THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN NEW MATE- BIALS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOUGIES, CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Etienne Laporte, Chemist, of Paris, in the French
Empire, for the Invention of "THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN NEW MATE-
BIALS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOUGIES, CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 18th July 1856, and dated the 1st April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Etienne Laporte at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with. his Petition, on the
1st April 1856.
I, ETIENNE LAPORTE, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN NEW MATERIALS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOUGIES,
CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
I employ certain oleaginous grains or seeds, one of which is found at Gabon,
on the western coast of Africa, and is called dikha, and another is found in
Brazil, and is called virola selifera, of the family of myristicris, a tree which
is also found in Guyana and in Cayenne. These grains are of an oval form,
and somewhat resemble nuts in taste. I take a quantity of either of the afore-
said grains, or a mixture of the two, and grind them down into a paste, which
is spread upon a thin sheet of iron, or zinc, or other suitable material, and
heated by a fire, or by a steam, or otherwise, and stirred during the operation
until it appears to become moist; after a few minutes it is placed in woollen
bags and between hair cloths or mats, and forcibly pressed. The oil runs out

page_text: and immediately solidifies, and becomes hard like wax, and of a brownish
colour; it is then bleached, by boiling or heating it with a solution of chlorine
or chloride of lime, caustic soda, chromate of potash, or other bleaching
material. The water acquires a rose or violet colour. It is allowed to cool,
and a hard, white, soapy product is obtained, which is broken up and heated
in a boiler with about forty per cent., more or less, of sulphuric acid diluted with
twice its volume of water. The soapy product is decomposed, and the chloride
of lime removed from it by the acid. In cooling, the bleached fatty matter
floats on the surface; it is then remelted in a large quantity of water and
skimmed during the boiling, and then allowed to cool slowly. The bleaching
may also be effected by repeatedly exposing the fatty matter to the fumes
of burning sulphur, by placing it in a broken or powdered state upon a cloth
under which sulphur is burnt. It may also be bleached by repeated exposure
to air, and light, and moisture, in a somewhat similar manner to that in which
wax is bleached. The fatty matter is made into bougies or candles by casting
it in moulds, or by the ordinary processes; the moulds may be heated or used
cold. The wicks may be plaited wicks, prepared by soaking them in a solution
of boracic acid, to which a small quantity of sulphuric acid has been added;
round wicks may also be employed. For manufacturing allumettes, the afore-
said fatty matter is melted in a pan, in which a ring is fixed below the surface
of the melted material, and a series of wicks or cords are passed through holes
in a plate or frame and through the ring, and then through holes in another
plate, or through glass eyes, and attached to a wheel at a little distance from
the pan. By turning the wheel the wicks or cords are drawn through the
melted material and through the holes, and wound upon the wheel. The fatty
matter solidifies and cools sufficiently in the space between the furnace and the
wheel. The cords thus produced are afterwards cut to the required lengths.
The aforesaid material may be coloured yellow by tumeric, rose colour by
alkanet or orcanette, blue by ultramarine, red by vermillion, &c. The fatty
material may also be mixed with tallow, stearic acid, wax, oils, and with other
fatty matters generally.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Etienne Laporto, Her special licence that I, the said Etienne Laporte, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Etienne
Laporte, 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 THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN
NEW MATERIALS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOUGIES, CANDLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Etienne La-
porte, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Etienne Laporte, 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 :-
I employ certain oleaginous grains or seeds, one of which is found at Gabon,
on the western coast of Africa, and is called dikha, and the other is found in
Brazil, and is called virola selifera, a tree of the family of myristicris, which is
also found in Guyana and in Cayenne. These grains are of an oval form, and
somewhat resemble nuts in taste. I take a quantity of either of the aforesaid
grains, or a mixture of the two, and grind them down into a paste, which is
spread upon a thin sheet of iron, or zinc, or other suitable material, and heated
by a fire, or by steam, or otherwise, and stirred during the operation until it
appears to become moist. About five minutes after the material has reached
this stage, it is placed in woollen bags and between hair cloths or mats, and
forcibly pressed; the oil runs out and immediately solidifies on cooling, and
becomes hard like wax and of a brownish colour. In this state it would not
be well fitted for the manufacture of the aforesaid articles; it is therefore sub-
mitted to a bleaching and purifying process. For this purpose it is placed in
a pan or boiler heated by a fire, and mixed with twenty per cent. of its weight
of a solution of chlorine or a mixture of chloride of lime and water, or a solution

page_text: of caustic soda, or a solution of chromate of potash, or other of the substances
used for bleaching oils and fats. The mixture of the waxy matter with chloride
of lime is boiled for an hour or two, and constantly agitated. The completion
of this part of the operation is indicated by the water separating from the
mucilage and acquiring a rose colour approaching to violet; it is then allowed
to cool. The product which swims upon the surface of the rose-coloured water
is hard, soapy, and white; it is broken up and replaced in the boiler with the
addition of about forty per cent. of its weight of a mixture of sulphuric acid,
with twice its volume of water. The mixture is boiled for an hour or more,
and the soap is thus decomposed by the acid. The fatty or waxy matter is
thus separated, and on cooling it floats on the surface of the water, and is then
.nearly colourless; it is rendered still whiter by boiling it with a large quantity
of water, skimming it, and allowing it to cool slowly, so that the last impurities
may subside. The bleaching may also be effected by repeatedly exposing the
fatty matter to the fumes of burning sulphur by placing it in a broken or
powdered state upon a cloth under which sulphur is burned. It may also be
bleached by exposure to the air out of doors in the state of thin sheets or
powder spread upon a cloth. It should be frequently stirred and watered from
time to time, and should be removed about two hours after the appearance of
This operation may be repeated three or four times or oftener, until
the matter is sufficiently bleached. The material prepared by any of these
processes is fit for the manufacture of bougies, candles, and other similar
articles. The aforesaid raw materials yield about forty per cent., more or less,
of bleached material. For the manufacture of bougies or candles, which do
not require snuffing, I employ flatted wicks prepared in the following manner:
to one gallon of water I add twenty-three drops of sulphuric acid and a quarter
of a pound of boracic acid; this mixture is boiled, and after removing it from
the fire the wicks are immersed in it for twenty-four hours and then removed
and dried. The candles or bougies are then cast in moulds in the ordinary
manner; the moulds may be heated or they may be cold. For a commoner
description of candle requiring snuffing, the wicks may be round and of ordinary
bleached cotton threads. From fifty to seventy-five threads may be employed,
and it is preferable to employ a large number of fine threads rather than a
smaller number of thicker threads; or the wicks may be similar to those of
ordinary tallow candles. For manufacturing allumettes and wax wicks for
floating or night lights and similar purposes, the waxy or fatty matter is melted
in a pan heated by a fire or by steam. On one side of the pan and about a
yard from it is placed a box divided into compartments, in each of which is a
ball of the cotton wick, which may consist of four or five threads. The ends
the sun.

page_text: pass through holes in the box and descend into the pan, and pass through a
ring fixed below the surface of the melted matter, but at a sufficient distance
from the bottom of the pan to keep the wicks away from any impurities which
may subside to the bottom. The wicks are then conducted up from the pan
and through holes in a metallic plate, or through glass eyes or tubes fixed in a
frame, and the ends of the wicks are attached to a wooden drum or cylinder,
from two to four feet diameter, and placed at a distance of four or five yards
from the pan; this distance is for the purpose of allowing the melted matter
to cool and solidify before reaching the drum. By turning the drum upon its
axis, the wicks are drawn through the melted matter and wound up upon the
drum; they are afterwards cut to the required lengths. The fatty or waxy
material may be coloured yellow by turmeric, rose colour by alkanet or
or canette, blue by ultramarine, red by vermillion, and of other colours by the
colouring materials usually employed for colouring fatty matters. The fatty
material may also be mixed with tallow, stearic acid, wax, oils, and with other
fatty matters generally.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,
the application of the new materials herein-before mentioned in the manu-
facture of bougies, candles, and other similar articles, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Etienne Laporte, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Ing" Civil,
Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23,
à Paris.
E. LAPORTE. (L.8.)