Coming to the English authorities, Dr. Grace Calvert, in his recent lectures before the Society of Arts, speaking of the cold vat for dyeing cotton, says: “The oldest, and still most generally employed method of preparing cold vats, consists of putting into a vat containing about 2000 gallons of water 60 lbs. of indigo, very finely powdered, 180 lbs. of slacked lime, and 120 lbs. of sulphate of protoxide of iron, or green vitriol (free from any trace of copper salt), the two latter substances being added from time to time. The greater part of the lime used unites with the sulphuric acid of the iron salt, to produce sulphate of lime or gypsum; and the liberated protoxide of iron removes the oxygen from the indigo, becoming converted into saline oxide, whilst the reduced indigo dissolves in the excess of lime employed.”
He adds the following facts, which may be of practical value:—
“Messrs. R. Schloesser & Co., of Manchester, have introduced within the last year or two a marked improvement, in the preparation of cold vats, which removes the great objections of the bulky precipitate of sulphate of lime, the formation of an oxide of iron, and the loss of indigo by its combination with the oxide of iron. The bath remaining much more fluid, the pieces are less apt to be spotted, and a better class of work is produced. To carry out their process, they add to the ordinary 2,000 gallon vat 20 lbs. of ground indigo, 30 lbs. of iron borings, 30 lbs. of _their remarkable powdered zinc_, and 35 lbs. of quicklime; the whole is stirred up from time to time, for twenty-four hours, when it is ready for use. If the bath is not considered sufficiently strong, a little more lime and zinc are introduced. The chemical theory of the process is, that the zinc, under the influence of the lime, decomposes the water, combining with its oxygen, and the hydrogen thus liberated removes oxygen from the indigo which then dissolves in the lime.”