IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP OR IN: THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO SUCH MANU.-. FACTURE, OR FOR DRESSING OR FINISHING: TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, late of ¡Mitcham, in the County of
Surrey, Bleacher, but now of Union Road, Wandsworth, in the same-
County, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF
SOAP OR IN: THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO SUCH MANU.-.
FACTURE, OR FOR DRESSING OR FINISHING: TEXTILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 4th September 1866; and dated the 14th April 1866:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1866.
I, THOMAS GRAY, late of Mitcham,, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, but
now of Union Road, Wandsworth,, in the same County,. do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SOAP OR IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO SUCH MANUFACTURE,
OR FOR DRESSING OR FINISHING TEXTILE FABRICS," to be as follows:-
Many vegetable fibres, such as flax, hemp, jute, nettles, china grass,
sorghum, phormium tenax, esparto, and other fibre-yielding plants when
boiled with alkali will yield as a bye product a mucilaginous or gelatinous

page_text: substance, which has heretofore been thrown away as useless by spinners and
others who extract the fibres from plants such as those above described.
I have discovered that when this mucilaginous matter has been properly
prepared and cleansed from extraneous matters it may with advantage be
mixed with alkali, grease, and other analogous ingredients and converted into
soap. To this end I take the mucilaginous solution as it comes from the
flax mills, and after separating from it as much water as possible I warm and
filter it in order to remove any fibres, dirt, grit, and other extraneous matters;
any excess of alkali contained in the mass may be washed out with warm or
cold water. The mucilage is then boiled in order to reduce it to a liquid
state, a quantity of soda ash liquor and bleaching liquor made by dissolving
bleaching powder in water is then added to the mass, which will thus become
bleached. It is then to be washed again in water, when it will be fit for any
of the purposes for which it may be used. If required for soap making the
mucilage is to be boiled up with rape, palm, cocoa nut, linseed, castor or
other oil, or with tallow, lard, fat, grease or other fatty matter with the
addition of an alkaline solution, as in ordinary soap making, until the whole.
is saponified, and when the mass bas been treated in the ordinary manner
used by soap makers it may be run into frames. The proportions in which
the ingredients may be mixed for the manufacture of soap are from ten to
twenty-five per cent. of oil or grease to from 75 to 90 per cent. of mucilage.
When linseed is used rosin or driers may be added if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
October 1866
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, late of Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, but now of
Union Road, Wandsworth, in the same County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-"'

page_text: after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP OR IN THE PREPARATION OF MATERIALS
APPLICABLE TO SUCH MANUFACTURE, OR FOR DRESSING OR FINISHING TEXTILE
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Gray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Thomas Gray, 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):-
:-
Many vegetable fibres, such as flax, hemp, jute, nettles, china grass,
sorghum, phormium tenax, esparto, and other fibre-yielding plants when
boiled with alkali, for the purpose of being softened to fit them for spinning
and other uses are known to yield as a bye product a mucilaginous or gelatinous
substance, which has heretofore been thrown away as useless.
I have, however, discovered that when the mucilaginous matter has been
properly treated and cleansed from extraneous matters it may with advantage
be used in the dressing or finishing of textile fabrics, and as an ingredient in
the manufacture of soap. To this end I take the mucilaginous solution as
it comes from, say, the flax mills or the steeping vats of paper mills, and after
warming it to increase its fluidity I pass it through a strainer in order to
remove any broken fibres, dirt, grit, or other extraneous matters that may be
contained therein, and I afterwards remove by washing with warm or cold
water any excess of alkali that the mucilage may contain. I next heat the
mucilage in any suitable tank, and while in a liquid state I add thereto soda
ash liquor and diluted bleaching liquor (made by dissolving the ordinary
bleaching powder in water) when the product is required to be bleached, and
mix these substances thoroughly with the heated mucilage. The alkaline
liquid I now run off and wash in water, when it will be fit for any of the
purposes for which it may be used.
In applying this material to soap making I boil it up with rape, palm,
cocoa nut, linseed, castor, or other oil, or with tallow, lard, fat, grease, or
other fatty matter, and add thereto an alkaline solution, as in ordinary soap

page_text: making, in quantity sufficient to saponify the whole, and I continue to heat
the mass in the manner ordinarily adopted by soap makers until the melting
is ready for running off. It may then be run into frames or moulds and left
to cool and solidify.
The proportions in which the ingredients may be mixed for the manufacture
of soap are from ten to twenty-five per cent. of oil or grease to from seventy-
five to ninety per cent. of mucilage, according to the quality of soap
required, whereby a great economy in the manufacture of soap will be effected..
When linseed or other drying oil is used rosin may be added with or
without driers.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
the Manufacture of Soap or in the Preparation of Materials applicable to such
Manufacture, or for Dressing or Finishing Textile Fabrics," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the treatment and utilization
of mucilage derived from the sources above indicated in the manner and for
the purposes above described.
In witness whereof; I, the said Thomas Gray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.