IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Felix Lieven Bauwens, of Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SOAP."
Sealed the 8th January 1855, and dated the 8th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Felix Lieven Bauwens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th July 1854.
I, FELIX LIEVEN BAUWENS, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP " to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in peroxidizing any oxide or other salt of iron that
may be present in materials undergoing the process of saponification by the
injection of air or oxygen, and in removing the peroxidized iron by means
of any vegetable or other acid or principle (such as tannic or gallic acid),
capable of combining with it, so as to form an ink or inky solution. My
Invention also consists in applying the same treatment to fatty and other
matters used in soap making previous to their undergoing the process of
saponification.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Felix Lieven Bauwens in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FELIX
LIEVEN BAUWENS, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Felix Lieven Bauwens, Iler special licence that I, the said Felix
Lieven Bauwens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Felix Lieven Bauwens, 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 Felix Lieven Bauwens, 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 Felix Lieren Bauwens, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in peroxidizing any oxide of iron that may be
present in fatty materials, acid or not acid, undergoing the process of saponifi-
cation by the injection of air or oxygen, removing the peroxidized iron by
means of any vegetable or other acid or principle (such as tannic or gallic
acid), capable of combining with it, so as to form an ink or inky solution, and
afterwards making soap with the fatty materials thus purified or bleached.
The manner in which I perform my said Invention is as follows:-By
means of a force pump or other suitable agent I inject air or oxygen in a
heated or cold state into the mass through a perforated coil of pipe in the
body of the vessel, which should be made of wood or lined with sheet lead,

page_text: and I continue this injection of air or oxygen so long as may be considered
necessary; the time varies according to the degree of oxidation already exist-
ing, and can only be ascertained by taking samples and by practice. I then
add to the mass an infusion or solution of sumach, gall nuts, or other material
capable of combining with the peroxidized iron existing in the materials under
operation, and I cause the whole to be well stirred together; after which I
draw off the inky solution from the vessel, and make the materials boil for
about two hours with a like quantity of pure water, which I afterwards draw
off, and with it any of the inky solution that may have remained in the
materials; I then proceed with the soap making, and-completo the process
in the ordinary manner.
The purified soap produced by my Invention will be found extremely
valuable to dyers, scourers, and others who require a soap quite free from
iron, the presence of which is in many cases highly injurious to many
descriptions of colours.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
First, the peroxidizing of any oxide of iron that may be present in fatty
materials, acid or not acid, undergoing the process of saponification in the
manufacture of soap by the injection of air or oxygen, and the removing of
such peroxidized iron by means of any vegetable or other acid or principle
(such as tannic or gallic acid), capable of combining with it, so as to form an
ink or inky solution.
And, secondly, the employment in making soap of such fatty materials
purified or bleached, as in the first claim.
In witness whereof, I, the said Felix Lieven Bauwens, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
F. L. BAUWENS. (L.S.)