Page:EB1911 - Volume 14.djvu/603

Rh China ink or Indian ink is the form in which ink was earliest prepared, and in which it is still used in China and Japan for writing with small brushes instead of pens. It is extensively used by architects, engineers and artists generally, and for various special uses. China ink is prepared in the form of sticks and cakes, which are rubbed down in water for use. It consists essentially of lamp-black in very fine condition, baked up with a glutinous substance; and the finer Oriental kinds are delicately perfumed. The following description of the manufacture as conducted in Japan is from a native source:—

“The body of the ink is soot obtained from pine wood or rosin, and lamp-black from sesamum oil for the finest sort. This is mixed with liquid glue made of ox-skin. This operation is effected in a large round copper bowl, formed of two spherical vessels, placed 1 in. apart, so that the space between can be filled up with hot water to prevent the glue from hardening during the time it is being mixed by hand with the lamp-black. The cakes are formed in wooden moulds, and dried between paper and ashes. Camphor, or a peculiar mixture of scents which comes from China, and a small quantity of carthamine (the red colouring substance of safflower), are added to the best kinds for improving the colour as well as for scenting the ink. There is a great difference both in price and in quality of the various kinds of ink, the finest article being rather costly.”

It is said that the size used in Chinese kinds is of vegetable origin.

Logwood Ink.—Under the name of chrome ink a black ink was discovered by Runge, which held out the promise of cheapness combined with many excellent qualities. It is prepared by dissolving 15 parts of extract of logwood in 900 parts of water, to which 4 parts of crystallized sodium carbonate are added. A further solution of 1 part of potassium chromate (not bichromate) in 100 parts of water is prepared, and is added very gradually to the other solution with constant agitation. The ink so obtained possesses an intense blue-black colour, flows freely and dries readily, is neutral in reaction and hence does not corrode steel pens, and adheres to and sinks into paper so that manuscripts written with it may be freely washed with a sponge without danger of smearing or spreading. It forms a good copying ink, and it possesses all the qualities essential to the best ink; but on exposure to air it very readily undergoes decomposition, the colouring matter separating in broad flakes, which swim in a clear menstruum. It is affirmed by Viedt that this drawback may be overcome by the use of soda, a method first suggested by Böttger.

Logwood forms the principal ingredient in various other black inks used, especially as copying ink. A very strong decoction of logwood or a strong solution of the extract with ammonium-alum yields a violet ink which darkens slowly on exposure. Such an ink is costly, on account of the concentrated condition in which the logwood must be used. If, however, a metallic salt is introduced, a serviceable ink is obtained with the expenditure of much less logwood. Either sulphate of copper or sulphate of iron may be used, but the former, which produces a pleasing blue-black colour, is to be preferred. The following is the formula most highly recommended for this ink. A clear solution of 20 kilos of extract of logwood in 200 litres of water is obtained, to which is added, with agitation, 10 kilos of ammonium-alum dissolved in 20 litres of boiling water. The solution is acidified with 0.2 kilo of sulphuric acid, which has the effect of preventing any deposit, and finally there is added a solution of 1.5 kilos of sulphate of copper dissolved in 20 litres of water. This compound is exposed to the air for a few days to allow the colour to develop by oxidation, after which it is stored in well-corked bottles. The acid condition of this ink has a corrosive influence on steel pens; in all other respects it is a most valuable writing fluid.

Aniline Inks.—Solutions of aniline dye-stuffs in water are widely used as inks, especially coloured varieties. They are usually fugitive. Nigrosine is a black ink, which, although not producing a black so intense as common ink, possesses various advantages. Being perfectly neutral, it does not attack pens; it can easily be kept of a proper consistency by making up with water; and its colour is not injuriously affected by the action of acids. Its ready flow from stylographic pens led to the name “stylographic ink.” Other aniline inks are mentioned below.

Copying Ink.—Ink which yields by means of pressure an impression, on a sheet of damped tissue paper, of characters written in it is called copying ink. Any ink soluble in water, or which retains a certain degree of solubility, may be used as copying ink. Runge’s chrome ink, being a soluble compound, is, therefore, so available; and the other logwood inks as well as the ordinary ferrous gallate inks contain also soluble constituents, and are essentially soluble till they are oxidized in and on the paper after exposure to the air. To render these available as copying inks it is necessary to add to them a substance which will retard the oxidizing effect of the air for some time. For this purpose the bodies most serviceable are gum arabic or senegal, with glycerin, dextrin or sugar, which last, however, renders the ink sticky. These substances act by forming a kind of glaze or varnish over the surface of the ink which excludes the air. At the same time when the damp sheet of tissue paper is applied to the writing, they dissolve and allow a portion of the yet soluble ink to be absorbed by the moistened tissue. As copying ink has to yield two or more impressions, it is necessary that it should be made stronger, i.e. that it should contain more pigment or body than common ink. It, therefore, is prepared with from 30 to 40% less of water than non-copying kinds; but otherwise, except in the presence of the ingredients above mentioned, the inks are the same. Copying ink pencils consist of a base of graphite and kaolin impregnated with a very strong solution of an aniline colour, pressed into sticks and dried.

Red Ink.—The pigment most commonly employed as the basis of red ink is Brazil-wood. Such an ink is prepared by adding to a strong decoction of the wood a proportion of stannous chloride (tin spirits), and thickening the resulting fluid with gum arabic. In some instances alum and cream of tartar are used instead of the stannous chloride. Cochineal is also employed as the tinctorial basis of red ink; but, while the resulting fluid is much more brilliant than that obtained from Brazil-wood, it is not so permanent. A very brilliant red ink may be prepared by dissolving carmine in a solution of ammonia, but this preparation must be kept in closely stoppered bottles. A useful red ink may also be made by dissolving the rosein of Brook, Simpson and Spiller in water, in the proportion of 1 to from 150 to 200 parts.

Blue Ink.—For the production of blue ink the pigment principally used is Prussian blue. It is first digested for two or three days with either strong hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid or nitric acid, the digested mass is next very largely diluted with water, and after settling the supernatant liquid is siphoned away from the sediment. This sediment is repeatedly washed, till all traces of iron and free acid disappear from the water used, after which it is dried and mixed with oxalic acid in the proportion of 8 parts of Prussian blue to 1 of the acid, and in this condition the material is ready for dissolving in water to the degree of colour intensity necessary. An aniline blue ink may be prepared by dissolving 1 part of bleu de Paris in from 200 to 250 parts of water.

Marking Ink.—The ink so called, used principally for marking linen, is composed of a salt of silver, usually the nitrate, dissolved in water and ammonia, with a little provisional colouring matter and gum for thickening. The colour resulting from the silver salt is developed by heat and light; and the stain it makes, although exceedingly obstinate, gradually becomes a faint brownish-yellow. The following yields a good marking ink. Equal parts of nitrate of silver and dry tartaric acid are triturated in a mortar, and treated with water, when a reaction takes place, resulting in the formation of tartrate of silver and the liberation of nitric acid. The acid is neutralized, and at the same time the silver tartrate is dissolved by the addition of ammonia, and this solution with colouring matter and gum forms the ink, which may be used with an ordinary steel pen.

Many vegetable juices, e.g. of Coriaria thymifolia, Semecarpus