IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOILET SOAP
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William, Alexander Lyttle at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd February 1875.
I, WILLIAM ALEXANDER LYTTLE, of the Grove, Hammersmith, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOILET SOAP,"
to be as follows:-
The essential feature of my process consists in the economical and
useful introduction into the body of a more costly soap of a less
expensive heart or core, the heart or core of all toilet soap being
generally so far depreciated by water in the course of use to the con-
sumers loss, that a less expensive material for the core reducing the
price of each soap tablet will be an economical advantage to the
public.
In order to make this soap I take a cake of common household soap
stamped or otherwise moulded or cut to any desired size or shape in the
way usually followed in making soap tablets, and I place this in a soap
die of any ordinary soap press for completion, with one square or other

page_text: suitably formed plate or cake of scented or other desired toilet soap
material underneath it and another on its top. The soap press is then
brought down into action in the usual way and the three detached pieces
become one block or tablet of toilet soap. This soap I designate
"duplex soap" and "composite soap."
It is necessary to take care that the pieces of soap thus compressed
together have fresh and clean surfaces, otherwise they will not adhere.
More perfect cohesion is always ensured by brushing, smearing, or
otherwise moistening the surfaces of the core piece with melted soap
immediately before compression between the two pieces of toilet soap.
A core of baked but unglazed earthenware, plaster of Paris, wood, any
of those bituminous mixtures known as asphaltes, or other convenient
waterproof composition now used for moulding or modelling purposes
will answer the purposes of the soap core as above described, provided
such false insoluble core is shaped suitably and inserted by compression
in thesame manner as the above mentioned core of cheap soap.
The use of this composite soap will not only prevent waste by enabling
the consumer to utilize every particle of the material which he desires
to use, but is also attended with the extra comfort of a more bulky and
convenient handiness of tablet than could be purchased for a much
higher price if made of solid toilet soap material.
The toilet soap material may also be applied to any of the above
mentioned cores by pouring it on to the core in a melted state, the core
being set in the centre of a suitable mould so as to admit of the toilet
soap being poured into the mould on the two sides of the core, which
will form the sides or top and bottom of the cake.
If the cores in a cold state are arranged apart upon a wire sieve, or
suspended individually by wires hooked into a hole provided in each
core piece, the cores may be coated to any desired thickness with the
melted toilet soap by dipping them therein as often as may be desired in
the way pursued in making dip candles. If it is desired to chill quickly
the toilet soap thus laid upon the cores by dipping, this can be done
exposing them to a draught of air, or by by plunging them at once into
a very strong brine of common salt in as cold a state as possible, but this
brine should be allowed time to drain off and dry before the next dip in
the toilet soap is made. The dipped toilet soap lumps thus made may be
cut into shape or otherwise trimmed and stamped into the usual tablets
for sale.

page_text: When this composite soap is made by compression, as herein-before
described, two different kinds of toilet soap may be combined on one
tablet, and the two sides may be of two different colours; one side may
consist of a soap rich in glycerine, whilst the other side will possess the
more useful detergent qualities, so that their combined action will be
more perfect.