IMPROVEMENTS  IN  THE   COMPOSITION  OF  PAINTS.  175 
IMPROVEMENTS  IN  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  PAINT. 
By  Mr.  C.  Binks. 
In  the  manufacture  of  these  improved  compositions  of  paints, 
Mr.  Binks  forms  in  the  first  place  what  are  called  and  are  well 
known  as  insoluble  soaps  ;  that  is,  combinations  of  certain  earthy 
and  metallic  oxides  with  oils  or  fatty  matters,  which  combinations, 
having  a  general  composition  chemically  analogous  to  common 
soaps,  but  being  insoluble  in  water,  are  hence  called  insoluble 
soaps,  in  contradistinction  to  the  compounds  or  soaps  that  result 
from  the  union  of  fatty  matters  with  oxides  of  the  alkaline 
metals. 
These  so-called  insoluble  soaps  he  dissolves  in  spirits  of  tur- 
pentine, or  in  naphtha,  or  other  volatile  solvent,  and  employs  the 
resulting  solutions  as  substitutes  for  linseed  or  other  drying  oils, 
in  the  manufacture  of  paints. 
Any  pigment  (as,  for  example,  white  lead,  oxide  of  zinc,  lamp- 
black, or  any  other,)  he  grinds  in  a  solution  (in  turpentine  or 
other  volatile  solvent)  of  the  insoluble  soap ;  and  the  resulting 
mixture  or  paint  so  produced,  on  being  used  as  paint  in  the  usual 
manner,  has  the  property  of  drying  with  great  rapidity,  and  of 
forming  in  all  respects,  as  in  color,  body,  compactness,  durability, 
and  other  essential  properties,  an  excellent  and  superior  composi- 
tion as  paint. 
Secondly,  he  adds  glycerin  to  ordinary  paints,  or  uses  and 
applies  glycerin  as  part  of  the  composition  of  paints.  To  paints 
composed  of  the  usual  materials — as,  for  example,  of  some  pig- 
ment ground  in  linseed  oil — he  adds  glycerin  in  order  to  thin  or 
prepare  the  paint  for  use,  and  to  act  as  a  substitute  for  linseed 
or  other  oil,  or  for  turpentine,  &c,  commonly  employed  to  thin 
paints  for  use  ;  or  he  grinds  the  pigment  in  glycerin,  or  in  a 
mixture  of  drying  oil  and  glycerin,  and  thins  the  paint  so  pro- 
duced with  glycerin  for  use,  or  with  a  mixture  of  glycerin  and 
some  drying  oil.  The  advantages  of  this  application  of  glycerin 
consists  chiefly  in  its  being  inodorous,  in  its  cheapness  (being  at 
present  a  waste  product  of  processes  used  for  saponifying  fatty 
matters),  and  in  its  property  of  giving  a  fine  gloss  to  any  paint 
it  is  added  to. — Annals  of  Pharmacy,  .Dec.  1854. 
