AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



^ 



VOL. .\VI. 



i'l/BLlSHED BV JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, ( A.-.kici>lturai, Warihobsi.) 

 BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 15, 1837. 



NO. 19. 



DYEING. 



Dyeing is a clietiiical art, and consists in fi.xiug 

 ipoM cloths of various kinds, any color wliicli 

 nay lie desired, in such a manner as that they 

 hall not easily undergo any alteration, by the 

 gents to which the cloth is ordinarily exposed. 

 ?he chief materials of stuff to be dyed are wool, 

 ilk, cotton and linen ; of which the former two 

 re more easily dyed than the latter. Wool, in 

 :s preparation for dyeing, requires to be cleansed, 

 y scouring, from a fatty substance, called the 

 oik, which is contained in the fleece. This is 

 one by means of a weak, alkaline solution, which 

 onverts the yolk into soap. Putrid urine is com- 

 lonly employed, on account of its cheapness; — 

 le ammonia it contains being sufficient to re- 

 love the grease. Silk, when taken from the co- 

 uon, is covered with a kind of varnish, which, be- 

 aiise it does not easily yield, either water or alco- 

 ol, requires also the aid of a slight portion of alkali, 

 luch care is necessary, however, in this opera 

 on, since the silk itself is liable to be corroded 

 id discolored. Fine soap is commonly used ; 

 •It even this is said to be detrimental ; and the 

 hitc China silk, which is supposed to be pre- 

 ired without soap, has a lustre sui)erior to the 

 uropean. The preliminary process of washing, 

 intended to render the stuff to be dyed as clear 

 ! possible, in order that the aqueous fluid, to be 

 terwards applied, may I'e iudiibed, and its cou- 

 nts adhere to the minute Internal surfaces. — 

 nother preparation, and one which constitutes, 



reality, an iir;portant part of the dyeing pro- 

 ;ss, consists in applying to the stuff a material 



which it adheres; and afterwards the desired 

 )lor is obtained by the application of another 

 ibstance. We might dye a piece of cotton black, 

 r immersing it at once in ink ; but the color 

 ould be neither good jior durable, because the 

 trticles of precipitated matter are not sufficiently 

 )rominuted to enter the cotton, or to adhere to 

 firmly. But, if the cotton he soaked in an in- 

 sion of galls, then dried, and afterwards im- 

 ersed in a solution of sulphur of iron, the acid 

 ■galls, being every where diffused through the 

 uric, it will receive the particles of oxide of iron, 

 the very instant of their transition from the 

 rill to the solid state ; by which means a perfect 

 vering of black, inky matter will be applied in 

 ise contact with the surface of the most minute 

 pros of the cotton. The name of mordant is ap^ 

 Sed to those substances which unite with the 

 fferenl stuff;*, and augment their affinity for the 

 rious coloring matters. There exists a great 

 mber of mordants ; some, however, are very 

 :bie in their activity, while others are attended 

 th too much expense for conmion stuffs ; some 

 er the colors which tliey are intendei! to com- 

 )e, or modify their shades : hence it results, that 

 ire are but a small nunjber which can be em- 

 )yed. These are alum, acett^te of aluniine, mu- 

 te of tin and nut-galls. The mordant is always 



dissolved in water, into which the stuffs lo be 

 dyed, are plunged. If the mordant be imivorsally 

 applied, over the whole jiiece of goods, and this 

 he afterwards immersed in the dye, it v\ ill receive 

 a tinge over all its surface ; but if it be applied 

 only in |iarts, the dye will strike in those parts 

 only. The former [irocess constitutes the art of 

 dj/ting, properly so called ; and the latter the art 

 of printing woollens, cottcms or linens, called cal- 

 ico-printing. In the art of printing piece goods, 

 the mordant is usually mixed with guui or starch, 

 and applied by means of blocks or wooden en- 

 gravings, in relief, or of copper plates, and the 

 colors are brought out by imniersinn in vessels 

 filled with suitable compositions. The latter fluids 

 are termed baths. The following rre the proces- 

 ses adopted, when alum in the mori'iiiit employ- 

 ed : 1. Alum mordant for silk. Into water con- 

 taining the 60lh part of its weight of alum, at the 

 ordinary temperature of the air, the silk is plunged, 

 and allowed to remain for 24 hours, when it is 

 withdrawn, drained and washed. If the liquid is 

 warmed, it is found that the silk absorbs less of 

 the mordant, and that, of course, it combines Ifss 

 easily with the coloring matter, besides losing, in 

 part, its natural gloss. 2. Alum mordant for wool. 

 When it is wished to combine wool with this mor- 

 dant, after its cleansing has been cflectcd, it i» 

 plunyed into a boiling solution, cotnposrd «f 8 or 

 900 parts of water, and 2-5 of alum, where it is 

 allowed to remain during two hours, when it is 

 taken out, suffered to drain, and washed. Fre- 

 quently a little cream of tartar is added in tnis 

 process, in order to engage the excess of acid in 

 the alum, as well as the portion arising from a 

 slight decomposition of the alum by the oily mat- 

 ter iif the wool. 3. Alum mordant for cotton, 

 hemp and flax. This operation is effected by 

 plunging the body to be itnbued with this mor . 

 dant, into water slightly warmed, and which co',). 

 tains one quarter of its weight of alum, and lef ,v- 

 ing it 24 hours, at the common temperature of the 

 air ; when it is withdrawn, washed and drie d. — 

 Tlie cotton will be sufficiently imbued wit'.i the 

 mordant, if allowed to remain in the solution only 

 7 or 8 minutes, pressing it a little, withorit r'.vjst- 

 ing it, however, on taking it out, and not ifiuners- 

 ing it in the coloring barb until 12 or 15 hours 

 after. Jn all .alum mordants for wool, the alum 

 of comirierce ma^ be employed ; but when silk 

 or cotton is to be dye.'.',- esjjecially if the colors 

 are bright, it is necessaiy to make use of theulum 

 of Rome, or that of which is eq;'iilly pure ; that 

 is to say, of nifim which does not coi?'ain above 

 l-500th of its weight of sulphate of iron ; oMier- 

 wise there will be a great quantity of oxide ot" 

 iron adhering to the fabric, which will affect the 

 shade we desire to obtain. The coloring matters 

 to be transferred to the various stuffs, are either 

 soluble or insoluble in water. When they are 

 soluble in water, which is most generally thetase, 

 they are dissolved .in it i\l a boiling temperature ; 

 and the material to be dyed, after having been 

 duly prepared, and impregnated with the mordant. 



is plunged into it, where it is allowed to remain 

 for a certain time, and at a lem|ierature varying 

 with the nature of the stuff. When, on the con- 

 trary, the coloring matter is insoluble in water, 

 its solution is effected in some other fluid, and the 

 article to be colored (prepared as in the former 

 case, with the exception that the ajiplicalion of 

 the mordant is omilted) is immersed, and the col- 

 oring matter is precipitated by the addition of a 

 third body. Silks are dyed at a lemjierature 

 which is gi-adrtally increased from 86 to 175' 

 Fahr. If the bath is lieated above 86 at the com- 

 mencement of tho process, the effect of the mor- 

 dant is diminished, and the dcsii'ed shades of col- 

 or will not be produced. For the same reason, 

 in dyeing hemp and fiax, the temperature should 

 not exceed 97'^ Fahr. Cotton and woollens may 

 be dyed at a b«iliug heat. Various mechanical 

 contrivances are made use of in imtnei-sing the 

 different materials to be dyed into the coloring 

 solution, so as to cause all their parts to be equal- 

 ly aftecled at the same time. .\s soon as they 

 are withdrawn from the coloring bath, they are 

 washed iti a large quantity of vvater, in order to 

 deprive tliem of those particles of coloring matter 

 that ar-e merely su|ierfici!il. The following are 

 the dye -stuffs used for producing fast colors : — 

 1. Bla<-k. The cloth is impregnated with acetate 

 of ii-o n, (iron liquor) and dyed in a bath of mad- 

 der and logwood. 2. Purple. The jireceding 

 mort'.anr., diluted, with the same dyeing bath. 3. 

 Crir .isoii. The mordant for jiurple, tiniteii with 

 n ',)ortion of acetate of ahimine, or red ip.ordant, 

 a' lid 'ihe above bath. 4. Red. Acet>';[e of alu- 

 Jiiine is the mordant, (see J}lwmine^ jj„j niadder 

 is tl'.o dye-stuff. 6. Pale red, '•(■jjjfTerent shades; 

 The i)receding mordant, di'^-gj ^jjf, ^■^•ater, and 



, nadour. 



a weak »ii''der bath. e. Brown of Pom/' 

 A naixeti': mordant, conta;,/,,,^, ^ somewhat VS^^ 

 proportion of red ban of the black .and the dye .'''- 

 madder. 7. Orange. The red niordan t, and a bath 

 ;^^Bgt ofmadiler, then of querciti-on. 8 Yellow. A 

 sti-ongred mordant, and the quercitron b* th,wJm.e- 

 teinj.eratuio should he considerably under .'Ire h«H 

 n;.r point of water. 9. Blue, indigo, rendertd sol- 

 uble ;ind greenish-yellow colored, by potasFi and 

 orjiimenv'. It recovers its blue color by exposure 

 to ail-, and becomes firndy fixed upon the cloth. 

 An indigo vat is also made by diffusing indigo in 

 water, with quick-lime and copperas. These sub- 

 stances ai-e supposed to act by deoxidizing indigo, 

 and, at the same time, rendering it soluble. Gol- 

 den dye. The cloth is immersed in a solution of 

 copperas and lime-water. Tiie proloxide of 

 iron, precipitated on the fihrc,.soon passes, by ab- 

 >iorption of atmospherical oxygen, into the golden 

 colored deutoxide. Buft'. The preceding sub- 

 stances, in a more dilute state. Blue vat, in which 

 white spots are left on a blue ground of cloth, is 

 mad<! by applying to these points a paste, com- 

 posed of a sohition of sulphate of copper and pipo 

 clay, and, after they are dried, immersing it, 

 stretcheil on frames, for a definite number of min- 

 utes, in the yellowish-green vat of one part of 



