CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy, of 67, Judd
Street, Brunswick Square, in the County of Middlesex, Analytical
Chemist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SOAP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alphonse René le Mire
de Normandy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th August 1855.
I, ALPHONSE RENÉ LE MIRE DE NORMANDY, of 67, Judd Street, Brunswick
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF SOAP" to be as follows:-
When the soap is made in the usual manner and ready to be cleansed, I
introduce and crutch into it, in a manner well known to soap makers, a certain.
quantity of sulphite of soda, or of bicarbonate or of sesquicarbonate of soda, or
of neutral or previously neutralised salt cake, which is an impure and anhydrous
sulphate of soda, whereby I am enabled to use in the manufacture of soap. a
greater proportion than is usually done of rosin, or of certain descriptions of
fats known in the trade under the name of weak goods, all the above-named
salts having the property of imparting to all soaps a greater degree of hardness

page_text: than they would otherwise possess, of rendering such soaps of a paler colour,
and of enabling them to retain their weight.. better than would be the case
without such addition. The soap containing sulphite of soda has besides the
property of removing from textile fabrics and fibrous substances or tissues
the chlorine which they are apt to retain after bleaching, and which when
allowed to remain is liable to cause a deterioration of the strength of the
bleached fibres."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alphonse, René le, Mire.de Normandy in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE-PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALPHONSE
RENE LE MIRE DE NORMANDY, of 67, Judd Street, Brunswick Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by ller Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of. August, in the year of our' Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alphonsé René le Mire de Normandy, Her special licence that I, the
said Alphonsé René le Mire de Normandy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alphonsé René le Mire de Normandy,
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," upon the condition (amongst otliers) that I, the said
Alphonsé René le Mire de Normandy, my executors or 'administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain tlie 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 Alphonsé René le Mire de Normandy,
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 13
by the following statement thereof:

page_text: When the soap is made. in the usual way and is ready to be cleansed, I.
introduce and crutch into it, in a manner well known to soap makers, a certain
quantity of neutral or previously neutralized salt cake, or anhydrous sulphate
of soda, or refurnaced sulphate of soda, (which are the different names of an
impure sulphate of soda), or a certain quantity of neutral sulphite of soda, singly
or conjointly, whereby I am enabled to use in the manufacture of soap a greater
proportion than is usually done of rosin, or of certain descriptions of fats or
grease or oils known in the trade under the name of weak goods; these salts
having the property of imparting to soap made of such materials a greater.
degree of hardness than they would otherwise possess, of rendering such soaps
generally of a paler color, and of enabling them to retain their weight better
than would be the case without such an addition. The soap containing
sulphite of soda has besides the; property of removing from textile fabrics
and fibrous substances or tissues the chlorine which they are apt to retain after
bleaching, and which when allowed to remain is liable to cause a deterioration
in the strength of the bleached article.
The modus operandi with the salt cake is as follows:-
Dissolve the salt cake or refurnaced sulphate of soda in less hot water than
is necessary to dissolve the whole of it in order to obtain a saturated solution
always of the same strength, practically speaking; add to the solution thus
obtained as much of a solution of caustic or of carbonated alkali as is necessary
to impart to the liquor a faint or slight alkaline reaction, that is to say, until
the liquor can impart to yellow turmeric paper a brown or reddish brown
color, by which means the free acid will be neutralized, and the peroxyde of
iron which such sulphate contains will be precipitated. Leave the whole at
rest until the iron which this addition will have precipitated has completely
settled and the superincumbent liquor is perfectly clear, and of this clear liquor
add as much by weight or measure as you think required for the quality of soap
on which you are operating or which you intend to manufacture; the whole,
that is, the soap and the liquor added, must then be thoroughly incorporated
by stirring or crutching; and I recommend the said stirring or crutching to be
continued as long as possible, and, in fact, until the mass has become so stiff
that the stirring can no longer be practised.
As to sulphite of soda, I recommend to dissolve it in as little hot water as
is necessary for the purpose, and the solution is added to the soap exactly as
has been described for the sulphate of the same base. If the sulphite is a
bi-sulphite of soda, or is in an impure condition, that is, if it be contami-
nated by oxyde of iron, or if it contains an excess of sulphurous acid, this
excess of acid should be neutralized, by adding to the solution of the salt as

page_text: much carbonated or caustic alkali as is necessary to impart a brown colour to
yellow turmeric paper, which, as was the case with the salt cake, will also
precipitate the iron. The whole solution is left at rest, and the clear superin-
cumbent liquor is crutched into the soap precisely as I have described before
in reference to colt
Signed in the presence of
LEWIS NORMANDY.
A. NORMANDY. (LS.)