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56-469: Ragman may refer to: [REDACTED] Look up ragman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. a rag-and-bone man , a junkdealer Ragman (character) , a fictional DC Comics mystic vigilante The Ragman's Daughter , a 1972 film The Ragman's Son , the first autobiography by actor Kirk Douglas Ragman Rolls , the collection of instruments by which

112-501: A base . Humans have used soap for millennia; evidence exists for the production of soap-like materials in ancient Babylon around 2800 BC. In a domestic setting, "soap" usually refers to what is technically called a toilet soap, used for household and personal cleaning. Toilet soaps are salts of fatty acids with the general formula ( RCO 2 )M , where M is Na (sodium) or K (potassium). When used for cleaning, soap solubilizes particles and grime, which can then be separated from

168-485: A rheology modifier. Metal soaps can be prepared by neutralizing fatty acids with metal oxides: A cation from an organic base such as ammonium can be used instead of a metal; ammonium nonanoate is an ammonium-based soap that is used as an herbicide. Another class of non-toilet soaps are resin soaps , which are produced in the paper industry by the action of tree rosin with alkaline reagents used to separate cellulose from raw wood. A major component of such soaps

224-539: A settee and other furniture, Bibby made about £2. Shoddy and Mungo manufacture in West Yorkshire continued into the 1950s and the rag man would set up his cart in local streets and weigh the wool or rags brought by the women whom they then paid. By the mid-1960s the rag-and-bone trade as a whole had fallen into decline; in the 1950s, Manchester and Salford had, between them, around 60 rag merchants, but this had dropped to about 12 by 1978, many having moved into

280-487: A soda ash substance called trona . Egyptian documents mention a similar substance was used in the preparation of wool for weaving. In the reign of Nabonidus (556–539 BC), a recipe for a soap-like substance consisted of uhulu [ashes], cypress [oil] and sesame [seed oil] "for washing the stones for the servant girls". True soaps, which we might recognise as soaps today, were different to proto-soaps. They foamed, were made deliberately, and could be produced in

336-436: A cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh , is for three best rag pickers and three associations involved in innovation of best practices. Ragpicking has a positive impact on urban spaces with a weak waste management infrastructure. In India, the economic activity of ragpicking is worth about ₹3200 crore . India was also found to have a near-90% recycle rate for PET bottles , which can most likely be attributed to ragpicking, considering

392-433: A fibrous mass and mixing this with some fresh wool. Law's nephews later came up with a similar process involving felt or hard-spun woollen cloth, the product in this case being called ‘mungo’. Samuel Parr was the first producer of mungo in 1834. He used old coats and trousers, tailors clippings, ground up to produce shorter fibres than shoddy. In the shoddy preparation process, the rags were sorted, and any seams, or parts of

448-495: A hard or soft form because of an understanding of lye sources. It is uncertain as to who was the first to invent true soap. Knowledge of how to produce true soap emerged at some point between early mentions of proto-soaps and the first century AD. Alkali was used to clean textiles such as wool for thousands of years but soap only forms when there is enough fat, and experiments show that washing wool does not create visible quantities of soap. Experiments by Sally Pointer show that

504-663: A major cottage industry, with sources in Nablus , Fes , Damascus , and Aleppo . Soapmakers in Naples were members of a guild in the late sixth century (then under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire ), and in the eighth century, soap-making was well known in Italy and Spain. The Carolingian capitulary De Villis , dating to around 800, representing the royal will of Charlemagne , mentions soap as being one of

560-481: A minimum quantity of one imperial ton at each boiling, which placed the process beyond the reach of the average person. The soap trade was boosted and deregulated when the tax was repealed in 1853. Industrially manufactured bar soaps became available in the late 18th century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and America promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health. In modern times,

616-591: A pleasant smell was produced in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age , when soap-making became an established industry. Recipes for soap-making are described by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (c. 865–925), who also gave a recipe for producing glycerine from olive oil . In the Middle East, soap was produced from the interaction of fatty oils and fats with alkali . In Syria , soap

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672-458: A small soap works in Warrington in 1886 and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses, formerly called Lever Brothers and now called Unilever . These soap businesses were among the first to employ large-scale advertising campaigns. Liquid soap was invented in the nineteenth century; in 1865, William Sheppard patented a liquid version of soap. In 1898, B.J. Johnson developed

728-402: A soap derived from palm and olive oils; his company, the B.J. Johnson Soap Company , introduced " Palmolive " brand soap that same year. This new brand of soap became popular rapidly, and to such a degree that B.J. Johnson Soap Company changed its name to Palmolive . In the early 1900s, other companies began to develop their own liquid soaps. Such products as Pine-Sol and Tide appeared on

784-499: A soap manufactory. The method of extraction proceeded on a discovery of Keir's. In 1790, Nicolas Leblanc discovered how to make alkali from common salt . Andrew Pears started making a high-quality, transparent soap, Pears soap , in 1807 in London. His son-in-law, Thomas J. Barratt , became the brand manager (the first of its kind) for Pears in 1865. In 1882, Barratt recruited English actress and socialite Lillie Langtry to become

840-399: A soap-like substance was written on a Sumerian clay tablet around 2500 BC. This was produced by heating a mixture of oil and wood ash , the earliest recorded chemical reaction, and used for washing woolen clothing. The Ebers papyrus (Egypt, 1550 BC) indicates the ancient Egyptians used a soap-like product as a medicine and created this by combining animal fats or vegetable oils with

896-644: A stick in his hand, and this is armed with a spike or hook, for the purpose of more easily turning over the heaps of ashes or dirt that are thrown out of the houses, and discovering whether they contain anything that is saleable at the rag-and-bottle or marine-store shop. These bone-grubbers, as they were sometimes known, would typically spend nine or ten hours per day searching the streets of London for anything of value, before returning to their lodgings to sort whatever they had found. In rural areas where no rag merchants were present, rag-and-bone men often dealt directly with rag paper makers, but in London they sold rag to

952-487: A surfactant, when lathered with a little water, soap kills microorganisms by disorganizing their membrane lipid bilayer and denaturing their proteins . It also emulsifies oils, enabling them to be carried away by running water. When used in hard water , soap does not lather well but forms soap scum (related to metallic soaps , see below). So-called metallic soaps are key components of most lubricating greases and thickeners. A commercially important example

1008-496: Is lithium stearate . Greases are usually emulsions of calcium soap or lithium soap and mineral oil . Many other metallic soaps are also useful, including those of aluminium , sodium , and mixtures thereof. Such soaps are also used as thickeners to increase the viscosity of oils. In ancient times, lubricating greases were made by the addition of lime to olive oil , which would produce calcium soaps. Metal soaps are also included in modern artists' oil paints formulations as

1064-464: Is a curved blade with a handle, all of which is made of metal. The 2nd-century AD physician Galen describes soap-making using lye and prescribes washing to carry away impurities from the body and clothes. The use of soap for personal cleanliness became increasingly common in this period. According to Galen, the best soaps were Germanic, and soaps from Gaul were second best. Zosimos of Panopolis , circa 300 AD, describes soap and soapmaking. In

1120-448: Is more skin-friendly than one without extra fat, although it can leave a "greasy" feel. Sometimes, an emollient is added, such as jojoba oil or shea butter . Sand or pumice may be added to produce a scouring soap. The scouring agents serve to remove dead cells from the skin surface being cleaned. This process is called exfoliation . To make antibacterial soap, compounds such as triclosan or triclocarban can be added. There

1176-498: Is reputed for its particular mildness. The term "Castile" is also sometimes applied to soaps from a mixture of oils with a high percentage of olive oil. Proto-soaps, which mixed fat and alkali and were used for cleansing, are mentioned in Sumerian , Babylonian and Egyptian texts. The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in ancient Babylon. A formula for making

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1232-402: Is some concern that use of antibacterial soaps and other products might encourage antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms. The type of alkali metal used determines the kind of soap product. Sodium soaps, prepared from sodium hydroxide , are firm, whereas potassium soaps, derived from potassium hydroxide , are softer or often liquid. Historically, potassium hydroxide was extracted from

1288-511: Is sometimes left in the soap product as a softening agent, although it is sometimes separated. Handmade soap can differ from industrially made soap in that an excess of fat or coconut oil beyond that needed to consume the alkali is used (in a cold-pour process, this excess fat is called "superfatting"), and the glycerol left in acts as a moisturizing agent. However, the glycerine also makes the soap softer. The addition of glycerol and processing of this soap produces glycerin soap . Superfatted soap

1344-411: Is the sodium salt of abietic acid . Resin soaps are used as emulsifiers. The production of toilet soaps usually entails saponification of triglycerides , which are vegetable or animal oils and fats. An alkaline solution (often lye or sodium hydroxide ) induces saponification whereby the triglyceride fats first hydrolyze into salts of fatty acids. Glycerol (glycerin) is liberated. The glycerin

1400-407: The scrap -metal trade. Local merchants blamed several factors, including demographic changes, for the decline of their industry. A 1965 newspaper report estimated that in London, only a "few hundred" rag-and-bone men remained, possibly because of competition from more specialised trades, such as corporation dustmen , and pressure from property developers to build on rag merchants' premises. In

1456-687: The 1980s, Hollywood star Kirk Douglas mentioned in an interview with Johnny Carson that his father was a ragman in New York and "young people nowadays don't know what is ragman." The BBC 's popular 1960s-70s television comedy Steptoe and Son helped to maintain the rag-and-bone man's status in British folklore, but by the 1980s they were all-but gone. However, in more recent years, rising scrap metal prices have prompted their return, although most drive vans rather than horses and carts, and they announce their presence by megaphone, causing some members of

1512-622: The Mediterranean olive-growing regions. Hard toilet soap was introduced to Europe by Arabs and gradually spread as a luxury item. It was often perfumed. By the 15th century, the manufacture of soap in Christendom often took place on an industrial scale, with sources in Antwerp , Castile , Marseille , Naples and Venice . In France, by the second half of the 16th century, the semi-industrialized professional manufacture of soap

1568-541: The Southern Levant , the ashes from barilla plants , such as species of Salsola , saltwort ( Seidlitzia rosmarinus ) and Anabasis , were used to make potash . Traditionally, olive oil was used instead of animal lard throughout the Levant, which was boiled in a copper cauldron for several days. As the boiling progresses, alkali ashes and smaller quantities of quicklime are added and constantly stirred. In

1624-495: The Tudor period that barrels of ashes were imported for the manufacture of soap. Finer soaps were later produced in Europe from the 17th century, using vegetable oils (such as olive oil ) as opposed to animal fats. Many of these soaps are still produced, both industrially and by small-scale artisans. Castile soap is a popular example of the vegetable-only soaps derived from the oldest "white soap" of Italy. In 1634 Charles I granted

1680-407: The article being cleaned. The insoluble oil/fat "dirt" become associated inside micelles , tiny spheres formed from soap molecules with polar hydrophilic (water-attracting) groups on the outside and encasing a lipophilic (fat-attracting) pocket, which shields the oil/fat molecules from the water, making them soluble. Anything that is soluble will be washed away with the water. In hand washing , as

1736-633: The ashes of bracken or other plants. Lithium soaps also tend to be hard. These are used exclusively in greases . For making toilet soaps, triglycerides (oils and fats) are derived from coconut, olive, or palm oils, as well as tallow . Triglyceride is the chemical name for the triesters of fatty acids and glycerin . Tallow, i.e., rendered fat, is the most available triglyceride from animals. Each species offers quite different fatty acid content, resulting in soaps of distinct feel. The seed oils give softer but milder soaps. Soap made from pure olive oil , sometimes called Castile soap or Marseille soap ,

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1792-406: The case of lard, it required constant stirring while kept lukewarm until it began to trace. Once it began to thicken, the brew was poured into a mold and left to cool and harden for two weeks. After hardening, it was cut into smaller cakes. Aromatic herbs were often added to the rendered soap to impart their fragrance, such as yarrow leaves, lavender , germander , etc. A detergent similar to soap

1848-468: The dirt between the paving stones of non-macadamised roads, searching for horseshoe nails. Brass , copper and pewter were valued at about four to five pence per pound. In a typical day, a rag-and-bone man might expect to earn about sixpence. Mayhew's report indicates that many who worked as rag-and-bone men did so after falling on hard times, and generally lived in squalor. Although they usually started work well before dawn, they were not immune to

1904-646: The lack of solid-waste management and under-developed waste collection and recycling culture in that country. Footnotes Notes Bibliography Soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually used for washing , bathing , and other types of housekeeping . In industrial settings, soaps are used as thickeners , components of some lubricants , emulsifiers , and catalysts . Soaps are often produced by mixing fats and oils with

1960-452: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ragman&oldid=993568616 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Rag-and-bone man In the 19th century, rag-and-bone men typically lived in extreme poverty , surviving on

2016-516: The local traders. White rag could fetch two to three pence per pound , depending on condition (all rag had to be dry before it could be sold). Coloured rag was worth about two pence per pound. Bones, worth about the same, could be used as knife handles, toys and ornaments, and, when treated, for chemistry. The grease extracted from them was also useful for soapmaking . Metal was more valuable; an 1836 edition of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal describes how "street-grubber[s]" could be seen scraping away

2072-624: The means to convert the materials into something more profitable. In the West Riding of Yorkshire, rag and bone men would collect waste woollen and rag products from householders to sell on to the Shoddy factories. ' Shoddy ', cloth made from recycled wool, was first manufactured (and probably invented) by Benjamin Law in Batley, West Yorkshire, in 1813. The process involved grinding woollen rags into

2128-457: The milder soaps used by the Gauls around 58 BC. Aretaeus of Cappadocia , writing in the 2nd century AD, observes among "Celts, which are men called Gauls, those alkaline substances that are made into balls [...] called soap ". The Romans' preferred method of cleaning the body was to massage oil into the skin and then scrape away both the oil and any dirt with a strigil . The standard design

2184-587: The newly formed Society of Soapmakers a monopoly in soap production who produced certificates from 'foure Countesses, and five Viscountesses, and divers other Ladies and Gentlewomen of great credite and quality, besides common Laundresses and others', testifying that 'the New White Soap washeth whiter and sweeter than the Old Soap'. During the Restoration era (February 1665 – August 1714) a soap tax

2240-410: The nobility and gentry of Scotland subscribed allegiance to King Edward I of England Răgman village, Poiana Câmpina Commune, Prahova County, Romania See also [ edit ] Rag (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ragman . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

2296-504: The poster-girl for Pears soap, making her the first celebrity to endorse a commercial product. William Gossage produced low-priced, good-quality soap from the 1850s. Robert Spear Hudson began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by grinding the soap with a mortar and pestle . American manufacturer Benjamin T. Babbitt introduced marketing innovations that included the sale of bar soap and distribution of product samples . William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James , bought

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2352-574: The proceeds of what they collected each day. Conditions for rag-and-bone men in general improved following the Second World War , but the trade declined during the latter half of the 20th century. In the 21st century, rag-and-bone-style collection continues, partly as the result of the soaring price of scrap metal, particularly in the developing world . In the UK, 19th-century rag-and-bone men scavenged unwanted rags, bones, metal and other waste from

2408-630: The products the stewards of royal estates are to tally. The lands of Medieval Spain were a leading soapmaker by 800, and soapmaking began in the Kingdom of England about 1200. Soapmaking is mentioned both as "women's work" and as the produce of "good workmen" alongside other necessities, such as the produce of carpenters, blacksmiths, and bakers. In Europe, soap in the 9th century was produced from animal fats and had an unpleasant smell. This changed when olive oil began to be used in soap formulas instead, after which much of Europe's soap production moved to

2464-526: The public to complain about noise pollution . Ragpicking is still widespread in developing countries , such as in Mumbai , India , where it offers the poorest in society around the rubbish and recycling areas a chance to earn a hand-to-mouth supply of money. In 2015, the Environment Minister of India declared a national award to recognise the service rendered by ragpickers. The award, with

2520-549: The public's ire; in 1872, several rag-and-bone men in Westminster caused complaint when they emptied the contents of two dust trucks to search for rags, bones and paper, blocking people's path. The ragpickers in the 19th and early 20th century did not recycle the materials themselves. They would simply collect whatever they could find and turn it over to a "master ragpicker" (usually a former ragpicker) who would, in turn, sell it—generally by weight—to wealthy investors with

2576-502: The rag not suitable, were left to rot and then sold onto to farmers to manure crops, or they were used for bedding or stuffing . The remaining wool rags were then sent to the shoddy mills for processing. For several decades shipments of rags even arrived from continental Europe. Shoddy and mungo manufacture was, by the 1860s, a huge industry in West Yorkshire, particularly in and around the Batley , Dewsbury and Ossett areas. Although it

2632-559: The repeated laundering of materials used in perfume -making lead to noticeable amounts of soap forming. This fits with other evidence from Mesopotamian culture. Pliny the Elder, whose writings chronicle life in the first century AD, describes soap as "an invention of the Gauls". The word sapo , Latin for soap, has connected to a mythical Mount Sapo, a hill near the River Tiber where animals were sacrificed. But in all likelihood,

2688-529: The towns and cities in which they lived. Henry Mayhew 's 1851 report London Labour and the London Poor estimates that in London , between 800 and 1,000 "bone-grubbers and rag-gatherers" lived in lodging houses , garrets and "ill-furnished rooms in the lowest neighbourhoods." The bone-picker and rag-gatherer may be known at once by the greasy bag which he carries on his back. Usually he has

2744-527: The use of soap has become commonplace in industrialized nations due to a better understanding of the role of hygiene in reducing the population size of pathogenic microorganisms . Until the Industrial Revolution , soapmaking was conducted on a small scale and the product was rough. In 1780, James Keir established a chemical works at Tipton , for the manufacture of alkali from the sulfates of potash and soda, to which he afterwards added

2800-648: The word was borrowed from an early Germanic language and is cognate with Latin sebum , " tallow ". It first appears in Pliny the Elder 's account, Historia Naturalis , which discusses the manufacture of soap from tallow and ashes. There he mentions its use in the treatment of scrofulous sores , as well as among the Gauls as a dye to redden hair which the men in Germania were more likely to use than women. The Romans avoided washing with harsh soaps before encountering

2856-403: Was concentrated in a few centers of Provence — Toulon , Hyères , and Marseille —which supplied the rest of France. In Marseilles, by 1525, production was concentrated in at least two factories, and soap production at Marseille tended to eclipse the other Provençal centers. English manufacture tended to concentrate in London. The demand for high-quality hard soap was significant enough during

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2912-696: Was criticised by French newspapers for meddling with the ragpickers' livelihood. A 1954 report in The Manchester Guardian mentioned that some men could make as much as £25 (roughly equivalent to £865 now) per day collecting rags. Most used handcarts rather than a bag, and some used a pony and cart, giving out rubbing stones in exchange for the items that they collected. In 1958, a Manchester Guardian reporter accompanied rag-and-bone man John Bibby as he made his rounds through Chorlton and Stretford , near Manchester . For his handcart's load, which comprised rags, furs, shoes, scrap car parts,

2968-469: Was introduced in England, which meant that until the mid-1800s, soap was a luxury, used regularly only by the well-to-do. The soap manufacturing process was closely supervised by revenue officials who made sure that soapmakers' equipment was kept under lock and key when not being supervised. Moreover, soap could not be produced by small makers because of a law that stipulated that soap boilers must manufacture

3024-476: Was manufactured in ancient China from the seeds of Gleditsia sinensis . Another traditional detergent is a mixture of pig pancreas and plant ash called zhuyizi ( simplified Chinese : 猪胰子 ; traditional Chinese : 豬胰子 ; pinyin : zhūyízǐ ). Soap made of animal fat did not appear in China until the modern era. Soap-like detergents were not as popular as ointments and creams. Hard toilet soap with

3080-466: Was produced using olive oil together with alkali and lime . Soap was exported from Syria to other parts of the Muslim world and to Europe. A 12th-century document describes the process of soap production. It mentions the key ingredient, alkali , which later became crucial to modern chemistry, derived from al-qaly or "ashes". By the 13th century, the manufacture of soap in the Middle East had become

3136-413: Was solely a job for the lowest of the working classes , ragpicking was considered an honest occupation , more on the level of street sweeper than of a beggar . In Paris , ragpickers were regulated by law and could operate only at night. They were required to return unusually valuable items either to the items' owners or to the authorities. When Eugène Poubelle introduced the rubbish bin in 1884, he

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