One of the Cylinders of the Machine, showing the way by which it is coloured.
The greatest mechanical improvement in the art of calico printing was the invention of the cylinder or roller printing at the end of the last century. This style of printing has been generally adopted in Lancashire, and is the cause of the success of the English over the continental printers. One cylinder machine, attended by one man to regulate the rollers, is capable of printing as many pieces as one hundred men and one hundred girls could print with hand blocks in the same time. A mile length of calico can be printed off with four different colours in a single hour.
This cylinder machine consists of a hollow cylinder or roller of copper, about three feet long and three or four inches in diameter, the pattern on which has been produced by the pressure of a mill, on which the design has been originally stamped by the pressure of a hard steel roller which has been engraved.
The copper cylinders are mounted on a strong iron shaft with a toothed wheel at its end, in order to put it in train with the rotatory printing machine for one, two, or more colours. On a roller at the upper part of this apparatus are wound the calico webs stitched together, the end of which is brought between the engraved copper cylinder and a large centre roller covered with blankets, against which it is made to bear with a regular pressure.
The engraved cylinder turns on the top of another cylinder covered with woollen cloth, which revolves at the same time as the former, while its under part dips in an oblong trough containing the dyeing matter, which is of a pasty consistence. The engraved cylinder is in this way supplied with plenty of printing colour, and is cleared from the superfluity by the thin edge of a blade made of bronze, called the doctor, which is applied to it as it turns, and gently scrapes the surface. After this the cylinder acts upon the calico, which receives the impression of the pattern in colour, and rolls onward at a great rate of speed.
There are various kinds of colours or dye stuffs used in calico printing, some of which impart fast colours by themselves, and others which require the web to be first prepared in order that they may become fixed.
In almost all the modes of calico printing the processes are very numerous to ensure the beauty and permanence of the colours. In what is called the steam colour printing, the agency of steam is applied to aid in fixing the colours to the cloth. The cloth is first steeped in a mordant or fixing liquor, then printed by the cylinder in various colours, called steam colours. It is then hung up to dry, and is afterwards exposed to the action of steam by means of various apparatus, which are adapted to the particular effect intended, to be produced in fixing the dye.
The designs for calico printing are very expensive, and such a constant succession of new patterns are demanded, that some of the Lancashire printers expend several thousands a year on designing and engraving alone.
