US36731A - Improvement in the manufacture of soap - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES L. M. T. mom, or PARIS, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT m THEUMANUFA'CTURE OF SOAP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,731, dated October 21, 1862 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS MARIE Tru'iorrrirn R101, of Paris, in the Empire of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Soap and the Preparation of Materials for the Purpose; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

In the manufacture of soap considerable portions of the oil or fat, consisting, principally, of

glycerine, will not combine with the alkali;

and hence cannot become saponified, but become refuse, whereby considerablewaste of material is occasioned. Now,'acids, and sulphuric acids especially, have the property of attacking or acting on the glycerine of oil and fat rather than on the oleine and margarine thereof, and the principal object of the present invention is to treat materials intended for the manufacture of soap in such manner that every part of the oil or fatty matter shall be used or rendered available in producing the soap-that is to say, shall enter into the composition of the soap. For this purpose the oil, tallow, or fat which is to be employed in the manufacture of the soap is first treated .with sulphuric acid or other acid,whereb y the glycerine contained in such oil or fat .is. rendered fit for or converted into a matter capable of combining with alkalies, and hence of being saponified, or, in other words, of entering-intothe composition of the soap. This process may be described as converting the glyceriue into a matter assimilable to oleine and margarine, thereby bringing it into a condition in which it will combine with alkali.

The soap is then manufactured by combining alkaline lyes' with the oil, tallow, or fatty matof the proportions may be calculated beforehand, so as. to get a desired effect) with an. oil. treated. by an acid that acts on its glycerine, v

as aforesaid. A hot process may be used. This accelerates the mutual action of the bodies; but, being more expensive, it is not recommended for oils. s Sulphuric acid is the agent mostlypreferred; This'acid for the purpose of this invention. transforms theglycerine into sulpho-glyceric acid, which is a substance especially capable of combining with alkalies. The proportion of acid should dependon the oil or fat treated.

'A dose of six-thousandth parts is especially recommended for olive-oil; but for earth-nut oil and sesame-oil up to ten (or fifteen) thousandth parts may be used. All these parts are by weight. A soap may be manufactured (the ingredients being prepared as described) with from four to ten per cent. of soda by the cold process. Tallow should be first liquefied.

In proceedingto,describe, by way'of exam ple, one mode of performing the invention, I Wish it to be understood that the proportions of ingredients, the degrees Baum, the mere details of performance, and the portions of time hereinafter mentioned maybe varied.

It is preferred to proceed thus: Suppose, for example, olive-oil is to be treated. The oilis placed in a cylinder, vessel, or receiver fitted with an agitator, and sulphuric acid at 66 Baum is added, a little at a time, till the whole dose of acid introduced equals sixthousandth parts (by weight) of the oil. The mixture'is then stirred for an hour, and caustic lye at about 15 Baum-say about ten parts, by weight, of lye to one hundred parts, by weight, of oil--is then poured into the same vessel (or into a larger vessel, into which the mate;

rials are transferred.) In a quarter of an hour another and equal supply of lye is to be added, and so on till there are two hundred pounds lye to two hundred pounds oil. Then a fresh supply of two hundred pounds lye at 15? is to be added, by forty pounds at a time, and the whole is to be left at rest for about half an hour, and

stirred for a quarter of an hour, and so on till ciently set after each batch isintroduced be fore throwing in the next batchof forty pounds, When this part of the process iscompleted and the pasty. mass fully prepared, it

:should be stirred in the receiver before drawing off, audit is then drawn off into the frames or sesses through orifices in the receiver, the

upper orifices being opened first .on account of the denseness of the paste. The pasty mass may remain for from ten to fifteen hours I produced, according to this invention, on logiin the frames, which should slope a little at bottom to run" off any lye yet remaining, though where rich olive-oil is used there will be no lye left to run off. If the soap is to be mottled or marbled, that is next'performed, and in that case the English mode is adopted, and the soap is left for four days in the frames before cutting it. It is then dried in the open air. For white soap the mass .may be. out after remaining from ten to twelve hours in the frames.

By adopting the means of manufacture here- I in described the degree of the alkalinity of the lye may be readily calculated, so as to produce a soap ready prepared for sale or consumption when withdrawn from the frames, as the lye only supplies, say, for example, the forty-five per cent. of water required. Thus, for example, about two pounds three ounces oil and four pounds six ounces lye at 15 Baum, prepared with salt of soda of commerce at 80 Baum, would furnish upward of six pounds of the aforesaid pasty mass, yielding from four to five pounds soap containing ten per cent. soda.

Tallows, and mixtures of tallow and lard, may be treated according to this invention, taking care to keep the fat at melting-point the whole time, to render it sufficiently fluid. The lyes should be at the same temperature as the fat, to prevent congelation at the time that the mixing takes place, and the dose of acid may be increased to at least one per cent. that is, one part, by weight, of acid to every hundred parts, by weight, of fatty matter.

Hard soaps may be manufactured with a variety of oils other than olive-oil. Tallows and other fats, after being liquefied, may be treated on this plan.

By the means described soaps may be manufactured in such manner that their composition-v3. 0., the relative proportions of the constituents that are to enter into their ultimate compositionmay be ascertained or settled,

the soap being, so to speak, produced on what I hereinafter explain as logical principles of manufacture. Y

I now proceed to furnish further details as to the best mode of carrying the invention into effect.

' Sulphuric acid is recommended as the agent best adapted for the purpose of acting on the glycerine. The proportions of sulphuric acid recommended as best suited are from ten to thirty thousandth parts, by weight, of acid to one part, by weight, of the oil or fat, the precise quantity of acid to be used varying between these proportions, according to the nature of the oil or fat. The larger the quantity of glycerine contained in. the oil or fat the larger must be the quantity of acid used. Whenthe fat or oil is treated with acetic acid, the glycerine is converted into aceto-glyceric acic; when with hydrochloric acid, it is converted into chloro-glyceric acid, and so on.

What I mean by saying that soaps'may be cal or rational principles of manufacture, is this: Hitherto in the manufacture of soap, as before stated, a large proportion of the oil or fatnamely, the glycerinedid not enter into the composition of the soap, and as this portion was not discoverable before introducing the alkaline lyes it was, of course, impossible to ascertain how much of the oil or fat would be available, or would really enter into the composition of the soap when manufactured. Consequently there were no means of regulating the proportions of the ingredients of the lye beforehand, so as to get any desired precise relative proportions of alkali and fatty or oily matter in the soap at the end of the operation, whereas by treating the oil or fat with acid, (before adding the alkaline lyes,) and thereby converting its glycerine into a matter that will combine with alkali and produce soap, the quantity of available fat or oil will be known, and thus the exact proportions of the ingredients of the lye may be calculated beforehand, so as to arrive at any desired relative proportions of ingredients in the soap, according to the quality required, or use for which it may be intended. Soaps thus produced, whereof the ultimate proportions of ingredients intended to enter into their composition are known and regulated before manufacture, are what I call rational soaps.

When hard and common domestic soaps are manufactured according to this invention, it is recommended that the soap should be subjected, after manufacture, to the following finishing or refining supplementary process, which prevents rancidity and rectifies defects in manufacture. When the soap is duly produced, and after it has been withdrawn from the receivers, then, about four or five days afterward, or, at all events, when saponification has completely ensued, it should be completely immersed in a saline solution at about 7 or 8 Baum, salt, and boiled therein for four or five hours. 7

In the process previously described I have mentioned certain proportions of ingredients, also certain degrees Baum and certain intervals of time; but these may, of course, be varied without departing from the principle of the process, which, apart from these details, may be described as consisting in first subjecting the oil or fat to a preliminary treat ment with sulphuric or other acid, to transform its glycerine into a matter capable of combining with the alkali used, (and of thus contributing to the composition of the soap,) and then adding weak lyes prepared beforehand, according to the required proportions, such lyes being added to the oil or fat in portions or batches, instead of the whole at one time, stirring the mixture after each such addition, and then allowing it to rest after each such addition before proceeding to'introduce the next batch.

In the method of proceeding above described, according to which the oil or fat is 36,731 q is first treated with sulphuric or other acid, to convert its glycerine, as aforesaid, and is then combined with alkaline lyes so as to produce the.

soap, it may be observed that the lyes are pre: pared beforehand with the desired proportions of water, and as the water contained therein is thus supplied to the oil or fat the propor tionsof water to the lye have only to "be calculated beforehand, in order toobtain any required proportion of Water in the soap itself.

I have somewhat particularly referred to olive oil; but it must be understood. that the invention is equally applicable to other oils that have been or may be used in the manufacture of soap as well as to tallows and fats.

In treating tallow and other fats, which are in a solid, concrete, or, at least,viscous state, it is necessary first to reduce them, by the application of heat, to a condition of fluidity resembling that of oil, in which they are treated with the sulphuric or other acid, to convert their glycerineinto a matter capable of saponification. p

Having now described the nature of the said invention, and in what manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claimmere addition of alkaline lyes to such oils, and

especially by the particular mode of proceeding by cold process, hereinbefore described.

3. The mode herein described of manufacturing soap by a cold process, in which weak alkaline lyes are combined with olive or other oils previously treated with an acid, for the purpose of converting their glycerine into a matter capable of. entering into the composition of the soap.

4. The manufacturing of what is herein described as a rational soap, which may contain fromfour to ten per cent. soda, such soap being prepared by a cold process, as described, and with ingredients the proportions of which may be regulated before manufacture. v

.5. The process herein described, in which tallows and fats reduced to a liquid or fluid state are treated with sulphuric or other acid, to convert their glycerine into amatt'er capable of entering into the composition of the soap, and are afterward combined with weak alkaline lyes, soas to produce soap.

6. The manufacture of soap by means of oil or fat first treated with sulphuric or other acid,

(in such manner as to render the glycerine thereof capable-of entering into the composition of soap,) and then combined with weak alkaline lyes when a hot process is used.

7 The preparation of olive-oil for the manufacture of soap by cold process in so far as regards the treatment of such oil (before combinin g it with alkaline lyes) with sulphuric acid in the proportion of six-thousandth parts by weight of acid to one part by weight of oil.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

RIOT.