IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hodgson, of Carlisle, in the County of Cum-
berland, Manager, and Enoch Holden, of the same Place, Dyer, for the
T
Sealed the 19th September 1861, and dated the 16th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch
Holden at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 16th April 1861.
We, ROBERT HODGSON, of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, Manager,
and ENOCH HOLDEN, of the same Place, Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an improved system of manufacturing soap.
Under one modification, the machinery or apparatus used for the purpose.
consists of a revolving cylinder or churn-shaped vessel, to which rotatory.
motion is imparted in any convenient manner. Into this vessel is passed a
perforated pipe, through which steam may be admitted into the cylinder at
pleasure, the passage of the steam, being controlled by a steam cock or valve.
The materials used for the soap manufacture are introduced into the cylinder
by means of a hopper or other arrangement, which can be readily made steam-
tight after the proper proportions of the materials have been passed into the
vessel.
After closing the cylinder the steam is turned on, and the vessel is set.

page_text: in motion. The combined action of the steam and the rotatory motion has the
effect of saponifying the whole of the constituents of the oils or fatty matters
used in the process. In this way the manufacture of soap may be carried out
in a very economical and highly effective manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance, of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch Holden in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
HODGSON, of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, Manager, and ENOCH
HOLDEN, of the same Place, Dyer, send greeting.
of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.Letters
Patent, bearing, date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year our Lord
One, thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch Holden, Her special license that we,
the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch Holden, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch Holden, our
executors, administrators, or 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 we, the said Robert Hodgson and
Enoch Holden, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing:
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 we, the said Robert Hodgson-and-Enoch-Holden; do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and-
by the following statement, reference being had'; to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
: Our said Invention relates to an improved system or mode of manufacturing
soap, whereby a very superior amount of economy and efficiency is secured.

page_text: Under one modification under which the said Invention is carried out in
practice, the machinery or apparatus used for the purpose consists of a
revolving cylinder or churn-shaped vessel, to which rotatory motion is imparted
in any convenient manner. Into this vessel is passed a perforated pipe,
through which steam may be admitted into the cylinder at pleasure, the
flow or passage of the steam being controlled by a steam cock or valve.
The materials used in the soap manufacture are-introduced into the cylinder
by means of a hopper or other arrangement, which can be readily made steam-
tight after the proper proportions of the materials have been passed into
the vessel. After closing the cylinder the steam is turned on and the vessel
is set in motion. The combined action of the steam and the rotatory motion
has the effect of saponifying the whole of the constituents of the oils or
fatty matters used in the process. In this way the manufacture of soap
may be carried out in a very economical and highly effective manner.
And in order that our said Invention of improvements in the manufacture
of soap may be properly understood, we shall now proceed to describe certain
modifications under which the improvements herein-before referred to may.
be judiciously carried out in actual practice, reference being specially made
to the illustrative Figure on the Sheet of Drawing which we have hereunto
appended for the purpose of entering into the necessary descriptive details
involved; that is to say, the illustrative Figure on our Sheet of Drawing is
a front sectional elevation of one form of apparatus which we prefer to use in
carrying out our improvements.
The framework of the apparatus consists of the two parallel vertical-cast-
iron standards A, which are fixed by proper holding down bolts upon
foundation blocks of wood or stone B, sunk with their upper surfaces flush
or level with the floor line C. These two vertical pillar frames are braced
or held together by the transverse tensional bar D, so as to form a compact
and rigid framing. On the top of each standard is attached a bearing E,
for the purpose of carrying the two end spindles or shafts G, H, of the
rotatory cylinder or vessel I. The end spindle G of this cylinder is tubular
to answer as a steam thoroughfare, and it is attached to the corresponding
end cover of the cylinder by means of a wide flange J. This tube is
continued, right through the centre of the cylinder as at K, the portion inside
the cylinder being perforated with minute orifices throughout its entire length:
The opposite end spindle H is solid and is similarly attached by
a wide.
flange L.to the end of the cylinder I, an overhanging belt pulley M being
fitted upon it, for the purpose of obtaining the necessary rotatory motion froni
a belt or band in the ordinary inanner. The steam is supplied by the pipe or

page_text: tube N, which is in direct communication with the steam boiler or generator,
and has fitted upon it a weighted lever, blow, off or safety valve O, for the
purpose of enabling the operator to blow off superfluous steam: This pipe.N
has formed upon it a stuffing box piece P, with a packing gland Q, so that a
steam-tight communication is formed and kept up between the stationary pipe
and the rotatory pipe or spindle G. A self-acting stop valve is fitted in the
pipe N at R to close in an outward direction, so that the soap or the materials
for the manufacture thereof contained in the cylinder I, cannot blow back into
the steam pipe when the pressure from any cause becomes too high in the
cylinder.
The ingredients or materials for the manufacture of soap are introduced by:
the man-hole or adjustable inlet S, whilst a drawing-off cock' or valve is fitted
on the cylinder at T for the purpose, of removing the contents at pleasure:
When the cylinder or rotatory vessel I is duly charged with the necessary
ingredients or materials for the manufacture of soap, it is closed quite steam-
tight, and steam is then turned on by a valve in the usual manner; so as to
flow through the pipe N-and G into the perforated pipe K, and thus reach,
the contents of the cylinder, which is meanwhile caused to revolve at a
greater or less rate, as may be desired. Prior to the admission of the steam to.
the cylinder, the drawing-off tap or valve is turned up and opened, so as to
allow the entering steam to force out the cold air, the valve is then closed.
In this way the steam action combined with the rotatory motion brings about;
the saponifying action of the contained matters in a most economical, rapid,
and effective manner.. When the requisite amount of saponification has been
arrived at, the steam is turned off and the contents are withdrawn from the:
cylinder, which is again charged and subjected to the combined; steam and
rotatory actions as before. In discharging, the machine is stopped, and the
cock or valve is turned down and opened, whilst the steam pressure is still on
to force out the soap.
Although we have herein-before described the cylinder or steam and soap
chamber I as revolving, it will be obvious to the practical man that the same
or a generally similar effect may be produced by making the cylinder
stationary, whilst the perforated pipe K with radial or other arms attached.
thereto is caused to revolve, and thus effect the desired action. The cylinder I
may also be made double or with a steam jacket surrounding it, the steam
being alone admitted into the jacket or annular space, so as to operate upon
the materials contained within the cylinder. itself without mixing or coming in
direct contact with the materials.
ارهم
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe, in conclusion, that what we consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the general system or mode of manufacturing soap, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of manufacturing soap wherein steam is caused
to operate upon the saponifiable materials contained in a rotatory vessel or
chamber.
Third, the application and use of the herein-before described machinery
or apparatus in and for the manufacture of soap.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Hodgson and Enoch Holden,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.