The circulation of knowedge about synthetic colorings in the company La España Industrial

• Autores: Assumpta Dangla, Mònica Dòria
• Localización: The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science. Barcelona, 18-20 November 2010 / coord. por Antoni M. Roca Rosell, 2012, ISBN 978-84-9965-108-8, págs. 1035-1040
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The present communication is a study about the circulation of textile chemistry knowledge in the moment of transition from the use of natural to synthetic colourings for textile printing. The company La España Industrial, the most important textile factory in Spain (1847-1980), progressively incorporated new synthetic colourings, which during the second half of the 19th century coexisted with natural colourings.

    The discovery in England in 1856 of new synthetic colourings revolutionized the production in factories and changed the forms of communication of knowledge on the subject of chemistry applied to printing.

    In the case of natural colourings, the transmission of knowledge was traditionally made under a great secrecy.

    With the discovery of new synthetic colourings, the forms of communication changed and new tools of communication on formulation and application of colourings were born.

    The Museu de l’Estampació de Premià de Mar, a museum specialized in textile printing, preserves an extended collection of formularies and a documental archive of the company La España Industrial. In this collection there are several witnesses of the incorporation of the new chemical knowledge.

    In our journey, various aspects of the period of natural and synthetic colourings are revealed on La España Industrial. In the first place, we present a collection of unedited formularies of the museum, witnesses of the progressive incorporation of synthetic colourings and of the coexistence with natural colourings. We also present the catalogues of colourings edited by chemical industries that were used in the factory.

    Other unedited documents are also discovered, like the correspondence that the company sustained with chemical companies, Spanish and foreign scientists. In our route, we will reveal the main actors of the change in the factory that implanted the new discoveries, and the tools that they used for the transmission of this knowledge.