IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND CANDLE WICKS, AND IN THE MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO SUCH MATTERS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, of 14, Cottage Grove, Bow Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland,. bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day
of May (One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the thirteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Palmer, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Palmer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Palmer, my exors, adññiors, 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 CANDLES AND CANDLE
WICKS, AND IN THE MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO SUCH MATTERS;" 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, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
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 consists, first, of improvements in the manufacture of
candles; secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture
of candlewicks; and thirdly, my invention consists of improvements in
machinery used in the manufacture of candlewicks.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
And first, in respect to my improvements in the manufacture of candles,
which consists of employing wicks which have been previously subjected to
highly heated oil or fatty matter, in order to drive off all moisture from the
wicks and to exclude moisture from again entering amongst the fibres of which
the wicks are composed, by which means the manufacture of candles will be
greatly improved, as the wicks will burn better when thus free of moisture.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I employ tallow or other candle
stuff, or oil heated to about three hundred degrees to three hundred and fifty
degrees of Fahrenheit, and I place the wicks therein for about ten minutes;
the moisture will be driven off quickly, and the wicks will, when removed and
drained, be free from moisture, and not liable to again absorb moisture, and
the wicks will also be found to have more strength to retain their form when
burning, and the manufacture of candles will be thus greatly improved. I
would remark, that in thus treating ordinary wicks for candles that it is
important the wicks so treated should be kept straight and extended when
undergoing this process, as the effect is to give such a set to the wick that it
tends to assume the same form when being consumed as that in which it
undergoes the process.
I will now proceed to describe my improvements in the manufacture of
candle wicks, one of which consists of giving to ordinary candle wicks such a set
that although they are placed in an upright or straight position in candles they
shall when burning have a tendency to assume a bent form, and thus to turn
out of the flames and burn in a manner somewhat similar to that in which
wicks burn which have heretofore been introduced into candles in a helical or
spiral form. In carrying out this part of my Invention I wind any desired

page_text: length of wick round a cylindrical rod of about one quarter of an inch
diameter, and then cause the wick to be set in that form, so that, notwith-
standing the circumstance of a wick when made up in a candle being in a
straight form, that part of it which for the time being is burning will, by
reason of having had the set given to it, assume, or tend to assume, the
helical form in which it was set, and in doing so will turn out of the flame.
Having wound the wick around a cylindrical rod, I dip the rod and wick into
highly heated tallow, or other candle stuff or oil, say about three hundred
degrees to three hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, for about ten minutes,
by means of which the wick may not only be deprived of moisture, as before
explained, but the fibres will have become set, or have a tendency to retain the
helical form, and to again assume that form after the wick has been unwound
and pulled straight. I would remark, that the above is, I believe, the most
effective means of obtaining the set desired, according to this part of my
Invention; but the simple act of applying heat or of drying a wick when
put into a spiral or helical form will produce a like result; yet I believe such
means are not so advantageous as that above described. I, however, wish it
to be understood that this part of my Invention consists of making wicks by
forming each into a helical or spiral form, and setting it in such form, so that
it may, although straight in a candle, tend to bend out of the flame when
being consumed.
In making candles, when using such wicks, if they are to be mould candles,
the wicks (if they have been allowed to cool when on the rods) are to be
fastened and held straight in the moulds till the candles have been made
thereon. If dip candles are to be made, then the wicks are to be kept
distended in a suitable frame till they have been coated to some extent with
tallow, and then the one end of each wick may be released, and the process of
dipping completed; but I would state, that the wicks may be unwound from
the rods and drawn straight before the same have cooled down, in which case
the wicks will become stiff and remain straight when being made up into
candles.
Another part of my Invention consists of making double wicks for candles,
for which purpose I wind two lengths of wicking on to two rods, one being
wound to the right hand on its rod, and the other being wound to the left
hand on its rod. In this form I cause them to be set, as before explained;
I then pass the two ends of the rods through two holes in a block, and un-
wind the two coiled wicks from the rods, the holes in the blocks allowing the
rods to drop through as the wicks are unwound therefrom; and I cause the two

page_text: wicks to pass when near each other through melted candle stuff, which will
cause them to adhere together and be coated, and the wicks thus made being
allowed to cool and stiffen in a straight form, will, when cut up into proper
lengths, be suitable each for a candle; and by reason of the wicks being coiled
in opposite directions and set, they will separate when burning, and make good
double-wick candles.
Another part of my Invention consists of making tubular looped wicks for
candles. The best means I am acquainted with for performing this part of
iny Invention is to employ a tube about half an inch diameter, with pins
fastened thereon, as is shewn at Figure 1. This apparatus is similar to what
has been used in making tubular looped fabrics or cords for other purposes.
I do not therefore claim the same, this part of my Invention consisting of
making cottons in the form of tubes of looped fabric, suitable for wicks of
candles; and I prefer to employ pins of different sizes to get an inequality
of fabric, so as to cause it to turn out of the flame when burning. To form a
wick, I take a cotton cord or cotton yarn, and form a slip loop over each pin.
I then pass the cotton round and slip the loops already made over the ends of
cach pin, and so form another series of loops. In some cases I make such
hollow looped fabric over an interior core of cotton, in order to get a larger
substance of wick. I would remark, that the mode of making hollow looped
be varied.
wicks may
which the rod A revolves.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention. Figure 2 shows a
section of the machine employed. A is a cylindrical rod, about half an inch
diameter and eighteen inches long. B is a cog wheel fixed on the rod A, into
which another cog wheel, not shown, takes, and by which rotatory motion is
communicated to the rod A. C is a stationary or fixed helix or spiral, within
D is a frame, in each end of which the cylinder
A works in bearings. In working this machine I first wind the wick round
the rod A, in the spaces between each turn of the spiral screw C, until the end
of the wick arrives at F. I then immerse the apparatus in a vessel filled with
hot fatty matter (say at 300 to 350° of Fahrenheit); I then put the rod A in
motion, by which the candle wick at the point F is freed from the cylinder at
the same rate as it as it is fed in at the point C. The cog wheel B being
kept in motion the fixed helix forces the wick from one end of the cylinder A
to the other; the wick by this process not only gets freed from moisture, but
is set in a spiral form by the hot fatty matter, and thus attains the property of
turning out of the flame when being consumed; and as the wicks are to be
introduced straight in candles, in drawing the wick cotton from the cylinder

page_text: A I keep it straight and distended till it cools, by which it will remain straight
for the purpose of being introduced in the making of candles, but will tend to
assume a bent form when subjected to a high degree of heat, that is, when
being burned.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is,-
First, the improvements in the manufacture of candles, herein described.
Secondly, I claim the improvements in the manufacture of wicks, herein
described. And,
Thirdly, I claim the improvements in machinery herein described for
manufacturing wicks.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.