TEXTILE PRINTING. The application of art and science in the production of designs on any fibrous materials without resource to embroidering or appliqueing. (See CALICO PRINTING.) Its origin is unknown. Some ascribe it to the Chinese, but it is more likely that India and Egypt could claim earlier knowledge of the printing of textiles. Indian prints were highly valued by the Romans, and India is undoubtedly the source from which the application of block printing to woven fabrics spread by way of Persia, Asia Minor and the Levant to Europe. Although wood engraving was used in Europe for illustrating books as early as the 15th century, it was not until the latter half of the I7th century that textile printing was practiced to any great extent. About that time the French brought from the east coast of India, blue and white resist prints and particulars of the methods used to produce them. At the end of the 17th century Augsburg was noted for its printed linens, and in 1746 the works of C. Koechlin was founded at Mulhouse. Textile printing was established in England in 1690 by a French refugee who opened a works near Richmond, but little progress was made until when Messrs. Clayton of Bamber Bridge, near Preston, opened the first print works in Lancashire.
After this, printing progressed at a remarkably rapid rate in England. The effects were obtained by impressing carved blocks smeared with thickened colour on to cloth until 177o, when Bell conceived the idea of printing calico in much the same way that engravings are produced on paper with engraved copper plates. The difficulty experienced in this method was to make successive impressions join up imperceptibly, and it has always been limited to handkerchiefs and designs made up of detached objects; this was overcome by the invention of the roller printing machine by Bell in 1783. In i800 Ebinger invented a method of peg or sur face printing, which was practically a block in the form of a cylinder. This was greatly improved upon by an Englishman, Burch of Accrington, who introduced the method of coppering (often employed in hand block printing), covering the rollers with varnish to protect them from damp and supplying them with a colour furnishing blanket. This method, with improvements, is adopted in the production of cheaper cretonnes with designs resembling those of hand block printing.
A combination of relief and intaglio printing is sometimes carried out. Watt in England and Depouilly in France were pioneers in the production of relief printing machines, but the most satisfactory block machine was constructed by Perrot of Rouen to print three colours. This is used to some extent in
England but still more in France, Switzerland and Italy. In all countries roller printing is the most important method, but thick fabrics, such as cretonnes, heavy velvet and plush do not present the kind of surface which is well adapted to roller printing in heavy shades, and such material is block printed by hand. For the successful application of roller printing, the engraving of the copper cylinders is a most important matter. Every part of a design which is represented in a particular colour requires a separate roller, so that every new design which is introduced involves considerable expense for roller engraving. Various de vices have been proposed for overcoming this difficulty, but they do not appear to find much application.
Printed fabrics are really locally dyed, but the applications of watery liquids to the surface of cloth results in blurred and in definite outlines. Such effects are sometimes desirable, in which case spray dyeing is resorted to, with perhaps the most .pleasing effects in the case of real silk material. Special machines (aero graph sprays) have been devised for this purpose. If clear, well defined outlines are required, it is necessary either to size the cloth or to thicken the colour solution. The first method was prob ably adopted in the early days of printing in England, and natural gums were used until the end of the 18th century.
The discovery of a satisfactory substitute for natural gum is said to have originated from a fire in a starch factory in Dublin early in the 19th century, the gummy material produced by the mixture of half burnt starch and water being tried at a print works and proved satisfactory. According to other accounts the discovery is attributed to Vauquelin and Bouillon-Lagrange. In any case British gum must have been discovered before 1815. It was found that it could be conveniently used as an addition to the colour instead of applying it to the cloth.
There are three methods of printing designs on textiles, viz., Block printing, using the hand block, or the perrotine machine, also peg or surface printing. Intaglio printing, the roller or cylinder machine being the only satisfactory device. Surface printing by lithography, using some special machines of limited application. In addition to these is stencilling (of considerable importance, especially for the application of metals to fabric), the drop and brush method and spraying.