STEAM COLOURS.

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and thickening, and the effedt to be produced. In some establishments thesteam is applied for a short time, when the goods are taken out, exposed tothe air, and steamed again. In others the goods are exposed to the adtion ofthe steam for the required time without interval. The two principal con-trivances for steaming are the “ column ” and the “ chest,” each of which hasits advocates. The column is a cylinder of copper, about 44 inches in length,and varying in diameter from 3 to 5 inches, its surface pierced all over withsmall apertures, T *jth of an inch in diameter and set Jth of an inch apart.Around this cylinder the goods are coiled, a copper plate, of about g inches indiameter, being soldered to its bottom end, to prevent the cloth from slippingoff. At the lower end of the column is fixed a pipe, with a tap to regulate theentrance of steam from a boiler. There are various arrangements for theadmission of the steam and for the exit of condensed water. The cylinder isenfolded first in several layers of a woollen tissue, then in several folds ofwhite calico, and lastly in the printed goods. It is then enclosed in a wrappingof white calico. The steaming is kept up for twenty to thirty minutes,according to the nature of the dye. As soon as the steam is shut off thepieces are unrolled, to prevent the running of the colours in consequence ofthe condensation of steam.

The steam-chest, however, is the apparatus most generally employed inthis country. It is an iron chamber with a pent-house top, usually about12 feet long, 6 wide, and 9 high at the top. At one end it is fitted with aclosely-made folding-door, secured with a cross bar, held in its place by screws.The chest has a false bottom on a level with the floor of the room. Beneaththis runs a steam-pipe perforated with holes, and extending under three sidesof the chest. The steam escapes through the holes in this pipe, and is distri-buted still more completely by means of the holes in the false bottom. Uponthis false bottom are placed two rails, parallel with the sides of the chest, andextending beyond the chest into the room. The part of these rails nearestthe chest, for 3 feet, is fitted with hinges, so as to be movable on one sidewhen the door is opened or shut. An oblong frame of wood moves upon theserails, fitting closely inside the chest, and standing as high as where the slopeof the roof begins. When this frame has been drawn out into the room it isfilled with pieces as follows:—They are wound one after another upon anopen reel, keeping the selvages of each fold parallel. Each piece is thendrawn off the end of the reel an4 flattened, when a thread is passed throughall the selvages of one side, and loops are made through which pass woodenrods that are supported on the sides of the carriage. The pieces now hangwith their selvages downwards, and the carriage, which is fitted with rods,slides back into the steam-chest, when the doors are shut, and the steamescapes by a safety-valve. After exposure for three-quarters of an hour thepieces are taken out, unfolded, and again loosely folded, to be ready for rinsingoff. They are then stitched together, end to end, and passed through a cisterncontaining water, and thence into another filled with a very dilute solution ofred chrome. They are next washed in the machine, transferred to the hydro-extradtor, starched, and dried.

This style of printing has a considerable resemblance to woollen andworsted dyeing, since some of the mordants are applied simultaneously withthe extracts of dye-woods, or other colouring matter, both being, in fadt,