VARIOUS NEW METHODS OF MAKING AND IMPROVING THE FORM, QUALITY, AND USE OF CANDLES AND OTHER LIGHTS MADE OF TALLOW, WAX, SPERMACETI, OR ANY OTHER SOLID INFLAMMABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BOLTS, late of Aldgate, but now of Cannon Street, London, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the thirty-niuth year
of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Bolts, his executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial licence that I, the said William
Bolts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "VARIOUS
NEW METHODS OF MAKING AND IMPROVING THE FORM, QUALITY, AND USE OF
CANDLES AND OTHER LIGHTS MADE OF TALLOW, WAX, SPERMACETI, OR ANY OTHER
SOLID INFLAMMABLE SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said William Bolts, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
as in and by the said recited Letters Patent, reference being there unto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Bolts, do hereby describe my said Invention, and the modes in
Price Sdl

page_text: which the same is to be performed, in manner and form following (that is
to say):-
My said Invention is founded on the following four principles:
First, on the fabrication of the body of such candles or lights, previous to
and independent of the wicks, which may be afterwards applied to them.
Second, on the application to such candles or lights, after their fabrication,
of moveable wicks, which can be applied to or extracted from them at pleasure.
Third, on the application to such candles orlights of fixed or ordinary wicks
at any time after the fabrication of either.
Fourth, on the placing the inflammable substance while in fusion in a close
vessel, and there submitting it successively to the action of a vacuum, and of a
pressure superior to that of the atmosphere, which is done in the double view
of extracting by the vacuum any clastic fluid that may remain hid in it under
the ordinary pressure, and of increasing the solidity and whiteness of the sub-
tance by the superior pressure applied to it while cooling.
As my Invention admits of, or rather requires, various forms to be given to the
bodies of the candles or lights made after its principles, I have in the Drawing
hereunto annexed, delineated several of the forms which I think preferable,
remarking, however, that as the forms which may be given them are almost
innumerable, I deem it unnecessary to enter on a more minute description than
is herein given.
The first and most simple form I think proper to employ is represented at
Fig. No. 1. It is that of a solid cylinder or a truncated cone nearly approaching
to a cylinder. This body, like any other that may be adopted, is composed
wholly of the substance that feeds the flame, as the wick, whatever be its
nature or form, is to be adapted to it at a subsequent period.
Another form I give to my candles or lights, represented at Fig. 2, is that of
a truncated pyramid, with an hexagonal base. This exterior form-I employ
indifferently, whatever be the interior construction of the said candle or light.
My reasons for it are that it is a more graceful figure than a cylinder or a cone,
and that it permits the packing of the candles or lights so formed without any
interstices between them, thereby preventing their breaking on transportation.
The third form of my candles or lights is that of a cylinder or truncated
cone perforated through its avis, see Fig. 3, and its section, Fig. 9; the diameter
of the perforation is determined by the size of the wick suited to such candle
or light.
For common use, I prefer a cylindrical opening, but there are cases, such as
that of elliptical candles, Fig. 8, where the opening should be a parallelopiped,
a, b, receiving a broad and thin wick, calculated to throw a principal sheet of

page_text: light in a steady direction. With this form of wick, I also make dips; and a
candle of this form, whether with a permanent or moveable.wick, hereafter
described, will be found to emit as much light as three candles of the ordinary
form.
A fourth form of my candles or lights, and the last which I shall here
delineate, is that represented at Fig. 4. It is a candle or light composed of
two parts, an interior cylinder a, and a hollow exterior one b, the opening in
which c is greater in diameter by about the seventh of an inch than the said
interior cylinder.
This latter is formed with a ring or moulding round its bottom, of about a
quarter of an inch broad, and so thick as to fill exactly the hollow opening e in
the former, and thus to preserve necessarily a concentric position when placed
in it, as at d, Fig. 5. This, however, is only true as to its bottom part, for all
along the rest of the length of both cylinders there runs an annular interstice e,
Fig. 5, destined to be filled only by the wick F (to which is suspended the
weight y), whose annular form produces a thin circular flame, which draws
aliment from both the inner and outer cylinders, and throws out a much
greater quantity of light than it would do if condensed into a common wick,
and placed in the center of a common candle.
Here I must not omit to point out a property which this last-mentioned
form admits to be given, or rather leads to give, to my candles or lights, vizt,
that of admitting a current of air on both sides of the circular flame just
mentioned. It is in fact evident that if I form the inner cylinder a, Fig. 4,
with a longitudinal opening through its axis, as ath, Fig. 5, and that I permit
the influx of air, which I can, to the bottom of the candle, it is, I say, evident
that in such case I produce a current of air on both sides of the flame, and my
candle has all the properties of that kind which an argand lamp can boast of.
And I hereby claim the exclusive right of applying to such candles the hollow
glass cylinder by which, in those lamps, the light is still brightened and
embellished.
The various forms of these my candles or lights require forms nearly as
various for the wicks and wick stands by which they are to be made useful.
These wick stands are small instruments destined to keep the wicks in a
centrical position whenever solid candles are used. They are so formed as to
be placed near the top of a spring candlestick a, Fig. 10, when such
candlestick is used, or fixed to the collar b, Fig. 11, when a solid candle or
light is to be consumed in a common candlestick. When the wick stand a,
Fig. 10, is used, the wick is nothing else than a slack rope of cotton wove
into the fork of the wick stand, as is seen in another direction at c; and when

page_text: the wick and wick stand are applied to the spring candlestick, Fig. 10; while
the candle rises by the effort of the spring as its substance is melted by the
heat, the wick continues to absorb the liquefied matter, and to give aliment
to the flame. The only difference between this wick stand and that repre-
sented at b, Fig. 11, is, that the latter receives a straight upright wick d,
whose under end is spread in a tuft to rest on and absorb the matter, while
the upper extremity assumes the figure of a common wick, of which it
performs the functions. As to the relative motion of the wick and candle, it
is in both cases the same. In the first, the burning candle, by the action of
the spring, comes up to the wick, which remains stationary; and in the latter,
the wick descends by the weight of the wick stand and the collar b, in
proportion as the body of the candle is consumed.
Fig. 15 represents a form to be given to wicks, which is peculiarly
advantageous when employed with the spring candlestick above mentioned.
Its form is something like that of a very high-crowned hat, and, the horizontal
part which represents the brim, interposing itself between the substance of the
candle and the converging part e, Fig. 10, of the candlestick, swiftly absorbs
the liquescent matter and prevents the succeeding particles from being too
much melted by contact with the metal before the flame has had time to
consume the substance actually in fusion.
But the most ordinary and useful forms to be given to the moveable wick
are those delineated at Figs. 14 and 16. The length of this wick is from one
to four inches, according to the length of the candle to be consumed, and at
the top only it is impregnated with the substance the candle is made of,
sufficiently to facilitate the first ignition. It is employed in various manners
with the perforated candle, Fig. 3; sometimes it is fastened by a thread to the
bottom of those common candlesticks which possess the property of elevating the
candle in proportion as it is consumed, and in this view the spring candlestick
before mentioned becomes useful; sometimes the same thread is wound round
a small spring, key, spindle, or wheel, placed at the bottom or in any other
convenient part of the candlestick, as at a, Figs. 17 and 18, by turning the
stud or button of which, the wick is drawn down as the candle burns away;
sometimes it has a small weight hooked to it, as at a, Fig. 9, which weighs it
down as the candle consumes. In either of these cases, if properly attended
to, the wick being constantly-humectated with the melted substance, the
candle will not require to be snuffed, except for the purpose of reviving the
brillancy of the flame, when by long continued combustion the summit of
the wick is reduced to a coal.
And here I must remark that my system of manufacturing candles or lights

page_text: with holes through their centers, 'admits of the giving new degrees of perfection
to candles with permanent wicks, which I intend also to make under the pro-,
tection of this Patent. It is easier to put the wicks into hollow candles than
into common candle moulds, and my wicks, which are either put in dry or
previously impregnated, are more cylindrical, more homogeneous, and more
centrically placed than those now commonly used; ou all which circumstances
much of the perfection of candles depends. Moreover, iny dry wick, whereof
only about one inch is impregnated with the substance of the candle, as afore-
said, for the sake of the first ignition, has the advantage of impregnating
itself as the candle consumes, thereby furnishing a center for absorbing any
excess of the melted substance in the cup, which might otherwise run over
the circumference, and hereby the ordinary'defect called gutteringis prevented.
These my wicks likewise differ from the usual form in this circumstance, the
threads are not collectively twisted together like a rope, but are laid longi-
tudinally parallel to each other, whereby the regular capillary flowing of the
melted fluids towards the burning point is promoted, and the access of the air
from the perforated center improves the flame. The application also of these
wicks subsequent to the fabrication of the candle, furnishes two other advan-
tages, which are, first, the facility of proportioning the wick to the candle at
every operation, so that in the burning of the candle there may be neither
more nor less tallow or other substance melted than what is necessary for
compleat combustion; this, which is the nicest point in candle-making, may
be ascertained in a few minutes by trials of the wick cotton in immediate use
on pieces of a newly-made candle, and the result of the experiments can be
appropriated to the whole melting, in the application of the wicks. Secondly,
these dry wicks, previous to their application, can be impregnated with certain
chemical compositions, which will increase the brilliancy of the flame and have
other advantages.
There are various means of manufacturing the candles or lights which
constitute the object of this Patent. They may be made in common candle
moulds employed in the usual way, with the addition of the apparatus here-
under described, for producing the centric perforations; but I prefer making
them in nests of moulds, Fig. 6, so formed as to be adapted, without intervals,
to as many other nests as may be found requisite for the work intended. These
moulds are open at both ends, and when I want to make perforated candles
I introduce into them a broach or wire, Fig. 7, to the bottom of which is fixed
a small piston a, so formed.as to fill one end of the mould, while the top of
the broach receives a fly or regulator b, b, adapted almost to enter the other
end, whereby I insure a truly centrical position to the broach in each mould.

page_text: With these nests of moulds, as nearly as convenient, I fill a trough, into which
I introduce the fluid substance until the moulds are entirely submerged; then,
if I intend to make candles or lights of a common quality, I let the whole
cool together and draw them, leaving the mass of matter which remains
between the trough and the moulds to keep the latter steady for a subsequent
operation.
But if I wish to submit the fluid matter to the action of the cacuum and
superior pressure mentioned in the former part of this Specification, I slide
the trough containing the moulds, as soon as filled, into a cast-iron vessel, to
which is adapted a pneumatic apparatus with a safety valve and gauge. After
closing this vessel hermetically, I first exhaust it, keeping up the vacuum for
a few minutes by constantly pumping, in order to extract any elastic fluid
contained in the melted substance, and then restoring the equilibrium by re-
admission of the air; I further by the condensing tube force new air to enter,
until there exist in the vessel a pressure of as many atmospheres as I find ex-
pedient, which is determined by the gauge. Under this superior pressure the
fluid matter is permitted to cool, and acquires a degree of solidity which in-
creases with the pressure, although there be evidently bounds to this increase.
It is needless to add that it may be sometimes adviseable to employ the
superior pressure just mentioned without creating a vacuum; and that in such
case nothing more is necessary than to force the compressing fluid into the
cast-iron vessel as soon as it is hermetically closed. And here I must observe
that pumps are not the only means I employ to produce these effects;
I also create the vacuum by a barometric or Torricillean column of the
melted substance, or any other heavy fluid fit for that purpose. And I
use the pumps, above alluded to, with any incompressible fluid instead of
air, as a medium of pressure; in fine, this my principle consists in the cooling
of the liquefied matter under a pressure, whatever be the means whereby it be
obtained.
For manufacturing my perforated wax candles I also use moulds made of
glass, to which I apply the broaches, pistons, and regulators already described.
But the most expeditious mode which I employ formaking solid or perforated
candles or lights of wax and other inflammable substances, is by ejection or
squirting them compleatly formed through a tube as follows:-Having melted
my wax or other ingredient, I-pass it into a double-bottoned tempering vessel,
Figs. 12 and 13, to the bottoms of which is fixed a double-barrelled forcing
pump A, A, A; to this is adapted a hollow tube B, Fig. 13, in the form of a
mould, whereof it performs the office; this mould tube screws on at 6 for the
purposes of changing and clearing; it is made either cylindrical, hexagonal,

page_text: oval, or otherwise, according to the forms which I chuse to give to my candles
or lights; and when perforated candles are to be made, has along its axis a
steel broach, core, or triblet c, c, adapted to such forms, fixed on at 6 by the
circular open piece d, secured with cross bars and screws so as to insure the
centrical position of such broach or core without impeding the free current of
the fused substance; the broach is prolonged twelve or more inches beyond
the end of the mould tube at e.
The degree of the temperature of the matter in fusion proper for this opera-
tion, which is regulated by a thermometer, must be entertained between its.
melting and congealing points, and be kept up by heated water regularly
running between the two bottoms of the tempering vessel during the operation,
and spunges charged with hot water must be kept applied to the tubes pro-
truding from the bottoms of the tempering vessel.
Under these circumstances the fused substance is forced by the pistons of
the pump in one continued streaming tube through the conducting mould
tube B, in the form of a perforated candle, and falls off at the end of the
prolonged broach at f in the trough, Fig. 19, into water, whereof the heat is
maintained at about five degrees below the melting point of the substance
under manipulation.
To counteract the resistance of the water and preserve the longitudinal
straightness of the candle tube in ejection, it is proper to have a hemispherical
pipe placed under the prolonged broach at f to the whole length of the trough,
to receive and conduct the ejected tube, which as this length is compleated, is
cut off at f and removed to make way for the next forthcoming mass; and so
on successively till the whole of the melted substance in the tempering vessel
is worked off. The candle tubes are then passed over from the first into
other troughs of cold water, whence, after being sufficiently cooled, they are
taken up by the workmen and cut into the lengths required for the lights or
candles intended to be made; to these, when finished, are afterwards applied
either dry or impregnated permanent wicks, or the moveable ones already
described.
By this mode of manipulation Ialso cast an outward coating or hollow case
of wax, either of a cylindrical, hexagonal, oval, or other form, which I after-
wards at pleasure fill up either with bodies of tallow of exactly correspondent
similar shapes and diameters, perforated for cylindrical or flat wicks, or with
melted tallow or other mixtures, thereby producing a cheaper sort of lights,
having, with superior properties all the exterior appearance of the best wax
candles of the ordinary form.
Finally, when I chuse to bleach my wax or tallow candles without waiting

page_text: for the tedious performance of that operation from the action of atmospheric
air, I expose them to the vapour or gas of oxigenated muriatic acid, introduced
and confined in a close chamber adapted to that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bolts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred.