History Of Fullers Earth
History revels that a particular kind of clay was use for cleaning woollen cloth for nearly seven thousand years. The process of cleansing and thickening cloth is known as “Fulling” and a person engaged in its trade and practice is called a “Fuller”. Hence the term derived was “Fuller’s Earth”.
In prehistoric times whole wool
and fleece
were smelly and contained many sorts of impurities. To counter this problem the woollen industries used to soak pieces of cloth in some alkaline solution and then agitated it in a trough or vat containing slurry of Fuller’s Earth. Several rinses with clean water were given later to remove the earth, which carried away with it most of the grease, dirt, smell and fecal matter remaining in the raw wool.
Fuller’s Earth was used in laundries for removing oil and grease from heavily soiled dungarees, work gear and the like. Fuller’s Earth was very effective for scouring and fulling as it is far less gritty. Indeed Fuller’s Earth is better than soap or solvents for cleaning heavily oil-soiled textiles, such as dirty mats from motor cars. It is now known that it helps to prevent redeposition of soil when present in a complex household laundry detergent.
Fuller’s Earth tones up the skin. Improves the complexion. Smoothes out wrinkles. It has a softening and preservation action upon skin of hands and face. Is tender to all skin types. It is very effective in treating oily skin as a deep pore cleanser to draw out hidden oils and grime.
Twentieth-century beauticians are clearly well aware of a Fuller’s Earth paste’s capacity to draw oil or fatty matter into itself as it dries out.
Fullers Earth is used to remove polar contaminants from fuels, such as aviation fuels. The clay comprises majority of the granules typically of mesh size of from about 15 to about 60.