Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-07-14
TIE ART OF DYEING.
SOMETHING ABOUT WHICH BUT
LITTLE IS POPULARITY KNOWN.

An Advance in tho Art--Discoveries In
Chemistry - An Important Industry.
CoIors.
But this Is the age Of color, and In moth.
ing else during the last thirty years has
science made such forcible impression
on the usagcs Of domestic life as it has
made through its contributions TO the
resources Of the dyer. Go through the
dry goods district and observe the win.
dows. Look into the carpet ware rooms,
the furniture ware rooms, or even into
the gentleman's furnishing store. Every
where the rainbow seems to have been
caught and reproduced in fresh hues The
very flowers and fruits, though still beau
tifui and attractive on account of their
odor and flavor have lost the transcend
ing superiority in tints for which they
were once noted, and must consent to be-
come only common contributors TO an
ocean of color, where every wave is a
translucent marvel According TO NJ.
Chcvrcul, the resources Of the dyer now
cover $1,000 chromatic shades Bnt after
counting 4,9y9 shades 1t would have
been Just as well had this author stopped
calculating and pronounced the remainder
infinite in number.
This sudden advance In the art of dye
ing has been due to the general cause that
has contributed so mach to civilization
during the last bundled years. 1t has
been due to the discoveries in chemistry.
Through all the many centuries of history
tho world knew only of natural dyes, and
down TO the beginning of the present cen
tury, or rather till past the middle of this
century, il still busted itself with the dis
covery of new natural agents. 1t had
found indigo, cochineal, logwood, madder
guercitron bark, sumach, Brazil wood,
and other vegetable or wood dyes, and 1t
learned by various means TO be more or
less successful, by the use of chemicals in
a process technically known as mordant-
ing, in making permanent the colors pro.
duccd by these agents. But it had not
learned to distill color from the elements.
IT could reach only the boundaries Of an
empire that was not yet quite won.
Finally the chemist Unverdarben discov-
cred aniline, purely chemical agent, the
distllation from coal tar. This discovery
opened the way for an industrial revolu
ton, which is perhaps even yet only in
the infancy of its movement. This hap
pened in 1896. But the utility Of the dis
covcry was not known until many years
later. 1t was not until the year 1868 that
the tint known as Perkins purple, a pro.
duct of aniline, followed soon afterward
by anilhe red or Magenta became known.
Then the revolution was fairly Inaugural
ted and since this latter date the advance
has been rapid All that is most brilliant
in color is credited to this new chemica.
agent.
But the body of the art remains un-
changed. What are technically known as
the wood dyes have more substance and
permanency than tho aniline dyes. Indigo
still forms the basis for blue. The scarlet
on the coats of the British soldiery, war
ranted not to run, is mainly produced
| from cochineal; madder is the basis for
| crimson red and Turkey red, and yellow is
produced by fustic, qucrcitron bark or its
| concentrated extract, called flavine, and
| from Avignon or Persian berries. The
! mordants remain also unchanged Chief
| among them is the oxide of tin, called tin
! spirits by the trade. This fixes the scarlet
| colors founded upon cochineal; but alum
| is used MS a mordant for crimson red, and
cherry red is produced with tin NOR
dant from ammoniacal cochincal Turkey
red is produced from madder on an alumi-
nous basis. Thus ran the formula in the
old art of dycing, and thus it runs still.
hniline is rather re enforcement than an
independent agent. Prussan blue, how
ever, is purely chemical product, and its
discovery antedated the discovery of ami
line colors.
But after the production of the simple
or primary colors comes the production of
tho infinite variety of tints that go to
make up the total used in the industrial
arts. In this work tho process of the
dyer differs from the process Of the painter
rat her in the means of execution than in
| Ia, min ipln ypl ha
tho dyer wish to produce green fabricl
He may mix indigo (blue) with fustic OF
| quercitron bark yellow handling at tho
| same time the mordauts in accordance
with the teachings of the best experience
and the result will be the desired color
Does he want orange2 The dyes that pro
duce yellow and red will give him an
orange fiber and by tho same process OF
combination he may have purple. violet
mauve, gray, drab, black, or any one OF
NJ. Chevreuls $4,000 chromatic tints. But
he should be man with trained eye
and person who is color blind vii
hardly make dyer.
Dyeng is one of our most important in
dustres, employing in New York alone
nearly 5000 men. at wages averaging
about SlS week. 1t does not belong
strictly to tho process of manufacture
as commonly supposed, but it is q separ
ate art, 1t may be easily seen, too, tina
there is no other industrial art where
there is more lilSely to be n marked differ
ence in tho capacity of different workmeu
First, there Is demanded the accomplish
ment of knowing the mechanical process
to perfection. It is an operation tina
must be timed to nicely, as the best re
suits may be lost even at the moment o
fruition. Then, again, no man can eve
become O good dyer, no matter what tn
length Of his training, who is in any wa,
defective in his sense of color. In a Ger
tain sense the dyer is professional color
the skein. and much of the beauty of tn
finished fabric is due to the taste for com
bination in the designer of patterns, tn
dyer has his share, and very large share
in the success of tho work. 1t is the ad
vance in the art of dyeing that makes tn
chief superiority in the coloring of tn
moro modern goods, and not the advanc
in the art of combination and design.
Were the subject of dyeing to b
treated broadly it might be made to in
clude other arts besides the art of dyein
textile fabrics. Other material may
made TO receive coloring matter in man
Ter TO change its appearance as CON
I!etely rs the appearance of these fabric
IL changed. The endolithic process in tn
treatment of marble furnishes an IL
stance. Marbles subjected to this pre-
cess are as completely dyed when it /
thought worth while to change the entir
substance, as skeiu of silk and made t
initiate perfectly the product Of an
ancient or modern quarry, or to absor
pictures. But this is not credited to tn
dyers art and stands as a distinct di,
covery, with only the antiquity of fe'
years TO mako il venerable. The tru
dyer can trace his lineage back almost a
] far oS tho sbnop,nl Nau NprL Snp