IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CHILDS, of Earl's Court Road, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Wax
Chandler, 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 Twenty-seventh day of October, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Childs, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel Childs, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such
others as I, the said Samuel Childs, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
CANDLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring me,
the said Samuel Childs, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to

page_text: be inrolled in the 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 bad, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Childs, 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 (that is to say):-
The first part of my Invention consists in the application to the manufac-
ture of candles of a crystalline vegetable wax, well known in China, and which
has been recently imported into England in small parcels, and which is well
known and extensively used in Canton as a vegetable wax, and in this country
it is called "Chinese vegetable wax." This wax is readily known by the
crystalline character of its fracture, and it differs in this respect from other
vegetable wax which is brought from other parts of the world. I have found,
after a series of experiments, that this substance is peculiarly suitable for
'making candles, owing to the high degree of heat required to melt it; but at
the prices at which it has hitherto been imported I have found it the preferable
mode of applying the same in the manufacture of candles to mix the same with
stearic acid in the manufacture of stearine candles, in the proportions of about
one twentieth part of Chinese vegetable wax to nineteen twentieth parts of
stearic acid, or to mix the same with the materials used in making composite
candles, in the proportion of about one fifteenth part of Chinese vegetable wax
to forty-nine parts of other materials, or to mix the same with spermaceti in
the manufacture of sperm candles, in the last-mentioned proportions, or there-
abouts. And I also find that the Chinese vegetable wax may be advan-
tageously combined with spermaceti and beeswax, in .the manufacture of
candles, in the proportion of about one eighth part of Chinese vegetable wax
with one eighth part of beeswax and six eighth parts of spermaceti. But I
wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to these particular pro-
portions or modes of application, as the Chinese vegetable wax may be advan-
tageously applied in the manufacture of candles with other materials than
those named, and in larger proportions than those above mentioned, when
the price will allow of such larger use; but at present the cost prevents it being
employed in large proportions, except in the higher price candles.
The second part of my Invention relates to a vegetable material resembling
tallow, well known in China, and which I call "Chinese vegetable tallow." I
do not claim the general application of this latter substance in the manufacture
of candles, but I have discovered that it can be advantageously used in such

page_text: manufacture in an acid state, or in combination with the fatty acids now in
The Chinese vegetable tallow may be converted into fatty acids by the
ordinary process of saponification; and the manner in which I prefer to apply
the acid matter thereby obtained is to subject the same to pressure, which is
a well-known process in the preparation of fatty acids, and to use the harder
acid product so obtained in the manufacture of composite and other candles,
with or for the fatty acids now in use in such manufacture. Or the Chinese
vegetable tallow, without having been converted into acids, may be used as an
ingredient in the manufacture of composite candles in combination with
suitable fatty acids, in a manner and in proportions similar to those now
adopted in the manufacture of composite candles from the materials now used
for the purpose. The wicks I prefer to use in both the last-mentioned cases
are gimped platted wicks, similar to those now in use in the manufacture of
composite candles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Childs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
SAMUEL (L.s.) CHILDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fifth day of April,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Childs came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year above written.