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Many factors contributed to the explosion of cotton printing in both
the United States and Great Britain during the 19th century: the cotton
gin, the spinning jenny, an increase in the availability of raw cotton
and the first synthetic dyes. Two discoveries, however, that had maybe
the most widespread impact were chlorine bleach and mercerization process.
Both of these improvements dramatically changed the preparation of the
cloth, the greige goods.
Chlorine Bleach is a common household product today
but its discovery in the 18th century was a breakthrough technological
advance.
In the mid-18th century, cotton and linen fabrics were prepared for dyeing
and printing in a complicated process that could take 6-8 months. The
fabrics were first scoured to remove foreign matter and then whitened.
This involved soaking the cloth in an alkaline solution (seaweed ashes),
then putting the fabric into sour milk (an acid to neutralize the alkalinity
of the ashes), and finally spreading the cloth out on grass to bleach
in the sun. This process was repeated 5-6 times, a staggering amount of
work! Often, British domestic cloth production, especially linen, was
sent each spring to the bleaching fields around Harleem, Netherlands.
The goods were returned in the fall ready for printing or dyeing.
A scientific discovery changed this centuries-old practice. The bleaching
properties of chlorine were discovered in 1785 by French chemist Claude
Louis Berthollet. In 1799, Scottish chemist Charles Tennant patented bleaching
powder-- slaked lime mixed with chlorine. Now ‘modern’ chemicals
could accomplish the entire bleach cycle: soda ash, muratic acid and chlorine
bleaching powder. The speed of cloth preparation took a quantum leap forward—a
process that had taken months could now be accomplished in a few days.
More fabric was now available for dyeing and printing at a lower cost.
Chlorine bleach not only revolutionized textile printing it also came
to influence fashion. Bleaching powder was available to the housewife
in the 1830s. During the following decades, more improvements were made
and by the late 19th century the fashion for ‘whites’ was
largely based the availability and ease of use of products from the bleaching
industry. Liquid bleach replaced most bleaching powders by the 1920s.
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