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The mode of bleaching which least injures the texture of cloth formed of vegetable substances, is that effected by merely exposing it in a moistened state to the atmosphere, after having been steeped in a solution of potash or soda, but the length of time and other inconveniences attending this process, lead to the use of more active chemical operations.
It is by the combination of oxygen with the coloring matter of the cloth, that it is deprived of its hue, and the different processes employed must be adapted to prepare it for this combination, and render it as perfect as possible without destroying its texture, an effect which, however, must necessarily ensue in a greater or less degree from the union of oxygen with all bodies. The operation of bleaching requires 4 distinct processes. First to remove the impurities, with which the threads are covered in the operation of spinning, which is called the weaver's dressing. This may be effected by soaking the cloth for some hours in warm water, and then boiling it in an alkaline lye, prepared with 20 parts of water, and 1 part of pearlash, rendered more active by being mixed with 1/3 of lime. After it has been boiled for some hours in this solution, it is to be well washed with water and then exposed to the second process. The solution of chloride of lime must be of such strength as nearly to destroy the color of a solution of indigo in water, slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid. The cloth is to be alternately steeped in this liquor, and a solution (made as before directed), 4 or 5 times, using fresh liquor at each process. It is then to be well rubbed and washed with soft soap and water, which prepares it for the last process.
The steeping is in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, and from 60 to 100 parts of water, the strength being thus varied according to the texture of the cloth. This dissolves the remaining coloring matter which had resisted the action of alkali, and the chloride of lime, as well as a small quantity of iron contained in all vegetable matter. The cloth is then to be exposed to the air for some days, and watered, to carry off any remains of the acids, and remove the unpleasant odor it acquires from the chloride of lime and potash.
Commonly called chloride of lime, is made by passing chlorine gas over moistened lime. It is a moist grayish powder, soluble in 10 parts of water, any excess of hydrate of lime remaining undissolved. It deteriorates by keeping; when freshly made it may contain 30 per cent. of chlorine, but often has less than 10 per cent. It is decomposed by acids, yielding chlorine. It consists of hypochlorite of lime and chloride of calcium, with water and excess of lime.
The bleaching power of chloride of lime is often estimated, as above stated, by the quantity of a solution of sulphate of indigo, which a certain weight will deprive of its blue color. But as the indigo solution alters by keeping, this method is not unobjectionable.
Mr. Graham's test is founded on the fact that 10 grains of chlorine are capable of converting 77.9 grains of protosulphate of iron (copperas, green vitriol) into persulphate. Seventy-eight grains of green vitriol (powdered and dried by strong pressure between folds of cloth) are dissolved in about 2 oz. of water, which may be acidulated by a few drops of sulphuric or muriatic acid. Fifty grs. of the bleaching salt to be examined are dissolved in about 2 oz. of tepid water, by trituration in a mortar. This is transferred to a graduated glass vessel, which is filled to its 0 with pure water. The solution thus made is poured gradually into that of the iron, until it is entirely peroxidized. To test this we have a solution of ferricyanide of potassium (red prussiate of potash). This gives a precipitate only with the salts of the protoxide of iron It is spattered in drops over the surface of a plate, and after each addition of the chlorine solution, a drop of the iron solution, on the end of a rod, is touched to the ferricyanide solution. When a deep blue precipitate is no longer formed, an amount of salt equal to 10 grains of chlorine has been used. By noting what portion of the whole solution has been employed, the percentage of chlorine may be determined.
The first operation consists in scouring it in a slight alkaline solution; or what is better, by exposure to steam. It is afterwards put into a basket and rinsed in running water. The immersion of cotton in an alkaline lye, however it may be rinsed, always leaves with it an earthy deposit. It is well known that cotton bears the action of acids better than hemp or flax; that time is even necessary before the action of them can be prejudicial to it; and by taking advantage of this valuable property in regard to bleaching, means have been found to free it from the earthy deposit by pressing down the cotton in a very weak solution of sulphuric acid, and afterwards removing the acid by washing, lest too long remaining in it should destroy the cotton.
The first kind of bleaching to which wool is subjected, is to free it from grease. This operation is galled scouring. In manufactories, it is generally performed by an ammoniacal lye, formed of 5 measures of river water and 1 of stale urine; the wool is immersed for about 20 minutes in a bath of this mixture heated to 56°, it is then taken out, suffered to drain, and then rinsed in running water. This manipulation softens the wool, and gives it the first degree of whiteness. It is then repeated a second, and even a third time; after which the wool is fit to be employed. In some places, scouring is performed with water slightly impregnated with soap; and indeed, for valuable articles, this process is preferable, but it is too expensive for articles of less value. Bisulphide of carbon and benzine have been employed in cleansing wool. The fat may be saved by distilling off the solvent, which may be used over and over again.
Sulphurous acid gas unites very easily with water; and in this combination it may be employed for bleaching wool and silk.
Sulphurous acid is used either as gas or in solution in water, which dissolves 50 times its volume of the gas. In the former case sulphur is burned in a close, moist room in which the stuffs (moistened) are hung. Two exposures, of 24 hours each, suffice for wool.
To get a solution of sulphurous acid the cheapest and best plan is to heat in a glass retort 12 oz. sulphuric acid and 2 oz. of sulphur. The gas which comes off quietly, is collected in a large bottle partially filled with water; or better a series of bottles, so connected together that the gas must pass successively through the water contained in each.
The method of fulling woollen stuffs with soap is this: A colored cloth of about 45 ells, is to be laid in the usual manner in the trough of a fulling mill without first soaking it in water, as is commonly practiced in many places. To full this trough of cloth, 15 lbs. of soap are required; 1/2 of which is to be melted in 2 pails of river or springwater, made as hot as the hand can well bear it. This solution is to be poured by little and little upon the cloth, in proportion as it is laid in the trough; after which it is to be taken out and stretched. This done, the cloth is immediately returned into the same trough, without any new soap, and there fulled for 2 hours more. Then taken out, it is rung well, to express all the grease and filth. After the second fulling the remainder of the soap is dissolved in, as in the former, and east 4 different times on the cloth, remembering to take out the cloth every two hours to stretch it, and undo the plaits and wrinkles it has acquired in the trough. When sufficiently fulled and brought to the quality and thickness required scour it in hot water, keeping it in the trough till it is quite clean. As to white cloths, as these full more easily and in less time than colored ones, a third part of the soap may be spared.
Take a solution of caustic soda, so weak as to take only a fourth of a degree, at most, of the areometer for salts, and fill with it the boiler of the apparatus for bleaching with steam. Charge the frames with skeins of raw silk, and place them in the apparatus until it is full; then close the door and make the solution boil. Having continued the ebullition for 12 hours, slacken the fire and open the door of the apparatus. The heat of the steam, which is always above 250°, will have been sufficient to free the silk from the gum, and to scour it. Wash the skeins in warm water, and having wrung them, place them again on the frames in the apparatus,, to undergo a second boiling. Then wash them several times in water, and immerse them in water somewhat soapy, to give them a little softness. Notwithstanding the whiteness which silk acquires by these different operations, it must be carried to a higher degree of splendor by exposing it to the action of sulphurous acid gas, in a close chamber, or by immersing it in sulphurous acid, as before recommended in wool.
Simple immersion in chlorine gas, letting the article remain in it a longer or shorter space of time, according to the strength of the liquor will be sufficient to whiten an engraving. If it is required to whiten the paper of a bound book, as it is necessary that all the leaves should be acted on by the gas, care must be taken to open the book well, and to make the boards rest on the edge of the vessel, in such a manner that the paper alone shall be dipped in the gas. The leaves must be separated from each other, in order that they may be equally acted on on both sides. Chlorine water, freshly made, will answer instead of the gas.
Dissolve in an iron kettle 1 part of pearlash in about 8 parts of water, add 1 part of shell or seed-lac, and heat the whole to ebullition. When the lac is dissolved cool the solution and impregnate it with chlorine, till the lac is all precipitated.
Take 2 lbs. of rice, boil it in 2 galls. of water till soft; then pour the whole into a tub; let it stand till about the warmth in general used for colored linens, then put the chintz in and use the rice instead of soap; wash it in this till the dirt appears to be out, then boil the same quantity as above, but strain the rice from the water, and mix it in warm clear water. Wash in this till quite clean; afterwards rinse it in the water which the rice has been boiled in, and this will answer the end of starch, and no dew will affect it. If a gown it must be taken to pieces, and when dried be careful to hang it as smooth as possible; after it is dry rub it with a sleek stone, but use no iron.
Take 1 gall. of furze blossoms and burn them to ashes, then boil them in 6 qts. of soft water; this, when fine, use in washing with the suds, as occasion requires, and the linen, etc., will not only be exceedingly white, but it is done with half the soap and little trouble.
Lay these smooth and even upon a board, spread a little soap over the dirty places, then make a lather with Castile soap, and with a common brush dip it in, pass it over the long way, and repeat it in this manner till one side is sufficiently scoured; use the other in the same manner, then put it into hot water, and there let it lie, till you have prepared some cold water, wherein a small quantity of gum arabic has been dissolved. Now rinse them well, take them out and fold them, pressing out the water with the hands on the board, and keeping them under the hands till they are dry, at which time have brimstone ready to dry them over, till they are ready for smoothing, which must be done on the right side, with a moderately hot iron.
Let the hems of the tiffanies be at first only a little soaped, then having a lather of soap, put them into it hot, and wash them very gently for fear they should be crumpled: and when they are clean rinse them in warm water, in which a little gum arabic has been dissolved, keeping them from the air as much as possible; then add a lump of starch, wet the tiffanies with a soft linen rag, and fold them up in a clean cloth, pressing them till they are nearly dry; after which put them near the fire, and finish the drying over brimstone, then shape them properly by gently ironing them.
Lawns may be done in the same manner as the former, only observe to iron them on the wrong side, and use gum arabic water instead of starch and, according to what has been directed for sarcenets, any colored silks may be starched, abating or augmenting the gum-water as may be thought fit, according to the stiffness intended.
Take tobacco-pipe clay, and mix it with water till it is as thick as lime-water used for whitewashing rooms; spread this over the cloth, and when it is dry rub it off with a brush, and the cloth will look extremely well.
Boil together in a sufficient quantity of water, 1 gall. of good wood-ashes and 2 or 3 handfuls of fresh-burnt lime. Leave the lixivium at rest till the extraneous matters have been deposited at the bottom, or thrown to the surface to be skimmed off. Then draw off the pure lixivium, add to it oil, to about a thirtieth or fortieth part of its own quantity. The mixture will be a liquor white us milk, capable of frothing like soap-water, and in dilution with water perfectly fit to communicate sufficient whiteness to linen. This liquor may be prepared from wood-ashes of all sorts, and from rancid grease, oil or butter. It is therefore highly worthy the attention of the economist. When the ashes are suspected to be unusually deficient in alkali, a small addition of pulverized potash or soda may be made to the lixivium.
Fix the lace in a prepared tent, draw it straight, make a warm lather of Castile soap, and, with a fine brush dipped in, rub over the point gently; and when it is clean on one side do the same to the other; then throw some clean water on it, in which a little alum has been dissolved, to take off the suds, and having some thin starch go over with the same on the wrong side, and iron it on the same side when dry, then open it with a bodkin and set it in order.
To clean point lace, if not very dirty, without washing, fix it in a tent as the former, and go over with fine bread, the crust being pared off, and when it is done dust out the crumbs, etc.
Put the veil in a solution of white soap, and let it simmer a quarter of an hour. Squeeze it in some warm water and soap till quite clean. Rinse it from soap, and then in clean cold water, in which is a drop of liquid blue. Then pour boiling water upon a teaspoonful of starch, run the veil through this, and clear it well by clapping it. Afterwards pin it out, keeping the edges straight and even.
Pass them through a warm liquor of bullock's gall and water, rinse in cold water, then take a small piece of glue, pour boiling water on it, and pass the veil through it; clap it, and frame it to dry.
Mix sifted stale bread-crumbs with powder blue, and rub it thoroughly all over, then shake it well, and dust it with clean soft cloths. Afterwards where there are any gold or silver flowers, take a piece of crimson ingrain velvet, rub the flowers with it, which will restore them to their original lustre.
Pass them through a solution of fine hard soap, at a hand heat, drawing them through the hand. Rinse in lukewarm water, dry and finish by pinning out. Brush the flossy or bright side with a clean clothes-brush the way of the nap. Finish them by dipping a sponge into a size, made by boiling isinglass in water, and rub the wrong side. Rinse out a second time, and brush and dry near a fire or in a warm room.
Silks may be treated in the same way, but not brushed. If the silks are for dyeing, instead of passing them through a solution of soap and water they must be boiled off, but if the silks are very stout, the water must only be of heat sufficient to extract the dirt, and when rinsed in warm water they are in a state for the dye.
Strew French chalk over them, and brush it off with a hard brush once or twice.
Put some soft soap into boiling water, and beat it till dissolved in a strong lather. At a hand heat put in the article. If strong, it may be rubbed as in washing; rinse it quickly in warm water, and add oil of vitriol, sufficient to give another water a sourish taste, if for bright yellow, crimsons, maroons, and scarlets; but for oranges, fawns, browns, or their shades, use no acid. For bright scarlet use a solution of tin. Gently squeeze and then roll it in a coarse sheet, and wring it. Hang it in a warm room to dry, and finish it by calendering or mangling.
For pinks, rose colors, and thin shades, etc., instead of oil of vitriol, or solution of tin, prefer lemon-juice, or white tartar, or vinegar.
For blues, purples, and their shades, add a small quantity of pearlash; it will restore the colors. Wash the articles like a linen garment, but instead of wringing gently squeeze and sheet them, and when dry finish them with fine gum-water or dissolved isinglass, to which add some pearlash, rubbed on the wrong side; then pin them out.
Blues of all shades are dyed with archil, and afterwards dipped in a vat; twice cleaning with pearlash restores the color. For olive greens, a small quantity of verdigris dissolved in water, or a solution of copper mixed with the water, will revive the color again. Grease spots may be removed by benzine.
To bullock's gall add boiling water sufficient to make it warm, and with a clean sponge rub the silk well on both sides; squeeze it well out, and proceed again in like manner. Rinse it in springwater, and change the water till perfectly clean; dry it in the air, and pin it out on a table; but first dip the sponge in glue-water, and rub it on the wrong side; then dry it before a fire.
If it requires to be red dyed, boil logwood, and in hall an hour put in the silk and let it simmer half an hour. Take it out, and dissolve a little blue vitriol and green copperas, cool the copper, let it simmer 1/2 hour, then dry it over a stick in the air. If not red dyed, pin it out, and rinse it in spring water, in which 1/2 teaspoonful of oil of vitriol has been put. Work it about 5 minutes, rinse it in cold water, and finish it by pinning and rubbing it with gumwater.
Wash with soap and water, and simmer them in the same for 10 minutes, rinsing in cold water. For blue cast, put 1 drop of liquid blue into a pan of cold spring-water, run the stockings through this a minute or two, and dry them. For a pink cast, put 1 or 2 drops of saturated pink dye into cold water, and rinse them through this. For a flesh-color, add a little rose pink in a thin soap liquor, rub them with clean flannel, and calender or mangle them.
Scrape French chalk, put it on the grease-spot, and hold it near the fire, or over a warm iron, or water-plate, filled with boiling water. The grease will melt, and the French chalk absorb it; brush or rub it off. Repeat if necessary.
Mix together in a phial 2 oz. of essence of lemon, 1 oz. of oil of turpentine. Grease and other spots in silk are to be rubbed gently with a linen rag dipped in the above composition. Benzine may be used instead.
It should be laid in lukewarm water for 3 or 4 days, each day shifting it once, wringing it out, and laying it in another water of the same nature; then carry it to a well or brook, and rinse it till nothing comes from it but pure, clean water; that done, take a bucking-tub, and cover the bottom with very fine aspen ashes, and then having opened and spread the clippings, lay them on those ashes, and put more ashes above, and lay in more clippings, covering them with ashes as before; then lay one upon another till the yarn is put in; afterwards cover up the uppermost yarn with a buckingcloth, and, in proportion to the size of the tub, lay in a peck or two more of ashes; this done, pour upon the uppermost cloth a great deal of warm water, till the tub can receive no more, and let it stand so all night. Next morning set a kettle of clean water on the fire, and when it is warm pull out the spigot of the bucking-tub, to let the water run out of it into another clean vessel; as the bucking-tub wastes fill it up again with warm water on the fire, and as the water on the fire wastes so likewise fill up that with the lye that comes from the bucking-tub, ever observing to make the lye hotter and hotter, till it boils; then you must, as before, ply it with the boiling lye at least 4 hours together. For whitening, you must take off this buckingcloth, then putting the yarn with the lye ashes into large tubs, with your hands labor the yarn, ashes and lye pretty well together; afterwards carry it to a well or river and rinse it clean, then hang it upon poles in the air all day, and in the evening take the clippings down and lay them in water all night; the next day hang them up again, and throw water on them as they dry, observing to turn that side outermost which whitens slowest. After having done this for a week together, put all the yarn again into the bucking-tub without ashes, covering it as before with a bucking-cloth; lay thereon good store of fresh ashes, and drive that buck as before, with a very strong boiling lye for half a day or more; then take it out and rinse it, hanging it up, as before, in the day-time, to dry, and laying it in water at night another week. Lastly, wash it over in fair water, and dry it.
Cut 1 lb. of mottled soap into thin slices, and put it into a pan with 1/4 oz. of potash and 1 oz. of pearlash; pour a pail of boiling water on it and let it stand till dissolved; then pour hot and cold water in a scouring tub, with a howl of the solution; put in the counterpane, beat it well, turn it often, and give it a second liquor as before; then rinse it in cold water; now put 3 teaspoonfuls of liquid blue into a thin liquor, stir it, and put in the counterpane; beat it about 5 minutes, and dry it in the air.
Cut 1/2 lb. of the best palm soap into thin slices, and pour such a quantity of boiling river-water on it as will dissolve the soap, and make it of the consistence of oil; cover the articles about 2 in. with water such as the hand can bear, and add a lump of pearlash and about 1/3 of the soap solution. Beat them till no head of lather rises on the water, throw away the dirty water and proceed as before with hotter water, without pearlash.
If a black, blue, or brown coat, dry 2 oz. of fuller's earth, and pour on it sufficient boiling water to mix it, and plaster with it the spots of grease; take a pennyworth of bullock's gall, mix with it 1/2 a pt. of stale urine, and a little boiling water; with a hard brush dipped in this liquor, brush spotted places. Then dip the coat in a bucket of cold spring-water. When nearly dry, lay the nap right, and pass a drop of oil of olives over with a brush to finish it.
If gray, drab, fawns, or maroons, cut palm soap into thin slices, and pour water upon it to moisten it. Rub the greasy and dirty spots of the coat. Let it dry a little, and then brush it with warm water, repeating, if necessary, as at first, and use water a little hotter; rinse several times, in warm water, and finish as before.
Rub a piece of soap on every spot of grease or dirt; then take a hard brush dipped in boiling water, and rub the spots well. If very dirty, a solution of soap must be put into a tub, with hot water, and the carpet well beat in it, rinsing it in several clean waters, putting in the last water a tablespoonful of oil of vitriol, to brighten the colors.
Make a solution of soap, put in the articles, and wash them in the usual way. If greens, reds, etc., run, add lemon juice, vinegar, or oil of vitriol, to the rinsing water.
Dissolve the best white soap, and if black-looking spots appear, rub dry soap on them; while the other soap is dissolving, brush it off with hot water. If very dirty, immerse the article into the warm solution, and rub the stained parts. Dispatch it quickly, and as soon as the color begins to give, wring it out, and immerse it in a pan or pail of warm water; wring it again, and immerse it in cool spring-water, in which mix a tablespoonful of solution of tin. Stir it about, and in 10 minutes hang it to dry in the shade, and cold press it.
On 1/4 of a peck of wheaten bran pour boiling water in a hair sieve. In the bran-water, at a hand-heat, immerse the cloth, and rub it, looking through it to see the spots. To a second liquor, add nearly 1/4 oz. of white or crude tartar. If darkened make a clean liquor of cold spring-water with a drop or two of solution of tin, soak it in 10 minutes, stirring it, and hang it up to dry.
After it has been thoroughly cleaned with soap, and rinsed in warm water, put into boiling spring-water 1/4 lb. of young fustic or zant, 1 dr. of pounded and sifted cochineal, and an equal quantity of cream of tartar; boil 5 or 6 minutes, and cool by adding 1 or 2 pts. of cold springwater, and 1 tablespoonful of the solution of tin. Stir the mixture, put in the cloth, boil it for 10 minutes, and when dry, cold press it.
Soak in cold water for 1/2 an hour, then put on a board, and rub the thread-bare parts with a half-worn hatter's card, filled with flocks, or with a prickly thistle, until a nap is raised. Hang up to dry, and with a hard brush lay the nap the right way.
Having cleaned it well, boil 2 or 3 oz. of logwood for 1/2 an hour. Dip it in warm water and squeeze it dry, then put it into the copper, and boil 1/2 an hour. Take it out and add a small piece of green copperas, and boil it another 1/2 an hour. Hang it in the air for an hour or two, then rinse it in 2 or 3 cold waters, dry it, and let it be regularly brushed with a soft brush, over which 1 or 2 drops of oil of olives have been rubbed.
Dip a brush in warm gall, and apply it to greasy places, rinse it off in cold water; dry by the fire, then lay the coat flat, strew damp sand over it, and with a brush beat the sand into the cloth; then brush it out with a hard brush, and the sand will bring away the dirt. Rub a drop of oil of olives over with a soft brush, to brighten the colors.
The dress should be washed in lather, and not by applying the soap in the usual way direct upon the muslin. Make a lather by boiling soap and water together; let it stand until it is sufficiently cool for use, and previously to putting the dress into it, throw in a handful of salt; rinse the dress without wringing it in clear, cold water, into which a little salt has been thrown; remove it and rinse it in a fresh supply of clear water and salt. Then wring the dress in a cloth and hang it to dry immediately, spreading as open as possible, so as to prevent one part lying over another. Should there be any white in the pattern, mix a little blue in the water.
Put a chafing-dish with some lighted charcoal into a close room, or large box, then strew 1 or 2 oz. of powdered brimstone on the hot coals. Hang the articles in the room or box, make the door fast, and let them hang some hours. Fine colored woollens are thus sulphured before dyed and straw bonnets are thus bleached.
1. Hold the iron-mould on the cover of a tankard of boiling water, and rub on the spot a little oxalic acid, or salt of sorrel, and when the cloth has thoroughly imbibed the acid, wash it in lye.
2. Wet the spot with lemon-juice, sprinkle with salt, and lay in the sun until dry. Repeat the application until the stain is removed.
Mix 1 lb. of Bath brick, 2 lbs. of pipe-clay, 4 oz. of pumice-stone powder, and 6 oz. of ox galls; color them with rose-pink, yellow ochre, umber, Irish slate, etc., to any desired shade.
1. Mix 2 lbs. of pipe-clay, 4 oz. of fuller's earth, 4 oz. of whiting, and 1/4 of a pt. of ox-galls.
2. Portable balls, for removing spots from clothes, may be thus prepared: Fuller's earth, perfectly dried (so that it may grumble into a powder), is to be moistened with the clear juice of lemons, and a small quantity of pure pearlashes is to be added. Knead the whole carefully together, till it acquires the consistence of a thick elastic paste; form it into convenient small balls and dry them in the sun. To be used, first moisten the spot on the clothes with water, then rub it with the ball, and let the spot dry in the sun; after having washed it with pure water, the spot will entirely disappear.
The white of an egg applied to the injured part and dried in the sun, will effectually answer this purpose.
To 2 tablespoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, put 1/2 an oz. of mealy potatoes, add some of the best Durham mustard, with a little vinegar, let them dry, and when well rubbed, the spots will be entirely removed.
Mix well with 1 gall. of clear water, 1 lb. of quicklime, and, when the lime is precipitated in fine powder, pour off the clear lime-water for use, at the time it is wanted. Put the feathers to be cleaned in a tub, and add to them a sufficient quantity of the clear lime-water, so as to cover them about 3 inches. The feathers, when thoroughly moistened, will sink down, and should remain in the limewater for 3 or 4 days, after which, the foul liquor should be separated.
Dry, pulverize, and sift the following ingredients:
Six lbs. of fuller's earth, 1 lb. of pipe clay, and 4 oz. of French chalk.
Make a paste of the above with the following: One oz. of rectified oil of turpentine, 2 oz. of spirit of wine, and 1 1/2 lbs. of melted oil soap.
Make up the compound into six-penny or shilling cakes for sale. These cakes are to be kept in water, or in small wooden boxes.
Mix 1/2 pt. of refined neat's-foot oil, and 1/2 a gill of spirit of turpentine. Scrape a little rotten-stone; wet a woollen rag with the liquid, dip it into the scraped kernel, and rub the metal well. Wipe it off with a soft cloth, polish with dry leather, and use more of the kernel. In respect to steel, if it is very rusty, use a little powder of pumice with the liquid, on a separate woollen rag first.
Wash by means of camel's hair pencils dipped alternately in solutions of cyanide of potassium and oxalic acid.
Most indelible ink contains silver as a basis and may be removed by a solution of cyanide of potassium. When the basis of the ink is carbon, however, this will fail. Chlorine will destroy all stains and markings dependent upon organic matters except the carbon ink.
Beat the dust out of them as clean as possible, then rub them over with a dry brush, and make a good lather of Castile soap, and rub them well over with a hard brush, then take clean water and with it wash off the froth, make a water with alum, and wash them over with it, and when dry, most of the colors will be restored in a short time, and those that are yet too faint, must be touched up with a pencil dipped in suitable colors; it may be run all over in the same manner with water-colors mixed well with gum-water, and it will look at a distance like new.
Cut into 8 half-quarters a stale quartern loaf; with one of these pieces, after having blown off all the dust from the paper to be cleaned by means of a good pair of bellows, begin at the top of the room, holding the crust in the hand, and wiping lightly downward with the crumb, about half a yard at each stroke, till the upper part of the hangings is completely cleaned all round; then go again round with the like sweeping stroke downward, always commencing each successive course a little higher than the upper stroke had extended, till the bottom be finished. This operation, if carefully performed, will frequently make very old paper look almost equal to new. Great caution must be used not by any means to rub the paper hard, nor to attempt cleaning it the cross or horizontal way. The dirty part of the bread too must be each time cut away, and the pieces renewed as soon as at all necessary.
Take of French yellow ochre, 1 lb.; sweet oil, a dessertspoonful. Mix well together, so that the oil may not be seen, then take of pipe-clay 1 lb.; starch, 1/4 lb. Mix with boiling water; when cold lay it on the leather. When dry rub and brush it well.
Take verdigris and pumice-stone, well powdered, with lime newly slaked. Mix with soap lees, to the consistence of putty. Put it in a woollen rag, and rub the stains well one way. Wash off with soap and water. Repeat, if not removed. Or, cover the stains with fuller's earth or plaster of Paris, and when dry brush it off.
Steep the plate in soap lyes for the space of 4 hours; then cover it over with whiting, wet with vinegar, so that it may stick thick upon it and dry it by a fire; after which, rub off the whiting, and pass it over with dry bran, and the spots will not only disappear, but the plate will look exceedingly bright.
Let the spotted part of the cloth imbibe a little water without dipping, and hold the part over a lighted common brimstone match at a proper distance. The sulphurous acid gas, which is discharged, soon causes the spots to disappear. Or wet the spot with chlorine water. [See page 436.]
For this purpose no alkaline liquors are to be used; for while they clean the gold they corrode the silk, and change or discharge its color. Soap also alters the shade, and even the species of certain colors. But spirit of wine may be used without any danger of its injuring either color or quality; and, in many cases, proves as effectual for restoring the lustre of the gold, as the corrosive detergents. But, though spirit of wine is the most innocent material employed for this purpose, it is not in all cases proper. The golden covering may be in some parts worn off; or the base metal, with which it has been alloyed, may be corroded by the air, so as to leave the particles of the gold disunited; while the silver underneath, tarnished to a yellow hue, may continue a tolerable color to the whole; so it is apparent that the removal of the tarnish would be prejudicial, and make the lace or embroidery less like gold than it was before.
Spots of grease may be removed by a diluted solution of potash, but this must be cautiously applied to prevent injury to the cloth. A better way is to lay a piece of brown or blotting-paper over the spot, and pass over it a hot iron. The grease is absorbed by the paper. Stains of white wax, which sometimes falls upon clothes from wax candles, are removed by spirits of turpentine, sulphuric ether, or benzine. The marks of white paint may also be discharged by the above-mentioned agents.
Rub it well with soap; then scrape some fine chalk and rub that also in the linen, lay it on the grass; as it dries, wet it a little, and it will come out after twice doing. [See page 437.]
As soon as the accident happens, wet the place with juice of sorrel or lemon, or with vinegar, and the best hard white soap. Oxalic acid in weak solution is more active, but must be used cautiously.
Pound French chalk fine, mix with lavender-water to the thickness of mustard. Put on the stain; rub it soft with the finger or palm of the hand. Put a sheet of blotting and brown paper on the top, and smooth it with an iron, milkwarm.
Let the paper stained with grease, wax, oil, or any other fat body, be gently warmed, taking out as much as possible of it by blotting-paper. Dip a small brush in ether or benzine, and draw it gently over both sides of the paper, which must be carefully kept warm. Let this operation be repeated as many times as the quantity of the fatbody, imbibed by the paper, or the thickness of the paper may render it necessary. When the greasy substance is removed, to restore the paper to its former whiteness, dip another brush in highly rectified spirit of wine, and draw it, in like manner over the place; and particularly around the edges, to remove the border that would still present a stain. If the process has been employed on a part written on with common ink, or printed with printer's ink, it will experience no alteration.
Another: - Scrape finely some pipe-clay (the quantity will be easily determined on making the experiment); on this lay the sheet or leaf, and cover the spot, in like manner, with the clay. Cover the whole with a sheet of paper, and apply, for a few seconds, a heated iron-box, or any substitute adopted by laundresses. On using Indian rubber, to remove the dust taken up by the grease the paper will be found restored to its original whiteness and opacity. This simple method has often proved much more effectual than turpentine, and was remarkably so, in an instance, where the folio of a ledger had exhibited the marks of candle grease and the snuff for more than 12 months.
Benzine is the best material for cleaning gloves.
It may be applied with a soft sponge or a piece of cloth.
Rub the soiled straw with a cut lemon, and wash off the juice with water. Stiffen with gum-water.
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