equal distances that every repetition, or part forming the pattern, will fall into its fac-simile, like the teeth in a wheel. The mill is then placed in contact with and compressed into the copper cylinder, by means of machinery which is made to traverse by a spiral movement, until the whole of the copper cylinder is covered. By this means the most minute patterns are produced, such as human ingenuity could not accomplish by any other method. Sometimes the copper cylinders are etched, instead of being engraved, a plan invented by Mr. John Bradbury of Manchester, extensively practised by Messrs. Joseph Lockett, jr. & Co.; and which is likely to prove of very great benefit to the printing business. The polished cylinder, having been heated, is covered with a thin coat of varnish, such as is used by historical engravers. The pattern is then traced on the cylinder with a diamond pointed tracer, by means of a most complicated and ingenious system of machinery, the invention of Mr. Lockett, sen.; and the varnish having been thus removed from the figure, the cylinder is immersed in aquafortis, and the parts exposed become corroded or engraved. The value of this process depends entirely on the beauty and novelty of the pattern. The tracing machinery is capable, like the kaleidoscope, of producing an endless variety of patterns, yet without being, like that instrument, dependent on mere accident for its changes. It has been so far perfected, that it will follow to a considerable extent designs made by persons perfectly unacquainted with its construction; and patterns may be produced by it which cannot be copied, or in many instances even imitated, by other means.

So great is the reputation acquired by the engravers of Manchester, from their skill and the perfection of their machinery, that orders are sent there for engraved cylinders from all parts of Europe and America where cylinder printing is practised; even though the cost and risk of getting them to their destination should treble or quadruple their original price.

The beautiful and admirable inventions we have described, do not complete even the mechanical improvements in calico printing. It is still found necessary to execute parts of the patterns in fine goods with blocks, after the ground-work has been laid on by the cylinders; because different parts of the pattern, executed with different colours, cannot be made so exactly to fall into and fit with the other parts, by the cylinder as by the block. About the year 1802, an important improvement was made in the construction of blocks, for which the art is indebted to the workmen of London. Formerly all the blocks were cut in wood, like ordinary wood-cuts

used in the prints of books, but the work was necessarily coarser, to endure the wear and tear of so many impressions; each piece of cloth, as has been stated, requires the application of the block 448 times, and, of course, 100 pieces would require its application 44,800 times. If the design, therefore, was fine and elaborate, the block would soon wear away. The improvement effected removes this objection. The pattern, instead of being cut in relief on the wood, is (in many cases), raised on the surface of a plain block, by pieces of flat copper, or brass wire, of various thicknesses and forms, produced by drawing the wire through dies of various shapes. These pieces of wire are set into the wood, and all stand exactly the same height, namely, about the eighth of an inch. The thicker parts of the pattern have merely the outline formed of copper, and they are filled up with felt. Blocks on this improved construction are ten-fold more durable than the old wooden blocks, and when the metal is worn down nearly to the surface of the wood, the last impression is as good as the first. The successful application of engraved copper cylinders to printing, was followed by that of cylindrical blocks, or engraved wooden rollers. This mode of printing, which is practised extensively in some establishments, is called surface-printing. The union of the two systems in the same machine, that is, of a wooden cylinder in relief with an engraved copper cylinder, forms what has been denominated the union or mule machine, and was the invention of Mr. James Burton, about the year 1805, whilst he was engineer in the establishment of Messrs. Peel & Co., of Church.

Many minor improvements have been made in the mechanical department of calico printing, but those which have been described are by far the greatest, and for ingenuity and beauty, as well as for productive power, they well deserve to rank with the more celebrated inventions in cotton spinning. The chemical department of printing has been not less rich in discoveries than the mechanical.

The proper use of mordants lies at the foundation of the dyer's art. The nature of mordants is thus explained by Dr. Thomson : "The term mordant is applied by dyers to certain substances with which the cloth to be dyed must be impregnated, otherwise the colouring matters would not adhere to the cloth, but would be removed by washing. Thus the red colour given to cotton by madder would not be fixed, unless the cloth were previously steeped in a solution of a salt of alumina. It has been ascertained that the cloth has the property of decomposing the salt of alumina. The red colouring principle of the madder has an affinity for this

alumina, and combines with it. The consequence is that the alumina being firmly retained by the cloth, and the colouring matter by the alumina, the dye becomes fast, or cannot be removed by washing the cloth with water, even by the assistance of soap, though simple water is sufficient to remove the red colouring matter from the cloth, unless the alum mordant has been previously applied."

Mordant is also applied to certain substances, which have the property of altering the shade of colour, or of brightening the colour as it is called. The most valuable of all mordants is the acetated aluminous mordant, first employed by the calico-printers of England. By degrees they found out that sugar of lead and alum were the most important, and they discarded first one and then another of the ingredients they had been accustomed to mix with them, though without the aid of any chemical reasoning. The process of cylinder printing is very commonly employed to fix the mordant on the cloth, which is afterwards put into the dyevat, when those parts only receive the colour which had previously been printed with the mordant, the other parts remaining white.

This was soon followed by the discovery of the process for producing what has been named resist-work, or neutral work. It consists in printing various mordants on those parts of the cloth intended to be coloured, and a paste or resist on such as are intended to remain white. It is the invention of a person named Grouse. It required the experience of a year or two to perfect this system, and make it practically useful. The house of Sir Robert Peel, of Bury, was the first to print by this plan so as to attract notice, 1802: it is now one of the most beautiful and perfect of the operations of modern calico printing. The discovery of new facts, as well as the ingenious application of known ones, has enabled Mr. Mercer of Oakenshaw to make the bronze style his own, and literally to transmute the ores of manganese into ores of gold. This ingenious individual possesses a store of knowledge and facts unknown to scientific chemists, and sought for in vain in their latest works. It is to be hoped he will have both leisure and inclination at some time to present a portion of his labours to the world.

The large print-works of Lancashire are among the most interesting manufactories that can be visited. Several of the proprietors or managers are scientific men; and being also persons of large capital, they have the most perfect machinery and the best furnished laboratories. All the processes through which the cloth has to pass, from the state in which it is left by the weaver, till it

is made up a finished print ready for the foreign or home market, are performed in these extensive establishments. The bleaching, the block-printing, the cylinder-printing, the dyeing, the engraving, both of blocks and cylinders, the designing of patterns, and the preparation of colours, all go on within the same enclosure. Some of the print works employ as many as a thousand workpeople. The order and cleanliness of the works, and the remarkable beauty of most of the operations, impress the visitor with admiration and surprise. A printing establishment, like a cotton mill, is a wonderful triumph of modern science; and when the mechanical and chemical improvements of both are viewed together, they form a splendid and matchless exhibition of science applied to the arts, and easily account for a rapidity of growth and a vastness of extension in the manufacture, which has no parallel in the records of industry.

Calico printing from cylinders.—Many of the patterns on printed calicoes are copies by printing from copper cylinders about four or five inches in diameter, on which the desired pattern has been previously engraved. One portion of the cylinders is exposed to the ink, whilst an elastic scraper of stuffed leather, by being pressed forcibly against another part, removes all superfluous ink from the surface previously to its reaching the cloth. A piece of calico twenty-eight yards in length rolls through this press, and is printed in four or five minutes.

Calico printing from blocks.-This is a mode of copying by surface-printing, from the ends of small pieces of copper wire, of various forms, fixed in a block of wood. They are all of one uniform height, about the eighth part of an inch above the surface of the wood, and are arranged by the maker into any required pattern. If the block be placed upon a piece of fine woollen cloth, on which ink of any colour has been uniformly spread, the projecting copper wires receive a portion which they give up when applied to the calico to be printed. By the former method of printing on calico, only one colour could be used; but by this plan, after the flower of a rose, for example, has been printed with one set of blocks, the leaves may be printed of another colour by a different set.

The following account was sent me from Messrs. Marshall's establishment :

STOCKPORT, January 20th, 1836.

The Hudson print works (Stockport) were first established in 1826 on a very small scale; with one printing machine, small dye-house, and other

necessary operations, such as bleaching, &c.; sufficient for printing about 3000 yards per day. In the course of the year 1828 there were three printing machines imported from England, with all their necessary apparatus for dyeing the cloth by steam, and in the course of that and the two following years, the company were able to print 10,000 yards per day. About this time a new bleaching house was requisite, as the first one was on too small a scale. And a new dye-house and other offices were needful to keep pace with the three printing machines. In the year 1830 we had a severe fire, which burnt down the above bleaching house, and destroyed about 30,000 pieces of 30 yards each; say 900,000 yards.

At this time we erected other bleach works, competent to bleaching from four to five thousand pieces per week, and out of the ruins of the old bleaching house, which was a four story building, made a second dye-house. This being accomplished we were able to finish regularly 2,000 pieces per week, of permanent madder colours, besides our navy blues, &c. making in all 2500 pieces, or 75,000 yards per week. Our works now run much ahead of this. In our block shop we employ 42 block printers for printing by hand. We have now increased our establishment to five printing machines, two of which print four colours at once and three of three colours each, of the very best models in England and lately imported. With our present works, we can print an average of 120 pieces on each of these machines per day, making 600 pieces of 30 yards each, or 18,000 yards. Or in one year of fifty weeks, 5,400,000 yards, worth on an average 18 cents per yard, equal to $972,000 per year in sales. We employ about 250 hands, most of them men. We have every thing within ourselves for finishing the above in the first rate style of prints, either calicoes or furnitures. From the above you will find that we have increased since 1826 to this time from 300 to 1800 yards per day, and those of as good and fast colours as can be made in either England, France, &c.

Hudson Calico Print Works, of Marshall, Carville, & Taylor.

The upper part of the calico works form a square; from the countinghouse, which is at the entrance, we have a dry shed for drying the pieces, 200 feet long, running in a southerly direction; thence 200 feet east of the river, which supplies our water power. From the office in a northerly direction is a space of 200 feet, in the middle of which runs one string of buildings, occupied as follows, measuring in all 500 feet in height:1. Blue dye-house,

2. Machine, &c. and making-up rooms,

3. Steaming and boiler rooms,

4. Drying and colour rooms,

5. Boiling and evaporating room,

90 feet long

4 stories.

100 do.

4 do.

do.

2 do.

6. Block cutting, engraving, and drawing rooms, 100 In a northerly direction there are 200 feet, which is taken up by a two story piazza of 130 feet, as a conveyance from the above string of buildings to the madder dye-house, runs in an easterly direction, making the square above mentioned. In this square we have four other buildings: packing-room, where all our goods are packed for the market, our store-house for drugs, &c., one cloth room where all our printing cloths are stored secure from fire. The fourth is our block shop.