AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING MOTTLED SOAP
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philipp Kürten, of Cologne, in the Kingdom of
Prussia, Soap Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS
OF MANUFACTURING MOTTLED SOAP."
Sealed the 15th December 1857, and dated the 17th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philipp Kürten at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1857.
I, PHILIPP KÜRTEN, of Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Soap Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING MOTTLED SOAP," to be as follows:-
My Invention is an improvement upon the process described with refer-
ence to mottled soap in the Specification of my Patent dated the 3rd of
December 1856, No. 2863, for improvements in the manufacture of mottled
soap and yellow soap; and instead of first producing hard curd soap from
tallow or other fatty matter and then boiling it a second time with cocoa-nut
oil, as described in the Specification of the said Patent, I now proceed as
follows:-The requisite quantity of tallow, palm oil, or fat obtained from
bones is, together with the cocoa-nut oil, put into the pan and dissolved, and
then boiled with lye of caustic soda, of which so much is added until the soap
which is produced by the boiling of the fatty substances with the soda lye has

page_text: acquired a sharp pungent taste. The boiling is continued until the soap has
the requisite degree of hardness. The soap is then transferred to the frames
and covered over, and when cold it will have a mottled appearance, similar to
the soap prepared by the old processes. If coloring matter is used it is to be
added to and boiled with the soap previous to its being transferred to the frames.
To prevent the separation of the lye from the soap, I prepare it as follows:-I
take soda lye of 15 degrees of Beaume's hydrometer and boil it down until it
measures 80 degrees; after having grown cold, salt will have settled to the
bottom, which is then removed, when the lye will be ready for use.
The novelty of my process consists in the preparation of the soda lye as
described, and also in putting all the fatty matters which I use for making the
suap together into one pan, and in producing the finished soap without sepa-
rating the lye from it, whereby it acquires a mottled appearance whether
coloring matter is added to it or not.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Philipp Kürten in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIPP
KURTEN, of Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Soap Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her leirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Philipp Kürten, Her special licence that I, the said Philipp Kürten, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Philipp
Kürten, 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF
MANUFACTURING MOTTLED SOAP," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Philipp Kürten, 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

page_text: 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 Philipp Kürten, 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 follow-
ing statement (that is to say):-
Instead of proceeding as described in the Specification of my Patent dated
the 3rd of December 1856, No. 2863, with reference to the manufacture of
mottled soap, by first producing hard curd soap from tallow or other fatty
matter and then boiling it a second time with cocoa-nut oil, I now proceed as
follows-Having placed in one pan the requisite quantity of tallow, palm
oil, or fat obtained from bones, together with the cocoa-nut oil, I dissolve the
whole, and then boil, with the addition of lye of caustic soda, until the soap
which is produced by such boiling of the fatty substances with the soda lye las
acquired a sharp pungent taste. The boiling is continued until the soap attains
to the requisite degree of hardness, in. which state the soap is tranferred to the
frames and covered over. When cold it will have a mottled appearance,
similar to the soap prepared by the usual processes. When coloring matter
is to be used it must be added to and boiled with the soap previously to its
being transferred to the frames. I have found that soda lye of 15 degrees of
Beaume's hydrometer, evaporated until it acquires the strength of 30 degrees,
completely answers the purpose of preventing the lye from separating from
the soap, which is the object I have in view. Before being used this lye must
be allowed to grow cold, by which time the salt will have settled to the bottom
and can be removed.
I would, however, observe, that by using the best quality of strong alkalis
the process of increasing the soda lye to the strength of 30 degrees by evapo-
ration can be dispensed with, as such alkalis contain a much smaller pro-
portion of salt than alkalis of an inferior description. The same kind of
mottled soap can be produced from any fatty substance even without the
addition of cocoa-nut oil, in which latter case, however, the lye to be used
must be weaker by one-third in degrees than when cocoa-nut oil is employed.
Care must be taken in this process to employ the lye neither too sparingly
nor in excess, but to produce a perfectly neutral soap, in which neither the
fatty substances nor the lye are in excess. Nor must the soap contain too
much or too little water, inasmuch as in the former case the mottling will
become indistinct, whilst in the latter the lye is liable to separate from the
soap to some extent. Soap thus prepared and of sufficient hardness acquires
when slowly cooled in the frames a grey and white appearance, similar to

page_text: marble, and is called in the trade "natural mottled soap." Fatty substances
of a dirty color produce a darker shade than fat of a better quality, but should
the mottled appearance not be sufficiently distinct, a few pounds of dark color
ing matter dissolved in lye may be added to the soap in its hot state. By
these means the glicerine, which forms a constituent part of each fatty sub-
stance, remains bound up with the soap, which is therefore better adapted for
use, and does not so quickly melt in the water.
By this improved process a greater quantity of soap is obtained in proportion
to the materials employed than by the ordinary process, and the soap is, more-
over, very hard and not too pungent.
Having now described the improved process which I use for the purpose of
manufacturing what is generally called mottled soap, I wish it to be understood
that what I claim as the Invention intended to be secured to me by the above
in part recited Letters Patent is,
Firstly, the preparing the soda lye in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before described.
Secondly, the dissolving and boiling all the fatty matters which are to be
used for making the soap together with the lye in one pan.
And, thirdly, the producing the finished soap without separating the lye from
it, whereby it acquires a natural mottled appearance whether coloring matter
be added to it or not..
In witness whereof, I, the said Philipp Kürten, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
PHILIP
KÜRTEN. (L.D.)