US3485905A

US3485905A - Process for making variegated soap

Info

Publication number: US3485905A
Application number: US616903A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward Compa Russell; Liebowitz Marvin
Original assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Current assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Priority date: 1967-02-17
Filing date: 1967-02-17
Publication date: 1969-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 1986-12-23
Also published as: NO125188B; BE707560A; DE1617069A1; NL154780B; NL6800140A; SE343326B; FI48200C; CH471890A; DK129099B; GB1148273A; FI48200B; DE1617069B2

Abstract

1,148,273. Extruding soap. COLGATE-PALMOLIVE CO. 11 Dec., 1967 [17 Feb., 1967], No. 56222/67. Heading B5A. [Also in Division C5] Soap having specks, streaks or striations of one or more colours is made by feeding soap of a basic colour in milled form to a screw 11, passing the soap through a multi-orificed die-plate 14 to form strands, cutting the strands into lengths by means of a knife 18, adding one or more colouring agents to the strand lengths within a vacuum chamber 16 and extruding the lengths through an orifice 26 by means of a screw 21. As shown, a single colouring agent is supplied from a chamber 21a via a needle valve 23 and a non- corrosive, e.g. stainless steel, tube 22. Chamber 21a is connected via conduit 31 to the vacuum source for chamber 16. Dieplate 14 is backed by a plate 15 having larger orifices and both plates are carried by a ring 19 pivotable to facilitate cleaning. Knife 18 is directly connected to the shaft of screw 11. Barrels 12 and 25 are provided with fins 28 and jackets 29 within which cooling liquid may circulate. Preferably nozzle 26 has a trimming action and shaves, e.g., a <SP>1</SP>/ 32 -<SP>1</SP>/ 16 inch thick surface layer, off the extrudate. In addition to the colouring agent, an emollient and/or a bacteriostat may be added via tube 22. If such a mixture is of a pasty nature, valve 23 may be replaced by a pump. Detailed examples are given in which the production of soaps having blue streaks on white and blue streaks on blue are described.

Description

Dec. 23, 1969 R. E. COMPA ETAL PROCESS FOR MAKING VARIEGATED SOAP Filed Feb. l7, 1967 INVENTORS Russell Edward Compa,

Marvin Liebowl'rz BY WWX W ATTORNEY nited States Patent 3,485,905 PRGCESS FOR MAKTNG VARIEGATED SOAP Russell Edward Compa, Emerson, and Marvin Liebowitz, Edison, Null, assignors to Colgate-Paimolive Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 616,903 lint. Cl. 32% 3/12, 3/10, 3/04 US. Cl. 26475 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved method of making soap is described which comprises contacting filaments or pellets of milled soap having a base color with at least one solution of a different color in an evacuated chamber prior to vacuum plodding and extruding the soap.

filler, air, etc., and running the crutched mixture into a frame where it is allowed to cool and solidify at ambient temperatures. The process is described as involving introducing soap particles into a plodder through an evacuated space, plodding the soap at a tempreature in the range of about 70 F. to about 120 F., and extruding the soap from the plodder as a bar which may then be cut into cakes, pressed and wrapped. As described in US. Patent No. 2,649,417 in the preferred embodiment of the invention kettle soap is crutched with desired addition agents to form a mixture suitable for a laundry or household bar, the mixture chilled without substantial drying to solid form, and the solidified soap which may be taken from a chilling roll in the form of ribbons is then compacted under a vacuum. As described in US. Patent No. 2,649,417 the soap is discharged from the upper worm into a vacuum chamber through which it falls on to the lower worm from which it is discharged through a nozzle as a bar of any desired cross-sectional configuration.

In contrast, the present invention provides for nonuniform distribution of color to provide striated or speckled variegated bar toilet soap having at least two colors in which white is considered a color. It is an bject of the present invention to provide a method for producing a bar soap having a basic color, including white, having streaks or tear-drops of at least one other color. In general, a conventional White toilet soap comprising fatty acid soap, white pigment, preservative and perfume is mixed and milled on conventional equipment and fed into the top worm of a double-barrel vacuum plodder such as described and illustrated in US. Patent No. 2,649,- 417. The soap travels through the top barrel and is extruded therefrom as spaghetti-like filaments and/ or pellets into an evacuated chamber enclosing the discharge end of the top worm and the feed end of the bottom worm. Through the housing of the vacuum chamber is introduced a tube fabricated of material capable of retaining its shape under a vacuum of twenty to twenty-nine inches, substantially inert to the soap, substantially noncorrosive, and preferably of stainless steel. The aforesaid tube extends into the aforesaid vacuum cham er with its discharge end or outlet located over the bottom worm. Attached to the other or inlet end of the aforesaid tube is a feed vessel or hopper kept under substantially the same pressure as the vacuum chamber of the double barrel plodder. A needle valve is interposed between the feed vessel or hopper and the aforesaid tube to regulate the flow of the solution from the feed vessel or hopper through the tube to the vacuum chamber between the top and bottom barrels of the double barrel plodder. The feed vessel containing color solution of the concentration to provide a contrast with the basic color of the feed soap is sealed and kept under substantially the same reduced pressure as is being used within the vacuum chamber. As the pellets and/or spaghetti-like filaments fall from the top worm through the vacuum chamber to the bottom worm, the needle valve at the feed vessel or hopper is adjusted to cause the solution of color to drop on the pellets and/or filaments of soap at a rate required to provide the desired streaks in the extruded bar of soap. The extruded bar is cut into desired lengths and pressed.

The milled soap is fed into an opening 10' in any suitable manner and onto a top worm 11 which rotates within an upper cylinder 12. The top worm carries the soap forward, that is from left to right in the drawing, and at the same time compacts or compresses it and subjects it to a certain amount of levigation. The soap is thus forced through a grinding head 13 and a foraminous plate 14 and through the holes of a backing plate 15 into an evacuated chamber 16. The grinding head 13 is directly attached to the Worm 11 and rotates with the worm. The screen or foraminous plate 14 consists of a sheet metal disc having a myriad of small holes. It is supported at its periphery by rings 17 and is backed by a heavy plate 15 which has a large number of relatively larger holes. Behind this backing plate is set a four bladed knife 18, which is directly fastened to the worm 11 and rotates with it, thus serving to cut the filaments of soap which are extruded through the screen 14 by the upper worm 11 into convenient lengths for feeding to the remainder of the apparatus. The screen 14 and the backing plate 15 are carried by ring 19 which is fastened to the upper cylinder 12 by a hinge, so that when it is desirable to clean the screen, access to it may be had readily.

The filaments of soap, after being cut into convenient lengths as described above, fall by gravity through an opening 20 onto a lower worm 21 (while still under vacuum). While falling through the opening 20, or after falling through the opening 20, the short filaments of soap are contacted by a solution of a color flowing from a container 210: through a tube 22 under control of a valve 23, which preferably is a valve permitting close control of the flow of liquid in the tube 22, such as a needle valve. The container 21a is maintained under substantially the same reduced pressure, i.e., 20 to 29 inches of vacuum, as the chamber 16, in any suitable manner. The lower worm 21 rotates in a lower cylinder 25 and compacts and forces the soap forward through a nozzle 26. This nozzle is constructed in the usual fashion and is provided with a nozzle jacket 27.

Preferably, the nozzle 26 is one having cutting edges which shave-off the outer one-thirtysecond to one-sixteenth ,4, to of an inch of the surface as the bar is extruded through the nozzle. For example, the structure described in Austrian Patent No. 95,947 (Sept. 15, 1923) gives satisfactory results. The trimmings so pro duced can be returned to the mixer when the base color of a succeeding batch is the same as or similar to that used as the second color in the batch from which the aforesaid trimmings are obtained. Thus, blue trimmings can be added to a batch having blue as the base color.

Both the upper cylinder 12 and the lower cylinder 25 are provided with fins 28 and jackets 29 so that coolant can be circulated around the cylinders 12 and 25 to maintain the temperature of the soap being forced through the cylinders by the worms suificiently low to ensure the production of a bar of soap of proper consistency and plasticity in accordance with ordinary practice. The present invention contemplates subjecting the extruded bar to a conditioning step prior to the pressing operation, if desired. This conditioning operation may precede or follow the cutting of the extruded bar into individual cakes and it can be carried out in any one or more of a number of different ways as briefly described in US. Patent No. 2,649,417.

Illustrative of the production of bars of soap having variegated appearance are the following examples.

EXAMPLE I Blue streaks on white Chips of soap comprising percent coconut fatty acid soap and 85 percent hydrogenated tallow acids sodium soap are mixed with titanium dioxide, preservative and perfume in the proportions given hereinafter Ingredient: Weight percent 15:85 coco:tallow sodium soap chips 98.10 Titanium dioxide 0.50 Preservative 0.20 Perfume H 1.20

The soap chips, white pigment, preservative, and perfume are mixed and milled. The milled chips are fed into the top worm of a double-barrel vacuum plodder. As the filaments drop through opening a five percent aqueous solution of a compatible dye such as Heliogen- Blue is dropped onto the filaments and/or pellets at a predetermined rate to produce the desired streaks of the desired depth of color. Since the number of streaks and the depth of color is a matter of aesthetics, the rate of flow is a matter of local opinion and can be as low as 0.1 gram per pound of soap.

EXAMPLE II Blue streaks on blue soap Milled soap chips having the composition given hereinafter are fed to the top worm of a double-barrel plodder- Ingredient: Weight percent 15:85 cocoztallow sodium soap chips 95.470 Titanium dioxide 0.150 Aqueous 50% stannic chloride 0.200 2% aqueous solution of D&C Green dye No. 5 0.250 1% solution external D&C violet dye 0.250 50% aqueous sodium salt of B-glucoheptonic acid 0.200 Trichlorocarbanilide 1.000 Cold cream 1 1.500 Perfume 0.980

1 See the following table: Percent Deionized water 11.35

Borax 0.10

Potassium carbonate 0.05

Beeswax 2.95

Paraflin, M.P. 52.5" C. 4.05

Lanolin, anhydrous 60.70

Mineral oil (light) specific gravity at 156 C.

0.840 to 0.870; viscosity SUS at 100 F. 80-

95 sec.; flash point Taglibue closed-cup 330 F. minimum a- 14.80

As the soap chips fall through the opening 20 they are contacted at the rate of about one gram of solution per pound of soap with a 50/50 blend by weight of a two percent solution of D&C No. 5 green dye and a one percent solution of extract D&C violet No. 2 dye.

EXAMPLE III Blue streaks on blue soap Ingredient: Weight percent 15:85 coco:tall0w sodium soap chips 95.470 Titanium dioxide 0.150 Aqueous 50% stannic chloride 0.200

2% aqueous solution D&C No. 5, green dye 0.125 1% solution external D&C No. 2 violet dye 0.125 5 0% aqueous sodium salt of B-glucoheptonic Borax Potassium carbonate Beeswax Parafiin. Ml. 52.5 C. Lanolin, anhydrous Mineral oil (light) specific gravity at 15.6 C. 0.840 to 0.870; viscosity SUS at 100 F. see; flash point Taglibue closed-cup 330 F. minimum Milled soap chips having the composition set forth in Example III are fed to the top Worm of a double-barrel plodder. As the chips fall through the opening 20 they are contacted at the rate of about 0.5 gram of solution per pound of soap with a 50/50 weight blend of a two percent solution of D&C Green No. 5 dye and a one percent solution of D&C Violet No. 2 dye.

The color or if desired color and additional constituent such as emollient, can be added simultaneously through the tube 22. When both color and emollient are added and particularly when the mixture is in a paste or slurry form, the valve 23 can be eliminated and a small positive displacement pump synchronized with the plodder drive employed.

The blanks cut from the extruded bar can be pressed on a conventional rotary press or on a modified pin die press. When the latter press is used the bars can be pressed on end, which gives an interesting and unusual design seemingly emanating from the center of the bar.

The present method of producing bar soap having streaks or the like of color different from primary or background color, including white, of the bar does not involve multiple mixing and milling and extrusion operations or the need of costly equipment required for the practice of prior art methods of producing variegated soap bars.

What is claimed is:

1. In a method of making a milled and vacuum plodded soap bar the improvement which comprises contacting extruded filaments or pellets of milled soap having a base color in an evacuated chamber with at least one solution of a color different from the base color of said milled soap prior to plodding and extruding the soap at a temperature of about 70 F. to about F. whereby a bar is formed having a base color and striations or tear drops of at least one other color therein.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said soap is plodded prior to being formed into filaments or pellets.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein the contacting of said soap with said color solution is intermittant.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said color is admixed with an emollient prior to contacting with said milled soap.

(References on following page) JULIUS FROME, Primary Examiner T. MORRIS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1942 Garvey '264245 8/1953 Compa 252-109 5