GRGR (8) Mauve, Coal Tar & Seances, Part 2

[Michael D. Workman]

Also from GRC:

166.23-29 "coal tar...Earth's excrement...Passed over" The mythology is
certainly Pynchon's, yet listen to William Haynes (44) describe attitudes
toward coal-tar substances in Perkins's time: "Few chemists knew anything
at all about coal tar. Certainly nobody suspected that it consisted of a
mixture of more than two hundred different, definite substances, six of
which would shortly become the material for the manufacture of many
thousands of new chemical products. Inky black, evil smelling, oily, it is
nasty to handle, and with the apparatus then available it was hard to work
with." Thus for decades chemists had literally passed over coal tar; it was
a preterite material and seemingly satanic, yet out of it emerged a virtual
rainbow of colors.

And, to conclude, here's a brief history of the development of dyes,
including the synthetic sort beginning in 1856--interestingly enough, check
out 1900--(from http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html):

1802 Sir Robert Peel brought out a resist method, he had purchased the idea
for from a commercial traveller for equivalent of
$25. It consisted of a wax or other resist on the background, actually a
batik technique done on large scale.
1823 Mercer discovered chromate discharge of indigo
1825 Mathias Baldwin (later of locomotive fame) began the first American
production of engraved metal rollers for calico
printing which were used in the Philadelphia area and could produce 300 yds
of fabric per day.
1834 Runge, a German chemist, noticed that upon distilling coal tar,
aniline would give a bright blue color if treated with
bleaching powder. This helped to pave the way to the development of aniline
(basic) dyes 22 years later.
1844 John Mercer discovered that treating cotton with caustic soda (lye)
while under tension improved its strength, luster,
dyeability, absorbency. The process was called "mercerization".
1856 William Henry Perkin discovered the first synthetic dye stuff "Mauve"
(aniline, a basic dye) while searching for a
cure for malaria and a new industry was begun. It was a brilliant fuchsia
type color, but faded easily so our idea of the color
mauve is not what the appearance of the original color was.
1858 Griess discovered diazotisation and coupling on/in the fiber
1858-59 Magenta (fuchsin) discovered by Verguin the 2nd basic dye and more
widely used than Mauve
1861 Methyl violet, basic dye, by Lauth
1862 Hofmann's Violet, Hofmann was one of the great dye chemists of all time
1862 Bismarck Brown developed by Martius and Lightfoot, first soluble azo dye
1863 Aniline Black, developed by Lightfoot, a black produced by oxidation
of aniline on the cotton fiber.
1866 Methyl Violet, basic dye
1868 Graebe and Liebermann, German chemists, produced alizarin (synthetic
madder). this was the first time a synthetic
substitute for a vegetable dye had been manufactured. W.H.Perkin also
synthesized it about the same time, but independently.
1872 Methyl Green by Lauth and Baubigny, still in use, basic dye
1873 Cachou de Laval, 1st sulphur dye, a brown, by Groissant and
Bretonniere, France
1875-76 Caro and Witt prepared Chrysoidine, 1st important member of azo
class of dye
1876 Caro, an important dye chemist, discovered Methyl Blue, an important
1877 Malachite Green, basic dye by Dobner and Fisher
1878 Biebrich Scarlet invented, a very pure red acid dye, rivalling
cochineal in brightness
1878 von Baeyer synthesized synthetic indigo. It was not marketed until 1897
1880 Thomas and Holliday, England, synthesized the first azo dye formed on
the fabric by coupling. Vacanceine red formed by
treating fabric with napthol and then dipping in a diazolized amine, a very
fast category of dyes.
1884 Congo Red by Bottiger, first of the direct cotton dyes
1885 Benzopurpurine, early direct dye by Duisberg, bright and highly
substantive
1885 Para Red dye brought out by von Gallois and Ullrich. (B napthol and
nitraniline)
1885-89 Chardonnet, France, made the first successful rayon and showed it
at the Paris Exposition of 1889.
1887 First azo mordant dye, Alizarin Yellow GG
1887 Rhodamine B (brilliant red-violet) basic dye
1890 Direct Black BH, first direct black
1891 Diamine Green B, first green azo dye 
1891 Chardonnet built his first commercial plant at Besancon for
manufacturing rayon, by the Chardonnet process.
1891 Direct dye-Sky Blue FF, important blue for many years, good light
fastness
1893 2nd Sulphur dye, Vidal Black
1895 Viscose method of making rayon invented by Cross and Bevan, England
was begun. This is now the most common
process for manufacture of rayon. 
1898 Direct Black E, a black dye of major importance
1900 When Mozaffer ed Din became Shah of Persia one of his first edicts was
to prohibit the use of analine dyes for rugs. All
analine dyes were seized and publicly burned. Penalties included jail and
fines equal to double the value of the merchandise.
1901 Rene Bohn patented his invention of Indanthrene Blue RS, the first
anthraquinone vat dye, a category of dyes with
extremely good fastness to light and washing 
1901 Bohn developed 2nd vat dye, Flanthrene a yellow
1902 Thesmar, Baumann, Descamps, and Frossard brought out hydrosulfite and
sulfoxylateformaldehyde.
1905 Thio-indigo Red, by Freidlander, 1st indigoid dye 
1908 Hydron Blue, a rival to indigo, developed by Cassella
1914 USA importing 90% of its dye stuffs, a problem during WWI, as many
came from Germany.
1915 Neolan dye, 1st metallized chrome dye, dyed from strong acid bath
1921 Bader developed soluble vat colors, the Indigosols.
1922 the AATCC (American Assoc. of Textile Chemists and Colorists) formed
its first subcommittee to study washfastness of
printed and dyed cottons, formulate testing procedures, standards of fastness.
1924 Indigosol 0, by Baeyer and Sunder, 1st commercial indigosol dye
1928 Dupont began the fundamental research that would lead to discovery of
nylon
1936 First pair of stockings knit with a new synthetic fiber from DuPont
called "nylon" for which Carothers received the patent.
1938 Nylon formally introduced to the public
1948 Textiles became second largest industry in USA. The average consumer
consumption per capita of fibers: 27 lbs cotton,
6.3 lbs rayon, 4.9 lbs wool.
1951 Irgalan dyes introduced by Geigy, 1st neutral pre-metallized dyes (did
not require a lot of acid as Neolans did) Cibalans
are the same type.
1950 Dupont introduced first commercial availability of Orlon, a new
acrylic "wool substitute"
1951 DuPont announced that a plant in N.Carolina would begin to manufacture
Dacron polyester.
1951 A new acrylic, Acrilan. was introduced by Chemstrand Corp. 
1953 Cibalan Brilliant Yellow 3GL, a dye which lead the way to discovery of
the fiber reactive dyes was introduced
1954 Celanese Corp announced first commercial production of an American
triacetate, Arnel.
1956 ICI in England introduced Procion, first range of fiber reactive dye -
this dye was to have a major impact on industry as
well as textile artists around the world 
1957 CIBA introduces Cibacrons, a new range of reactive dyes and the first
to compete with ICI's Procion series
1956 Eastman Kodak introduced Verel, a modified acrylic
1956 American Cyanamid introduced a new acrylic, Creslan
1956 One person working out of every 7 in the USA received his income from
work performed in textile or apparel industries!
1958 Eastman Kodak introduced Kodel polyester.
1964 First permanent press finishes used
1968 DuPont introduces Qiana, a fancy nylon with "silk" feel and drape 
1968 For the first time manmade fibers topped natural fibers for US
consumption. 5 billion pounds vs 4.6 billion pounds, the
use of polyester was growing the most quickly.


Cheers,

Michael Workman, Proprietor
Underworld Used Books
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