CALICO-PRINTING 043 



Fifth Style: Indigo. 



The indigo dye-houso is always on the ground of a building, and is fitted up with 

 a number of stone vats let into the ground. There are generally several rows of these 

 vats, about 3 foot apart. They are about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, and 8 to 10 foet 

 deep. Some of them have steam-pipes inserted, which go to near the bottom, so that 

 they can be heated when necessary. There are about 10 vats in a row. 



A. Blue and white. The simplest form of blue styles is blue and white ; dark blue 

 ground with white figures. The cloth is printed in one of the following reserve 

 pastes : 



No. 65. Reserve paste for Block. 3 Ibs. sulphate of copper dissolved in 1 gallon 

 of water, 15 Ibs. pipe-clay, heat up with some of the liquor : 1 gallon of thick gum- 

 Senegal solution, and 1 quart of nitrate of copper at 80 T. 



No. 66. Reserve paste for Machine. 2 Ibs. sulphate of copper, 1 gallon of water, 

 thickened with 9 Ibs. flour, and 2 pounds dark British gum. 



No. 67. Reserve paste for Machine. 5 Ibs. sulphate of copper, 2 Ibs. white acetate 

 of lead, 2 gallons water, dissolve and thicken the clear with 3 Ibs. flour and 2 Ibs. pale 

 British gum : when cold, add half a pint of nitrate of copper at 80 T., to every 



2 gallons of colour. 



No 68. Reserve paste for Machine. 4 gallons boiling water, 16 Ibs. of sulphate of 

 copper, 8 Ibs. white acetate of lead, let settle and pour off the clear liquor ; thicken 



3 gallons of this with 8 Ibs. of flour, and 4 Ibs. pale British gum. When boiled, add 



4 Ibs. sulphate of zinc, and dissolve. The foregoing are all to resist deep shades of 

 blue. For light shades of blue dipping, any of the following : 



No. 69. Mild paste for Block. 25 Ibs. dark British gum, 15 quarts of water, boil 

 10 minutes and add 7 Ibs. soft soap; stir well in, and when mixed, add 20 Ibs. sul- 

 phate of zinc, stir well in, and add 10 Ibs. pipe-clay beaten up into 7 quarts of water, 

 and 7i gills of nitrate of copper at 80 T. Mix all well together. 



No. 70. Mild paste for Machine. 8 Ibs. dark British gum ; 3| quarts water ; 

 boil, and add 2 Ibs. soft soap, cool, and add 6 Ibs. sulphate of zinc dissolved in 2 quarts 

 of boiling water, and one quart of nitrate of copper at 80 T. 



After printing in one of these reserves, hang in a rather humid atmosphere for 

 2 days, and then dip blue. 



Indigo for use in the dye-house is ground with water to a fine pulp : a series of cast- 

 iron mills with curved bottoms, are arranged in a line ; one or two iron rollers are 

 moved backwards and forwards on the curved bottom in each mill by an upright rod, 

 which is furnished with a roller at the bottom, and is connected with a horizontal rod 

 worked by an excentric. Indigo and a certain quantity of water are left in these 

 mills several days, till the pulp is perfectly smooth. The method of blue dipping is 

 as follows : 



In a line of ten vats, the first one is set with lime ; as 



(No. 1.) 1,000 gallons water, 250 Ibs. of hydrate of lime, or lime slaked to a dry 

 powder ; when used it is well raked up. 



The indigo vats vary according to the style of work ; for deep blue and white, or 

 blue and yellow, or orange, the following is a good one : 



(No. 2.) 1,000 gallons water, 50 Ibs. indigo previously pulped, 140 Ibs. copperas, 

 and 170 Ibs. lime ; dissolve the copperas in the water, then add the indigo, stir well 

 up, and add the lime, previously riddled, to separate small stones. Eake up every 

 two hours for two days, and let settle clear. The clear liquor, when taken up in a 

 glass, must have a deep yellow colour, be perfectly transparent, and be immediately 

 covered with a pellicle of regenerated indigo when exposed to the air. Eight or nine 

 vats are all set alike. 



The pieces to be dipped are hooked backwards and forwards on a rectangular 

 frame which just fits the vats, so that the cloth can be immersed, but still not so deep 

 as to touch the sediment of the vats. The process is thus performed : The lime-vat 

 No 1 being stirred up, the frame which contains two pieces, is lowered down into it, 

 so as to completely immerse the pieces ; a gentle up-and-down movement is given by 

 hand. The frame is allowed to stay 10 minutes in, is then lifted out and supported 

 over the vat by rods put across. After draining here a few minutes, it is then 

 removed and immersed in vat No. 2, or the first indigo vat. It stays here seven 

 minutes, is lifted out, and drained as before over the vat 8 minutes, then removed 

 to No. 3 vat, and so on till it has gone through the whole series, or till the shade of 

 blue is considered strong enough. After the last dip the pieces are unhooked and 

 winced in a pit of water, then winced about 10 minutes in a pit containing sulphuric 

 acid at 6 T., washed well in the wheel, squeezed, and dried. In large dye-houses 

 there is an arrangement for collecting all the waste indigo which is washed off the 

 pieces, by running all the water used into a vaulted chamber under the .dye-house, 



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