IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PARAFFINE CANDLES.
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kingsford Field, of Lambeth, in the County
of Surrey, Wax Chandler, and Charles Humfrey, of No. 14, The Terrace,
Camberwell, in the said County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PARAFFINE CANDLES.
Sealed the 19th August 1856, and dated the 22nd February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kingsford Field and
Charles Humfrey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 22nd February 1856.
We, JOHN KINGSFORD FIELD, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Wax
Chandler, and CHARLES HUMFREY, of No. 14, The Terrace, Camberwell, in the
said County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PARAFFINE CANDLES " to
be as follows:-
We find that in the moulding paraffine candles, or candles which are com-
posed principally of paraffine, it is difficult to obtain a candle which will
readily draw from the mould, and which shall be uniformly translucent and
free from cracks or crystallization, and we obtain these results by the following
process. The moulds are heated to 140° Fahrenheit, or thereabouts, and the
melted paraffine to about 170° Fahrenheit, the moulds are filled and left a few
minutes to allow any air bubble to escape. The moulds are then plunged into
cold water, and allowed to remain there until the paraffine is set, excepting in
the centre just round the wick; the moulds are then withdrawn from the
water and allowed to cool in the ordinary way. We prepare our wicks as

page_text: follows: We take pure boraic acid and dissolve about 80 grains in one pint
of water, and dip the wicks in such solution; such wicks will burn with a
bright end, the boraic acid fluxing the ash of the cotton. In the manufacture
of paraffine candles, we prefer to use paraffine that has been refined by the
processes specified in a Patent granted to Edward Davies, John Milne Syers,
and Charles Humfrey, dated 18th of December 1855, but we do not confino
ourselves to the use of such paraffine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kingsford Field and Charles Humfrey in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 22nd August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
KINGSFORD FIELD, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Wax Chandler, and
CHARLES HUMFREY, of No. 14, The Terrace, Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Kingsford Field and Charles Humfrey, Her special licence that we,
the said Jolin Kingsford Field and Charles Humfrey, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Kingsford Field and
Charles Humfrey, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PARAFFINE CANDLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
wė, the said John Kingsford Field and Charles Humfrey, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe.
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Kingsford Field and Charles
Humfrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
We find that in the moulding paraffine candles, or candles which are com-
posed principally of paraffine, it is difficult to obtain a candle which will readily
draw from the mould and which shall be uniformly translucent and free from
cracks or crystallization, and we obtain these results by the following process:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS.
We take paraffine and melt it, and at a temperature of about 140° Fahren-
heit run it into candle moulds heated to the same temperature, or rather
higher. The pipes thus filled are allowed to stand a few minutes, to permit
the air bubbles to escape and rise to the surface, and are then plunged into
cold water. This sudden cooling of the paraffine prevents its forming itself
into crystals, and we thus obtain candles nearly transparent, and which will
draw freely from the pipes.
For paraffines of good quality a wick of ordinary plaited cotton can be used,
and by dipping the cotton wick into a weak solution of boracic acid (say four
or eight grains of boracic acid to an ounce of distilled water), the ash of the
cotton wick will be fluxed, and the candles burn with a bright and clear end.
We are aware that the process of filling the moulds hot and dipping them
suddenly into cold water has been applied to the manufacture of other de-
scription of candles, such as candles made of pressed lard; we therefore claim
only the application of the process herein-before described to the manufacture of
candles made entirely or partly of paraffine.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Kinsford Field and Charles
Humfrey, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-second
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-si
Witness,
ALEX PRINCE, Patent Agent,
(L.S.)
J. K. FIELD.
CHARLES HUMFREY. (L.S.)
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.