IMPROVEMENT
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, in the County of Surrey, Gentle-
man, GEORGE GWYNNE, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, and JAMES PILLANS WILSON, of Belmont aforesaid, Gentleman,
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 Thirteenth day of March, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said.
George Fergusson Wilson, George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said George Fergusson Wilson, George
Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, and every of them, by. ourselves, or by our deputy or. deputies,
servants or agents, or such others as we, the said George Fergusson Wilson,
George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, our 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS

page_text: IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES WHEN PALM OIL IS USED;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring us, the said George Fergusson
Wilson, George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in the High Court of Chancery within two 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 had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, George Gwynne, and James Pillans Wilson, do,
and each and every of us doth, hereby declare that the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
and particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):-
: Our Invention relates to the manufacture of candles from palm oil.
Candles have been made for several years past from the stearic acid of palm
oil obtained by pressing subsequent to saponifying the crude palm oil, or the
pressed product of palm oil, and it has been recently proposed to make
candles of the distilled acids of palm oil without subjecting the same to
pressure; but the undistilled acids of palm oil have not yet been applied to
the manufacture of candles without being pressed after being converted into
an acid state, and we have discovered that cheap candles can be advan-
tageously made of the acids of palm oil obtained either by saponifying the
crude palm oil, or by saponifying pressed palm oil, without subjecting the
acids so obtained to any process of pressure. And in order that our Invention
may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to
describe the means which we pursue.
We first pass heated steam through a convenient quantity, say three tons,
of the crude palm oil, to purify and bleach the same, which we do in a
wrought-iron vessel provided with an ordinary steam worm placed at its
bottom, through which worm we cause to pass steam heated to about 600° or
700° Fahrenheit, by being conveyed in a pipe through a fire in a manner similar
to that in use for heating air in order to produce a hot blast in the manufacture
of iron. We recommend that the steam should be.kept on in full force until
a thermometer immersed in the oil reaches a temperature of 440°, and then
slackened; but in no case is the steam to be altogether shut off, one great
object of its use being to keep the air excluded from the oil while at a high

page_text: temperature. When the oil has reached the above temperature of 440° we
gradually admit cold water through a small funnel in the head of the vessel:
until the oil is cooled down to 200°, and we then shut off the steam.. .The
steam passing through the oil at a very high temperature being offensive, we
use a close vessel, and from its top lead a six-inch pipe into a high chimney to
carry off the same. We may observe, that if the heat be applied in a closed
vessel, and the action of the air. be excluded by steam or other suitable:
means, the passing of the steam through the fat is not absolutely necessary,
though we prefer and recommend it. And we find it advantageous to treat
the crude palm oil as above mentioned, in order to prepare the same for the
manufacture of candles, whether the candles are made. of the unpressed acids
thereof or not. Having thus treated the crude palm oil with heated steam, we
convert it into acids by the ordinary process of saponification, and purify the
acids so obtained by boiling the same up by means of free steam for. one hour
with their weight of water acidulated with sulphuric acid. The material thus
obtained is of sufficient hardness and inflammability to be made into candles
by itself with the platted wicks used in making composite candles, and pre-
pared in the same way, but rather smaller than usual. But as the candles so
made have a tendency to smoke, we prefer to mix. the material..with half. its
weight of stearine of cocoa nut oil, and we also prefer to add four per cent. of.
wax to the composition to assist the amalgamation of the materials. The.
composition is boiled up, together with acidulated water, in the usual way of
making composite candles, but we have observed that it is more difficult to
settle than composite candle stuff, and that unless perfectly settled the candles
will not burn well. We therefore prefer to boil it in quantities of at least
three tons, in order that it may retain its heat for a long time, and to leave it
to repose until it is cooled down nearly to its congealing point.. We make the.
composition into mould candles with platted wicks, similar to those above
mentioned. For the sake of cheapness cocoa nut oil may be substituted for
stearine of cocoa nut oil, but we prefer the latter; or; if we apply the crude
oil to the manufacture of candles after the above process of heated steam, but
without subsequently acidifying the same, we boil the same up with acidulated
water, and then subject the same to pressure in a manner resembling that in
use in the manufacture of candles from pressed palm oil, using wicks similar
to those already used in such manufacture, but we prefer to convert the
material into acids, as above mentioned.
.
We would have it understood, that we do not claim the manufacture of
candles from the stearic acid of palm oil obtained by subjecting the acids
thereof to a process of pressure; nor do we claim the manufacture of candles

page_text: from the unpressed' acids of: palm oil when the same have subjected to distil-
lation; nor do we claim the distillation of palm oil by means of heated steam..
But what we do claim as our Invention consists in the following particulars
(that is to say): -
First, we claim the mode of preparing palm oil for the manufacture of
candles by treating the same with heated steam, or else with heat applied in
closed vessels with the access of the air excluded; and we also claim the
making of candles from palm oil so treated."
Secondly; we claim the manufacture of candles from the unpressed acids of
palm oil, when the same have not been subjected to distillation; and we also
claim the combining thereof with cocoa nut oil, or stearine of cocoa nut oil, in
such manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, for and on
behalf of myself and the said George Gwynne. and James Pillans
Wilson, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of
Max One thousand eight hundred and forty-five