USE OF CERTAIN PORTIONS OF FISH IN THE MANUfacture OF SOAP
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Johnston, of Drums Lane, Lock Street,
Aberdeen, in the County of Aberdeen, North Britain, Soap Maker, for
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Johnston at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
January 1855.
I, ROBERT JOHNSTON, of Drums Lane, Lock Street, Aberdeen, in 'the'
County of Aberdeen, Soap Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "THE USE OF CERTAIN PORTIONS OF FISH IN THE MANUfacture
OF SOAP to be as follows:
My Invention of improvements in the application of a new material to the
manufacture of soap refers to the combination of a certain substance with the
usual alkalies employed. In soap usually made, the ingredients required being'
rather of an expensive character, renders the sale of that article comparatively
expensive: The object of my Invention is to obviate this; to effect which, I
combine the interior parts of any kinds-of-fish with the usual alkalies employed
in the manufacture of soap, the result of which is, that it renders the expense.
low, and at the same time makes that article equally good and applicable
for all the purposes for which soap is required; It may also be observed that
the interior parts of any kinds of fish may be as easily manufactured as "the"
substances usually employed
very

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Johnston in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
JOHNSTON, of Drums Lane, Lock Street, Aberdeen, in the County of Aber-
deen, Soap Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Johnston, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Johnston, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Johnston, 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 for "THE USE OF CERTAIN PORTIONS
OF FISH IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Johnston, by an instrument 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 be 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 Robert Johnston, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
that is to say:-
My Invention of improvements in the application of a new material to the
manufacture of soap refers to the combination of a certain substance with the
usual alkalies employed.
In the manufacture of soft soap I take any part or parts of any kind of fish
. or blubber. I first boil the fish or blubber, and then let it settle; I then take
all except the heavy deposit at bottom, which is to be thrown away or con-
sidered refuse, then strain it through a coarse cloth or sieve, put that which is
left in the cloth or sieve into a press, and press all the loose matter out; the
press must be lined with fine cloth. That which is left in the press is to be
put into a boiler with one-fourth of tallow, and the whole is to be boiled with

page_text: the usual alkalies for seven hours; it is then finished. This soap has the
advantage of being without smell. The oil pressed out may be converted also
into soft soap, or used to burn in lamps, and gives a most brilliant light.
To manufacture hard soap of fish or blubber as aforesaid, the fish or blubber
is to be boiled until they become a pulp, then put the pulp into a large tub to
the extent of two-thirds full, so as to leave plenty of room for stirring; when
at blood heat, add to every hundredweight of pulp one pound of bichrom of
potash. The bichrom of potash must first be dissolved in an iron vessel over
a fire. To every pound of the bichrom add one pound water, when melted to
be thrown into the material in the tub. Immediately after, add one pound and
a half of muriatic acid, and one pound of sulphuric acid into the tub, and the
whole is to be then stirred or agitated sharply for one hour at least, and longer
if not cooled below blood heat. If the composition is not made free or open
by the before-mentioned acids, add as much fishery salt as is sufficient to set
the material free or open.
After the composition or material has stood twenty-four hours, the same
is to be taken out of the tub, except the thick and dirty part which has become
a deposit therein, and which may be thrown away.
That part of the composition or material which is clean is prepared for
boiling in the usual way that soap is made; the only difference from the usual
way of making soap with these materials is, that it takes longer boiling, and
which experience will teach.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Johnston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
ROBERT JOHNSTON. (L.B.)