IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAPS APPLICABLE FOR USE AS LUBRICANTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edouard George Peter Thomas, of the Star
Chemical Works, Brentford, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAPS APPLICABLE
FOR USE AS LUBRICANTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." -A communication
from abroad by Jules Persoz, of 28, Rue des Ecoles, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Chemist.
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Scaled the 1st May 1874, and dated the 5th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edouard George Peter
Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th November 1873.
I, EDOUARD GEORGE PETER THOMAS, of the Star Chemical Works,
Brentford, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOArs
APPLICABLE FOR USE AS LUBRICANTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows

page_text: heavy oils) light oils, which may easily be removed by distillation, or
mechanically by the use of a jet of steam, the soap, ready to be run out,
remaining in the still.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edouard George Peter Thomas in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDOUARD
GEORGE PETER THOMAS, of the Star Chemical Works, Brentford, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edouard George Peter Thomas,
Her special license that I, the said Edouard George Peter Thomas,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edouard George Peter Thomas, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SOAPS APPLICABLE FOR USE AS LUBRICANTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edouard George Peter
Thomas, 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 Edouard George Peter Thomas,'
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
}

page_text: Lubricating matters for the wheels of carriages, and wagons, and for
machinery, are often required to satisfy special conditions, to present at
times a good deal of consistency or body, together with softness, and to
have certain stated melting and solidifying points. These conditions
would not be difficult to fulfil, having regard to the great variety of
known fatty bodies were it not that the choice is greatly limited by
consideration of price, a matter of the greatest importance, as the con-
sumption is very considerable, and the value of the raw materials is
constantly advancing.
Some time back it was possible to use exclusively matters of a fatty
nature, but little by little it has become necessary to incorporate with
the fats, resins, resinous or fatty soaps, heavy oils of the different tars,
mineral salts, talc, sulphate of baryta, &c., matters which are soft to the
touch. In this way the cost of the product has been notably reduced.
Now these materials are sometimes employed in such large quantities
that the consumer is often obliged to take special precautions against
the abuse of them by certain manufacturers. Whatever be the propor-
tions and the nature of the materials so employed, up to the present time
in the manufacture of lubricants, it is important to remark that these
materials are simply worked up or ground together, and that the soaps
intended to give to the product more body and to diminish its fusibility
are already formed before being added, so that although soap has been
introduced into these mixtures there has been no saponification of the
mixture, and it would be difficult by such introduction to thicken oily
substances when the latter are present in somewhat large proportions.
This process has for its object to increase considerably the range of
products capable of being employed in the manufacture of lubricating
matters, and to utilize in this way a considerable number of residues of
small value, such as the heavy oils and the liquid pitches, various
petroleum, schist, and coal tars. It consists in a general way in dis-
solving in one or other of these heavy mineral oils alone or mixed with
other substances a certain quantity of fatty matter, or better still, of a
fatty acid, and in forming a soap in the midst of the liquid mass by the
addition of an alkali or of a caustic alkaline mixture aiding the reaction,
if needs be, by heat. The mineral oil is thus caused to be in some sort
imprisoned by the soap formed; in a state of great division it becomes
thick and compact, and acquires the consistence necessary for lubricating
axles. The soaps which with us succeed the best are those of baryta,

page_text: strontia, and magnesia, and above all those of lime, potash, and soda; I
am able also to employ a mixture of these bases.
.
To obtain the saponification with the greatest case I prefer to use as
the fatty acid, crude,oleic acid obtained commercially.in the manufacture
of stearic acid, and the alkali I. employ is soda and lime mixed in water.
The oleate of lime, as indeed all the oleates of the alkaline earths, has
the property of being fusible at a moderate heat, they thus soften when
in contact with the axes and other parts of machinery in motion, and
behave in the same way as a grease properly so called. On the contrary,
the olcate of soda does not possess this property, and it is possible by
substituting more or less of caustic soda for lime in the saponification to
vary the degree of fusibility of the mixture according to the use for
which it is intended, and above all, according to the season of the
year.
It is almost superfluous to remark that by altering the proportion of
the fatty acid, and consequently of the soap, products may be obtained of
very various consistences and suitable for a great variety of uses. It is
also possible, as heretofore, to incorporate with the product fats, resins,
and mineral, or other substances. The color and odour of the products
obtained will evidently vary with the nature of the raw materials.
In order that this Invention may be well understood, I think it well
to give some examples, without however limiting myself to the pro-
portions given, because they may, as above mentioned, be varied
according to circumstances.
The oleic acid is to be added to the heavy oil and mixed by agitation,
then the alkali is rapidly poured in and the agitation is continued until
the saponification is effected throughout the mass, which takes place in
a few moments. A portion of the water in which the alkali was mixed
remains incorporated in the mixture, and the excess separates and rises
to the surface of the product and can be run off. The water which
remains in combination with the materials diminishes the cost of the
manufacture.
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page_text: EDOUARD G. P. THOMAS. (L.S.)
EDOUARD G. P. THOMAS. (L.S.)