CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF ILLUMINATING APARTMENTS AND OTHER PLACES, NAMELY, IN CANDLE- STICKS, TO BE USED WITH CANDLES MANUFACTURED IN THE USUAL MANNER, OR OTHERWISE. AND IN CANDLES TO BB BURNT WITH PECULIAR ADVANTAGES IN CANDLESTICKS SO IMPROVED; AND ALSO IN SNUFFERS TO BE USED WITH SUCH CANDLESTICKS
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEGER
DIDOT, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date atWestminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the
fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Leger Didot,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Leger Didot, my exors, admors, and assigns,
should and lawfullymight,during the term of years therein mentioned,make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR
MEANS OF ILLUMINATING APARTMENTS AND OTHER PLACES, NAMELY, IN CANDLE-
STICKS, TO BE USED WITH CANDLES MANUFACTURED IN THE USUAL MANNER, OR
OTHERWISE. AND IN CANDLES TO BB BURNT WITH PECULIAR ADVANTAGES IN
CANDLESTICKS SO IMPROVED; AND ALSO IN SNUFFERS TO BE USED WITH SUCH
CANDLESTICKS" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that
if I, the said Leger Didot, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever

page_text: thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become vord,as in and by
the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Leger Didot, in compliance with the
said proviso, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained as follows, that is to say:-
In the Drawing, Fig. 1, a represents a common candlestick to which the
improvement b, i, is applied, and the several parts of the said improvements
are ba socket or piece, having a chain fattached thereto, which proceeds and
is attached by its other end to g,a supporting picce,and c is a portion of tube,
to the lower part of which the piece b can be applied or put on; and the said
piece chath a bottom enclosure, against which a spiral spring d, placed and
fastened between c and g, is made to act as in common spring candlesticks,
and push up the piece g, when the whole of the said improvement is put
together. h, h, is an interior tube for holding the candle, and the said tube is
turned in, or partially closed at top to prevent the candle from being thrust
out, and is provided with one or more rings or welts l, m, against which the
external tube k, k, rests, and is thereby kept a small distance, namely, about
one tenth of an inch,more or less, according to the size of the candle intended.
to be used, from the interior tube 1, h; and between the tubes h, h, and k, l,
I do, in such candlesticks as are intended to be used hot or warm place, or
with candles of many wicks, fix another tube, shewn in the Drawing, but not
lettered, which is fixed to the interior tube 7, 7, by a tight or close junction at
top and bottom, after having previously filled the space between the said tube
and h, h, with water. e is a stud in the piece c, which enters a bayonet notch
o in the piece g, h, and connects both together when in their places; and the
manner of using, and the effects of the said improvements are described as
follows: Let the the candle, i, p, which must always be considerably smaller
than the tube h, h, be put into the said tube, and let the tube c, c, be drawn
into the tube g,g, by means of the chain attached to b, and to g, g, and by
putting the link of the chain through the notch n, or upon a pin or other
similar contrivance, the said tubes g, g, and e, e, will be held together, with the
spring compressed between them; in this state, insert c, c, g, g, into h, h, and
connect the same by the bayonet joint formed by e and o, then disengage the
chain from n, and collect the spare chain in b, and put 6 in its place upon the
lower end of c, c, and g, g, will be pressed by the spring against the candle;
and lastly put k, l, upon the whole, so as to rest upon or be attached at d,
either by a screw or joint,as may be preferred in the construction and use; the
candle by this means is in a fit state to be placed in the candlestick a, and

page_text: when lighted will not only burn constantly at the height, but may be inclined
or moved in any direction without spilling any of the tallow, because the
redundant tallow which will in scarcely any case pass over the tube h, k,
will be retained between that tube and the tube k, k.
And for snuffing this, or any other description of candle to be burned in
my said improved candlesticks, I do make and use snuffers having an improve..
ment as follows, namely: to the part of the snuffers (made in the common
way) which is immediately beneath the snuffing part or edge, I do fix a portion
of tube, or a side stop or piece, in such a situation as that the same shall
apply itself against the upper part of k, k, on one side, when the lower edge
of the cutting part of the said snuffers is directly against the wick of the candle;
and I do also affix to the same part of the said snuffers another stop or
equivalent piece, which shall bear upon the upper part of h, k, and regulate
the position of the snuffers, so that the position of wick or wicks, leftafter the
act of snuffing, shall in all cases be the same length or height.
"
Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 represent an improvement in my said candlesticks, which
consists (besides the particulars herein-before described) in a moveable or
sliding lanthorn, concealed in the candlestick in Fig. 2, and slided up to its
place in Fig. 3, where it defends the flame from being disturbed by the
surrounding air; and in some of the said lanterns I do partly close the upper
orifice by two sliding pieces, in order to defend the flame from any eddy of
wind or air which may blow down upon the same.
Fig 4 and Fig. 5 show another improvement, consisting of an extinguisher,
formed of a piece or portion of tube a, having a lid or top b moveable on an
hinge; and when the said tube is sliding up so as to surround the flame,
and the lid is put down as in Fig. 5, the candle will be effectually extinguished.
Letter shews a contrivance of a small hanging lever beneath the lid, which
rests on the inside tube, and upon returning the extinguisher to its first
position, shewn in Fig. 4, serves to raise the lid without allowing it to touch
the wick.
Fig. 6, letter a, shews another kind of extinguisher, consisting of a portion of
tube a, a, of larger diameter than merely to come into contact with the external
tube of the candle apparatus h, k, which it touches and slides upon at the two
endsb,b, only; and between the said portion of tube and the said external tube
there are placed three or more pieces of brass or metal c, c, all of which, if put
together, would form an hollow cone or extinguisher, and the said pieces are
parts of the said cone, each circumbscribed by circularlines forming part of the
perephery of the base, and by strait lines drawn from that perephery to the
point or vertex of the cone, and the said pieces are attached to the inside

page_text: portion of tube A by hinges d, d, all of the same height, and severally fixed to
..the middle of the circular part of each of the said pieces; and the said pieces
are also severally provided with back springs e, e, by which they are urged
towards the axis of the tube, and when at liberty would apply to each other,
and form the cone aforesaid; and, farther, so soon as the said portion of tube
so fixed up is slided up so as to surround the flame, the said pieces, having no
longer any bearing against the tube of the candle apparatus, do spring inward
to the said axis, and by all meeting together do form a complete conical
extinguisher, and do extinguish the light.
Fig. 7 represents another form and application of the lanterns, which rises
: by a sliding tube like that of a telescope, and is calculated particularly to
admit of the use and application of the extinguisher, Fig. 6, to the same
apparatus.
:
Fig. 8 represents another kind of extinguisher, where the part A appears to
form the border or dish of the candlestick, but when raised, as in Fig. 9, so
that the sliding tube environs the flame, two semicircular sliders are urged in
by springs, and do meet each other in a line forming the diameter of the
aperture, and by that means exclude the external air and extinguish the light;
and when the tube is required to be slided down again, the said sliders may be
pressed back by the studs b, b, connected with the same on the outside; and in
all the cases wherein a piece, such as the lantern or extinguisher, is made to
slide upon the tube of the candle apparatus or tube k, k, of Fig. 1, I do
make a swell or gradually enlarged part at the top of the said tube k, l,
upon which the said sliding piece is stopped and restrained; and, farther, I do,
in various combinations of my said improvements, raise some of the same by
.sliding tubes in the manner of a telescope, and in those cases the said swell or
enlarged part is not required, unless to carry an extinguisher or piece different
and separate from that which may be carried by the telescope tubes.
And I do farther declare that I do improve candles, to be used with peculiar
advantage in candlesticks improved as aforesaid, by making the said candles in
a mould; Fig. 10, with two, three, four, or more small wicks placed at a
distance from each other; and in the making or manufacturing of such candles
I do pass the said wicks thro' holes in a plate, or cap, or piece, to be applied
at the top of my candle mould, always in the same manner, by means of a
stop, or stud, or groove, or other equivalent contrivance; and I do also pass the
lower ends of the said wicks respectively through corresponding holes in a
plate, or cap, or piece, applied to the lower end of the said mould, and secured
as to the due position, constantly in the same manner, by the like means as
have been herein mentioned and directed as to the opposite plate, or cap, or

page_text: piece, so that the said wicks become disposed parallel to each other in the
mould, and may be kept strait by a weight or weights hung upon them, or
by other fit means; and I do use and apply the said improved candles with and
to my said improvement in candlesticks. And farther, with regard to the said
candles, whereas the smallness of the wicks, the perfection and briliancy of the
combination, and othe circumstances, do make it expedient, and in some
cases necessary, that the said wick should be supported and guided, and also
that part of the heat which would have been communicated and employed in
melting a large quantity of tallow, should be communicated and conducted
away by the surrounding metallic parts. Now I do for these purposes make use
of a cap appropiated to the candle according to the make thereof, and I do
place the said cap upon the upper end of the tube k, k. Fig. 11 shews a cap
of the said description, in which a,a,is a wire or small blade of metal connected
with the cap itself and thence with the tube k, k, and nearly or accurately
touching the wicks, and b, b, is a forked or notched piece for three wicks (but
might have been made for any other number,) capable of being raised or
lowered by a joint or hinge at c, and when put down into the horizontal
position, it serves to keep the wick asunder, and assists in conducting off part
of the heat as aforesaid, and moderating the fusion of tallow; and I do declare
that, among the other beneficial effects of the said caps, it is of considerable
value that they do not greatly diminish, and almost perfectly remove the
underlation of the flame.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leger Didot, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twelve.
L. DIDOT. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1812, the aforesaid Leger Didot came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified in