DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0248
OF THE "WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 207
imitation of chintz, improvements in the satin-grounds, and the introduction of work
printed from engraved cylinders.
In England, the trade was protected by a duty of Is. per square yard, up to the
year 1846, when sir Robert Peel reduced it to 2d. This high duty acted almost as an
exclusion to foreign makers, and there was therefore no competition with them, nor any
inducement to improve. Since that time, however, the English manufacturers have made
great progress in their art, both in style and workmanship, the trade has greatly
increased, and the improved productions are sold at a greatly reduced price. They
have, besides, applied themselves to the improved application of machinery, by which
very beautiful papers are made at an extremely cheap rate.
The process of manufacturing ordinary paper-hangings, as now carried on, may be thus
briefly described:—" The pattern being first carefully drawn, is then pricked, and the
outlines of the various tints are pounced each on a separate wood block made of pear-
tree, mounted on pine. These blocks are pressed on the sieves of colour, and then applied
to the paper, each block following the other on the guide marks left by the previous
impression. An idea may be formed of the enterprise and labour required to produce
some of the decorative paper-hangings for the Great Exhibition, by stating that more
than twelve thousand have been employed on a single one of them. In making
flock-paper, the pattern is first printed in size, and then with a preparation of varnish or
japan gold size. When this is partly dry, coloured flock, prepared from wools, is
sifted on the varnish pattern, to which it adheres. Great improvements have been made
of late years in this manipulation, more especially by French manufactures. Paper-
hangings, where gilding is introduced, are prepared much in the same way as for flock:
the leaf-metal is laid on the varnish pattern, or, if worked in bronze powder, it is brushed
over with a hare's foot. The English manufacturers have attained great perfection in
the preparation of metal-papers. The gilding having to encounter the damp and variable
climate, is most severely tested; but by means of good material, careful manipulation,
and a preparation washed over it, it remains unchanged for a considerable period."
, Paper-hangings have been printed in England by means of hand-machines for many
years, the papers being made in lengths of twelve yards, or single pieces, in one or two
colours, and these colours falling separately on the ground. It was not until about ten
years since, what is now understood as machine-printing was fully introduced; and this,
was done by Messrs. Potter, of Darwen, who, by means of steam-power, artificial drying,
and an endless roll of paper, were enabled to produce patterns with good effect, by
surface-roller-printing in several colours, on the principle of calico-printing: specimens
showing fourteen colours were exhibited by this house. Messrs. Heywood, Higginbottom,
and Co., of Manchester, have also effected great improvements in the manufacture, and
exhibited patterns showing twenty colours made by fourteen rollers; and Messrs. J.
Woollams and Co., of London, likewise exhibited excellent specimens made by machi-
nery, in addition to those they make by block-printiug. These machines are now each
capable of printing from one thousand to one thousand five hundred pieces per day;
and, although the work is not equal to block-printing in the solidity or permanence of
the colours, yet the small price at which it is produced commands an extensive sale,
superseding, to a great extent, the cheaper kinds made by hand. The above remarks
apply only to paper-hangings of the cheaper qualities, for machine-printing has not yet
been successfully applied to those with glazed or satin grounds. There is also another
evil which it is most desirable to remedy—the colours are liable to run, without great
care, in the hanging. There were very beautiful specimens of paper-hangings in the
Great Exhibition; works which not only possessed considerable artistic excellence, but
also showed great progress in the manufacture.
imitation of chintz, improvements in the satin-grounds, and the introduction of work
printed from engraved cylinders.
In England, the trade was protected by a duty of Is. per square yard, up to the
year 1846, when sir Robert Peel reduced it to 2d. This high duty acted almost as an
exclusion to foreign makers, and there was therefore no competition with them, nor any
inducement to improve. Since that time, however, the English manufacturers have made
great progress in their art, both in style and workmanship, the trade has greatly
increased, and the improved productions are sold at a greatly reduced price. They
have, besides, applied themselves to the improved application of machinery, by which
very beautiful papers are made at an extremely cheap rate.
The process of manufacturing ordinary paper-hangings, as now carried on, may be thus
briefly described:—" The pattern being first carefully drawn, is then pricked, and the
outlines of the various tints are pounced each on a separate wood block made of pear-
tree, mounted on pine. These blocks are pressed on the sieves of colour, and then applied
to the paper, each block following the other on the guide marks left by the previous
impression. An idea may be formed of the enterprise and labour required to produce
some of the decorative paper-hangings for the Great Exhibition, by stating that more
than twelve thousand have been employed on a single one of them. In making
flock-paper, the pattern is first printed in size, and then with a preparation of varnish or
japan gold size. When this is partly dry, coloured flock, prepared from wools, is
sifted on the varnish pattern, to which it adheres. Great improvements have been made
of late years in this manipulation, more especially by French manufactures. Paper-
hangings, where gilding is introduced, are prepared much in the same way as for flock:
the leaf-metal is laid on the varnish pattern, or, if worked in bronze powder, it is brushed
over with a hare's foot. The English manufacturers have attained great perfection in
the preparation of metal-papers. The gilding having to encounter the damp and variable
climate, is most severely tested; but by means of good material, careful manipulation,
and a preparation washed over it, it remains unchanged for a considerable period."
, Paper-hangings have been printed in England by means of hand-machines for many
years, the papers being made in lengths of twelve yards, or single pieces, in one or two
colours, and these colours falling separately on the ground. It was not until about ten
years since, what is now understood as machine-printing was fully introduced; and this,
was done by Messrs. Potter, of Darwen, who, by means of steam-power, artificial drying,
and an endless roll of paper, were enabled to produce patterns with good effect, by
surface-roller-printing in several colours, on the principle of calico-printing: specimens
showing fourteen colours were exhibited by this house. Messrs. Heywood, Higginbottom,
and Co., of Manchester, have also effected great improvements in the manufacture, and
exhibited patterns showing twenty colours made by fourteen rollers; and Messrs. J.
Woollams and Co., of London, likewise exhibited excellent specimens made by machi-
nery, in addition to those they make by block-printiug. These machines are now each
capable of printing from one thousand to one thousand five hundred pieces per day;
and, although the work is not equal to block-printing in the solidity or permanence of
the colours, yet the small price at which it is produced commands an extensive sale,
superseding, to a great extent, the cheaper kinds made by hand. The above remarks
apply only to paper-hangings of the cheaper qualities, for machine-printing has not yet
been successfully applied to those with glazed or satin grounds. There is also another
evil which it is most desirable to remedy—the colours are liable to run, without great
care, in the hanging. There were very beautiful specimens of paper-hangings in the
Great Exhibition; works which not only possessed considerable artistic excellence, but
also showed great progress in the manufacture.