Soap-frames are of two kinds, according as it ie de sired to cool the soap slowly or quickly. In England, the internal measure (u Dow la to x in., a rum ui days when a duty (removed in 1853) was levied ; the width of this makes the length of the English bar of hard soap. Where elow cooling is required, as is always the ease with mottled eoap, wooden frames, usually made of pine, are alwaye employed. Their general appearance is shown in Fig. 1257 ; each section or " /ift " (2) is lined with thin sheet-iron, the wood being 2i-3 in. thick, and the several sections, oaeh about 9-12 in. deep, ehould flt closely upon each other when piled in a series (1). The bottom &The frame (3) may be made of wood or of brick ; in tho ease of eurd-mottled soaps, it is oonvenient to have n xvnli in fhn hattnm tr, TAPP117A thA lAVS1 wilinh drain finm the soap, eepecially if, as le frequently the ease, the frame is 20-30 ft. high. Most curd and all yellow soaps are cooled rapidly in cast-iron frames of any desired ehapo and size. Fige. 1258-9 show a longitudinal section and plan of a form frequently adopted in England, which is almost water-tight ; the super ficial measure is 45 in. x 15 in., and the height 50-60 in. The four sides are held together by bolts and nuts, and when the soap is cold (i. e. after the lapse of 3-7 days for this size), these are unscrewed, the sides are removed, and a solid block of soap is left standing on the bottom of the frame. This may be at once cut up into slabs and bars, or may be slid away bodily to store. Occasionally such frames are mounted upon wheels, for convenience of transport about the factory.
When it is desired to cut the soap, the sides of the block are marked with a scribe, Fig. 1260, the teeth of Nvhich are set at the thickness desired for the bar of soap. A braes or steel wire is then taken by two men, and drawn through the block, Fig. 1261, which is thus divided into slabs ; these are at once removed to a machine which will divide them into bars. The outting-machine usually employed in England is shown in Figs. 1262-4. The cutter itself is worked by a lever frame L, whielt contains wires, or, for very hard soaps, thin eteel knives k ; the slab is placed longi tudinally nnd nearly upright ou the basc-board b, and the lever-frame is then drawn through it.
The bars thus formed fall back upon the shelf f behind, whence they may be removed and set aside to get cold. Before repeating the operation, the lever-frame must be raised and hitched in its place by the spring-catch c. The hare, when removed from the machine, are piled across each other in " open pile," in such a way that air freely circulates among them. When thoroughly set, they are stored away in " close pile," or packed. In America, Ralston's cutter and spreader, Fig. 1265, is largely used ; it has an arrangement A B for spreading and stamping the bars, and is very useful where soap is rather soft when freshly cut. The slab is laid upon C, and the cutting wires are shown at D. Van Haagen, of Cincinnati, has devised a machine for dividing a frame of soap into bars all at ORO operation, and various slabbing-machines have been invented, none of whicb, however, has come into very general use, and they will not be further described.
In connection with the cutting up of soap, it may be conveniently mentioned here that certain soaps undergo a kind of case-hardaning process as soon as they have been bareed-up. Most of the
French mottled soaps Lim soaked, or evon stored, in weak lays, or weak brine, or a mixture of both ; and sorne of the English blue-mottled soaps are also soaked in brine. The usual process, however, is a drying one, which may be carried out either by directing a current of warm, dry air, by a fan or otherwise, against a pile of bars, or by spreading the bars in a drying-chamber, Fig. 1266, which is boated by fire to a temperature short of that at which the soap begins to melt. The tiro is kindled in A, aud tho heated products of combustion isiss along E to F, while the air, which enters H, heated by them rises through the vent-holes 0, and, after taking up much moisture from the soap M, passes out through K.
The bars of map, when freshly cut and still soft, are usually impressed with some words cating the name or quality of the soap, and the trade-mark or name of the manufacturer. This is most simply done by a hand-stamp, in which the letters or device are cut in hard wood or cast in brass (B); the arrangement and mode of using it with very hard soaps are shown in Figs. 1267-8. it has long been customary to sell soap in bars 15 in. long, weighing 2I-3 lb.; but during the last 5-6 years a great demand has sprung up among the retailers for ordinary household soaps cut and stampeAl into 1-1b., 1-1b., and 1-1b. blocks, a form which also obtains to a very large extent in America. Various parts of eaoh country differ considerably in the shapes preferred for these blooks, and the formation of each kind demands a special set of cutting-wires and of moulds and dies for their production. The 1-1b. and i-lb. blocks are often " semi-cut," so that they can be readily divided into two flb. and -lb. pieces respectively. The simplest moulds are usually cast in brass, each tablet requiring two, producing an upper and an under surface ; but occasionally a mould-box ab with binged sides is employed, with a screw-press, such as is represented in Fig. 1269. With the ordinary tablets, it is necessary to slightly dry them superficially, and to give them a very thin coating of oil, that tbey may not stick to the die. The simplest form of hand-press will stamp upwards of 600 Fib. pieces an hour. For larger tablets, a foot-power press is desirable, such as that made by W. H. King, Philadelphia. All large manufacturers, however, employ some form of steam - power press ; one made by Neill & Sous, St. Helens, Lancashire, England, is shown in Fig. 1270. By moving the handle A, steam is admitted into the bottom of the steam-cylinder D; the piston being forced up the cylinder lowers tbe die E into the die-box F. The rod attached to the lever at B works'in connection with a die that is always in the die-box and attached to the spindle C, having a slot for the lever to work in such a manner that when the piston is at the bottom of the steam-cylinder the bottom die is at the top of tbe die-box, and when the piston is at the top of the cylinder the bottom die is at the bottom of the die-box ; thus the stamped tablet, being raised out of the die-box at each stroke, can readily be removed. The great advan tage of the lever working the steam valve is, that the attendant must take his hand from the dies before the blow is given, thus preventing acci dents arising through the blow being given when the hands are at the dies.