A CERTAIN MACHINE AND RODS FOR CUTTING, SPREADING, AND PREPARING WICKS FOR DIP CANDLES
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TAYLOR, the younger, of Chesterfield, in the County of Derby, 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 the
Twentieth day of January, in the fifty-second year of His reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said John Taylor, His especial licence that I, the said John
Taylor, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my method or Invention of "A CERTAIN MACHINE
AND RODS FOR CUTTING, SPREADING, AND PREPARING WICKS FOR DIP CANDLES;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
John Taylor, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invetion, and the
Banner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and

page_text: ascertained by the Plan or Drawing hereunto annexed, and as follows, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists of rods upon a new principle, so made as to contain
a double row of wicks, and of a machine for the purpose of distributing or
spreading the wicks thereon.
Figure 1 is the machine or frame complete, with the rods in and partly
spread with wicks. Figure 2d is the centre piece, made of wood or metal;
which turns on two pivots resting in .centres in the upright posts A, A,
Fig. 1. The horizontal part is about two inches square, and in the middle of
the two opposite sides of which is a groove, half an inch deep and one-eighth
of an inch wide, which groove is nearly the whole length of the center piece,
and serves as a guide for the shears or scissars when cutting the wick. The
arms a, a, are twenty-five inches long, one inch thick, and three inches broad;
each of these arms has a slit, half an inch wide, down the middle, to within
four inches of the center, where the pins are fixed. The distance betwixt the
arms of the center piece is about forty-one inches. Fig. 3 is the gauge, of
which there must be two, made both sides sides alike; they are made of wood,
one inch and a half, and five or six inches broad, and covered to within four
inches of each end with thick flannel or soft leather; the two ends of the
gauge are two inches higher than the covered part, and the same breadth as
the arms, and are so made as to receive and let the ends of the rods rest
therein. On the outside of each end of the gauge is a slip or tenon of wood,
made to fit exactly, and slide in the slit of the arms of the center piece, in
which slit or tenon is a small thumb-screw, as is represented at b, and as the
arms are graduated the gauge may be fixed by the screws. to the greatest
nicety, at any required distance from the center, according to the length of the
candles to be inade. Fig. 4 is a thin board, covered on one side only with
thick flannel or soft leather, which, when the wicks are wound on the rods, is
placed on the gauge, with the covered side to the wicks, between the two
small blocks of wood C, C, Fig. 3d, and is held fast in that situation by the two
small buttons d, d, fixed on the blocks c, c; there are four of these boards, the
use of which are to hold the wicks fast whilst cutting, and as the covered part
is well rubbed with tallow, serves, in conjunction with the covered part of the
gauge, which must also be well rubbed with tallow, to wipe and smooth down
the wicks as they are drawn out from betwixt the covered board and the
gauge. Fig. 5 is one of the rods, with the broad or flat side to the eye, with
angular notches at equal distances on both edges, for containing the.wicks;
these rods are about forty inches long, two inches broad, and half an inch
thick, and may be made with any number of notches, according to the thick-

page_text: larger. Rods upon my principle, to contain two rows of wicks, may also be
made in a half round or triangular form, with a single row of notches on the
convex side, or on one of the angles, but if made in any manner or form so
as to contain a double row of wicks, I particularly claim as part of my
Invention. The clews of yarn, represented in the Drawing, are such as
remain fixed, and the yarn is unwound from their insides; but if cotton clews
are used, or such as are unwound from the outside, it will be necessary to put
them in a box or basket placed on the topmost shelf. By my manner of
cutting and spreading wicks, there is a very great saving of time and expence,
compared with the methods hitherto practised, and in addition to which, the
candles made from wicks thus prepared, having no twist in them, and being
well smoothed down with tallow preparatory to being dipt, burn with a much
clearer light than if made with twisted wicks; they also do not require snuffiing.
so frequently.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Taylor, the younger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Land One thousand eight hundred and twelve.
JOHN (L.S.) TAYLOR, Jun.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within
named John Taylor, the younger (being
first duly stamped, in the presence of
W Paitson, of Chesterfield, Attorney-at-
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirtieth day of January
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Taylor, the younger, 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.

page_text: ness of the candles wanted; the notches are nearly half an inch deep, and
about the same width in the wider part. Fig. 6 is a rod, with the wicks
spread thereon, and prepared for dipping. Fig. 7 is a small piece of thin iron
or steel, fixed in the groove side of the center piece, as at e, Fig. 1 and 2, in
the slit of which the ends of the yarn are fastened at the commencement of
the work. This Drawing is the full size, and the dotted lines shew that part
which is driven into the wood of the center piece.
The manner of working is as follows:-Having placed on the shelves B, B,
Fig. 1, as many clews or balls of yarn as may be required, and having the
gauges properly fixed in the center piece, the covered part of which should be
well rubbed with tallow, take two of the rods, and place one in each of the
gauges, as may be seen at h, h, Fig 1, which rods are prevented from falling
out.as the center piece goes round by a small steel spring, which presses
gently against each of their ends, which spring is represented at o, Fig. 1.
and 3; then having collected the ends of the different clews of yarn together,
fasten them by slipping them into the small piece of slit iron or steel, as at e,
Fig. 1; after which, with one hand, keep turning the center piece round, and
with the other guide the threads of yarn into the notches progressively till the
rods are filled; then take the four covered boards, place one on each side of.
the gauges, and fasten them by the buttons; then, holding the gauges and
center piece horizontally with a pair of shears or scissars, and having one
point resting in the groove, proceed to cut the wicks from one end to the
other, which having done, turn the center piece round, and do the same
on the other side; after which fix the center piece vertically, and take hold of
the uppermost rod by both hands, near the ends, and draw it out carefully and
perpendicularly, and place it on a stage; then turn the center piece and take
out the other in the same manner, which rods are then prepared for dipping,
as is represented by Fig. 6; then take off the covered boards and proceed as
before. The covered boards, when not fixed on the gauges, rest upn two pegs
in the back rail C. At k, Fig. 1, is an iron screw, which goes through the
upright post, in the end of which one of the pivots of the center piece runs ;.
by means of this screw the center piece may be taken out of the frame at
pleasure. The frame may be made, for the most part, of any kind of wood, or
part wood and part metal, and in the dimensions of the different parts, of which
no great nicety is required; the rods should be made of hard wood, such is as
not liable to warp; the notches may be either over against each other, or at
right angles, the latter mode is best, as the candles on the two rows are not so
liable to stick to each other during the process of dipping; these rods may be
made of different dimensions, and for thick candles the notches should be