IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WICKS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ebenezer Nash, of Duke Street, Lambeth,
Tallow Chandler, and Joseph Nash, of Thames Parade, Pimlico,
Chomist, both in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
Sealed the 23rd November 1853, and dated the 28th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ebenezer Nash and
Joseph Nash at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th May 1853.
We, EBENEZER NASH and JOSEPH NASH, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WICKS" to be as follows:-
First, the preparation of flax, henip, and such like fibrous materials
by treatment with alkalies, both in the caustic and carbonated state, also
by fermentation and treatment with acids and chlorides or other usual
bleaching agents, for the purpose of making wicks for candles and lamps.
Second, the manufacture of wicks for candles and lamps of flax,
hemp, and such like fibrous materials that have been prepared as
above first described, and in the manufacture of compound wicks, con-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.
filed by the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph Nash in the Great
Seal Patent Office, on the 26th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
EBENEZER NASHI, of No. 28, Duke Street, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, Tallow Chandler, and JOSEPH NASH, of No. 3, Thames l'arade,
Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph Nash,
Her special licence that we, the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph
Nash, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph Nash, our executors, administra-
tors, 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, au Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WICKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph Nash, by an instrument in
writing under our 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Ebenezer Nash and Josephi
Nash, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and

page_text: ascertained in and by the following statement, in accordance with our
Provisional Specification herein first recited :-
First, the preparation of flax, hemp, and such like fibrous materials
by treatment with alkalies, either caustic or carbonated, and fermenta-
tion and treatment with acids, chlorides, or other usual bleaching agents,
for the purpose of making wicks for candles and lamps.
Second, the manufacture of wicks for candles and for lamps of flax,
hemp, and such like fibrous materials that have been so prepared, and
in the manufacture of compound wicks, consisting partly of such
substances so prepared and partly of cotton in varied proportions.
Our discovery of these improvements is the result of our actual trial
of these specified materials as wicks, whereby we ascertained the 'fit
and superior quality of flax, hemp, jute, tow, and such like fibrous
materials, when purified and prepared according to the following
directions, for making wicks for candles and lamps.
Our first process of treatment for flax, hemp, jute, tow, and such like
fibrous materials in their raw state consists in boiling them in a solution
of carbonate of soda or potash of any convenient strength for several
hours, or until all the mucilage and other vegetable matters soluble
therein have been extracted, when the materials are to be taken out and
well turned about in a souring steep of very diluted muriatic acid to
neutralize the alkali and dissolve any removable trace of lime or other
matters soluble in the weak acid, and afterwards they are to be well
washed with a copious supply of clear water preparatory to the second
process of further treatment.
For the second operation of alkaline treatment the materials are to
be boiled from six to eight hours in a strong solution of caustic alkali
(either potash or soda) of about the specific gravity of 1.050, which we
consider a convenient strength, although we do not confine ourselves to
fixed proportions.
One object of this caustic alkaline treatment is the extraction of
silex from the fibre (as well as other matters soluble in caustic alkali),
and in order to ascertain this a sample of the fibres may be taken out
and well washed with hot water, and then boiled in a test solution of
caustic alkali of known purity, and the clear liquor neutralized with
pure muriatic acid for indicating the presence or absence of silex, which,

page_text: if present, will render the clear solution slightly turbid or opalescent,
according to degree.
Upon the completion of the caustic alkaline treatment the materials
are to be washed with clear soft water until all soluble matters are
removed, and then they are to be well turned over in a souring steep
of dilute muriatic acid, and afterwards well washed with clear soft
water until all traces of acid and soluble matters are removed.
For bleaching the purified fibres we prefer the alkaline hypochlorites.
But if the common chloride of lime is used especial care must be taken
to prevent or remove any insoluble combination of lime with the fibres
by means well understood, and for which purpose we prefer nitric acid
or pure muriatic acid in a fit state of dilution as a final souring steep,
concluding the operation by copious washing with clear soft water.
Or, instead of using an alkaline carbonate in the first instance with
these fibrous materials in their raw state, they may be steeped in water
maintained at a fermentive temperature, and fermentation accelerated
by the addition of a little yeast, in order to the removal of the mucilage,
when the fibrous matter should be well washed with hot water prepa-
ratory to treating them with caustic alkali. But we prefer the treatment
first described, by carbonated alkali, for this purpose, which is, however,
unnecessary for thread, yarn, or textile fabrics, or the fibre in any manu-
factured state wherein the mucilage has been removed; in that case the
caustic alkaline treatment is to be considered as the only alkaline
treatment directed.
The caustic alkaline treatment might also be used in the first
instance, even in the raw state of these materials, without using cither
the alkaline carbonate or previous fermentation, but we prefer using
an alkaline carbonate in the first instance, as described.
The alkaline carbonates might also be used alone without the use of
caustic alkali, or a mixture of caustic and carbonized alkali, or crude
potash, or crude soda ash, or solution of ammonia, may be used
with some effect, by producing partial purification of the fibres, so as
to render them more suitable for wicks than when in their crude
state, but we prefer using caustic alkali in the second instance, as
described.
We consider the combined efficiency of the two separate processes

page_text: herein-before described, for using an alkaline carbonate in the first
place, and the alkali in the caustic state in the second place, together
with the use of acids; and the necessary attention to the details
described renders it unnecessary to direct any other process, as it will
be evident that after the suitable state of these fibrous materials for the
purpose intended has been ascertained, other methods of operating,
based upon alkaline treatment, are practicable to obtain a similar
result.
The second head of our Invention relates to the application of flax,
hemp, jute, tow, and such like fibrous materials, after they have been
purified or rendered suitable by the processes before described, or by
any modification of treatment equivalent thereto, and using them either
as a substitute for cotton or in conjunction with cotton, either treated
in the same way or not, as wicks for candles and lamps, for which
purpose they are to be spun into threads, and twisted, plaited, or woven
in the usual way, in which state they may be used without other
treatment, or they may be steeped in a solution of per-chlorate of
potash.
As an important feature of our method of treatment consists in the
removal of the mineral or earthy matters, as well as the vegetable
impurities, from these specified materials, as far as can be effected by
chemical treatment, without lestroying the integral properties of the
fibre, so as to obtain a purified substance capable of sustaining illumi-
nation by gradual combustion, as candle and lamp wicks, special regard
being had to the removal of the silex and other inorganic matters, and
the careful avoidance of the common sources of contamination with
lime in the selection and application of the chemical agents employed,
in order to render these materials fit for the manufacture of our im-
proved wicks. We therefore direct the operator's attention to the
following particulars, as involving points of importance to the attain-
ment of the best result.
The alkaline silicates precipitate mucilage in an insoluble state of
combination, lime precipitates silex from its alkaline solution, and this
compound is capable of forming a triple insoluble combination with
mucilage and resinous matter, hence the advantage of removing

page_text: the mucilage and resinous matter in the first instance by a separate
process, and for which we prefer (as before stated) using the alkaline
carbonates which have no action on the silex, in order to prevent
any recombination of the silex with the mucilage, by removing the
vegetable impurities, first, by means of the carbonated alkali, and
afterwards removing the silex in a soluble state by means of caustic
alkali, for which we prefer intensity of action, by using strong solutions
of caustic alkali, to the more gradual effect of weaker solutions.
The proper consideration of the object of thus dividing the alkaline
treatment into two separate operations will indicate the duration or
repetition of the first process, and the necessity of copious washing for
its completion, previous to submitting the materials to the second
operation; and as the alkaline carbonates have no injurious action on
the fibre, the strength and proportions of the solution in the first
operation are left to the operator's discretion.
Although we have directed a method of testing the completion of the
second or caustic alkaline process, in order to ensure the attainment of
a special object, that of the removal of the silex, yet these directions
do not constitute a necessary part of the process, as the operator's
experience may be sufficient to determine the duration of the treatment;
and by maintaining the solution of caustic alkali in an active state to
the end of the operation the intended result may be ensured.
As the alkalies are not rendered perfectly caustic without using an
excess of lime, it frequently happens that the solution contains lime,
but as the presence of a little carbonic acid is much less objectionable
than any trace of lime, this inconvenience may be prevented by proper
attention in the preparation of the solution.
While we have directed the use of muriatic acid for the souring
steeps, which may be used at the usual strength, or slightly stronger
than the souring steeps used for textile fabrics, other acids might be
used for this purpose with a similar effect, but we prefer the use of
muriatic or other acids which form soluble salts with lime to those acids
that form insoluble salts with lime, in order to avoid any combination
of lime with the fibre.
All substances of vegetable growth contain a certain amount of

page_text: mineral and earthy matters, which exist in these specified materials
in such degree as to render them comparatively unfit for wicks, but
if removed by the treatment described, as far as is practically consistent
with the integrity of the fibre, which is stronger in texture and longer
in staple than cotton, these purified fibres will, when arranged in a
wick, perform the necessary function of capillary attraction in the most
perfect manner.
The consideration of these particulars will render the nature of our
Invention, and the means by which it is to be carried out, more fully
apparent. The removal and avoidance of earthy impurities from these
fibres being important points for attention.
CLAIM.
We claim the use and application of flax, hemp, and such like fibrous
materials rendered suitable by preparation, or that may have been
rendered suitable according to the treatment described, or by any
modification thereof, or by any treatment equivalent thereto, for the
manufacture of wicks for candles and lamps.
In witness whereof, we, the said Ebenezer Nash and Joseph
Nash have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twenty-fourth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
NASH. (L.S.)
EBET
JOSEPH NASH.
(L..S.)