CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF SOAP MAKING, BY WHICH THE ARTICLE IS IN SEVERAL RESPECTS AMELIORATED
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WATSON, late of Bury Place, Bloomsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, but now a prisoner in the King's Bench Prison, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of May
last, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the
said John Watson, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Watson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their
deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said John
Watson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF SOAP
MAKING, BY WHICH THE ARTICLE IS IN SEVERAL RESPECTS AMELIORATED;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John
Watson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Watson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained as follows, that is to say :-
After the soap has been formed or made in the usual manner, by boiling fat
or oil with soap lees or the solution of a considerably pure alkaline salt, and
separated by the addition of common culinary salt, I do not put the same into
the forms in order that it may become indurated for sale; but I diffuse the
same in a large quantity of pure water, with or without the assistance of heat,
as may, for the sake of expedition, be preferred, and do again separate the
said soap by the addition of common culinary salt; and I do repeat the said
process of solution and separation a greater number of times, if necessary; and
I do declare that the chief intention and purpose of the said process is to
render the soap more perfectly neutral by separating any uncombined alkali
which may have subsisted in the first making, and also to throw up any uncom-
bined oil in case the boiling should not have been carried to the precise point
which is needful for the formation of good soap.
And further I do declare that I do make use of the same process for
purifying and perfecting neutralizing such soaps as have been already made
and compleated in the common way by myself or other manufacturers, in
order to which it is convenient that the solid soaps should be rasped or
scraped, or dried and pulverized, or otherwise divided by mechanical means
for the purpose of expediting the diffusion and solution or suspension of the
same in the fluid. And further, that I do manufacture a soap of uncommon
beauty, closeness, and uniformity of texture by the use and application of
alcohol or ardent spirit as follows, namely:-I make a pure soap, or purify
soap already made, by using the processes herein-before described; or in case I
find, upon examination, that the soap intended is sufficiently pure, I take the
same without further preparation, and in preference. I do subdivide the same
into shavings or small portions by the means herein before mentioned, and I
do make a mixture of about one part by weight of the spirit, and two parts
or thereabouts of the pure soap; but these proportions will admit of consider-
able variation; and I do cause the same to unite by moderate boiling, and in
this state I pour the same into moulds to be divided into lengths or squares, or
cakes, or other fit portions for sale; and I do expose the said lengths, squares,
cakes, or portions in a fit place or apartment kept at a proper temperature for
drying or evaporating the solvent or spirit on a considerable portion thereof, in

page_text: order that the density and consistence of the said soap may increase and its
parts become so intimately applied to each other as to produce a beautiful
degree of transparency.
And lastly, I do declare that in some cases I add a portion of sugar or
sacharine matter to the mixture when a less degree of firmness is required, and
that I do, as occasion may require, add such well-known materials as may be
needful to give any peculiar odour or scent or colour as may be thought or
found most agreeable to the purchasors, and concerning which said materials
no particular instructions are necessary, because I follow the usual practice in
the use and application thereof, and do not consider the same as constituting
any part of my said improvements.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Watson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand nicht hundred and