Soap industry

“ So far as industry is concerned the use of nitrogenous and oil wastes in the form of soap has enabled startling economies to be effected. In the woollen industry alone the saving in the soap-bill ranges from 20 per cent. ”

“ The use of hardened oils is not yet general, but there is little doubt that the introduction of this process goes a long way toward solving the problem of cheaper soap material for the soap making industry. ”

“ It is one of the few substances which are entirely consumed by use, leaving no product of any worth. Broken glass and bottles are by no means absolutely worthless; for rags we may purchase new cloth, but soap-water has no value whatever. It would be interesting to know accurately the amount of capital involved in the manufacture of soap; it is certainly as large as that employed in the coffee trade, with this important difference as respects Germany, that it is entirely derived from our own soil. ”

“ Completely neutral soaps, however, are more difficult to manufacture—requiring more skill and care than those in which no attention is paid to excess of alkali—and consequently cost more than the general public are accustomed, or, in fact, care to pay for soaps. While this is true, one must not judge the quality of a soap by the price demanded for it. Some of the manufacturers of miserable soaps charge the public some of the most outrageous prices. Neither can a soap be judged by its odor or its style of package and putting on the market. ”

“ And for the better preventing the elandestine making of soap, without payment of the duties for the same; be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said 20th day of September 1784, it shall be lawful for any officer or officers of Excise to take an account from time to time, as often as he or they shall think fit, by gauging, weighing, or otherwise, as to him or them shall seem most proper and convenient, of all tallow, oil, rosin, and grease of every kind, and of all materials for making soap, which any maker of soap shall at any time have in his possession ”

“ The acid component of the grease partially neutralizes the base, and a new substance is formed, namely, soap.
With the advance of civilization the labor of soap making passed from the home to the factory, very much as bread making has done in our own day. Different varieties of soaps appeared, of which the hard soap was the most popular, owing to the ease with which it could be transported. Within the last few years liquid soaps have come into favor, especially in schools, railroad stations, and other public places, where a cake of soap would be handled by many persons. ”

“ It is often necessary to manufacture a cheaper grade of soap for toilet purposes to meet the demand of a certain class of trade as well as for export. To accomplish this it is of course necessary to produce a very inferior product and run down the percentage of fatty acids contained in the soaps by the addition of fillers or to use cheaper oils in manufacturing. The most simple method of filling a soap is to load it at the mill with some substance much less expensive than the soap itself. ”

“ Through the acid properties of the fats, the oleine, stearine, margarine, etc., which they contain, combine with the alkali to produce the saponified compound.
Hard soap is made with soda; soft soap with potash. The more oleine in the fat, the softer the soap; the more stearine the harder. Rosin is also largely used, sometimes to the extent of one-third the weight of the soap. It increases its hardness, makes it dissolve easier in water and forms a more copious lather.
The Most Economical Soap. Soap may be two-thirds water and still remain solid. Even dry, hard soap contains 20 or 25 per cent. ”

“ Thus we can take a combination of tallow and cocoanut oil and make a great many presumably different soaps by combining these substances with caustic soda, by different methods of manufacture and by incorporating various other ingredients, as air, to form a floating soap, alcohol to make a transparent soap, dyestuffs to give a different color, etc., but essentially it is the same definite compound.
The manufacturer can best judge the brand of soaps he desires to manufacture, and much of his success depends upon the name, package, shape, color or perfume of a cake of soap. ”

“ Recently a company has been formed in this country for hardening oils and it is very probable that the future will see this material extensively used in our own country, as these appear to be the one present hope of the soap manufacturer as a check on the ever increasing cost of fats and oils now used in making soap. ”

“ Now, although the soap may be economized in personal ablution by the uncomfortable method here described, it is impossible to obtain this economy in the washing of linen. In this case, the whole of the water must be saturated with soap before it is available. Soda is, to a certain extent, substituted with a view to economy, as much as £30,000 worth of soda being annually used in the metropolis to compensate for the hard quality of the water; and, perhaps, as an approximative calculation, £200,000 worth of soap is annually wasted without being useful as a detergent. ”

“ Of course, these soap makers are not interested immediately in altering habit or raising the standard of cleanliness. They want to sell the full extent of their possible output of soap under the present cheap and efficient manufacturing conditions; so they are trying to make enough people use soap or more soap to exhaust their supply. They persuade us to make additional effort to be clean and, having once put us on the higher level of more unexceptional cleanliness, they keep us resisting the tendency ever to remain soiled. ”

“ Instead of competing with other soap manufacturers who depended for their sales upon their ability to raise enough people up from the class of cheap soap users to fine soap users, the manufacturers went for those who had to take the more elemental elevation from dirt to soap. We all remember how, when the same firm were pushing their kitchen Sapolio a few years ago, they erected before us all, in the magazines and in the street cars, a higher standard of pot-and-pan brightness and kitchen cleanliness. ”

“ As to the total production and consumption of soap in this country, no figures are available, but everyone knows how enormous is the consumption of soap produced by English firms whose names are household words. In addition to their providing for the wants of probably ninety-nine out of a hundred of their own countrymen, our soap manufacturers do an enormous and rapidly growing business abroad. ”

“ Two tons of tallow should yield three tons of white soap. In making the same quantity of common brown or yellow soap, twelve hundred weight less is required, on account of the substitution of that amount of yellow rosin.
17. The mottled appearance of some soaps is caused by dispersing the ley through it, towards the close of the operation, or by adding a quantity of sulphate of iron, indigo, or the oxide of manganese. Castile soap, now manufactured in the greatest perfection at Marseilles, in France, receives its beautifully marbled appearance from the sulphate of iron. ”

“ Cocoanut oil is used very largely in the manufacture of cold-made soaps as it is well adapted for this purpose, although it is by no means true that other oils may not be employed. Since by this process of manufacture no impurity contained in the fat or oil is removed in the making of the soap, it is necessary that in order to obtain a fine finished product, any impurity contained in these may be removed if present, or that the fats be as pure as can be obtained. If inedible tallow is used for cold-made soap, it is advisable to bleach it by the Fuller's Earth Process. ”

“ If we gather together scrapings of lard, butter, bits of tallow from burned-out candles, scraps of waste fat, or any other sort of grease, and pour a strong solution of lye over the mass, a soft soapy substance is formed. In colonial times, every family made its own supply of soap, utilizing, for that purpose, household scraps often regarded by the housekeeper of to-day as worthless. Grease and fat were boiled with water and hardwood ashes, which are rich in lye, and from the mixture came the soft soap used by our ancestors. ”

“ Indeed, instances of what are called spoiled pans of soap, or, soap, from inexperience, in the course of making, converted into an uncommon mass, so as to baffle the utmost skill of the manufacturer to redeem, or set to rights again, have frequently happened; though, with the experienced and well-informed soap-maker, such disasterous failures will seldom or never occur, the causes to him being evident. ”

“ The materials employed in making mottled soap comprise bleached palm oil, tallow, bone fat, cocoa-nut oil, palm-kernel oil, cotton-seed oil, and, in some instances, rosin.
The choice of a charge will naturally depend upon the cost; the property of absorbing a large amount of liquor, which is characteristic of soaps made from cocoa-nut oil and palm-kernel oil, is taken advantage of, as are also the physical properties of the various fats and oils, with a view to the crystallisation of the resultant soap and the development of the mottle. ”

“ While there has not perhaps been anything of a very revolutionary character, steady progress has still been made in practically all branches, and the aim of the present work is to describe the manufacture of Household and Toilet Soaps as carried out to-day in an up-to-date and well-equipped factory. ”

“ In the more scientific portions of the book, an acquaintance with the principles of elementary chemistry is assumed, and in this we feel justified, as in these days of strenuous competition, no soap-maker can hope to compete successfully with his rivals unless he has a sound theoretical as well as practical knowledge of the nature of the raw materials he uses, and the reactions taking place in the pan, or at other stages of the manufacture. ”

“ The number of raw materials, both natural and artificial, at the disposal of the perfumer, has increased so enormously during recent years that the scenting of soaps has now become an art requiring very considerable skill, and a thorough knowledge of the products to be handled. Not only does the all-important question of odour come into consideration, but the action of the perfumes on the soap, and on each other, has also to be taken into account. Thus, many essential oils and synthetic perfumes cause the soap to darken rapidly on keeping, e.g., clove oil, cassia oil, heliotropin, vanillin. ”

“ As the manufacture of soap from waste vegetable bases represents something entirely new, so do the actual methods of production. The revolution is complete. In preparing the conventional soap from 10 to 16 days are necessary. By the new process the cereal soap can be made in sixty minutes! Furthermore, the operation is clean, absolutely free from odour, and cold, no heat whatever being required, except to warm the factory during the winter for the comfort of the employees. ”

“ Soda has been used from time immemorial in the manufacture of soap and glass, two chemical productions which employ and keep in circulation an immense amount of capital. The quantity of soap consumed by a nation would be no inaccurate measure whereby to estimate its wealth and civilisation. Of two countries, with an equal amount of population, the wealthiest and most highly civilised will consume the greatest weight of soap. ”

“ Another operation in which soap is used, is that of milling or fulling, whereby the fabric is made to shrink and thus becomes more compact and closer in texture. The fabric is thoroughly cleansed, for which purpose the soap should be neutral and free from rosin and silicates, otherwise a harsh feeling or stickiness will be produced. Curd soaps or finely-fitted soaps made from tallow or bleached palm oil, with or without the addition of cocoa-nut oil, give the best results. All traces of soap must be carefully removed if the fabric is to be dyed. ”

“ The cold process for manufacturing soap is the simplest method of soap making, and the equipment required is small when compared to the other methods. All the more expensive equipment that is necessary is a crutcher, a tank to hold the lye, frames, a slabber or cutting table, and a press. Yet, in spite of the simplicity of thus making soap, the disadvantages are numerous for the production of a good piece of soap. The greatest difficulty is to obtain a thorough combination of oil or fat and lye so that there will not be an excess of one or the other in the finished soap. ”

“ It is impossible to use a good grade of fats and make a profit upon laundry soap at the price at which it must be retailed. The manufacturer of this grade of soap must look to the by-product, glycerine, for his profit and he is fortunate indeed if he realizes the entire benefit of this and still produces a superior piece of laundry soap. ”

“ Curd Soaps.—Tallow is largely used in the manufacture of white curd soaps, but cocoa-nut oil sometimes enters into their composition.
The first three operations above described, viz., pasting, graining out, and boiling on strength, are proceeded with; the clear boiling by means of a closed steam coil is continued until the "head" is boiled out and the soap is free from froth. A sample taken and cooled should be hard. ”