IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARA TION AND COMBINATION OF FATTY AND RESINOUS. BODIES AND VEGETABLE AND OTHER WAX FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, ALSO IN THE PREPARATION OF A WICK TO BE USED FOR THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,"
with his Petition, on the 23rd January 1854."
I, PETER ARMAND, LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,. Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARA
TION AND COMBINATION OF FATTY AND RESINOUS. BODIES AND VEGETABLE AND OTHER
WAX FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES, ALSO IN THE PREPARATION OF A WICK TO
BE USED FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
الله
477
The improvements consist in combining resins, resinous gums. adipocire,

page_text: and analogous substances, vegetable tallow, resinous and vegetable wax of
every denomination, which latter is generally gathered from certain trees, or
found in fossil masses in the earth, in various parts of America; after
epuration with acid or neutral fatty matters previously prepared.
Description. Before obtaining a suitable combination for the manufacture
of candles, the resin must be subjected to a series of operations herein-after
successively described. To manufacture 100 pounds of candles with a combi-
nation of 30 pounds of resin, more or less, the 1st operation is as follows:-I
put about 30 pounds of resin of any kind into a copper, heated by fire or steam
to a temperature of from 212° to 280° (Fahrenheit), and add from four to five
per cent. of sulphuric acid of commerce; after this the resin is washed until all
traces of acid have been removed; it then reassumes a color similar to that it
had previously to this first operation, the effect of which is to disengage a small
quantity of carbon, and add a little more oxygen. The 30 pounds of resin
thus treated is hydrated, it is melted with 10 pounds of carnauba wax, or one
or more of the vegetable substances before enumerated, and when thoroughly
incorporated, the matter is passed through a conical filter, supplied with steam
to prevent the matter coagulating, and so facilitate its passage. The matters
are thus epurated by the separation of particles not fusible at the temperature
of the combustion of stearine candles, and some particles of carbon separated
by sulphuric acid. The forty pounds of matter thus treated are poured in a
close vessel, or treated by an open fire, and mixed with three times their
equivalent of water, and one equivalent of sulphate of iron, copper, or other
metal. The temperature is then raised, and is maintained until the vapour
escaping is rendered inodorous. This being ascertained, the fire is stopped,
and the substances are washed several times in water, to hasten the precipita-
tion of the peroxide formed, and the substances are then left at rest. They
are again introduced into the close vessel with at least three times their
equivalent of water, and 40 lbs., or one equivalent of stearic acid, or of
neutral fatty body prepared as herein-after described, according to the intended
use of the substances, viz', for the manufacture of either tallow or stearine
candles. The combination of the two products is effected at the lowest possible
temperature, in order to prevent oxidation. When that combination is com-
pletely melted, the mixture is poured into a vat lined with lead, and heated
with steam, together with twenty pounds of stearic acid, or of already melted
neutral fatty bodies. When this new mixture is effected, the temperature
is lowered to about one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenhet, and the purifying
process is obtained by means of albumen or like substance, stirring it well

page_text: for some tinie, after which it is left to cool. The albumen and heterogeneous
bodies precipitated by it underneath the cake formed in the vat are separated,
and I then add to the matter a small quantity of oxalic acid, or its equivalent,
and wash it well in water. About half an hour afterwards the mixture is
filtered through a filter of a closer texture than the first, taking care to prevent
the substances being in contact with the atmospheric air.
The foreign matter being removed, they are again melted in a close vessel,
heated either by steam or by a balneum mariæ, and may then be moulded
into candles at a very low temperature. The equivalent of sulphate of iron,
copper, or other metallic sulphates employed in the combinations before men-
tioned is precipitated, by the first washing of the resin, in a state of peroxide,
but may be reconverted into a sulphate by adding to it an excess of sulphuric
acid, and re-employed.
Very fine candles can also be obtained by the combination of resin and the
vegetable bodies above enumerated with acid or neutral fatty bodies, effected
according to the processes herein-after described. Resin being combined with
carnauba wax, or with vegetable bodies before enumerated, and filtered, is
saponified by means of a potash lye, which causes the separation of the coloring
matter from the resin. This reaction is facilitated by pouring in the cold state
on the soap about one and three quarter pints of liquid chloride of lime for
every cleven pounds of saponified matters. The lye containing the coloring
matters run off, and an insoluble white soap remains behind, which is preci-
pitated by oxalic acid. The soap is again washed with acid, to precipitate the
alkaline salts still left in solution, and is afterwards combined with the acid, or
neutral fatty bodies in water. If the matter is sufficiently fine it can be made
into candles forthwith, or, if necessary, submitted to another washing. Although
this process alone might be employed to bleach the products already obtained
by the first process, it would nevertheless lengthen the operation. And I
would here repeat that for all the operations to be performed after the first
washing, the use of the close vessel is preferable. Saponification may also be
effected by means of soda or chloride of lime, and the calcareous soap may be
precipitated by oxalic acid, thereby giving a greater whiteness to the products
obtained. Double wicks, simple or twisted, are preferable for candles con-
taining a large quantity of carnauba, and when the fusion of the matter
requires a high temperature, a constantly equal combustion is obtained by
placing in the wicks particles of carbonate of bismuth or other metal, which
ascending into the double wicks cause them to curve in opposite directions.
This result is obtained by taking care that the two plaits set side by side, and

page_text: forming the double wick, should have the small V formed by the twist in an
ascending position. The ordinary wick for wax candles should always be
twisted loosely. Untwisted wicks may also be employed, & in both cases the
number of threads is increased according to the capillory ascending power of
the prepared substance. The double twisted or ordinary wicks must be 5
small, and not exceed together, at most, half the size of the wicks generally
employed.