Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-08-06
BANDANAS.
Their Origin and HistOry.-A Famous
Indian ProducS PopularfZed by Scotch

Their Origin and History.-A Famous
Indian ProducS Popularized by Scotch
men.
From the clothing Furnishing Gazette.]
All bandana handkerchiefs, which
used to be imported from India In con-
siderable quantities in the end OF the
last century. and were an essential
part of the equipment of the man OF
fashion, were long a puzzle to the
printers and dyers Of Great Britain.
They were of silk, and bore white spots
on uniformly dyed red ground. The
spots were produced by tying up the
cloth at those parts SO tightly that
when the handkerchief was dipped
into the dye the latter could not pene-
trate the protected parts. When the
cloth was dyed and the tyings loosened
they revealed themselves.
Many attempts were made in Great
Britain to initiate this product of
Indian industry, but with little success
until about the year 1911, when M.
Kgchlin invented the discharge proc
ess" of figuring dyed cloth. This
beautiful discovery was at once adopted
by Messrs. Monteith & Co., of Glasgow,
and SO successfully worked as to pro-
duce goods exceeding in beauty the
famous bandanas of India. Several
other Glasgow firms turned their atten-
tion to the production of bandanas, and
the city and its neighborhood has since
enjoyed almost monopoly in this
branch of manufacture. H.
The cloth intended for bandanas is
dyed of uniform color-most COM
monty red or blue-and dozen pieces
are laid one over another and wound
upon a roller. This roller is placed
upon bearings behind press of pecu.
liar construction. The press consists
ola bed-plate mounted on hydraulic gear
and an upper plate or "platen." The
printing, if we may SO call it, is done
by swo stout plates of lead fixed to the
upper and lower plates of the press
respectively. If the design is to con-
sist of, say, white spots on the colored
ground, the exposed surfaces of the
lead plates have cut into them series
of depressions corresponding to the
size and number of the spots desired.
These have to be accurately
placed, so that when the two
plates are brought together the de-
pressions of the one shall fall exactly
over those in the other. All being
ready, the pressman takes hold of the
12-fold web of cloth and lays it on the
lower plate. The plates are then
brought together with pressure of 200
or 300 tons. It will be noted that now
the whole body of the cloth is tightly
pinched except those parts which come
between the depressions In the plates.
Communicating with each of these de-
pressions are openings through the up
per plate and channels leading thereto.
When the pressure is fully on, a tap is
opened and stream of bleaching liquid
flows along the channels in the upper
plate and finds it's way by the aperture
to the cloth through which it
passes and makes it's exit by opening
in the depressions in the lower plate.
To quicken the action of the liquid
and cause it to penetrate the exposed
parts of the cloth thoroughly, a force
pump is employed. AS the liquid passes
through the cloth it dissolves the
connection between the mordant and
the coloring matter, and carries off the
latter, leaving the parts it has come in
cantact with purely white. A press
attended by one man is capable of pro-
ducing 700 handkerchiefs per DAY.
There is no limit to the variety of
forms that may be given TO the cleared
space, and many beautiful effects are
produced by printing various colors in
to these. The effect of the adoption of
this process of producing bandanas was
Git need scarcely be said) to reduce
their cost enormously and consequently
bring them into greatly extended use.