ABSTRACT
Metallic soaps have a long history prior to their use as driers. Evidence indicates that calcium greases in the form of combinations of lime and fats were used as axle greases as early as 1400 B.C. A combination of red lead with drying oil was patented in 1773 as a grease for reducing friction between iron or steel parts. As early as 1880, A. W. Pratt patented liquid paint driers based on lead and manganese linoleates dissolved in linseed oil, naphtha, and turpentine. Cobalt soaps appeared sometime around 1900.
