A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOAP, CANDLES, AND SEALING WAX
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FARINA, late of Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex, but now of
No. 88, Upper East Smithfield, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the
fifth year of Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-two, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Farina, Her especial licence that I, the said
Charles Farina, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Farina, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOAP, CANDLES, AND SEALING WAX;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Charles Farina, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, parti-
cularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
cnrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Farina, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the saine is to be performed, are described in the words
following; that is to say:-
My Invention of a New Method of Manufacturing Soap, Candles, and
Scaling Wax, may for the convenience of description be divided into the
following parts:
First, an improved method of producing lees.
Secondly, a new combination of animal and vegetable substances to be
introduced into soap, and a method of discharging the color and smell there-
from, and also from resin, grease, or oil; and,
Thirdly, a new method of making candles and sealing wax.
First, as to my improved method or process for making or producing lees.
I take the alkali commonly used for making soap or other alkali and throw it
gradually into boiling water, in any vessel calculated for the purpose. The
alkali, as thrown in, is continually stirred, so as to prevent it from adhering to
the bottom of the vessel; cbullition is kept up by an open fire in a furnace or
by heat applied by means of steam, until all the alkali is perfectly dissolved.
By this means any required strength or weight of lees may be obtained. I
then move the lees from the vessel in which they have been dissolved and
throw them into an iron back charged with lime and salt, and let the mixturo
stam for a few hours to obtain the caustic properties of the lime, and I
continue to throw in the alkaline solution, prepared as above mentioned, until
the caustic property of the lime is entirely extracted. The result will be
caustic leos, which may then be used in the soap copper in any required
strength. When the lees (prepared as above) are spent, they are pumped off
and run through a filter to separate any impurity or cohesive matter or goods
they may retain they are then let run through a shoot into another back
containing fresh lime. These spent lees are, as soon as they have been run
through the lime, drawn off' 'from the back in the insual way, and pumped into
the vessel where the alkali is dissolved, as above mentioned, and more alkali is
then thrown in, which must again he dissolved, as before directed, till the
required strength of lees is obtained; those are again added to another fresh
lime back to give themi more caustic.property, and they are then ready for the
soap copper. This process is continued with all the spent lecs that are
obtained upon the manufactory, and the 'color is discharged through the
means of filtration with the required quantity of animal charcoal obtained
from calcined bones. By this process every portion of the strength, both of
alkali and lime, is secured, and but a small supply of pure water required,

page_text: merely to wash the lime with after it is exhaused. By this means a great
saving of lime, salt, and alkali is obtained over the old process of producing
lees.
Secondly, my combination of animal and vegetable substances to be intro-
duced into soap, and my method of discharging the color and smell therefrom,
and from resin, grease, or oil, are as follows:-I first take bones in the rough
state, or hoofs, horns, or other refuse animal matter, and purify them in lime
water for twelve hours. I then let off the lime water, and let on pure water
to wash them clean. They are then boiled by fire or steam until all the fat is
obtained that is contained in the animal matter. This, whilst in a liquid state,
is to be run off into another vessel heated by steam or fire and boiled with
a portion of allumina (to be obtained in the manner after described) and
animal charcoal, then let run through a filter into the soap copper either with
or without other materials, and lees added and soap made and finished in the
usual way. The same process is made use of for discoloring and purifying all
grease, resin, and oils of all kinds. The bones or animal matter, after the fat
is extracted as above, are taken out and dried by steam pipes, or on a kiln.
When they are sufficiently dry they are ground into a very fine powder or
dust; they are then boiled in water by steam or fire until all the gelatine or
glutinous matter is obtained. This gelatine or glutinous matter is taken off,
and the remaining portion of the bones, phosporous, or animal substance is
boiled over again in a wooden vat with fresh water acidulated with alum,
muriatic or sulphuric acid, or any of the strong acids. The quantity of acids
used must be sufficient to destroy the portion of bone or phosphorus of tho
bone that is left. This liquid is strained through a filter and added to the
first quantity of extract obtained; the whole is then purified in the same way
as the fat, grease, or oil above mentioned, and then introduced into the soap
copper as before. If a great degree of whiteness is required, I proceed as
follows: I charge the soap copper with pure lime water (about one third of
what the copper will hold); I then fill the copper with the grease, oil, or other
material of which the soap is to be made, having first purified such material
by the means before described. The copper is then gently boiled and chloride
of lime is then introduced into the copper either in a liquid or vapour state.
The caustic property of the lime will destroy the acetic property of the chlo-
ride. After boiling three or four hours the water is pumped away and then
lees are added, and the soap finished as before directed. I take potatoes or
other vegetable substance, or the extract or produce of such, and when neces
sary have them cleansed from impurities. I then throw them into a wooden
vat supplied by steam pipes, and boil them in. water until they are reduced to

page_text: a jelly, then they are strained through sieves or or any other apparatus to
separate the husk, or the vegetable matter may be ground in a mill in a dry
state, and the fecula or farinaceous portions separated from the husk. The
husks may be reduced into a jelly in the steam vats, as above mentioned, by
boiling them in water acidulated with alum, muriatic, sulphuric, or any other
strong acid, until reduced to a fluid. The acid is then to be neutralized with
soda, potash, lime water, ammonia, or any alkali suitable for the purpose.
The substance thus obtained when neutralized is thrown into the copper and
mixed with soap made in the usual way. The quantity used in soap by me
is from twenty to twenty-five per cent. of this composition to the quantity of
the tallow, grease, or oil made use of. After the combination of these mate-
rials is formed with the soap, resin is added in such quantities as the soap may
require. Vegetable substance may also be introduced into soap by the following
process-The fecula or farinaceous portions are to be moistened with hot
water and reduced to the substance of a thin paste; this must be constantly
stirred in order to prevent it from setting or becoming stiff until it is thoroughly
mixed. Alm of equal weight with the fecula is then to be dissolved in water,
and the fecula (dissolved as before directed) added to the solution of alum.
This mixture is boiled about one hour, or until the substances are perfectly
combined and reduced to a jelly. Soda also, of equal weight with the fecula,
is then thrown in gradually (stirring all the while), and the mixture is boiled.
again until the soda is entirely dissolved; the whole is then passed through a
filter to separate the water, and the substance remaining is then added to soap
in the crutching pan or in the copper after the soap is fitted.
And thirdly, as to my process for making candles and scaling wax. Gelatine
is obtained from any of the animal substances before described in the soap
process, and boiled with alumina and ivory black, or animal charcoal, and then
filtered, to which are added an equal proportion of resin, purified and prepared
as directed in the soap process. The quantity of alumina and ivory black can
only be decided by the greater or less degree of whiteness of the gelatine, but
generally one twentieth part of alumina and one twentieth part of ivory black
are sufficient to whiten eighteen parts of gelatine. The filtered gelatine is
boiled with tallow or wax until it becomes of the consistency required, and the
candles or sealing wax are made in the usual way. Liquid or vapour chloride
of lime may be beneficially used in making candles or scaling wax in the s
same manner as directed in the soap process. The allumina referreil to in the
foregoing processes is produced by the combination of alum and soda, the
caustic property of the soda neutralizing the acetic property of the alum. In.
producing the alumina the alum is dissolved by beat, either with or without

page_text: the aid of water. When the alum is dissolved soda is added of the same
weight as the allum. A strong effervescence will then take place, and allu-
mina is produced. In the foregoing processes I use ten per cent. of the
different purifying and discoloring properties to the quantity of other materials
made use of.
Having thus ascertained and described the different parts of my Invention,
I claim as my New Method of Manufacturing Soap, Candles, and Scaling
Wax, the new way of preparing lecs, together with the combinations contained
in the descriptions above given.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Farina, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Charles Farina, in the
presence of
CHARLES (L.S.) FARINA.
Clerk to Messrs. Smart & Buller,
56, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Charles Farina came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purposc.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One