A NEW AND USEFUL MODE OR PROCESS FOR MAKING SOAP FROM ROSIN
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Pfaltz, of the State of Massachusetts, for
the Invention of "A NEW AND USEFUL MODE OR PROCESS FOR MAKING SOAP
FROM ROSIN."
Sealed the 24th December 1856, and dated the 5th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Pfaltz at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
August 1856.
I, AUGUSTUS PFALTZ, of the State of Massachusetts, do hereby declare the
5 nature of the Invention for "A NEW AND USEFUL MODE OR PROCESS FOR MAKING
SOAP FROM ROSIN," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in a mode of producing from common
rosin a solid soap, suitable for scouring purposes alone, and which can be used
as a substitute for ordinary soap. When we combine with the said soap one;
O quarter or one third of its weight of tallow or other fat soaps, the resulting.
compound is more solid and valuable than the yellow or rosin mixed soap in
ordinary use. My experiments have proved that the sylvic and pinic acids of
rosin combine with soda in different proportions up to a certain point, and,
form soft adhesive compounds, and these are all in the proportion used in

page_text: ordinary soap-making. These compounds, as is well known, attract moisture,
and cause the soap to soften, so that it cannot be shipped to warm climates;
but if we add more soda or carbonate of soda to the rosin in the process of
manufacture of the rosin soap, a firmer compound results, in which the acids
become united to form subsalts with the soda. For this reason, the rosin soap,
when it is to be combined with soaps of the fatty acids, must be made by itself,
and not as usual, with a mixture of rosin and fat. Heretofore the so-called
rosin soaps have contained a large per-centage of water, while, by my process
this water is dissipated, so that a firm bar may be made of the rosin soap alone
without the aid of fats. Thus formed, the rosin soap can be mixed with soap
already prepared from fats to make English rosin or mixed soap, with the
great advantage of thus forming a solid-soap with a small proportion of soap
prepared from tallow or fats.
"
To enable others skilled in the art to manufacture my soap, I proceed to
describe my process:-For producing the combination between the acids of
rosin and soda, I use heat by means of steam, the kettles having steam jackets,
and revolving stirrers, moved by power, so as to agitate the mass. Soda ash
dissolved in water to form a clear solution is to be made of sufficient-density to
mark 36° Beaumé, by boiling or adding more soda ash. For every pound of
rosin one pint of this solution of soda may be taken, and the rosin being
melted, the solution of soda is added, and the whole well mixed by the agitator.
Full steam being applied, the mass is agitated and the water evaporated, until
a piece on cooling becomes solid. The soap now contains less than ten per
cent. of water, and when made into bars can be kept stored without loss
of weight. Common kettles heated by fire instead of steam kettles may be
used in the manufacture, but an agitator must be adapted to each kettle; the
soap as it forms. becomes thick, and requires constant stirring to hasten the
evaporation of water and to prevent burning. The solid rosin soap, thus
produced, I call my basis soap, and by dissolving one pound in twenty
gallons of water it may be applied to scouring goods in the. manufacture of
7 - - -
:
woollens.
**
. In the soap manufacture, its-valuable property of. carrying its hardness into
any mixture renders easy the production-of solid soap, còntaining much rosiu,
and yet not liable to spontaneous-change.
I do not claim rosin soap either alone or mixed with other kinds of soap;
I do not claim rosin soap as ordinarily made, by using so much alkali as will
dissolve the rosin; nor does my claim extend to any of the compounds.of.
rósin and alkali which attract moisture.

page_text: What I claim as my Invention is, the above-described mode of producing a
solid soap from rosin, viz., by the use, as, specified, 'of an excess of soda or
carbonate of soda, so as to form alkaline salts with the pinic and sylvic acids,
which compounds are rendered nearly anhydrous.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Pfaltz in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
PFALTZ, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, A.D. 1856, in the twentieth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Augustus Pfaltz, Her special license that I, the said Augustus
Pfaltz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Augustus Pfaltz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter, during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention of "A
NEW AND USEFUL MODE OR PROCESS FOR MAKING SOAP FROM ROSIN," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Augustus Pfaltz, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe, and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Pfaltz, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The nature of my Invention cansists in a mode of producing from common
rosin a solid soap, suitable for scouring purposes alone, and which can be used
as a substitute for ordinary soap. When we combine with the said soap one

page_text: quarter or one third of its weight of tallow or other fat soaps, the resulting
compound is more solid and valuable than the yellow or rosin mixed soap in
ordinary use.
My experiments have proved that the sylvic and pinic acids of rosin combine
with soda in different proportions up to a certain point, and form soft adhesive
compounds, and these are all within the proportion of soda used in ordinary
soap-making. These compounds, as is well known, attract moisture, and cause
the soap to soften, so that it cannot be shipped to warm climates; but if we
add more soda or carbonate of soda to the rosin in the process of manufacture
of the rosin soap a firmer compound results, in which the acids become united
to form subsalts with the soda. For this reason, the rosin soap, when it is to
be combined with soaps of the fatty acids, must be made by itself, and not as
usual, with a mixture of rosin and fat. Heretofore the so-called rosin soaps
have contained a large per-centage of water, while by my process this water
is dissipated, so that a firm bar may be made of the rosin soap alone without
the aid of fats. Thus formed, the rosin soap can be mixed with soap already
prepared from fats to make English rosin or mixed soap, with the great
advantage of thus forming a solid soap with a small proportion of soap prepared
from tallow or fats.
To enable others skilled in the art to manufacture my soap, I proceed to
describe my process :-For producing the combination between the acids of
rosin, I use heat, by means of steam, the kettles having steam jackets, and
revolving stirrers, moved by power, so as to agitate the mass. Soda ash
dissolved in water to form a clear solution is to be made of sufficient density to
mark 36° Beaumé, by boiling or adding more soda ash. For every pound of
rosin one pint of this solution of soda may be taken, and the rosin being
melted, the solution of soda is added, and the whole well mixed by the agitator.
Full steam being applied, the mass is agitated and the water evaporated, until
a piece on cooling becomes solid. The soap now contains less than ten per
cent. of water, and when made into bars can be kept stored without loss of
weight. Common kettles heated, by fire instead of steam kettles may be used
in the manufacture, but an agitator must be adapted to each kettle; the
soap as it forms becomes thick, and requires constant stirring to hasten the
evaporation of water and to prevent burning. The solid rosin soap, thus
produced, I call my basis soap, and it may be applied to scouring goods in
the manufacture of woolens (by dissolving one pound in twenty gallons of
water).
In the soap manufacture, its valuable property of carrying its hardness

page_text: into any mixture renders easy the production of solid soap, containing much
rosin, and yet not liable to spontaneous change.
I do not claim rosin soap either alone or mixed with other kinds of soap;
I do not claim rosin soap as ordinarily made, by using so much alkali as will
dissolve the rosin; nor does my claim extend to any of the compounds of
rosin and alkali which attract moisture.
What I claim as my Invention is, the above-described mode of producing a
solid soap from rosin, viz., by the use as specified, of an excess of soda or car-
bonate of soda, so as to form alkaline salts with the pinic and sylvic acids,
which compounds are rendered nearly anhydrous.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature and seal, this
Twentieth of November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
AUGUSTUS PFALTZ. (L.B.)