Synthetic Dye Industry Research Articles

Comparing evolutionary dynamics across different national settings: the case of the synthetic dye industry, 1857–1914

Current models of industry evolution suggest that development patterns should be the same across different levels of analysis. In comparing the evolution of the synthetic dye industry at the global level and in the five major producer countries before World War I (Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States), it is shown that patterns of industry evolution differed significantly across national contexts. Based on a quantitative and qualitative database of all firms and plants in the industry, the paper analyzes how German firms came to dominate the industry and identifies factors such as availabilities of crucial skills, economies of scale and scope, and positive feedback mechanisms between firms and national institutions that likely produced these national differences. The empirical analysis calls for formal models of evolution that incorporate differences in institutional environments.

Knowledge and Competitive Advantage in the Synthetic Dye Industry, 1850–1914: The Coevolution of Firms, Technology, and National Institutions in Great Britain, Germany, and the United States

It is London 1856. William Henry Perkin serendipitously invents the first synthetic dye while he is trying to synthesize quinine, a medicine for malaria. The nineteen-year-old Perkin leaves the Royal College of Chemistry and quickly commercializes his aniline purple dye, launching the synthetic dye industry. From that time on, the industry continues to dazzle the eye with ever new and appealing dye colors. Perkin, along with entrepreneurs from Britain and France, dominates the synthetic dye industry for the next eight years. During this period, British and French firms introduce most other innovative synthetic dyes onto the market, and they hold the largest global market share.

Coming Full Circle: a Brief History of the Domestic Synthetic Dye and Biological Stain Industries

The synthetic dye industry is traced from its inception in England in 1856 to the European Continent and finally to the United States. The primitive state of this industry in America prior to World War I is described as is the desperate effort to develop the neglected technology once imports were difficult to obtain. Topics include biological stains, formation of the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), pioneers in the industry, dye shortages after World War II, formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the decline of the domestic dye industry after the EPA was instituted, and the present state of the domestic dye industry.

From process to plant: innovation in the early artificial dye industry

The rise of the synthetic dye industry was based on exciting discoveries of nineteenth-century chemists. They prepared in their laboratories, from components of coal tar, coloured substances with potentially promising dyeing properties. However, this was only part of the story.

The Influence of Demand on the Emergence of the Dye Industry. The Roles of Chemists and Colourists

Editor's note: This article, which presents a novel and controversial interpretation of the early development of the synthetic dye industry, first appeared as a report issued by the University of Nijmegen. For those interested in delving further into the subject, full bibliographical details are available from the author.

The Early History of the Synthetic Dye Industry*

The various reasons that have been put forward for the failure of the industry to establish itself successfully in Britain by 1914 are discussed. Of these reasons, the absence of an all‐German Patent Law in the early years and the premature retirement of several of the first British manufacturers are considered the most important. The latter event is contrasted with the situation in Germany, where the pioneers stayed in the industry, help and advice were given by Universities, and ambitious research programmes were carried out. The failure of the British educational system is shown not so much in any lack of research chemists, but in the lack of understanding, by managers, of the problems and potential of the industry—an understanding which the social and educational system of Germany made much more widespread in that country.

The Early History of the Synthetic Dye Industry*

The history of the industry is continued to 1914. Short accounts are given of the activities of the main British companies which, in general, made a success of the manufacture of intermediates, turning away to a large extent from the manufacture of dyes themselves. The setting‐up of German‐ and Swiss‐owned works in Britain is described and an account is given of the progress of the industry in Germany. Finally there is a brief summary of the dye situation in Britain at the beginning of the First World War.

The Early History of the Synthetic Dye Industry*

An account of the development of the industry from 1856 to 1900 is given. The early years of the dye‐making companies are described, with reference also to the chemists who were responsible for many of the important discoveries. The effect on the industry in Britain of the loss of many of those chemists and of the best managers is contrasted with the rapid increase in the efficiency and size of the Gorman companies. Accounts are given of the main British companies and of the ways in which they attempted to meet the almost overwhelming competition from the Continent. The evidence on the decline of the industry in Britain, presented by Meldola and, later, by Green, is reviewed.

The Early History of the Synthetic Dye Industry*

The history of synthetic dyes until the First World War is briefly described. It falls naturally into four parts. In the first an account is given of early work on the composition of natural dyes and of coal‐tar oil. Then follows, starting with Perkin's discovery of Mauve, the story of the early days of the industry and of the “triphenylmethane period”. The third section describes the early development of the azo dyes and finally there is an account of the main trends in the field of the vat dyes.

The Theory of Dyeing Cellulosic Fibers

The theory of dyeing was developed in the last 25 years, rather lately compared with the history of the synthetic dye industry. This delay was, to a certain extent, unavoidable, since sufficient knowledge of the submicroscopic structure of fibers and of the nature of aqueous dye solutions was not previously available. More recent develop- . ments of the theory are characterized by refinements in details and by its application to specific problems.A complete theory of substantivity has still to await the elucidation of molecular attraction forces by chemical physics, but this does not hinder the basic understanding of the dyeing phenomena. As a main achievement of the theory, mass action laws are formulated which explain and describe the equilibrium of dye absorption. Since the cellulose dyes are ionized and absorbed as ions, cellulose dyeing from the standpoint of absorption equilibrium is more complex than the dyeing of acetate and synthetic fibers with non-ionic disperse dyes. This fact fully explains the tremendous effect of salt observed in direct dyeing of cellulose. It also defines the place of cellulose dyeing in the general framework of a unitary theory of dyeing.The kinetics of dyeing is based on the concept that the rate-determining process in dyeing is the diffusion of the dye from the surface of the fiber into its interior. It can be considered as the second main achievement of the theory that it gives a satis factory description and explanation of the rate of dyeing.The third achievement of the theory of dyeing is the explanation of the trans formations of the dye in the fiber. This was studied by X-ray diffraction and light absorption measurements. The results indicate that soluble dyes and dye-formers are absorbed in monomolecular form by the fiber, but after they are insolubilized, they exhibit in many cases a tendency to crystallize. This explains the behavior of azoic and vat dyes on aftertreatment.The theory provides the dyer with an understanding of his everyday problems, and enables him to supplant empirical craft by scientifically controlled methods. This will be accelerated as the validity of the theory is generally recognized and accepted as a basis for teaching and learning the technology of textile dyeing.

The bearing of a synthetic dye industry upon our national welfare

The bearing of a synthetic dye industry upon our national welfare

Scientific Research and Chemical Industry

THE future prospects of the British dye industry, and the organisation of it and other scientific industries, have been the subjects of much attention lately. The developments taking place in Japan, Russia, Italy, and America in regard to the manufacture of synthetic dyes were discussed by Dr. F. M. Perkin in a lecture recently delivered before the Society of Dyers and Colourists at Bradford. The latest American enterprises in this industry were described in NATURE of December 16, p. 429, and the conclusion was drawn that, in a few years, America will be very largely self-contained in the matter of dye wares. This condition may, with reasonable certainty, be postulated of the other industrialised countries, including France, and, one may hope, the British Empire. If this anticipation be realised, it will mean that the synthetic dye industry, with all the allied trades in fine chemicals, will have entered on a new phase of their development. Before the war these industries were very largely a German monopoly. After the war they will be comparable with the brewing and distilling trades in that the wants of each industrialised nation will be supplied almost entirely by manufacturers of the same nationality. Only a few dyes or fine chemicals having specially desirable properties will find their way across, the frontiers, just as is now the case with alcoholic beverages of international reputation.