CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE "APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OTHER MOULDABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MAUDSLAY, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland; bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Maudslay, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Maudslay, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Maudslay,
my exors, admors, 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 expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guern-
sey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE "APPLICABLE
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OTHER MOULDABLE SUBSTANCES;" in which Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph Maudslay, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: 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
Joseph Maudslay, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and
by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists,―
Firstly, of a method of manufacturing candles by the continuous forcing of
tallow, or any other substance or composition adapted for candles, through pipes
kept at a low temperature, such substance or composition being in a warm
and fluent state when it enters the pipes, but becoming gradually and partially
solidified and crystallized in its passage through, and being finally cooled and
hardened by being discharged into cold water (the cotton or other material
requisite for forming the wick being introduced into the said tallow, or other
substance or composition, as it passes through the pipes). A machine suitable
for carrying this method of manufacture into effect is represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed. Figure is a sectional elevation of this
machine on the line a, b; Figure 2 another sectional elevation on the line c, d ;
Figure 3 is a plan on the line e, f; and Figure 4 a plan on the line g, h. A is
a close vessel of a cylindrical form with conical bottom for containing the
melted tallow or other substance or composition of which the body of the
candle is to be formed. A² is a circular basement which supports several
short pillars p, p, on which the vessel A is mounted. B is a small stove or
furnace by which the vessel A is heated, and C, C, a flue space by which the
heated air from B is circulated round the vessel A. (The melting vessel A
may also be heated by steam or hot water, in which case the stove or furnace B
would be dispensed with). A chimney for carrying off the products of com-
bustion may be attached to any convenient part of the flue space C, but is not
shewn in the Drawings. I is an open cylindrical vessel filled with cold water,
which surrounds and is concentric with the basement A2, but is a few inches
less in height, and is connected to the melting vessel A above by side bars Q, Q.
which are made fast by bolts and nuts. D is a force pump of the plunger
description, which stands within the melting vessel A, being firmly bolted to
the bottom of it, and farther secured by side stays E, E. By working this
pump (which may be done by hand or by other convenient power), the melted
material is drawn through the suction valve F into the barrel, and is forced
thence through a side discharge pipe G, which conducts it into a box H, which
is immersed in the cold water of the vessel I. From this box proceed three
'

page_text: coils of pipe L, L, L³, which are laid in the cold water of the vessel I, and
have screw taps attached to them by which they may be all opened to the
passage of the melted mass, or any one or two of them only, the mass being
pressed forward as the case may be in one or two or three columns. At the
point m, near to the extreme or delivery end of each of these coils, there is
inserted into the top of each coil a small pipe P, which is turned short round
at the inserted end so as to terminate exactly in a line with the centre of the
coil, and through this pipe a string of the cotton or other material which is to
form the wick descends from one of three reels 0, 0, 0, which are mounted
in brackets attached to one side of the melting vessel A. The column of
plastic matter, as it is pressed forwards through the end of the coil towards
the mouthpiece M, envelopes and draws along with it the string of cotton or
other material. On emerging from the mouthpiece M, the plastic mass, with
the string of wick inside, is discharged into a vessel of cold water N, where
it speedily becomes thoroughly cooled and acquires a crystalline hardness. As
fast as it attains to this state of hardness it is cut off in the required lengths,
either by hand or by any suitable machinery), and then tapered at the burning
end or otherwise finished, as may be required. The advantage which this
method of manufacturing candles possesses over those in ordinary use consists
in its great facility, expeditiousness, cheapness, adaptation to general use, and
peculiar fitness for colonial purposes, the machine being light and portable,
simple to work, and not easily put out of order. The number of coils in each
machine must always bear a due proportion to the size of the machine, and of
the pump more especially, and although I have supposed three to be employed in
that herein-before described (as a good medium number), I wish it to be
understood that I do not limit myself to any particular number. Wax and
other like materials may be also manufactured by means of the same machine,
and in the same way as before described, into tapers of any required length,
diminishing only the length of the pipes employed.
Secondly, the machine before described may be also readily modified, so as
to be made applicable to the manufacture of other mouldable substances
besides candles, that is to say, in so far as regards the shaping or moulding
thereof, such substances for example as soap or syrups; but instead of being
discharged into cold water, as herein-before described, they are received from
the pipes or moulds upon an endless band of cotton, wire, or other substance,
as may be most suitable.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim generally
the manufacturing of candles by the continuous forcing of tallow or other

page_text: suitable substance or composition through pipes or tubes, being aware that the
same or a similar process has been before proposed to be applied to such
materials in a cold or solid state, but deemed objectionable on account of the
impossibility of effecting more than a mechanical compression or crushing
together of the materials while in that cold and solid state. And. I declare
that the improvements which I claim as constituting my said Invention are
as follows:-
First, I claim the manufacture of candles by the continuous forcing of the
tallow or other substance or composition through pipes kept at a low tem
perature, such substance or composition being in a warm and fluent state
when it enters the pipes, but becoming gradually and partially solidified and
crystallized in its passage through, and finally cooled and hardened by being
discharged into cold water (the cotton or other material requisite for forming
the wick being introduced into the substance or composition as it passes
through the pipes, whereby a more perfect union of the particles of the
tallow or other substance or composition, and a much higher degree of solidity
and hardness, are effected. And,
Second, I claim the application to the manufacture of other mouldable
substances, such as wax, soap, or syrups, in so far as regards the giving of
shape thereto, of so much of the parts of the said improvements as have been
herein-before shewn to be applicable thereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Maudslay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.