Year: 1885

page_text: We GEORGE ALBERT SWEETSER of 35 Kennington Park Road, in the county of
Surrey, Engineer, DAVID WELLESLEY BELL, of 14 Milton Street, in the city of
London, Merchant and WILLIAM BOHм, of 23 Old Jewry, in the city of London,
Solicitor do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Hitherto in the manufacture of candles it has generally been the practice to
either dip the wick into the melted material or to pour the melted material into
moulds containing the wick or to pour the melted material onto the wicks.
These modes of manufacture are tedious and in some cases the substances
employed are apt to crystallize in solidifying and provision has to be made for
shrinkage.
.
My invention relates to the manufacture of candles by moulding or pressing them
direct from the candle material whilst in a solid or plastic state in continuous
lengths by means of suitable apparatus such as is hereafter described whereby
I dispense with the necessity of melting the material as hitherto and thereby
prevent crystallization, at the same time the articles are produced in a more simple,
economical and speedy, manner than hitherto and there is no shrinkage.
My invention also allows of the employment of materials which hitherto could
not be used in the manufacture of candles such for example as black wax;
In carrying out my invention I employ a tube or die the internal diameter of
which is that of the candle to be formed; one end of the tube or die is open and
the other end is closed with the exception of a small hole to allow of the passage
of a wick coming from a bobbin. I connect this tube or die by a suitable passage
to a cylinder filled with the material in a solid or plastic condition; the material is
kept under pressure by a plunger operated in any suitable manner for forcing the
material into the tube or die containing the wick. I provide a valve constructed
so as to admit the material to the tube or die at intervals as required, so that by
a movement of this valve the wick in the tube or die will be coated with material
which is squeezed out of the open end of the tube or die, the friction of the
material on the wick dragging the same through with it. This coated wick has
D71

page_text: then only to be pointed by projecting into suitable rotary cutters or by other
means, and cut off into lengths to form candles.
Instead of employing a valve as above named the pressure of the material may
be rendered intermittent by any suitable arrangement so that the material would
only flow into the tube or die when under pressure thereby giving sufficient time
for pointing and cutting off.
I do not confine myself to the use of one cylinder, as by employing.two or more
cylinders delivering material of a different colour or of a superior quality a variety
of patterns could be produced or a common material could be coated with a
material of a higher melting point or of more sightly appearance and it will be
obvious that candles could be produced to imitate marble, soapstone and the like by
simply adding coloring matter to the solid material in the cylinders, the color not
diffusing itself throughout the mass as it would do if it were melted.
The cylinder or cylinders can be constructed so as to supply more than one die
or moulding tube.
Dated the 4th day of November 1885.

page_text: therefor.
We GEORGE ALBERT SWEETSER of 35 Kennington Park Road, in the county of
Surrey, Engineer, DAVID WELLESLEY BELL of 14 Milton Street, in the city of
London, Merchant and WILLIAM BOHм, of 23 Old Jewry, in the city of London,
Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
Hitherto in the manufacture of candles it has generally been the practice to
either dip the wick into the melted material or to pour the melted material into
moulds containing the wick or to pour the melted material onto the wicks.
These modes of manufacture are tedious and in some cases the substances
employed are apt to crystallize in solidifying and provision has to be made for
shrinkage.
Our invention relates to the manufacture of candles by moulding or pressing
them direct from the candle material whilst in a solid or plastic state in continuous
lengths by means of suitable apparatus such as is hereafter described whereby we
dispense with the necessity of melting the material as hitherto and thereby prevent
crystallization, at the same time the articles are produced in a more simple,
economical and speedy manner than hitherto and there is no shrinkage.
Our invention also allows of the employment of materials which hitherto could
Dot be used in the manufacture of candles such for example as black wax.
In carrying out our invention we employ a tube or die the internal diameter of
which is that of the candle to be formed; one end of the tube or die is open and
the other end is closed with the exception of a small hole to allow of the passage
of a wick coming from a bobbin.-We connect this tube or die by a suitable passage
to a cylinder filled with the material in a solid or plastic condition; the material is
kept under pressure by a plunger operated in any suitable manner for forcing the
material into the tube or die containing the wick.-We provide a valve constructed
so as to admit the material to the tube or die at intervals as required, so that by a
movement of this valve the wick in the tube or die will be coated with material
which is then squeezed out of the open end of the tube or die, the friction of the
material on the wick dragging the same through with it. This coated wick has
then only to be pointed by projecting into suitable rotary cutters or by other means,
and cut off into lengths to form candles.
Instead of employing a valve as above named the pressure of the material may
be rendered intermittent by any suitable arrangement so that the material would
only flow into the tube or die when under pressure thereby giving sufficient time
for pointing and cutting off.
We do not confine ourselves to the use of one cylinder, as by employing two or
more cylinders delivering material of a different colour or of a superior quality a
variety of patterns could be produced or a common material could be coated with
a material of a higher melting point or of more sightly appearance and it will be.
"
"

page_text: obvious that candles could be produced to imitate marble, soapstone and the like
by simply adding colouring matter to the solid material in the cylinders, the color
not diffusing itself throughout the mass as it would do if it were melted.
The cylinder or cylinders can be constructed so as to supply more than one die
or moulding tube.
In order to enable our invention to be fully understood we will proceed to
describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawings in which figure 1 is
a front elevation and figure 2 a plan of a machine suitable for manufacturing
candles according to our invention the machine being shewn adapted for the use of
only one material; figure 3 is a vertical section on the line A, B of figure 2;
figure 4 is a vertical section of part of the machine shewing the same adapted to
manufacture candles; from two materials; figure 5 is a section on line C, D, of
figure 4. Similar letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
Referring to figures 1, 2 and 3, a, a, are the tubes or dies the internal diameter of
which are those of the candles to be formed; the tubes a, being open at one end a¹;
the small hole at the opposite end of each of the tubes a, to allow of the passage of
the wick c, is indicated at b, a small tube d, being inserted in the said hole and
serving to guide the wick (coming from a bobbin not shewn in the drawing) to the
centre of the tube a; e, is the cylinder which is filled with the material to form the
candles in a solid or plastic condition; f, is the passage whereby the tube e, is
connected to the tubes or dies a; g, is the plunger having a piston shewn in dotted
lines in figure 1 the plunger and piston being operated by hydraulic pressure or in
any other suitable manner so as to keep the material in the cylinder e, under
pressure in order to force it into the tubes or dies a; h, is the valve for causing
the material to be admitted to the tubes or dies a, at intervals as required, the said
valve being operated by an eccentric i, on a shaft d¹, and connected to the valve by
a rod k; the valve h, alternately producing pressure on the plunger and piston and
relieving the same from pressure; l, l, are the rotary cutters by which the coated
wick m, coming from the tubes or dies a, in the proper lengths to form the candles
is pointed; the rotary cutters l, are driven by bands n (shewn in dotted lines in
figure 1) from any suitable source of power.
The required length of the coated core m, is determined by the end thereof as it
is pointed passing through a hole in the cutters and bearing against a bar o,
extending from one side of the machine to the other and normally caused to bear
against the cutters 1, by means of a spring p; the bar o, is fixed to arms q, q',
pivotted at r, r, to the frame of the machine; the arm q, is connected by an
adjustable link 8, to a bell crank t, the lower arm of which serves as a catch to an
arm u, fixed to a pin v, pivotting in two plates wand a, which can be rotated round
the main shaft j; of the machine and are mounted loosely on each side of a grooved
wheel y, which is fixed on the shaft j, operated by hand or by power; z, is a spur
wheel mounted loosely on the shaft j, and fixed to the plate x; b', is a pawl fixed
on the pin v, and engaging when required in the groove of the wheel y; the spur
wheels, gears with a spur wheel c¹, mounted on a shaft d, extending across the
machine.
In order to move the cutters free of the length of coated wick m, when the end
has been cut thereby we mount the cutters in a carriage a³, sliding in guides 6*;
the carriage a', is provided with an adjustable link c*, the opposite end of which
link is formed with a slot d³, which receives the shaft d', and moves over the
same; e³, is a projection on the link c², against which bears a cam f', fixed to the
shaft d, so as to force the carriage a³, and cutters 1, outwards previous to the
length of coated wick being cut off; g, is a spring for forcing back the carriage a³,
and cutters l, to their former position; cams (only one of which is shewn in the
drawing at e¹, in figure 3) are fitted to the shaft d, and serve as the shaft rotates
to operate a knife f¹, for cutting the coated wicks m, into lengths as follows: the
knife f¹, slides in guides g¹, on extensions h¹, of the parts B and C of the frame of
the machine; from the knife f¹, at each end extends a pair of connecting arms,
to a point below the cam e¹, where they are 'connected by a cross head 1; in the

page_text: centre of and fixed to the cross head is a rod k³, one end of which bears against the
underside of the cam e¹; the other end of the rod k³, works in a guide ; m³, is a
spring serving to keep the rod k³, pressed against the cam e¹; the cam el, in rotating
causes the knife to descend and cut off the coated wicks m, to form the candles;
n¹ and o¹, are tanks through which pass the tubes or dies. a¹, the said tanks
containing warm and cold water respectively whereby the material is kept in a
plastic state and is then cooled.
The operation of the machine is as follows:
The cylinder e, having been supplied with material the machine is set in motion.
and the eccentric i, will cause the necessary pressure to be applied to the plunger g,
and thereby to the piston.
As the coated wick m, emerges from the tubes or dies a, it will pass along to the
rotary cutters, and when cut will move the bar o, outwards whereby the bell-
crank or catch t, will be lowered and will release the arm u; the pawl b¹, will then
be free to engage in the groove of the wheel y, the pawl being pressed into
engagement by a spring (not shewn) bearing upon the arm u; the grooved wheel y,
which continually rotates with the main shaft j, will thereby rotate the pawl b¹,
plates w and x, and spur wheel z, which latter gearing with the wheel c', will rotate
the cam shaft d, and cams f, whereby the cutters will be moved outwards clear of
the end of the coated wick and will maintain it in this position until the length to
form the candle has been cut off; meanwhile the eccentric i, will have operated
the valve h, so as to stop the material being fed forward; as the shaft d', continues
to rotate the cams e¹, will cause the knife to descend and cut off the projecting.
length of coated wick forming the candle; the machine will then feed forward a
fresh length of coated wick and so on.
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the arrangement where two cylinders are employed for
delivering materials of different colours or qualities to enable one material to be
coated with another as herein before referred to; in this case the material coming
from one of the two cylinders passes through the passage f, and tube or die a, and
drags forward the wick in the manner hereinbefore described when referring to
figures 1 to 3 whilst the other material coming from the second cylinder passes
through the passage F and tube or die A. and thereby coats the material coming
from the tube a; the operation otherwise is the same as that hereinbefore
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:
1. The manufacture of candles formed in continuous lengths by moulding or
pressing them direct from the candle material whilst in a solid or a plastic state
substantially as herein before described.
2. The combination of parts forming the improved apparatus for manufacturing
candles substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawings.