Chapter 26 of 43 · 13525 words · ~68 min read

part Mix

. Directions: Apply occasionally with a sponge.

Among those things which at least assist one in bearing the affliction is frequent change of underwear. The undergarments worn during the day should never be worn at night. Scratching or rubbing should be avoided where possible. Avoid stimulating food and drinks, especially alcohol, and by all means keep the bowels in a soluble condition.

«Cleaning and Polishing Linoleum.»—Wash the linoleum with a mixture of equal parts of milk and water, wipe dry, and rub in the following mixture by means of a cloth rag: Yellow wax, 5 parts; turpentine oil, 11 parts; varnish, 5 parts. As a glazing agent, a solution of a little yellow wax in turpentine oil is also recommended. Other polishing agents are:

I.—Palm oil, 1 part; paraffine, 18; kerosene, 4.

II.—Yellow wax, 1 part; carnauba wax, 2; turpentine oil, 10; benzine, 5.

«Lavatory Deodorant.»—

Sodium bicarbonate 5 ounces Alum 5 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Potassium bromide 4 ounces Hydrochloric acid enough Water enough to make 4 pints.

To 3 parts of boiling water add the alum and then the bicarbonate. Introduce enough hydrochloric acid to dissolve the precipitate of aluminum hydrate which forms and then add the potassium bromide. Add enough water to bring the measure of the finished product up to 4 pints.

«Removal of Odors from Wooden Boxes, Chests, Drawers, etc.»—This is done by varnishing them with a solution of shellac, after the following manner: Make a solution of shellac, 1,000 parts; alcohol, 90 per cent to 95 per cent, 1,000 parts; boric acid, 50 parts; castor oil, 50 parts. The shellac is first dissolved in the alcohol and the acid and oil added afterwards. For the first coating use 1 part of the solution cut with from 1 to 2 parts of alcohol, according to the porosity of the wood—the more porous the less necessity for cutting. When the first coat is absorbed and dried in, repeat the application, if the wood is very porous, with the diluted shellac, but if of hard, dense wood, the final coating may be now put on, using the solution without addition of alcohol. If desired, the solution may be colored with any of the alcohol soluble aniline colors. The shellac solution, by the way, may be applied to the outside of chests, etc., and finished off after the fashion of “French polish.” {399} When used this way, a prior application of 2 coats of linseed oil is advisable.

«Stencil Marking Ink that will Wash Out.»—Triturate together 1 part of fine soot and 2 parts of Prussian blue, with a little glycerine; then add 3 parts of gum arabic and enough glycerine to form a thin paste.

«Washing Fluid.»—Take 1 pound sal soda, 1⁠/⁠2 pound good stone lime, and 5 quarts of water; boil a short time, let it settle, and pour off the clear fluid into a stone jug, and cork for use; soak the white clothes overnight in simple water, wring out and soap wristbands, collars, and dirty or stained places. Have the boiler half filled with water just beginning to boil, then put in 1 common teacupful of fluid, stir and put in your clothes, and boil for half an hour, then rub lightly through one suds only, and all is complete.

«Starch Luster.»—A portion of stearine, the size of an old-fashioned cent, added to starch, 1⁠/⁠2 pound, and boiled with it for 2 or 3 minutes, will add greatly to the beauty of linen, to which it may be applied.

«To Make Loose Nails in Walls Rigid.»—As soon as a nail driven in the wall becomes loose and the plastering begins to break, it can be made solid and firm by the following process: Saturate a bit of wadding with thick dextrin or glue; wrap as much of it around the nail as possible and reinsert the latter in the hole, pressing it home as strongly as possible. Remove the excess of glue or dextrin, wiping it cleanly off with a rag dipped in clean water; then let dry. The nail will then be firmly fastened in place. If the loose plastering be touched with the glue and replaced, it will adhere and remain firm.

«How to Keep Lamp Burners in Order.»—In the combustion of coal oil a carbonaceous residue is left, which attaches itself very firmly to the metal along the edge of the burner next the flame. This is especially true of round burners, where the heat of the flame is more intense than in flat ones, and the deposit of carbon, where not frequently removed, soon gets sufficiently heavy to interfere seriously with the movement of the wick up or down. The deposit may be scraped off with a knife blade, but a much more satisfactory process of getting rid of it is as follows: Dissolve sodium carbonate, 1 part, in 5 or 6 parts of water, and in this boil the burner for 5 minutes or so. When taken out the burner will look like a new one, and acts like one, provided that the apparatus for raising and lowering the wick has not previously been bent and twisted by attempting to force the wick past rough deposits.

«To Remove the Odor from Pasteboard.»—Draw the pasteboard through a 3 per cent solution of viscose in water. The pasteboard must be calendered after drying.

«To Remove Woody Odor.»—To get rid of that frequently disagreeable smell in old chests, drawers, etc., paint the surface over with the following mixture:

Acetic ether 100 parts Formaldehyde 6 parts Acid, carbolic 4 parts Tincture of eucalyptus leaves 60 parts

Mix. After applying the mixture expose the article to the open air in the sunlight.

«To Keep Flies Out of a House.»—Never allow a speck of food to remain uncovered in dining room or pantry any length of time after meals. Never leave remnants of food exposed that you intend for cat or hens. Feed at once or cover their food up a distance from the house. Let nothing decay near the house. Keep your dining room and pantry windows open a few inches most of the time. Darken your room and pantry when not in use. If there should be any flies they will go to the window when the room is darkened, where they are easily caught, killed, or brushed out.

«An Easy Way to Wash a Heavy Comfortable.»—Examine the comfortable, and if you find soiled spots soap them and scrub with a small brush. Hang the comfortable on a strong line and turn the hose on. When one side is washed turn and wash the other. The water forces its way through cotton and covering, making the comfortable as light and fluffy as when new. Squeeze the corners and ends as dry as possible.

«Preservation of Carpets.»—Lay sheets of brown paper under the carpet. This gives a soft feeling to the foot, and by diminishing the wear adds longer life to the carpet; at the same time it tends to keep away the air and renders the apartments warm.

«To Do Away with Wiping Dishes.»—Make a rack by putting a shelf over the kitchen sink, slanting it so that the water {400} will drain off into the sink. Put a lattice railing about 6 inches high at the front and ends of the shelf so that dishes can be set against it on their edges without falling out. Have 2 pans of hot water. Wash the dishes in one and rinse them in the other. Set them on edge in the rack and leave until dry.

«A Convenient Table.»—

Ten common-sized eggs weigh 1 pound.

Soft butter, the size of an egg, weighs 1 ounce.

One pint of coffee and of sugar weighs 12 ounces.

One quart of sifted flour (well heaped) weighs 1 pound.

One pint of best brown sugar weighs 12 ounces.

«How to Make a Cellar Waterproof.»—The old wall surface should be roughened and perfectly cleaned before plastering is commenced. It may be advisable to put the first coat on not thicker than 1⁠/⁠4 inch, and after this has set it may be cut and roughened by a pointing trowel. Then apply a second 1⁠/⁠4-inch coat and finish this to an even and smooth surface. Proportion of plaster: One-half part slaked lime, 1 part Portland cement, part fine, sharp sand, to be mixed well and applied instantly.

«Removing Old Wall Paper.»—Some paper hangers remove old paper from walls by first dampening it with water in which a little baking soda has been dissolved, the surface being then gone over with a “scraper” or other tool. However, the principle object of any method is to soften the old paste. This may be readily accomplished by first wetting a section of the old paper with cold or tepid water, using a brush, repeating the wetting until the paper and paste are soaked through, when the paper may easily be pulled off, or, if too tender, may be scraped with any instrument of a chisel form shoved between the paper and the wall. The wall should then be washed with clean water, this operation being materially assisted by wetting the wall ahead of the washing.

«Stained Ceilings.»—Take unslaked white lime, dilute with alcohol, and paint the spots with it. When the spots are dry—which will be soon, as the alcohol evaporates and the lime forms a sort of insulating layer—one can proceed painting with size color, and the spots will not show through again.

«To Overcome Odors in Freshly Papered Rooms.»—After the windows and doors of such rooms have been closed, bring in red-hot coal and strew on this several handfuls of juniper berries. About 12 hours later open all windows and doors, so as to admit fresh air, and it will be found that the bad smell has entirely disappeared.

«Treatment of Damp Walls.»—I.—A good and simple remedy to obviate this evil is caoutchouc glue, which is prepared from rubber hose. The walls to be laid dry are first to be thoroughly cleaned by brushing and rubbing off; then the caoutchouc size, which has been previously made liquid by heating, is applied with a broad brush in a uniform layer—about 8 to 12 inches higher than the wall appears damp—and finally paper is pasted over the glue when the latter is still sticky. The paper will at once adhere very firmly. Or else, apply the liquefied glue in a uniform layer upon paper (wall paper, caoutchouc paper, etc.). Upon this, size paint may be applied, or it may be covered with wall paper or plaster.

If the caoutchouc size is put on with the necessary care—i. e., if all damp spots are covered with it—the wall is laid dry for the future, and no peeling off of the paint or the wall paper needs to be apprehended. In cellars, protection from dampness can be had in a like manner, as the caoutchouc glue adheres equally well to all surfaces, whether stone, glass, metal, or wood.

II.—The walls must be well cleaned before painting. If the plaster should be worn and permeated with saltpeter in places it should be renewed and smoothed. These clean surfaces are coated twice with a water-glass solution, 1.1, using a brush and allowed to dry well. Then they are painted 3 times with the following mixture: Dissolve 100 parts, by weight, of mastic in 10 parts of absolute alcohol; pour 1,000 parts of water over 200 parts of isinglass; allow to soak for 6 hours; heat to solution and add 100 parts of alcohol (50 per cent). Into this mixture pour a hot solution of 50 parts of ammonia in 250 parts of alcohol (50 per cent), stir well, and subsequently add the mastic solution and stand aside warm, stirring diligently. After 5 minutes take away from the fire and painting may be commenced. Before a fresh application, however, the solution should be removed.

When this coating has dried completely it is covered with oil or varnish paint, preferably the latter. In the same manner the exudation of so-called saltpeter {401} in fresh masonry or on the exterior of façades, etc., may be prevented, size paint or lime paint being employed instead of the oil-varnish paint. New walls which are to be painted will give off no more saltpeter after 2 or 3 applications of the isinglass solution, so that the colors of the wall paper will not be injured either. Stains caused by smoke, soot, etc., on ceilings of rooms, kitchens, or corridors which are difficult to cover up with size paint, may also be completely isolated by applying the warm isinglass solution 2 or 3 times. The size paint is, of course, put on only after complete drying of the ceilings.

«To Protect Papered Walls from Vermin.»—It is not infrequent that when the wall paper becomes defective or loose in papered rooms, vermin, bed bugs, ants, etc., will breed behind it. In order to prevent this evil a little colocynth powder should be added to the paste used for hanging the paper, in the proportion of 50 or 60 parts for 3,000 parts.

«Care of Refrigerators.»—See that the sides or walls of all refrigerators are occasionally scoured with soap, or soap and slaked lime.

«Dust Preventers.»—Against the beneficial effects to be observed in the use of most preparations we must place the following bad effects: The great smoothness and slipperiness of the boards during the first few days after every application of the dressing, which forbids the use of the latter on steps, floors of gymnasia, dancing floors, etc. The fact that the oil or grease penetrates the soles of the boots or shoes, the hems of ladies’ dresses, and things accidentally falling to the floor are soiled and spotted. Besides these there is, especially during the first few days after application, the dirty dark coloration which the boards take on after protracted use of the oils. Finally, there is the considerable cost of any process, especially for smaller rooms and apartments. In schoolrooms and railroad waiting rooms and other places much frequented by children and others wearing shoes set with iron, the boards soon become smooth from wear, and for such places the process is not suited.

According to other sources of information, these evil tendencies of the application vanish altogether, or are reduced to a minimum, if (1) entirely fresh, or at least, not rancid oils be used; (2) if, after each oiling, a few days be allowed to elapse before using the chamber or hall, and finally (3), if resort is not had to costly foreign special preparations, but German goods, procurable at wholesale in any quantity, and at very low figures.

The last advice (to use low-priced preparations) seems sensible since according to recent experiments, none of the oils experimented upon possess any especial advantages over the others.

An overwhelming majority of the laboratories for examination have given a verdict in favor of oil as a dust-suppressing application for floors, and have expressed a desire to see it in universal use. The following is a suggestion put forth for the use of various preparations:

This dust-absorbing agent has for its object to take up the dust in sweeping floors, etc., and to prevent its development. The production is as follows: Mix in an intimate manner 12 parts, by weight, of mineral sperm oil with 88 parts, by weight, of Roman or Portland cement, adding a few drops of mirbane oil. Upon stirring a uniform paste forms at first, which then passes into a greasy, sandy mass. This mass is sprinkled upon the surface to be swept and cleaned of dust, next going over it with a broom or similar object in the customary manner, at which operation the dust will mix with the mass. The preparation can be used repeatedly.

HUNYADI WATER: See Water.

HYDROCHINON DEVELOPER: See Photography.

HYDROGEN, AMALGAMS AS A SOURCE OF NASCENT: See Amalgams.

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AS A PRESERVATIVE: See Preserving.

«HYDROMETER AND ITS USE.»

Fill the tall cylinder or test glass with the spirit to be tested and see that it is of the proper temperature (60° F.). Should the thermometer indicate a higher temperature wrap the cylinder in cloths which have been dipped in cold water until the temperature falls to the required degree. If too low a temperature is indicated, reverse the process, using warm instead of cold applications. When 60° is reached note the specific gravity on the floating hydrometer. Have the cylinder filled to the top and look across the top of the liquid at the mark on the hydrometer. This is to preclude an {402} incorrect reading by possible refraction in the glass cylinder.

«HYGROMETERS AND HYGROSCOPES:»

«Paper Hygrometers.»—Paper hygrometers are made by saturating white blotting paper with the following liquid and then hanging up to dry:

Cobalt chloride 1 ounce Sodium chloride 1⁠/⁠2 ounce Calcium chloride 75 grains Acacia 1⁠/⁠4 ounce Water 3 ounces

The amount of moisture in the atmosphere is roughly indicated by the changing color of the papers, as follows:

Rose red rain Pale red very moist Bluish red moist Lavender blue nearly dry Blue very dry

«Colored Hygroscopes.»—These instruments are often composed of a flower or a figure, of light muslin or paper, immersed in one of the following solutions:

I.—Cobalt chloride 1 part Gelatin 10 parts Water 100 parts

The normal coloring is pink; this color changes into violet in medium humid weather and into blue in very dry weather.

II.—Cupric chloride 1 part Gelatin 10 parts Water 100 parts

The color is yellow in dry weather.

III.—Cobalt chloride 1 part Gelatin 20 parts Nickel oxide 75 parts Cupric chloride 25 parts Water 200 parts

The color is green in dry weather.

HYOSCYAMUS, ANTIDOTE TO: See Atropine.

«ICE:»

See also Etching.

Most inks for glass will also write on celluloid and the metals. The following {404} I and II are the most widely known recipes:

I.—In 500 parts of water dissolve 36 parts of sodium fluoride and 7 parts of sodium sulphate. In another vessel dissolve in the same amount of water 14 parts of zinc chloride and to the solution add 56 parts of concentrated hydrochloric acid. To use, mix equal volumes of the two solutions and add a little India ink; or, in the absence of this, rub up a little lampblack with it. It is scarcely necessary to say that the mixture should not be put in glass containers, unless they are well coated internally with paraffine, wax, gutta-percha, or some similar material. To avoid the inconvenience of keeping the solutions in separate bottles, mix them and preserve in a rubber bottle. A quill pen is best to use in writing with this preparation, but metallic pens may be used, if quite clean and new.

II.—In 150 parts of alcohol dissolve 20 parts of rosin, and add to this, drop by drop, stirring continuously, a solution of 35 parts of borax in 250 parts of water. This being accomplished, dissolve in the solution sufficient methylene blue to give it the desired tint.

«Ink for Writing on Glazed Cardboard.»—The following are especially recommended for use on celluloid:

I.—Dissolve 4 drachms of brown shellac in 4 ounces of alcohol. Dissolve 7 drachms of borax in 6 ounces of distilled water. Pour the first solution slowly into the second and carefully mix them, after which add 12 grains of aniline dye of the desired color. Violet, blue, green, red, yellow, orange, or black aniline dyes can be used.

Such inks may be used for writing on bottles, and the glass may be cleaned with water without the inscription being impaired.

II.—Ferric chloride 10 parts Tannin 15 parts Acetone 100 parts

Dissolve the ferric chloride in a portion of the acetone and the tannin in the residue, and mix the solutions.

III.—Dissolve a tar dyestuff of the desired color in anhydrous acetic acid.

«Indelible Inks for Glass or Metal.»—Schobel recommends the following inks for marking articles of glass, glass slips for microscopy, reagent flasks, etc., in black:

I.—Sodium silicate 1 to 2 parts Liquid India ink 1 part

For white:

II.—Sodium water glass 3 to 4 parts Chinese white 1 part

Instead of Chinese white, a sufficient amount of the so-called permanent white (barium sulphate) may be used. The containers for these inks should be kept air-tight. The writing in either case is not attacked by any reagent used in microscopical technique but may be readily scraped away with a knife. The slips or other articles should be as near chemically clean as possible, before attempting to write on them.

According to Schuh, a mixture of a shellac solution and whiting or precipitated chalk answers very well for marking glass. Any color may be mixed with the chalk. If the glass is thoroughly cleaned with alcohol or ether, either a quill pen or a camel’s-hair pencil (or a fresh, clean steel pen) may be used.

«Ink on Marble.»—Ink marks on marble may be removed with a paste made by dissolving an ounce of oxalic acid and half an ounce of butter of antimony in a pint of rain water, and adding sufficient flour to form a thin paste. Apply this to the stains with a brush; allow it to remain on 3 or 4 days and then wash it off. Make a second application, if necessary.

«Perpetual Ink.»—I.—Pitch, 3 pounds; melt over the fire, and add of lampblack, 3⁠/⁠4 pound; mix well.

II.—Trinidad asphaltum and oil of turpentine, equal parts. Used in a melted state to fill in the letters on tombstones, marbles, etc. Without actual violence, it will endure as long as the stone itself.

«Ink for Steel Tools.»—Have a rubber stamp made with white letters on a black ground. Make up an ink to use with this stamp, as follows:

Ordinary rosin, 1⁠/⁠2 pound; lard oil, 1 tablespoonful; lampblack, 2 tablespoonfuls; turpentine, 2 tablespoonfuls. Melt the rosin, and stir in the other ingredients in the order given. When the ink is cold it should look like ordinary printers’ ink. Spread a little of this ink over the pad and ink the rubber stamp as usual, and press it on the clean steel—saw blade, for instance. Have a rope of soft putty, and make a border of putty around the stamped design as close up to the lettering as possible, so that no portion of the steel inside the ring of putty is exposed but the lettering. Then pour into the putty ring the etching mixture, composed of 1 ounce of nitric acid, 1 ounce of {405} muriatic acid, and 12 ounces of water. Allow it to rest for only a minute, draw off the acid with a glass or rubber syringe, and soak up the last trace of acid with a moist sponge. Take off the putty, and wipe off the design with potash solution first, and then with turpentine, and the job is done.

«Writing on Ivory, Glass, etc.»—Nitrate of silver, 3 parts; gum arabic, 20 parts; distilled water, 30 parts. Dissolve the gum arabic in two-thirds of the water, and the nitrate of silver in the other third. Mix and add the desired color.

«Writing on Zinc» (see also Horticultural Inks).—Take 1 part sulphate of copper (copper vitriol), 1 part chloride of potassium, both dissolved in 35 parts water. With this blue liquid, writing or drawing may be done with a common steel pen upon zinc which has been polished bright with emery paper. After the writing is done the plates are put in water and left in it for some time, then taken out and dried. The writing will remain intact as long as the zinc. If the writing or drawing should be brown, 1 part sulphate of iron (green vitriol) is added to the above solution. The chemicals are dissolved in warm water and the latter must be cold before it can be used.

«GOLD INK.»

I.—The best gold ink is made by rubbing up gold leaf as thoroughly as possible with a little honey. The honey is then washed away with water, and the finely powdered gold leaf left is mixed to the consistency of a writing ink with weak gum water. Everything depends upon the fineness of the gold powder, i. e., upon the diligence with which it has been worked with the honey. Precipitated gold is finer than can be got by any rubbing, but its color is wrong, being dark brown. The above gold ink should be used with a quill pen.

II.—An imitation gold or bronze ink is composed by grinding 1,000 parts of powdered bronze of handsome color with a varnish prepared by boiling together 500 parts of nut oil, 200 parts of garlic, 500 parts of cocoanut oil, 100 parts of Naples yellow, and as much of sienna.

«HORTICULTURAL INK.»

I.—Chlorate of platinum, 1⁠/⁠4 ounce; soft water, 1 pint. Dissolve and preserve it in glass. Used with a clean quill to write on zinc labels. It almost immediately turns black, and cannot be removed by washing. The addition of gum and lampblack, as recommended in certain books, is unnecessary, and even prejudicial to the quality of the ink.

II.—Verdigris and sal ammoniac, of each 1⁠/⁠2 ounce; levigated lampblack, 1⁠/⁠2 ounce; common vinegar, 1⁠/⁠4 pint; mix thoroughly. Used as the last, for either zinc, iron, or steel.

III.—Blue vitriol, 1 ounce; sal ammoniac, 1⁠/⁠2 ounce (both in powder); vinegar, 1⁠/⁠4 pint; dissolve. A little lampblack or vermilion may be added, but it is not necessary. Use No. I, for iron, tin, or steel plate.

«INDELIBLE INKS.»

These are also frequently called waterproof, incorrodible, or indestructible inks. They are employed for writing labels on bottles containing strong acids and alkaline solutions. They may be employed with stamps, types or stencil plates, by which greater neatness will be secured than can be obtained with either a brush or pen.

The following is a superior preparation for laundry use:

Aniline oil 85 parts Potassium chlorate 5 parts Distilled water 44 parts Hydrochloric acid, pure (specific gravity, 1.124) 68 parts Copper chloride, pure 6 parts

Mix the aniline oil, potassium chlorate, and 26 parts of the water and heat in a capacious vessel, on the water bath, at a temperature of from 175° to 195° F., until the chlorate is entirely dissolved, then add one-half of the hydrochloric and continue the heat until the mixture begins to take on a darker color. Dissolve the copper chloride in the residue of the water, add the remaining hydrochloric acid to the solution, and add the whole to the liquid on the water bath, and heat the mixture until it acquires a fine red-violet color. Pour into a flask with a well-fitting ground-glass stopper, close tightly and set aside for several days, or until it ceases to throw down a precipitate. When this is the case, pour off the clear liquid into smaller (one drachm or a drachm and a half) containers.

This ink must be used with a quill pen, and is especially good for linen or cotton fabrics, but does not answer so well for silk or woolen goods. When first used, it appears as a pale red, but on washing with soap or alkalies, or on exposure to {406} the air, becomes a deep, dead black. The following is a modification of the foregoing:

«Blue Indelible Ink.»—This ink has the reputation of resisting not only water and oil, but alcohol, oxalic acid, alkalies, the chlorides, etc. It is prepared as follows: Dissolve 4 parts of gum lac in 36 parts of boiling water carrying 2 parts of borax. Filter and set aside. Now dissolve 2 parts of gum arabic in 4 parts of water and add the solution to the filtrate. Finally, after the solution is quite cold, add 2 parts of powdered indigo and dissolve by agitation. Let stand for several hours, then decant, and put in small bottles.

«Red Indelible Inks.»—By proceeding according to the following formula, an intense purple-red color may be produced on fabrics, which is indelible in the customary sense of the word:

1.—Sodium carbonate 3 drachms Gum arabic 3 drachms Water 12 drachms

2.—Platinic chloride 1 drachm Distilled water 2 ounces

3.—Stannous chloride 1 drachm Distilled water 4 drachms

Moisten the place to be written upon with No. 1 and rub a warm iron over it until dry; then write with No. 2, and, when dry, moisten with No. 3. An intense and beautiful purple-red color is produced in this way. A very rich purple color—the purple of Cassius—may be produced by substituting a solution of gold chloride for the platinic chloride in the above formula.

«Crimson Indelible Ink.»—

The following formula makes an indelible crimson ink:

Silver nitrate 50 parts Sodium carbonate, crystal 75 parts Tartaric acid 16 parts Carmine 1 part Ammonia water, strongest 288 parts Sugar, white, crystallized 36 parts Gum arabic, powdered 60 parts Distilled water, quantity sufficient to make 400 parts

Dissolve the silver nitrate and the sodium carbonate separately, each in a portion of the distilled water, mix the solutions, collect the precipitate on a filter, wash, and put the washed precipitate, still moist, into a mortar. To this add the tartaric acid, and rub together until effervescence ceases. Now, dissolve the carmine in the ammonia water (which latter should be of specific gravity .882, or contain 34 per cent of ammonia), filter, and add the filtrate to the silver tartrate magma in the mortar. Add the sugar and gum arabic, rub up together, and add gradually, with constant agitation, sufficient distilled water to make 400 parts.

«Gold Indelible Ink.»—Make two solutions as follows:

1.—Chloride of gold and sodium 1 part Water 10 parts Gum 2 parts

2.—Oxalic acid 1 part Water 5 parts Gum 2 parts

The cloth or stuff to be written on should be moistened with liquid No. 2. Let dry, and then write upon the prepared place with liquid No. 1, using preferably a quill pen. Pass a hot iron over the mark, pressing heavily.

«INDIA, CHINA, OR JAPAN INK.»

Ink by these names is based on lampblack, and prepared in various ways. Many makes flow less easily from the pen than other inks, and are less durable than ink that writes paler and afterwards turns black. The ink is usually unfitted for steel pens, but applies well with a brush.

I.—Lampblack (finest) is ground to a paste with very weak liquor of potassa, and this paste is then diffused through water slightly alkalized with potassa, after which it is collected, washed with clean water, and dried; the dry powder is next levigated to a smooth, stiff paste, with a strong filtered decoction of carrageen or Irish moss, or of quince seed, a few drops of essence of musk, and about half as much essence of ambergris being added, by way of perfume, toward the end of the process; the mass is, lastly, molded into cakes, which are ornamented with Chinese characters and devices, as soon as they are dry and hard.

II.—A weak solution of fine gelatin is boiled at a high temperature in a digester for 2 hours, and then in an open vessel for 1 hour more. The liquid is next filtered and evaporated to a proper consistency, either in a steam- or {407} salt-water bath. It is, lastly, made into a paste, as before, with lampblack which has been previously heated to dull redness in a well-closed crucible. Neither of the above gelatinizes in cold weather, like the ordinary imitations.

«To Keep India Ink Liquid.»—If one has to work with the ink for some time, a small piece should be dissolved in warm water and the tenth part of glycerine added, which mixes intimately with the ink after shaking for a short time. India ink thus prepared will keep very well in a corked bottle, and if a black jelly should form in the cold, it is quickly dissolved by heating. The ink flows well from the pen and does not wipe.

«INK POWDERS AND LOZENGES.»

Any of these powders may, by the addition of mucilage of gum arabic, be made into lozenges or buttons—the “ink buttons” or “ink stones” in use abroad and much affected by travelers.

The following makes a good serviceable black ink, on macerating the powder in 100 times its weight of rain or distilled water for a few days:

I.—Powdered gallnuts 16 parts Gum arabic 8 parts Cloves 1 part Iron sulphate 10 parts

Put into an earthenware or glass vessel, cover with 100 parts of rain or distilled water, and set aside for 10 days or 2 weeks, giving an occasional shake the first 3 or 4 days. Decant and bottle for use.

The following is ready for use instantly on being dissolved in water:

II.—Aleppo gallnuts 84 parts Dutch Madder 6 parts

Powder, mix, moisten, and pack into the percolator. Extract with hot water, filter, and press out. To the filtrate add 4 parts of iron acetate (or pyroacetate) and 2 1⁠/⁠2 parts of tincture of indigo. Put into the water bath and evaporate to dryness and powder the dry residue.

«LITHOGRAPHIC INKS.»

These are for writing on lithographic stones or plates:

I.—Mastic (in tears), 8 ounces; shellac, 12 ounces; Venice turpentine, 1 ounce. Melt together, add wax, 1 pound; tallow, 6 ounces. When dissolved, add hard tallow soap (in shavings), 6 ounces; and when the whole is perfectly combined, add lampblack, 4 ounces. Mix well, cool a little, and then pour it into molds, or upon a slab, and when cold cut it into square pieces.

II. (Lasteyrie).—Dry tallow soap, mastic (in tears), and common soda (in fine powder), of each, 30 parts; shellac, 150 parts; lampblack, 12 parts. Mix as indicated in Formula I.

«MARKING OR LABELING INKS:»

«Black Marking Inks.»—

I.—Borax 60 parts Shellac 180 parts Boiling water 1,000 parts Lampblack, a sufficient quantity.

Dissolve the borax in the water, add the shellac to the solution and stir until dissolved. Rub up a little lampblack with sufficient of the liquid to form a paste, and add the rest of the solution a little at a time and with constant rubbing. Test, and if not black enough, repeat the operation. To get the best effect—a pure jet-black—the lampblack should be purified and freed from the calcium phosphate always present in the commercial article to the extent, frequently, of 85 to 87 per cent, by treating with hydrochloric acid and washing with water.

II.—An ink that nothing will bleach is made by mixing pyrogallic acid and sulphate of iron in equal parts. Particularly useful for marking labels on bottles containing acids. Varnish the label after the ink is dry so that moisture will not affect it.

«COLORED MARKING INKS:»

Eosine Red.—

Eosine B 1 drachm Solution of mercuric chloride 2 drachms Mucilage of acacia 2 drachms Rectified spirit 4 ounces Oil of lavender 1 drop Distilled water 8 ounces

Dissolve the eosine in the solution and 2 ounces of water, add the mucilage, and mix, then the oil dissolved in the spirit, and finally make up.

Orange.—

Aniline orange 1 drachm Sugar 2 drachms Distilled water to 4 ounces

Blue.—

I.—Resorcin blue 1 drachm Distilled water 6 drachms

Mix and agitate occasionally for 2 hours, then add: {408}

Hot distilled water 24 ounces Oxalic acid 10 grains Sugar 1⁠/⁠2 ounce

Shake well. This and other aniline inks can be perfumed by rubbing up a drop of attar of rose with the sugar before dissolving it in the hot water.

II.—A solid blue ink, or marking paste, to be used with a brush for stenciling, is made as follows: Shellac, 2 ounces; borax, 2 ounces; water, 25 ounces; gum arabic, 2 ounces; and ultramarine, sufficient. Boil the borax and shellac in some of the water till they are dissolved, and withdraw from the fire. When the solution has become cold, add the rest of the 25 ounces of water, and the ultramarine. When it is to be used with the stencil, it must be made thicker than when it is to be applied with a marking brush.

III.—In a suitable kettle mix well, stirring constantly, 50 parts of liquid logwood extract (80 per cent) with 3 parts of spirit previously mingled with 1 part of hydrochloric acid, maintaining a temperature of 68° F. Dissolve 5 parts of potassium chromate in 15 parts of boiling water; to this add 10 parts of hydrochloric acid, and pour this mixture, after raising the temperature to about 86° F., very slowly and with constant stirring into the kettle. Then heat the whole to 185° F. This mass, which has now assumed the nature of an extract, is stirred a little longer, and next 15 parts of dextrin mixed with 10 parts of fine white earth (white bole) are added. The whole is well stirred throughout. Transfer the mass from the kettle into a crusher, where it is thoroughly worked through.

«PRINTING INKS.»

Black printing inks owe their color to finely divided carbon made from lampblack, pine-wood, rosin oil, etc., according to the quality of the ink desired. The finest inks are made from flame-lampblack. There are, however, certain requirements made of all printing inks alike, and these are as follows: The ink must be a thick and homogeneous liquid, it must contain no solid matter but finely divided carbon, and every drop when examined microscopically must appear as a clear liquid containing black grains uniformly distributed.

The consistency of a printing ink must be such that it passes on to the printing rollers at the proper rate. It will be obvious that various consistencies are demanded according to the nature of the machine used by the printer. For a rotary machine which prints many thousands of copies an hour a much thinner ink will be necessary than that required for art printing or for slow presses. As regards color, ordinary printing ink should be a pure black. For economy’s sake, however, newspaper printers often use an ink so diluted that it does not look deep black, but a grayish black, especially in large type.

The question of the time that the ink takes to dry on the paper is a very important one, especially with ink used for printing newspapers which are folded and piled at one operation. If then the ink does not dry very quickly, the whole impression smudges and “sets off” so much that it becomes illegible in places. Although it is essential to have a quick drying ink for this purpose, it is dangerous to go too far, for a too quickly drying ink would make the paper stick to the forms and tear it. A last condition which must be fulfilled by a good printing ink is that it must be easy of removal from the type, which has to be used again.

No one composition will answer every purpose and a number of different inks are required. Makers of printing inks are obliged, therefore, to work from definite recipes so as to be able to turn out exactly the same ink again and again. They make newspaper ink for rotary presses, book-printing inks, half-tone inks, art inks, etc. As the recipes have been attained only by long, laborious, and costly experiments, it is obvious that the makers are not disposed to communicate them, and the recipes that are offered and published must be looked upon with caution, as many of them are of little or no value. In the recipes given below for printing inks, the only intention is to give hints of the general composition, and the practical man will easily discover what, if any, alterations have to be made in the recipe for his special purpose.

Many different materials for this manufacture are given in recipes, so many, in fact, that it is impossible to discover what use they are in the ink. The following is a list of the articles commonly in use for the manufacture of printing ink:

Boiled linseed oil, boiled without driers.

Rosin oil from the dry distillation of rosin.

Rosin itself, especially American pine rosin. {409}

Soap, usually rosin-soap, but occasionally ordinary soap.

Lampblack and various other pigments.

By the most time-honored method, linseed oil was very slowly heated over an open fire until it ignited. It was allowed to burn for a time and then extinguished by putting a lid on the pot. In this way a liquid was obtained of a dark brown or black color with particles of carbon, and with a consistency varying with the period of heating, being thicker, the longer the heating was continued. If necessary, the liquid was then thinned with unboiled, or only very slightly boiled, linseed oil. Lampblack in the proper quantity was added and the mixture was finally rubbed up on a stone in small quantities at a time to make it uniform.

«Boiling the Linseed Oil.»—This process, although it goes by the name of boiling, is not so in the proper sense of the word, but a heating having for its object an initial oxidation of the oil, so that it will dry better. Linseed oil is a type of the drying oils, those which when exposed in thin coats to the air absorb large quantities of oxygen and are thereby converted into tough, solid sheets having properties very similar to those of soft India rubber. The process goes on much faster with the aid of heat than at the ordinary temperature, and the rate at which the boiled oil will dry in the ink can be exactly regulated by heating it for a longer or shorter time. Prolonged heating gives an oil which will dry very quickly on exposure in thin coats to the air, the shorter the heating the more slowly will the ink afterwards made with the oil dry.

Linseed oil must always be boiled in vessels where it has plenty of room, as the oil soon swells up and it begins to decompose so energetically at a particular temperature that there is considerable risk of its boiling over and catching fire. Various contrivances have been thought out for boiling large quantities of the oil with safety, such as pans with an outlet pipe in the side, through which the oil escapes when it rises too high instead of over the edge of the pan, and fires built on a trolley running on rails, so that they can at once be moved from under the pan if there is any probability of the latter boiling over. The best apparatus for preparing thickened linseed oil is undoubtedly one in which the oil offers a very large surface to the air, and on that account requires to be moderately heated only. The oil soon becomes very thick under these conditions and if necessary can be diluted to any required consistency with unboiled oil.

In boiling linseed oil down to the proper thickness by the old method there are two points demanding special attention. One is the liability of the oil to boil over, and the other consists in the development of large quantities of vapor, mostly of acroleine, which have a most powerful and disagreeable smell, and an intense action upon the eyes. The attendant must be protected from these fumes, and the boiling must therefore be done where there is a strong draught to take the fumes as fast as they are produced. There are various contrivances to cope with boiling over.

«Savage’s Printing Ink.»—Pure balsam of copaiba, 9 ounces; lampblack, 3 ounces; indigo and Prussian blue, each 5 drachms; Indian red, 3⁠/⁠4 ounce; yellow soap, 3 ounces. Mix, and grind to the utmost smoothness.

«Toning Black Inks.»—Printers’ inks consisting solely of purified lampblack and vehicle give, of course, impressions which are pure black. It is, however, well known that a black which has to a practiced eye a tinge of blue in it looks much better than a pure black. To make such an ink many makers mix the lampblack with a blue pigment, which is added in very fine powder before the first grinding. Prussian blue is the pigment usually chosen and gives very attractive results. Prussian blue is, however, not a remarkable stable substance, and is very apt to turn brown from the formation of ferric oxide. Hence an ink made with Prussian blue, although it may look very fine at first, often assumes a dull brown hue in the course of time. Excellent substitutes for Prussian blue are to be found in the Induline blues. These are very fast dyes, and inks tinted with them do not change color. As pure indigo is now made artificially and sold at a reasonable price, this extremely fast dye can also be used for tinting inks made with purified lampblack.

«To Give Dark Inks a Bronze or Changeable Hue.»—Dissolve 1 1⁠/⁠2 pounds gum shellac in 1 gallon 65 per cent alcohol or cologne spirits for 24 hours. Then add 14 ounces aniline red. Let it stand a few hours longer, when it will be ready for use. Add this to good blue, black, or other dark ink, as needed in quantities to suit, when if carefully done {410} they will be found to have a rich bronze or changeable hue.

«Quick Dryer for Inks Used on Bookbinders’ Cases.»—Beeswax, 1 ounce; gum arabic (dissolved in sufficient acetic acid to make a thin mucilage), 1⁠/⁠4 ounce; brown japan, 1⁠/⁠4 ounce. Incorporate with 1 pound of good cut ink.

«INKS FOR STAMP PADS.»

The ink used on vulcanized rubber stamps should be such that when applied to a suitable pad it remains sufficiently fluid to adhere to the stamp. At the same time the fluidity should cease by the time the stamp is pressed upon an absorbing surface such as paper. Formerly these inks were made by rubbing up pigments in fat to a paste. Such inks can hardly be prevented, however, from making impressions surrounded by a greasy mark caused by the fat spreading in the pores of the paper. Now, most stamping inks are made without grease and a properly prepared stamping ink contains nothing but glycerine and coal-tar dye. As nearly all these dyes dissolve in hot glycerine the process of manufacture is simple enough. The dye, fuchsine, methyl violet, water blue, emerald green, etc., is put into a thin porcelain dish over which concentrated glycerine is poured, and the whole is heated to nearly 212° F. with constant stirring. It is important to use no more glycerine than is necessary to keep the dye dissolved when the ink is cold. If the mass turns gritty on cooling it must be heated up with more glycerine till solution is perfect.

In dealing with coal-tar dyes insoluble in glycerine, or nearly so, dissolve them first in the least possible quantity of strong, hot alcohol. Then add the glycerine and heat till the spirit is evaporated.

To see whether the ink is properly made spread some of it on a strip of cloth and try it with a rubber stamp. On paper, the separate letters must be quite sharp and distinct. If they run at the edges there is too much glycerine in the ink and more dye must be added to it. If, on the contrary, the impression is indistinct and weak, the ink is too thick and must be diluted by carefully adding glycerine.

Aniline colors are usually employed as the tinting agents. The following is a typical formula, the product being a black ink:

I.—Nigrosin 3 parts Water 15 parts Alcohol 15 parts Glycerine 70 parts

Dissolve the nigrosin in the alcohol, add the glycerine previously mixed with the water, and rub well together.

Nigrosin is a term applied to several compounds of the same series which differ in solubility. In the place of these compounds it is probable that a mixture would answer to produce black as suggested by Hans Wilder for making writing ink. His formula for the mixture is:

II.—Methyl violet 3 parts Bengal green 5 parts Bismarck green 4 parts

A quantity of this mixture should be taken equivalent to the amount of nigrosin directed. These colors are freely soluble in water, and yield a deep greenish-black solution.

The aniline compound known as brilliant green answers in place of Bengal green. As to the permanency of color of this or any aniline ink, no guarantee is offered. There are comparatively few coloring substances that can be considered permanent even in a qualified sense. Among these, charcoal takes a foremost place. Lampblack remains indefinitely unaltered. This, ground very finely with glycerine, would yield an ink which would perhaps prove serviceable in stamping; but it would be liable to rub off to a greater extent than soluble colors which penetrate the paper more or less. Perhaps castor oil would prove a better vehicle for insoluble coloring matters. Almost any aniline color may be substituted for nigrosin in the foregoing formula, and blue, green, red, purple, and other inks obtained. Insoluble pigments might also be made to answer as suggested for lampblack.

The following is said to be a cushion that will give color permanently. It consists of a box filled with an elastic composition, saturated with a suitable color. The cushion fulfils its purpose for years without being renewed, always contains sufficient moisture, which is drawn from the atmosphere, and continues to act as a color stamp cushion so long as a remnant of the mass or composition remains in the box or receptacle. This cushion or pad is too soft to be self-supporting, but should be held in a low, flat pan, and have a permanent cloth cover.

III.—The composition consists preferably of 1 part gelatin, 1 part water, 6 parts glycerine, and 6 parts coloring matter. A suitable black color can be {411} made from the following materials: One part gelatin glue, 3 parts lampblack, aniline black, or a suitable quantity of logwood extract, 10 parts of glycerine, 1 part absolute alcohol, 2 parts water, 1 part Venetian soap, 1⁠/⁠5 part salicylic acid. For red, blue, or violet: One part gelatin glue, 2 parts aniline of desired color, 1 part absolute alcohol, 10 parts glycerine, I part Venetian soap, and 1⁠/⁠5 part salicylic acid.

The following are additional recipes used for this purpose:

IV.—Mix and dissolve 2 to 4 drachms aniline violet, 15 ounces alcohol, 15 ounces glycerine. The solution is poured on the cushion and rubbed in with a brush. The general method of preparing the pad is to swell the gelatin with cold water, then boil and add the glycerine, etc.

V.—Mix well 16 pounds of hot linseed oil, 3 ounces of powdered indigo, or a like quantity of Berlin blue, and 8 pounds of lampblack. For ordinary sign-stamping an ink without the indigo might be used. By substituting ultramarine or Prussian blue for the lampblack, a blue “ink” or paint would result.

«Inks for Hand Stamps.»—As an excipient for oily inks, a mixture of castor oil and crude oleic acid, in parts varying according to the coloring material used, is admirable. The following are examples:

_Black._—Oil soluble nigrosin and crude oleic acid in equal parts. Add 7 to 8 parts of castor oil.

_Red._—Oil soluble aniline red, 2 parts; crude oleic acid, 3 parts; castor oil, from 30 to 60 parts, according to the intensity of color desired.

_Red._—Dissolve 1⁠/⁠4 ounce of carmine in 2 ounces strong water of ammonia, and add 1 drachm of glycerine and 3⁠/⁠4 ounce dextrin.

_Blue._—Rub 1 ounce Prussian blue with enough water to make a perfectly smooth paste; then add 1 ounce dextrin, incorporate it well, and finally add sufficient water to bring it to the proper consistency.

_Blue._—Oil soluble aniline blue, 1 part; crude oleic acid, 2 parts; castor oil, 30 to 32 parts.

_Violet._—Alcohol, 15 ounces; glycerine, 15 ounces; aniline violet, 2 to 4 drachms. Mix, dissolve, pour the solution on the cushion, and dab on with a brush.

«Color Stamps for Rough Paper.»—It has hitherto been impossible to get a satisfactory application for printing with rubber stamps on rough paper. Fatty vehicles are necessary for such paper, and they injure the India rubber. It is said, however, that if the rubber is first soaked in a solution of glue, and then in one of tannin, or bichromate of potash, it becomes impervious to the oils or fats. Gum arabic can be substituted for the glue.

«Indelible Hand-Stamp Ink.»—

I.—Copper sulphate 20 parts Aniline chlorate 20 parts

Rub up separately to a fine powder, then carefully mix, and add 10 parts of dextrin and incorporate. Add 5 parts of glycerine and rub up, adding water, a little at a time, until a homogeneous viscid mass is obtained. An aniline color is produced in the material, which boiling does not destroy.

II.—Sodium carbonate 22 parts Glycerine 85 parts Gum arabic, in powder 20 parts Silver nitrate 11 parts Ammonia water 20 parts Venetian turpentine 10 parts

Triturate the carbonate of sodium, gum arabic, and glycerine together. In a separate flask dissolve the silver nitrate in the ammonia water, mix the solution with the triturate, and heat to boiling, when the turpentine is to be added, with constant stirring. After stamping, expose to the sunlight or use a hot iron. The quantity of glycerine may be varied to suit circumstances.

«White Stamping Ink for Embroidery.»—

Zinc white 2 drachms Mucilage 1 drachm Water 6 drachms

Triturate the zinc white with a small quantity of water till quite smooth, then add the mucilage and the remainder of the water.

«STENCIL INKS.»

I.—Dissolve 1 ounce of gum arabic in 6 ounces water, and strain. This is the mucilage. For _Black Color_ use drop black, powdered, and ground with the mucilage to extreme fineness; for _Blue_, ultramarine is used in the same manner; for _Green_, emerald green; for _White_, flake white; for _Red_, vermilion, lake, or carmine; for _Yellow_, chrome yellow. When ground too thick they are thinned {412} with a little water. Apply with a small brush.

II.—Triturate together 1 pint pine soot and 2 pints Prussian blue with a little glycerine, then add 3 pints gum arabic and sufficient glycerine to form a thin paste.

«Blue Stencil Inks.»—The basis of the stencil inks commonly used varies to some extent, some preferring a mixture of pigments with oils, and others a watery shellac basis. The basis:

I.—Shellac 2 ounces Borax 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces Water 10 ounces

Boil together until 10 ounces of solution is obtained. The coloring:

Prussian blue 1 ounce China clay 1⁠/⁠2 ounce Powdered acacia 1⁠/⁠2 ounce

Mix thoroughly and gradually incorporate the shellac solution.

II.—Prussian blue 2 ounces Lampblack 1 ounce Gum arabic 3 ounces Glycerine, sufficient.

Triturate together the dry powders and then make into a suitable paste with glycerine.

«Indelible Stencil Inks.»—I.—Varnish such as is used for ordinary printing ink, 1 pound; black sulphuret of mercury, 1 pound; nitrate of silver, 1 ounce; sulphate of iron, 1 ounce; lampblack, 2 tablespoonfuls. Grind all well together; thin with spirits turpentine as desired.

II.—Sulphate of manganese, 2 parts; lampblack, 1 part; sugar, 4 parts; all in fine powder and triturated to a paste in a little water.

III.—Nitrate of silver, 1⁠/⁠4 ounce; water, 3⁠/⁠4 ounce. Dissolve, add as much of the strongest liquor of ammonia as will dissolve the precipitate formed on its first addition. Then add of mucilage, 1 1⁠/⁠2 drachms, and a little sap green, syrup of buckthorn, or finely powdered indigo, to color. This turns black on being held near the fire, or touched with a hot iron.

«SYMPATHETIC INKS:»

Table of Substances Used in Making Sympathetic Inks.—

For writing and for bringing out the writing:

Cobalt chloride, heat.

Cobalt acetate and a little saltpeter, heat.

Cobalt chloride and nickel chloride mixed, heat.

Nitric acid, heat.

Sulphuric acid, heat.

Sodium chloride, heat.

Saltpeter, heat.

Copper sulphate and ammonium chloride, heat.

Silver nitrate, sunlight.

Gold trichloride, sunlight.

Ferric sulphate, infusion of gallnuts or ferrocyanide of potassium.

Copper sulphate, ferrocyanide of potassium.

Lead vinegar, hydrogen sulphide.

Mercuric nitrate, hydrogen sulphide.

Starch water, tincture of iodine or iodine vapors.

Cobalt nitrate, oxalic acid.

Fowler’s solution, copper nitrate.

Soda lye or sodium carbonate, phenolphthaleine.

A sympathetic ink is one that is invisible when written, but which can be made visible by some treatment. Common milk can be used for writing, and exposure to strong heat will scorch and render the dried milk characters visible.

The following inks are developed by exposure to the action of reagents:

I.—Upon writing with a very clear solution of starch on paper that contains but little sizing, and submitting the dry characters to the vapor of iodine (or passing over them a weak solution of potassium iodide), the writing becomes blue, and disappears under the action of a solution of hyposulphite of soda (1 in 1,000).

II.—Characters written with a weak solution of the soluble chloride of platinum or iridium become black when the paper is submitted to mercurial vapor. This ink may be used for marking linen, as it is indelible.

III.—Sulphate of copper in very dilute solution will produce an invisible writing, which may be turned light blue by vapors of ammonia.

IV.—Soluble compounds of antimony will become red by hydrogen sulphide vapor.

V.—Soluble compounds of arsenic and of peroxide of tin will become yellow by the same vapor.

VI.—An acid solution of iron chloride is diluted until the writing is invisible when dry. This writing has the property of becoming red by sulphocyanide vapors (arising from the action of sulphuric acid on potassium sulphocyanide in a long-necked flask), and it disappears {413} by ammonia, and may alternately be made to appear and disappear by these two vapors.

VII.—Write with a solution of paraffine in benzol. When the solvent has evaporated, the paraffine is invisible, but becomes visible on being dusted with lampblack or powdered graphite or smoking over a candle flame.

VIII.—Dissolve 1 part of a lead salt, 0.1 part of uranium acetate, and the same quantity of bismuth citrate in 100 parts of water. Then add, drop by drop, a solution of sal ammoniac until the whole becomes transparent. Afterwards, mix with a few drops of gum arabic. To reveal the characters traced with this ink, expose them to the fumes of sulphuric acid, which turns them immediately to a dark brown. The characters fade away in a few minutes, but can be renewed by a slight washing with very dilute nitric acid.

«TYPEWRITER RIBBON INKS.»

I.—Take vaseline (petrolatum) of high boiling point, melt it on a water bath or slow fire, and incorporate by constant stirring as much lamp or powdered drop black as it will take up without becoming granular. If the vaseline remains in excess, the print is liable to have a greasy outline; if the color is in excess, the print will not be clear. Remove the mixture from the fire, and while it is cooling mix equal parts of petroleum, benzine, and rectified oil of turpentine, in which dissolve the fatty ink, introduced in small portions, by constant agitation. The volatile solvents should be in such quantity that the fluid ink is of the consistence of fresh oil paint. One secret of success lies in the proper application of the ink to the ribbon. Wind the ribbon on a piece of cardboard, spread on a table several layers of newspaper, then unwind the ribbon in such lengths as may be most convenient, and lay it flat on the paper. Apply the ink, after agitation, by means of a soft brush, and rub it well into the interstices of the ribbon with a toothbrush. Hardly any ink should remain visible on the surface. For colored inks use Prussian blue, red lead, etc., and especially the aniline colors.

II.—Aniline black 1⁠/⁠2 ounce Pure alcohol 15 ounces Concentrated glycerine 15 ounces

Dissolve the aniline black in the alcohol, and add the glycerine. Ink as before. The aniline inks containing glycerine are copying inks.

III.—Alcohol 2 ounces Aniline color 1⁠/⁠4 ounce Water 2 ounces Glycerine 4 ounces

Dissolve the aniline in the alcohol and add the water and glycerine.

IV.—Castor oil 2 ounces Cassia oil 1⁠/⁠2 ounce Carbolic acid 1⁠/⁠2 ounce

Warm them together and add 1 ounce of aniline color. Indelible typewriter inks may be made by using lampblack in place of the aniline, mixing it with soft petrolatum and dissolving the cooled mass in a mixture of equal parts of benzine and turpentine.

«COLORING AGENTS:»

Red.—

I.—Bordeaux red, O. S. 15 parts Aniline red, O. S. 15 parts Crude oleic acid 45 parts Castor oil enough to make 1,000 parts

Rub the colors up with the oleic acid, add the oil, warming the whole to 100° to 110° F. (not higher), under constant stirring. If the color is not sufficiently intense for your purposes, rub up a trifle more of it with oleic acid, and add it to the ink. By a little experimentation you can get an ink exactly to your desire in the matter.

Blue-Black.—

II.—Aniline black, O. S. 5 parts Oleic acid, crude 5 parts Castor oil, quantity sufficient to 100 parts.

Violet.—

III.—Aniline violet, O. S. 3 parts Crude oleic acid 5 parts Castor oil, quantity sufficient to 100 parts.

The penetration of the ink may be increased _ad libitum_ by the addition of a few drops of absolute alcohol, or, better, of benzol.

«Reinking.»—For reinking ribbons use the following recipe for black: One ounce aniline black; 15 ounces pure grain alcohol; 15 ounces concentrated glycerine. Dissolve the aniline black in the alcohol and then add the glycerine. For blue use Prussian blue, and for red use red lead instead of the aniline black. This ink is also good for rubber stamp pads. {414}

«WRITING INKS.»

The common writing fluids depend mostly upon galls, logwood, or aniline for coloring. There are literally thousands of formulas. A few of the most reliable have been gathered together here:

I.—Aleppo galls (well bruised), 4 ounces; clean soft water, I quart; macerate in a clean corked bottle for 10 days or a fortnight or longer, with frequent agitation; then add of gum arabic (dissolved in a wineglassful of water), 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; lump sugar, 1⁠/⁠2 ounce. Mix well, and afterwards further add of sulphate of iron (green copperas crushed small), 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces. Agitate occasionally for 2 or 3 days, when the ink may be decanted for use, but is better if the whole is left to digest together for 2 or 3 weeks. When time is an object, the whole of the ingredients may at once be put into a bottle, and the latter agitated daily until the ink is made; and boiling water instead of cold water may be employed. Product, 1 quart of excellent ink, writing pale at first, but soon turning intensely black.

II.—Aleppo galls (bruised), 12 pounds; soft water, 6 gallons. Boil in a copper vessel for 1 hour, adding more water to make up for the portion lost by evaporation; strain, and again boil the galls with water, 4 gallons, for 1⁠/⁠2 hour; strain off the liquor, and boil a third time with water, 2 1⁠/⁠2 gallons, and strain. Mix the several liquors, and while still hot add of green copperas (coarsely powdered), 4 1⁠/⁠2 pounds; gum arabic (bruised small), 4 pounds. Agitate until dissolved, and after defecation strain through a hair sieve, and keep in a bunged cask for use. Product, 12 gallons.

III.—Aleppo galls (bruised), 14 pounds; gum, 5 pounds. Put them in a small cask, and add boiling soft water, 15 gallons. Allow the whole to macerate, with frequent agitation, for a fortnight, then further add of green copperas, 5 pounds, dissolved in water, 7 pints. Again mix well, and agitate the whole once daily for 2 or 3 weeks. Product, 15 gallons.

«Brown Ink.»—I.—To make brown ink, use for coloring a strong decoction of catechu; the shade may be varied by the cautious addition of a little weak solution of bichromate of potash.

II.—A strong decoction of logwood, with a very little bichromate of potash.

«Blue Ink.»—To make blue ink, substitute for the black coloring sulphate of indigo and dilute it with water till it produces the required color.

«Anticorrosive or Asiatic Ink.»—I.—Galls, 4 pounds; logwood, 2 pounds; pomegranate peel, 2 pounds; soft water, 5 gallons. Boil as usual; then add to the strained, decanted cold liquor, 1 pound of gum arabic, lump sugar or sugar candy, 1⁠/⁠4 pound; dissolved in water, 3 pints. Product, 4 1⁠/⁠2 gallons. Writes pale, but flows well from the pen, and soon darkens.

II.—Bruised galls, 14 pounds; gum, 5 pounds. Put them in a small cask, and add of boiling water, 15 gallons. Allow the whole to macerate, with frequent agitation, for 2 weeks, then further add green copperas, 5 pounds, dissolved in 7 pints water. Again mix well, and agitate the whole daily for 2 or 3 weeks.

«Blue-Black Ink.»—Blue Aleppo galls (free from insect perforations), 4 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; bruised cloves, 1 drachm; cold water, 40 ounces; purified sulphate of iron, 1 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; pure sulphuric acid (by measure), 35 minims; sulphate of indigo (in the form of a paste), which should be neutral, or nearly so, 1 ounce. The weights used are avoirdupois, and the measures apothecaries’. Place the galls, then bruised with the cloves, in a 50-ounce bottle, pour upon them the water, and digest, often daily shaking for a fortnight. Then filter through paper in another 50-ounce bottle. Get out also the refuse galls, and wring out of it the remaining liquid through a strong, clean linen or cotton cloth, into the filter, in order that as little as possible may be lost. Next put in the iron, dissolve completely, and filter through paper. Then the acid, and agitate briskly. Lastly, the indigo, and thoroughly mix by shaking. Pass the whole through paper; just filter out of one bottle into another until the operation is finished.

NOTE.—No gum or sugar is proper and on no account must the acid be omitted. When intended for copying, 5 1⁠/⁠2 ounces of galls is the quantity. On the large scale this fine ink is made by percolation.

«Colored Inks.»—Inks of various colors may be made from a strong decoction of the ingredients used in dyeing, mixed with a little alum or other substance used as a mordant, and gum arabic. Any of the ordinary water-color cakes employed in drawing diffused through water may also be used for colored ink. {415}

«COPYING INK.»

This is usually prepared by adding a little sugar to ordinary black ink, which for this purpose should be very rich in color, and preferably made galls prepared by heat. Writing executed with this ink may be copied within the space of 5 or 6 hours, by passing it through a copying press in contact with thin, unsized paper, slightly damped, enclosed between 2 sheets of thick oiled or waxed paper, when a reversed transcript will be obtained, which will read in proper order when the back of the copy is turned upwards. In the absence of a press a copy may be taken, when the ink is good and the writing very recent, by rolling the sheets, duly arranged on a ruler, over the surface of a flat, smooth table, employing as much force as possible, and avoiding any slipping or crumbling of the paper. Another method is to pass a warm flatiron over the paper laid upon the writing. The following proportions are employed:

I.—Sugar candy or lump sugar, 1 ounce; or molasses or moist sugar, 1 1⁠/⁠4 ounces; rich black ink, 1 1⁠/⁠2 pints; dissolve.

II.—Malt wort, 1 pint; evaporate it to the consistence of a syrup, and then dissolve it in good black ink, 1 1⁠/⁠4 pints.

III.—Solazza juice, 2 ounces; mild ale, 1⁠/⁠2 pint; dissolve, strain, and triturate with lampblack (previously heated to dull redness in a covered vessel), 1⁠/⁠4 ounce; when the mixture is complete, add of strong black, 1 1⁠/⁠2 pints; mix well, and in 2 or 3 hours decant the clear.

After making the above mixtures, they must be tried with a common steel pen, and if they do not flow freely, some more unprepared ink should be added until they are found to do so.

«Alizarine Blue.»—In 20 parts of fuming sulphuric acid dissolve 5 parts of indigo, and to the solution add 100 parts of extract of aqueous myrobalous and 10.5 parts iron filings or turning shavings. Finally add:

Gum arabic 1.5 parts Sugar 7.5 parts Sulphuric acid, 66° B 10.5 parts Aniline blue 1.5 parts Carbolic acid 0.5 parts Mirobalan extract to make 1,000 parts.

This ink when first used has a bluish tint, afterwards becoming black.

«Alizarine Green.»—In 100 parts of aqueous extract of gall apples dissolve:

Iron sulphate 30 parts Copper sulphate 0.5 parts Sulphuric acid 2 parts Sugar 8 parts Wood vinegar, rectified 50 parts Indigo carmine 30 parts

«Copying Ink for Copying Without a Press.»—An ordinary thin-paper copying book may be used, and the copying done by transference. It is only necessary to place the page of writing in the letter book, just as one would use a leaf of blotting paper. The superfluous ink that would go into the blotting paper goes on to the leaf of the letter book, and showing through the thin paper gives on the other side of the leaf a perfect transcript of the letter. Any excess of ink on the page, either of the letter or of the copying paper, is removed by placing a sheet of blotting paper between them, and running one’s hand firmly over the whole in the ordinary manner. This ready transcription is accomplished by using ink which dries slowly. Obviously the ink must dry sufficiently slowly for the characters at the top of a page of writing to remain wet when the last line is being written, while it must dry sufficiently to preclude any chance of the copied page being smeared while subsequent pages are being covered. The drying must also be sufficiently rapid to prevent the characters “setting off,” as printers term it, from one page on to another after folding. The formula for the requisite ink is very simple:

Reduce by evaporation 10 volumes of any good ink to 6, then add 4 volumes of glycerine. Or manufacture some ink of nearly double strength, and add to any quantity of it nearly an equal volume of glycerine.

«Gold Ink.»—Mosaic gold, 2 parts; gum arabic, 1 part; rubbed up to a proper condition.

«Green Ink.»—A good, bright green, aniline ink may be made as follows:

Aniline green (soluble) 2 parts Glycerine 16 parts Alcohol 112 parts Mucilage of gum arabic 4 parts

Dissolve the aniline in the alcohol, and add the other ingredients. Most of the gum arabic precipitates, but according to the author of the formula (Nelson) it has the effect of rendering the ink slow-flowing enough to write with. Filter. {416}

«Hectograph Inks» (see also Hectograph).—I.—Black.—Methyl violet, 10 parts; nigrosin, 20 parts; glycerine, 30 parts; gum arabic, 5 parts; alcohol, 60 parts.

II.—Blue.—Resorcin blue M, 10 parts.

Dissolve by means of heat in a mixture of:

Dilute acetic acid 1 part Distilled water 85 parts Glycerine 4 parts Alcohol, 90 per cent 10 parts

III.—Green.—Aniline green, water solution, 15 parts; glycerine, 10 parts; Water, 50 parts; alcohol, 10 parts.

«Paste Ink to Write with Water.»—I.—Black.—Take 4 parts of bichromate of potash, pulverized, and mixed with 25 parts of acetic acid; 50 parts of liquid extract of logwood; 1⁠/⁠4 part of picric acid; 10 parts of pulverized sal sorrel; 10 parts of mucilage; and 1⁠/⁠4 part of citrate of iron, and mix well. The liquid extract of logwood is prepared by mixing 3 parts of an extract of common commercial quality with 2 parts of water.

II.—Red.—Take 1 part of red aniline mixed with 10 parts of acetic acid; 5 parts of citric acid, and 25 parts of mucilage, all well mixed. For use, mix 1 part of the paste with 16 parts of water.

III.—Blue.—Take 2 parts of aniline blue mixed with 10 parts of acetic acid; 5 parts of citric acid, and 40 parts of mucilage, all well mixed. For use, mix 1 part of the paste with 8 parts of water.

IV.—Violet.—Use the same ingredients in the same proportions as blue, with the difference that violet aniline is used instead of blue aniline.

V.—Green.—Take 1 part of aniline blue; 3 parts of picric acid, mixed with 10 parts of acetic acid; 3 parts of citric acid, and 80 parts of mucilage. For use, 1 part of this paste is mixed with 8 parts of water.

VI.—Copying.—Take 6 parts of pulverized bichromate of potash, mixed with 10 parts of acetic acid and 240 parts of liquid extract of logwood, and add a pulverized mixture of 35 parts of alum, 20 parts of sal sorrel, and 20 parts mucilage. Mix well. For use, 1 part of this paste is mixed with 4 parts of hot water.

«Purple Ink.»—I.—A strong decoction of logwood, to which a little alum or chloride of tin has been added.

II. (Normandy).—To 12 pounds of Campeachy wood add as many gallons of boiling water. Pour the solution through a funnel with a strainer made of coarse flannel, or 1 pound of hydrate, or acetate of deutoxide of copper finely powdered (having at the bottom of the funnel a piece of sponge); then add immediately 14 pounds of alum, and for every 340 gallons of liquid add 80 pounds of gum arabic or gum senegal. Let these remain for 3 or 4 days, and a beautiful purple color will be produced.

«Red Ink.»—Brazil wood, ground, 4 ounces; white wine vinegar, hot, 1 1⁠/⁠4 pints. Digest in a glass or a well-tinned copper or enamel saucepan, until the next day; then gently simmer for half an hour, adding toward the end gum arabic and alum, of each, 1⁠/⁠2 ounce.

«Inks for Shading Pen.»—The essential feature in the ink for use with a shading pen is simply the addition of a sufficient quantity of acacia or other mucilaginous substance to impart a proper degree of consistency to the ink. A mixture of 2 parts of mucilage of acacia with 8 of ink gives about the required consistency. The following formulas will probably be found useful:

I.—Water-soluble nigrosin 1 part Water 9 parts Mucilage acacia 1