Home › The Art Of Dyeing › Tin Spirits

Tin Spirits

The following are among the best recommended preparations of tin spirits, used for dyeing scarlet: 1 pound nitric acid, 1 pound water; dissolve in this 14 ounces sal ammoniac, and then add, by degrees, 2 ounces pure tin, beaten into ribbons. large cast-iron boiler, or pot, a quantity of iron turnings, hoops or nails, are introduced, and acetic acid-the crude pyroligneous acid from the distillation of wood-is poured in upon them. The strength of the acid is generally of 5º Baumé, or specific gravity 1.035. A temperature of 1500 Fahrenheit is maintained till the solution of protoacetate of iron is obtained.. During the solution of the iron much tarry matter separates, which is skimmed off, and the solution frequently agitated, to free it, as much as possible, from the tar.

As soon as a strength is gained of a specific gravity of 1.09, at 60° Fahrenheit, the solution Or: dissolve 1 part sal ammoniac in 8 parts nitric acid at 300 Baumé; add, by degrees, 1 is allowed to cool, for a further quantity of part pure tin; and dilute the solution with one-fourth its weight of water.

Or: 4 parts hydrochloric acid at 17° Baumé, 1 part nitric acid at 30° Baumé; dissolve in this mixture 1 part pure tin. impurities to separate. When clean turnings are operated on, the process of solution is completed in 5 to 7 days.