IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edgar Poynter, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP."
Sealed the 17th November 1868, and dated the 21st May 1868.
I, JOHN EDGAR POYNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
6 North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of an improved
soap, and it consists in combining borax with the saponified fatty or
oleaginous substances ordinarily employed in making soap.

page_text: In carrying out the Invention a solution of borax is taken by
preference of a strength of about forty-five degrees Twaddell, and is
mixed with tallow, stearine, palm oil, or other fatty or oily substances,
these being saponified in the ordinary way by means of an alkaline
lye. In other words the manufacture may be conducted throughout..
in the ordinary way, the strong solution, by preference a saturated
solution of borax, being added and well mixed with the other
ingredients. The proportions may be varied, but it is preferred to
combine two and three-quarter hundredweights of the saturated solution
of borax with every eight and a quarter hundredweights of the other
ingredients.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Edgar Poynter in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EDGAR POYNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturing Chemist, send. greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Edgar Poynter, Her special
licence that I, the said John Edgar Poynter, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Edgar
Poynter, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Edgar Poynter, my executors
cr 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 Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Scal 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 Edgar Poynter, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the manufacture of an improved
soap, and it consists in combining borax with the saponified fatty or
oleaginous substances ordinarily employed in making soap. Any other
salt of boracic acid may be substituted for the borax, but I prefer to
use borax as being the most economical.
In carrying out my Invention, according to one convenient modifi-
cation, I first with the aid of heat prepare a solution, by preference a
saturated solution of borax, and then add tallow, stearine, palm oil,
or other fatty or oily substance together with an alkaline lye, such as
is ordinarily used for effecting the saponification of the fatty or oily
substance. The mixture is boiled until complete saponification takes
place, and the soap is finished just as in the ordinary manufacturing
processes. The solution of borax may be mixed with the other
ingredients at any convenient part of the process; or soap which has
been made in the ordinary way by saponification and separation of the
glycerine by common salt may be re-melted, and then have the solution
of borax mixed and thoroughly incorporated with it. The proportions
of the ingredients may be varied, but I prefer to combine two and
three-quarter hundredweights of the saturated solution of borax with
every eight and a quarter hundredweights of the saponified fatty or
oily substances, or with an equivalent quantity of such substances
when unsaponified.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein-before described, but that
what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent

page_text: is, the making of an improved soap by combining borax therewith,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edgar Poynter, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN E. POYNTER. (L.S.)