IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fergusson Wilson and Alexander Isaac
Austen, both of Belmont, Vauxhall, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fergusson Wilson.
and Alexander Isaac Austen at the Office of the Commissioners. of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd October 1856.
We, GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON and ALEXANDER ISAAC AUSTEN, both
of Belmont, Vauxhall, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," to be as follows:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of soap,
and consists of applying heated and free steam in and amongst the matters
when using caustic alkalies, and also of applying heated steam, free or other-
wise, to heat the matters when carbonates of alkalies are used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Fergusson Wilson and Alexander Isaac Austen in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON and ALEXANDER ISAAC AUSTEN, both of Belmont, Vaux
hall, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third. day of October, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
George Fergusson Wilson & Alexander Isaac Austen, Her special licence that
we, the said George Fergusson Wilson & Alexander Isaac Austen, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George
Fergusson Wilson and Alexander Isaac Austen, our 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 con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said George Fergusson Wilson and
Alexander Isaac Austen, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, 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 date of the said Letters
Patent::
'
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George. Fergusson Wilson, on behalf of
myself and the said Alexander Isaac Austen, 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 by the following state-
ment thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of soap,
and consists of applying heated and free steam in and amongst the matters
when using caustic alkalies, and also of applying heated steam, free or other-
wise, to heat the matters when carbonates of alkalies are used.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same. When using free heated
steam in making soap with caustic alkalies, according to the first part of our
Invention, we proceed as follows:-We heat the fatty matter, or fatty matter
and rosin, in a soap pan, by means of fire up to about 212° of Fahrenheit, and
then introduce free-heated steam in numerous jets or streams by means
of a perforated coil of pipes or by other convenient means, we then gradually
add caustic alkali and water in the proportions usually employed. We would
state that the use of free-heated steam does not alter the proportions of the
matters used. The steam for the purposes of the Invention is superheated,
as is well understood, and we prefer it to be heated at a temperature of three or

page_text: four hundred or more degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The soap, having
been boiled by the aid of superheated steam, is to be completed in the
ordinary manner, and as is well understood.
When making soap, according to the second part of our Invention, by the
combined use of carbonated alkalies and heated steam, we proceed as
follows:-Supposing the quantity of soap about to be made is about four tons,
we place in a suitable pan, say, about fifty hundredweight of tallow, if about
to make good curd soap, and we vary, as heretofore, according to the quality of
soap it is intended to produce, and by means of the fire heat the fatty matter
up to about 212° Fahrenheit, and turn on the streams of heated steam, as
before explained, and add gradually the crystals of soda to the extent of about
twenty-five and a half hundredweight (supposing them to contain at the rate
of twenty-five per cent. of alkali), together with about five hundredweight of
water, somewhat more water than that quantity being introduced to allow for
evaporation. If soda ash be used, and supposing the ash to contain fifty per
cent. of alkali, then only half the quantity of the ash is used as compared with
the carbonate above mentioned. In making this class of soap the heated
steam may be used in a jacket in place of its being used as free steam. The
soap, having been boiled and produced by the aid of superheated steam, is
then to be finished in the ordinary manner, as is well understood.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is,-
First, the application of free-heated steam in the manufacture of soap when
using caustic alkali.
And, secondly, we claim the application of free heated steam, and also the
application of heated steam in a jacket or otherwise, in the manufacture of
soap when using carbonated alkali.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
GEO. F. WILSON. (L.S.)