Soap-Making Manual Part 6

CHIP SOAP.

Chip soap is used extensively in laundries but is also used largely in other branches. It may be made either as a settled soap or by the cold made process.

To make a full boiled settled chip soap, proceed as directed under settled laundry soap. The kettle is stocked with light grease or a mixture of grease with corn oil or other cheap oils. For this kind of soap the rosin is eliminated.

Chip soap may be filled as well as laundry soap. This is done in the crutcher and the following adulterations are suitable.

lbs.

Settled Soap 700 Soda Ash 35 Sodium Silicate 215 or Settled Soap 700 Silicate of Soda 560 Soda Ash 18 Carbonate of Potash, 26 B. 50

The cheapest method of drying is by running this soap through a drying machine and this is the procedure usually carried out for making dried chip soap.

COLD MADE CHIP SOAPS.

To make chip soaps by the cold process a sweet tallow of low percentage of free fatty acid should be employed. The tallow is heated to 120 to 135 F. and the lye run in slowly at first and then the silicate of soda is added. The ma.s.s is then mixed until a finger drawn through the soap leaves a slight impression, then dropped into frames or barrels. Soaps containing a small percentage of fat should be well covered in the frame for twenty-four hours to retain their heat and insure proper saponification. The following formulae are suitable:

I. lbs.

Tallow 1,200 Soda Lye, 35 B. 850 Sodium Silicate 750

II.

Tallow 475 Ceylon Cocoanut Oil 100 Soda Lye, 37 B. 325 Potash Lye, 37 B. 56

III.

Tallow 500 Soda Lye, 37-1/2 B. 297 Sodium Silicate 416 Potash Lye, 37-1/2 B. 37-1/2

IV.

Tallow 450 Soda Lye, 37-1/2 B. 255 Sodium Silicate 450 Potash Lye, 37-1/2 B. 50

V.

Tallow 450 Soda Lye, 35 B. 470 Sodium Silicate 650

VI.

Tallow 420 Sodium Silicate 600 Soda Lye, 37-12 B. 270

UNFILLED CHIP SOAP.

A very good grade of chip soap is made by employing no filling material whatsoever, but unfortunately the price of this soap has been cut to such an extent that these can not compete with a filled chip. A number of the best soaps of this kind are made from a settled soap using a light grease with corn oil. A soap of this nature is made as follows.

lbs.

Settled Soap 800 Sal Soda Solution, 36-37 B. 252 Soda Ash 182

If this soap is run into frames it may be stripped and chipped in two days.

SOAP POWDERS.

Soap powders have become so great a convenience as a general cleansing agent that to eliminate them from the household necessities would mean much unnecessary energy and work to the great number of consumers of this product. They may be manufactured so cheaply and still be efficient, that their use has almost become universal for cleansing and scouring purposes. The uses to which soap and scouring powders are adapted are too well known to enter into a description of their employment. Since they offer a greater profit to the manufacturer than ordinary household soap, many brands are extensively advertised.

Numerous combinations for soap powders might be cited and it is a simple matter to vary the ingredients as to fat content and manufacture a powder of this sort as low as a cent a pound. Many substances are incorporated with soap, such as salt, soda ash, tripoli, crushed volcanic deposits, ground feldspar, infusorial earth of various kinds, silex, etc. In addition to these various fillers, compounds with true cleansing and bleaching properties, in addition to soap, are added, such as the salts of ammonium (sal ammoniac, carbonate of ammonia), sodium perborate and the peroxides of various metals. The public, however, have been accustomed to receive a large package of soap or scouring powder for a small amount of money and it is a difficult matter for the manufacturer to add more expensive substances of this nature to his product, to increase its efficiency, without raising the price or decreasing the size of the package.

In manufacturing soap powders, the dried soap chips might be mixed with the filler and alkali and then pulverized. This method is not extensively employed nevertheless. The process which is the most economical is one whereby the ingredients are mixed in a specially adapted mixer for heavy material until dry and then run directly to the crusher and pulverizer, after which it is automatically packed, sealed and boxed. Another method of procedure is to run out the mixture from the crutcher to the frames, which are stripped before the soap cools, and is cut up at once, for if it hardens it could not be cut with wires.

It is better, however, to run the mixture into sheets upon a specially constructed floor and break up the ma.s.s when cool.

Formulae for soap powders which have been found to be suitable for running dry in the mixer follow:

I Soda ash, 58 per cent. 42 lbs.

Silica 220 "

Settled soap (usually cottonseed). 25 "

Salt 10 "

II Soap (settled cottonseed) 40 lbs.

Soda ash, 58 per cent. 60 "

III Settled soap 100 lbs.

Soda ash, 58 per cent. 400 "

Fillers in varying proportions may replace the soda ash in the above formulae. It is of course understood that the soap has been previously made and run as molten soap into the crutcher.

The following soap powders will not dry up in the crutcher upon running, but are of the cla.s.s which may be framed or run on the floor to solidify:

I Soap 850 lbs.

Filler 400 "

Sal soda solution, 20 degs. B 170 "

II Soap 650 lbs.

Filler 550 "

Sal soda solution, 20 degs. B. 340 "

III Soap 80 lbs.

Filler 550 "

Sal soda solution 170 "

IV Soap (settled tallow) 800 lbs.

Filler 400 "

Sal soda solution 170 "

Water 100 "

V

First saponify 100 parts house grease and 100 parts ordinary grease and make a run soap. Then use in crutcher either:

Soap 400 lbs.

Filler 575 "

Hot water 60 "

or Soap 200 lbs.