IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE MANUFAC-TURE OF SOAP
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DAVIS, late of Walcot Place, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, but now of
Southill Cottage, Eastcot, near Pinner, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of April, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the, said
James Davis, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,.
that I, the said James Davis, my executors,. administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Davis, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and.
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF SOAP;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said James Davis, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my.
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully and

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Davis, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to a mode of combining fullers' earth, pipe clay, and
soda with soap and my Invention also relates to a mode of combining pearl
ash, fullers' earth, and pipe clay with soap. And in order to give the best infor-
mation in my power, I will proceed to describe various compounds of such
matters with soap, applicable to different purposes. At the same time I would
remark, that I do not confine myself to relative quantities of the materials
bereafter given, as they may be varied, though I believe the relative quantities
hereafter given to be the best for general purposes. And I would further
remark, that the soap with which such matters are to be incorporated, may be
either in the state when it is usual to run it into frames, or it may be re-melted.
I, however, prefer that the incorporating the materials as hereafter described
should take place previously to the soap being allowed to cool, in order
thereby to save the fuel otherwise expended in the process of re-melting.
It is important and necessary to the carrying out my Invention that the soda
or pearl ash employed should be submitted to calcination, by melting the
same by heat, and then allowing the same to cool, when it is ground into as
fine a powder as possible; and the fullers' earth and the pipe clay employed
are to be dry and ground as fine as possible, and intimately combined with the
calcined soda or calcined pearl asb, and the first-mentioned materials, or one
of them; and the calcined soda or calcined pearl ash are to be, when in this
state of fine powder, incorporated with melted soap.
The object of the Invention is to take soap of any of the ordinary descrip-
tions, and by means of fullers' earth or pipe clay, or both, to produce a vehicle
for a larger quantity of alkali, which being in the calcined state will, with such
materials when combined with soap, produce a compound of soap, which will
be found of considerable value as a cleansing material, whether with sea or
other water, and may be produced at comparatively small cost. I would here
remark, that I am aware that various modes of combining clays and earths.
with soap have before been resorted to.
My Invention only relates to the incorporating or combining fullers' earth
and pipe clay, when combined, with calcined soda or calcined pearl ash, and in
the state of powder with soap.

page_text: the point where the soap is poured or cleansed into frames; or I take soap
and re-melt it.
First, to produce a soap to be used in woollen manufactories, and for
washing every description of goods in salt or fresh water, and for general
purposes at sea or on land:-For every one hundred and twenty-six pounds of
Soap I take fifty-six pounds of fullers' earth, slacked or dried, fifty-six pounds
of dried pipe clay, and one hundred and twelve pounds of calcined soda, all
reduced to a powder and sifted as fine as possible. I then pour the one
hundred and twenty-six pounds of yellow or mottled soap in a liquid state
from the boiler into the powder composed of the above-mentioned materials,
and mix the soap and the powder well together by stirring and grinding, and
then pour the compound soap into frames to cool. Great care should be
observed in well combining the materials, and the mixing should be performed
as quickly as possible before the soap cools.
Secondly, to obviate any possible objection which might be suggested
against the use of a soap or composition partly prepared from fullers' earth,
for washing white linens, and other purposes, I produce a soap or composition
for the washing of white linens, and for those purposes to which the firstly-
described soap or composition might possibly be considered inapplicable, by the
several following methods:-In producing a soap or composition for the washing
of white linens in salt water, and for such other general purposes at sea as are
herein-before referred to, I entirely omit the use of fullers' earth, and for
every one hundred and twenty pounds of yellow or mottled soap I take one
hundred and twelve pounds of dried pipe clay, and add ninety-six pounds of
calcined soda, all reduced to a powder and sifted as fine as possible, into
which the soap is poured, and the mixture is then blended and formed for
use as before described.
Thirdly, in producing a soap or composition for the washing of white linens
in fresh water, and for such other general purposes on shore as are herein-
before referred to:-I also entirely omit the use of fullers' earth, and for every
one hundred and twelve pounds of soap I take twenty-eight pounds of dried
pipe clay, and thirty-six pounds of calcined soda, all reduced to a powder and
sifted as fine as possible, into which the soap is poured, and the mixture is
then blended and formed for use as before directed.
Fourthly, to produce a soap or composition for the toilette, to be used
either in salt or fresh water:-For every one hundred and twelve pounds of
curd soap I take twenty-eight pounds of fullers' earth, slacked or dried, twenty
pounds of calcined soda and scented oil, according to fancy, the fullers' earth
and calcined soda being both reduced to a powder and sifted as fine as

page_text: possible, into which the soap is poured, and the mixture is blended and
formed for use as before directed.
In place of employing calcined soda,
calcined pearl ash may be used. in precisely the same manner as that directed
for the use of calcined soda, but. in about one half the quantity. I would,
however, remark, that I prefer the use of calcined soda for all classes of soap,
where it is to be employed by persons in contact with the skin, to which pearl
ash is irritating.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I do hereby declare that what I claim is, the mode of
making soap by incorporating therewith calcined soda, fullers' earth, or pipe 1
clay, or both fullers' earth and pipe clay, as above described. And I also
claim the mode of making soap by incorporating therewith calcined pearl
ash, fullers' earth, or pipe clay, or both fullers' earth and pipe clay, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Davis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.