The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-02-18


this so much depends in the way Of obtain
ing good results that it may be considered
the most important part Of color-mixing;
and that a color-mixer will be good, bad,
or indifferent, as he instinctively perceives
the Importance of this branch of his art,
and is successful in carrying it out. While
most of the other substances employed in
this work leave some traces of themselves
on the finished product, the gum, starch,
flour, etc., used as thickencrs, are only
temporary in their application, and have to
be all removed before the colors are fin
ished.
The introduction Of cylinder printing
has been the greatest improvement in this
art 1t is machine which, with one man,
can do the work of hundred men and as
many assistants by any other mode of cal
ico-printing. The copper cylinders now
generally used are hollow, or bored through
the axis, about three feet long and from
three to six inches in diameter. The sur
face of these cylinders is engraved not by
the ordinary methods of hand-engraving,
but by the mechanical pressure of steel
roller, which transfers the figures engraved
on it to the relatively softer copper. Some
times the cylinders are covered with va
rious figures by the process of etching.
These cylinders, corresponding with the
different colors to be used, are mounted on
a strong iron frame, so as to pass against a
larger central cylinder covered with felt,
between which and the copper-engraved
The engraved cylinder revolves in contact
with an attendant roller, which dips into
an oblong trough containing the mordants
and the coloring matter properly thickened.
| 1t is cleared of superiluous coloring matter
by the edge of fiat ruler made of bronze,
called vulgarly the "doctor" (ductor),
which is applied to it obliquely, leaving the
depressions of the engraved cylinder filed
with coloring, while the excess falls back
into the trough. The cylinder thus charg-
ed with impressible color acts on the cloth,
and rolls it on with it's own revolution, i'm
parting its figured design with great pre-
cison. At one of the print works in Man
chester, England, is a machine of this kind,
capable of printing twenty colors SO rap
idly do those machines operate that they
print piece Of twenty eight yards in
minute, or the length of nearly one mile
of well-colored designs of exquisite beauty
is printed in an hour, Such is the COM
bined result of skill in machinery and art,
and of chemical science, carried to high
state of perfection.
All goods after being printed must be
placed in hot-ar chamber before having
their colors brought up in the dye-house.
But as more of the thickened mordants
have been applied to the cloth than can be
absorbed and retained, it must be subject
ed to a process of cleaning. This cleaning
with water, as the excess of mordant lib
Grated from one part of the cloth would be
absorbed by another, where the design re-
quired n white or colorless part, or in the
case of different mordants being ON the
same piece of cloth, they would intermix,
and spoil one another. 1t became necessary,
therefore, to find some fluid in which the
cloth could be washed from the excess of
mordant and the useless thckening matter,
which at the same time should prevent
the loose mordant from fixing itself on any
part of the fabric, Such a fluid was found
in mixture of hot water and cow-dung.
The dunging of printed goods has been ie-
garded as one Of the very important, though
mysterious processes of calico-printing.
The heat of the cleansing liquor and its
strength must vary with the styles of work,
and be slkilfully adapted to them. Too
high temperature and too much dung are
Injurious to delicate colors, such as the
pinks and the yellows; colors thickened
with starch require higher temperature
than those thickend with gum. The cloth
should never be allowed to stop for mo
ment in its progress through the dung
bath, for the part in contactTwith the sur
face of the water would run, and cause a
line mark across the cloth.
The goods must then be washed in the
dash-wbeel, or passed through a rinsing
trough then winched through fresh
dung cistern at lower degree of temper
ature then washed again. They are then
ready for the dye-bath.
There are several different styles Of work
in the process of calico printing, each of
which requires different method Of ma
nipulation. .fV .a a
The maddsr style, to which the best
chintzes belong, in which the mordants are
a =