IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP POWDER
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mackay, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist and Importer of Foreign
Goods, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
POWDER."
Sealed the 17th February 1863, and dated the 22nd August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Mackay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
August 1862.
I, JAMES MACKAY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturing Chemist and Importer of Foreign Goods, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SOAP POWDER," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture in an improved manner of soap
powder to be used as a substitute for soap, and for washing and bleaching
purposes. And the Invention consists in combining together the following or
proportional quantities of the following ingredients, namely, twenty hundred-
weight of soda crystals, one hundredweight of best yellow or pale soap, one
hundredweight of pearl ashes, one hundredweight of black or pot ashes, ten
to twenty gallons of water, one hundredweight of soda ash, seven pounds of
palm oil, seven pounds of sulphuric acid, seven pounds of sulphate of soda,
and seven pounds of chloride of lime. The compound may be varied by
omitting or by slightly varying the proportion of one or more of the ingre-

page_text: dients; but the above proportions are preferred. The ingredients are all
mixed together in a boiler, and boiled by means of a direct fire or by means
of steam for a period of about five hours, after which the compound is spread
out in shallow troughs to cool, being continually stirred until cooled. The
resulting product is a granular or more or less crystallised powder and is 5
packed for sale.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Mackay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MACKAY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufac-
turing Chemist and Importer of Foreign Goods, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of 1
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Mackay, Her special licence that the said
, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Mackay, 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 POWDER," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Mackay, my exe- 2
cutors 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 a
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Mackay, 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 in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture in an insproved manner of

page_text: soap powder to be used as a substitute for soap, and for washing and bleaching
purposes. And my said Invention consists, according to one modification, in
combining together the following or proportional quantities of the following
ingredients, namely twenty hundredweight of soda crystals, one hundredweight
of best yellow or pale soap, one hundredweight of pearl ashes, one hundred-
weight of black or pot ashes, ten to twenty gallons of water, one hundred-
weight of soda ash, seven pounds of palm oil, seven pounds of sulphuric acid,
seven pounds of sulphate of soda, and seven pounds of chloride of lime. The
ingredients are all mixed together in a boiler, and boiled by means of a direct
fire or by means of steam for about five hours, after which the compound is
spread out in shallow troughs to cool, being continually stirred until cooled.
The resulting product is a granular or more or less crystallised powder, in
which state it is packed for sale.
The compound may be varied without altering its general character and
properties by omitting one or more of the ingredients herein-before mentioned,
or by varying the proportions of one or more of the ingredients, or, again, by
substituting for some of the ingredients or portions thereof other substances
having similar properties. In some respects the resulting product is improved
by adopting the modification about to be described.
In this the second modification the ingredients are first combined into two
separate mixtures, which mixtures are subsequently combined to form the
soap powder. The first mixture consists of twenty gallons of cold soft water,
one hundredweight of pale or yellow soap, twenty-eight pounds of olive oil or
tallow, twenty-eight pounds of white soap, twenty-eight pounds of brown tallow
soap, fourteen pounds of black or soft soap, fourteen pounds of liquid caustic
soda, and seven pounds of palm oil. Proportional quantities of grease, tallow,
or oil may be used. These ingredients are all mixed together in a boiler,
and are heated by means of a direct fire or by means of steam for about three
hours, the heat being gradually raised to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. Gentle
evaporation is then to be continued for about one half hour longer, the ingre-
dients being stirred with a wooden spatula. The second mixture consists
of five gallons of water, twenty hundredweight of soda, one hundredweight
of best American white or pearl ashes, one hundredweight and a quarter of
sulphate of soda, one hundredweight of soda ash of a strength of fifty per
centum, and twenty-eight pounds fuller's earth bleached by chloride of lime
or sulphurous acid. These ingredients are all mixed together in a boiler, and
are heated by means of a direct fire or by means of steam for about two
hours at a heat of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat is then raised to
about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, and continued for one hour more. The two

page_text: mixtures of the respective quantities, berein-before stated, having been pre-
pared, as described, are next put together into one boiler, and the whole is
heated by means of a direct fire or by means of steam, and is kept at a heat
of 210 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour, being constantly stirred with
a wooden spatula. The compound is finally spread out in shallow wooden
troughs to cool, being constantly stirred whilst cooling. The resulting product
is a granular or more or less crystallised powder, in which state it is packed
for sale. A somewhat cheaper quality of the soap powder is obtained by
making the quantity of soda in the compound forty hundredweight instead
of twenty hundredweight.
Having now particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state, that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein-before described, but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
berein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the preparing of soap powder,
substantially in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mackay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
JAMES MACKAY. (L.s.)