## The Project Gutenberg eBook of The history of a pot of varnish

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The history of a pot of varnish

Author: Anonymous

Release date: November 18, 2025 [eBook #77263]

Language: English

Original publication: Newark: Murphy and Company, 1880

Credits: Charlene Taylor, chenzw and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF A POT OF VARNISH ***

# THE HISTORY
OF A
POT OF VARNISH.

FROM SCRIBNER’S MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY
MURPHY AND COMPANY,
VARNISH MAKERS.

Copyrighted, 1880, by Murphy & Co., Newark, N. J., and Cleveland, O.

[1]

## THE HISTORY OF A POT OF VARNISH.

Murphy & Co.’s Varnish Factory, Newark, N. J.

Together with their love of the practical in the industrial arts, Americans have a ready faculty of discovering an interest touching almost on the romantic in the origin and production of what pass ordinarily for useful and prosaic things. Herein lies a part of the secret of their great success in mechanical pursuits. This inborn mechanical curiosity has led many a young American to take apart his mother’s self-winding tape measure, or the family sewing machine, just “to see how the thing was made.” We seldom, any of us, lose the desire to visit machine-shops and factories, and see with our own eyes how the work of creation, in a limited way, is carried forward, by men who, from habit, look upon their work as dull routine, while to our fresh eyes, every deft movement is filled with grace, and each stage in the transformation of the material into the manufactured object is a new wonder.

Everybody knows something about the bright, amber-colored fluid called varnish, but few persons, probably, know how varied and interesting a story is wrapped up in this subtle substance, which lends beauty and durability to almost every product of the workshop and studio. Varnish factories are comparatively few, and their doors seldom stand wide open. But there is nothing secretive about varnish. It speaks to the nostrils of close companionship with turpentine,—the pungent aroma of which [2]some affect to like, and most persons find very disagreeable. The linseed oil in the varnish cannot be detected by a novice; and thousands who are not practical painters, and only use the fluid as household amateurs, have doubtless wondered what could be the nature of the illusive material that gives to the varnish its sticky quality and elastic body. This third ingredient is the resinous juice of a tree. It is analogous to the little lumps of pitch that boys sometimes find on a pine board that has been exposed to the sun, and once in their lives discover to be a very sticky substitute for chewing-gum, which, in itself, is a kind of resin. Varnish resins are few in number compared with the vast number of resins of one kind and another. They are not got from the tree that produced them, but are mined a little below the surface of the earth, where they have lain and ripened for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. This is true especially of gum copal, the commercial name of the most valuable of the varnish resins. These three ingredients, gum copal, linseed oil, and turpentine are brought to the door of the varnish maker. It is his province to mix them by applying formulas which are the result of years of experiment and hard-earned experience.

Murphy & Co.’s Varnish Factory, Cleveland, Ohio.
Surfacer Department Mills.

Varnish making is one of the new and growing industries of the United States. This is as it ought to be, for Americans use more artificial varnish than any other people, and even before they have reached the point of fully supplying themselves, begin to think seriously of providing their neighbors and transatlantic friends with a better article than can be sold abroad for the same money. Fifty years ago we relied mostly upon England and France for the vast quantities of varnish employed in the industrial arts of this country. Varnish manufacture was somewhat understood, but for many years the Americans were content to make for themselves only the coarse varieties of the article, while they went abroad for the higher [3]grades needed to impart luster to their coaches and pianos and to fine furniture. Finally came the ability and the desire to excel in this industry as in every other. Varnish materials were at hand. The enterprising traders of New-York and the once flourishing New England sea-ports, during their East India and African voyages, were not slow to discover in gum copal a profitable article for the return cargo, and to-day more than half of the varnish gums of commerce are brought to this country. Three large houses have almost a monopoly of the trade. It is further estimated that about two-thirds of the artificial varnish product of the world is used in the United States. In the main this is a matter of national congratulation. It is another proof of the unexampled growth of American manufactures, of the rapid increase of population and wealth, and of a wide-spread and active state of refined society. In no other country can be found so many comfortably furnished houses, in which the piano and other musical instruments, as well as furniture of equal adornment and use, are the rule rather than the exception. In no other part of the world does so large a part of the population ride in its own carriage; and in the matter of railway cars, those of America surpass the whole world in number and finish. All of these mechanical contrivances and articles of use require coats of varnish to render them attractive to the eye and proof against early decay. But from another point of view, the aspect of the immense varnish trade of this country is not so pleasing. It tells of national extravagance and wastefulness, and of the fragile character of many manufactured articles. Americans are the greatest carriage and furniture breakers in the world. They have more furniture, and replace it oftener, than citizens of the same relative classes in other countries. In Europe, the breaking of a carriage on account of the horses taking fright is a very rare [4]occurrence. American horses have extra wildness of spirits, and runaways and splintered carriages are every-day occurrences.

I was initiated into the mysteries of varnish manufacture at the factory of Murphy & Co., located in Newark, New Jersey, a great industrial city, which owes its growth and prominence to its nearness to the metropolis, its water and railroad facilities, and its ability to give cheap and comfortable houses to its working-men. A thirty-minute ride from New-York, by the Pennsylvania Railway, placed me at the Chestnut street dépôt in Newark, whence it was a three minute walk to McWhorter street, where goats and children were taking life pleasantly together in the September sunshine. Somber brick walls, surrounding plain brick buildings, succeeded one another along the street and gave tokens of activity within. I knew that Murphy & Co. were classed by the trade as one of the great varnish-making firms in the United States, and reaching No. 238, which appeared to be the beginning of the end of McWhorter street, the exterior of the long, rather low brick building made a very modest impression of the extensive out-buildings, warehouses, workshops and great chimneys which were concealed behind it. Fine shade trees added grace to the prim exterior, and the generally unkept street had suddenly assumed an air of care as well as of prosperity. The factory seemed to consume its own noise, for the street was very quiet, the stillness being broken only by a picturesque little colored boy in a peagreen jacket, and with his trousers rolled up to his knees, who was standing in the middle of the street, yelling “Pa!” at regular intervals, until a sturdy African put his head out of a warehouse door and soothed his offspring. Here was a coincidence: copal gum and the ebony descendant of the copal digger, in their distant wanderings from Africa, had found a home together at a varnish factory in Newark, New Jersey.

The office of the Factory, reached by a most unassuming street entrance, was commodious, elegant, and pervaded by a sense of order and business activity. The history of the firm is rather remarkable, and is an excellent illustration of American pluck, enterprise and method in business matters. From very small beginnings, the firm has attained its present growth and reputation in a short space of fourteen years. A solid foundation was laid at the beginning. They realized at the outset that the only road to success was by the closest personal supervision, and devotion to the principle that if they took care to attain a uniform perfection of quality in their products, the profits would take care of themselves. During the early years of the business, Mr. Murphy worked constantly over the kettles, and to-day every practical detail has his personal supervision. Having begun free from the set ways and prejudices of varnish-makers, he was the better prepared to discover and adopt improved methods. To-day they have, as a result of their efforts, a large capital invested in a thoroughly established business, which, during the past six years, has grown with steady and extraordinary rapidity.

The extensive works of Murphy & Co., in Newark, are supplemented by equal manufacturing facilities in Cleveland, Ohio, but the Western department relies upon the Eastern factory for the highest grades of varnishes. Several years ago the firm was shrewd enough to see that the growth of domestic business was to be very largely in the West, and deemed it wise to establish branches, in 1871, in Chicago and Cleveland, and become directly identified with the business prosperity of those sections. Two years’ experience proved that it was better to consolidate their Western facilities at one point, and the erection of their extensive works in Cleveland, at Canal and [5]Harrison streets, was at once begun. During the past six years the business of the Western department has rapidly increased, and from Cleveland radiates their entire Western trade.

Gum Sorting Room.
Oil Boiling.
Oil Boiling.

Before he introduces a visitor to the factory proper, Mr. Murphy always instructs the candidate for the honor in the first degree of the subject, in a knowledge of what copal is. For this purpose his museum of fossil resins affords an excellent means of object study. To pique the interest of his visitor he first hands him a little polished cylinder of a hard, yellowish-hued substance, resembling amber. Some opaque object darkens the otherwise clear and brilliant cylinder, which is brought between the eye and the light, disclosing a pale, lemon-colored butterfly in all the delicacy and beauty of its original creation. Encompassed in the pure, transparent mass, it is as perfectly posed as if it were in the sunshine of a June morning, resting its tissue wings and sipping the dew from a clover blossom. It looks as fresh as a bonnet in a milliner’s window, and as if it came out of the chrysalis only the day before; yet the butterfly, if we are to believe the sayings of science, first tried its delicate wings in some African forest of the tertiary period, how many thousands of years ago geologists do not venture to say. Happy insect, to have its beauty thus immortalized! How did the butterfly get within the cylinder? Probably it was playing listlessly from tropical flower to flower and tree to tree. It alighted on a limpid, enticing substance which adhered to the bark of a gigantic tree. This substance proved as fragrant as a flower and as treacherous as bird-lime. The unwary butterfly found itself glued to its grave. In a little while the oozing [6]sap covered its delicate head, the fluttering wings were stayed, and, in less than an hour, perhaps, the butterfly, in all its splendor, was embalmed for the ages. Before or during the decay of the tree, the hardened lump of sap fell on the sands and was buried beneath the mold. In the course of time the forest almost disappeared through the agency of wind and fire, or perhaps through slow decay. The lump of gum lay hardening, century in and century out, beneath the surface of a burning desert, until a naked negro, in his desultory search, brought it to light and sold it to the traders as fossil copal, which is solid varnish of the finest quality.

Western nations have derived the use of varnish from the Chinese and Japanese, who, originally, merely applied what nature placed ready-made [7]to their hand. What would an American painter think of walking into his grove of varnish-trees, when he wanted a pot of varnish, and returning in half an hour with a bucketful of the costly fluid, procured as easily as a Vermont farmer gathers a bucketful of maple sap in the spring of the year? This is a natural varnish and is called Lacquer, and everybody nowadays knows the beauty and excellence of the lacquer-ware of the ingenious Chinese and Japanese. The resin from the varnish-tree (which belongs to the same family as our poison ivy, dogwood and sumach, and to the botanical order of anacar diacea) is held in solution, in the right proportion for use, by oils which the tree simultaneously produces. But the resins of which the artificial varnish is made were deficient naturally in these solvents, and what of them they ever contained disappeared as the gum hardened. Varnish manufacture is the process of restoring these solvents in new and greater proportions. Many varieties of trees are producing varnish resins in different parts of the world to-day, but the resin is unfit for the finer grades of varnish until it has ripened, in the course of time, and become fossil gum. There are resin-producing trees the gum of which is [8]not suitable for the body of varnish, yet which produce one of the principal solvents,—turpentine. Such is the long-leaved pine of the Southern States. The Japanese and Chinese subject their natural varnish to a treatment of a simple character, to purify and increase its drying properties. The black varnish tree of Burmah and the gum-mastic tree of Morocco are allied to the Chinese and Japanese species. Efforts have been made to introduce the latter into this country without practical results. Young varnish-trees have frequently been brought to America, and specimens of the variety are now growing in the grounds of the Smithsonian Institute.

Gum Melting.

Amber, which is found chiefly in the alluvial deposits bordering the Black Sea, is the most valuable of the fossil resins. Its extra hardness is supposed to be the result of age, far ante-dating that of fossil copal. It used to be employed in varnish manufacture, but is now too rare and costly. Fossil copal is said to have been first found in the blue clay about Highgate, near London, but the most famous fields are the narrow strips of barren sea-coast on the eastern shores of Africa, opposite the island of Zanzibar.

Japan Boiling.

In 1850, before the steamship and the submarine telegraph revolutionized the commercial methods of the world, the port of Zanzibar, the Sultan’s capital, located on the western side of the island, opposite the main coast, was then, as it is now, the chief outlet for the products of the east coast and the interior of Africa. Arabs and Hindoos formed the merchant and trading classes. Trading with the interior was carried on by means of caravans, which would be absent from Zanzibar sometimes five, eight, or even ten years. Traders and agents of the merchants traveled continually to and from the coast, where they traded with the native copal diggers and with such natives as occasionally brought a single ivory tusk to market. Copal barter was comparatively easy, but ivory barter was characteristically complex. Laying his ivory tusk on a box, the native owner would sit astride one end of the tusk and watch the covetous and expostulating trader pile up beads, cloth, and articles of barter on the other end, while the equally loquacious native would cling to his tusk, and firmly maintain that they had not yet found the equilibrium of trade.

Thinning Down and Emptying.

The copal diggers are an improvident class, as natives of the tropics always are. [9]They dig for copal when dire necessity drives them to it, and seldom appear before the trader with more than a double-handful of gum to sell. On the eastern coast the diggers do not go much above the second parallel, or below the twelfth. In searching for a pocket of the gum they puncture the sandy surface to a depth of one or two feet with a short, small spear resembling the Zulu assegai. They sometimes dig a trench eight or ten feet deep if the find is sufficient to inspire them to make the necessary exertion. For the last twenty-five years, Europeans living at Zanzibar have talked of visiting the copal fields, and making an organized search for the gum. The undertaking would prove profitable but for the almost perfect certainty that the whites of the expedition would quickly succumb to the climate, and the Arabs and negroes cannot be prevailed upon to make a systematic effort. When India-rubber became a valuable article of commerce, the supply of copal from Zanzibar appreciably diminished, not because the fields are anywhere near exhausted, but because the indolent natives find it easier to gather India-rubber than to dig for gum copal. The superiority of Zanzibar copal to other varnish resins is apparent to a novice, for it is the hardest and clearest, and comes in thin, small flakes, a piece the size of a man’s hand being an uncommonly large lump. After being cleaned of its coating of dirt by immersion in strong lye, the surface of the copal is found to be uniformly covered with little round dots about the size of a pin’s head. This appearance is [10]called “goose skin,” and its cause is a matter of doubt and curiosity among scientific men. The most probable explanation is that the goose skin appearance is due to molecular action. It cannot be the imprint of the sand on the gum when it was soft, because in that case the surface would be pitted, instead of granulated. Copal trees are producing gum in Zanzibar to-day. The new product is comparatively soft, and of inferior value for varnish. The Sultan formerly claimed one-eighth of all the articles of commerce passing through the Zanzibar custom-house, the perquisites of which were farmed out to lesser officials.

Cooper Shop.

As the demand for varnish gums increased, new fields were discovered. Accra, or “North Coast,” fossil resin is an excellent gum, and is found in Guinea and on the west shores of Africa, in about the same zone as Zanzibar. Some of the gum is very pale and clear in color. It is found in larger lumps than the East Coast gum, and is not so hard, nor has it the “goose skin” surface. For several years the greater part of the fossil resin of commerce has been obtained in the northern island of New Zealand. It is called Kauri gum, and is not found below the thirty-eighth parallel. This variety of resin is gathered by both whites and natives. It is of all degrees of age, hardness, and value, the better grades of kauri being found near the decayed stumps of trees, that have long since perished. The trees now bearing grow to a great height, and some of them are four and five feet in diameter at the base. The resinous juice exudes between the body of the tree and the bark, and runs down into the ground at the roots. The wood of the kauri-tree is much harder than Norway pine, and in color resembles mahogany, with which it cannot be compared in fiber or grain. It is a lumber-tree and the boxes in which the gum is shipped (usually about 200 lbs. to the box) are made of the lumber of the tree. Kauri gum varies in the size of the lumps, from a few ounces to seventy-five, and even one hundred pounds. A fossil resin of much value has been found in the Island of Madagascar. Benguela, Congo, and pebble gums (pebble gum is found in river-beds, worn to shapes resembling pebble stones) are found on the west coast of Africa. The Benguela gum formerly came into Europe through Lisbon. The Manilla, Macassar, and Dammar gums found in the Philippine Islands, are used for common grades of varnish. Resins suitable for varnish manufacture are also found in South America and Mexico. The product of the former country is commonly called animé, while the Zanzibar copal passes in the London market under the name of animi.

[11]

These two varieties most commonly contain insects, a fact which suggested their allied nomenclature. The Murphy museum holds many interesting specimens of insect copal. Ants feed upon the bark of the copal-tree, and, it is believed, frequently destroy its life. But the copal-tree has its revenge. For when the tree is wounded the resinous juice exudes and entraps the tiny enemy. Lumps of gum are frequently found as full of ants as a plum pudding is of fruit. Mr. Murphy has a fine specimen of accra gum which is the crystal tomb of a fly. One piece of Zanzibar shows a perfect grasshopper, which looks as if it had just hopped off a Western pasture. Another piece preserves a beautiful bumble-bee, in rich and velvety apparel. What a dreary existence he must have led in an age long, perhaps, before there were boys to sting! A third piece proves that the mosquito is a very venerable citizen of this earth. One of the workmen has a small piece of gum which is a witness to the predatory character of the spider. One afternoon an unlucky fly alighted on the bark of a copal-tree, and felt its feet involved in the sticky gum, past extrication. A spider traveled that way, and seeing the fly apparently too much engaged in sipping some sweet to heed his approach, pounced upon his prey, only to be caught as was the fly, and to be incarcerated in the gum with his booty in his fangs. Small lizards have been found in gum copal. Insects cannot be seen in the gum before it is cleaned. All varnish gums used to be shipped in the natural state, but to escape paying the American custom duties of ten cents, on a quarter of the weight, which is lost in cleaning, the gum is cleaned and purified superficially before shipment. The duty has been abrogated, but, nevertheless, it is found best to clean the gum before it is put in cargo. The boys that do the cleaning in Zanzibar appropriate the most curious specimens for themselves, and, for this reason, of late years, insect copal has become more rare.

A Bit of Laboratory.

Gum copal and the other varnish resins reach the factory of Murphy & Co. in the original packages. In a long, low room adjoining the storage warehouse, boys sit at a long table, placed against the wall, and give the gum a second cleaning, after which it is assorted and broken into small lumps for the melting-kettles, and stored in large bins in an adjoining room. In the cleaning, or chiseling process, the boys use a long narrow hatchet which has a blade at one end and a hammer-head at the other, and is grasped by the head and socket, and handled like a short chisel, for convenience in working around the irregular surface of the kauri-lumps. In breaking the lumps the hatchet is used like a hammer. The clippings, or chips, and the gum dust are saved, and form the body of a cheap varnish.

[12]

With the cleaning and the sorting begin the niceties of the business. Murphy & Co. owe much of their success—as every other manufacturing company that wins a permanent success must—to faithful attention to the smallest details. The gums are graded with considerable care before they are put up in commercial packages. This firm re-assorts the gum, making a number of additional grades, according to kind, clearness or purity, and hardness, and keeps the different lots separate throughout the process of manufacture, to which fact may be ascribed the homogeneity and unvarying quality of their products of each particular grade. The gum-room is in the remotest angle of the factory grounds, and there the gum is made ready for the melting-room and furnaces adjoining.

Two other ingredients have to be in store before the manufacturer can proceed with his work. Of these, turpentine needs no special treatment. It arrives at the factory in barrels, and is stored in four massive iron tanks, which together hold about ten thousand gallons.

The oil-shop, where the oil is boiled and otherwise prepared, is a small, but massively built, structure, located in the center of the works, and contains two wrought iron kettles substantially set in masonry, each of which has a capacity for boiling five hundred gallons of oil. Experiments with the oil are made in the laboratory, and the ideas there developed are carried out in a practical way in the oil-shop. This department is in charge of Mr. Murphy’s younger brother, who brings to his work a natural liking for its duties, strengthened by a special technical education at the Columbia College School of Mines.

On the successful preparation of the oil, depend, in a great measure, the drying properties, elasticity, toughness, and clearness of the varnish; and the difficulties of a uniform treatment are very much increased by the want of uniformity in the raw oil. This does not arise from adulteration of the oil, but from the different characteristics of different lots of seed. The manufacture of linseed-oil consists simply in crushing the seed and expressing the oil by hydraulic pressure, but to secure the finest quality of oil, the linseed must be grown under favorable conditions, and harvested only after it is fully matured. If the season should be unfavorable, or if the crop is cut before it has fully ripened, or if a lot contains an undue percentage of foreign seed, the resulting oil is not suitable for the finest grades of varnishes. Each parcel of raw oil, therefore, is carefully tested by Murphy & Co., and only such accepted as meet the tests which their experience shows them are necessary to furnish satisfactory results in their work. As the oil is received in the factory it is pumped into large tanks in the second story of the main warehouse, which communicates by pipes with the large boiling-pots in the oil-shop. After treatment there, it is allowed to run out of the kettle into a large iron vat, and from that is pumped back into the main storehouse, into tanks of five hundred gallons each, and which, therefore, hold a single boiling. From one to six months is given it to settle and brighten. The foreign matter settles to the bottom of the pot, while the oil on top, which has become as clear as amber, is drawn off as it is required for mixing with melted gum. A dozen or more different kinds of prepared oils are kept in store, which vary in the quantity and the kind of the dryer boiled with them, according to the results sought for in the completed varnish. Thus the success or the failure of varnish-making must depend greatly on the care and fidelity of the foreman of the shop.

A double system of pipes, connecting with the boiled oil and turpentine storage [13]tanks, traverse the yard and enter all the out-buildings, where their ingredients are required for mixing with the melted gum. Nothing could exceed the neatness of the storage-room. The tanks are painted on the outside, and kept perfectly clean. There is a purpose in this. Good varnish cannot be produced if the workmen fall into careless and slovenly habits. To make cleanliness a habit, and, therefore, a matter of no special mental effort, the utmost neatness is maintained from the gum-room to the business office, and even in the factory yard.

With the three ingredients at hand, the making of the varnish begins. It is desired to make a varnish of a certain quality. The foreman of the melting-room goes to the gum-room with his large copper kettle, holding 125 gallons, which is set on four small iron wheels. He takes from one of the many bins 100 or 150 pounds of the requisite kind of gum, returns with it to the melting-room, covers the kettle with a sheet-iron cover, which is provided with an exit for the thick and noxious fumes of boiling gum, and pushes the kettle into one of the great fire-places, which has almost the draft of a furnace. The fire directly underneath the kettles is very hot, and necessarily so, for the hardest kinds of gum will liquefy only after being subjected to a very high heat.

When the batch of gum is thoroughly melted the kettle is drawn from the fire, and a certain quantity of the prepared oil is poured in. The percentage of oil to gum varies greatly, according to the character of the varnish which is sought to be produced. After being thoroughly stirred, the mixture is pushed into the fire-place again and is boiled to a certain point, after which it is then drawn from the fire and the temperature of the mixture allowed to fall to about 300°. In the meantime the requisite amount of turpentine has been allowed to run into an upright receiver, with tube register attached. The kettle is drawn under the stop-cock, the turpentine mingles with the mixture of oil and gum, and the varnish is practically made. It is next strained through coarse muslin and filtered, after which it is brought into contact with another system of pipes, and is pumped into one of the three or four store-rooms, where large tanks, resting on stone platforms, preserve the varnish while it settles and ripens. The temperature of the varnish store-room is kept at 70° Fahrenheit during the winter.

In the finer grades of varnish, the ripening process requires from four to twelve months, and in many instances a much longer time is necessary to bring out its best qualities. This is not a matter of hap-hazard judgment on the part of the varnish maker. Every tank of varnish, during the time of ripening, is subjected to frequent tests by a practical carriage painter. It is tried on the same surfaces and under the same circumstances as it will be after it goes into the hands of the customer. The varnish must meet every test satisfactorily before it is allowed to go out of the factory. It is a very whimsical substance, and at times the best varnish is so unaccountably obstinate, that painters are agreed that it is in some manner allied to the evil spirit. What are called the “deviltries” of varnish come under fifty or more terms of opprobrium familiar to the paint-house, and may be divided into a dozen or more species; there is the “specky” family of deviltries, the “crawling” species, the “sweating” variety, the “blotching” class, the “peeling” genus, the “cracking” family, the “blistering” order, and other analogous misdemeanors that drag painters by a string of profanity into the hands of Satan. When varnish suddenly departs from its usual good conduct, and begins its pranks, just as the painter is in a hurry to finish [14]an important job, the painter is none too slow to lay the responsibility for his trouble on the varnish-maker, or somebody whose exact accountability he forgets in his rage, and is human enough not to see that he himself may be to blame. The “deviltries” of the business are as annoying to the varnish maker as the painter. If the varnish came from a first-class factory, the chances are as eight to ten that, if it is put to the purpose for which it was made and then behaves ill, the fault lay more with the painter, and with the conditions under which it was used, than with the material itself. Varnish loses its bad temper as a rule, in a dry, warm, well-ventilated paint-shop, which of course ought to be clean and free from dust. Varnish despises an ignorant painter as much as a horse does an ignorant driver. Varnish-makers have to bear the short-comings of ignorance with resignation and meekness. When a barrel of varnish is returned with the indorsement, that “it contains a devil,” the varnish-maker mutters: “Another stupid painter.” But like the father of the naughtiest boy in the neighborhood, he knows the character of the pesky thing too well, to assert that it was not as devilish as reported.

The precautions taken by Murphy & Co. to assure themselves that their varnishes will behave well, if properly treated, have assisted greatly in securing for their varnishes a reputation for “perfection of quality.” Not only is the varnish strained and filtered before it goes into the ripening tanks, but also again before it goes into the barrel for shipment. They have introduced an improvement into the filtering machine by which the ordinarily tedious process is urged forward with ten-fold rapidity. The neat cans with the handsome labels, and the barrels in which the varnish is shipped, are both made by the firm, a large building in the rear of the melting-room being set aside for that purpose. The ground floor is a cooper-shop, and the second floor a tin-shop, both departments being supplied with the most improved appliances, and the best material and skill. A large room has been reserved in the new warehouse, just completed, to be used for painting the barrels, which is an indication of the care paid by the firm to minor details. On the second floor of the same building, in the gable-end, has been constructed a room, which is supposed to be as fire-proof as iron and brick and stone and mortar can make an apartment. This is the new laboratory. The firm believe that it will be in the future, as it has been in the past, the most profitable room in the establishment. A unique branch of the establishment is the “Publication Office,” which occupies two large, cheery rooms in the basement. Two practical printers are in charge, and have at hand a full stock of job printing material and two modern presses. The neat typographical dress of the Company’s catalogues and price lists speak well of the practical success of this curious appendage to a varnish factory. A miniature newspaper, called “The Copal Bug,” is occasionally issued.

Murphy & Co. have made an important departure from the old methods of varnish manufacturing by establishing a factory for the manufacture of surfacers for coach and car work, as an auxiliary to their varnish business proper. This factory is several blocks removed from the main establishment, the two being connected by telephone. Since the “deviltries” of varnish, above described, are very frequently due to the improper preparation of the painted surface to which the varnish is to be applied, the firm believe that, by making surfacers already prepared for application and the best calculated for producing a suitable surface for varnishing, they would not only save themselves and the too frequently innocent varnish the anathemas of careless [15]painters, but confer a blessing on the painter as well. These prepared paints have been named “A. B. C. Surfacers,” and very appropriately, too, for the priming, leveling, and smoothing coats on which the varnish rests are the first steps toward the completed task of the painter, and if the first steps are badly taken, the best varnish in the world will not save the job.

Six or seven years ago American varnish-makers were vainly striving to compete in their own market with the highest grades of English coach and railway varnish. Murphy & Co. have led the way to a solution of this highly important problem for this country, and now produce a varnish which has the entire confidence of many of the first carriage builders and railway companies of the United States, and by some is regarded superior to English varnishes. In a very few shops the English article still maintains a show of supremacy, by virtue of the survival of the old-time prejudice against American goods. The best American varnishes are now making their way in the markets of Europe, and in this industry, as in so many other important branches of manufacture, America has cast off the yoke of dependence on the Old World.

Murphy & Company will be glad to send to any address, upon application, descriptive lists of their Varnishes, containing detailed information of each grade, with prices attached.

Shipping Room.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Typo corrected on page 4: “an” to “and”.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been left unchanged.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF A POT OF VARNISH ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE

## THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

> This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that:

- • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
- • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.
- • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.
- • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.