Abstract
From the invention of Perkin’s Mauve in 1856, to publication of the first edition of the Colour Index in 1924, more than 1200 synthetic organic colourants were introduced. Some achieved commercial success, while others were rarely used for reasons such as high cost, low fastness, and toxicity. This turbulent period of innovation was largely driven by demand of the textile industry; however, synthetic colourants were subsequently adopted in many other applications. An understanding of the most common materials and their properties is therefore important to the study of heritage collections and their preservation. The risk of light damage during exhibition of objects is often a concern due to the fugitive nature of many synthetic colourants.To provide a foundation for focused research on synthetic dye identification and lightfastness, work was carried out to identify the most prominent of these colourants used in North America up to the year 1924 when the first edition of the Colour Index was published. Information was compiled and analysed from several sources including multiple editions of the Colour Index, and government documents related to the manufacture and trade of synthetic dyes that provide data from 1914 onwards. Cross-referencing between the information sources provided a summary of parameters for each colourant including the date of introduction, number of manufacturers, lightfastness, and quantity produced or imported in the United States.A document published in 1916 by the US Department of Commerce listed 259 colours with Schultz number imported during the 1913–1914 fiscal year, in quantities above 10,000 lb (4536 kg). Adding domestic products to the list, and removing duplicates, gave 289 individual colours with Schultz number imported and/or produced in the US. In addition, there were some imports of unknown composition: 96 azo, 23 sulphur, and 68 unclassified. Further review of census data from 1917 through the 1920’s suggested that less than one quarter of the dyes listed in the Colour Index were imported or manufactured in significant amounts. The results of this analysis are presented as summary statistics, which are complemented by an open dataset publication to facilitate future research.
Highlights
Advances related to synthetic and semi-synthetic dyes were made by Barth [1], Woulfe [2], Scheele [3], and Runge [2, 4]; a commercial industry was not significant until William Perkin created mauveine in 1856
This study investigates several trends in the synthetic dye industry using early 20th century literature: multiple editions of the Colour Index (CI) [16, 21, 22], Norton’s census [15], and the annual Census of Dyes and Coal Tar Chemicals from the US Tariff Commission [23, 24]
Statistics of the early synthetic dye industry were reviewed by extracting colourant data from the CI including date of introduction, number of manufacturers, chemical class, and lightfastness
Summary
Advances related to synthetic and semi-synthetic dyes were made by Barth (indigo carmine, 1743) [1], Woulfe (picric acid, 1771) [2], Scheele (murexide, 1776) [3], and Runge (aurin, 1834) [2, 4]; a commercial industry was not significant until William Perkin created mauveine in 1856. This conversion was applied during a review of census data, where US dye imports and production quantities were published with the 1914 Schultz number prior to 1924. The number of manufacturers is used when plotting import and production quantities from US census data. The report continued for several decades, with each issue summarising quantitative data regarding dye production and imports by chemical classification number (i.e. Schultz prior to 1924, followed by early CI#). Adding the list of domestic products (tabulated by Norton without quantities), and removing duplicates, gave 289 compounds with unique Schultz number that were imported and/or produced in the US. It is important to note that some applications of concern to heritage collections may have used colourants in relatively small amounts that are overshadowed by these general statistics
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