AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Way, of Welbeck Street, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SOAP."
Sealed the 4th August 1857, and dated the 23rd April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Way at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1857.
JOHN THOMAS WAY, of Welbeck Street, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," to be as follows:-
Hitherto, when alkaline silicate has been used as an ingredient in the manu-
facture of soap, such silicate has been produced by the fusion of alkaline
salts with sand, flint, quartz, or other silicious matters, or by dissolving
flint at a high temperature in close vessels, or by the dissolving calcined flint
in alkali.
Now, my Invention consists in the application of a rock or clay, which is
found in Surrey, and which may possibly hereafter be found elsewhere, and
which is known to contain a large quantity of silica soluble in a boiling alkaline
solution (without pressure) in the production of an alkaline silicate, and the
use thereof in the manufacture of soap. By the use of this rock or clay a
product less alkaline and more fitted for the soapmaker is obtained. The

page_text: rock or clay above referred to is now well known by reason of its being
largely composed of soluble silica, but it has not yet, it is believed, had any
distinguishing name given to it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thomas Way in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS WAY, of Welbeck Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her.reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Thomas Way, Her special licence that I, the said John Thomas
Way, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Thomas Way, 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, tho said John Thomas Way, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Thomas Way, 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
statement thereof, that is to say:-
Hitherto, when alkaline silicate has been used as an ingredient in the
manufacture of soap, such silicate has been produced by the fusion of alkaline
salts with sand, flint, quartz, or other siliceous matters, or by dissolving flint
at a high temperature in close vessels, or by dissolving calcined flint in
alkali.

page_text: Now, my Invention consists in the application of a rock or clay, which is
found in Surrey, and which may possibly hereafter be found elsewhere, and
which is known to contain a large quantity of silica soluble in a boiling
alkaline solution (without pressure) in the production of an alkaline silicate,
and the use thereof in the manufacture of soap. By the use of this rock or
clay a product less alkaline and more fitted for the soapmaker is obtained.
The rock or clay above referred to is now well known by reason of its being
largely composed of soluble silica, but it has not yet, it is believed, had any
distinguishing name given to it.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which I
prefer to conduct the process.
I put into a suitable pan, heated by steam or in any other convenient
manner, a quantity of caustic alkalino lye (potash or soda, or both, as the
case may be), of about 18° Twaddle, so that the silica solution when made
shall have a specific gravity of as nearly 36° as possible, and having raised
this lye to the boiling point I add by degrees the rock or clay before men-
tioned, either in small pieces or ground to powder, until the alkali has taken
up as much silica as it will dissolve. The heat is now withdrawn and the
undissolved earthy matter is allowed to settle; the clear liquor is run off, and
fresh quantity of water added to the sediment to wash out further portions
of soluble matter.
The liquors so obtained are solutions of alkaline silicates. The quantity of
rock or clay required will vary with the per-centage of soluble silica which it
contains; this per-centage is sometimes as much as 70 or more of the dry rock
or clay, and I of course prefer it of the highest per-centage of soluble silica
which is obtainable. If the per-centage of soluble silica is ascertained before-
hand by the well-known methods of chemical analysis, I can at once employ
the quantity of rock or clay which is necessary to saturate the alkali, and for
this purpose I find it necessary for every 31 parts of actual soda or 58 parts
of carbonate of soda (rendered caustic) to employ as much of the rock or
clay as contains 78 parts of soluble silica.
I produce similar alkaline silicates from the rock or clay before-mentioned
by gently heating it in a furnace with alkalies or alkaline carbonates. In this
case I find that combination of the material and production of the alkaline
silicates takes place at a temperature much below that which is necessary
when other forms of silicious matter are employed, and though preferring the
method formerly mentioned in the treatment of the rock or clay the one last
described may be employed. The alkaline silicate is dissolved out from the

page_text: furnaced materials by water or alkaline lye; I prefer in either case to saturate
tho alkali as fully as possible with silica, but this is not absolutely necessary.
The silicates so produced are more suitable for the soapmaker than those
ordinarily employed, from the following, amongst other reasons:-They are
more economically produced,-the caustic property of the alkali contained in
them is more perfectly neutralized, and they contain no iron, alumina, or other
matter injurious to soap; the soap produced by them is therefore of superior
quality, as well as cheaper. The alkaline silicate produced by either of these
processes may be employed in any of the modes now practised by soap-
makers when using silicates of the alkalies in soap making.
As a practical illustration of my Invention I will now state what I have
found to give satisfactory results. For the manufacture of 100 parts of soap,
I put into the soap pan 11-5 per cent. of bleached palm oil, 11.5 per cent.
cocoa-nut oil, 30.6 per cent. of soda lye of 36° Twaddle, I boil till the
soap becomes stiff, then add 44 per cent. of the solution of silicato prepared as
before described and of 36° Twaddle, continuo the boiling till the soap
becomes thin and limpid, at which stage I add 2.4 per cent. of common salt,
and boil for 3 or 4 hours when the soap will be ready to cleanse, which may be
done at once, or after it has been allowed to stand for a few hours. If open
steam is used (that is, steam blowing into the soap pan,) I consider it best
to have the solution of silicate and the lye of greater strength than that
mentioned in proportion to the quantity of water which is condensed from such
steam in the soap pan.
In witness whereof, I., the said John Thomas May, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
J. THOMAS WAY. (L.S.)