Smoke black. This is the name of a fine black made by burning resins.

All resinous materials such as the resins of pine or fir, turpentine, gum and bitumen, when they are burnt reduce to a finely-divided carbon which is called smoke black . However, since resins have other uses, only the material left over in cauldrons in which resins have been boiled to make gum or tar is used to make smoke black . To make it, pieces of this residue—which is very inflammable—are lit and allowed to burn in a pot placed in the middle of a well-sealed square chamber or cabinet in which cloth or sheepskin is hung. As the resin burns, material resembling soot is given off and this deposits on the cloth or sheepskin in the chamber. When sufficient material has accumulated in this way it is taken off and put in kegs then sold under the name of smoke black or black for blackening . [1]

In Germany [2] where there are vast forests of pine and fir, smoke black is made in quantity and furnaces are built specially for this. These furnaces are cabinets which close very precisely; at the top there is an opening on which is placed a piece of cloth folded into a cone. The cabinet is connected by a kind of horizontal vault or chimney to a sort of oven in the interior of which is put resinous material or wood full of resin to be burnt to produce the smoke black . In this apparatus the black material released passes through the vault or chimney into the square cabinet. [3] See our plates. Since this material is light, it deposits in large amounts on the cloth cone on top of the cabinet. When enough is judged to have collected, the cone is beaten with sticks to make the deposited smoke black fall into the cabinet from which it is recovered to be put in kegs or wooden boxes for sale.

Smoke black is used in painting in oils, with which it mixes perfectly; however, it cannot be used for water-based paints since it is not miscible with water. [4] This material [smoke black] is also used in printers’ ink [5].

Translator's Notes

1. noir à noircir

2. Hence noir d’Allemagne, German black

3. This description of the German apparatus for making smoke black is not particularly illuminating; however, the plate makes the construction of the apparatus clearer: Natural History — Mineralogy — Processing of Carbon Black. But, as the plate legend explains, the furnace shown within the chamber should, in fact, be outside it—as the description in the text of the article implies!

4. The legend to the plate provides some additional information ‘Voyez l'article Noir de fumée dans le XI. Volume, auquel il faut ajouter que le noir de fumée est miscible avec l'eau par l'intermède de l'esprit-de-vin ou de l'eau-de-vie dont il faut l'imbiber avant de le mêler dans les couleurs en détrempe.’ Thus : It must be added [to the article on smoke black] that smoke black can be made miscible with water by using spirit of wine or eau de vie in which it must be dissolved before mixing it with water colours. [i.e. the black must be dissolved in alcohol and the resulting solution can then be incorporated in water-based pigments.]

5. The article Printing Ink ( Encre noir ) by Le Breton gives a great deal more information about the use of smoke black in making printing ink. Le Breton was one of the publishers of the Encyclopédie and Brullé, in his article on Printing ( Imprimerie ), refers to ' the foreman of M. Le Breton's printing house ' as the provider of a piece of technical information.