IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, AND IN TREATING FATTY AND OILY MATTERS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, AND OTHER USES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
GWYNNE, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and
GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Gwynne and George Fergusson Wilson, our exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we,
the said George Gwynne and George Fergusson Wilson, our exors, admors,
and assigns, and every of us, by ourselves, or by our deputy or deputies,
servants, or agents, or such others as we, the said George Gwynne and George
Fergusson Wilson, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, our
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, AND IN TREATING
FATTY AND OILY MATTERS TO OBTAIN PRODUCTS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES,
AND OTHER USES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring

page_text: us, the said George Gwynne and George Fergusson Wilson, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, and to cause the same to
be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar 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, we, the said
George Gwynne and George Fergusson Wilson, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are fully and particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The first part of our Invention consists of an improved method of obtaining
distilled products from fatty and oily matters. In the course of a series of
experiments in which we have been engaged for some time past, relative
to the distillation of fatty and oily matters, we have particularly observed
that fats and oils in their natural state are not well adapted for distil-
lation, owing as it appears to the presence of the ingredient called
"glycerine," and that although fats and oils can be distilled in their
natural state, and the distillation itself destroys or decomposes the "glycerine,"
it is a preferable mode of operation to abstract, destroy, or decompose the
'glycerine" in the first instance, and afterwards to submit the fatty or
oily matters to distillation in the acidified or modified state produced by such
action. Certain well-known means of abstracting the "glycerine" of fatty
and oily matters (called the process of saponification) are in general use in the
manufacture of the candles commonly called "stearine wax candles," in which,
lime being mixed with the fat, releases the "glycerine" by combining with the
acids of the fat.
In the Specification inrolled under certain Letters Patent granted to us,
and bearing date the Sixteenth day of November last, we have described certain
processes and apparatus relative to the distillation of the fatty acids produced
from fatty and oily matters by the above-mentioned process of saponification or
modifications thereof.
Another method of abstracting or decomposing the glycerine, which was
mentioned in the Specification enrolled under certain Letters Patent severally
granted to the said George Gwynne and to George Delianson Clark in the
year One thousand eight hundred and forty, is, to combine the fat with a large
proportion of concentrated sulphuric acid..

page_text: In the process above referred to of abstracting or decomposing the
"glycerine" by sulphuric acid, the acid is applied at low temperatures and with
precautions against heating, because otherwise it has a tendency to blacken the
products obtained and deteriorate their value; but when such products are
afterwards submitted to the powerful agency of distillation, sulphuric acid may
be used beneficially in combination with heat, notwithstanding the blackening
effect of the process; and a process of this kind is described in the Specifi-
cation of certain Letters Patent granted to William Coley Jones and the said
George Fergusson Wilson, party hereto, in the year One thousand eight
hundred and forty-two, which proposes the application of sulphuric acid to fatty
and oily matters at a high temperature, the proportion of acid there directed to
be used being that of about a third part of the weight of the fatty or oily
matter subjected thereto. Now since the date of the above-mentioned Specifi-
cation we have bestowed much attention on the effect produced by an elevated
temperature in the process of treating fatty and oily matters with sulphuric
acid; and we have discovered that by means of the increased energy of action
produced by a temperature exceeding (and by preference considerably exceed-
ing) one hundred and fifty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer (which is the
scale referred to in all the temperatures herein mentioned), the products obtained
being subjected, as above mentioned, to a further process of heat to distil the
same, the proportion of acid used may be greatly and advantageously reduced.
And in the course of our further researches we have also discovered that by
the application of similar temperatures (and with the like combination of the
subsequent distillation of the products) other chemical agents, producing effects
analagous to those of sulphuric acid, may be substituted for that agent (which
we believe to be the best and cheapest) in the above-mentioned processes. For
the sake of clearness it is proper here to mention that throughout this our
Specification we use the following terms in the following senises, namely, in
the term "saponification" we include all the various modifications of that pro-
cess or mode of obtaining fatty acids whereby lime or some substituted agent is
caused to combine with the acids of fatty or oily matters, and thereby to release
or set free the "glycerine." By the term "saponified matters" we designate
the acids of fatty and oily matters obtained by a process of saponification. This
process of saponification is one mode of acidifying fatty and oily matters, but
for the sake of clearness in our description and claims, we use the term
acidification" in a more restricted sense, as excluding every modification of
the process of saponification (as above defined), and including only the various
modifications of that process or mode of obtaining fatty acids whereby the
glycerine is abstracted, destroyed, or decomposed by the direct agency of

page_text: sulphuric acid, or some other chemical agent, additional to that of mere heat.
By the term "acidified matter," we designate the acids of fatty and oily
matters obtained by a process of acidification, as above defined.
term "
And the
fatty acids" is used by us to designate and include those acids
generally, whether obtained by saponification, acidification, or otherwise, with
reference to the respective Specifications of the said several Letters Patent
granted to George Gwynne, George Delianson Clark, and William Coley
Jones and George Fergusson Wilson. We wish here to state, that we lay no
claim to the use of sulphuric acid in the process of treating fatty and oily
matters, unless the same be applied at or otherwise combined with a temper-
ture exceeding one hundred and fifty degrees, and such application thereof be
also combined with a further process of heat to distil the products obtained
(with the presence of the air excluded during such distillation by an atmo-
sphere of steam or other suitable means). Nor do we lay any claim thereto,
at whatever temperature the same may be applied, if the same be used in
proportions of acid (of 1.8 specific gravity) exceeding one quarter of the
weight of the fatty or oily matters treated therewith. It is also proper here
to remark, that the last-mentioned Specification contains an intimation that
the quantity of sulphuric acid may be diminished to about ten per cent., if the
combined fat and acid be distilled together, but the preference is given to the
former mode. And we mention this in order to observe, that we lay no claim
to the treating of fatty or oily matters with sulphuric acid, where the combined
fat and acid are only subjected to a high temperature by being distilled
together in the ordinary way, as above referred to, our present Invention
having reference to the treating thereof at a high temperature, applied in
combination with subsequent distillation, as herein-after more fully explained.
The means which we pursue in carrying out this first part of our Invention,
are the following:-Into a suitable vessel (say an oblong wooden cistern lined
with stout sheet lead) we pour forty-five hundred pounds of tallow, lard, whale
oil, palm oil, or other fatty or oily matter, which has been well heated in order
to render it perfectly liquid. As soon as the temperature falls to about one
hundred and ten degrees, we very gradually add from about two hundred and
forty pounds to four hundred pounds of concentrated sulphuric acid of about
1.8 specific gravity. During the time of adding the acid, constant agitation
is kept up for the purpose of perfectly incorporating the matters under process
We have found that about six pounds of acid for each hundred and twelve
pounds of fatty or oily matter so acidifies the fatty or oily matter that the
accidified matter so treated can be conveniently distilled. The above pro-
portion of six pounds of acid to the one hundred and twelve pounds of

page_text: fatty or oily matter is that which we prefer to use for a hard fat, such
as tallow, or a liquid oil, such as whale oil; but in treating the softer fats, such
as lard or palm oil, we have found it advisable to go as high as ten pounds of
acid to the one hundred and twelve pounds, as the increased quantity of acid
produces increased hardness in the product obtained; but as the loss is also
increased, we do not recommend the use of more than ten pounds of acid to
the one hundred and twelve pounds. After the whole of the acid is added,
the agitation is kept up for twenty minutes, when the mixture is transferred
into a suitable copper vessel (of about half an inch thick in the sides and.
bottom) placed on a fire, and the temperature is gradually raised to the follow-
ing heats, constant agitation being kept up. The temperature is raised pretty
briskly to about two hundred and twelve degrees, and kept there for two
hours, then raised to two hundred and fifty degrees for one hour, then to two
hundred and eighty degrees for one hour, then to three hundred and ten
degrees for one hour, and then to three hundred and fifty degrees for one hour.
The above temperatures may be considerably varied, but we prefer them, and
beyond this last-mentioned temperature we do not deem it advisable to
proceed. As a very pungent gas or vapour is given off during this operation,
we have found it advisable that the copper vessel should be covered, and
should have in its cover a large pipe leading into a high shaft to carry away
the gas or vapour, and that the agitation should be carried on by mechanical
At the end of the above time the fire is entirely withdrawn, and the
fire door and damper opened, and when the acidified matter has cooled down
to about two hundred and twenty degrees, it is transferred into a large wooden
tub provided with a free steam worm, when it is boiled for one hour with its
bulk of water. After a due time for subsidence this water is drawn off, and
a similar quantity of water, acidulated with about forty pounds of sulphuric
acid, is added, and the fatty or oily matter again boiled for an hour.
As soon
means.
as the acidulated water has settled well down, the acidified matter is transferred
into a suitable copper pan placed on the fire, when the temperature is care-
fully raised to about two hundred and forty degrees, and kept so for two hours.
The fire is now withdrawn and the pan covered, in order to retain the heat.
It is then left to repose for about twelve hours, and the clean acidified matter
is then carefully drawn off from the dregs, and is ready for distillation as
herein-after described. The dregs left in the pan will be found to contain
acidified matters, which may be obtained therefrom by distilling the dregs to
dryness in a cast-iron still in an atmosphere of steam, but we do not
recommend the distillation of them in the copper still, for fear of forming a
sediment in it, and thereby causing the bottom of the still to be injured by

page_text: the fire. As all our researches and experiments relative to the acidification
of fatty and oily matters have led us to believe that sulphuric acid is the best
and cheapest agent which can be used for the purpose, it is not necessary
further to describe the mode of applying inferior chemical agents, which may
be substituted for the same, but we would here observe, in relation to such
substituted agents, that we do not claim the general application of chemical
agents in the processes of treating fatty or oily matters, but only the application
of heat combined with the concurrent or previous use of suitable chemical
agents substituted for sulphuric acid in the process of acidifying fatty and oily
matters, when the heat so applied ultimately attains a degree of temperature
so high as to cause the distillation of the matters subjected thereto, and the
air is excluded during such distillation by an atmosphere of steam or other
suitable means, as hercin-after more fully explained and defined. We distil
the acidified matter obtained by the above-mentioned processes with suitable
arrangements for excluding the presence of the air during the process of
distillation, and we prefer to effect this part of our Invention by distilling in
an atmosphere of steam in the manner and by the means described in the
Specification enrolled in pursuance of our said Letters Patent of the Sixteenth
day of November last, in relation to the distillation of saponified matter, with
the following exceptions, namely, that we do not saponify the residuum blown
out from the still, but forthwith transfer the same to a cast-iron still, and distil
it with steam to dryness, as above mentioned; and also that we prefer to distil
acidified matter twice over with a view to its more complete purification. The
products of the distillation having been washed, by being boiled by means of
free steam with their bulk of water, acidulated with sulphuric acid, or other-
wise washed by suitable means, may be subjected to pressure, and the hard
product so obtained may be applied in the manufacture of candles, or the washed
product of the distillation may in certain cases be so applied without pressure
by virtue of the second part of our present Invention, herein-after described.
* The second part of our Invention consists of a method of making candles
from suitable fatty acids without subjecting the same to the usual process of
pressure. In order that this part of our Invention may be clearly understood,
it is proper to explain that an extensive manufacture of candles has sprung up
in late years under the name of "Composite Candles," the usual mode of
making which is to combine the pressed acid of tallow, commonly called
"stearine wax," with cocoa nut oil or preparations thereof. Now we have
discovered that the washed product of the distillation of fatty and oily matters,
acidified according to the first part of our present Invention (and which
distillation we prefer to effect in manner aforesaid), is sometimes of sufficient

page_text: consistence to admit of its entire bulk being made into candles somewhat
resembling composite candles, without going through the usual processes of
pressing the "acidified matter" (in order to remove the liquid part thereof),
and afterwards combining the solid part with natural fats of inferior consistence.
And we have also discovered that saponified matter distilled in a gaseous
atmosphere, or otherwise, is sometimes of sufficient consistence to be also
applied in manner aforesaid. And in order that this second part of our
Invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, we will
proceed to describe the means which we pursue by way of example with
reference to tallow, palm oil, and lard, to all of which this second part of our
Invention is applicable. We take the washed products of the above-mentioned
distillations of acidified or saponified matter as aforesaid, and make the same.
into candles in the way now used in the manufacture of composite candles,
the principal points which we would observe being that we prefer to heat
the moulds to about one hundred and twenty degrees, and to pour the fatty acids
into the frames in a semifluid state, and that we prefer to use rather
smaller wicks than those ordinarily used in the manufacture of composite
candles. Whilst engaged in the above investigations we discovered that the
fatty acids obtained from some of the hard fats and oils may, without being
subjected either to pressure or distillation, be made into candles which will
burn with platted wicks, such candles, however (especially if made of acidified
matter), are much inferior in appearance and burning to those made from
distilled fatty acids. When candles are made from fatty acids without either
pressure or distillation, we would recommend that bleaching by animal char-
coal or other suitable means should be used, and that the wicks should be
made somewhat looser in the plat than those generally used in the manufacture
of composite candles. We would here observe, in reference to this second
part of our Invention, that we are aware that the Specification of the said
Letters Patent, granted to the said George Gwynne in the year One thousand
eight hundred and forty, contains an intimation that "hot pressing" may be
omitted when fatty acids are subjected to distillation, and we mention this
circumstance in order to observe that we mean by the term "usual process of
pressure " herein contained, in reference to this second part of our Invention,
the usual process of "cold pressing" only, and that we lay no claim to the
manufacture of candles from fatty acids to which the usual process of cold
pressing has been applied, although the process of hot pressing may have been
omitted.
The third part of our Invention consists of a mode of distilling fatty and
oily matters by causing such distillation to be effected by the heat of a suitable

page_text: gaseous body (preferring steam). The said Specification, enrolled under our
said Letters Patent of the Sixteenth day of November last, describes certain
apparatus and processes used by us for the admission of steam or other suitable
gaseous bodies into fatty and oily matters as a means of excluding the air
during the distillation thereof, but in our said apparatus and processes it is
proposed to effect the distillation by the heat of a fire placed under the still,
which it may be desirable to avoid on account of the risk of the heated fatty
or oily matter escaping into the fire. Now we have discovered that by using
as the distilling agent a suitable gaseous body (preferring steam) heated to a
degree sufficient to cause the distillation of fatty and oily matters, we are able
to place the still at a distance from the fire, and thereby to avoid danger in
case of any escape of the matters under process. We prefer to effect this part
of our Invention by the heat of steam admitted into the matters under process
in the manner and by the means mentioned in the said Specification of our
said Letters Patent of the Sixteenth day of November last (and by which the
beneficial result of excluding the air is also attained), except that the pipe and
steam worm by which the heated steam is admitted should be considerably in-
creased in size; we effect the heating of the steam by causing it to pass through
an apparatus similar to that in use for heating air for the purpose of producing
a hot blast in the manufacture of iron, and which being well known need not be
further described. The still used according to our present improvement is placed
by us on the ground, and we prefer to surround it with a thick covering of
brickwork to prevent radiation of heat, leaving an inclosed vacant space of three
or four inches wide between the still and the brickwork. We would here
observe, that we are aware that the Specification of certain Letters Patent,
granted to William Newton in the year One thousand eight hundred and
forty-one, describes an apparatus for heating steam used in the distillation
of fatty and oily matters, by causing the same to pass through pipes subjected
externally to the heat of the fatty or oily matters themselves, heated by a
naked fire to the degree required to produce the distillation thereof, and we
are also aware that the same Specification intimates that the steam may be
heated by other means up to the temperature of the heated fatty or oily
matters. And we mention these circumstances in order to state that we do
not claim the use of heated steam in the process of distilling fatty or oily
matters where the additional heat of the steam is derived from the fatty or
oily matters themselves, heated by fire as above mentioned, or where the fatty
or oily matters into which heated steam is admitted are heated by a naked
fire up to a temperature as high as that of the incoming steam.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the best means

page_text: we are acquainted with for carrying it into effect, we wish it to be further
understood that the Invention which we claim by virtue of our said Letters
Patent of the Twenty-eighth day of December last, consists in the following
particulars (that is to say):-
First, we claim the using of sulphuric acid, in proportions not exceeding
twenty-five pounds by weight of concentrated sulphuric acid of 1.8 specific
gravity to one hundred pounds of fatty or oily matter, as the agent for acidi-
fying the same, and thereby adapting or preparing the same for distillation,
when such proportions of acid are used in combination with a temperature
exceeding one hundred and fifty degrees, and also in combination with the
subsequent distillation of the products obtained, with the presence of the air
excluded during such distillation by an atmosphere of steam or other suitable
means. And we claim the using of a temperature exceeding one hundred and
fifty degrees, in concurrence with the use of other suitable chemical agents
substituted for sulphuric acid in the process of acidifying fatty and oily matters,
when the products obtained thereby are subjected to a further process of heat
to distil the same, with the presence of the air excluded by an atmosphere
of steam or other suitable means. And we claim the application of heat,
combined with the concurrent or previous use of suitable chemical agents,
substituted for sulphuric acid in the process of acidifying fatty and oily
matters, when the heat so applied ultimately attains a degree of temperature
so high as to cause the distillation of the matters subjected thereto, the air
being excluded during such distillation by an atmosphere of steam or other
suitable means.
Secondly, we claim the manufacturing of candles from distilled acidified matter
obtained by means of the several processes above referred to our in first claim,
when such acidified matter has not been subjected to the usual process of pressure.
And we claim the manufacturing of candles from saponified matter which has
been distilled in a gaseous atmosphere, or by other suitable means, and which
has not been subjected to the usual process of pressure. And we claim the
manufacturing of candles from undistilled fatty acids generally which have not
been subjected to the usual process of pressure.
Thirdly, we claim the distillation of fatty and oily matters by the heat of
steam or other suitable gaseous body as above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Gwynne and George Fergusson
Wilson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth day
of June, One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
GEORGE (L.S.) GWYNNE.
GEO. F. (L.S.) WILSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid George Gwynne and George
Fergusson Wilson came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One