Salicylic acid for gum and carbon transfer

Pollmeier Klaus (100561.2417@CompuServe.COM)
02 Jun 96 13:28:19 EDT

Alan Kleinman mentioned salicylic acid as an additive to gum solutions to
prevent them from decomposing. Thanks for this valuable information, I was still
using formaldehyde... For some reason I don't remember right now gum solutions
shall not be heated which could happen if too much hot water is used to dissolve
the salicylic acid. So if hot water should cause problems, one may consider to
dissolve it in a little bit of alcohol or ordinary spirit, in which it dissolves
instantly.

Marton (Modern Carbon Printing, 1905) recommends salicylic acid to be added to
the dichromate sensitizer for carbon printing, to avoid reticulation. His
formula is:

water 1.0 liter
potassium dichromate 28.4 g
ammonium carbonate 1.5 g
salicylic acid 2.2 g

I tried it and found it o.k. if reticulation occurs occasionally, but don't
expect it will help in heavy cases.

Klaus Pollmeier