IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Gossage at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th January
1856.
I, WILLIAM GOSSAGE, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP, to be as follows:-
My Invention applies to the production of those kinds of soap which are or
may be manufactured, by combining certain compounds obtained by the union
of silica with soda or potash with true soaps, which are prepared by the com-
bination of alkali with tallow, resin, oil, or other such substances.
In the Specifications of three several Letters Patent granted to me for my
Inventions connected with the manufacture of soap, the first of which Letters
Patent bears date the 3rd of April 1854, the second bears date the 3rd of
August 1854, and the third bears date the 23rd of April 1855, I have
described certain methods by which I caused compounds of silica with soda or
potash to become combined with soaps, produced by the union of oily, fatty,
or resinous matters with alkali. In the experience which I have acquired by
following up my said Inventions, I have found it desirable to reduce the
proportionate quantity of soda or potash contained in the compound of silica,
which I employ, and thereby to produce a compound soap, containing silicate
of soda or silicate of potash, of a milder quality than those compound soaps

page_text: containing such silicates, in which the proportionate quantity of soda or potash
has not been so reduced. I effect this object of my Invention by adding the said
compounds of silica, and soda or potash, to the oily, fatty, or resinous matters
(which I employ for the production of the true soap forming part of the com-
pound soap I am manufacturing), in such manner that the oily, fatty, or resinous
acids (or some portions of the same) contained in such oily, fatty, or resinous
matters which I employ, may become chemically combined with some portion
of the soda or potash which is present in the compound of silica with alkali
which I employ, and I thus produce true soap by the abstraction of alkali from
the compound of silica and alkali employed, and the true soap so produced
forms part of the compound soap manufactured. In the like manner I can
also effect the object of my Invention by adding the said compounds of silica
and soda or potash to oily or fatty acids, obtained from oils or fats, by well-
known processes, in such manner as that the said acids or some portions of
the same may become chemically combined with some portion of the soda or
potash present in the compound of silica with alkali, which I employ, and thus
produce true soaps, by the abstraction of alkali from the compound of silica
with alkali employed. I can also reduce the proportionate quantity of free
potash or soda in the compound of silica with potash or soda, which I employ,
by the use of salts of lime, salts of magnesia, salts of ammonia, or salts of
alumina. For this purpose I prefer to use some of the salts called sulphates
or hydrochlorates of lime, magnesia, ammonia, or alumina, or mixtures of
these salts, and to add such of these salts as I select for this purpose to the
compound soap, produced by the union of silicate of soda or potash with the
true soap employed.