AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT LIGHTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fergusson Wilson, of Belmont, Vauxhall,
Managing Director of Price's Patent Candle Company, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT LIGHTS."
Sealed the 18th March 1854, and dated the 16th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fergusson Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th January 1854.
I, GEORGE FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director
of Prices Patent Candle Company, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT
LIGHTS" to be as follows:-
It has been long known to chemists that castor oil, when treated with hypo-
nitric acid or nitrous acid, or sulphurous acid, solidifies, and what is called
palmine is produced; but such product of castor oil has not, I believe, ever
been applied in the manufacture of candles and night lights; and my Invention
has for its object the employment of palmine or its acid in such manufacture,
either alone or in combination with other matters, suitable for being used in
making candles and night lights. For this purpose I prefer to subject the
palmine or its acid to washing and boiling in water, and then, when desired,
to subject it to a suitable process to separate the more solid from the more
fluid parts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Fergusson Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FERGUSSON WILSON, of Belmont, Vauxhall, Managing Director of Prices
Patent Candle Company, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Fergusson Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said
George Fergusson Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES AND NIGHT
LIGHTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Fergusson
Wilson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the sanie was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):-
It has been long known to chemists that castor oil, when treated with hypo-
nitric acid, or nitrous acid, or sulphurous acid, solidifies, and what is called
palmine is produced; but such product of castor oil has not, I believe, ever
been applied in the manufacture of candles and night lights; and my Iuven-
tion has for its object the employment of palmine or its acid in such manufac-
ture, either alone or in combination with other matters suitable for being used
in making candles and night lights. For this purpose I prefer to subject the
palmine or its acid to washing and boiling in water, and then, when desired, to
subject it to a suitable process to separate the more solid from the more fluid
part.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same. And I would state that I prefer
to employ palmine which has been manufactured or treated according to the
Invention described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on
the same day as that on which the present Letters Patent were granted.
Palmine, particularly when used, after pressing, is, I have found, a suitable
material for hardening tallow and other fatty.matters, which require it, when to
be used in the manufacture of candles and night lights, and such matters may
be melted and mixed together in proportions according to the degree of hard-
ness desired to be obtained in the candle or night light material; and I also
find that wax may have combined with it a quantity of palmine, with a view to
reduce the cost of candles made from wax. Palmine may be thus used in
place of or in combination with the matters which have heretofore been com-
bined with wax when making candles or night lights. And I also employ
palmine in. the manufacture of composite candles and night lights, for which
purposes I employ palmine with hard fat acid, in the proportions by preference
of about half and half, or, for cheaper composite candles, I employ the palmine
and soft acid fatty matters, such as distilled acidified palm oil, or a combination
of these and unacidified fatty matters, the fatty acid matter being in the pro-
portion of about half. I would, however, remark, that although I have thus
stated proportions, I do not confine myself thereto; and although I generally
employ palmine, its acid may be used in place thereof with unacidified fats
What I claim is, the application of the
or oils or with other fatty acids.
product of castor oil, called palmine and palmic acid, in the manufacture of
candles and night lights.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fergusson Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GEO. F. WILSON. (L.S.)
Witness,