TURKEY-RED. This celebrated color—the most durable, and perhaps one of the most beautiful which has been produced on cotton—is dyed by a process supposed I to have been practiced in ndia from immemorial time. It passed from thence through other parts of Asia to the countries of the Levant, and was introduced into France about the middle of last century. The first successful attempt to introduce it into Great Britain was made in Glasgow in 1783, by a Rouen dyer named Papillon, in conjunction with Mr. George Macintosh, the father of the inventor of waterproof cloth. established the celebrated Turkey-red business now carried on by Messrs. Henry Mon teith Sr., Co. By an agreement with the trustees for manufactures in Scbtland, Papillon allowed them to make his process public in 1803; and since then, Turkey-red dyeing ,has been extensively carried on in Glasgow and its neighborhood, and also in Lanca shire.
There is a mode of dyeing cotton red with madder practiced by calico-printers—the cloth being previously bleached with chloride of lime—where the whole process only occupies or two. But in the case of Turkey-red, which is also a madder-dye, the operations are long and tedious, and the bleaching•with chloride of lime especially objectionable. The following is an outline of the steps in the Turkey-red process, as usually conducted: 1. Unbleached calico is thoroughly washed at a dash-wheel or other washing-machine, and then boiled for some time in a solution of carbonate of soda. 2.
The cloth is soaked in a bath containing a soapy emulsion of olive oil, sheep's dung,. carbonate of soda, and water; and allowed to remain for a week or more impregnated with the solution, after which it is aired in the field, and dried in stoves. This opera tion is repeated at least three times. 3. The next stage, sometimes called " liquoring," consists in passing the cloth through an emulsion of olive oil and carbonate of soda, hut without sheep's dung; after which it is aired in the field, and dried in stoves, as in the last operation. The liquoring" is repeated at least four times. 4. The cloth requires to be soaked in a weak alkaline lye of pearl-ash and soda, in order to remove any excess of oil. 5. The cloth is warmed in a bath containing a mixture of powdered
oak-galls and sumac, or either of these substances alone, the operation being sometimes called "galling," and sometimes " sumaching." 6. The cloth is next steeped for twelve hours in a solution of alum, partially neutralized by carbonate of soda, but sometimes acetate of alumina is used instead of alum. Without this treatment, the dye could not be fixed upon the cotton. See DYEING. 7. When thoroughly washed, the cloth is ready to receive the red dye, which is produced by immersing it in a decoction of madder, to which some chalk and bullock's blood are sometimes added. It is put into the dye-beck when cold, and kept in it for two hours after it has been raised to the boiling-point. 8. It is next boiled in a weak solution of soap and soda, which removes a brown color ing matter present in the madder-dye, but more fugitive than the red portion. 9. Finally, the dyed cloth is cleared or brightened by boiling it in a solution of chloride of tin, and then washing and drying it. A more recent plan is to employ chloride of lime for the clearing.
The theory of Turkey-red dyeing is not well understood, which so far accounts for the fact that it has been found impossible materially to shorten the process. The three most essential operations are the oiling, or rather the impregnation with an oleaginous soap, the mordnuting with alumina, and the dyeing with madder; but it is found that if any of the numerous clippings in the oily emulsions are left out, the color is inferior in proportion to the number of omissions. This is the least understood part of the process, and is no doubt the cause of the rich appearance of the dye, which approaches some of the fine reds produced on wool.
Besides being largely used in its plain state, Turkey-red cloth is extensively employed for handkerchiefs with white patterns produced upon them by discharging the color (see BANDANA); and of late years articles of various kinds, with patterns in several colors, have been produced by ordinary calico-printing machines, where, by proper arra noements, the different colors are obtained on parts where the red color is discharged by chloride of lime.