IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Bousfield, of No.. 20, Hereford Terrace,
De Beauvoir Town, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the
Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP."
Scaled the 29th October 1857, and dated the 7th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Bousfield at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
7th July 1857.
I, FREDERICK BOUSFIELD, of No. 20, Hereford Terrace, De Beauvoir Town,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," to be as
follows:
To soap made in the common way I add, before it assumes a solid form,
shreds of animal or vegetable fibre or fibrous substance, as, for instance, of
wool, silk, cotton, linen, sponge, hair; these shreds may also be added to the
soap after it has assumed a solid form by re-melting it, but this would not be
so economical. The shreds can be added to soaps known as fancy soaps as well
as to ordinary soap. By this means the cleansing power of the soap is much
increased.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
BOUSFIELD, of No. 20, Hereford Terrace, De Beauvoir Town, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, dearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Bousfield,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Bousfield, 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 SOAP," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederick Bousfield, 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
<late of the said Letters Patont.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Bousfield, 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) :-
The nature of the Invention consists in adding animal or vegetable fibre or
fibrous substances insoluble in water, reduced to shreds or fine cuttings, to
soap, for the purpose of increasing its cleansing or detergent powers. The
insoluble substances, one or more of them, may be added to the soap during
its manufacture.
I prefer that my soap when manufactured shall contain about five per cent.
by weight of the lighter substances, or about ten or twelve per cent. of the
heavier; and that when two or more are employed together that the proportion
shall range generally between five and ten or twelve per cent.
I crutch into the soap when in a cooling state the animal or vegetable fibre

page_text: or fibrous substances reduced to fine cuttings or shreds, as, for instance, wool,
silk, cotton, linen, sponge, hair; and I prefer that the cuttings or shreds shall
not exceed one-tenth of an inch in length.
Of the substances above named I give the preference to wool.
I do not confine myself to the animal and vegetable substances above named,
for I find that vegetable fibre and fibrous insoluble substances generally can be
advantageously employed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as
the Invention whereof the exclusive use is intended to be secured by the said
Letters Patent is, the application of insoluble vegetable and animal fibre or
fibrous substances in the manufacture of soap, as above described.
In witness whereof, the said Frederick Bousfield, hath hereunto set
his hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
FREDERICK BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)
Signed and scaled in presence of
JOHN COMBS, Sol",
25, Bucklersbury.