LAUNDRY PREPARATIONS
Bluing Compounds:
Laundry Blue.
This soluble blue is said to be potassium ferri-ferrocyanide, and is prepared by gradually adding to a boiling solution of potassium ferricyanide (red prussiate of potash) an equivalent quantity of hot solution of ferrous sulphate, boiling for 2 hours and washing the precipitate on a filter until the washings assume a dark-blue color; the moist precipitate can then at once be dissolved by the further addition of a sufficient quantity of water. About 64 parts of the iron salt are necessary to convert 100 parts of the potassium salt into the blue compound.
Leaf bluing for laundry use may be prepared by coating thick sized paper with soluble blue formed into a paste with a mixture of dextrin mucilage and glycerine. Dissolve a given quantity of dextrine in water enough to make a solution about as dense as ordinary syrup, add about as much glycerine as there was dextrine, rub the blue smooth with a sufficient quantity of this vehicle and coat the sheets with the paint. The amount of blue to be used will depend of course on the intended cost of the product, and the amount of glycerine will require adjustment so as to give a mixture which will not “smear” after the water has dried out and yet remain readily soluble.
Ultramarine is now very generally used as a laundry blue where the insoluble or “bag blue” is desired. It is mixed with glucose, or glucose and dextrine, and pressed into balls or cakes. When glucose alone is used, the product has a tendency, it is said, to become soft on keeping, which tendency may be counteracted by a proper proportion of dextrin. Bicarbonate of sodium is added as a “filler” to cheapen the product, the quantity used and the quality of the ultramarine employed being both regulated by the price at which the product is to sell.
The coal-tar or aniline blues are not offered to the general public as laundry blues, but laundry proprietors have them frequently brought under their notice, chiefly in the form of solutions, usually 1 to 1 1/2 per cent strong. These dyes are strong bluing materials, and, being in the form of solution, are not liable to speck the clothes. Naturally their properties depend upon the particular dye used; some are fast to acids and alkalies, others are fast to one but not to another; some will not stand ironing, while others again are not affected by the operation; generally they are not fast to light, but this is only of minor importance. The soluble, or cotton, blues are those most favored; these are made in a great variety of tints, varying from a reddish blue to a pure blue in hue, distinguished by such brands as 3R, 6B, etc. Occasionally the methyl violets are used, especially the blue tints. Blackley blue is very largely used for this purpose, being rather faster than the soluble blues. It may be mentioned that a 1 per cent solution of this dye is usually strong enough. Unless care is taken in dissolving these dyes they are apt to produce specks. The heat to which the pure blues are exposed in ironing the clothes causes some kinds to assume a purple tinge.
The cheapest aniline blue costs about three times as much as soluble blue, yet the tinctorial power of the aniline colors is so great that possibly they might be cheapened.
Soluble Blue.
After siphoning off the solution the precipitate is washed with warm water, placed on a filter and washed out on the latter by pouring on cold water until the water running off commences to assume a strong blue color. The precipitate is then squeezed out and dried at a moderate heat (104° F.). The Paris blue thus obtained dissolves readily in water and can be extensively employed in a similar manner as indigo carmine.
II.—Make ordinary Prussian blue (that which has been purified by acids, chlorine, or the hypochlorites) into a thick paste with distilled or rain water, and add a saturated solution of oxalic acid sufficient to dissolve. If time be of no consequence, by leaving this solution exposed to the atmosphere, in the course of 60 days the blue will be entirely precipitated in soluble form. Wash with weak alcohol and dry at about 100° F. The resultant mass dissolves in pure water and remains in solution indefinitely. It gives a deep, brilliant blue, and is not injurious to the clothing or the hands of the washwoman.
The same result may be obtained by precipitating the soluble blue from its oxide solution by the addition of alcohol of 95 per cent, or with a concentrated solution of sodium sulphate. Pour off the mother liquid and wash with very dilute alcohol; or throw on a filter and wash with water until the latter begins to come off colored a deep blue.
Liquid Laundry Blue.
Instead of powdered Prussian blue, soluble Prussian blue may be used. This is made by dissolving solid Prussian blue in a solution of oxalic acid, but as the use of oxalic acid is to be deprecated for the use of laundresses, as it would set up blood poisoning should it get into any cuts in the flesh, it is best to prepare liquid blue by making a solution of yellow prussiate of potash (ferrocyanide of potassium) with water, and then by adding a sufficient quantity of chloride of iron to produce a blue, but not enough to be precipitated.
Ball Blue.
Below is a “filled” formula:
| Ultramarine | 6 ounces |
| Sodium carbonate | 4 ounces |
| Glucose | 1 ounce |
| Water, a sufficient quantity. |
Make a thick paste, roll into sheets, and cut into tablets. The balls in bulk can be obtained only in large packages of the manufacturers, say barrels of 200 pounds; but put up in 1-pound boxes they can be bought in cases as small as 28 pounds.
Laundry Blue Tablets.—
| Ultramarine | 6 ounces |
| Sodium carbonate | 4 ounces |
| Glucose | 1 ounce |
| Water, a sufficient quantity. |
Make a thick paste, roll into sheets, and cut into tablets.
Polishes Or Glazes For Laundry Work.
Laundry Gloss Dressing.—
II.—Dissolve white wax, 5.0 parts, in ether, 20.5 parts, and add spirit, 75.0 parts. Shake before use.
Heat until melted, in a pot, 1,000 parts {445} of wax and 1,000 parts of stearine, as well as a few drops of an essential oil. To the hot liquid add with careful stirring 250 parts of ammonia lye of 10 per cent, whereby a thick, soft mass results immediately. Upon further heating same turns thin again, whereupon it is diluted with 20,000 parts of boiling water, mixed with 100 parts of starch and poured into molds.
Starches.
Most laundry starches now contain some polishing mixture for giving a high luster.
I.—Dissolve in a vessel of sufficient capacity, 42 parts of crystallized magnesium chloride in 30 parts of water. In another vessel stir 12 parts of starch in 20 parts of water to a smooth paste. Mix the two and heat under pressure until the starch is fluidified.
II.—Pour 250 parts, by weight, of water, over 5 parts, by weight, of powdered gum tragacanth until the powder swells uniformly; then add 750 parts, by weight, of boiling water, dissolve 50 parts, by weight, of borax in it, and stir 50 parts, by weight, of stearine and 50 parts, by weight, of talcum into the whole. Of this fluid add 250 parts to 1,000 parts of boiled starch, or else the ironing oil is applied by means of a sponge on the starched wash, which is then ironed.
| By weight | ||
|---|---|---|
| III.— | Starch | 1,044 parts |
| Borax | 9 parts | |
| Common salt | 1 part | |
| Gum arabic | 8 parts | |
| Stearine | 20 parts | |
Washing Fluids, Bricks And Powders:
Washing Fluids.
Grosser’s Washing Brick.—
| Water | 54 parts |
| Sodium hydrate | 38.21 parts |
| Sodium biborate | 6.61 parts |
| Sodium silicate | 1.70 parts |
Haenkel’s Bleaching Solution.—
| Water | 36.15 parts |
| Sodium hydrate | 40.22 parts |
| Sodium silicate | 23.14 parts |
Luhn’s Washing Extract.—
| Water | 34.50 parts |
| Sodium hydrate | 25.33 parts |
| Soap | 39.40 parts |
Washing Powders.—
| I.— | Sodium carbonate, partly effloresced | 2 parts |
|---|---|---|
| Soda ash | 1 part | |
| II.— | Sodium carbonate, partly effloresced | 6 parts |
| Soda ash | 3 parts | |
| Yellow soap | 1 part | |
| III.— | Sodium carbonate, partly effloresced | 3 parts |
| Soap bark | 1 part | |
| IV.— | Sodium carbonate, partly effloresced | 1 part |
| Borax | 1 part | |
| Yellow soap | 1 part |
V.—A good powder can be made from 100 parts of crystal soda, 25 parts of dark-yellow rosin-cured soap, and 5 parts of soft soap. The two latter are placed in a pan, along with one-half the soda (the curd soap being cut into small lumps), and slowly heated, with continual crutching, until they are thoroughly melted—without, however, beginning to boil. The fire is then drawn and the remaining soda crutched in until it, too, is melted, this being effected by the residual heat of the mass and the pan. The mass will be fairly thick by the time the soda is all absorbed. After leaving a little longer, with occasional stirring, the contents are spread out on several thin sheets of iron in a cool room, to be then turned over by the shovel at short intervals, in order to further cool and break down the mixture. The soap will then be in a friable condition, and can be rubbed through the sieve, the best results being obtained by passing through a coarse sieve first, and one of finer mesh afterwards. With these ingredients a fine yellow-colored powder will be obtained. White stock soap may also be used, and, if desired, colored with palm oil and the same colorings as are used for toilet soaps. The object of adding soft soap is to increase the solubility and softness of the powder, but the proportion used should not exceed one-third of the hard soap, or the powder will be smeary and handle moist. The quality of the foregoing product is good, the powder being stable and not liable to ball, even after prolonged storage; neither does it wet the paper in which it is packed, nor swell up, and therefore the packets retain their appearance. {446}
In making ammonia-turpentine soap powder the ammonia and oil of turpentine are crutched into the mass shortly before removing it from the pan, and if the powder is scented—for which purpose oil of mirbane is mostly used—the perfume is added at the same stage.
To Whiten Flannels.
Ink For The Laundry.
| a. | Copper chloride, crystals | 85 parts |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium chlorate | 106 parts | |
| Ammonium chloride | 53 parts | |
| Water, distilled | 600 parts | |
| b. | Glycerine | 100 parts |
| Mucilage gum arabic (gum, 1 part; water, 2 parts) | 200 parts | |
| Aniline hydrochlorate | 200 parts | |
| Distilled water | 300 parts |
Make solutions a and b and preserve in separate bottles. When wanted for use, mix 1 part of solution a with 4 parts of solution b.
Laces, Curtains, Etc.
II.—Washing curtains in coffee will give them an ecru color, but the simplest way to color curtains is with “Philadelphia yellow” (G. or R. of the Berlin Aktiengesellschaft’s scale).
LAUNDRY SOAP: See Soap.
LAVATORY DEODORANT: See Household Formulas.
LAXATIVES FOR CATTLE AND HORSES: See Veterinary Formulas.