IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO CANDLES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Biggs, of 3, Lawrence Pountney Hill, in
the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AND APPLICABLE TO CANDLES."
Sealed the 5th July 1867, and dated the 7th January 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Biggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
January 1867.
I, BENJAMIN BIGGS, of 3, Lawrence Pountney Hill, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO CANDLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application to that end of a candle which is
intended to be inserted in the candlestick of a capsule or cup of metal or
other suitable material for the purpose of preventing waste and other
inconveniences usually experienced in the buruing of candles. The capsule
or cup is applied to the end of each candle after it has been manufactured in.
the ordinary manner, or the candle may be manufactured with the end to
which the capsule or cup is to be applied of slightly smaller diameter than
the rest of the candle, with a shoulder against which the capsule or cup may-

page_text: be fitted. By this means each completed candle is furnished with a kind of
"save-all "fixed to its lower end, thereby enabling the candle to burn to the
end within the capsule or cup. For this purpose also it may be advisable
instead of cutting off the wick as usual flush with the lower end of the candle
to leave a small portion, and to open and spread it out, so as when inclosed
in the capsule or cup to form a kind of foot for the wick to rest upon, and
thereby allow it to retain its vertical position until it is consumed. The
capsule or cup may be made of thin metal, or of paper, or of fibrous material,
or of india-rubber, gutta percha, earthenware, glass, wood, or other suitable
material. When made of paper or other inflammable material the capsule or
cup may be rendered uninflammable by any well-known chemical substance
adapted for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjamin Biggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
BIGGS, of 3, Lawrence Pountney Hill, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benjamin Biggs, Her special licence that I, the said Benjamin
Biggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Biggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any tinie
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 AND
APPLICABLE TO CANDLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the,
said Benjamin Biggs, my executors or administrators,, 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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Biggs, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in and applicable to Candles" consists in
the application to that end of a candle which is intended to be inserted in
the candlestick, of a capsule or of a cup of metal or other suitable material
for the purpose of preventing waste and other inconveniences usually
experienced in the burning of candles, each completed candle being furnished
by this Invention with a kind of "save-all" fixed to its lower end, whereby
the candle may be wholly consumed. Both the capsule and the cup are
respectively applied to the end of each candle after it has been moulded in
the ordinary manner, either without any special adaptation of the candle, or
such end of the candle may be rounded or rabbetted, and it may be grooved and
undercut so as to facilitate the application and fastening; this may be done
by known means either during the moulding of the candles or subsequently.
Dip candles are prepared by removing as much tallow from the end
of the candle as may be found necessary to expose a certain portion
of the lower end of the wick. Whether a capsule or whether a flat
cup or disc be employed for the purposes of this Invention, instead of
cutting off the wick flush with the lower end of the candle, as, is now
usual with moulded candles, a portion of this rejected part of the wick
is left and utilized into a "save-all," as will be herein-after described.
If the capsule be preferred this portion of the wick is opened and spread
out so as to form a kind of foot, which preserves the wick in a vertical
position within the capsule until the candle is entirely consumed. If ordinary
moulded candles without any adaptation be taken then the fastening of the
capsule to the candle (if the capsule be made of thin metal) may be accom-
plished after the manner in which metallic capsules are now fastened around
the necks of bottles and jars. If the capsules be moulded in clay, glass, or
other similar material then they may be fitted and secured to the candles by
the rabbet and undercutting of the candles as above described; or a vertical
groove and a circular undercut can be formed in the capsule itself during its
manufacture by appliances well known to mechanicians; this combination of
a vertical groove and circular undercutting. will prevent the capsule from
turning round or pulling off. Heat may be employed to facilitate the fitting
and fastening of the capsule to the candle in two ways; it may be applied
either to the ends of the candles and the latter pressed into the capsules, or
the capsules may be warmed and the candles pressed into position. The

page_text: above modes will carry out the purposes of the Invention if the capsule be
adopted. If the flat cup or disc be selected then during its manufacture an
aperture is punched in its centre or a slot is cut from the outer edge to its
centre; through this aperture or along this slot- the reserved portion of the
candle wick is passed, the cup or disc is pressed home, and the wick is then
flattened down on the under surface of the cup or flat disc, either with or
without spreading; this under surface of the cup or flat disc (after the wick
is flattened down) may be covered with a circular label as an additional
fastening or as a finish.
This Invention may likewise be applied by forming a hollow cylinder (of
any suitable length) made of thin metal, or of paper, or of wooden "scale-
board," or of paper and metal conjoined, or of paper and "scale board," or of
all three substances united or laid together; this hollow cylinder is completed
by suitably placing and fixing therein the before-mentioned shallow cup or
flat disc. A double capsule or more accurately a deep capsule with a convex
or a flat bottom and a shallow round bottomed or flat bottomed cup, are thus
formed in one, the cup or disc then forming the division. This cup or flat
dise which forms this "double capsule" may be perforated in the centre, or
it may be slotted (as before described), or it may be left without the perforation
or the slot as may be preferred. If this double capsule or united capsule and
cup or disc be preferred then the candle is fitted and fastened to it, and the
"save-all" is provided by placing the end of candle wick upon the shallow
cup, or upon the flat-bottomed disc within this double cylinder, as previously
described, the mode described when the flat cup or disc is selected being
preferred.
or other announcement, or for
When the capsule or the cup is
may be rendered uninflammable
By applying this combination of the capsule and of the cup to the purposes
of this Invention, and making the cylinder longer or shorter, the end of the
candle may be raised either to the upper level of the socket of the candle-
stick or to a considerable extent above that level, as may be preferred. The
increased surface thus obtained by the elongated side of this hollow cylinder
may be used for carrying a name or names
purposes of ornamentation as may be desired.
made of paper or other inflammable material it
by the application of tungstate of soda or other well-known chemical substances
adapted for the purpose; this capsule and the cup or disc may be respectively
stamped up or punched out or moulded, or cast, or pressed into shape, either
singly or in numbers in any convenient manner according to the nature of
the material or materials used; but as the particular mode of manufacturing
the capsule and the cup or disc forms no part of my Invention, and as various

page_text: modes of producing similar articles in different materials are well understood,
I do not think it necessary to describe them.
In like manner the united capsule and cup may be formed in various known
ways, and the vacant end not used for receiving the candle may be partly or
wholly filled in with clay, cement, or other suitable material, but I do not
claim any particular mode of forming this double cylinder or such filling in
as part of my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do
not claim as of my Invention the application of capsules or cups or discs,
such as described to night lights; but what I do claim as of my Invention,
is the adaptation and application to the lower ends of candles of capsules and
of cups or discs, or of a double capsule with a partition formed by a shallow
cup, or by a flat disc made of metal or other suitable material (of the forms
described) capable of receiving such lower ends of candles and forming when
so applied a kind of "save-all" to each candle, admitting of the entire candle
being consumed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Biggs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
W. A. JACKSON,
8, Quality Court.
B. BIGGS. (L.S.)