Opinion ID: 1568047
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Framed Soap and Milled Soap.

Text: Prior to the work and experimentation by Bodman, in connection with his patent, soap in bar form for domestic use was divided into two types, known as framed soap and milled soap. Each type had distinctive advantages and disadvantages, with which soap makers were quite familiar. These soap makers fully knew the enormous commercial profit that would result if a new type of soap could be developed which would possess a maximum of the advantages of both types of soap with a minimum number of the disadvantages attaching to these two types. Bodman's endeavors were directed toward the solution of this problem. Framed soap was generally made by mixing the soap stock in an open crutcher, after which the soap was poured into a frame or mould, allowed to cool and cut into bars. The soap could be aerated in the crutcher by stirring in air. Framed soap had a high water content and could be easily made to float; but it tended to warp, and since the air dispersion was coarse and uneven, it did not possess the fine texture or feel which was desired by many fastidious housewives. Procter's Old Ivory was an outstanding example of a floating framed soap. Milled soap is subjected to milling and plodding. From the kettle, the soap is fed to a cooling roll, solidified in thin films and it then goes through a drier, where the water content is reduced. The dried soap is then fed onto a series of rolls, making up a mill, which, by a squeezing process, causes the soap to become homogeneous. From the mill, the soap emerges in ribbons and then goes to a Hinkle which it leaves in the form of small pellets. Then these pellets of soap are fed into a plodder, which squeezes the pellets together, and compacts them. The soap is extruded as a continuous bar. This bar is cut into cakes, which are pressed and stamped. Milled soap has a fine texture or feel, holds perfumery well and does not tend to warp; but it does not float and develops laminations or cleavage planes into which water may enter and cause the soap to swell and disintegrate.