To Remove Stains of all Kinds

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 902, 20 February 1930, Page 5

To Remove Stains of all Kinds

Writing Ink.—By sponging the spot with acetic or oxalic acid the stain may be removed. Cotton or linen goods may be treated with bleaching solution, followed by a rinse with hypo and then several rinses with water. Printing Ink. —This should be rubbed thoroughly with lard and then washed with soap solution. It may be necessary to repeat this treatment if the stain is old. If the ink is coloured it may leave a stain after the washing, in which case it should be treated as for aniline dye.

Marking Ink.—The spot should be wetted thoroughly with water and gently rubbed with a piece of potassium cyanide. If this fails the article must, be washed thoroughly and treated for aniline dye. It must be borne in mind that potassium cyanide is one of the most violent poisons, therefore the hands and all utensils must be washed thoroughly after using it. Indelible Pencil.—Cotton and linen goods may be bleached with bleaching solution or with permanganate of potash, followed by oxalic acid. The permanganate will turn the fabric brown, but the oxalic acid will easily bleach this again and take the first stain with it. Silk and woollen goods would be injured by the teratment with bleaching solution, and the permanganate method should be resorted to only when all other methods have failed. Try sponging it out with methylated spirit or with acetic or tartaric acid. If these fail the spot may be sponged with peroxide of hydrogen. Fruit and Flower. —Most fruit juices, including beetroot, do not stain the fabric until they are dry; therefore, if possible, they should be washed out with cold water as soon as the juice is spilled. An older stain may be bleached with tartaric acid or salts of lemon. Egg, Blood. Perspiration.—The stained material should be soaked in cold water for an hour. Linen and cotton goods may then be rinsed and boiled. Wool and silk should be rinsed, and if necessary, washed In warm soap scdution. Blood, if fairly fresh, may he bleached by sponging with hydrogen peroxide. Old Blood, Iron Rust. Red Oxide.—

Salts of lemon or oxalic acid should be applied to the stain until removed, and the fabric then rinsed thoroughly. Very persistent iron rust may be removed from cotton and linen by sponging with dilute hydrochloric acid, rinsing off quickly, and then applying salts of lemon. Tea, Coffee, Cocoa.—These stains usually come out in the wash, but should this fall, a light sponging with tartaric acid, or oxalic acid, or hydrogen peroxide, will remove them . Chlorophyll, Grass, Etc.-—Bleaching solution will remove the stain from cotton and linen goods. Wool and silk fabrics should be sponged with methylated spirit, or a mixture of spirit and ether. Paint and Varnish. —The fresher the stain the more easily is It removed. If the paint is still wet, it should be sponged liberally with petrol, kerosene, or turpentine, and then washed in warm soap solution. If a stain still remains, tartaric or oxalic acid should be applied, and the fabric washed again. An old stain should be treated as for tar. Grease.—This may he sponged with petrol, benzine, or naphtha. If any stain remains, it should be washed out with warm soap solution. Tar.—The stain should be rubbed with lard or dripping, and then washed with soap solution. It may be necessary to repeat this treatment if the stain is old. Mildew.—Cotton and linen may he treated with bleaching solution, followed by salts of lemon, and then a good rinse. Wool and silk should be treated with salts of lemon, followed by tartaric acid solution. Aniline Dyes.—Stains from these dyes may be-caused by allowing the fabric to touch some coloured material, a book cover or some such object. As there are several different kinds of dye it is not easy for the layman to determine the exact treatment for a dye stain, but the following solutions should be tried in order. If the first does not give the desired result the second might. (1) Cover with a paste made of zinc dust and acetic acid. This must he mixed immediately before use. It should re-

main for about 20 minutes and then be rinsed off with several changes of water. (2). Sponge with a solution of perchloride of tin. (3) Treat with permanganate followed by oxalic acid. (4) Apply hydrogen peroxide to the spot. lodine. —lodine stains may be removed from the skin or from any fabric by sponging with a solution of ammonia or of washing soda. Photograpers’ hypo is also a good reageDt for bleaching iodine stains.

Any of the above bleaching agents j are obtainable from the chemist. The j solutions should be prepared as^fol-1 lows: — Hydrogen peroxide, methylated spirit, benzine, naphtha and petrol are used without dilution. Salts of lemon and oxalic acid solutions are made by dissolving one ounce of the respective crystals in half ! a pint of water. Perchloride of tin solutions are best ! prepared by adding a quarter of an j ounce of the powder to four ounces i of water. If the powder does not dis- j solve easily, the addition of ten drops of hydrochloric acid will usually hasten it. Like oxalic acid and salts of lemon, all tin compounds are poisonous and every care must be taken to wash them thoroughly out of any material and utensil which has contained them. Tartaric acid solution is made twice as strong as the oxalic acid solution described above. Acetic acid as obtained from the chemist should he diluted with three times its volume of water before use. Hydrochloric acid is used for loosening old iron stains. It should ho applied by making a swab of cotton wool or cloth on the end of a stick and touching only the stained parts of fhe material with the acid. It should be allowed to remain on the cloth not more than a few seconds and then he sponged off with several changes of water. Permanganate of potash solution must not be used too strong. Avery convenient strength (one per cent.l is made by dissolving 20 or 30 crystals in a cup of water. Any brown stain made by this solution is easily bleached with oxalic acid. Bleaching solution may be used without injury to cotton or linen goods, but must never be used on silk or wool. To prepare this solution mix a tablespoonful of chloride of lime or bleaching powder into a thin paste with water, and then dilute it with water to make a cupful. Goods that have been bleached with this solution should be rinsed several times. The second rinse may with advantage contain some photographers’ hypo dissolved in it. This neutralises any chlorine which may tend to remain in the fabric and does away with the necessity for so many rinses. When hypo is required, such as for bleaching iodine stains, a tablespoonful of the crystals to a cup of water makes a solution of convenient strength. The soap solutiou referred to in this article is made from a good laundry soap or from Lux, A cheap soap will ruin woollen and silk goods. If the instructions given in this article are followed carefully no damage will be done to any fabric.