MY INVENTION AND PIECE OP MACHI- NERY OR INSTRUMENT FOR CUTTING THE WICK OF A LIGHTED CANDLE, AND KEEPING THE SAME IN PERFECT TRIM AND OF A PROPER LENGTH
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALEXANDER THOMPSON, of Great Charlotte Street, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifteenth day of June, in the forty-ninth year of His reign, did,'
for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said
George Alexander Thompson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Alexander Thompson; my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, "MY INVENTION AND PIECE OP MACHI-
NERY OR INSTRUMENT FOR CUTTING THE WICK OF A LIGHTED CANDLE, AND KEEPING
THE SAME IN PERFECT TRIM AND OF A PROPER LENGTH;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George Alexander
Thompson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Alexander Thompson, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
described and ascertained in the Plans drawn in the margin of these Presents,
and the following explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention is the making a pair of fauceps or scissars to open horizon-
tally by a slight pressure of the thumb, or thumb and finger, as circumstances
may require, thereby shewing a small hole on a plane immediately under
where the two blades meet. This hole is dropt gently over the wick of a
candle, till there appears above it as much of the wick as it may be thought
necessary to cut or amputate. The before-mentioned pressure being relaxed,
the fauceps or scissars close instantaneously, and separate that part of the
wick which is above the hole from the remainder of the wick, and at the
same instant, by the action of a spring bolt or shoulder, the snuff or wick
separated from the candle is forced into a kind of safe or reservoir. My
Invention is first shewn and delineated in Figure 1, in the annexed Plan,
and is performed in the following manner (that is to say) :-
:-
I fix a pair of scissars with raised sides marked A, A, upon the surface marked
B, B, and keep them shut by means of the spring or springs marked C, C.
Immediately under the blades of the scissars is a hole in the surface, which
hole is marked D, and the blades when shut are made to cover the said hole;
and the upper sides of the blades rest against a small bar, which leads from
either side of the reservoir to those corners of the sides of the scissars which
are nearest to the bow or handles. Over the rivet from between the back
part of the box marked E, I fix a tube or barrel marked F, which terminates
with a mouth marked G. In this tube or barrel is a spring or runner,
marked H, which is seperated at the point marked I, and which spring or
runner is affixed to a bow, or to the bows of the machine or snuffers. I
likewise affix to the end of that part of the runner marked K, which, when
the scissars are closed, lays immediately over on a line with their point of
contact, a bolt marked L. This bolt, in a quiescent state, shuts up the reservoir
marked M, and upon opening the bow or handles, it is drawn back over the
hole, so that the hole appears perfectly clear beyond it. The said reservoir
I make to drop below the surface of the scissars, just beyond their ends or
points, with a slide at the bottom to let out the snuff. This slide is shewn in
Section 2, in the annexed Plans, and is marked N.
principle of cutting the wick of a lighted candle, by
fauceps or scissars, and at the same instant of forcing the snuff, by the action
of a spring bolt or shoulder, into a reservoir, I effect by several other sorts of
The same effect or
means of a pair of

page_text: spring or springs. I shall here only exhibit one more, which is shewn and
delineated in Figure 2, in the annexed Plans, and is performed as follows:-
I fix or rivet a pair of scissars marked A, A, upon the surface marked B, B,
and keep them shut by means of the spring or springs marked C, C. Imme-
diately under the blades of the scissars is a hole in the surface, which hole is
marked D, and the blades when shut are made to cover the said hole. Such
parts of the blades as when shut cover the half of the hole farthest from
the handle of the instrument are quite flat, and are marked E, E, and those
parts of the blades which cover that half of the hole which is nearest to the
handle of the instrument are made with tho raised sides marked F, F, both
which sides verge in an angle towards that part of the hole which is nearest to
and in a straight line with the rivet marked B. The sides of the plane marked
1, 2, 3, 4, have each an interstice at the bottom, to admit of the flat parts of
the scissars passing through as they are opened and shut. Immediately behind
the said rivet, I affix the elbow or shoulder marked G, which, by the action of
the thumb piece marked H, serves to draw back the bolt marked I from the
reservoir marked K, this bolt forms the front of the reservoir; and at the
bottom of the reservoir, which is sunk below the surface, immediately at the
points or ends of the scissars, is the said slide, which is shewn in the said
Section 2, and marked N.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Alexander Thompson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thoucond sight hundred and nine
GEO ALEX THOMPSON. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifteenth day of August,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid George Alexander Thompson came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fifteenth day of August, in the year above written.