| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus are provided for melting glycerine soap base in a kettle having a top opening, upright side walls, and a funnel-shaped bottom with a drain at its center. The kettle is surrounded with a thermally insulated jacket having a floor spaced below the bottom of the kettle to define a hollow, thermally insulated, air filled heating cavity beneath the bottom of the kettle. The kettle is supported completely externally relative to the heating cavity to hold the kettle above the floor of the jacket. Preferably, the supporting structure includes a cart or carriage by means of which the apparatus may be moved. A plurality of infrared lamps, preferably operated at 110 volts and consuming no more than two hundred fifty watts of power each, are mounted atop the floor of the jacket and directed upwardly toward the bottom of the kettle. The kettle bottom is uniformly heated from within the heating cavity to melt blocks of glycerine soap base in the kettle and maintain a temperature in the kettle of between 130 DEG F. and 140 DEG F. Blocks of solidified glycerine soap base are introduced into the top opening of the kettle while melted glycerine soap base is withdrawn through the drain at the bottom of the kettle for the addition of additives thereto to produce cakes of glycerine soap.
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