Part 258

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