Year: 1898

page_text: A communication by ANATOLE DES CRESSONNIÈRES and ERNEST DES CRESSONNIÈRES,
both of 82, Chaussée de Gand, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Soap
Makers.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of soap.
The improvement in the manufacture of soap in question consists essentially in
the intermingling of the material during drying, that is to say, an additional
working or trituration of the paste, having the effect of changing or renewing
the surfaces, or in other words, of turning to the outside the layers hitherto
inside the sheets, flakes, shavings or other divided forms in which the paste is
exposed to drying, so that the drving proceeds more uniformly over all the parts
cf the paste, in contradistinction to that which occurs in the ordinary process in
which the drying action is invariably exercised upon the outer layer alone during
the whole period of the drying.
In order to obtain the requisite degree of de-hydration in relation to the total
quantity of the product, its exposure in the drying apparatus must be of a corre-
sponding duration. Now as in the ordinary process the drying action proceeds
continuously upon the same external layer, this layer soon becomes a hard and
impermeable crust opposing the normal action and retarding the result, and
consequently prolonging the period of time required for the drying, and requiring
an increased amount of heat, and which above all has the drawback of destroying
the homogeneousness of the material or mass which is thus dried irregularly
throughout its various layers, and which consequently affects the quality of the
paste in a manner hardly to be afterwards remedied."
The process of the intermingling of the paste in the course of drying entirely
obviates these various inconveniences, that is to say, the material dries uniformly
without forming any crust, the period of drying is shortened, heat is economised,
and above all the quality of the paste is superior, and it requires no subsequent
improvement.
It must be understood that the new process is applicable to all systems of manu-
facture and of drying, because its effect will always be proportional to the

page_text: conditions in which it is carried out, but its advantages are more specially
recognisable in its application to the system of continuous manufacture of our
invention in direct combination with which it will now be described by way of
example. For this purpose it should be recollected that this process has for its
essential principle the continuity of the operations of cooling, milling, and drying
of the soap paste, which paste is delivered in a warm and plastic state into a
hopper mechanism having as its movable bottom the upper cylinder of the first
miling roll; it then passes through the series of cylinders which compose the
machine, being thoroughly milled in its progress, and delivered finally in the
form of chips, flakes or shavings to the carrying bands of the drying mechanism
placed immediately in front of the milling mechanism, and in which a heating
device of any suitable kind maintains the temperature at the given point during
the drying, in the course of which the intermingling of the material as above set
forth is caused. For this purpose use is made of a very simple contrivance,
which consists in submitting the chips or flakes of soap to a further milling after
proceeding a part of their course upon the drying bands for the purpose of causing
them to complete the remainder of the journey after the intermingling or
renewal of the surfaces by reason of their passage into a milling mechanism of
suitable construction placed in the interior of the stove between two groups of
bands preferably superimposed one above the other, and corresponding the one
to the first phase, and the other to the second phase of the drying.
In order to define these ideas more clearly an instance of the arrangement of
the drying and intermingling mechanism following the original milling machine
will now be described. The original milling machine has a series of cylinders
causing originally the aggregation of the hot paste and the progressive milling
thereof and is combined with a stove heated by a suitable heating device and
surmounted by a ventilating fan discharging at the top the air charged with the
moisture removed from the soap travelling over suitable conveying bands of a
drying mechanism. The last cylinder of the milling machine delivers to the
first band the soap in the form of flakes and about at the temperature of con-
gealing. From this first band it passes to a second band, and from that to a
third. During its course the surrounding air being heated to the necessary tem-
perature evaporates the water from the exterior layers of the flakes, which thus
arrive at the end of the third band without being covered by a hard and
impermeable crust as usually happens, and it is whilst they are in this normal
state that they pass between the cylinders of an intermingling milling machine,
whereby their surfaces are renewed. This mechanism is so placed as to be
between the first three of the drying mechanism bands and two further bands in
the same and to deliver to this latter group the soap re-worked by the milling
rolls, and presenting to the heated air chips, flakes or shavings formed by means
of suitable scrapers and having new surfaces, enabling the evaporation of the
whole surplus moisture of the paste without forming hard, dry crusts.
The scrapers are placed so as to detach the paste from the cylinder in that part
of the rotation from below upwards so as to facilitate the immediate fall of the
chips, and to prevent an accumulation of material upon the scraper.
When they
reach the end of the last band the chips are carried away by a separate band
which conducts them to the place for the further operations.
It is obvious that in place of a single milling intermediate between two groups
or bands there may be arranged several, and the groups of bands arranged corre-
pondingly according to need, and according to the nature of the material to be
treated; moreover the bands may be grouped either side by side or the one after
the other, but it will be found in practice that the superposed arrangement is
much the most advantageous and generally preferable.
Dated this 25th day of February 1898.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Soap.
A communication by ANATOLE DES CRESSONNIÈRES and ERNEST DES CRESSONNIÈRES,
both of 82, Chaussée de Gand, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Soap
Makers.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement ; —
This invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of soap.
The improvement in the manufacture of soap in question consists essentially in
the intermingling of the material during drying, that is to say, an additional
working or trituration of the paste, having the effect of changing or renewing
the surfaces, or in other words, of turning to the outside the layers hitherto
inside the sheets, flakes shavings or other divided forms in which the paste is
exposed to drying, so that the drying proceeds more uniformly over all the parts
of the paste, in contradistinction to that which occurs in the ordinary process in
which the drying action is invariably exercised upon the outer layer alone during
the whole period of the drying.
In order to obtain the requisite degree of de-hydration in relation to the total
quantity of the product, its exposure in the drying apparatus must be of corre-
sponding duration. Now as in the ordinary process the drying action proceeds
continuously upon the same external layer, this layer soon becomes a hard and
impermeable crust opposing the normal action and retarding the result, and
consequently prolonging the period of time required for the drying, and requiring
an increased amount of heat, and which above all has the drawback of destroying
the homogeneousness of the material or mass which is thus dried irregularly
throughout its various layers, and which consequently affects the quality of the
paste in a manner hardly to be afterwards remedied."
The process of the intermingling of the paste in the course of drying entirely
obviates these various inconveniences, that is to say, the material dries uniformly.
without forming any crust, the period of drying is shortened, heat is economised,
and above all the quality of the paste is superior, and it requires no subsequent
improvement.
It must be understood that the new process is applicable to all systems of manu-
facture and of drying, because its effect will always be proportional to the
conditions in which it is carried out, but its advantages are more specially
recognisable in its application to the system of continuous manufacture of the
invention in direct combination with, which it will now be described by way of
example. For this purpose it should be recollected that this process has for its
essential principle the continuity of the operations of cooling, milling, and drying
of the soap paste, which paste is delivered in the warm and plastic state into a
hopper mechanism having as its movable bottom the upper cylinder of the first
milling roll; it then passes through the series of cylinders which compose the

page_text: machine, being thoroughly milled in its progress, and delivered finally in the
form of chips, flakes or shavings to the carrying bands of the drying mechanism
placed immediately in front of the milling mechanism, and in which a heating
device of any suitable kind maintains the temperature at the given point during
the drying, in the course of which the intermingling of the material as above set
forth is caused. For this purpose use is made of a very simple contrivance,
which consists in submitting the chips or flakes of soap to a further milling after
proceeding a part of their course upon the drying bands for the purpose of causing
them to complete the remainder of the journey after the intermingling or
renewal of the surfaces by reason of their passage into a milling mechanism of
suitable construction placed in the interior of the stove between two groups of
bands preferably superimposed one above the other, and corresponding the one
to the first phase, and the other to the second phase of the drying,
In order to define these ideas more clearly, reference will be had to the accom-
panying drawing in which is indicated diagrammatically an instance of the
arrangement of the drying and intermingling mechanism following the original
milling machine.
.:
In this drawing, the letter B indicates the original milling machine having a
series of cylinders causing originally the aggregation of the hot paste and the
progressive milling thereof, whilst the letter A indicates the stove heated by a
suitable heating device M, and surmounted by a ventilating fan discharging
at the top the air charged with the moisture removed from the soap travelling
over the bands C, D, E, F, G, of the drying mechanism. The last cylinder of
the milling machine B delivers to the first band C the soap in the form of flakes
and about at the temperature of congealing. From this band C it passes to the
band D, and from that to E. During its course the surrounding air being heated
to the necessary temperature evaporates the water from the exterior layers of the
flakes, which thus arrive at the end of the band E without being covered by a
hard and impermeable crust as usually happens, and it is whilst they are in this
normal state that they, pass between the cylinders H and I of the inter-
mingling milling machine, whereby their surfaces are renewed. This mechanism
is so placed as to be between the bands C, D, E and the bands F G and to deliver
to this latter group the soap re-worked by the milling rolls, and presenting to the
heated air chips or flakes formed by means of the scrapers LL and having new
surfaces, enabling the evaporation of the whole surplus moisture of the paste
without forming hard, dry crusts.
The scrapers L L are placed so as to detach the paste from the cylinder in that
part of the rotation from below upwards so as to facilitate the immediate fall of
the chips, and to prevent an accumulation of material upon the scraper. When
they reach the end of the last band G the chips are carried away by the band R
which conducts them to the place for the further operations.
It is obvious that in place of a single milling, intermediate between two groups
of bands there may be arranged several, and the groups of bands arranged corre-
spondingly according to need, and according to the nature of the material to be
treated; moreover the bands may be grouped either side by side or the one after
the other, but it will be found in practice that the superposed arrangement is
much the most advantageous, and generally preferable,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In the manufacture of soap the improved method of drying characterised by
the intermingling of the material or the renewal of the surfaces of the chips or
flakes during their passage through the drying apparatus, so as to obtain a more
uniform evaporation throughout, and to avoid the alteration of the material,
thereby doing away with the hard and dry crusts produced by the present system.
2. Means for carrying out the herein before described drying method in the

page_text: manufacture of soap consisting essentially in the arrangement of the carrying
bands and the interposition between two consecutive groups of said bands of an
intermediate milling apparatus which transfers to the group following the
material which has been delivered to it by the preceding group after it has inter-
mingled or triturated the same in such a manner that the surfaces exposed to the
drying have been changed or renewed, substantially as described.
T
OFI
1600