Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-01
SOAPMAKING SECRETS
HOW FATS, RosIN, SODA OR LYE
ARE MIXED.
Greasy Mass Boiled for Days in Mon
ster Tanks-Adding Perfume
and Color.

From the Star of Hope,
How many people. as they handle daily
the finished article, know the process
through which it has gone before it reaches
them and the ingredients that compose
soap, this very necessary article of our
daily life? The common yellow brand or,
as it is termed in the trade, family soap
depends for it's success in the market on
it's color that is, the lighter and clearer
the shade of yellow the finished article has.
the more ready it's sale. To attain this
color the makers each have a method of
their own of boiling. and. If that fails, OF
bleaching to bring out this color scheme.
Toilet soap goes through much different
process IN its manufacture. and to show
the different process each grade goes
through 1 will give the evolution of each
from the raw material to the finished pro-
duct.
In and about Greater New York are sew
eral of the largest soap works in the world,
rev OF them catering to both the family
and toilet trade. In the making of family
soap these factories use immense kettles
or tanks. open at one end and holding from
seYenty-five thousand to a hundred and
nifty thousand pounds of the liquid soap.
Into these kettles is first dumped the grease
or stock, as it is called; steam is then
turned on the mass through a system of
coils of two-inch pipe in the bottom of the
Kettles. Some of these coils are called
open coils on account of their surface
being punctured to allow the live steam to
percolate through the soap to, facilitate
rapid boiling. AS soon as the stock has
reached the boiling point the caustic soda
or I've is then added, the mass being al
lowed to boil thoroughly for five or six
hours after which the rosin is added; the
proportion of the stock in the kettle now
nelng 90 per cent grease, 80 per cent rosin
ana 70 per cent soda or lye
Hard Boiling.
Now comes the real boiling, which goes
on without interruption for three or four
DAYS, by which time the mass has thor
oughly saponlfied; salt is now added. steam
shut Off and the mass allowed to settle for
ABOUT three days, after which it is pumped
into a sort of mixing machine resembling
a large drum, with shaft running through
, us center r., on which are rapidly revolving
blades. This is called the ''crutcher" The
sediment that remains in the bottom of the
Kettle after the soap has been drawn off
was until few years ago run off into a
sewer as waste, but now it is run into
tanks and used in the manufacture of gly-
cerlne. 1t is at the "crutcher" the real
doctoring of the soap takes place If the
roSln the Soapmaker has been using was of
an inferior dark grade or his stock was
extra rancid, he gets to work on this
churnlng mass in the tcrutcher' and pro-
duceS a bleach that many an old maid
would give fortune to know the secret
Of 1t is here the perfume is added, and. if
the market price is low, he can and does
swell and weigh his stuff while at this
'crutcher' by simply adding silicate of
soda, soda ash, slick or whatever pet prep
aration he may have.
After being "doctored' and stiffened by
the "crutcher' the soap is run off into ad-
Unstable iron or wooden frames and al
lowed to cool and harden preparatory to
being taken to the cutting tables where
rim orb cot fn
cut the different sizes of bars cakes the
trade may demand From these tables the
bars and cakes are placed in drying rooms,
where they are subjected to a high temper
allure. which puts q gloss on the finished
article and enables the pressman, to whom
it goes after leaving the drying room, to
stamp clearly the various designs and
trade marks upon its now even, smooth
surface. 1t is then wrapped in cleverly
worded circulars and gay wrappers and
dumped upon the gullible public. The tot
let brand of goods goes through a much
different process Of manufacture. 1t is not
boiled.
The tallow and. in high-grade goods, the
oil used as stock are heated suffi-
ciently to mix well with soda or I've and
then poured into frames, where 1t Is
"crutched by hand, wooden dasher, the
same as those used In the making of butter
milk. being used in this operation. After
being ''crutched'' it is allowed to cool and
harden. and when it has grown firm enough
away and then 1t resembles block of dirty
marble. This block is then taken to a chip
ping machine, by which it is Clipped. the
same as a mill planer would chip board.
These chips are placed on trays and left in
the drying rooms until they are thoroughly
dry and crisp.
Coloring the Soap.
A small box trunk, carrying about $50
pounds of the now dry, crisp chips, conveys
these to a mill where are running three
heavy granite rollers. The coloring liquid
and perfume are now added to the chips,
and the whole is passed backward and for
ward through these rollers until the color
has thoroughly permeated every particle of
the now long, silky ribbons into which the
chips have been rolled. Pink, green. yellow
and heliotrope are the standard colors used
in toilet soap
Let us suppose that the batch just passed
through the mill has been colored green and
is now a beautiful shade of emerald. 1t is
then placed in a machine called platter"
in which it is heated and worked up until it
is a soft mass, about the consistency of
putty; the end of the platter is then opened
and this soft mass is pressed out through
small, circular hole, after which it is cut
into small sections to be pressed
1t is here the funny" part comes in. The
batch has been cut into between four and
five gross of blank cakes. and the pressman
has an order for one gross of DR.. Fakem's
freckle soap. He runs this off and picks up
the next order, which reads, "One and a
half gross of DR.. C-'s wonderful skin
soap" He takes the DIR. Fakem die out of
the press and puts in DR.. C-'s w. s. soap
die, and presses this order out of the same
batch as the last. The balance of the orig
NAL four or five gross will possibly be
pressed up in one-half gross lots, each lot
widely different curative proper
ties. OF course, this does not apply to all
oilet soaps. as there are a few good brands
On the market, such as a good glycerfne
soap: also one or two good sulphur soaps
and a few white soaps.
Paint covers a multitude of carpenters
sins" This saying can be twisted around
a little and it will apply to the toilet soap
trade. When you see q bargain sale of
soap of all the colors Of the rainbow. adver-
Used to restore the baby skin of childhood
On a hobo's mug. steer clear of it. There
never was or will be a good soap On the
market that had to be colored, no matter
what magazine or poster lads may say to
the contrary.