Document wr59RyE4jevyZk6KEpZqjg0Z4

M ISCELLA N Lit it's .Vi AN U Fa CTLHE^ 7'3 Linseed OH.--Our coast consumes annually about 1,500,000 pilous of linseed oil,, all of Pacific production. The raw material is obtained chiefly from fields of flax cultivated exclusively for the seed in California and Oregon, but the supply of the material from these sources being insufficient, the mills obtain cargoes occasionally from Hindustan, The seed yields from 20 to 25 [>cr cent, of oil, and the cake lef in the press is used for feeding cattle, being rich in fattening qualities. Most of the ail is taken by the painters, some of it by varnish manufacturers, and it is applied to a gicsil variety uf purposv-s. Tliv whuk'aalv price i> fiom 5 j lu bo ectiLs a gallon. Till*: Pa c if ic Oil a n d Le a d Wo r k s were opened in isbb at San Francisco, and arc the oldest establishment of the kind on the coast. Besides linseed-oil manufacture, quantities of oil arc expressed from the castor bean, mustard, and eobre at these works. The machinery vised is perfect in ever)1 particular, and large numbers of employees arc engaged in the different processes of oil manufacture. A 1 in.seed-oil mill was built near Oregon City in i86$, but was closed in j8y8; and now the only mill of the kind on the coast north of San Fran cisco is that of G. W, Gr a y & So n s , at Salem. Upholstering tow is made from flax fiber at the same establishment. A linseed-oil mill was started in Utah in 1 SOi,, under the management oT a prominent Mormon priest, but the local demand was Insufficient to make a profitable market, and the en terprise was abandoned. Paints --As the people of our coast erect a great number of wooden buildings every year, and generally paint them externally as well as inter nally we consume paints, paint-oils, and varnishes to the value of $ 1,4004000 annually. This includes 3,500 tons of white lead, worth about $Gqa,ocx) at wholesale, and nearly as much of other pigments. The white lead, lin seed oil, and most of the varnish, arc made here; and lucre the colors Arc ground in oil; but we produce no pigment save white lead. Various de posits of umber, sienna, ocher, and other earthy paints have been found, but the factories erected to prepare them for the market have proved un profitable, and have been abandoned. The processes used here in the man ufacture of lead, oil, and varnish have Hq novel feature. The method of grinding with oil is the same with white lead as with other pigments, among which those most extensively used in house-painting arc ocher, umber, Venetian red, and lampblack. The painters add 4 gallons of oil to a00 pounds of ground white lead, and S gallons to the same weight of other pigments, to fit them for use. Putty is made by mixing whiting with lin seed oil, the combination being one that becomes hard by long exposure to 90 1'4 M AN ITAt TL" l.ES. the atmosphere. The consumption of putty on nur coast amounts to 150 tons, worth $9,000. One of the forms of partus most extensively used on our const is the rubber-paint, or tvInch 80,000 gallens arc consumed annually, f t contains some India rubber, arid is considered an excellent protection for wood exposed to much moisture. Another kind of paint, mixed with solu ble gt4S% is known as the Avcrill paint, and is also used extensively, the Consumption sometimes running up lev 500 tons ; month. The PioneerWhite Lend and Color Works of WillTTlElt, Fl'LLER & Ln., in Ijau 1-rnocisco, the only establishment that makes white lead on the Pacific Coast, consist of 2 massive brick buildings connected by n bridge, and were erected in 1S75. They cover an area of ground 275 by 137 feet, and extend from Fremont to Ikale, between Howard and Folsom streets. That por tion of the factory racing Beale Street is used for the manufacture of white and red lend. Piles of pig-lead arc on hand awaiting the melting process. The metal must lie pure, and especially free from iron and silver, the pres ence of which would tend to give the pigment a dingy and tawny hue. The melted Lead runs from a furnace upon an endless band: of iron molds. In these the lead assumes the form of thin disks, 6 inches in diameter and pierced, with holes about one fourth of an inch in size. When cool, these disks arc put into earthenware pots with strong acetic acid, but in such a positron that the acid does not come in direct contact with iltc metal. These pots arc imbedded in tanharic, in tier,-?, and each suc ceeding tier is covered with boards until a stack is built up 25 feet in height. The fermentation of the tail creates a double reaction, caused by the heat generated, and the add becoming volatilized, changes the lead into an acetate. The acetate again undergoes a charge by a combination with the carbonic add gas evolved by the tan, and thus becomes a carbonate of lead, Three months elapse before the material is ready for further work ing, but, owing to the number of stacks, scarcely a day passes that one is not cm]died. The carbonate, when ready, is passed over elevators to a crushing and grinding-mill, where it is mixed with water ; a steam-pump conveys the fluid muss to the topmost floor of the factory, where it passes into tanks for the purpose of being precipitated., the residue from the last tank is conveyed to copper drying-pans heated by steam. The pigment is pulverized in its dry condition, then ground 3 times over i 1 different mills, to secure a complete and uniform mixture with the linseed nil into the best kind of ground white lead ready for the use of the painter. The works have a capacity to produce 20 tons of ground lead in 24 hours, and sometimes run day and night. Besides these extensive departments for the manufacture of the white lead and for grinding it in oil, there arc others for making red lead and litharge in furnaces,; for grinding colors gencr- Misrm.Axiaira >r.sx i'FACt l :tins. 7*5 ally m oil; for making rubber paint ami putty, and for the manufacture of the acetic acid required in their business They give employment to ij o mciji. Their establishment deserves credit for several improvement^ in the methods of manufacturing while lead, of a character designed to protect the health of the operatives* A white lead factory, to make tire pigment by anew process, was opened in Visitation Valley, 5 miles south of the business part of San Francisco, in 1872, but the process wa* a failure, arul the enterprise was abandoned, 1'hc Pacific Kubbcr-l'aint-works, also the property of WHITTIER, ITM.KK & Co., are managed separately. The rubber, imported from lirazil, is mixed with the other materials under a patent process. The establishment pro duces ii sufficient qua 11 lity of rubber-paint to supply the entire demand of the coast. Th e Ca l if o r n ia Pa in t Cq Mp a n v makes all the Averill mixed paint consumed on the coast, The pigments arc ground under a secret process, with oil and soluble glass, the latter giving a hard, glossy surface, con sidered excellent for resisting the effects of heat and rain. Resides making the Averill paint, this comjKmy grind about 250 tons of pigments in oil, and make 150 tons of putty. San Francisco has all th-.- paint factories of our coast. Varatab--Of varnish which is made by melting or dissolving copal glim in hot linseed oil. our coast consumes about Kc u x x j gallons, worth $150,000, annually; and makes x d o , the remaining 20,000gallons being mostly the finest qualities or coach and carriage varnish imported from England, and worth from $4 to $j a gallon. More than half of the total amount con sumed consists of furniture varnish. The only varnish factories on our coast are in San Francisco, and the principal establishment* are those of HUETER Br o t h e r s & Co., the oldest in date, founded in producing 50,000 gallons of various qualities annually; N. C- Wa LTON, Sr., who makes 4,000 gallons of black varnish; W. H. WoRPKX, who makes, furni ture varnish; and the recently opened California Varnish-works. Turpentine, eto.--When the civil war broke out in 1SG1, the supplies of turpentine and resin, previously received on Olir coast, Were .suddenly cut off; and it was found that none were to be had from other sources so cheaply as from the yellow pine trees of the Siena Nevada The most accessible forest of yellow pine was in JJutte County, which became the seat of an active production. The pitch, which gathered in cuts near the roots of the trees, was distil led, to separate its main constituents, the vola tile turpentine, and the heavier resin. Both were made in large quantity, and of excellent quality.