Part 413

(See also Cleaning Compounds and Polishes.)

«ANTISEPTIC SOAP.»

I.—Various attempts have been made to incorporate antiseptics and cosmetics with soap, but for the most part unsuccessfully, owing to the unfavorable action of the added components, a good instance of this kind being sodium peroxide, which, though a powerful antiseptic, soon decomposes in the soap and loses its properties, while the caustic character of the oxide renders its use precarious, even when the soap is fresh, unless great care is taken. However, according to a German patent, zinc peroxide is free from these defects, since it retains its stability and has no corrosive action on the skin, while possessing powerful antiseptic and cosmetic properties, and has a direct curative influence when applied to cuts or wounds.

II.—The soap is prepared by melting 80 parts of household soap in a jacketed pan, and gradually adding 20 parts of moist zinc peroxide (50 per cent strength), the whole being kept well stirred all the time. The finished mixture will be about as stiff as dough, and is easily shaped into tablets of convenient size.

III.—Take 50 parts, by weight, of caustic soda of 70 per cent, and free from carbonic acid, if possible; 200 parts, by weight, of sweet almond oil; 160 parts, by weight, of glycerine of 30° Bé.; and sufficient distilled water to make up 1,000 parts by weight. First, dissolve the alkali in double its weight of water, then add the glycerine and oil and stir together. Afterwards, add the remainder of the water and keep the whole on the water bath at a temperature of 140° to 158° F., for 24 to 36 hours; remove the oil not saponified, which gives a gelatinous mass. Mix 900 parts, by weight, of it with 70 parts, by weight, of 90 per cent alcohol and 10 parts, by weight, of lemon oil, and as much of the oil of bergamot and the oil of vervain. Heat for some hours at 140° F., then allow to cool and filter on wadding to eliminate the needles of stearate of potash. The liquid after filtering remains clear.

«Carpet Soap.»—

Fuller’s earth 4 ounces Spirits of turpentine 1 ounce Pearlash 8 ounces

Rub smooth and make into a stiff paste with a sufficiency of soft soap.

«To Cut Castile Soap.»—A thin spatula must be used. To cut straight, a trough with open ends made with 1⁠/⁠2-inch boards should be taken, the inside dimensions being 2 7⁠/⁠8 inches wide, 3 3⁠/⁠4 inches deep, and about 14 inches long. Near the end a perpendicular slit is sawed through the side pieces. Passing the spatula down through this slit the bar is cut neatly and straight. For trimming off the corners a carpenter’s small iron plane works well.

«COLORING SOAP.»

The first point to be observed is to select the proper shade of flower corresponding with the perfume used, for instance, an almond soap is left white; rose soap is colored pink or red; mignonette, green, etc.

The colors from which the soapmaker may select are numerous; not only are most of the coal-tar colors adapted for his purpose, but also a very great number of mineral colors. Until recently, the latter were almost exclusively employed, but the great advance in the tar-color industry has brought about a change. A prominent advantage of the mineral colors is their stability; they are not changed or in any way affected by exposure to light. This advantage, however, is offset in many cases by the more difficult method of application, the difficulty of getting uniform shades. The coal-tar colors give brilliant shades and tints, are easy to use, and produce uniform tints. The specific gravity of mineral colors being rather high, in most cases they will naturally tend to settle toward the bottom of soap, and their use necessitates crutching of the soap until it is too thick to allow the color to settle. For mottled soap, however, vermilion, red oxide, and ultramarine are still largely employed.

For transparent soap mineral colors are not applicable, as they would detract from their transparency; for milled toilet soap, on the other hand, they are very well adapted, as also for cold-made soaps which require crutching anyway until a sufficient consistency is obtained to keep the coloring material suspended.

A notable disadvantage in the use of aniline colors, besides their sensitiveness to the action of light, is the fact that many of them are affected and partly destroyed by the action of alkali. A few of them are proof against a small excess of lye, and these may be used with good effect. Certain firms have made a specialty of manufacturing colors answering the peculiar requirements of soap, being very easy of {645} application, as they are simply dissolved in boiling water and the solution stirred into the soap. To some colors a little weak lye is added; others are mixed with a little oil before they are added to the soap.

For a soluble red color there were formerly used alkanet and cochineal; at present these have been displaced to a great extent, on account of their high cost, by magenta, which is very cheap and of remarkable beauty. A very small amount suffices for an intense color, nor is a large proportion desirable, as the soap would then stain. Delicate tints are also produced by the eosine colors, of which rose bengal, phloxine, rhodamine, and eosine are most commonly used. These colors, when dissolved, have a brilliant fluorescence which heightens their beautiful effect.

The following minerals, after being ground and washed several times in boiling water, will produce the colors stated:

Hematite produces deep red.

Purple oxide iron produces purple.

Oxide of manganese produces brown.

Yellow ocher produces yellow.

Yellow ocher calcined produces orange.

Umber produces fawn.

Cinnabar produces medium red.

There are also a number of the azo dyes, which are suitable for soaps, and these, as well as the eosine colors, are used principally for transparent soaps. For opaque soaps both aniline and mineral reds are used, among the latter being vermilion, chrome red, and iron oxide. Chrome red is a basic chromate of lead, which is now much used in place of vermilion, but, as it becomes black on exposure to an atmosphere containing even traces only of sulphureted hydrogen, it is not essentially adapted for soap. Vermilion gives a bright color, but its price is high. Iron oxide, known in the trade as colcothar, rouge, etc., is used for cheap soaps only.

Among the natural colors for yellow are saffron, gamboge, turmeric, and caramel (sugar color); the first named of these is now hardly used, owing to its high cost. Of the yellow aniline colors special mention must be made of picric acid (trinitrophenol), martius yellow, naphthol yellow, acid yellow, and auramine. If an orange tint is wanted, a trace of magenta or safranine may be added to the yellow colors named. The use of some unbleached palm oil with the stock answers a similar purpose, but the color fades on exposure. A mineral yellow is chrome yellow (chromate of lead), which has the same advantages and disadvantages as chrome red.

Of the blue aniline colors, there may be used alkali blue, patent blue, and indigo extract. Alkali or aniline blue is soluble only in alkaline liquids; while patent blue is soluble in water and in alcohol. Both blues can be had in different brands, producing from green blues to violet blues. Indigo extract, which should be classed among the natural colors rather than among the tar colors, is added to the soap in aqueous solution.

Of ultramarine there are two modifications, the sulphate and the soda. Both of these are proof against the action of alkali, but are decomposed by acids or salts having an acid reaction. The former is much paler than the latter; the soda ultramarine is best adapted for coloring soda soaps blue. The ultramarine is added to the soap in the form of a fine powder. Smalt is unsuitable, although it gives soap a color of wonderful beauty because a considerable quantity of it is required to produce a deep color, and, furthermore, it makes the soap rough, owing to the gritty nature which smalt has even when in the finest powder. By mixing the blue and yellow colors named, a great variety of greens are obtained. Both component colors must be entirely free from any reddish tint, for the latter would cause the mixture to form a dirty-green color.

Of the colors producing green directly the two tar colors, Victoria and brilliant green, are to be noted; these give a bright color, but fade rapidly; thereby the soap acquires an unsightly appearance. For opaque soap of the better grades, green ultramarine or chrome green are used. Gray and black are produced by lampblack. For brown, there is Bismarck brown among the aniline colors and umber among the earthy pigments.