IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SOAP
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of 35, South-
ampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR
MAKING SOAP."A communication from abroad by Moses Hyde and
Francis Hyde, both of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, United
States of America. Soap Manufacturers.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 21st June 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SOAP," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Decla-
ration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by Moses
Hyde and Francis Hyde, both of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland,
United States of America, Soap Manufacturers.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
do hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The apparatus consists in part of a cylinder into which the various 1
ingredients are supplied by pumps or other suitable means, and in which
the said ingredients are intimately mixed by an arrangement of stirrers
on a rotating shaft.
Preferably the cylinder is constructed of iron or other metal, and is
steam heated, and the wings or spokes of the mixer are of such shapes 1
as to divide the magma, forcing it up, down, in, and out, so as to ensure
a very thorough kneading and ultimately homogeneous condition.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus, a part of the outer cylinder
being removed; Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line a, b, Figure 1; 2
Figure 3 is a view of the bottom of the cylinder, shewing the mode of
operating the slide plate of the discharge opening; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7,
and 8, are detached views of several of the forms of stirrers and mixers
on the rotating shaft. These differ in their forms and perform peculiar
functions with one general result.
2
Soups vary to some extent in consistence and attributes, and in the
following description any statements as to material and proportion must
be understood as applicable to the manufacture of one kind of soap.
A is the lower floor of the soap factory; B is an upper floor; C is a a
vat containing lye (a solution- of alkali). On the same floor is the
wagon D which carries the soap frame D'. The upper floor supports
the grease vat F and the engine G. E, E, are the side posts of the frame
supporting the operative machinery, which consists in general terms of
two pumps I, J, and a mixer K. The pump I draws grease from the a

page_text: vat F by means of the pipe i and discharges by pipe
cylinder K.
The pump
J draws lye from the vat C
pipe j, and discharges it by means of the pipe
cylinder K.
into the mixing
by means of the
into the mixing
The pumps are shewn as single acting with but a single induction and
eduction pipe cach, and have nothing peculiar about them. As re
presented each would have a valve bucket and lower valve. The pumps
are driven by bands and pulleys from the engine G. The engine is
driven by steam from the boiler (not shewn), the steam pipe L being
branched at 1, ', the former branch passing to the steam cylinder, and
the latter to the steam jacket k of the mixing cylinder, and to the
cylinder itself at the ports 1, 71, respectively. The outer cylinder is
of boiler iron, and the inner cylinder of cast iron. The pitman g
connects with a crank shaft on which is a fly wheel g¹, and a band
wheel. From the band wheel proceeds a band g to the band wheel
on shaft H. On this shaft are pulleys leading by bands m, m³, m¹, to
three points: 1, the pulley M on the shaft which drives the mixer; 2, the
pulleys M', M", which drive the pumps I, J, respectively. The hori-
zontal shaft N rests in bearings on the frame E, and has a bevel pinion O
which gears with a similar pinion P on the summit of the vertical
shaft R, on which are diaphragm plates Z, Z1, Z2, about two inches less
in diameter than the interior of the cylinder, serving to divide the space
into four successive compartments or chambers, and the wings or mixer
arms shewn in Figure 2 and exhibited in the detached Figures Nos. 4, 5,
6, 7, and 8. These will be more particularly described in the next
section, which treats of the operation of the machine; S`is a pipe which
carries off the water of condensation from the jacket of the mixing
cylinder; T is a gate which forms a valve for the aperture in the
bottom of the mixing cylinder. The gate T is moved by, a segment
rack U and pinion V, the latter on the lower end of a vertical shaft W,
operated by a hand wheel X, which rises above the upper floor B; Y is
the escape pipe of the steam engine.
.

page_text: of the vats F, C, into the mixing cylinder K, the grease being discharged
at pipe ', and lye at pipe j, in the proportion of about 5 ounces of the
former to three ounces of the latter, or in other suitable proportions.
The cylinder of an operative machine 40 inches deep and 10 inches in
diameter may be filled in from 2 to 3 minutes, and the mixing com-
mences simultaneously with the entrance of the materials into the
cylinder. The plates Z, Z', Z³, are used to obstruct the materials in
their downward course, turning them from the shaft to the sides of the
cylinder, where there being an inch space all round (more or less)
according to the size of the machine, they pass into the second chamber
of the cylinder, and in like manner through each chamber to bottom of
machine, whence they pass out through the valve T in the form of soap,
the radial wings in each successive chamber serving to stir and knead the
materials until they form a homogeneous compound. For this purpose
the said stirrers represented in their position on the shaft in Figure 2,
and in the detached Figures 4 to 8 inclusive, are made of various forms,
some to press the stuff down, others to raise it, some to draw it towards
the axis, some to drive it outwards towards the inner surface of the
cylinder. By the successive treatment of the series of stirrers, aided by
its own gravity, the materials are brought into intimate mixture, and the
soap which begins to form at the sides and bottom of the cylinder
gradually increases as the cylinder fills up until the material covers
the upper plate Z. The operator then turns the wheel X, opening
the valve T gradually, until the quantity of soap flowing through the
valve T into frame D¹ beneath is equal to the quantity of material flowing
in at top through the pumps I and J, when the operation becomes
continuous so long as the supply is kept up. If the grease and lye vats
should be placed at a suitable distance above the mixer, the pumps may
be dispensed with, and the ingredients be allowed to flow to the cylinder
through spigots graduated to discharge the necessary quantities of the
respective materials used in the manufacture of the soap.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and a mode
in which the same may be carried into effect, it is not desired to restrict
the Invention in any of its various parts to the precise details herein
shewn and described, as such may be varied without departing from the
peculiar character of the Invention, but what I do claim is,-
First. The continuous process of soap-making, substantially as herein
set forth.

page_text: Second. An apparatus for making soap, consisting of reservoirs and
conductors for supplying the necessary ingredients, a mixing vessel, an
appliance for stirring and mixing the ingredients therein, and a suitable
discharge pipe or aperture.
Third. The deflecting disks for directing the ingredients toward and
from the centre of the cylinder alternately in a soap-making apparatus,
substantially as described.
Fourth. The peculiarly constructed stirrers represented in Figures 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, or any combination of them to be used on a rotating shaft in
a mixing cylinder for the purpose stated.
Fifth. The steam jacket, and steam, and water pipes, each in com-
bination with a mechanical soap-making apparatus, substantially as set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.