the latter with water when necessary. 

 By means of a simple though ingenious piece of ma- 

 chinery, the boiler can, without any attendance, 

 communicate its wants to the cistern, and they are 

 immediately supplied. The establishment has an 



