IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTION OF OLEAGINEUS MATTERS FROM WOOL WASHING SUDS OR OTHER LIQUIDS CONTAINING SOAPY MATTERS OR GREASE, AND THE PRODUCTION OF PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Benjamin, of Graham's Town, South
THE
Africa (Gentleman), for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EXTRACTION OF OLEAGINEUS MATTERS FROM WOOL WASHING SUDS OR OTHER
LIQUIDS CONTAINING SOAPY MATTERS OR GREASE, AND THE PRODUCTION OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Benjamin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1874.
I, HENRY BENJAMIN, of Graham's Town, South Africa (Gentleman),
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE EXTRACTION OF OLEAGINEUS MATTERS FROM WOOD WASHING SUDS OR OTHER
LIQUIDS CONTAINING SOAPY MATTERS OR GREASE, AND THE PRODUCTION OF TALLOW
OR OIL FROM THE RESULTING SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
Having procured a quantity of wool washing suds or other liquids
containing soapy matters or grease I boil in water common alum
till dissolved, and whilst boiling I run it into my suds and well

page_text: stir it. Afterwards I let the tank of suds stand for 24 or 48 hours
when the greasy particles will curdle and mostly sink in a muddy
mass to the bottom. The supernatant water I then draw off by a
syphon or pump so as not to disturb the greasy mud. This mud I
pump on to a filter bed so that the water may drain out and the
mud dried to a pasty consistency. Afterwards I collect off the mud
and mix with a portion of muriatic acid (spirit of salt) to neutralize
the alum; I then put the mud into woollen bags and press them
under steam heat between iron plates, then the tallow is extracted.
This tallow I refine by boiling. it in a lead lined boiler in muriatic
acid, when all impurities sink and the pure grease floats; I then
draw it off by a cock placed some distance from the bottom of the
tank into barrels. From 2 to 3 cwt. of alum is sufficient to use in
8,000 or 10,000 gallons of suds, and about 2 cwt. of muriatic acid,
or less, according to the condition of the greasy mud. The refuso
after the grease is pressed out makes a good nitrogen manure for sugar
or coffee growing.
The tank to catch my suds in is best made by sinking a circular
well 6 or 7 feet deep in the soil, and flooring it and lining it with
cement laid bricks so as to be absolutely water-tight. The circular
form is best as I can more casily mix the alum wash with the suds.
To mix the two I use a plunger with a long handle fixed to a wood
or iron plate; this plunger is driven down into the suds whilst the
alum wash is being run in so as to mix them, and also atmospheric
air, as the more air is driven into the suds the better the grease
separates.
If instead of procuring tallow I wish to make soap direct from the
grease then I use, in preference to alum as the coagulating medium,
a compound of line and salt, as follows:-Mix to two parts of quick-
lime one part of common salt and shake them by a little water to
powder, apply the powder to the suds and stir well in with the plunger
till a fine curdling begins. I use to 10,000 gallons of suds about 18
to 20 cwt. of the composition; when the mud settles I draw off the
water and dry the mud in the filter.
To make a filter bed for drying the grease mud in I build a walled
enclosure of water-tight bricks, clay, or stone, stopping the bottom
towards one end and having openings at the foot; from these.openings

page_text: I build towers or drains which can be made by bricks without mortar.
On the top of these brick drains or pipes I lay coarse pebbles of the
size of an egg from 4 or 5 inches deep, upon which I put fine gravel,
and on that about one inch thick of wet sawdust; I then pump on it
the mud and let it drain quite dry.
To produce soap I make an alkaline wash either of caustic soda,
or put in water 3 cwt. of soda, and 3 cwt. of best quicklime, and
boil them together to make a caustic ley of 18° Twaddle's hydrometer.
I fill in a wrought-iron boiler 1-3 full of this caustic ley, and when
boiling I add to it equal quantity of the grease mud, and boil for
4 or 5 hours; then I add 3lb. of chloride of lime to each cwt. of
mud, boil and stirring well for an hour. After that, to neutralize
the chloride of lime I add 3oz. of hyposulphate of soda to each cwt.
of mud, and then keep adding caustic ley till the soap begins to grain,
and then I add quantity of common salt till the graining is completed
then allowed to cool. This soap cake is what soap makers call "half
boil." To make perfect soap I add 10% of fresh tallow with 25%
of soluble silica with a portion of caustic ley or lime water, and boiled
till it forms into ordinary soap.
The soap-making process is exactly the same as used for making
common soap, except I use the chloride of lime to dissolve the woolly
threads found in the mud; or they might be well skimmed out by a
wire strainer during the process of boiling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Benjamin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY.
BENJAMIN, of Graham's Town, South Africa (Gentleman), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-'
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Benjamin, Her
special license that I, the said Henry Benjamin, my exécutors, admini-

page_text: THE
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Benjamin, 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE EXTRACTION OF OLEAGINOUS MATTERS FROM WOOL WASHING
SUDS OR OTHER LIQUIDS CONTAINING SOAPY MATTERS OR GREASE, AND
PRODUCTION OF TALLOW OR OIL FROM THE RESULTING SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Benjamin, my
executors or 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 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 Henry Benjamin, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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:
1
Having procured a quantity of wool washing suds or other liquids
containing soapy matters or grease I boil in water common alum
till dissolved, and whilst boiling I run it into my suds and well
thin it. Afterwards I let the tank of suds stand for 24 or 48 hours
when the greasy particles will curdle and mostly sink in a muddy
mass to the bottom. The supernatant water I then draw off by a
syphon or pump so as not to disturb the greasy mud. This mud I
pump on to a filter bed so that the water may drain out and the
mud be dried to a pasty consistency. Afterwards I collect off the
mud and mix with a portion of muriatic acid (spirit of salt) to
neutralize the alum. I then put the mud into woollen bags and
press them under steam heat between iron plates, the tallow is then
extracted. This tallow I refine by boiling it in a lead lined boiler
in muriatic acid, when all impurities sink and the fine grease floats;
I then draw it off by a cock placed some distance from the bottom
of the tank into barrels. From 2 to 3 cwt. of alum is sufficient to
use in 8,000 or 10,000 gallons of suds, and about 2 cwt. of muriatic
acid, or less, according to the condition of the greasy mud. The refuse

page_text: after the grease is pressed out makes a good nitrogen manure for sugar
or coffee growing.
The tank to catch my suds in is best made by sinking a circular
well 6 or 7 feet deep in the soil, flooring and lining it with
cement laid bricks so as to be absolutely water-tight. The circular
form is best as I can more easily mix the alum wash with the suds.
To mix the two I use a plunger with a long handle fixed to a wood
or iron plate. The plunger is driven down into the suds whilst the
alum wash is being run in, so as to mix them, and also atmospheric
air, as the more air is driven into the suds the better the grease
separates.
If instead of procuring tallow I wish to make soap direct from the
grease, then I use, in preference to alum as the coagulating medium,
a compound of lime and salt as follows:-I mix to two parts of
quicklime one part of common salt and shake them by a little
water to powder, apply the powder to the studs and stir well in with
the plunger till a fine curdling begins. I use to 10,000 gallons of
suds about 18 to 20 cwt. of the composition; when the mud settles
I draw off the water and dry the mud in the filter.
To make a filter bed for drying the grease mud I build a walled
enclosure of water-tight bricks, clay, or stone, stopping the bottom
towards one end, and having openings at the foot; for these openings
I build towers or drains which can be made by bricks without mortar.
On the top of these brick drains or pipes I lay coarse pebbles of the
size of an egg from 4 to 5 inches deep, upon which I put fine gravel,
and in that about one inch thick of wet sawdust; I then pump in it
the mud and let it drain quite dry.
To produce soap I make an alkaline wash either of caustic soda,
or I put in water 3½, cwt. of soda and 3 cwt. of best quicklime, and
boil them together to make a caustic lye of 18° Twaddle's hydrometer.
I fill in a wrought-iron boiler one-third full of the caustic lye, and
when boiling I add an equal quantity of the grease mud and boil for
4 or 5 hours; then I add 3 lbs, of chloride of lime to each cwt.
of mud, boil and stirring well for an hour. After that to neutralize
the chloride of lime I add 3 ounces of hyposulphate of soda to
each cwt. of mud, and then keep adding caustic lye till the soap
begins to grain, and then I add a quantity of common salt till the

page_text: graining is completed, and it is then allowed to cool. This soap cake
is what soap makers call "half boil." To make perfect soap I add
10% of fresh tallow with 25% of soluble silica with a portion of caustic
lye or lime water, and boil till it forms into ordinary soap.
The soap-making process is exactly the same as usual for making 5
common soap, except I use the chloride of lime to dissolve the woolly
shreds found in the mud; or they might be well skimmed out by a
wire strainer during the process of boiling.
I also sometimes boil alum with such wool washing suds or other
liquids containing soapy matters for more effectually separating the 1
saponaceous and fatty matters intermingled therewith.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
would have it understood that what I claim is, the utilization of wool
washing suds or other liquids containing soapy matters or grease by 1
the extraction of oleaginous matters therefrom, and the production of
tallow or oil from the resulting substances, substantially in the manner
herein-before described.
'
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Benjamin, have hereunto
"
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the 2
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
TART ANAYIRY