Apparatus for making variegated soap bars or cakes

An apparatus for making variegated soap bars or cakes. Said apparatus provides for co-plodding differently colored commingled sets of soap noodles having particular diameters.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the preparation of consistently variegated soap 
bars or cakes with well-defined variegation patterns. More particularly, 
this invention relates to an apparatus that commingles soap noodles of 
particular diameters in order to achieve variegated bars or cakes of 
uniform quality. 
Variegated soap bars or cakes containing colored patterns (e.g., 
marbleization, striation or mottling) have been manufactured for many 
years. Moreover, processes employing at least two differently colored sets 
of soap noodles (i.e., each set of noodles being of different color) to 
achieve such variegation are known. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,294 issued June 27, 1972 to R. G. Matthaei, and 
entitled "Method for Manufacture of Marbleized Soap Bars", discloses a 
process which employs a first and second preplodder to prepare differently 
colored soap noodles of from 3/16 inch to 3 inches in diameter which are 
then coplodded in a final plodder. 
Italian Industrial Pat. No. 584,141 granted October 23, 1958 to Mazzoni 
also discloses a two-color noodle process in which differently colored 
noodles of unspecified size are gravity fed into a final worm plodder. 
British Patent Specification No. 1,370,670, published Oct. 16, 1974 in the 
name of the Colgate-Palmolive Company and entitled "Method and Apparatus 
for the Manufacture of Variegated Soap Bars" discloses a two noodle 
variegating process utilizing noodles of exceedingly small diameters to 
produce a marbled bar. 
Other efforts in achieving a variegated soap bar with two noodle methods 
include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,225 issued Oct. 30, 1973 to 
R. G. Matthaei and entitled "Process for Producing Marbleized Soap" which 
uses dye to color portions of soap noodles or chips on a moving bed prior 
to plodding; U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,215 issued July 9, 1974 to A. D'Arcangeli 
and entitled "Process for Producing Variegated Detergent Bars" which 
discloses a variegating head compacting differently colored extruded soap 
noodles; and Austrian Pat. No. 95947 issued Feb. 11, 1924 to O. Bauer and 
entitled "Process and Apparatus for the Preparation of Marbled Soap" which 
briefly sketches a two noodle soap bar marbleizing process. 
While some of these methods may have provided bars on a commercial scale, 
there is a continuing need for variegated bar processing improvements. 
More particularly, there is a continuing need for processes and apparatus 
suitable for commercial production of bars which have little or no 
undesirable color smearing. There is further need for a process and 
apparatus which can be used to produce variegated soap bars which 
consistently possess a desired uniformly distinctive variegated pattern. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the instant invention to provide an 
apparatus for making variegated soap bars or cakes. 
It is a further object of the instant invention to provide apparatus for 
making variegated bars or cakes of substantially uniform appearance at 
commercially acceptable production rates. 
It is a further object of the instant invention to provide apparatus for 
consistently making variegated soap bars or cakes with little or no 
undesirable color smearing at commercially acceptable production rates. 
It has been surprisingly discovered that by utilizing an apparatus which 
provides noodle diameter control and by utilizing noodle commingling prior 
to final plodding, a two color noodle process can be realized which 
achieves the above-described objectives and which produces variegated soap 
bars in a manner not suggested by the prior art. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention herein involves, in its preferred embodiment, the elements of 
(a) a first means for extruding a soap mass of one color to form a stream 
of small diameter soap noodles, (b) a second means for extruding a 
differently colored soap mass to form a stream of larger diameter soap 
noodles, (c) a vacuum chamber communicating with the first and second 
extruding means, (d) means for directing together the streams of small and 
large diameter noodles to achieve commingling of these noodle streams 
within the vacuum chamber, (e) a means further communicating with the 
vacuum chamber for final plodding of the commingled noodles into a 
variegated soap log, and (f) a means for forming the log into variegated 
bars or cakes. The first extruding means produces noodles having diameters 
of about 1/8 inch or less. The second extruding means produces larger soap 
noodles having diameters at least about twice the size of those of the 
small diameter noodles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 illustrates preplodders 1 and 2, and final plodder 3 in combination 
with vacuum chamber 21 having chutes or baffles 16, 18 and 20 inside. A 
first color soap mass in the form of pellets, billets, flakes, chips, 
filaments, chunks, shavings or other suitable preplodding form passes from 
rate control adjuster 4 where it is preplodded in preplodder 1. Preplodder 
1 compacts this soap mass of a single color and extrudes it through a 
foraminous plate 5. Plate 5 has a set of holes or perforations 6 through 
which the soap mass is forced. The extruded soap can then be cut by 
rotating knife edge 7 into noodles, represented by 8, which form a noodle 
stream. The noodle stream formed falls into chute 18, which can be 
adjustably mounted in the vacuum chamber. 
Foraminous plate 5 is normally about one to three inches thick and usually 
has a diameter of from about 6 to about 16 inches, preferably 10 to 16 
inches. The holes or perforations 6 in the foraminous plate can be 
optionally back drilled to provide a wetted length, i.e., the final length 
of the hole through which the noodle passes as it exits out of the plate, 
of from about 1/16 inch to about 1 inch. This back drilling reduces the 
pressure necessary to extrude the soap mass out of the foraminous plate, 
thereby reducing the load on the preplodder motor. Plate 5 can be drilled 
or cut such that holes 6 therein have diameters of from about 1/32 inch or 
less to about 1/8 inch, preferably from about 1/16 inch to about 1/8 inch. 
Simultaneous to the noodle stream formation by preplodder 1 a colored soap 
mass of a different color from that processed in preplodder 1, passes from 
rate control adjuster 14 and is introduced into and plodded in preplodder 
2. Preplodder 2 compacts this differently colored soap mass and extrudes 
it through foraminous plate 9, which can be of similar dimensions to plate 
5 with the exception of hole diameter size. Plate 9 has a set of holes or 
perforations 10, which for any given run are different in size from holes 
6 in foraminous plate 5. Holes 10 in plate 9 can vary in diameter but 
plate 9 must contain holes which are at least about twice the diameter of 
holes 6. Preferably the holes 10 in plate 9 vary in diameter between 1/4 
inch to about 1 inch. 
The soap mass extruded through the set of holes 10 in plate 9 is cut by a 
rotating knife edge 11 into noodles 12 of desired lengths to form a second 
noodle stream. As in the drawing, the noodle stream so formed can fall 
into chute 13 and enter the vacuum chamber 21 and chute 16. Alternatively, 
however, chute 13 can be eliminated by adjusting the relative elevation of 
preplodders 1 and 2 such that both noodle streams fall directly into the 
vacuum chamber. 
Foraminous plates 5 and 9 are normally drilled or cut so as to contain from 
about 10 to about 1600 holes or perforations, depending upon, for 
instance, hole diameters and plate diameters. Such holes or perforations 
normally provide about 5% to about 50% open area in the plates. Although 
circular holes are preferred, other shaped holes can be employed, e.g., 
rectangular, oblong or star shaped holes. In the case of non-circular 
holes, diameter refers to the largest cross-sectional dimension. Normally, 
the holes in each individual plate are of about the same diameter. 
Noodle streams formed by noodles 8 and 12, and which have been extruded 
from plates 5 and 9 respectively, cascade simultaneously into vacuum 
chamber 21. These streams of noodles are directed together to achieve 
commingling of the differently colored noodles. This commingling can be 
accomplished by particular positioning of the preplodders and the vacuum 
chamber or, preferably, as shown in FIG. 1, by means of chutes mounted in 
the vacuum chamber. However accomplished, it is essential to the obtention 
of controllably variegated bars or cakes that the noodle streams be 
directed together within the vacuum chamber to achieve commingling of the 
differently colored noodles before the noodles reach the bottom region 23 
of the vacuum chamber 21. 
Chutes 16 and 18 are preferably employed to direct together the streams of 
noodles leaving preplodders 1 and 2. These chutes thus achieve commingling 
of the differently colored noodles by means of intersection of the noodle 
streams within the vacuum chamber. Chutes 16 and 18 can be adjustably 
mounted to vacuum chamber 21 at hinges 15 and 17 respectively, thereby 
permitting adjustment for particular noodle flow rates and, moreover, for 
desired variegation of the final bars or cakes. 
Particularly advantageous commingling of the noodles of different color can 
be achieved if chute 16 and 18 form the separate streams of noodles into a 
substantially confluent noodle stream within vacuum chamber 21. 
Utilization of a confluent noodle stream to achieve noodle commingling has 
been found to permit realization of a high degree of variegation control 
and consistency of the final bars or cakes. 
Within the vacuum chamber, a chute 20 can be used to channel the commingled 
noodles into a commingled or mixed noodle bed at the bottom region 23 of 
the vacuum chamber. Chute 20 can be adjustably mounted at hinge 19 to 
chute 18 to channel the commingled noodle stream in any desired direction. 
It has been found that direction by chute 20 of a commingled noodle stream 
to the back side 22 of vacuum chamber 21 promotes the desired "mass flow" 
of commingled noodles through the vacuum chamber with little undesirable 
segregation of the differently colored noodles. 
The commingled noodles pass from the bottom region 23 of the vacuum chamber 
into final plodder 3. In continuous operation, choke feeding of the 
commingled noodles into final plodder 3 is preferred. Allowing the 
commingled noodles to accumulate at the bottom region 23 (between walls 22 
and 24) of vacuum chamber 21 provides the aforementioned choke feeding of 
noodles into the final plodder 3. Noodle bed formation, e.g. choke 
feeding, lessens noodle segregation as compared to starve feeding of 
noodles into the final plodder. Preferably then, the noodles form a 
substantially level noodle bed at least about 1 inch deep in the bottom 
region 23 of the vacuum chamber. 
The commingled soap noodles from the bed are introduced into, then 
compacted along final plodder 3 containing a worm inside plodder housing 
29. The worm comprises a rotatable shaft 28, having representative flights 
26 and 27. A portion of the worm shaft 25 is shown as straight in FIG. 1 
but alternatively this portion can be tapered as is shown in FIG. 3, 
discussed hereinafter. Worm flights within the vacuum chamber can have a 
pitch at any angle but are preferably vertical in pitch as in FIG. 1. 
Worm shaft 28 can be free within plodder housing 29 or can ride on a 
conventional "spider" support to reduce the wear which can occur if the 
free riding worm flights rub against housing 29. Preferably, however, 
shaft 28 is free within housing 29 inasmuch as the "spider" support 
effects certain soap flow characteristics which can cause uneven 
variegation within the soap mass as it passes through the plodder nose 
cone. 
With either the straight worm as in FIG. 1 or the tapered worm as in FIG. 
3, the finl plodder 3 is used to compact the commingled noodles into a 
variegated soap mass 30 within the final plodder nose cone 31. The 
variegated soap mass is extruded through final plodder nozzle 32 to form a 
variegated soap log 33 which is cut into variegated soap billets. 
Billets cut from the soap log can be stamped into variegated bars or cakes 
in conventional fashion. Excess variegated soap from the stamping 
operation, i.e., shear die scraps, can be recycled to form colored 
noodles. 
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a colored noodle recycle procedure employed in 
a preferred operation of the present invention. Block A is a preplodder 
used to preplod shear die scraps from bar stamping operations. From the 
preplodder A, the plodded scraps are monitored along a suitable feed 
control device B to insure proper feed amounts passing into colorant 
adding and mixing device C. This colorant adding and mixing device can be 
generally an open mixer wherein colorant is mixed into the preplodded 
shear die scraps to provide a homogeneously colored soap mass. This mixing 
device C can also comprise another preplodder for optimum soap compaction. 
A variety of soap additives or adjuvants along with colorant can be added 
at this stage in minor amounts to provide aesthetic or functional 
attributes other than color to the noodles. The colorant added is normally 
a dye/water mixture with a dye concentration varying from about 0.1% to 
10% by weight. 
From the mixer C, the soap mass passes to a feed control device D which 
receives the colored soap mass and insures that desired amounts of colored 
soap are passed to preplodder E. 
From preplodder E, the soap mass is monitored by suitable feed control F 
which can correspond either to rate adjuster 4 or 14 of FIG. 1 or to a 
rate adjuster for an optional alternative third color noodle preplodder. 
This recycle procedure insures that the colored soap particles exiting 
from feed control device F are substantially compact. If the colored 
noodles are not compact enough to withstand the additional work applied to 
them during passage through the vacuum chamber, they can become 
particleized. Particleization results in a less controllable process and, 
ultimately variegated bars or cakes which have color smearing and/or 
inconsistent patterns. 
FIG. 3 is illustrative of an alternative embodiment for the final plodder 
3. This alternative embodiment facilitates the passage of noodles from the 
vacuum chamber 21 to and through the final plodder 3. As seen in FIG. 3, 
the alternative final plodder 3 has a tapered worm shaft 34 with a 
representative set of flights 26 and a second set of flights 27. Due to 
the worm shaft taper, the volume between the flights 26, beginning at the 
back wall 22 of the vacuum chamber and extending to the front wall 24 of 
the vacuum chamber, is less than the volume between flights 27 farther 
along the worm toward the end of the plodder housing 29. Thus, as can be 
seen, the volume of noodles permitted to enter between flight set 26 is 
less than the volume of noodles compacted in the volume between flight set 
27. 
Tapering can be achieved by forming sheet metal around the portion 25 (FIG. 
1) of the worm shaft extending between vacuum chamber walls 22 and 24 to 
form tapered shaft 34. The degree at which the worm shaft can be 
advantageously tapered comprises a conical angle varying from about 
10.degree. to about 30.degree.. 
Especially at high rotation rates of the worm in final plodder 3, tapering 
provides at least two benefits. First, tapering has been found to reduce 
reverse soap flow caused by the squeezing of soap between the top of the 
worm flights and inside wall 40 of the final plodder housing 29. This 
reverse flow, moving in the direction opposite to the general flow of the 
soap through plodder 33, can cause undesirable smearing of variegation in 
the extruded soap log. 
Secondly, and more importantly, tapering permits introduction of the 
commingled noodles into plodder 3 in such a way as to provide substantial 
"mass flow" of noodles through the vacuum chamber. It is particularly 
desirable that all noodles have about the same residence time in the 
vacuum chamber. Otherwise, excess work can be applied to some of the 
noodles causing breakage and disintegration. Such breakage and 
disintegration of individual noodles can substantially reduce the 
variegation consistency of the final bars. Breakage and disintegration can 
occur primarily at the point where the worm shaft 34 is nearest the 
intersection of vacuum chamber wall 24 and plodder housing 29. 
Optimum mass flow with the tapered worm shaft embodiment can be achieved by 
using chute 20 (FIG. 1) to funnel substantially all the noodles toward the 
back side 22 of the vacuum chamber. In this way, the depth of the mixed 
bed (from which noodles are being choke fed into the final plodder) is 
highest near vacuum chamber back wall 22 and is lowest near vacuum chamber 
front wall 24. Consequently, any troublesome flow back or regurgitation of 
noodles from plodder 3 near vacuum chamber front wall 24 is minimized. 
This is so since any noodles near front wall 24 can be readily taken into 
plodder 3 because of the large volume between flights available for noodle 
ingestion and further because only relatively small amounts of noodles are 
available at that point. 
SOAP MASS COMPOSITION 
Variegated soap bars or cakes are, of course, fashioned from a base soap 
mass. For purposes of this invention, the term "soap mass" refers to any 
conventional combination of detersive surfactant materials, including true 
soap and other soap bar or cake adjuvants, that can be plodded into a 
final soap bar or cake. Such soap mass be made from a variety of 
well-known detersive surfactant compounds including anionic, nonionic, 
cationic, amphoteric and ampholytic surfactants and compatible 
combinations thereof. Typical of such surfactants are the organic 
detergents listed at columns 8, 9 and 10, lines 27-75 and 1-75 and 1-52, 
respectively, of U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,151 issued Jan. 30, 1973 to W. I. 
Lyness and herein incorporated by reference. Particular soap mass 
compositions capable of being plodded are well-known in the art. 
Preferred soap mass compositions are prepared from water-soluble soaps 
including sodium, potassium, ammonium and alkanol-ammonium (e.g., mono-, 
di-, triethanolammonium) salts of higher fatty acids (e.g. C.sub.10 
-C.sub.24) as a major component. Particularly useful are the fatty acids 
derived from coconut oil and tallow, i.e., sodium and potassium tallow, 
and coconut soaps. 
The soap mass can be prepared through conventional milling and optional 
plodding steps well known in the art. The soap mass begins typically as a 
kettle soap which is dried and then mixed with desired adjuvants as 
perfume, fillers, emollients, water, salt, etc., and is thereafter milled 
into chips, ribbons, pellets, noodles or other suitable preplodding mass 
form. Preferred major soap mass constituents herein are tallow and coconut 
soaps at weight ratios of tallow to coconut soap ranging from 95:5 to 
5:95. Particularly preferred soap masses are those which comprise from 
about 40% to 90% by weight tallow soap and/or those which comprise from 
about 10% to 60% coconut soaps. 
The soap mass components further can contain the usual additives or 
adjuvants. Such additives include free fatty acid, perfumes, 
bacteriostats, sanitizers, whiteners, abrasives, emollients, etc., along 
with usual moisture content of from about 8% to 14% water, and salt 
content of from about 0.1% to about 2% sodium chloride and the like. 
NOODLE SIZE CONTROL 
Variegation control to realize soap bars or cakes of varying appearance can 
be achieved according to the invention herein by adjustment of various 
factors including processing speeds, contrast of noodle colors, and, in 
particular, noodle size selection. For example, higher processing rates 
generally produce bars of more striated appearance whereas, at equal 
processing rates, colored noodles of increasing diameters produce a bar 
having more of a "marbleized" character. However, the greatest degree of 
control of the appearance of the bars or cakes produced herein is obtained 
by utilizing soap noodles of particular sizes. 
More particularly, to form bars in accordance with the instant invention, a 
soap mass of one color must be extruded to form a stream of small diameter 
noodles which have noodle diameters of about 1/8 inch or less. These small 
diameter noodles can have diameters as low as 1/32 inch or less but at 
noodle diameters below about 1/16 inch conventional plodding equipment 
cannot be as effectively employed as with noodle diameters of about 1/8 
inch. 
The relatively small diameter noodles of about 1/8 inch or less are mixed 
with and distributed among the larger diameter noodles of a different 
color with a surprisingly high degree of efficiency. In particular, small 
diameter noodles of about 1/8 inch or less in diameter, appearing as 
spaghetti-like strands within the vacuum chamber, serve to "capture" 
larger noodles of different color and diameter and prevent segregation of 
the two colors of noodles before final plodding. Such capturing to prevent 
segregation of noodles is a particularly important factor in controlling 
variegation and in realizing bars or cakes of uniform appearance. 
Besides the advantageous "capturing" effect, a further advantage of 
employment of small diameter noodles is the ability to make these noodles 
substantially less friable than comparably extruded larger diameter 
noodles. That is, the relatively small diameter holes, through which these 
small diameter noodles extrude, provide advantageous compaction of noodle 
material. Consequently, the ability of the smaller diameter noodles to 
capture the larger diameter noodles, particularly when the smaller 
diameter noodles are predominant by weight, is enhanced in that the 
noodles have a greater tendency to bend and surround the larger diameter 
noodles rather than breaking or cracking due to their relatively long 
length and small diameters. 
In order to most effectively achieve larger noodle "capture" a substantial 
commingling of the streams of noodles of different diameters and colors 
must occur. Thus, especially if chutes or baffles are employed, the 
noodles are mixed to become a conglomerate-like mass which substantially 
reduces the freedom of movement of individual noodles as they cascade 
through the vacuum chamber. Such restricted movement of individual noodles 
serves not only to reduce noodle segregation during passage through the 
vacuum chamber, but, furthermore, can serve to minimize the tendency of 
the noodles to crack and disintegrate in the vacuum chamber. 
To prevent undesirable color smearing, the larger diameter noodles should 
be at least about twice the diameter size of the smaller noodles. That is, 
noodles of especially dark contrasting colors, or which contain relatively 
high amounts of colorant should be at least about twice and can be up to 
16 times, the diameter of the small diameter noodles. Preferably, these 
differently colored larger noodles have diameters of from about 4 to about 
8 times the diameter of the smaller diameter noodles. Preferred diameters 
of the larger diameter noodles generally vary from about 1/4 inch to about 
1 inch. 
Bars of especially desirable appearance can be made when the color of the 
small diameter noodles is the predominant color in the final bar or cake. 
This is, of course, achieved by introducing more of the small noodles (on 
a weight basis) into the vacuum chamber. Thus, preferably, small diameter 
noodles are introduced into the vacuum chamber at a weight rate of about 2 
to about 6 times, preferably about 3 to 5 times, the weight rate of the 
larger diameter noodles. More preferably, these small diameter noodles, 
which are used in larger amounts by weight, are white with the larger 
diameter noodles being of contrasting color. 
The length of the small diameter noodles can be an important factor in 
achieving the capture of the larger diameter noodles within the vacuum 
chamber. Particularly efficient capturing is obtained when the small 
diameter noodle lengths range from about 2 inches to about 5 inches, 
preferably from about 3 to 5 inches. Even longer lengths of noodles can be 
employed with some types of soap mass compositions but with other types of 
soap mass compositions noodles have a tendency to break within the vacuum 
chamber, thereby decreasing the consistency of variegation of the final 
bars. 
The larger diameter noodles can also be of varying lengths, but especially 
desirable bars have been made with large diameter noodle lengths of about 
1/4 inch to about 5 inches. Such a range of larger diameter noodle lengths 
permits selection of a variety of variegation types including highly 
striated bars or bars of a more mottled or marbleized appearance. 
It is preferred that all of the small diameter noodles should be of 
substantially equal lengths and all of the larger diameter noodles should 
be of substantially equal lengths, but all of the noodles, e.g. small and 
larger diameter noodles, need not have the same lengths. 
PROCESS CONDITIONS 
Process conditions employed with the apparatus of the instant invention are 
generally within conventional limits. 
PREPLODDING 
The soap masses entering the preplodder normally have and are maintained at 
temperatures of from about 75.degree. F to about 105.degree. F. In 
extruding the small diameter noodles, however, it is preferred that the 
preplodder have suitable coolant to keep the preplodder barrel temperature 
between about 85.degree. F to about 105.degree. F to maintain plodding 
efficiency and noodle temperature control. Both the small and larger 
noodles entering the vacuum chamber after extrusion generally have 
temperatures of about 85.degree. F to about 105.degree. F, preferably 
90.degree. F to 100.degree. F. Noodle sets are generally kept within a 
temperature differential or about 10.degree. F. from each other to prevent 
undesirable or improper fusing of the noodles during final plodding. 
VACUUM CHAMBER 
The vacuum chamber pressure is normally kept at from about 25 to 29 inches 
of mercury with about 27 inches of mercury being preferred. Any 
conventional evacuating device can be employed to remove air from the 
chamber. Without air removal, improper fusing of the soap noodles can 
result. 
FINAL PLODDING AND EXTRUDING 
The moisture content differential between individual or sets of noodles 
should be maintained within about 3% by weight, and preferably less. This 
prevents improper fusing and smearing of the noodles in the final plodder. 
If colored noodles are made by the recycle method, it is important that 
the recycled noodles have moisture contents of about 8% to 14% by weight, 
more preferably about 8% to about 12%. 
The soap log extruded from the final plodder is preferably kept between 
85.degree. F and 105.degree. F by means of a cooling jacket surrounding 
the final plodder housing. If the compacted noodle mass temperature at 
this stage is allowed to rise above about 110.degree. F, then undesirable 
smearing of the variegated pattern can occur. In usual operation, the soap 
log extrudes from the nozzle at pressures of about 100 to about 350 
lbs./sq. in., preferably at 150-250 psi. At higher pressures, smearing of 
colors can occur. 
By employing the above-described processing conditions, aesthetically 
pleasing bars can be achieved with controllable consistency. Moreover, 
such process conditions permit preparation of finally extruded soap logs 
which need not undergo optional "skimming" of their outer edges. Such 
skimming, while normally coincident with other methods of preparation of 
variegated bars, can advantageously be omitted from the process herein. 
DIAGONAL STAMPING/CURVED VARIEGATION 
The instant invention preferably involves a stamping procedure to obtain 
bars or cakes with aesthetically pleasing curvature and/or diagonal 
orientation of the variegated pattern on and within the soap bars or 
cakes. Curvature of variegated patterns can be accomplished by using a 
stamping procedure involving a die box cavity which is larger than the 
soap billet being compressed therein. When the die box cavity is larger in 
height or length than the soap billet being processed, stamping 
compression squeezes soap into the cavity voids, thereby causing curvature 
of the variegated pattern. 
Diagonal stamping of the variegated billets, i.e., stamping to provide bars 
with colored indicia having a general direction diagonally disposed to the 
long axis of the bar or cake, has been found to provide variegated bars or 
cakes of expecially pleasing appearance. Moreover, diagonal stamping is 
generally utilized concurrently with the foregoing large die box cavity 
procedure to provide bars or cakes with both curved and diagonal patterns. 
A diagonal stamping/curved variegation method useful herein comprises 
aligning a cylindrical variegated soap billet with the die box cavity such 
that the long axis of the billet, i.e., the axis parallel or coincident 
with the long axis of the extruded soap log, is not coincidient with the 
long axis of a rectangular die box cavity. The thus rotated or skewed 
billet can be positioned at any angle but is preferably aligned so that 
the billet axis is not greater than 45.degree. askew from the long axis of 
the die box cavity. Further, the diameter (height) of the portion of the 
billet to the compressed is preferably less than the short axis of the die 
box cavity by a factor of about 5% to about 25% so as to effect curvature 
of the variegation pattern as described above. The length of the billet 
usually exceeds that of the die box cavity. 
The billet so positioned is then stamped into the die box cavity such that 
the compression of the stamping forces a portion of the soap billet to 
conform to the die box cavity. The parts of the billet flowing the 
greatest distance during compression into the die box will normally 
contain the variegated pattern of greatest curvature. 
A series of such die box cavities can be mounted to a rotatable cylinder in 
a fashion such that each die box cavity sequentially receives a billet on 
its diagonal, becomes a mold for compression a portion of the billet into 
a bar or cake, annd then releases the bar on to a conveyor, each stage 
occurring during rotation of the mounting cylinder. 
Further detail and alternative ways of obtaining bars with curved 
variegated pattern can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,566, Murray, issued 
Aug. 12, 1975 herein incorporated by reference. 
The following examples described with reference to the drawings illustrate 
the practice of the instant invention but are not considered limiting 
thereof. 
EXAMPLE 1 
Blue Variegated Soap Bars 
A soap mass in the form of white chunks having the following composition by 
weight is fed into preplodder 1. 
______________________________________ 
SOAP MASS COMPOSITION 
______________________________________ 
Tallow and Coconut Sodium Soaps at 
50% each by weight 78.5 % 
Coconut Fatty Acid 7.0 % 
Water 11.0 % 
NaCl 1.1 % 
Sanitizer .5 % 
Perfume 1.6 % 
Misc. and TiO.sub.2 Whitener Balance to 
100.00% 
______________________________________ 
A blue colored soap mass from a previous run is fed into preplodder 2. The 
blue soap mass has a composition similar to that of the white soap mass 
described above with a slightly higher moisture content of about 11.5%. 
Both the white and blue soap masses have a temperature of about 90.degree. 
F as they are fed into preplodders 1 and 2. 
Preplodder 1 has a 10 inch in diameter foraminous plate 5 containing 1566 
holes of about 1/8 inch in diameter through which the white soap mass 
extrudes to form noodles. Preplodder 1 is provided with a cooling jacket 
to maintain efficiency of the plodder and to keep the temperature of the 
extruding noodles at about 95.degree. F. 
Preplodder 2 has a 10 inch diameter forminous plate 9 containing 400, 23, 
36 and 60 holes for Runs A, B, C and D, respectively. Preplodder 2 is also 
jacketed for temperature control with noodles extruding therefrom having a 
temperaure of about 90.degree. F. 
Noodle diameters, noodle lengths and noodle amounts for each of the blue 
and white soap masses are shown in Table I below. 
The white and blue colored noodles extruded from preplodders 1 and 2 
cascade into the vacuum chamer 21 and are commingled into a single noodle 
stream by chutes 16 and 18 respectively. The mixed noodle stream passes 
along chute 20 by which it is directed to the bottom region 23 of the 
vacuum chamber and into a noodle bed. From this bed, noodles are choke fed 
into final plodder 3. The vacuum chamber pressure is maintained at about 
27 in./Hg. 
A straight worm shaft in the final plodder is employed and the depth of the 
noodle bed above final plodder worm flights 26 varies from about 1 inch to 
about 6 inches. The mixed noodles from the bed are plodded through plodder 
3 and extruded as a variegated soap log 33. The soap log extrudes out of 
nozzle 32 at about 200-250 psi. 
Process parameters for Runs A-D employing the above-described procedure are 
provided in Table I. 
TABLE I 
______________________________________ 
White Noodle 
Blue Noodle 
Final Bar 
(Diameter/ (Diameter/ Rate Weight Ratio 
Run Length) Length) (lb./min.) 
(White/Blue) 
______________________________________ 
A 1/8"/5" 1/4"/1/4" 30 3:1 
B 1/8"/2" 3/4"/5" 50 4:1 
C 1/8"/3" 1"/2" 70 4.5:1 
D 1/8"/3" 1/2"/1" 65 3.5:1 
______________________________________ 
All such runs provide soap logs of highly consistent appearance with 
well-defined variegation phases. 
The logs are cut into cylindrical billets which are stamped into final 
bars. Rectangular die box cavities of length 3.7 inches and height 2.4 
inches are employed to receive the billets. The billets are aligned with 
the die box cavities so that the cavities are at a diagonal to the 
longitudinal axis of the billet. The billet is slightly longer than the 
die box cavity and the diameter of the billet is slightly less (10%) than 
the short axis of the cavity. Stamping of the billets provides soap bars 
with aesthetically pleasing variegation patterns disposed diagonally to 
the longitudinal axis of the final soap bar. 
EXAMPLE II 
Using the method and soap compositions of Example I, bars are prepared 
using blue noodles with diameters of about 1/8 inch and white noodles with 
about 1/2 inch diameters. The blue and white noodles are each about 3 
inches long. The white noodles are introduced into the vacuum chamber in 
an amount equal to 3.5 times the weight of the blue noodles. The 
commingled noodles are choke fed into final plodder 3 with a sloping 
noodle bed feeding plodder 3. Plodder 3 contains a tapered worn shaft 34 
formed by placing a sheet metal cone around the portion 25 of the final 
plodder worm shaft extending between vacuum chamber walls 22 and 24. 
A soap log is extruded having a slight amount of color smearing as compared 
to the logs in Example I. Variegated bars are stamped from portions of 
billets cut from the log. Bars are produced at a rate of about 65 lb./min. 
Having described the instant invention to those of ordinary skill in the 
art, it can be seen that a wide variety of advantageously variegated soap 
bars can be made according to the above disclosure.