Just What is Solv-X

[Bibliophage]

As best as I am aware, carbolic soaps are still in use, and you can buy them in the US on Amazon - the Blue Power soap brand is a carbolic soap. So it obviously hasn't been banned.

 

AFAIK, the reason you don't find it used much anymore is because if you wash a lot, it can be very irritating, and most soaps now are just as effective at cleaning, if not disinfecting. For disinfecting, people use alcohol.

[richardandtracy]

The US & EU have different regulations. Phenol is one example where the US permits its use, but the EU doesn't. California state regulations declare that Octane is a carcinogen, and needs to be declared as such at each pump in a filling station. The EU does not.

It's often easier for suppliers to have one recipe throughout the world, so make things meet the most stringent requirements worldwide. Having done that, they'll be acceptable in less restrictive areas too.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[requiem-for-a-pen]

I just want to ask only thing: Is it harmful for pen or not?

[Ron Z]

I just want to ask only thing: Is it harmful for pen or not?

Unless you are drinking the ink, no.

[welch]

What is Solv-X?

 

Our member Corniche tracked it down in November, 2010.

Greetings all,

I may have cracked the case. While the name Solv-X is not mentioned by name, there are allusions to it's purported qualities in an old patent application. I believe Solv-X was a combination of Phenol, (fungicide) and amyl-xanthale, a flow enhancer. The latter chemical is referred to in the followings ways; "flow promoter" and "the trend of flotation." I think Phenol was the "solvent," (Solv) and the amyl-xanthale provided the "X." Hence, Solv-X.

Parker Ink Patent

The Parker patent for Solv-X explains how and why the company used the ingredients.

Edited April 17, 2019 by welch

[txomsy]

That makes sense.

 

It is a pity that the guys in this study did only get elemental composition and could only conclude that the composition of black Quink was (Yacamán et al. 2006):

 

48% carbon in the elementary state
23% bituminous or resinous organic compounds with high carbon content
16% sodium sulfate
7% calcium sulfate
4% potassium sulfate
1% iron(II) sulfate
1% mineral species (not characterized) containing Ni, Cr, Cu, and Zn

 

 

I hope that that is not excessive quoting to infringe copyright.

 

The authors used X-rays to obtain the composition and from the basic information deduced the most likely composition (to the extent feasible as shown above) considering the ingredients commonly used in inks at the time. The article by the way explains the chemical reactions that take place on writing, the meaning of "permanent" in the ink's context and how different inks (like China ink) were made. They indicate that some ingredients must be of vegetal origin (maybe logwood or indigo) and that phenol alone is not enough to prevent bacteria and mold growth.

 

All in all, an interesting and entertaining read.

[BookCat]

Phenol is still in common use in the uk. It is in most household disinfectants and many antiseptics (Dettol, TCP etc). The way to tell whether the disinfectant you use contains it is to put a drop into a glass of water; if the water turns milky, the disinfectant is phenol based.

 

I never use disinfectant. Instead I use a drop of bleach in water, because phenol is deadly to many mammals.

 

As for Quink ink: I was told by a person working in a pen shop where I bought a fountain pen, never to use Quink. On asking why, he told me that solv-x destroys the rubber/ebonite components of the pen. This was in 1998, I haven't used Quink since.

[bunnspecial]

If I can ever get the GC-MS at work I've been tinkering with on and off at work for the past 6 months going, I'll gladly shoot some older Quink into it and see what I can come up with.

 

All I have on hand with Solv-X are what I'm guessing are late 80s or 90s era bottles. They are in the white box with a colored stripe/top to tell the color of the ink and the word Quink in block letters on the front of the box.

 

Phenol at least can easily be analyzed by GC-MSs(I've done it plenty in the past). Some of the other stuff it's questionable as to whether or not you could get it to volatilize(without decomposing) and get it into the GC, but I can certainly see what comes out.

 

Now I just need to figure out why I'm not getting RF in the quads and I'll be good to go.

[corniche]

On 4/17/2019 at 10:58 AM, welch said:

What is Solv-X?

 

Our member Corniche tracked it down in November, 2010.

 

Greetings all,

I may have cracked the case. While the name Solv-X is not mentioned by name, there are allusions to it's purported qualities in an old patent application. I believe Solv-X was a combination of Phenol, (fungicide) and amyl-xanthale, a flow enhancer. The latter chemical is referred to in the followings ways; "flow promoter" and "the trend of flotation." I think Phenol was the "solvent," (Solv) and the amyl-xanthale provided the "X." Hence, Solv-X.

Parker Ink Patent

 

 

The Parker patent for Solv-X explains how and why the company used the ingredients.

 

Thank you for remembering my efforts, Welch.

 

I must have been on my hiatus yet, when this aired.

 

- Sean 

[Mr.Rene]

On 2/12/2021 at 5:37 PM, BookCat said:

 

 

As for Quink ink: I was told by a person working in a pen shop where I bought a fountain pen, never to use Quink. On asking why, he told me that solv-x destroys the rubber/ebonite components of the pen. This was in 1998, I haven't used Quink since.

 

Amazing!! The pen shop worker said opposite that Parker marketing offer and I think the Seller was wrong,After all..Solv X additive was used by Parker over 50 YEARS !...See the ad from VIntascope

[BookCat]

On 2/14/2021 at 12:02 AM, Mr.Rene said:

 

Amazing!! The pen shop worker said opposite that Parker marketing offer and I think the Seller was wrong,After all..Solv X additive was used by Parker over 50 YEARS !...See the ad from VIntascope

 

I think the pen-shop person was talking from experience of dealing with pens which had used Quink ink. I have a cheap Platignum Varsity Pressmatic fountain pen which I bought when doing my A levels (I was 17, I'm 62 now) and used for essays and through university - though I typed my second and third year essays. After this, I used it to write in my journal and to write poetry. Consequently, it has a great nib which naturally tuned itself to my writing.

Unfortunately, the feed rotted. I always used Quink ink. So when the person in the pen shop told me not to use it, it rang bells. He didn't know about my old pen, I was just there with money a friend had sent for christmas to buy a nice fountain pen.

 

A couple of years ago I bought a very cheap Platignum pressmatic from ebay, used its feed and section and swapped nibs. This doesn't work quite the way it used to because the nib sticks out further, making it slightly flexible.

 

But this is an example of Quink destroying a pen.

 

Note: I never cleaned this pen, not realising that I was supposed to.

[Paganini]

Either way, Quink hasn't had solv-x in it for decades. The Quink that may or may not have dissolved pen feeds is not the Quink of today, and probably already wasn't by 1998. My bottle of Quink from the early 2000s certainly doesn't have solv-x. Best guess is that Quink stopped having solv-x in it after Gillette bought Parker and merged it with Waterman in the mid-`90s. Some people think that Black Quink and Waterman Intense Black are now the same ink, as was recently mentioned in this thread!

[txomsy]

In any case, I doubt the ink is the cause. I have used Quink since... well, forever, and I still have a bottle of Quink Black that may be dated from the 70s or 80s, which is my last one and I'm using without any issue. And yes, it says Quink Solv-X in the box. And no, I haven't ever noticed any problem.

 

YMMV and you may have a harmful bottle, but somehow it sounds strange to me. Not that I am any expert though, mind you, so I may be totally off.

[Mr.Rene]

7 hours ago, txomsy said:

In any case, I doubt the ink is the cause. I have used Quink since... well, forever, and I still have a bottle of Quink Black that may be dated from the 70s or 80s, which is my last one and I'm using without any issue. And yes, it says Quink Solv-X in the box. And no, I haven't ever noticed any problem.

 

YMMV and you may have a harmful bottle, but somehow it sounds strange to me. Not that I am any expert though, mind you, so I may be totally off.

I agree 👍..Solv X were more than 50 years in market deny any speculation...

[FarmBoy]

SolveX is a surfactant 

[corniche]

24 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

SolveX is a surfactant 

 

That's part of it, but not all.

 

- Sean  

[FarmBoy]

What more do you want it to be. 

[corniche]

10 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

What more do you want it to be. 

 

It's not what I want it to be, but rather, what it is - and that was spelled out in detail back in 2010 or 11. 

 

- Sean 

[FarmBoy]

Yes. It is a surfactant. 

[Mr.Rene]

23 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

Yes. It is a surfactant. 

That patent record explains the subject...and it was attached to discussion..

 

SolvXPatente.pdf