The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-25

into an iron trench Win their open
ends down. A hot blast of steam is
forced up into them and the tallow
melts out and drops down through
holes in the bottom of the trench to
the big soap watts below. Not far
away men are chopping open barrels of
resin-which have come all the way
from South Carolina. 1t is the best
grade made-clear and amber like
and as soon as it is free from the wood
it is ready to follow the tallow into
the soap watts below. Resin is what
gives laundry soap its rich, yellow
color and most of its odor. 1t is not
used in toilet soaps.
The next department is the leach
house, from which exhales pungent
alkaline odor. 1t is a great white
washed room full of steaming watts of
iron fifteen feet in diameter and twenty
feet deep. Each of them is partly filled
with dissolving caustic soda or lye,
and men are employed in stirring it.
The tops Of the watts are near the floor
and the visitor shrinks as far away
from them as possible, especially when
he hears the story told in the most
casual and matter of-fact fashion of
the workman who slipped on the floor
one day and plunged into vat head
first. They dipped him out half an
hour later. The caustic soda comes
from England in iron drums, weighing
600 pounds each, and the cost is about
81. 40 hundred weight. From the
bottom Of the I've watts pipe runs to
the great soap kettles ON the floor be.
low.
The atmosphere of the soap-rooms
has the odor Of farmers kitchen on
wash day. Rows of great watts are on
each side of the building, and the cell
ing above is full of spout holes and
hangs thick with stalactites of tallow
and resin. Superintendent hitting
calls the watts Kettles" but except for
the fact that they are of solid iron they
bear about as much resemblance to the
ordinary kettle as pill bottle does to
carboy. They are twenty-six feet in
diameter and run down two or three
stories to the basement, and some of
them hold $50, 1000 pounds of soap. In
the bottom there is a great spiral coil
of steam pipesswhich serves to boil the
soap. The I've, the tallow and the
resin are supplied in exact proportions
and thoroughly cooked" together
Part of the I've fastens to the glycerine
in the tallow and the remainder com.
Dimes with the fatty acids to make SOAP
Then the workmen let in some strong
brine-exactly the right amount-and
1T sends the soap out of solution and
floats it to the surface of the kettle.
Then the soap is Gifted" by adding
fresh water. This is very delicate
operation, and only an expert work.
man can be trusted to do it. Just
enough water must be put in to allow
the impurities to settle. If too much
is used the soap becomes gelatinous
and holds all the dirt and pieces of
gristle tighter than ever and the whole
kettleful is practically ruined.
After standing several days the soap
is let out through pipe, which carries
it down stairs to the "crutcher. In
the bottom of the kettle there yet re-
mains large quantity of refuse, gly.
cerine, I've and salt. which is carried
off in another direction.
At the top of the crutching machine
the soap passes through sieve, where
the impurities are strained out. Then
1t passes downward into a cylinder set
flush with the floor, and an anger like
screw beats or churns it until it looks
like thick pudding. Here a solution
OF carbonate of soda is added, and the
soap grows much lighter in color.
This chemical also imparts to the soap
the quality of being able to soften hard
water. Consequently the soap that goes
to the northwestern country is treated
to greater proportion of carbonate of
soda than that which goes to localities
where the water is soft. Few people
know that the soap manufacturers take
SO much pains to fit their product to
the market where it is to be sold.
The crutching machine holds 1890
pounds OF soap, and when it has been
thoroughly churned man in the base.
ment below pulls out plug and lets
the mass stream down into an iron box,
the sides of which are fastened on
with clamps SO as to be easily remov.
able. The man who manages this work
wears goggles and tight cap, for
there is no telling at what minute he
may be almost drowned by a great
mass of the soft. warm soap.
When the iron box is filled it is
turndled along, with the soap inside
quivering like saucer Of jelly, to the
hardening-room. Here it is smoothed
down on top, and in day the sides of
the box can be removed, and the soap
will stand alone in a cake Az feet
long, 3A feet high and Is inches wide.
In this form it is placed on travelling
platform, which carries it between two
upright posts, across which are strung
sharp steel wires as far apart as the
width of an ordinary bar of soap. The
wires cut the big cake into slabs, and
these in turn are trimmed and cut into
bars by other wires. Then two men
load the bars, which weigh twelve
ounces each, on frames, and they are
carried into big room, where enorm-
Gus fans drive air through them until
they are dry and hard.
Now the soap is ready for packing.