AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFAC- TURE OF PLAITED OR PLATTED WICKS USED IN THE MAKING OF CANDLES."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Morgan, of Manchester, Manufacturer of
Plaited Wicks, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF PLAITED OR PLATTED WICKS USED IN THE MAKING OF CANDLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Morgan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
May 1855.
I, JOSEPH MORGAN, of Manchester, Manufacturer of Plaited Wicks, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PLAITED OR PLATTED WICKS USED IN THE MAKING OF CANDLES
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of a peculiar form of
plaited or platted wick to be used in the making of candles, and the Invention
is applicable to the making of plaited or platted wicks when using yarns which
are slightly twisted or laid together in pairs before making them up into
strands for plaiting or platting; and the improvement consists of platting or
plaiting three strands of such yarns with less than four plats or plaits to the
inch when the platted or plaited wicks are in the natural or unstretched-
state.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Morgan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MORGAN, of Manchester, Manufacturer of Plaited Wicks, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One-thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Morgan, Her special-licence that I, the said Joseph Morgan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Morgan, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PLAITED OR PLATTED WICKS USED IN THE MAKING OF CANDLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Morgan, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Morgan, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of a peculiar form of
plaited or platted wick to be used in the making of candles, and the Inven-
tion is applicable to the making of plaited or platted wicks when using yarns
which are slightly twisted or laid together in pairs before making them up
into strands for plaiting or platting; and the improvement consists of platting
or plaiting three strands of such yarns with less than four plats or plaits to
the inch when the platted or plaited wicks are in the natural or unstretched
state.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
For this purpose, in place of the machinery used for making plaited or

page_text: platted wicks being as heretofore set or arranged to produce the closely platted
or plaited wicks for spermaceti, stearine, and other candles (in which the
strands are made to produce numerous links or plats or plaits in each inch' of
the length of a platted wick), I cause the machinery to be varied and arranged
so as to produce not more than four links, plaits, or plats to each inch in the
length of a wick when in an undistended state, by which means a new manu-
facture of platted or plaited wicks is produced, suitable for being burned 'in
tallow candles, and for candles made of other matters which require a similar
platted wick. The object of the Invention is to manufacture wicks wherein
the yarns shall be more upright and consequently less bent than those ordi-
narily made and used in spermaceti, stearine, and some other candles, the
yarns in which, by making quick zig-zag bends, are considerably bent and
inclined from the vertical position when in a candle. In making wicks
according to my Invention, the length of the links or plats may somewhat
vary, but not largely. For the manufacture of wicks suitable for tallow
candles according to this Invention, I prefer that the links or plats when for
mould candles should be about five-sixteenths of an inch in length, or
somewhat over three links or plats to an inch in the length of the wick
when not distended; and when for dip candles, about three-eighths of an
inch, or somewhat less than three to an inch of the length of a platted
wick when in its natural or unstretched state; and these are the forms
of platted wick which, I believe, will be found most suitable for tallow
candles, and for candles made of other material, but similarly fluid in the
cup when burning in a candle, and therefore requiring similar, absorbent
and comparatively upright stranded wicks, but when other matters which
are less fluid than tallow in the cup of a candle when burning, then the
plaits or links should be made with somewhat less lengths of plaits, and
approach more nearly to four plats to the inch of undistended wick. The
ordinary machinery heretofore used for making platted wicks is to be varied
accordingly, as will readily be understood by a mechanic acquainted with such
machines; and the alteration of such machinery simply consists of causing
the platted wick as it is produced to be taken up more quickly, supposing
the platting bobbins to continue to act at the same speed as heretofore, by
which the links or plats will be longer, and the strands will be more upright in
a wick, than in the platted wicks heretofore made. By the use of this manu-
facture of wicks, tallow and other candles may be made, the wicks of which
will turn out of the flames when burning, and yet they will retain sufficient
stability to uphold themselves in the candles when burning. In using these
wicks they are to be held distended and free from twist when in the moulds till

page_text: the candles are set or cold; and such is also to be the case in "dips" till the
candles are nearly completed, as has before, been practised with some other
forms of wicks. In making such wicks according to my Invention, the
quantity of yarn in each wick will (as heretofore, and as is well understood in
making other wicks,) depend on the diameter of the candles and speed it is
desired the candles should burn; and the descriptions of cotton yarns used by
me are such as have before been used in making ordinary wicks for tallow
candles.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
manufacture of platted or plaited wicks with not more than four links, plaits,
or plats to the inch of a wick when in the natural or undistended state.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Joseph Morgan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JNO. COOPER, Solicitor,
Manchester.
JOSEPH MORGAN. (L.B.)