第70章

"Stafford's" violet combined writing and copying ink was first placed on the New York market in 1869, though it was in 1858 that Mr. S. S. Stafford, the founder of the house, began the manufacture of inks, which he has continued to do to the present day. His chemical writing fluids are very popular, but he does not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added" color, for the trade.

Charles M. Higgins of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1880commenced the manufacture of "carbon" inks for engrossing, architectural and engineering purposes, and has succeeded in producing an excellent liquid "Indian" ink, which will not lose its consistency if kept from the air. It can also be used as a writing ink, if thinned down with water. He does not make a tanno-gallate of iron ink without "added"color.

Maynard and Noyes, whose inks were much esteemed in this section for over fifty years, is no longer in business, as is the case with many others well known during the first half of the nineteenth century.

The enormous quantities of ink of every color, quality and description made in the United States almost surpasses belief. It is said that the output for home consumption alone exceeds twelve millions of gallons per annum, and for export three thousand gallons per annum.

It is very safe to affirm that less than 1/50 of 1 per cent of this quantity represents a tanno-gallate of iron ink WITHOUT "added" color. Most colored inks and "gall" ones which possess "added" color if placed on paper under ordinary conditions will not be visible a hundred years hence.

This statement of mine might be considered altogether paradoxical were it not for associated evidential facts, which by proving themselves have established its correctness and truth. To repeat one of them is to refer to the report of Professors Baird and Markoe, who examined for the state of Massachusetts all the commercial inks on the market at that time.

"As a conclusion, since the great mass of inks on the market are not suitable for records, because of their lack of body and because of the quantity of unstable color which they contain, and because the few whose coloring matters are not objectionable are deficient in gall and iron or both, we would strongly recommend that the State set its own standard for the composition of inks to be used in its offices and for its records."An official ink modelled somewhat after the formula employed by the government of Great Britain was contracted for by the state of Massachusetts. It read as follows:

"Take of pure, dry tannic acid, 23.4 parts by weight. of crystal gallic acid, 7.7 parts. of ferrous sulphate, 30.0 parts. of gum arabic, 10.0 parts. of diluted hydrochloric acid, 25.0 parts. of carbolic acid, 1.0 part. of water, sufficient to make up the mixture at the temperature of 60 degrees F. to the volume of 1,000 parts by weight of water."Such an ink prepared after this receipt would be a strictly pure tanno-gallate of iron ink WITHOUT any "added" color whatever.

The estimation in which such an ink is held by the majority of the ink manufacturers is best illustrated by quoting from two of the most prominent ones, and thus enable the reader to draw his own conclusions.