Improvements in the Manufacture of Compressed Cakes of Soap.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1890-Accepted, 26th Julv. 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE CHESEBROUGH MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
Consolidated, of Richards and Delavan Street, in the City of Brooklyn, State of
New York, United States of America.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Compressed Cakes of Soap.
I, PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON of the Office of Patents, Bream's Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to remedy a defect which exists, and is plainly visible
in compressed cakes of soap, particularly in toilet soap, as heretofore manufactured,
the said defect consisting in a want of homogeneity in the different parts of the cake,
the parts at the ends, and the parts in the middle having different densities or
consistencies. This want of homogeneity, or difference of density, shows itself in
the different colors or tints of the body or bulk of the cake, and the ends thereof,
between which there is a plainly visible line of demarcation.
The above mentioned defect results from the method commonly practiced of
producing the cakes from the bars into which the soap is previously made by the
press, generally known as a "plodder," from which the soap is forced in the form of
a continuous bar through a die of a form approximating to the form of the transverse
section in one direction of the cakes of soap to be produced. This method consists in
cutting the bars squarely across into blocks of a length less than that of the intended
length of the cakes, and afterwards transferring the said blocks into dies of proper
form, in which, by pressure, the parts of the soap at the ends of the block are forced
out end wise to fill the ends of the dies. In this operation, the first action of the
dies, in their closing movement, is to displace the parts of the soap at the ends of
the block, to make it fill the ends of the dies, and by this displacement the said parts
are so broken up, that, in the compression to which they are subjected in common
with the rest of the block or cake, during the continuation and completion of the
closing movement of the dies, the said parts are not made as dense as the rest of the
block or cake, and hence the difference of appearance.
According to the present invention, the bars of soap are not cut into blocks
previously to being placed in the dies, but they are taken directly to the compressing
dies, by which portions of them of the proper length for the cakes of soap are cut off,
and compressed into the desired form at one operation, and the cakes so produced are
homogeneous, and of uniform colour or tint.
In order to explain more fully the nature of this invention, the accompanying
drawing illustrates both the method commonly practiced of producing the cakes and
the improved method.
Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing represent vertical sections at right angles to each
other, of a cake of toilet soap of ordinary form, such as is produced by the present
invention.
Fig. 3 represents a transverse section of the bar from which such cakes are
produced, both by the common method and by the present invention.
Fig. 4 represents a central vertical section of a pair of compressing dies, such as
are used according to the old method, and may be used according to the present
method, for compressing the cakes, and shows the said dies open, and having placed
between them a block of soap previously cut from a bar, ready to be compressed
according to the old method.
Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view corresponding with Fig. 4, and showing the sa'd
dies closed, and the block of soap compressed between them into a cake.
Fig. 6 represents a vertical section of a pair of dies similar to those shown in
Fig. 4, showing them open, and having the end of a bar of soap placed Letween t! en,

page_text: ready to have a portion cut off, and simultaneously pressed into a cake, according to
this invention.
Fig. 7 is a sectional view corresponding with Fig. 6, but showing the dies closed
and the cake completed.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
The dies represented are box dies. A is the box, B is the lower die fitted to
the box, and C is the upper die, the horizontal section of the box corresponding in
form with the broad profile of the cake of soap to be produced, and the faces of the
dies B and C having the form of the faces of the cake D.
E, (Fig. 4) is one of the blocks into which, according to the common method, the
bars of soap are made, by cutting the latter squarely across at regular intervals. It
will be observed that this block is not long enough to fill the dies, and it will he
understood by reference to Figs. 4 and 5, that in order to make the soap in the block E
fill the dies, and form the cake D, the parts a a must be displaced, and forced into the
parts bc of the dies. In Fig. 5, the parts designated by a' a' so displaced, and
which, by reason of the breaking up, or crushing, or disintegrating action to which
they were first subjected by the action of the dies, are tinted of a darker shade.
In Fig. 6 the bar of soap F is represented as placed directly between the open dies,
and shown with its end projecting slightly beyond the dies B. C. By the closing
movement of the dies, the portion of soap between them is cut from the bar, and
pressed to form the cake by the one operation of closing the dies, and if there be
more cut off than is sufficient to fill the dies when they are completely closed, as
shown in Fig. 7, the surplus will be forced out from between tho dies, as indicated
at d, d, in the latter Figure. The cake thus formed is perfectly homogeneous
throughout, and the whole of its exterior is of uniform colour."
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
from abroad, I declare that what I claim is :-
The improvement in the manufacture of compressed cakes of soap, consisting in
first making the soap into bars, and afterwards subjecting the bars directly to
the action of dies, which, by one continuous operation, cut off from the bar a
portion of soap sufficient for a cake, and press the portion so cut off into the form
required for the cake; substantially as herein set forth.
Dated this 16th day of June 1890.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.