IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gossage, of Widnes, in the County of
Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP."
Sealed the 14th May 1858, and dated the 17th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gossage at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
November 1857.
I, WILLIAM GOSSAGE, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP," to be as follows:-
My improvements apply to the manufacture of such hard soaps as contain
resin in combination with palm oil, tallow, or other oily or fatty materials.
In the ordinary manufacture of such kinds of soap, the resin and oily or fatty
materials employed are converted into soap by boiling with caustic soda lyes,
which are used in such proportion that a quantity of soda remains in a free
or uncombined state, and the excess of lyes is caused to separate from the
soap, produced either by continued boiling, or by the addition of common salt
thereto. The soap produced being thus obtained as a "curd soap;" the
excess of lyes is withdrawn from the soap copper in which the soap has been

page_text: made, and the curd soap is dissolved by means of water or weak soda lye
(assisted by boiling), and the soap is thereby obtained in the state known as
"fitted soap," which, by resting in the copper, becomes separated into two
portions, the upper portion being pure soap, and the lower portion being a
saponaceous compound containing much resin, called "niger." The upper
portion is transferred into "frames" to solidify, and when it is desired to
produce a soap of low cost, a quantity of fluid technically known as "liquor'
or "runnings" (which consists of water mixod with sulphate of soda, silicato
of soda, common salt, or other suitablo saline matter) is added to such pure
"fitted soap" whilst the same is still fluid, and mixed therewith.
In manufacturing this kind of soap, it is desirable to introduce into its
composition as much resin as may be practicable (consistently with the pro-
duction of a soap possessing sufficient hardness and consequent durability in
use) in place of oily or fatty materials, as the cost of the soap produced is
thereby proportionately reduced.
I have discovered, that if in place of converting "curd soap" containing
resin into "fitted soap," and then mixing the pure portion of the soap thus
obtained with "liquor" or "runnings," I bring the "curd soap" itself into a
state of suitable consistency, and cause this to be mixed with suitable "liquor "
or "runnings," I produce a mixed soap of superior quality (particularly as
regards its hardness and consequent durability in use); and I am thereby
enabled to use a larger proportionate quantity of resiu in the composition of
such soap, and consequently to produce a hard soap of good quality at a
greatly reduced, cost for materials used for its manufacture. Such discovery
constitutes the Invention for which I am now soliciting the grant of Letters
Patent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Gossage in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th May 1858.
TO ALL, TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GoSSAGE, of Widnes, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Gossage, Her special license that 1, the said William Gossage,

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Gossage, 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 CERTAIN KINDS OF SOAP," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Gossage, by an instrument in writing under my,
hand and seal, 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 William Gossage, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
In the ordinary and well known manufacture of those kinds of bard soap
which are called yellow soap and mottled soap, it is the practice with manu-
facturers to employ two kinds of oily, fatty, or resinous materials to combine
with soda for the production of soap, which materials differ from each other as
respects their capability of producing hard soaps, and are technically dis-
tinguished by the terms of "strong materials" and "weak materials." Thus,
in making yellow soap, the manufacturer uses tallow or palm oil, together
with resin to combine with soda, and the tallow or palm oil is in such mixture.
considered to be the "strong material," and the resin to be the "weak
material," and the proportionate quantity of the latter which can be introduced
advantageously into the mixture is restricted by the diminution of hardness
which its introduction occasions in the soap produced; also in making mottled
soap the manufacturer uses tallow or palm oil as the "strong material,"
together with bone grease, oleine, resin, or cocoa-nut oil as the "weak
material" employed.
In making yellow soap by the use of tallow or palm oil and resin, it is the
practice of the soap manufacturer to combine such materials with solution of
caustic soda, (technically called lyes), by boiling the materials with the lyes,
and when these become spent or deprived of their alkali, they are caused by
the addition of salt to separate from the soap produced, and are then
abstracted from the soap copper. A further addition of lyes is then made,
and the boiling continued until the materials employed become completely.

page_text: saponified, and an excess of uncombined soda remains in the lyes, which are
separated from the soap by the addition of salt, and such unspent lyes are
then abstracted from the soap copper. The soap as produced at this stage of
the operations is in the state technically known as "curd soap," which is next
subjected to an operation known as "finishing" or "fitting." This operation
is effected by adding water or weak soda lyes to the curd soap in the copper,
and boiling these together until the soap is perfectly dissolved, using such a
proportion of water or weak lyes that the mixture becomes quite homogeneous,
and does not allow any lye to separate therefrom when inspected on a
"paddle." The "finished" or "fitted" soap is then allowed to remain quiet,
when it separates into three distinct portions; the upper portion is called
"fob," which is taken off and boiled over again in a subsequent operation;
the intermediate portion is pure soap, which is transferred into soap frames to
cool and solidify, and the lowest portion is am impure saponaceous compound,
technically called "niger," which contains a larger proportionate quantity of
resin than the pure soap, and is boiled over again in a subsequent operation,
and produces soap of an inferior quality.
In order to reduce the cost of yellow soap, it is the practice of manu-
facturers to add to the pure soap a quantity of fluid, technically called
liquor" or "runnings" (which consists of water containing sulphate of
soda, silicate of soda, common salt, or other suitable saline matter), and mix
the same therewith whilst the soap is in a state of fluidity.
56
In manufacturing this kind of soap (containing tallow or palm oil and resin,
together with liquor" or "runnings,") it is desirable to introduce into its
composition as much resin as may be practicable (consistently with the pro
duction of a soap possessing sufficient hardness and consequent durability in
use), in place of oily or fatty materials, as the cost of the soap produced is
thereby proportionately reduced.
I have discovered that, if in place of converting "curd soap" (containing
resin, combined with tallow or palm oil) into "fitted soap," and then mixing
the pure portion of the soap thus obtained with "liquor" or "runnings," 1
bring the "curd soap" itself into a state of suitable consistency, and cause
this to be mixed with suitablo "liquor" or "runnings." I produce a mixed
soap of superior quality (particularly as regards its hardness and consequent
durability in use), and I am thereby enabled to use a large proportionate
quantity of resin in the composition of such soap; and consequently to produce
hard soap, of good quality, at a reduced cost for materials used for its manu-
facture. The liquor" or "runnings" which I use for this purpose is a
solution of silicate of soda in water, and as such solution contains a quantity of

page_text: alkali in a state of combination, which provides for its possessing valuable
detergent properties, the soap produced has a corresponding value as a
detergent agent.
In effecting my Invention as applied to the manufacture of yellow soap, I
charge a soap copper with tallow or palm oil and resin, and treat theso
materials with soda lyes in the same manner as such materials aro treated in
the ordinary manufacture of yellow soap. When I find that the materials
employed have become saponified, and the lyes separated by deposition from
the soap, I abstract such lyes from the soap copper, and add a further charge
of soda lyes having a specific gravity of about one thousand and eighty,
and I cause such lyes to be boiled in contact with the soap, and thereby fully
saturate the materials employed with alkali. After continuing the boiling
two or three hours (during which time the soap should remain in the state of
"soft curd"), I add water to the mixture sufficient to bring the soap into a
"close state," and I then add gradually a strong solution of common salt,
(continuing the boiling) until the soap again separates from the lye and
assumes the condition of "soft curd ;" and I add water or strong solution of
salt, as I find requisite, until the soap assumes such a state of "soft curd,"
that the lyes with which it is being boiled are just capable of separating
themselves from the soap by deposition.
T
(In this condition, the addition of a small quantity of water brings the soap
into a close state, in which state the lyes are perfectly mixed throughout the
soap, whilst the addition of a strong solution of salt separates the soap from
the lyes in the state of "bold round curd.")
Having thus brought the mixture of soap and lyes into such a state that
the soap exists in the state of "soft curd," and lyes separate therefrom by
deposition, as distinguished from the close state of homogeneous mixture
(called "finishing" or "fitting,") I discontinue the boiling operation, and the
soap remains undisturbed a sufficient time to allow of fob rising to the
surface and lyes becoming deposited. Having skimmed off the fob, I then
take out the pure soap, and cause this to be mixed with solution of silicate
of soda, which may be added to the soap either in the cooling frames or in a
mixing vessel previously to its being transferred to the frames. I vary the
strength and proportionate quantity of the solution of silicate of soda
employed according to the quality of soap which I wish to produce. Thus,
if I am making yellow soap which I wish to sell at a low price, I employ
materials containing one part of resin for each three parts of bleached palm
oil, and I mix the soft curd soap obtained from such materials in the
proportion of three parts of soap with two parts of boiling hot solution of

page_text: silicate of soda, having a specific gravity of about one thousand and sixty
when boiling hot. If I am making a yellow soap to sell at a higher
price, I employ materials containing one part of resin for each four parts of
tallow or bleached palm oil, and I mix the soft curd soap obtained from such
materials in the proportion of threo parts of soap for each one part of boiling
hot solution of silicate of soda, having a specific gravity of about one thousand
and fifty at such temperature.
soap,
I
In effecting my Invention as applied to the manufacture of mottled
use a mixture of "strong" and "weak" materials, selecting these according
to the quality of soap I wish to produce. I treat these materials with soda
lye in the manner I have herein-before described for the manufacture of
yellow soap, so as to obtain the soap produced in the state of "soft curd,"
and I mix such soft curd with hot solution of silicate of soda, and add thereto
some colouring matter, such as ultramarine or manganese, to give the variegated
appearance required for mottled soaps. I vary the strength and proportionate
quantity of solution of silicate of soda which I mix with the soap according to
the quality of mottled soap I wish to produce and the quality of the materials
employed. Thus, if I am making a mottled soap to sell at a low price,
I employ materials containing one part of resin for cach three parts of
bleached palm oil, and I mix the soft curd obtained from such materials in
the proportion of five parts of soap with three parts of solution of silicate of
soda, having a specific gravity of about 1060 at a boiling heat, and add
suitable colouring matter thereto. If I am making a mottled soap to
sell at a higher price, I employ materials containing less resin, or I use a
mixture of two parts of well bleached palm oil with one part of cocoa-nut
oil, and I mix the soft curd soap obtained from such materials in the pro-
portion of three parts of soap for each one part of solution of silicate of soda,
having a specific gravity of about 1120 at a boiling heat, and add suitable
colouring matter thereto. The experienced soap manufacturer will at one
perceive the suitability, or otherwise, as respects its gravity of the "liquor"
or "runnings" employed, and he will vary the proportionate quantity used
accordingly as he wishes to vary the cost price of the soap being manufactured.
Silicato of soda is a compound well known to soap manufacturers. It may
be prepared by boiling ground flints with caustic soda lyc, but I prefer to use
solution of silicate of soda obtained by dissolving soluble glass in water, as
described in the Specification of an Invention for which I obtained Letters
Patent, bearing date on or about the Third day of April One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
I have herein-before described the means which I consider to be the best

page_text: adapted for effecting the objects of my Invention, but I do not confine myself
to the precise means herein-before described, as these may be varied to some
extent without deviating from the nature of my Invention.
I claim as my Invention (secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent) the manufacture of hard soaps, by causing soda soap made
from mixtures of "strong materials" with "weak materials" (the distinctive
qualities of such materials have been herein-before described) whilst in the
state of "soft curd," (which state has been herein-before defined) to become
mixed or combined with solution of silicate of soda.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gossage, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILL GOSSAGE. (L.S.)