CALICO-PRINTING 689 



that if tho artificial product can be brought in at even a little higher relative .price 

 than these dye-stuffs, the superior colours produced by it and the comparative clean^li- 

 ness of its use, will drive garancins out of the market. 



Garanceux. In ordinary madder-dyeing, the madder can never be made to give 

 up all its colouring matter ; when all colouring matter soluble in water has been ex* 

 hausted, there still remains about a quarter of the whole quantity combined with lime 

 and mixed with the woody fibre. 



Before the patent of Steiner in 1832 this spent madder was thrown away. He 

 showed the printers that they were thus squandering thousands of pounds, and the 

 collection of spent madder and its conversion into garanceux soon became universal ; 

 a second patent by Steiner in 1843 having shown a more practicable method of 

 utilising waste madder. 



The spent madder is run off into a pit outside the dye-house, where it is mixed with 

 a small quantity of sulphuric acid, to precipitate any colouring matter in solution. 

 It is then allowed to drain dry ; removed from the pit, it is boiled in a leaden vessel, 

 with more sulphuric acid, for several hours, then washed on a filter till free from acid, 

 and after draining is ready for use. It dyes to about one-third tho strength of 

 ordinary chocolate garancin, and is principally used for the commoner garancin styles. 

 Mr. John Lightfoot, of Accrington, has patented an improvement in the ordinary 

 process of making garanceux. He recommends large vats to be provided, two or more 

 in number, each sufficiently large to contain all the waste dyeing liquor produced in 

 tho dye-house in one day, and so arranged that the liquor runs from the dye-becks into 

 them ; at a certain point in the trough that conducts the liquor to the vats is placed 

 a lead cistern with a valve and perforated bottom : this cistern holds a regulated 

 quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid, and whenever a dye-beck is let off and the 

 liquor flowing down tho trough, a quantity of acid, proportionate to the quantity of 

 madder, is allowed to run down through the perforated bottom and mix with the hot 

 liquor ; the acidulated liquor then runs into the vat, a tightly fitting cover on which 

 keeps the liquor hot. When the day's dyeing is done, the vat is left covered up all 

 night ; next day the lid is raised, and by means of holes and pegs in the side of the 

 vat, all the clear liquor is drained away, the vat filled anew with water, stirred up, 

 and when settled, the clear drawn off again ; this washing being repeated till all the 

 acid is washed away, the garanceux is then run on a filter to drain for use. The ad- 

 vantages of this plan are, first, the saving of fuel, by economising the heat oi tho' 

 waste liquor, and, secondly, the production of one-fourth more colouring matter. 



A beautiful modification of the garancin style was patented by Mr. John Lightfoot 

 junior on Dec. 26, 1867. So long ago as 1846 Mr. Philippi of the firm of Mr. Benecke 

 and Co., of Rochdale, patented a method of producing, in addition to the ordinary black, 

 reds, chocolate, purple and browns of madder work, several other colours such as blue, 

 green, and yellow, all these colours being printed at once and undergoing the same 

 operations ; the blue was an indigo colour, the yellow a chromate of lead, and the 

 green a compound of these two. The patentee never got beyond the stage of printing 

 a few hundred pieces, for the style, though admitting of certain novelties in design, 

 was not warmly received by the public on account of the inferiority of the blues, 

 greens, and yellows. The style soon fell into disrepute and was almost forgotten. 

 Lightfoot revived it, making several important improvements and Messrs. F. W. 

 Grafton and Co. of Accrington, in whose employment he was, became the ultimate 

 owners of, and manufacturers under the patents of Mr. Lightfoot. Wo give here an 

 outline of the process, using the words of the patentee : 



' I make a preparation of indigo, fulfilling the required conditions, by employing 

 much less tin, whether as oxide or in the state of salt, in the process of dissolving the 

 indigo than has hitherto been used, and also by dispensing with the addition of a 

 salt of tin to the precipitated indigotine, whether this has been made by the aid of 

 oxide or salt of tin, or, as is sometimes the case, by the aid of metallic tin, because I 

 have ascertained that if the tin is in excess of a certain proportion to the indigo, oxide 

 of tin is left in the fibre during the process of fixing the indigo colours and the 

 mordants, and thus acting itself as a mordant becomes dyed by the dye-stuff, produ- 

 cing with the indigo compound colours which in the case of blue are more or less 

 purple and dull, and in the case of green are more or less a sombre olive. This use 

 of tin in excess has been one of the causes of the failures to which I have before al- 

 luded. 



' I prepare a paste or pulp of indigotine and tin suitable for my improved process 

 by any of the following methods : I teko of dry indigo in a ground or powdered state 

 one and a quarter pounds, or when indigo pulp is used, using such a quantity as to be 

 equal to one and a quarter pounds of dry indigo, of protochloride of tin in crystals one 

 and a quarter pounds, and of caustic soda at thirty degrees on Twaddell's hydrometer, 

 or of caustic potash at forty degrees on TwaddeU'e hydrometer, one gallon. I put 



