Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes

Part 73

Chapter 734,156 wordsPublic domain

«Stencil Marking Ink that will Wash Out.»—Triturate together 1 part of fine soot and 2 parts of Prussian blue, with a little glycerine; then add 3 parts of gum arabic and enough glycerine to form a thin paste.

«Washing Fluid.»—Take 1 pound sal soda, 1⁠/⁠2 pound good stone lime, and 5 quarts of water; boil a short time, let it settle, and pour off the clear fluid into a stone jug, and cork for use; soak the white clothes overnight in simple water, wring out and soap wristbands, collars, and dirty or stained places. Have the boiler half filled with water just beginning to boil, then put in 1 common teacupful of fluid, stir and put in your clothes, and boil for half an hour, then rub lightly through one suds only, and all is complete.

«Starch Luster.»—A portion of stearine, the size of an old-fashioned cent, added to starch, 1⁠/⁠2 pound, and boiled with it for 2 or 3 minutes, will add greatly to the beauty of linen, to which it may be applied.

«To Make Loose Nails in Walls Rigid.»—As soon as a nail driven in the wall becomes loose and the plastering begins to break, it can be made solid and firm by the following process: Saturate a bit of wadding with thick dextrin or glue; wrap as much of it around the nail as possible and reinsert the latter in the hole, pressing it home as strongly as possible. Remove the excess of glue or dextrin, wiping it cleanly off with a rag dipped in clean water; then let dry. The nail will then be firmly fastened in place. If the loose plastering be touched with the glue and replaced, it will adhere and remain firm.

«How to Keep Lamp Burners in Order.»—In the combustion of coal oil a carbonaceous residue is left, which attaches itself very firmly to the metal along the edge of the burner next the flame. This is especially true of round burners, where the heat of the flame is more intense than in flat ones, and the deposit of carbon, where not frequently removed, soon gets sufficiently heavy to interfere seriously with the movement of the wick up or down. The deposit may be scraped off with a knife blade, but a much more satisfactory process of getting rid of it is as follows: Dissolve sodium carbonate, 1 part, in 5 or 6 parts of water, and in this boil the burner for 5 minutes or so. When taken out the burner will look like a new one, and acts like one, provided that the apparatus for raising and lowering the wick has not previously been bent and twisted by attempting to force the wick past rough deposits.

«To Remove the Odor from Pasteboard.»—Draw the pasteboard through a 3 per cent solution of viscose in water. The pasteboard must be calendered after drying.

«To Remove Woody Odor.»—To get rid of that frequently disagreeable smell in old chests, drawers, etc., paint the surface over with the following mixture:

Acetic ether 100 parts Formaldehyde 6 parts Acid, carbolic 4 parts Tincture of eucalyptus leaves 60 parts

Mix. After applying the mixture expose the article to the open air in the sunlight.

«To Keep Flies Out of a House.»—Never allow a speck of food to remain uncovered in dining room or pantry any length of time after meals. Never leave remnants of food exposed that you intend for cat or hens. Feed at once or cover their food up a distance from the house. Let nothing decay near the house. Keep your dining room and pantry windows open a few inches most of the time. Darken your room and pantry when not in use. If there should be any flies they will go to the window when the room is darkened, where they are easily caught, killed, or brushed out.

«An Easy Way to Wash a Heavy Comfortable.»—Examine the comfortable, and if you find soiled spots soap them and scrub with a small brush. Hang the comfortable on a strong line and turn the hose on. When one side is washed turn and wash the other. The water forces its way through cotton and covering, making the comfortable as light and fluffy as when new. Squeeze the corners and ends as dry as possible.

«Preservation of Carpets.»—Lay sheets of brown paper under the carpet. This gives a soft feeling to the foot, and by diminishing the wear adds longer life to the carpet; at the same time it tends to keep away the air and renders the apartments warm.

«To Do Away with Wiping Dishes.»—Make a rack by putting a shelf over the kitchen sink, slanting it so that the water {400} will drain off into the sink. Put a lattice railing about 6 inches high at the front and ends of the shelf so that dishes can be set against it on their edges without falling out. Have 2 pans of hot water. Wash the dishes in one and rinse them in the other. Set them on edge in the rack and leave until dry.

«A Convenient Table.»—

Ten common-sized eggs weigh 1 pound.

Soft butter, the size of an egg, weighs 1 ounce.

One pint of coffee and of sugar weighs 12 ounces.

One quart of sifted flour (well heaped) weighs 1 pound.

One pint of best brown sugar weighs 12 ounces.

«How to Make a Cellar Waterproof.»—The old wall surface should be roughened and perfectly cleaned before plastering is commenced. It may be advisable to put the first coat on not thicker than 1⁠/⁠4 inch, and after this has set it may be cut and roughened by a pointing trowel. Then apply a second 1⁠/⁠4-inch coat and finish this to an even and smooth surface. Proportion of plaster: One-half part slaked lime, 1 part Portland cement, part fine, sharp sand, to be mixed well and applied instantly.

«Removing Old Wall Paper.»—Some paper hangers remove old paper from walls by first dampening it with water in which a little baking soda has been dissolved, the surface being then gone over with a “scraper” or other tool. However, the principle object of any method is to soften the old paste. This may be readily accomplished by first wetting a section of the old paper with cold or tepid water, using a brush, repeating the wetting until the paper and paste are soaked through, when the paper may easily be pulled off, or, if too tender, may be scraped with any instrument of a chisel form shoved between the paper and the wall. The wall should then be washed with clean water, this operation being materially assisted by wetting the wall ahead of the washing.

«Stained Ceilings.»—Take unslaked white lime, dilute with alcohol, and paint the spots with it. When the spots are dry—which will be soon, as the alcohol evaporates and the lime forms a sort of insulating layer—one can proceed painting with size color, and the spots will not show through again.

«To Overcome Odors in Freshly Papered Rooms.»—After the windows and doors of such rooms have been closed, bring in red-hot coal and strew on this several handfuls of juniper berries. About 12 hours later open all windows and doors, so as to admit fresh air, and it will be found that the bad smell has entirely disappeared.

«Treatment of Damp Walls.»—I.—A good and simple remedy to obviate this evil is caoutchouc glue, which is prepared from rubber hose. The walls to be laid dry are first to be thoroughly cleaned by brushing and rubbing off; then the caoutchouc size, which has been previously made liquid by heating, is applied with a broad brush in a uniform layer—about 8 to 12 inches higher than the wall appears damp—and finally paper is pasted over the glue when the latter is still sticky. The paper will at once adhere very firmly. Or else, apply the liquefied glue in a uniform layer upon paper (wall paper, caoutchouc paper, etc.). Upon this, size paint may be applied, or it may be covered with wall paper or plaster.

If the caoutchouc size is put on with the necessary care—i. e., if all damp spots are covered with it—the wall is laid dry for the future, and no peeling off of the paint or the wall paper needs to be apprehended. In cellars, protection from dampness can be had in a like manner, as the caoutchouc glue adheres equally well to all surfaces, whether stone, glass, metal, or wood.

II.—The walls must be well cleaned before painting. If the plaster should be worn and permeated with saltpeter in places it should be renewed and smoothed. These clean surfaces are coated twice with a water-glass solution, 1.1, using a brush and allowed to dry well. Then they are painted 3 times with the following mixture: Dissolve 100 parts, by weight, of mastic in 10 parts of absolute alcohol; pour 1,000 parts of water over 200 parts of isinglass; allow to soak for 6 hours; heat to solution and add 100 parts of alcohol (50 per cent). Into this mixture pour a hot solution of 50 parts of ammonia in 250 parts of alcohol (50 per cent), stir well, and subsequently add the mastic solution and stand aside warm, stirring diligently. After 5 minutes take away from the fire and painting may be commenced. Before a fresh application, however, the solution should be removed.

When this coating has dried completely it is covered with oil or varnish paint, preferably the latter. In the same manner the exudation of so-called saltpeter {401} in fresh masonry or on the exterior of façades, etc., may be prevented, size paint or lime paint being employed instead of the oil-varnish paint. New walls which are to be painted will give off no more saltpeter after 2 or 3 applications of the isinglass solution, so that the colors of the wall paper will not be injured either. Stains caused by smoke, soot, etc., on ceilings of rooms, kitchens, or corridors which are difficult to cover up with size paint, may also be completely isolated by applying the warm isinglass solution 2 or 3 times. The size paint is, of course, put on only after complete drying of the ceilings.

«To Protect Papered Walls from Vermin.»—It is not infrequent that when the wall paper becomes defective or loose in papered rooms, vermin, bed bugs, ants, etc., will breed behind it. In order to prevent this evil a little colocynth powder should be added to the paste used for hanging the paper, in the proportion of 50 or 60 parts for 3,000 parts.

«Care of Refrigerators.»—See that the sides or walls of all refrigerators are occasionally scoured with soap, or soap and slaked lime.

«Dust Preventers.»—Against the beneficial effects to be observed in the use of most preparations we must place the following bad effects: The great smoothness and slipperiness of the boards during the first few days after every application of the dressing, which forbids the use of the latter on steps, floors of gymnasia, dancing floors, etc. The fact that the oil or grease penetrates the soles of the boots or shoes, the hems of ladies’ dresses, and things accidentally falling to the floor are soiled and spotted. Besides these there is, especially during the first few days after application, the dirty dark coloration which the boards take on after protracted use of the oils. Finally, there is the considerable cost of any process, especially for smaller rooms and apartments. In schoolrooms and railroad waiting rooms and other places much frequented by children and others wearing shoes set with iron, the boards soon become smooth from wear, and for such places the process is not suited.

According to other sources of information, these evil tendencies of the application vanish altogether, or are reduced to a minimum, if (1) entirely fresh, or at least, not rancid oils be used; (2) if, after each oiling, a few days be allowed to elapse before using the chamber or hall, and finally (3), if resort is not had to costly foreign special preparations, but German goods, procurable at wholesale in any quantity, and at very low figures.

The last advice (to use low-priced preparations) seems sensible since according to recent experiments, none of the oils experimented upon possess any especial advantages over the others.

An overwhelming majority of the laboratories for examination have given a verdict in favor of oil as a dust-suppressing application for floors, and have expressed a desire to see it in universal use. The following is a suggestion put forth for the use of various preparations:

This dust-absorbing agent has for its object to take up the dust in sweeping floors, etc., and to prevent its development. The production is as follows: Mix in an intimate manner 12 parts, by weight, of mineral sperm oil with 88 parts, by weight, of Roman or Portland cement, adding a few drops of mirbane oil. Upon stirring a uniform paste forms at first, which then passes into a greasy, sandy mass. This mass is sprinkled upon the surface to be swept and cleaned of dust, next going over it with a broom or similar object in the customary manner, at which operation the dust will mix with the mass. The preparation can be used repeatedly.

HUNYADI WATER: See Water.

HYDROCHINON DEVELOPER: See Photography.

HYDROGEN, AMALGAMS AS A SOURCE OF NASCENT: See Amalgams.

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AS A PRESERVATIVE: See Preserving.

«HYDROMETER AND ITS USE.»

Fill the tall cylinder or test glass with the spirit to be tested and see that it is of the proper temperature (60° F.). Should the thermometer indicate a higher temperature wrap the cylinder in cloths which have been dipped in cold water until the temperature falls to the required degree. If too low a temperature is indicated, reverse the process, using warm instead of cold applications. When 60° is reached note the specific gravity on the floating hydrometer. Have the cylinder filled to the top and look across the top of the liquid at the mark on the hydrometer. This is to preclude an {402} incorrect reading by possible refraction in the glass cylinder.

«HYGROMETERS AND HYGROSCOPES:»

«Paper Hygrometers.»—Paper hygrometers are made by saturating white blotting paper with the following liquid and then hanging up to dry:

Cobalt chloride 1 ounce Sodium chloride 1⁠/⁠2 ounce Calcium chloride 75 grains Acacia 1⁠/⁠4 ounce Water 3 ounces

The amount of moisture in the atmosphere is roughly indicated by the changing color of the papers, as follows:

Rose red rain Pale red very moist Bluish red moist Lavender blue nearly dry Blue very dry

«Colored Hygroscopes.»—These instruments are often composed of a flower or a figure, of light muslin or paper, immersed in one of the following solutions:

I.—Cobalt chloride 1 part Gelatin 10 parts Water 100 parts

The normal coloring is pink; this color changes into violet in medium humid weather and into blue in very dry weather.

II.—Cupric chloride 1 part Gelatin 10 parts Water 100 parts

The color is yellow in dry weather.

III.—Cobalt chloride 1 part Gelatin 20 parts Nickel oxide 75 parts Cupric chloride 25 parts Water 200 parts

The color is green in dry weather.

HYOSCYAMUS, ANTIDOTE TO: See Atropine.

«ICE:»

See also Refrigeration.

«Measuring the Weight of Ice.»—A close estimate of the weight of ice can be reached by multiplying together the length, breadth, and thickness of the block in inches, and dividing the product by 30. This will be very closely the weight in pounds. Thus, if a block is 10 x 10 x 9, the product is 900, and this divided by 30 gives 30 pounds as correct weight. A block 10 x 10 x 6 weighs 20 pounds. This simple method can be easily applied, and it may serve to remove unjust suspicions, or to detect short weight.

«To Keep Ice in Small Quantities.»—To keep ice from melting, attention is called to an old preserving method. The ice is cracked with a hammer between 2 layers of a strong cloth. Tie over a common unglazed flower-pot, holding about 2 to 4 quarts and placed upon a porcelain dish, a piece of white flannel in such a manner that it is turned down funnel-like into the interior of the pot without touching the bottom. Placed in this flannel funnel the cracked ice keeps for days.

«ICE FLOWERS.»

Make a 2 per cent solution of the best clear gelatin in distilled water, filter, and flood the filtrate over any surface which it is desired to ornament. Drain off slightly, and if the weather is sufficiently cold, put the plate, as nearly level as possible, out into the cold air to freeze. In freezing, water is abstracted from the colloidal portion, which latter then assumes an efflorescent form, little flowers, with exuberant, graceful curves of crystals, showing up as foliage, from all over the surface. To preserve in permanent form all that is necessary is to flood them with absolute alcohol. This treatment removes the ice, thus leaving a lasting framework of gelatin which may be preserved indefinitely. In order to do this, as soon as the gelatin has become quite dry it should be either varnished, flowed with an alcoholic solution of clear shellac, or the gelatin may be rendered insoluble by contact, for a few moments, with a solution of potassium bichromate, and subsequent exposure to sunlight.

IMOGEN DEVELOPER: See Photography.

INCENSE: See Fumigants.

INCRUSTATION, PREVENTION OF: See Boiler Compounds.

INDIGO: See Dyes.

INFANT FOODS: See Foods.

INFLUENZA IN CATTLE: See Veterinary Formulas. {403}

INK ERADICATORS: See Cleaning Preparations and Methods.

«IGNITING COMPOSITION.»

Eight parts of powdered manganese, 10 parts of amorphous phosphorus, and 5 parts of glue. The glue is soaked in water, dissolved in the heat, and the manganese and the phosphorus stirred in, so that a thinly liquid paste results, which is applied by means of a brush. Allow to dry well. This, being free from sulphur, can be applied on match-boxes.

«Inks»

«BLUEPRINT INKS.»

I.—For red-writing fluids for blueprints, take a piece of common washing soda the size of an ordinary bean, and dissolve it in 4 tablespoonfuls of ordinary red-writing ink, to make a red fluid. To keep it from spreading too much, use a fine pen to apply it with, and write fast so as not to allow too much of the fluid to get on the paper, for it will continue eating until it is dry.

II.—For red and white solutions for writing on blueprints, dissolve a crystal of oxalate of potash about the size of a pea in an ink-bottle full of water. This will give white lines on blueprints; other potash solutions are yellowish. If this shows a tendency to run, owing to too great strength, add more water and thicken slightly with mucilage. Mix this with red or any other colored ink about half and half, and writing may be done on the blueprints in colors corresponding to the inks used.

III.—Add to a small bottle of water enough washing soda to make a clear white line, then add enough gum arabic to it to prevent spreading and making ragged lines. To make red lines dip the pen in red ink and then add a little of the solution by means of the quill.

IV.—For white ink, grind zinc oxide fine on marble and incorporate with it a mucilage made with gum tragacanth. Thin a little for use. Add a little oil of cloves to prevent mold, and shake from time to time.

V.—A fluid which is as good as any for writing white on blueprints is made of equal parts of sal soda and water.

VI.—Mix equal parts of borax and water.

Both these fluids, V and VI, must be used with a fine-pointed pen; a pen with a blunt point will not work well.

«DRAWING INKS:»

«Blue Ruling Ink.»—Good vitriol, 4 ounces; indigo, 1 ounce. Pulverize the indigo, add it to the vitriol, and let it stand exposed to the air for 6 days, or until dissolved; then fill the pots with chalk, add fresh gall, 1⁠/⁠2 gill, boiling it before use.

«Black Ruling Ink.»—Take good black ink, and add gall as for blue. Do not cork it, as this prevents it from turning black.

«Carbon Ink.»—Dissolve real India ink in common black ink, or add a small quantity of lampblack previously heated to redness, and ground perfectly smooth, with a small portion of the ink.

«Carmine.»—The ordinary solution of carmine in ammonia water, after a short time in contact with steel, becomes blackish red, but an ink may be made that will retain its brilliant carmine color to the last by the following process, given by Dingler: Triturate 1 part of pure carmine with 15 parts of acetate of ammonia solution, with an equal quantity of distilled water in a porcelain mortar, and allow the whole to stand for some time. In this way, a portion of the alumina, which is combined with the carmine dye, is taken up by the acetic acid of the ammonia salt, and separates as a precipitate, while the pure pigment of the cochineal remains dissolved in the half-saturated ammonia. It is now filtered and a few drops of pure white sugar syrup added to thicken it. A solution of gum arabic cannot be used to thicken it, since the ink still contains some acetic acid, which would coagulate the bassorine, one of the constituents of the gum.

«Liquid Indelible Drawing Ink.»—Dissolve, by boiling, 2 parts of blond (golden yellow) shellac in 1.6 parts, by weight, of sal ammoniac, 16°, with 10 parts, by weight, of distilled water, and filter the solution through a woolen cloth. Now dissolve or grind 0.5 parts, by weight, of shellac solution with 0.01 part, by weight, of carbon black. Also dissolve .03 parts of nigrosin in 0.4 parts of distilled water and pour both solutions together. The mixture is allowed to settle for 2 days and the ready ink is drawn off from the sediment.

«GLASS, CELLULOID, AND METAL INKS:»