IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING CANDLES
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, of Wilson Street, Finsbury Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Tenth day of August, in the first year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Palmer, His especial licence that I, the said William Palmer,.
my oxors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William
Palmer, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING CANDLES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that I, the said William Palmer, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery,
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Palmer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: how the same is to be performed, is herein set forth and explained, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
=
The great inconvenience that is experienced in burning tallow candles, owing
to the necessity of continually removing the snuff or charred portion of the wick
with snuffers, renders them in a great variety of cases objectionable. In order
therefore to remove such an objection or imperfection, I have invented a
method of making or manufacturing wicks for candles, possessing such peculiar
properties, that while they are kept in an ignited state the charred or carbona-
ccous portion of the wicks will be continually destroyed entirely by the process
of combustion, and the operation of snuffing will be rendered needless. The
first part of my improvements consists in the application of a sufficient quantity
of very finely granulated bismuth, which is produced by grinding small particles
of the metal, first, in a marble mortar, or by any other suitable mechanical
means, and then it must be more completely levigated by grinding it upon a
marble slab with a stone muller, tempered with a sufficient quantity of sperm
oil. The subnitrate, or any other suitable preparation of the said metal, may be
ground and tempered with oil in the same manner; and either of these, when
so prepared, must be laid over the threads of the cotton or other substance to
le employed for the wicks with a painting brush; the metallic preparation
being unfit to spread readily, must be dabbed on from the brush; and when the
oil is obsorbed by the cotton or other material, it will be fit for the second
part of the process, namely, that of covering or gimping. When any suitable
number of cotton threads have been covered or painted over with the granu-
lated bismuth or the oxyde thereof in the manner above described, the threads
are put on bobbins, and from these any suitable number (usually one-tenth part
of the number used to form a wick) are passed through a gimping machine;
the remaining ninth-tenths of unprepared threads being likewise placed in the
machine around them, and as the whole pass on through the machine, they are
bound over, (or what is technically called) gimped, with a fine cotton thread;
the number of threads so covered and prepared being sufficient for half a wick;
and when this is done the gimped wicks are received upon a roller, from which
they are cut off in lengths according to the kind of candles required, the
length being at all times double that of the candle to bo made. It will be
readily seen that the external unprepared threads form a covering for the
internal ones that are prepared, and thereby defend the metallic matter from
being removed in the process of manufacture. By this peculiar method of
constructing the wicks, they will assume a degree of compactness that will fit
them for retaining a certain form, which is to be given to them by the following

page_text: means: When a sufficient length of the prepared wick is cut from the rollers
(and which must be a little more than twice the length of the candle to be
made), it must be doubled, and that part forming the staple or loop must be
placed in a slit or notch formed on the lower end of a steel wire, see Figure 1,
and being held therein with the fingers of the left hand, the wire must be
turned round with the right hand, and at the same time advanced forward,
which will produce the effect of coiling the two portions of the wick round the
wire in a double spiral form, as shewn in Figure 2, producing thereby two
wicks completely separated from each other; when the coiling is completed
the two ends of the wick a, a, may be placed in the bent part of the wiro
seen at b, Figs. 2 and 3, made to receive them, where they will be retained,
the wire being sprung for that purpose. In this state the wire is placed in
the mould, the slit or notch'd end c entering the pointed end of the mould,
and the wire being placed or held concentric, the mould must be filled
with tallow, and left to cool, and when set or cold, the wire may be with-
drawn and used for a repetition of the process. Each wire has a staple
or loop formed on its upper end at d; and when the cotton wick is coiled
upon it, if it be hung upon a rod, and in that state sunk down into a mass
of melted tallow, dip candles may be made by these means as readily as by
the methods hitherto practised, and when cold the wires may be withdrawn,
as described in the manufacture of mould candles. By this peculiar method
of dividing and constructing the wick, it will be found when it is ignited'
to separate itself into two distinct portions or wicks, see Figure 4, the charred
ends of which will in due time protrude beyond the flame, and as the bismuth
in its metallic state comes in contact with the atmosphere, it will combine
with the oxygen which will be imparted to the charred portion of the wick,
and then a perfect combustion of the wick will be effected, and the whole
will be destroyed, thereby rendering the use of snuffers unnecessary. it
might be apprehended that such an accumulation of metal would be formed
on the end of each portion of the wick as to create an inconvenience, but this
is seldom the case if due care is taken to apply the proper quantity to the
wick, for when a small quantity of pure metallic bismuth is reduced and forms
itself into a minute globule on each point or end of the wick, its weight
tends to brings down each of them towards an horizontal position, in which
state it comes in contact with the atmosphere, and when it is for some time
exposed to such an action it becomes volatile, and is completely evaporated,
thereby obviating any inconvenience from such an accumulation. But should
a globule of the bismuth accumulate and drop from the wick into the tallow,

page_text: it will not produce any material inconvenience; similar advantages may be
obtained by applying oxyde of bismuth or any suitable preparation thereof to
the tallow, which being deposited upon the wick during combustion will be
reduced to a metallic state, and produce nearly the same effects as have been
described by using the wicks prepared with the same metal or its oxydes, and
in order to deseminate the metallic oxyde completely and equally through the
mass of melted tallow, the oxyde should be mixed up with a small portion of
the tallow first, which should be incorporated by slow degrees with the whole of
the tallow, care being taken to keep it from setting, and the proportion that I
most approve is that of one dram of the oxyde to one pound of tallow, where
the materials are of a good quality, but when inferior materials are used it
will generally be found necessary to increase in a slight degree the quantity
of metallic oxyde, and vice versa.
And I further declare that although I have only described a double spiral
wick, yet the preparations of bismuth may be advantageously applied to either
a single wick of the ordinary kind or those that are plaited, while in all
cases, whether the metallic preparation be used or omitted, it will be found
that the application of gimping will be an improvement to all wicks formed
of fibrous substances, which, not being doubled, should have a loop formed
at one end of them.
And I hereby further declare that my Invention consists, firstly, in the
application of bismuth to the wicks of candles in a metallic state as a sub-
nitrate, or in any suitable chemical combination, by the use of which, when
combined with wicks that are so constructed as to bend towards the edge of
the flame, the charred portion of such wicks will be completely destroyed,
and the operation of snuffing rendered useless.
Secondly, I claim the application of the subnitrate of bismuth or any
suitable preparation of that metal when mixed with tallow, or any other
suitable substance or material of which candles can be made, by the use of
which such a quantity will be deposited on the wicks as will by its chemical
action more effectually promote combustion of the charred portion of the
wicks, and thereby preclude the necessity of using snuffers.
Thirdly, I claim as my Invention the application of gimping to all kinds of
fibrous wicks that may be used for candles.
And, lastly, I claim as my Invention the manufacture of double spiral wicks
when constructed in such a manner that they will when ignited act as two
separate wicks, which by their spiral form, will cause the charred portions of
the wick to extend beyond the limits or edge of the flame, by which means

page_text: perfect combustion of the carbonaceous portion of the wick will be effected,
and snuffing thereby rendered needless.
In witness whereof, J, the said William Palmer, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one
Inrolled the Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-one.