The apparatus employed for making these soaps, is a copper pan, heated
by a water-bath; in the bottom of the pan there is a step, to receive
the lower end of a vertical shaft, to which arms or paddles are
attached, for producing constant agitation, by causing them to revolve
among the liquefied mass. Into a pan so mounted, 50 pounds of a good oil
soap of any kind are put (for a tallow soap does not become frothy
enough), and melted by proper heat, with the addition of 3 or 4 pounds
of water. By the rapid rotation of the machine, an abundant thick lather
is produced, beginning first at the bottom, and creeping gradually
upwards to the top of the pan, when the operation should be stopped; the
soap having by this time doubled its volume. It must now be pailed off
into the frame, allowed to cool, and then cut into cakes. Such soap is
exceedingly pleasant at the wash-stand, feeling very soft upon the skin,
affording a copious thick lather, and dissolving with the greatest ease.