The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-12-02
SOLVES SECRET OF TEUTONs.
First Run of the Dye Proves That It Is
the Equal or Superior of the German
Made Product and That 1t Can Be
Produced Much Cheaper.

"nNOC Ingenuity A6uUSud lily GuulGy,
If you will, has anticipated the dicker-
lngs of diplomats and American manu-
facturers, many of whom have been
forced to close down plants on account
of the lack of black analine dye stuffs.
see ray of light in sight in the an
nouncement made in Kenosha today
that the Black Cat Hosiery Company,
probably the largest user of this class
OF dyes in the country has opened a
plant for the manufacture Of a "black
analine' which is in every way the
equal if not the superior of the German
made dye. More than this, the an
nouncement states that this dye can be
supplied commercially at price below
the cost of dyes imported from Ger
many and that it will insure the con-
tinuance of labels declaring absolutely
fast black Thomas A. Edison and
the General Chemical company have
both been working along the edges of
the problem Of an American made ana
line black but these dealings have been
largely experimental. The Black Cat
company in Kenosha has brought the
matter down to practical manufacture
er's proposition and the announcement
today declares that the new fully equip
ped plant in Kenosha will be able to sup
ply at least a thousand pounds day Of
analine dye. The first "run' of the
dye has been tried out and the stock
ings dyed with it have been submitted
to the most possible severe tests. The
dye is declared to have been entirely
satisfactory and in many ways superior
to the German made dye.
cit is not wholly matter for our
local satisfaction, said General Man
ager r. N. Kimbal of the Black Cat
company today. 1We have sought to
make this a commercial proposition in
order to save our own heads and we find
that it will be possible with the plant
at the present size to produce more dye
| than we can use and this we will be
able to apportion to other plants who
like us have felt the grinding heel of
war in Germany. IL we could buy this
dye stuff we might not be so interested
in new processes. Germany demands
for her dye stuffs the equivalent in cot
ton. Diplomats have sought to make
some agreement along these lines but
Germany is obdurate. We believe that
we are now in a position to call off the
diplomats.
''The problem of black analine has
been the biggest problem of the manu-
facturers of textiles since the war be-
gan. Mr.. Edison showed a willingness
| to help but he could not deliver the dye
fast enough to meet the demands. I
have recently asked the agents of both
the Edison companies and the General
Chemical company for some assurance
as to dyes but they have informed me
/ that they could give no idea as to when
deliveries could be made or as to the
price to be paid. We just stumbled
onto this method of making the dye
stuff. We found a man in New York
who thought he could tell us how the
Germans made dyes. We just gambled
some twenty-five thousand dollars in
testing out his expert opinion. The ap-
paratus which we are using was made
at great expense but we find that the
results are highly satisfactory The
question of .fast black is the biggest
question in the industry. Other blacks
have been made but this that is pro-
duced in the plant here is 'aal fast
black 1t will stand every test that
any German dye will stand and we be
lieve that it stands up better. In the
I reduction of it we use benzol, mixtures
of sulphuric and nitric acid and iron
behring's. We are safeguarded against
the cutting off of supplies of cur acids
by long term contracts with men N this
country who have the acids to sell, The
behring's are secured from local factories
and we can get a plenty of them all the
time. Of course these acids are used
for the manufacture of explosives and
i for this reason we must pay q fancy
] price for them now but at that we can
produce the dye a lot cheaper than we
can import it. To show you that the
dye is all that we claim for it we need
only cite the fact that the agents of
the greatest German dye selling com
Ipanies have been here and sought to
secure our surplus stock This we are
not in favor of, as we prefer to give
ito the trade in general any surplus that
we may be able to make. The whole
plan has worked out SO satisfactorily
that we feel convinced that the Black
Cat companv will be entirely independ
emit of German war time prices in the
future and on normal basis we can
make this dye in America just as cheap
and nnssihlu a little cheaner than 1t has