IMPROVEMENTS IN A CERTAIN PROCESS AND APPA- RATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1839

page_text: WHEREAS I have invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN A CERTAIN PROCESS AND APPA-
RATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," and whereas the following is my
Specification of the said Invention; and whereas the said Specification doth
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, that is to say, the nature
of my said Invention consists in adding the lees employed in making
soap by what is usually called Dunn's patent process, (and for which
Letters Patent were granted to Arthur Dunn, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-fourth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight
in separate portions and at different periods of the process of saponification,
and at different degrees of strength or specific gravity, increasing as the last-
mentioned process progresses, and in doing this by means of a force pump'
or other forcing or injecting apparatus communicating with stronger lees,
applied to the close or covered steam-tight vessel or boiler, in which, according
to the patent process of the said Arthur Dunn, the ingredients of which the
soap is to be composed or manufactured are to be boiled or heated so that
the saponifying process may be performed under steam pressure.
And I, the said Samuel Guppy, do hereby describe the manner in which my
said Invention is to be performed by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: A represents one of the said Arthur Dunn's steam boilers for manufacturing
soap according to his said patent process; B is a pan or vat containing
caustic alkaline lees, of the strength or specific gravity of about 1.22; C is a
force pump communicating with the said pan or vat B; this force pump, by
the arrangement of valves S, S, and connecting pipes here shown, draws the
lees out of B when required, and forces or injects them into the boiler A; D
is the discharge pipe; and E, the proof vents or pipes for taking samples of
the soap during the progress of the manufacture; F is the heat guage or
thermometer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPROVED PROCESS.
I will suppose, for the purposes of this description, that tallow is the matter
to be saponified. I charge the boiler A with tallow and caustic alkaline lees,
in the proportion of ten pints of lees to twenty-four pounds of tallow,
the lees being of the strength or specific gravity of about 1.12; I then
(having secured the cover of the boiler to make it steam tight) heat
the aforesaid materials to about from 300 to 310 degrees of Fahrenheit,
and when they have attained that temperature I pump into them, by means
of the force pump C, about thirty pints to every twenty-four pounds
of tallow, of the stronger lees from the pan or vat B, and keep the heat up to
about 310 degrees of Fahrenheit for about two hours. I then take a sample
at one of the proof vents, and if the process of saponification is not complete,
which it generally is, I pump in more lees from the vat B, keeping up the
temperature, and drawing samples till by the proof vents I ascertain that the
soap is perfectly formed and fit to be drawn, when I allow it to be discharged
through the discharge pipe E from the boiler into an ordinary pan, where I
allow it to remain an hour in order to settle previously to framing.
Now, whereas I do not claim as my Invention anything contained in the
said Patent granted to the said Arthur Dunn as aforesaid, and whereas it is
evident that other mechanical means besides the force pump may be used for
injecting or introducing the stronger lees into the boiler A, but as I have
found the force pump by far the most convenient mode, I hereby claim as my
Invention,
First (as regards my improved process), generally the introduction of lees
in separate portions at different times, into the close or covered steam-tight
vessel or boiler used by the said Arthur Dunn in his patent process
turing the process of saponification, such lees being of greater strength or
specific gravity than the lees first put into the said boiler with the fatty or
oily matter.

page_text: And, secondly (as regards my improved apparatus), I claim particularly
the application of a force pump or other injecting apparatus, with proper pipes,
cocks, and valves as aforesaid, communicating with a reservoir of stronger
lees as aforesaid applied to a boiler, such as described in the Specification of
Dunn's Patent, and in the Drawing hereto annexed, for the purpose of
improving soap made according to the process for which the said Letters
Patent were granted to the said Arthur Dunn, by adding stronger lees from
time to time as required to the ingredients in the said boiler; and such my
Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and
never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or in any of Her Majesty's Colonies or Planta-
tions abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same,
wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege of my
said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Guppy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.