Chapter 4 of 20 · 3144 words · ~16 min read

CHAPTER II

MODERN DYESTUFFS

The whole art and practice of dyeing was completely revolutionized once and forever, by the discovery in 1856 of the artificial dyestuff named mauveine, or, more commonly, mauve, a name, by the way, derived from the French name of the violet-colored mallow flower.

The discovery was made accidentally, by a young chemical student, William Henry Perkin, while experimenting in a very crude and simple way, with a view to forming artificial quinine from a curious oily body known as aniline. This aniline was originally prepared by distilling indigo in a dry retort, and it had received its name from the native Javanese word “anil,” meaning indigo. While thus prepared it was, of course, very expensive. But about this time methods were invented for obtaining this same compound in practically unlimited quantities from coal tar—that heavy, foul-smelling refuse of gas works—which, up to that time, had been not only useless but actually a source of annoyance and expense to the gas companies.

Perkin conceived the idea that, by partially burning or oxidizing it, this aniline might be changed into quinine. He made the experiment and there resulted a black molasses-like mass, very far removed from the white crystals he was hoping for. But by testing this with various chemicals, he found that hot alcohol dissolved part of it, and turned it into a violet liquid which had the power to dye silk and wool the same bright color. Finding that the color was fairly fast to light, and that it could be produced without too much expense, he took out a patent and, with the aid of his father and brother, set up near Manchester, England, the first factory for artificial dyestuffs.

His discoveries were at once published, and chemists all over the world began to manufacture and experiment with the new dyestuffs. Great factories were started all over Europe. From this beginning the manufacture of coal-tar dyestuffs, and more recently all their allied compounds, has become one of the most important and most profitable of all chemical industries.

The dyes first discovered, the so-called “Basic dyes,” were of great brilliancy and strength; but they were not of any particular beauty when used individually. Compared with the vegetable colors which preceded them, and especially the same shades we are accustomed to see in nature, these dyes were hard, coarse, crude, and very inartistic. This could be remedied, however, by mixing two or three of them together, such mixture tending to soften the different colors and blend all into pleasant and delicate shades.

A more serious difficulty was the fact that those early dyestuffs were usually quite fugitive to light or, at any rate, far less fast than the best of the vegetable dyes that preceded them. Besides, they did not fade true. In other words, a piece of cloth might to-day be a bright red, and after a few days of exposure to the sunlight, the exposed portions might turn a yellow, a white, or even some dark color; and, in any case, the change would entirely spoil the original color scheme.

By 1868, however, the artificial manufacture of alizarine, first by two German chemists, and then by Perkin himself, served to open up another whole class of new dyestuffs, which, when submitted to the proper tests, proved to be exceedingly fast both to light and to washing. In consequence, within a few years after this discovery, the commercial use of madder was everywhere abandoned. Chemists could now produce on cotton, linen, wool, and silk, practically the whole range of colors, brilliant and dull, hard and soft, light and dark, not only of a beauty, but of a fastness to light and to washing, never before surpassed, if indeed equalled.

[Illustration: AT THE AGE OF 14]

[Illustration: AT THE AGE OF 22]

[Illustration:

AT THE TIME OF THE COAL-TAR COLOR JUBILEE—50 YEARS AFTER HIS DISCOVERY OF MAUVEINE

SIR W. H. PERKIN]

Since that time, not a year has gone by without scores of new dyestuffs being put on the market by some of the great color houses. Of late years special efforts have been made to simplify dyeing processes, and at the same time to insure the fastness as well as the beauty of the colors. At the present time it is possible for the veriest amateur, with practically no previous knowledge of chemistry or of dyeing, and with only intelligence enough to follow some simple directions, to get, in one bath, with very little expenditure of time, an immense variety of shades that are exceedingly fast to light and to washing. A very few years ago this result could not possibly have been obtained, except by some expert dyer, and then only after long and tedious, as well as difficult, processes.

We are all familiar with the constant complaint that it is now impossible to get goods dyed or printed in good, fast colors. For instance, take the brilliant scarlet calico commonly known as Turkey red. In the days of our grandfathers a piece of cloth dyed Turkey red would stand rain and sun, washing and scouring, and the _fibre_ would wear out before the _color_ would fade. But nowadays, if you buy Turkey red cloth for the purpose of covering cushions for a piazza-lounge, you will be fortunate if the color does not begin to change after three or four days in the open air.

The reason is simple. In the old days the _only_ way to get that particular shade was by dyeing the cloth with ground-up madder root, through a series of operations lasting the best part of two months. Now any capable dyer would be able to dye cotton that exact shade with any of, say, twenty different colors, most of which would not require more than one or two hours to dye. Out of these twenty dyestuffs, four or five, rather more expensive than the rest, would give just as fast, just as brilliant, and just as strong color as the good old madder color. But the rest, which are distinctly cheaper and easier to apply, would furnish goods which would _look_ exactly the same to the average purchaser, but which might not _last_ any time at all.

Naturally, the average manufacturer carefully instructs his dyer to furnish him with the “cheap and nasty” goods, not only because it costs less money, but also, unfortunately, because he reasons that “it will be good for business.” The manufacturer has the greatest sympathy with the inclination of the fastidious housewife to throw away anything that looks faded, and to buy in its place something new and fresh. Curtains or portières that hold their original shade indefinitely, he has little or no patience with. A calico dress that keeps its color so that it can be worn for a second summer, is an abomination not to be endured. And in every case, when complaint is made, it is always said to be the fault of the chemist who produced and put on the market such “horrid, fugitive dyes.”

As a matter of fact, it is simply a case of picking and choosing. There have been discovered, so far, several thousand different coal-tar dyestuffs of all sorts and kinds. Out of these, probably one hundred, or less, can be considered really fast to both light and washing. The remaining ones, most of which never were considered valuable enough to put on the market, vary in degrees of fastness, the poorest being simply stains which will “bleed” indefinitely with moderate washing, and which will turn almost any color after exposure for a few hours to sun and weather.

In the following pages, considerable pains will be taken to emphasize the names and properties of the very best and fastest dyestuffs in the different classes,[1] so that the results of work done with them can be depended upon.

[1] In some classes there are no absolutely fast dyestuffs.

Perhaps the most interesting thing, in connection with the whole subject of the artificial dyestuffs, is the enormous influence that they have had upon the life of the whole human race. This influence was but slightly appreciated, even by the chemists themselves, until a few years ago. The awakening dates from the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of mauveine, when from one end of the world to the other, honors were showered upon Sir William Henry Perkin, then grown old and nearing the end of his useful and prosperous life. It was then announced, and was for the first time generally recognized as true, that no one of the great discoveries of the nineteenth century—the steam locomotive, the steamship, the telephone, the telegraph, the gas light, the electric light, and the rest—had been more important to the world at large than the discovery of the first coal-tar dye. And probably never in the history of the world have such enormous results been produced from a single discovery, during the lifetime of the discoverer himself.

THE ARTIFICIAL DYESTUFFS

The artificial dyestuffs form such a large body of complicated chemical compounds, that at first glance it would seem hopeless for any one who is not a trained chemist, to attempt to get any clear or definite ideas about them. This, indeed, would be the case if any attempt were made to study them chemically, i.e., with reference to their composition, or their method of manufacture; but when it comes to the application of them to the various textile fabrics and other materials, for which dyes are valuable, we soon find that the problem is not so very difficult after all.

To be sure there are many hundreds of different dyes on the market now, great numbers of which are known under three or four different trade names, according to the trade-mark of each particular manufacturer. But besides the great manufacturers, and their accredited agents, there are numerous retail agencies all over the country, large and small, which make a business of distributing dyes made by the great concerns. Some of these are very energetic, and have pushed the sale of artificial dyestuffs in ten- and fifteen-cent packages, until in almost every village, large enough to boast of a decent country store, these dyes can be obtained.

It is common to hear these dyes sneered at and abused. They are frequently referred to, especially by those of “artistic tastes,” as harsh and crude in color, fugitive to light and washing, and, in short, generally inferior and worthless products. This is not the case. They are, in some cases, individual dyestuffs, and in other cases, mixtures, generally belonging to the class of colors next to be described, the Salt dyes; and very good, if not indeed the very best specimens of that class. These Salt dyes, until the last few years, were far from fast, either to light or washing; but the more recent members of the class are much more satisfactory, and these colors, too, are found in the fifteen-cent packages.

Nor, too, can objection be fairly taken to the shades as being crude and harsh. That is all a matter of taste and skill on the part of the dyer. There is no better practice in dyeing than to take the very hardest, clearest, most brilliant red, blue, and yellow colors that can be found at the corner grocery and, following the directions on the packages, proceed to dye yarn or cheesecloth with them, at first using the individual dyes, and afterwards modifying the shade of one dye with traces of each of the other two. The softness and richness of the tones that can be thus obtained will satisfy the most critical.

The real objection to these widely distributed popular dyes is a very different one. They are not sold under their own names, and therefore it is almost impossible to identify them. To be sure, from the accompanying directions it is possible for a trained dyer to recognize at once the class to which the dyestuff belongs. But it is impossible for him, excepting after a long, tedious and often very troublesome analysis, to tell just what member or members of that particular class is contained in any given package. For this reason the dyer who has to depend on them for an important piece of work is in much the same position as a doctor would be who had to treat a difficult case with patent medicines compounded after secret formulæ.

In the following chapters, a discussion of each class of dyestuffs, and an explanation of their application and general properties will be followed by lists of three or four of the very best colors, sold by the New York agents of six of the largest and most reliable color manufacturers.

Workers wishing to obtain these dyes in comparatively large quantities, say one pound and upwards, can get them by writing directly to the addresses in the following table:

_Badische_— The Badische Anilin & Soda Fabrik, 128 Duane St., N. Y. City.

_Cassella_— The Cassella Co., 184 Front St., N. Y. City.

_Elberfeld_—The Farbenfabriken of Elberfeld Co., 117 Hudson St., N. Y. City.

_Kalle_— Kalle & Co., 530 Canal St., N. Y. City.

_Klipstein_—A. Klipstein & Co., Agent for Society of Chemical Industry of Basle, 654 Greenwich St., N. Y. City.

_Metz_— Farbwerke-Hoechst Co., formerly H. A. Metz & Co., Agent for the Meister Lucius & Bruning Co., 122 Hudson St., N. Y. City.

N. B. Further information concerning dyestuffs, apparatus, textiles, chemicals, etc., connected with this work may be obtained on writing to the author at 7 West 43rd St., New York.

THE NAMING OF MODERN DYESTUFFS

It is important to remember that, in order to identify a color by name, it is necessary to know three things: first, the trade name; second, the shade, or distinguishing, letter; and third, the manufacturer or agent. The trade name sometimes bears a reference to the class, properties, or color of the dye, as “fast acid blue”; or to its chemical composition, as “methylene blue,” or “diamine red”; but in most cases it is simply an arbitrary name, given by the original discoverer when the patents were issued, or assigned later by the manufacturer or his local agents.

The letter or letters, following the name, refer generally to the shade, as for instance, B for blue, R for red, Y or G for yellow (German _gelb_), and so on. Thus “methyl violet” is sold in brands running all the way from 6 B to 6 R—that is, from full purple shades that are very close to blue, to bright violet shades, very close to red. Sometimes, however, the letter refers to the composition of the dye or its class, as “fuchsine S” (German _sauer_) often called acid fuchsine or acid magenta; or “alizarine blue, D,” when the D indicates a “direct” cotton color. And sometimes the letter F is used to indicate fastness to light, in which case “F F” would signify a brand of very unusual fastness, for that particular class of colors at any rate.

But not infrequently the letter is merely a mark applied for purposes of identification, whose significance cannot easily be learned by those not in the business of color selling, even when it is not a secret closely guarded by the particular firm supplying the dyestuff.

For this reason, the name of the manufacturer or agent should _always_ be added to the color name and letter, if it is important to get a particular color in any case. The best of the older dyes are manufactured by all of the larger firms, of substantially the same strength and shades, although often not under the same names. The later colors, whose patents have not expired, are of course the individual property of the different manufacturers, and can be, and are, marketed by them under any name they like to give them. Accordingly it frequently happens that two different firms may sell, under the same name, two entirely different colors; it would be impossible to tell which dyestuff was intended unless the firm name were attached.

But with these three essentials correctly given—name, brand, and maker—a color can be identified and obtained true in composition and shade, even after the lapse of many years.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE COAL-TAR COLORS AVAILABLE FOR CRAFTSMEN.