Ill 



. V! I'M- 



CALK-ii I'lllNTINC. 



The proee** of calendering being comparatively aimpli-, it ha* not 

 undergone *o tnany improvement* within the last few years ** other 

 department* of the cotton manufacture. The change is mxtly in tin 

 mutant of the operation*. Manchester being Uie great m.ukct f<> 

 Lancashire, in all that oonoeiu* the cotton trade, the calendering am 

 packing are conducted on a rtupeudoua scale in that city. not "iilj 

 hydraulic machine* being employed to give the i-e*sure, but also 

 steam-engine* to work those machine*. 



It i* not poatible to state the extent of thin trade ; for it ix optiona 

 to a manufacturer to determine which of his gooda shall undergo n 

 regular proce** of calendering. 

 CALENDS. rKAUWM.] 

 CALEXDl'LIN'. A mucilaginous matter of unknown composition 

 found in the leave* and flowers of the Cakmlula nfcimalu. 

 CALK. [Cow.] 

 CAI.li 1 ">. [COTTON.] 

 CAl.lrn I'HINTINO, the art of dyeing woven fabrics of cotton 

 with vat it-gnu*! figures and colours more or lea* permanent. It ha-. 

 been practised from time immemorial in India, upon the kind o 

 cotton cloth called calico, which U supposed to have derived its naui 

 from the town of Calicut. 



llutory. There are very few dye-stuff* capable by themselves ol 

 importing to cotton colours of sufficient lustre and durability combined 

 They must in general be rendered fast as well as brilliant, by the 

 intervention of certain substances, which, in consequence of their 

 attraction for the textile filaments and the colouring matters, form a 

 bond of union between the two, and ore on that account sometimes 

 called btuet, and at other times munlanlt. The last-named substances 

 are so called from their taking firm hold of, or biting, the dyes. These 

 intermediate bodies, though colourless themselves, generally posses* 

 the |K>wer of modifying more or less the colour of the dye, or of pro- 

 ducing from the same dye-stuff different tints; so that a piece ol 

 white cloth, after being imbued with various mordants, will assume 

 various colours in a single dye-vat. Thus if white calico be impressed 

 with the mordant of acetate of alumina in one set of lines, with that nf 

 acetate of iron in a second, and with a mixture of these two mordants 

 in a third, on being exposed to a solution of madder-dye for a proper 

 time, it will become permanently printed in red, black, and chocolate 

 - . 



Although this scientific chemical process would seein to be charac- 

 teristic of the refinement of the present time, yet it was known to the 

 ancient Hindu* ami Egyptians. I'liny d< scribes it with sufficient 

 precision. " Robes and white N < il - are ]>ainted in Egypt," says he, " in 

 a wonderful way ; being first imbued, not with dyes, but with dyc- 

 absorbing drugs, by which they appear to be unaltered, but when 

 plunged for a little in a cauldron of the boiling dye-stuff, they ore 

 found to be painted. Sinn- tin-re is only one colour in the cauldron, 

 it is marvellous to see many colours imparted to the robe, in conse- 

 quence of the modifying agency of the excipient drug. Nor can the 

 dye 1-e washed out. Thus the cauldron, which would of itself 

 undoubtedly confuse the colour** of cloths previously dyed, is made to 

 impart several dyes from a single one, ]inting while it boils." * 



In India, where manufacturing processes have probably suffered 

 little change in the course of three thousand years, not only is I In- .11 1 

 of using mordant* well known, but that of applying resist jiostes, in 

 order to preserve the cloth from the action of the dye Kith in any 

 denied figures or poU. In the Sociitc Indutrielle of Mulhau-en.a 

 town of great celebrity in calicr>-printiiig, may be seen specim. -us not 

 only of modern Indian calicoes in the pre|>aration state, topi'. illy 

 covered with wax. to serve as a rcsi-t ' tie- indigo dye, but of ancient 

 styles of pencilled cloths, which had been the work of princesses, 

 covered with figures of such complexity as could not be made without 

 a very tedious and costly education, beyond the reach of ordinary 

 artisans. Among other curiosities, the counterpane of a state bed is 

 shown, six yard* long and three broad, which must have taken a life- 

 time to execute, on their plan of applying the melted wax with a 

 pencil. How far this differs from the |ieciiliar mode of producing 

 Indian handkerchiefs, may )>e seen under BANDANNAS. 



Processes of printing, similar to the Indian, have been long prac- 

 ticed in Asia Minor and in the levant ; but they were not attempted 

 in Europe till about the middle of tin- 1 7th century, when extended 

 commerce had made the brilliant colours of the eastern world object- 

 of general admiration and desire. Anderson, in his ' History of Cmii- 

 merce,' place* the origin of English calico-printing as far back as the 

 year 1678; but Mr. Thomson, of Primrose, near Clitheroe, a better 

 authority, assigns the year 1696 a* the date of the commencement of 

 this art in England, when a small print-ground was established on tin- 

 bank* of the Thames, at Richmond, by a Frenchman. The first large 

 establishment of the kind was at Bromley-hall, in Essex. It was not 

 till the year 1768, however, that the business was carried into Lanca- 

 shire, when it now constitutes one of the most interesting ami pro- 

 ductive branches of English manufacture. From its outset, the 

 printing of cotton good* encountered the keenest h'-tility from the 

 ilk wearers of Spitalnelds, who in the year 1680, and often afterwaid.-., 

 a*Mule>: . manner the East India House, on account of the 



Company importing the chintzes of Malabar. The English government 



NUral HUtorr, buck XUT. chip. 11. 



gave way to the remonstrance* of the silk trade, and imposed, first 



of all, heavy duties on Indian calicoes, and in 1700 prohibited their 

 im|x>rtation altogether. This law became nearly inoperative, in con- 

 sequence of the excessive penalties annexed to its infraction. So little 



were the principles of free commerce understood, that in 1 720 the weir 

 of all printed calicoes whatsoever, foreign and lliiti.-h. w.in piohil.ited 

 by a new law, passed for the pin pose of allaying the clamour of the 

 woollen and silk manufacturer*; but iu 1780 ptrttamaBl was pleaaed 

 to i permit British calicoes only, mode of cotton weft and linen warp, 

 to be printed and worn, on paying a duty of '</. the square yard. It, 

 was not till 1774, and after a most expensive application to ]rli 

 that cloth made entirely of cotton was allowed to be priii- 

 of the manifest fact that cotton (loth was far better adapted to the 

 purpose than the mixed webs of linen and cotton, which took the 

 colours unequally, owiug to the unequal attraction of these 

 for dyes. The calico-printing of this counti d to groan 



under the most oppressive fiscal laws till the year 1881, who 

 wm linally repealed, and the business was left to it* natural rate of 

 i . l.pment, under the taste, science, and capital of the country. 

 Since that time it has increased to a prodigious extent. 



Linen was long ago, and silk and woollen fabrics more recently, made 

 the subjects of topical dyeing, u|K>n principles analogous to those of 

 calico-printing, but with certain peculiarities, arising from the nature 

 of their textile materials. 



Proetttet. Calicoes, muslins, 4c., intended for printing must be 

 first of all freed from their fibrous down ; which is effected by the 

 action of the singeing machine. This consists either of a semi-cylinder 

 of cast-iron laid horizontally, and kept at a bright red heat by a 

 furnace, or of a horizontal range of gas-jet flames : over one of these 

 i:- i.l me of cloth is drawn with a steady continuous motion, and at a 

 rate suited to its texture. When gas-flames are employed, a line of 

 suction-tubes is placed over the extended web, to draw the flame up 

 through the interstices of the cloth, which effectually clears the threads 

 from the loose fibres. Some manufacturers singe the goods a* they 

 come from the loom; but it is generally deemed preferable t< 

 viously wash out the waiver's dressing at the dash-wheel, and then 

 dry and calender the woven fabric. 



The cotton cloth, after the singeing, must be next well bleached, 

 because the whiter it is the more light will it reflect from its surface, 

 and the more brilliant will be the colour of its dyes. The lirst step in 

 the bleaching process is that of boiling the cloth in an alkaline bath, 

 which for delicate line goods consists of a weak solution of soda, and 

 for stronger articles slaked lime and water. For this purpose a bowking 

 apparatus merits the preference.' It consists of a large egg-sli .qil 

 cauldron, with a flat false bottom placed a little above the rounded 

 true one, to protect the cloth from the danger of being scorclm I by 

 the fire. Through the centre of the false bottom a vertical pipe rises 

 from near the real bottom to somewhat higher than the top of the 

 cauldron, and carries a conical cap (umbrella -wise) above its open 

 month. The boiler being filled with goods, and supplied with a proper 

 quantity oi the detergent liquid, is securely covered with a dome 

 shaped lid. Whenever ebullition becomes active, the steam force* a 

 continuous stream of liquid up Ita central pipe, -causing its ova 

 whereby the goods arc irrigated and soaked with the lu.iling hot. ley of 

 lime, soda, or potash. During its descent it is partially cooled, but on 

 reaching the bottom it recovers its ascensional power by the agency of 

 the steam, and thus circulates up and down as long as the heat is 

 maintained. The cauldron having been allowed to cool a little, the 

 foods are removed, and subjected either to the rinsing operation of 

 ;hc dash-wheel, or to the proper rinsing machine. This consists of a 

 range of wooden rollers in pairs, each lying upon its fellow, m< 

 n a horizontal plane upon the top edges of an oblong istern 



illcd with water, with single roller-pins at the bottom ot tin- < 

 n correspondence with the top ones. Tin- Ix-ginning of a series of 

 vebs stitched together at the ends being introduced between the roller- 

 Mils above and round the roller pins below, the last or traction rollei 

 s placed in connection with the moving ]iwer. while a stream of pure 

 water is made to flow through the cistern ; the cloth i, then In altor- 

 iuee/ed lietween the top rollers and immersed in the water, so 

 as to get effectually rinsed with hardly any manual labour. In some 



dico print-works, this rinsing apparatus length of 40 or 50 



eet. The goods are next steeped for a few homs in a le.,.1. u or wonder 



intern, containing a weak solution of chloride of li They an 



noreiinsed. They are now boiled in .in alkaline ley, made of crude soda 

 liasolvcd in water, and fi liy tlltralion or 



lence. The goods are again rinsed, and finished by a steep in sulphm i,. 

 eid very largely diluted with water ; this removes any adhering 

 articles of lime or iron, which would be apt to give the cloth, after 

 onic time, a yellow tint. They Are lost of all rinsed, dried, and 

 itne* smoothed nude? the calender. If they arc not calendered, they 

 re nm through a machine called in Lancashire tie- .././,'.../. which 

 spread* them smoothly in the act of rolling them upon a cylinder. 



The process of bleaching, here described, is adopted as a preliminary 

 to calico-printing. The l.iiger n|,cr.itions. for the production of white 

 r imprinted goods, are noticed under |!I.FA< inxci. 



The cloth is now supposed to be ready for the printing processes, 

 vhieh we proceed to describe, first, in relation to the mechanical 

 pporatus, and then to the chemical ingredients. 



