Method and Appliances for Indelibly Marking Soap.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 19th Mar., 1898-Accepted, 14th May, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Method and Appliances for Indelibly Marking Soap.
We, JOHN GREIG ANNAN, of 84, Ferry Road, Dundee, in the County of Forfar,
Chemist, and COLIN CAMPBELL CALDER, of Cedar Villa, Invergowrie, by Dundee,
Engineering Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention has for its object the making commercially possible a novel and
valuable kind or method of indelible marking, branding or imprinting in colour
on or in soap which has not hitherto been accomplished.
In the marking, branding or imprinting of soap by the known processes of
commerce, letters words and devices have been imprinted to various depths or
right through the bars or cakes by means of stamps made in a variety of ways,
and colour has been introduced into the holes or perforations made. Where the
letters, words, or devices have been imprinted to a great depth, that is to say to
half way through or nearly half way through, from one or both sides of an ordinary
cake or bar, or completely through an ordinary cake or bar from one side only,
the letters, words or devices have been produced by the aid of stamps formed by
or devices. The only
the grouping of needles to represent said letters, words
exception in favour of continuous line deep stamping, in which thin cutters or
plates have been employed in the imprinting process has been confined to the use
of open letters of which the letter Y may be taken as the type, that is to say, letters
the whole or a part of which do not enclose a space as in letters O. B. or A.
In the ordinary process of embossing or shallow recessing in which letters,
words, or devices in continuous line characters have been imprinted on soap, the
dies or stamps are formed in the ordinary comparatively shallow manner having
raised or sunk characters which are usually impressed simultaneously with the
formation of the cake or bar, and such embossing is of a comparatively evanescent
character whether the recessed portion is filled with colour or not.
The impressing or stamping to a comparatively great depth of letters, words or
devices otherwise than as already mentioned has presented a difficulty which has
not hitherto been surmounted. The difficulty lay in the lifting of masses of soap
by those portions of the stamp which have enclosed spaces as in the letters A & B.
It may be noted that if a closed letter such as A be formed of continuous metal
and it be made large enough, that is to say if it be sufficient to cover a compara-
tively extensive area of surface of the soap, such a stamp may be inserted even to
half way through and be withdrawn from an ordinary cake or bar without lifting
Soap, but the practical limit of the depth of stamping in relation to the area of
the letter has been so small as to render the use of continuous line letters or devices
for deep stamping of little or no commercial value.
Our invention renders practicable the stamping or imprinting of letters,
words or devices in continuous line character to a great depth as compared
with the area of soap covered, and consists of a process involving the use
of stamps made in special ways as hereinafter set forth.
our
We
line stamps of any sufficiently rigid material which will
construct
serve to

page_text: impress the desired letter, words or device and we provide at those letters having
spaces which tend to lift the soap, such as the triangular space at the top of the
letter A an abutment so that the core or piece of soap liable to be pulled out is
held in position with a force sufficient to resist the outward pull of the stamp while
being pulled out. This abutment may be constructed in several ways according
to the letter operated on but the principle of our stamping appliances is the same
in all their modifications, namely that a sufficient resistance be maintained
against those portions of soap which have a tendency to lift so that they may be
maintained in their relative positions until the action of the stamp is completed.
As an instance of one method which we have found to work in practice, a piece of
metal suitably shaped according to the form of the letter or device is mounted on
a wire or small rod which passes backward through the base of the stamp. During
the operation of the stamp on the soap this piece of metal is held with sufficient
force against the part of the soap liable to dislodgement, by the action of a spring
upon the rod attachment, and the exact position of the abutnient, in the "direction
of motion of the stamp is regulated by bringing a surface of metal or other material
suitably connected with the abutment into contact with the surface of the soap at
any point which is not liable to dislodgement through the influence of the stamp.
We give this as an instance or as an illustration of the method by which we carry
our invention into practice and not as the mechanism we invariably adopt as the
mechanism to secure abutment or resistence to the dislodgement of parts liable to
lift may be modified not only necessarily in the case of each letter or device but
also as to the details by which it is effected.
In carrying our invention into effect we use certain devices for simplifying the
mechanism which involve modification of the cutters or stamps. As an instance
we have found that if a letter or device cutter is formed so as to have sufficient
rigidity a portion of the upper part of said letter or cutter may be removed, thereby
lessening the friction, and in some cases lessening the tendency to lift. In some
cases this gives more room and rigidity to the mechanism forming the abutment.
The chinks or passages left in the soap by the above method of line, stamping
may be filled with appropriate colour by operating the stamps upon soap immersed
in or covered by coloured fluid in a manner similar to the treatment of soap cakes
or bars described in Macdougald and Sturrock's Patent No. 12974* of 1892, with
reference to needle punctures; or they may be so filled in a manner similar to the
method described in Macdougald and The London & Dundee Syndicate's Patent
No. 3329 of 1896 with reference to needle punctures; or the appropriate coloured
fluid may be induced to enter these chinks or passages if it be sufficiently mobile
by bringing it into communication with these chinks or passages so that the latter
may become filled with it apparently by capillary attraction.
Dated th: 4 11.
1008
Method and Appliances for Indelibly Marking Soap.
We, JOHN GREIG ANNAN, of 84, Ferry Road, Dundee, in the County of Forfar, 4
Chemist, and COLIN CAMPBELL CALDER, of Cedar Villa, Invergowrie, in the County
of Perth, Engineering Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement: -
Our invention has for its object the making commercially possible a novel and 5

page_text: valuable kind or method of indelible marking, branding or imprinting in colour
on or in soap which has not hitherto been accomplished.
In the marking, branding or imprinting of soap by the known processes of
commerce, letters, words, and devices have been imprinted to various depths or
right through the bars or cakes by means of stamps made in a variety of ways
and colour has been introduced into the holes or perforations made. Where the
letters, words, or devices have been imprinted to a great depth, that is to say, to
half way through or nearly half way through from one or both sides of an ordinary
cake or bar. or completely through an ordinary cake or bar from one side only,
the letters, words, or devices have been produced by the aid of stamps formed by
the grouping of needles to represent said letters, words, or devices. The only
exception in favour of continuous line deep stamping, in which thin cutters or
plates have been employed in the imprinting process has been confined to the use
of open letters of which the letter Y may be taken as the type, that is to say, letters
the whole or a part of which do not enclose a space as in letters O. B & A.
In the ordinary process of embossing or shallow recessing in which letters,
words, or devices in continuous line characters have been imprinted on soap the
dies or stamps are formed in the ordinary comparatively shallow manner having
raised or sunk characters which are usually impressed simultaneously with the
formation of the cake or bar, and such embossing is of a comparatively evanescent
character whether the recessed portion is filled with colour or not.
The impressing or stamping to a comparatively great depth of letters, words, or
devices otherwise than as already mentioned has presented a difficulty which has
not hitherto been surmounted. This difficulty lay in the lifting of masses of soap
by those portions of the stamp which have enclosed spaces as in the letters A & B.
It may be noted that if a closed letter such as A be formed of continuous metal
and it be made large enough, that is to say, if it be sufficient to cover a compara-
tively extensive area of surface of the soap, such a stamp may be inserted even to
half way through and be withdrawn from an ordinary cake or bar without lifting
soap, but the practical limit of the depth of stamping in relation to the area of
the letter has been so small as to render the use of continuous line letters or devices
for deep stamping of little or no commercial value.
Our invention renders practical the stamping or imprinting of letters,
words, or devices in continuous line character to a great depth as compared
with the area of soap covered, and consists of a process involving the use
of stamps made in special ways as hereinafter set forth.
We construct our line stamps of any sufficiently rigid material which will serve to
impress the desired letters, words, or devices and we provide at those letters having
spaces which tend to lift the soap such as the triangular space at the top of the
letter A an abutment so that the core or piece of soap liable to be pulled out is
held in position with a force sufficient to resist the outward pull of the stamp while
being pulled out. This abutment may be constructed in several ways according
to the letter operated on but the principle of our stamping appliances is the same
in all their modifications, namely that a sufficient resistance be maintained
against these portions of soap which have a tendency to lift so that they may be
maintained in their relative positions until the action of the stamp is completed.
As an instance which we have found to work in practice a piece of
metal suitably shaped according to the form of the letter or device is mounted on
a wire or small rod which passes backward through the base of the stamp. During
the operation of the stamp on the soap this piece of metal is held with sufficient
force against the part of the soap liable to dislodgement, by the action of a spring
upon the rod attachment, and the exact position of the abutment, in the direction
of motion of the stamp is regulated by bringing a surface of metal or other material
suitably connected with the abutment into contact with the surface of the soap at
any point which is not liable to dislodgement through the influence of the stamp.
For the sake of clearness in description this second piece of metal may be called the
position abutment and the portion of the piece of metal coming in contact with the

page_text: core of soap liable to lift may be called, simply as a means of identification, the core
abutment. We give this as an instance or as an illustration of the method by
which we carry our invention into practice and not as the mechanism we invariably
adopt, as the mechanism to secure abutment or resistance to the dislodgement of
parts liable to lift may be modified not only necessarily in the case of each letter
or device but also as to the details by which it is effected, as is hereafter shown.
In carrying our invention into effect we use certain devices for simplifying the
mechanism which involve modification of the cutters or stamps. As an instance
we have found that if a letter or device cutter is formed so as to have sufficient
rigidity a portion of the upper part of said letter or cutter may be removed, thereby
lessening the friction and in some cases lessening the tendency to lift. In some
cases this gives more room and rigidity to the mechanism forming the abutment.
The chinks or passages left in the soap by the above method of line stamping may
be filled with appropriate colour by operating the stamps upon soap immersed in
or covered by coloured fluid in a manner similar to the treatment of soap cakes or
bars described in Macdougald & Sturrock's Patent No. 12974* of 1892 with refer-
ence to needle punctures; or they may be so filled in a manner similar to the
method described in Macdougald and the London & Dundee Syndicate's Patent
No. 3329 of 1896 with reference to needle punctures, or the appropriate coloured
fluid may be induced to enter these chinks or passages if it be sufficiently mobile
by bringing it into communication with these chinks or passages so that the latter
may become filled with it apparently by capillary attraction.
And in order that our said invention and the manner of performing or carrying
the same into effect or practice may be properly understood we append hereto a
sheet of explanatory drawings.
It is almost if not altogether impossible to show our invention as applied to all
the possible combinations of letters, words, or devices as this would extend to an
almost infinite number of letter and word combinations, but we will show the
manner of carrying our invention into effect sufficiently to admit of a clear appre-
hension of its scope and application to all possible combinations of letters, words,
and devices for the indelible marking branding or imprinting in colour on or in
soap.
At Fig. 1 is shown in perspective a stamp illustrative of our invention. Its
general construction will be seen in this drawing but its action in every detail as
illustrative of our method of stamping soap will probably not be quite clearly
apprehended until the details are considered in the enlarged drawings of the prin-
cipal parts thereof which follow.
The combination of letters chosen as an example is the word DUNDEE. Two
out of these six letters require abutment, namely the two D's. As each of these
letters contains an enclosed space the cutters used in forming these letters when
pressed deeply into a bar or cake of soap will form a core of soap liable to lift.
The cutters for the formation of this word are shown at the left hand of the
stamp at Fig. 1. d. u. n. d. e. e and at Fig. 2 the cutting edge of the cutters are
shown with the core abutments a. a. and the position abutments b. b., the junction
between these being shown at c. c. The abutments are also shown similarly marked
in Fig. 1 but somewhat less distinctly than in Fig. 2. A core and position abut-
ment belonging to a letter are both united to a wire or rod 1 Fig. 1 a wire or
rod 1 being used for each separate letter requiring abutment. This is necessary
when working on soap cakes with curved surfaces. But such construction is not
absolutely necessary when stamping soap having a flat surface as the core abut-
ments may be joined to one position abutment common to all. Again an inter-
mediate method may be adopted where the curvature varies or is very slight. The
core abutments in a stamp may be grouped and coupled to several position abut-
ments as may be found expedient. It will therefore be understood that each letter
requiring it may have an abutment both core and position so constructed as to be
quite independent of any other letter or there may be provided a more or less
combined or grouped position abutment. In all cases where the cutters do not

page_text: begin to act at or very nearly the same time, that is, on surfaces more or less curved,
independent position abutment is necessary but even on curved surfaces if certain
letters requiring abutment lie very close together such may be grouped as their
time of action is practically the same. It will be understood that a core abutment
is always fixed to a position abutment so as to retain the same relative level.
It is manifest that the shape of the position abutments and mode of attachment
and coupling with the core abutments may be varied in an infinite variety of
ways depending on the combination of letters and the soap surface, but no such
variation departs in essence from the nature or scope of our invention. In Fig. 3
the position abutment b. b. is differently placed to that in Fig. 2 but it is practically
the same as regards its effect and method of working. In Fig. 4 are shown two
core abutments a. a. and one common position abutment b. Much more com-
plicated grouping may be arranged where many words are being stamped but such
grouping does not depart in nature from the instances given. It will of course
be understood that the strength and number of the springs employed, h. h. Fig. 1.
will depend upon the number of abutments to be operated independently.
The cutters and abutments may be made of any sufficiently thin and strong
material. It is of advantage to work with thin material as the displacement of
soap is lessened.
We have formed cutters of hard brass and also of thin steel.
Each of these cutters may be fastened permanently to the block f. Fig. 1. in any
convenient way or each may have a small block of its own and these in turn are
clasped together after the manner of type in a chase by wedges or by screws g. 9. 9-
Fig. 1.
The block f. f. Fig. 1. is in that case a box or chase for holding the blocks
or back ends of the cutter type. Referring to the drawing Fig. 1. the letters
requiring abutment are shown as independently fitted with core and position abut-
ments and the two independent springs h. h. are the source of the resistence to the
lifting of the cores of soap already mentioned. These springs actuate rods i. i. which
are attached by small couplers k. k., provided with pinching screws, to tail rods or
wires 7.7. which pass to the core and position abutments through holes in the block
or blocks forming the backs of the cutters previously mentioned. m. m. Fig. 1 are
adjustable stops for preventing the springs pressing the abutments with undue force
on the cutters. In practice and with ordinarily careful handling these stops are
not absolutely necessary.
Tension on the springs may be increased or diminished by means of the small
screw blocks n. n. Fig. 1. which are capable of being fixed at any convenient position
on the rods i. i. round which the spiral springs are coiled. One of the ends of each
spring rests on the plate o. the tails of the wires or rods passing through holes
therein at · J·
The dotted lines r. r. indicate the path of the ends of the wires
when the stamp is in action. The thrust of the springs is communicated to the
screw blocks n. n. which regulate the tension and to the abutments through the
couplers k. k. and the tail rods or wires 1.7. In place of springs weights acting over
pulleys may be used, but this is an obvious modification merely, or other sources
of resistance such as compressed air may be employed.
It is now necessary to set forth the features of this invention by enlarged drawings
particularly of the cutters and of the core and position abutments and attachments.
Fig. 5 represents in perspective one part of our abutment apparatus applicable
to the letter A and Fig. 7 that applicable to the letter B. These are the parts which
when the cutters are in operation lie within the shell of the cutter shown at
Fig. 6. a. as applicable to the letter A and at Fig. 8 a. a. as applicable to the
letter B. At a.
Fig. 5. is shown the core abutment for the letter A, and at a. a.
Fig. 7 the core abutments for the letter B. b. Figs. 5 & 7 are the position abut-
ments for the letters A. & B. respectively. c. Figs. 5 & 7 are the tail rods or wires,
continuations of which after passing through the holes f. in blocks e. Figs. 6 & 8
are actuated as already explained by the springs such as are shown at h. Fig. 1
through the couplers k. Fig. 1. At d. Fig. 6 is shown the cross line of the cutter
for the letter A. and at d. Fig. 8 the upright line of the letter B. A portion of
these have been removed which admits of the abutments as described. These

page_text: portions may however be carried much further up towards the base attachment
in which case a. & b. Figs. 5 & 7 must be made correspondingly long and the cutter
itself must be made correspondingly long to admit of the motion of the abutments.
As already mentioned we have found in practice that if sufficient rigidity is obtained
only a portion of the metal forming the cutter need be carried the full length of the
part entering the soap.
As an illustration of the operation of our invention we will now describe the
process as applied with the apparatus we have described. Two stamps may operate
simultaneously, one on each side of the soap cake or bar. The stamps are caused
by any suitable mechanism to advance to any desired depth into the cake prefer-
ably to nearly half way through from each side and to retire or withdraw from the
cake or bar while the cake or bar and the cutters are partially or wholly immersed
in colour. On the advance of the cutters the position abutments'b. b. Figs. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
& 7 come in contact with a portion of the soap not affected by the cutters, and retain
in position the core abutments which are in contact with the cores. The
springs h. h. Fig. 1 are adjusted to a strength sufficient to keep both abutments
in position during the advance of the cutters into and withdrawal from the soap.
The cores of soap are thus prevented from rising and the spaces caused by the
cutters are filled with the surrounding colour on the withdrawal of the cutters;
or we may operate on the cakes without submergence in colour and on withdrawal
of the cutters the colour may be allowed to run into the chinks by the application
of colour on a brush or otherwise bringing the cake in contact with colour so that
it runs into the chinks apparently by capillary attraction. It is sufficient if the
colour be brought by a brush or by dipping or other similar means to the corners
or ends of the chinks; the air in the chinks escapes as the colour runs in. If the
chiuks are very small the colour must be correspondingly mobile. We have used
a mixture of ordinary alcohol and ether and colour, where a very mobile fluid was
requisite, but any sufficiently mobile fluid colour will cause the chinks to become
charged with the colour.
We find that soap which has been allowed to skin will work more satisfactorily
than a newly cut surface. This is due to the fact that the displacement of soap
due to entrance of the cutters causes the cores to press with considerable force
against the core abutment and if not skinned the force is sufficient to press the soap
past the edge of the abutment unless closely fitted. We have found that abut-
ments which are coarsely fitted will work quite satisfactorily if the soap be
sufficiently skinned but we have also found that a soft or insufficiently skinned
soap may be made to work if both position and core abutment is made to project
somewhat in front of the cutting edge.
As an indication of a size which we have found to work in practice letters three
sixteenths of an inch with abutments as described work well when inserted five
eighths of an inch into soap tablets, that is to say, half way through a thick cake of
soap.
We wish it to be particularly understood that we do not limit ourselves to the
precise details of construction hereinbefore described and illustrated on the annexed
drawings but that we hold ourselves free to make such changes and alterations as
conform with the disposition and scope of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: -
1. For stamping, indelibly marking or branding of soap, cutters representing
letters, words, advertisements, or designs in combination with abutment mechanism
for retaining the portions liable to lift substantially as and for the purposes
described.
2. In stamping, indelibly marking or branding of soap the method of operating
with cutters representing letters, words, advertisements or designs provided with
abutment mechanism substantially as and for the purposes described.

page_text: 3. In stamping, indelibly marking or branding of soap the treatment of the
soap cakes or bars by partially recessing or deep stamping them with cutters
substantially as described and sealing the places where the cutters enter by means
of a coloured fluid for the purpose of marking the soap substantially as described.
4. The method of filling narrow or deeply recessed chinks in soap by allowing a
sufficiently mobile fluid to enter the same, substantially as described.
5. In stamping, indelibly marking or branding of soap by means of cutters
substantially as described and subsequent filling of the narrow and deeply recessed
chinks by allowing a sufficiently mobile fluid to enter the same substantially as
described.
Dated this Eighteenth day of March Eighteen hundred and ninety eight years.