IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING CANDLES AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MANUFACTURES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Talbot Pitman, of the American and European
Patent Office, 67, Gracechurch Street, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING CANDLES AND OTHER ANALOGOUS
MANUFACTURES."-A communication.
Sealed the 11th December 1857, and dated the 6th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Talbot Pitman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th October 1857.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices,
67, Gracechurch Street, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING CANDLES AND OTHER ANALAGOUS
MANUFACTURES," a communication from a citizen of the United States, to be as
follows:-
They consist in enclosing within a tight chamber, fitted upon a suitable
frame, the tubes of a candle mould set perpendicularly in the usual way, so
that at pleasure water can be admitted to chill the tubes or steam to heat
them. In mounting the movable mould tips upon hollow rods, so that
simultaneously by suitable devices each can be moved perpendicularly up
through the entire tube, and up to the clamp hereafter mentioned, pushing
before it the candle that shall have been moulded, and at the same time
drawing up a wick placed beneath for a new candle, and then be drawn down

page_text: until it rests upon a shoulder at the bottom of the tube so as not to leak, in
the proper position for the next moulding.
In the construction and application of a suitable clamp of a proper width,
fitted for one, two, or more rows of candles (usually two), so arranged that in
one position the candles shall pass up between the semicircular holes in the
clamp, spread open for the-purpose,-and-when sufficiently high the clamp shall
by a wedge-shaped or other suitable device be contracted so as to hold and
support the candles in an upright position in these holes, which are made to
contract most at the bottom, where also to retain the candles without injury
when left by the tips, a soft elastic substance is brought by the same operation
partly around and beneath the tips. In this clamp they are retained until the
moulds beneath are refilled, when the wick being detached, they are removed
with it from the frame.
SPECIFICATION-in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Talbot Pitman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices, 67, Grace-
church Street, London, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS, Her, most, Excellent, Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year. of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Talbot Pitman, Her special licence that I, 'the said John-Talbot Pitman,
and my executors; administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Talbot Pitman, or my 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
APPARATUS FOR MAKING CANDLES AND OTHER ANALAGOUS-MANUFACTURES," a com-
munication from a citizen of the United States, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Talbot Pitman; or my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and. cause the

page_text: 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 I, the said John Talbot Pitman; do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in' what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference' being had to the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 represents a side view of the candle frame and clamp.
2
3
4
دو
"
"
5
6
7
"
و,
a perspective view of the same, a portion of the box
being removed to exhibit some of the candle moulds
and hollow rods.
"
a vertical section of the frame and clamp through x-.
y, of Figure 2.:
the lower side of the clamp, with the wedge-shaped:
contractor drawn.
the upper side of the clamp, with the contractor loose.
the wedge-shaped contractor.
a mould or tube and rod in section.
Where the same letters are used, similar parts are indicated...
The object of my Invention is to simplify, expidite, and cheapen the making
of candles by substituting machinery for most of the hand labor in those
parts of the process where it has heretofore been employed, and in dispensing
with the great number of candle frames and moulds now required to. make a
given number of candles.
The advantages derived from the apparatus herein-after to be more par-
ticularly described are chiefly. these :-The moulds are rapidly heated, filled,,
and cooled; the candles are forced from the pipes, over which they are.
received and retained by an apparatus in such a manner that the.wicks drawn
up after them are centred and held in position by the candles, ready for the
moulds to be refilled; which rare again heated and refilled without the usual:
delay in heating and cooling under the: ordinary practice, and-with-very little.
manipulation.
The apparatus may be thus described:-A is a substantial stationary. frame;
B, a water-tight box, in which the candle tubes are set; through the opening
b, provided with a stop-cock; water is introduced for cooling and warming
these tubes, and through an orifice at that or the other end, provided in the
same way, it is discharged; C is a platform; moved up and down by any device,.
such as the gear operating upon the racks c¹, attached on the outside of the
frame A to each end of the platform, and connected together by rods c". This
consists of a double floor, with an interval between. The ends of the hollow,

page_text: rods D, D, pass easily through their respective holes in both floors, but this
action is limited by nuts d", screwed upon them between the floors; d, d, are
the candle tip moulds, secured upon the other end of D, D; E, E, are the
candle tubes or pipes, firmly secured to a top and bottom plate; F, the clamp,
formed of four longitudinal pieces, having semicircular segments H, H, which
when brought together from circular holes, and through which when operated
upon and opened by the spiral springs n, n, the candles are pushed, and by
and in which they are held up and retained when operated upon, and closed
by the wedge-shaped contractor G, the upper protuberances or wedge of which
gare smaller than the lower ones g¹; h, h, the hinges connecting two sections
together, and f, f, are set screws confining and adjusting the four sections, so
as to regulate the size of the hole H; o, o, are strips of india-rubber fastened
to the under side of the clamp, to assist in holding the candles and prevent
bruising.
Any number of pipes most convenient can be used in a frame; I find one
hundred and fifty-six arranged for two clamps on one frame not too many.
The tube is made slightly tapering, so that the moveable tips when on the
shoulder made in the board or plate that supports the lower end of the tube
shall form a joint sufficiently tight to prevent the molten material from leaking
through. In this position the tube and the tip form a complete candle mould;
the opening through the tip, for the same reason, should be snugly filled by
the wick.
In raising and lowering so many rods, if rigidly secured to the platform,
there would be a constant tendency in some of them to bind, and as a conse-
quence accidents would constantly occur, and an uncertainty whether the
candle mould was complete would arise. To prevent this each rod is fitted
and adjusted so that it acts to a certain extent independent of the others; the
lower end, as above mentioned, passes freely through both holes in the platform,
but the distance is regulated by the nut d", stationed between the floors, or
other similar device. It will be seen that the action of the floors or plates
upon this nut, except within a narrow limit, forces the rod in the desired
direction with the platform; within this limit the gravity of the nut and rod is
sufficient to bring the tip independently and with certainty into its proper seat.
Upon guides a', a', established upon or cut into the frame A, the clamp F
is placed and adjusted so that each of its holes shall be directly over its
respective candle mould, the size of the opening is then regulated by the set
screws ff. The lower part of each orifice is caused by the springs n, n, to
expand more than the upper, which is confined by the hinge, and thus gives
more scope for the entering candle. When the contractor G is drawn, the

page_text: wedges g¹ being larger than g, cause the lower part to contract more than the
upper, rendering the hole H smaller at the bottom than at the top, which
contraction, assisted by the strip above mentioned, will retain the candle when
left in the clamp.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The wicks are first drawn through
the rods from the spool below the platform and to the top of the candle mould.
At the first moulding, unless particular pains are taken, the wick will not
be well centred, for the reason that there are no candles holding the wick in-
the clamp. The water heated to the proper temperature is, let into the box,
and when the pipes are sufficiently warmed the melted stuff is poured into the
moulds; the hot water having been previously run off or allowed to remain,
cold water is introduced and allowed to run through the box until the candles:
are cool enough to draw. Power is applied to raise the platform, the rods are:
forced up and before them the candles. When the rods have pushed the candles
through the orifices H, H, until the tips of the candles are elevated above the
strip o, the operator draws the contractor by which the lower part of the
clamp is drawn together, so as to hold the candles; the platform is then
lowered to its place, leaving the wick for the next set centred by the drawn
candle in the clamp and the moveable tip. The rods brought down by the
platform nearly to their place of rest fall independently, easily, and accurately
into their exact position. The moulds are again heated, filled, and cooled as
before. When the candles of this casting are sufficiently cool, the candles in
the clamp are detached from the wick, and in the clamp are removed; the
clamp is then replaced upon the frame ready for the next set.
I am aware that plungers or rods with butts have been used to force night
lights or "mortars" vertically from their moulds; also, that movable tips have
with suitable devices, been employed in forcing candles from their moulds in a
horizontal direction, but I am not aware that movable tips moulded upon
hollow rods through which passes an endless wick have for raising candles
vertically ever been used with practical and useful results, either separately or
in connection with any apparatus for receiving the candle and centring the
new wick simultaneously; nor do I believe that it has ever been done, because
in moving a great number of rods through the requisite distance, some of
them would bind so as to prevent the tips from coming accurately into their
seats, unless the rods were regulated and adjusted by a device similar to the
one herein-before described, and which I believe to be not only new, but to be
essential to the accurate and useful working of the machine; and because no
suitable apparatus for receiving and retaining the candles in a vertical position
has before been invented, for want of which no great advantage could be

page_text: derived from manufacturing candles by a process of removing them vertically
by means of movable tips.
. Having now' described the Invention, the mode of operating it, and its
advantages, as the same has been communicated to me, what I claim and
desire to secure under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First, the mode of wicking through and pushing out the candles by means
of movable'tips mounted on hollow rods adjusted and regulated substantially
as described.
Second, the apparatus for receiving and retaining candles and centring the
wick, arranged and constructed substantially as described.
Third, the continuation of the two apparatus, vizt., the one constructed and
arranged substantially as' described, for wicking, heating; and cooling the tubes,
and removing the "candles, in combination with the apparatus, substantially as
described, 'for receiving' and retaining the candles and centring the wick
simultaneously.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Talbot Pitman, have hereunto set
my hand 'and seal, on 'the Sixth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
"
JOHN TALBOT PITMAN. (LS.)