Dyes
Dyes are one of the principal parts of the chemical industry, however that section was getting rather full. From about the 1920s until comparatively recently the UK was one of the top producers of dyes (after Germany and the former Soviet Union). Inks are included here as these use the same pigments developed by the dye manufacturers (especially in regard to the modern ink-jet printing inks).
Dyestuffs
Dyes are colourings which dissolve in water, they are used for colouring cloth and yarns, their history goes back more than five thousand years. Thanks to the importance of textile manufacture they have been a significant British industry for many years. Associated with dyes are the 'mordants' which (by attacking the surface of the fabric) allowed the dyes to remain 'fast' (not washing out when wet).
Coventry was renowned in the fifteenth century for its blue woad dye, the expression True Blue, meaning loyal and constant is in fact an old dyers expression, 'true' being the so called 'fast' colours which do not fade.
In the early days of the railways the natural materials used for making dyes were a high value and profitable cargo.
Madders was the root of a European herb which contains the dye Alizarin, ground and boiled up it gave a range of reds. By the 1830's Britain was importing several thousand tons of madder root a year, mainly from France.
A rich vermilion red was produced from sheep's blood (one of the oldest oriental dyes) and unusual reds were made from onion skins, ivy berries, beets and other plants. Safflower provided the red dye for legal and governmental 'red tape'. The discovery of the Americas had brought the bright scarlet dye of the cochineal insect, still used today for food colouring and at least until the 1960's for the scarlet uniforms worn by Guards regiments. Shades of blue were obtained from the Indian Indigo plant and yellows were mainly obtained from Persian Saffron and sumac roots.
By dipping a yarn already dyed yellow into a blue dye shades of green could be obtained, and a rich brown was produced by first using indigo dye then madder dye, but these mixed colours required some skill and a fine sense of timing on the part of the dyer.
Material recovered from animals are also used for dyestuffs, the Phoenicians were based at the far end of the Mediterranean sea but they sailed to Britain to buy copper ores. In exchange they traded cloth dyed purple with a dye obtained from a small shellfish. The mollusks involved yielded only a small amount of the dye so this purple cloth was expensive and was only used by kings and religious leaders. This is the origin of the term 'Imperial Purple'.
In 1856 a chemist called Perkin was trying to synthesize quinine at home when he stumbled across a mauve dye (he had to invent the word Mauve for the colour as nothing like it had been available before). This colour turned out to be based on aniline, which was the basis of the blue dye obtained from the indigo plant. Perkin set up a factory at Harrow in Middlesex and set about researching synthetic dyes in earnest, within ten years there were ten or more synthetic dyes. By the 1960's there were over three thousand synthetic dyes in regular use and the development of synthetic fibres pushed development of new processes.
Not all synthetic dyes came from coal tar - The Backbarrow Ultramarine Works Company in Cumbria produced artificial lapis lazuli blue pigment from a complex mixture of bones, china clay, coal tar pitch, coke, feldspar, hydrated iron oxides, silica, soda ash, sodium sulphate, and sulphur. A related material was 'Dolly Blue' produced by Reckitts of Hull (later Reckitts Coleman), this was added to a wash to make the whites appear whiter (a technique dating back at least as far as the early 17th century, possibly earlier). Up until the 1980s it was common to see small flecks of blue material in washing powders for this purpose and there is still a factory producing synthetic lapis lazuli operating in Hull. The mix was heated in coal fired kilns in a large building, the fumes from this process were rather smelly (and probably fairly toxic) so such a works would require a very tall chimney and the blue powder coated everything in the works, including the staff, so you get to have blue people on the layout.
The development of these synthetic dyes brought an end to a some highly profitable cargo on the railways, Indian indigo growers were ruined almost overnight and whole areas of France which had based their economy on supplying madder root were thrown into economic collapse.
Madders is one of the 'mordant' dyes. Mordants are substances which bind a dye to a textile fibre, they form an insoluble 'lake' in the fibre giving a 'key' to which the dye can adhere, the colour depending upon the metal in the mordant. Important mordants include metallic hydroxides and tannic acid. Tannic acid is a natural acid found in tree bark and some vegetable parts notably nut galls (most is obtained from these using water and alcohol on powdered nut galls). Iron acetate was another of the more important mordants, produced by treating iron filings with yellowish stuff called 'wood vinegar' or more correctly 'pyroliginous acid'. This latter is the liquor produced by wood distillation and contains a range of chemicals. Wood distillation is further discussed below.
There was a certain rivalry between Britain and Germany in the development of dyestuffs and in one vital case chemists in both countries made the same discovery, but the Germans got to the patent office first. The Germans then came to dominate the international dyestuffs industry and held this lead until the First World War. During the war Britain and the United States were forced to develop their own industries and with the end of the war part of the 'reparations' demanded from Germany was the easing of certain patents held by German companies.
At about this time several British chemical companies, including Read Holliday and Levinsteins, grouped to form the British Dyestuffs Corporation. In 1926 this company merged with several others to form ICI (the non dye history of ICI is discussed under Chemicals).
Fig ___ L. B. Holliday & Co Ltd dye works, Huddersfield (about 1910)
Modelling a Dye Works
Dye works were really chemical works, where the chemicals were employed rather than manufactured. There were no particularly characteristic buildings associated with dye works, most factories seems to be quite large and consisted of a collection of two and three storey 'industrial' buildings with lots of windows, arranged around a yard. As with any chemical industry tall chimneys were often a feature of a dye works. Many dye works were built beside a canal and quite a few had their own railway siding.
The sketch below is based on an artists impression of a works in Manchester in about 1900, by the 1960s most of the open spaces were occupied by additional buildings, all two or three stories tall and several with cylindrical industrial roof ventilators.
Fig ___ Typical larger dye works
However not all works were anything like this big, several former cotton and woolen mills were converted to dye works, supplying the other mills in the area. If you have more than one building available adding a thick pipe from the larger to the smaller indicates something other than textiles are processed. In N coat hanger wire would serve, although this does need supports to hold it up. The illustration below is based on a photo of a converted mill in Stansfield in West Yorkshire, unfortunately the photo was taken after a disasterous fire, so the 'clutter' in the yard was not present. The asymetric main building (the left hand end is tapered) is pleasingly different. As shown the siding could enter from either end.
Fig ___ Typical smaller dye works
One common sight would be large numbers of wooden barrels and metal drums, the latter appearing about the time of the First World War and increasingly replacing the wooden type. By the 1960s there would be comparatively few wooden barrels but a lot of steel drums used for shipping materials, however I gather the wooden type remained in use inside the factories for moving the materials about during the manufacturing process.
Some materials were better suited to wooden barrels, one example being Copperas or 'Green Vitriol', a green or yellow brown crystalline granulated material widely used as a pigment for black inks and dyes. This is sulphate of iron, one source being the pickling of steel in sulphuric acid. This tends to eat metal drums and it was still shipped in wooden casks well into the 1960s and probably beyond. It also tended to eat the metal hoops on the barrels, but these could be replaced by a cooper before the barrel started to leak at various stages on its journey.
One curiosity at the large L. B. Holliday and Co. works in Huddersfield was the continued use of horses and carts to move chemicals about the plant into the early 1970s.
Railway tanks of acids (mainly sulphuric and nitric acid) and other chemicals would have been regular sights on a dye works siding. The bulk liquids were then often run off into barrels, metal drums of 10 gallon glass carboys (held in a straw packed metal frame) for use in the factory. To decant acids from the metal drums they used an attachment which fitted in the end bung and had an inlet for compressed air. Large metal storage tanks first appeared at dye works in the early 20th century, by the 1930s they were common, but looking at a dye works you would notice the buildings more than the tanks (many of which were housed indoors).
Traffic in to the works siding would include open wagons and vans carrying drums and sacks of the materials used. A lot of materials were supplied in barrels, such as aniline oil (from the coal tar distillery - see also 'Lineside Industries - Chemical Industries - Coal Tar Distillers'). At a larger works railway tanks wagons might well be seen carrying acids (mainly sulphuric and nitric but also including hydrochloric, acetic and phosphoric) and chemicals such as Benzene (a colourless flammable liquid supplied in drums or in railway tanks). Acetic acid is used to manufacture sodium acetate, a useful mordant.
Ammonia was quite important to the dye industry, usually shipped dissolved in water (Ammonium Hydroxide) in drums or tank wagons. Since the 1960's pure ammonia gas has been shipped in pressurised tank wagons. These are painted white with an orange band round them and with AMMONIA written on the side in lettering about eight inches to a foot high.
See 'Livery - Tank Wagons' for illustrations of many of the tank types used and also see 'Kit Bashing - K Various types of unusual tank wagons' for a discussion on modelling acid, benzene and compressed gas tank wagons.
There were some pretty strange ingredients supplied to dye works, one example being sacks of dog droppings imported from Persia (now Iran). British supplies (from the likes of hunt kennels) were supplied in wooden barrels. Alum (aluminium ammonium sulphate) is a 'mordant', a vital constituent of dyes, this pale grey powdery material was shipped in cases, casks and (imported from the Far East) in baskets (with lids).
The outgoing goods would be shipped in sheeted open wagons or (preferably) vans. There would therefore be a raised loading bank along part of the siding, the tanks being handled in a more open area with no raised bank.
Notable British Dye Manufacturing Companies
Yorkshire Dyeware and Chemical Co
Yorkshire Dyeware and Chemical Co was formed 1900 by merger of several Yorkshire firms serving the booming Yorkshire textiles industry. Production was then centred at two factories in Leeds. In 1912 they purchased a former liquorice factory at Selby and converted this for dye making, later switching it to tanning chemicals. With the shortages of the First World War this company became the first to commercially manufacture synthetic tanning agents and in the 1960s they were the first UK firm to produce dyes for acrylic fabrics. By the 1990s they were trading as the Yorkshire Chemicals Limited, and/or Yorkshire Chemicals Group (by this time they owned several firms in other counties, notably Italy and the USA).
Fig ___ Yorkshire Chemicals Limited logo
Clayton Aniline Company and Ciba-Geigy
The Clayton Aniline Company was set up in 1876 to manufacture intermediates and dyestuffs. with their factory alongside the Ashton Canal, close to the center of Manchester. Aniline oil and aniline salts were produced for the local calico printers. By 1900 the company was exporting dyes across Europe and the United States. In 1911 they teamed up with the 'Society of Chemical Industry in Basle' (later known as Ciba), but retained the old name.
During World War One the firm made a range of dyes for the military and during World War Two they made additives for the high octane aircraft fuel used in high performance planes such as the Spitfire and Hurricane.
The Clayton Aniline site became the largest single manufacturing location of any company in Manchester, known locally as 'the aniline'. Production at the factory peaked in the 1970s.
In 1971 Ciba merged with Geigy to form Ciba-Geigy Ltd. Geigy was a large Swiss chemical and dye company (this firm invented the insecticide DDT, dichloro-diphenyl trichloroethane). Ciba-Geigy then merged with Sandoz in 1997 to form Ciba Specialty Chemicals, producing a range of chemicals. The Clayton site continued manufacturing dyes. The general migration to the Far East was being felt by the early 21st century and the factory closed down in 2007.
Holliday Dyes and Chemicals Ltd.
Holliday Dyes and Chemicals Ltd. was set up in Huddersfield in the early 19th century as a chemical company processing coal tar, in 1845 they commenced distilling coal tar, becoming the biggest distiller in the north of England by 1860. They expanded into America in the 1850s, by the 1860s the firm was England’s leading chemical manufacturer and the first international manufacturer of synthetic dyes.
In 1890 Read Holliday & Sons was converted into a private limited company. During World War One the firm was switched to explosives manufacture and in 1915 Read Holliday & Sons was taken over by the Government to form British Dyes Ltd.
In 1916 Major L. B. Holliday used the money from the take over of the family firm to buy the 30-acre site of the former Huddersfield Racecourse where he set up to manufacture dyes under the name of L. B. Holliday and Co. Ltd. This firm did rather well (somewhat to the annoyance of British Dyes Ltd) and by the late 1970s they were the largest privately-owned dye manufacturer in the world.
Fig ___ L. B. Holliday logo
The firm concentrated on high-end products and was an innovator in the production of fluorescent colourings for safety wear and dyes for emergency flares and smoke colouration.
The boom in synthetic fibres in the late 1970s saw an increase in dye production world wide, with a consequent reduction in process. In 1982 the company was sold to a Jersey based outfit and the name was changed to Holliday Dyes and Chemicals Ltd. (HDC). In 1987 the management bought the company and the name changed to Holliday Chemical Holdings (HCH). Yule Catto, the Essex-based chemicals group, purchased the company in 1997 but production was moved to the Far East (closer to the world centres for textile production). The Holliday Dyes and Chemicals Works was closed in early 2001
United Indigo and Chemical Co
This company was formed by the amalganmation of several indigo and chemical manufacturers in the 1890s. They owned works in Manchester, Huddersfield (2), Leeds, Paisley also a couple of works in the USA. They produced their own range of dyes but mainly traded supplying dye makers with feed stocks such as aniline colours, indigo products, dyewood extracts, oleine and soluble oils. I believe the company was absorbed by ICI in the 1920s or early 1930s.
United Turkey Red Co Ltd.
Established in the 1890s by merging several dyeing companies and based at Dumbarton this splendidly named company became the largest bleaching, finishing, dyeing and printing firm in Scotland. For a long time the names of the original firms remained in use to make use of their god will in foreign markets (notably India, although there was a stiff tarrif imposed on British dyed goods imported into India). At the time the Germans had a monopoly on producing Turkey Red dye but in the 1900s this firm found their own methods of producing the required colours. In 1960, its assets were purchased by the Calico Printers Association of Manchester who closed down the works in Dumbarton. The Calico Printers’ Association Ltd later changed its name to The Calico Printers’ Association, it became English Calico Ltd in the late 1960s and rebranded itself as Tootal Ltd in the early 1970s and in the later 1980s it became part of the Coats Viyella plc group.
British Dyes Ltd, British Dyestuffs Corporation
In 1915 Read Holliday & Sons was taken over by the Government to form British Dyes Ltd. in which the Government was a major shareholder (and held two seats on the Board). The organisation was created because, prior to World War One, British industry had relied on Germany for 89 percent of its dyes, and much of the remainder relied on German produced feed stocks. This caused problems during the war and the plan was to address this shortcoming. The company supplied a comprehensive range of dyes within a competitive market, its most notable foreign competitors were Du Pont and IG Farben.
In 1919 British Dyes of Huddersfield merged with Levenstein Ltd. (set up in Manchester in the 1860s and by this time the largest independent company with a dye works in Blackley, four miles north of the centre of Manchester) to form the British Dyestuffs Corporation, which later became one of the founding companies of ICI in 1926. By the 1961 the Blackley plant had the largest research facility in Europe, this site alone employed about 14,000 people.
Fig ___ British Dyestuffs Corporation logo
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)
By the early 1920s the German chemical dye firms had merged into a single entity called IG Farben (prior to its dissolution after World War it was fourth-largest company in the world, after General Motors, US Steel and Standard Oil) and in America Du Pont was dominating the chemical industry. British firms were worried about this and formed ICI in 1926 to protect their interests. ICI was created by merging four existing companies; The United Alkali Company, Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives and British Dyestuffs Corporation. ICI were by far the biggest UK chemicals company, producing chemicals, explosives, fertilisers, insecticides, dyestuff's, non-ferrous metals, and paints.
In 1928 ICI acquired Scottish Dyes of Grangemouth, founded in 1919 by James Morton. The site was 80 acres with six sheds. The range of products at Grangemouth expanded to drugs and anaesthetics, plastics, synthetic rubbers, insecticides, synthetic fibres and antiseptics.
When the company was divided into divisions in the 1960s this became the ICI Dyestuffs Division and at various times it was combined with other specialty chemicals businesses and became ICI Colours and Fine Chemicals and then ICI Specialties.
ICI operated a wide range of rolling stock in their own livery. Initially this involved Imperial Chemical Industries written out in full, the ICI circle and wavy-lines logo (based on that of Nobel Industries) seems to have been little used before World War two but then became the standard branding on rolling stock.
Fig ___ ICI logo
In 1993, in response to takeover fears, ICI split itself into two parts, ICI (bulk chemicals) and Zeneca (high-end and high-tech pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and specialist chemicals). Zeneca sold the textile dyes business to BASF in 1996, retaining the newer and more profitable ink jet colours interests. The remaining parts of the specialties business were sold in 1999 to a management buyout backed by venture capital which was called Avecia. By the later 1990s the major remaining dye works at Huddersfield and Grangemouth were about 50 percent devoted to agrochemicals manufacture. These works finally became part of Syngenta. In 1999 Zeneca merged with Astra to form AstraZeneca, which is now entirely a pharmaceuticals business.
Avecia, which took over the Blackley site sold off the ink jet dye business to Fuji Photo Film in 2006. The liquid dyes for ink jet printing represent the last of the dye production in Grangemouth.
Syngenta is currently producing agrochemicals at Huddersfield. One of the sold-off Avecia businesses still operates there but it is quite likely that the Huddersfield works will be
closed down completely in a few years. The Grangemouth Works, where some colours and other chemicals are still made, has a longer-term future.
XXX Require info on shipping dyestuffs
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