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Page 57
MARINE SOAP is a cocoanut-oil soap, of soda containing a great
excess of alkali, and much water combination.
YELLOW SOAP is a soda soap, of tallow, resin, of lard, &c. &c.
PALM SOAP is a soda soap of palm oil, retaining the peculiar
odor and color of the oil unchanged. The odoriferous principle of palm
oil resembling that from orris-root, can be dissolved out of it by
tincturation with alcohol; like ottos generally, it remains intact in
the presence of an alkali, hence, soap made of palm oil retains the odor
of the oil.
The public require a soap that will not shrink and change shape after
they purchase it. It must make a profuse lather during the act of
washing. It must not leave the skin rough after using it. It must be
either quite inodorous or have a pleasant aroma. None of the above soaps
possess all these qualities in union, and, therefore, to produce such an
article is the object of the perfumer in his remelting process.
Prior to the removal of the excise duty upon soap, in 1853, it was a
commercial impossibility for a perfumer to _manufacture_ soap, because
the law did not allow less than one ton of soap to be made at a time.
This law, which, with certain modifications had been in force since the
reign of Charles I, confined the actual manufacture of that article to
the hands of a few capitalists. Such law, however, was but of little
importance to the perfumer, as a soap-boiling plant and apparatus is not
very compatible with a laboratory of flowers; yet, in some exceptional
instances, these excise regulations interfered with him; such, for
instance, as that in making soft soap of lard and potash, known, when
perfumed, as _Cr�me d'Amande_; or unscented, as a Saponaceous Cream,
which has, in consequence of that law, been entirely thrown into the
hands of our continental neighbors.
FIG SOFT SOAP is a combination of oils, principally olive oil
of the commonest kind, with potash.
NAPLES SOFT SOAP is a fish oil (mixed with Lucca oil) and
potash, colored brown for the London shavers, retaining, when pure, its
unsophisticated "fishy" odor.
The above soaps constitute the real body or base of all the fancy
scented soaps as made by the perfumers, which are mixed and remelted
according to the following formula:--
The remelting process is exceedingly simple. The bar soap is first cut
up into thin slabs, by pressing them against a wire fixed upon the
working bench. This cutting wire (piano wire is the kind) is made taut
upon the bench, by being attached to two screws. These screws regulate
the height of the wire from the bench, and hence the thickness of the
slabs from the bars. The soap is cut up into thin slabs, because it
would be next to impossible to melt a bar whole, on account of soap
being one of the worst conductors of heat.
The melting pan is an iron vessel, of various sizes, capable of holding
from 28 lbs. to 3 cwt., heated by a steam jacket, or by a water-bath.
The soap is put into the pan by degrees, or what is in the vernacular
called "rounds," that is, the thin slabs are placed perpendicularly all
round the side of the pan; a few ounces of water are at the same time
introduced, the steam of which assists the melting. The pan being
covered up, in about half an hour the soap will have "run down." Another
round is then introduced, and so continued every half hour until the
whole "melting" is finished. The more water a soap contains, the easier
is it melted; hence a round of marine soap, or of new yellow soap, will
run down in half the time that it requires for old soap.
When different soaps are being remelted to form one kind when finished,
the various sorts are to be inserted into the pan in alternate rounds,
but each round must consist only of one kind, to insure uniformity of
condition. As the soap melts, in order to mix it, and to break up lumps,
&c., it is from time to time "_crutched_." The "crutch" is an instrument
or tool for stirring up the soap; its name is indicative of its form, a
long handle with a short cross--an inverted 'T', curved to fit the curve
of the pan. When the soaps are all melted, it is then colored, if so
required, and then the perfume is added, the whole being thoroughly
incorporated with the crutch.
[Illustration: Frame and Slab Gauge.]
The soap is then turned into the "frame." The frame is a box made in
sections, in order that it can be taken to pieces, so that the soap can
be cut up when cold; the sections or "lifts" are frequently made of the
width of the intended bar of soap.
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