IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WICKS FOR CANDLES AND POR LAMPS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, of Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifteenth day of May, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Palmer, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Palmer, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Palmer, my exors, admors 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 make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WICKS FOR CANDLES AND
POR LAMPS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Palmer, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Palmer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say) -
My Invention relates, first, to improvements in the manufacture of wicks for
candles and for lamps.
Secondly, my Invention relates to machinery for making dip candles in those
cases where the dip candles are drawn through holes or dies to shape them.
Thirdly, my Invention relates to the coating of mould candles, and candles
shaped by dies, with better material.
And, fourthly, my Invention relates to a mode of supplying melted material
to, and carrying off the overflow of the dipping mould or vessel, when making
dip candles.
And in order that the Invention may be fully understood, and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
The first part of my Invention has for its object the manufacture of
wicks for candles and lamps, and consists in so making such wicks that
they shall each consist of several wicks combined together, side by side,
so as to produce the width of wick desired, whether for flat wicks or tubular
wicks, and I prefer to use that description of wicks which in burning turn
out of the flame when burning in such manner that the current of air
passing may dissipate the wick as it is burned and turned out of the flame. It
is well known that there are various constructions of wicks which in burning
bend out of the flames when being consumed in candles, but such wicks have
not been heretofore so combined as to form cylindrical or flat wicks suitable
for argand and other lamps, and for hollow candles formed for having a current
of air passing through in the manner of argand lamps, as has heretofore been
attempted with other constructions of wicks which would not turn out of the
flame when burning, nor have cords or such like single wicks been combined
together side by side, so as to produce flat or tubular wicks for lamps or
candles. The making of the various descriptions of wicks which will turn
out of the flame when burning being well understood, and in themselves
forming no part of my Invention, it will not be necessary for me to describe
the same, other than to say that I prefer to use ordinary plat or the linked
plats described in my former Patent, and I use such platted or other wicks
which are capable of turning out of the flame, and I place them side by side,
and weave them together by throwing in weft of yarn, so as to combine them

page_text: When the
into a sheet, or I use the yarn as warp threads, and the wicks as weft, taking
care that all the wicks are placed in the same position, in order that they will
all turn in the same direction, as is well understood, and the fabrics thus pro-
duced, when for cylinder wicks, are sewed together at their edges, so as to make
that part of the wick as nearly as may be similar to the other parts, so as to
produce tubular wicks of the sizes desired. It should be stated that in the
weaving together of the separate wicks as little yarn as possible should be
used as weft or warp, in order to avoid interfering with the property of turning
out of the separate wicks. And I prefer that the direction of the turning out
of the several parts of the wick from the flame should be inwards towards the
centre of the tubular wick, so that the upward current passing up through
the central tube of an argand lamp, or through the centre of a candle, may
dissipate the burned part of the wick as it turns out of the flame.
link plat wick is preferred, then in place of making them in separate cords, as
was described in my former Patent, I cause them to be laced or joined together
by lacing threads in the warp machinery, wherein they are made, not so as to
pull them tightly together, but so as to leave an interval between each two
neighbouring parts of a wick, such lacing of cords and other parts of fabrics
in warp machinery or warp lace machinery being well understood, when
working that machinery to produce other fabrics laced together, or when for
cylindrical wicks to be sewed at their selvages, so as to form tubular wicks of
the description above described. The tubular wicks thus formed are to be
used in the ordinary manner of tubular wicks for lamps and for candles.
When the wicks are to be formed of cords, without being intended to turn out
of the flames, they are to be combined together side by side at short distances
apart, in the manner described, so as to produce tubular or flat wicks, the cords
being vertical in the wicks and combined by yarn, so that each two neighbour-
ing cords will be at a distance apart, and these tubular or flat wicks are to be
employed in lamps in the ordinary manner.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which relates to
machinery for making dip candles, and this part of my Invention relates to an
improvement in the manufacture of dip candles according to the Invention of
Mr. Charles Brown, for which Letters Patent were granted on the Fifth day
of October One thousand eight hundred and forty-three, such Invention
consisting of causing the candles to be drawn through dies or holes to
shape them; I have found in carrying out this Invention under licence that
delay takes place in consequence of the candles vibrating by the act of
moving the frames of candles to a position over the dies, and it is important
for the sake of expedition to apply apparatus in such manner that the whole
a

page_text: of the candles may be quickly stopped from vibration, so that they may be
again caused to descend through the opened dies. The machinery em-
ployed according to Mr. Brown's Invention being fully described in his
Specification, it will not be necessary to repeat the same here; the Drawings
hereunto annexed shew sufficient of that machinery to enable a. workman
to understand the means shewn of applying my present improvements to such
machinery.
Figures 1 and 2 shew two sections of the machinery, having my improve-
ment applied thereto; Figure 3 shews part of a front view, and Figure 4 a
plan and section of one of the frames, by which the candles are suspended;
and such improvement consists of a series of bars or rods a, a, suspended by
rods b, b, to the frame d, which frame being capable of movement up and
down by the workmen, the frame a being guided in the frame c, which in this
case is similar to that described in the Specification of Mr. Charles Brown,
except that in this case, instead of using the plates l, m, to hold the candles
correctly over the guaging holes, I employ for that purpose the quadrangular
frame e, shewn separately at Figure 4. When the candles suspended upon a
frame e are placed in the frame c they vibrate in various directions, to prevent
which the workmen lower the series of bars a between the rows of candles,
which immediately cause the candle to rest perpendicularly, when they may be
lowered through the open dies.
In the manufacture of candles of common materials, both mould candles
and dip candles, which are drawn through dies according to the Invention of
the said Mr. Brown, it is desirable to use common or low price materials in
the centre, and better materials externally, and this has before been accom-
plished when moulding candles, and also when making dip candles.
Now the object of this part of my Invention is to cause mould candles to be
dipped in better materials after they have been taken from the moulds, and
also to dip die-shaped candles in better materials after they have been formed,
as described in the said Mr. Brown's Specification, in order to obtain a better
external surface to such candles at a cheap rate, by which mould and die-
shaped dip candles will be greatly improved in character.
In carrying out this Invention I take mould candles which have been made
in moulds, the moulds being made somewhat less to allow of an after coating
by dipping; or I take die-shaped dip candles, and suspend them on rods or
other apparatus, and cause them to be dipped in melted material of a better
quality than what has been used in their manufacture, and cause them to be
dipped till the desired surface has been obtained; and the materials we prefer
to use are stearic acid (generally called stearine) of tallow, combined with

page_text: cocoa-nut oil, in the proportions of about one part of impressed cocoa-nut oil
to three or four parts of stearic acid of tallow; but I do not confine myself
thereto, this part of my Invention consisting of causing mould candles, and
die-shaped dip candles, after they have been made, to be dipped into materials
of better quality to obtain a coating thereof, by which candles of low priced
materials will be produced, having a much better appearance, and more valuable
in their use by a very small additional cost.
I will now describe the fourth part of my Invention, which relates to a
mode of supplying the dipping mould or vessel used in the manufacture of
dip candles. In making dip candles, it is important that the apparatus used
should descend at all times to one fixed position, and therefore that the level
of the melted material in the dipping mould or vessel should be kept at one
uniform height; and to accomplish this object, I so form the dipping trough
that it may overflow if the supply is too great, and at the same time I use a
pump to keep up the supply, so that the supply of melted material may be
greater in a slight degree than that taken by the dipping of the candles, and
that the excess may flow away from the dipping mould or vessel into the
reservoir, from which the pump obtains its supply.
Figure 5 shews a cross section of an ordinary dipping mould or vessel,
having suitable apparatus applied thereto for carrying out this part of my
Invention; Figure 6 is another cross section, taken across the reservoir, from
which the dipping mould or vessel is supplied; and Figure 7 shews a longi-
tudinal section of the same. f is the dipping mould or vessel, which may be
of any suitable form according to the apparatus used therewith; g is a trough,
into which any excess of melted matter from the dipping trough f will flow,
and from such trough g the melted material will flow back into the vessel or
reservoir h, which is kept supplied with melted tallow or other material from
time to time by the ordinary ladles or other convenient means; i is an ordinary
force pump, which may be worked by hand, or constantly by machinery, the
speed of working it being regulated so as to be equal to the extent of using
up the material; j is a supply pipe from the pump to the dipping vessel; by
these means a supply being kept up in the dipping trough, so that it overflows,
will cause the material in the dipping trough to maintain a sufficiently regu-
lated height to allow of the dipping apparatus at all times descending to the
same point.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I do not confine myself to the
precise details so long as the peculiar character of either part of my Invention
be retained; but what I claim is,-

page_text: First, the mode of manufacturing tubular or flat wicks for candles and for
lamps, as herein described.
Secondly, I claim the improvements in machinery used for making die-
shaped dip candles, as herein described.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of coating mould candles and die-shaped dip
candles by dipping them in better materials, as herein described.
And, fourthly, I claim the mode herein described of keeping up a regular
supply of melted material, and to a uniform height, in the dipping mould or
vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.