108 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Into each vat .1 long coil of pipe depends, which admits into the fatty mass 

 a hissing tongue of steam, which quickly liquefies it. 



The stcaric oil, or candle-making material, of the cocoa-nut, is extracted 

 simply by pressure, no distillation or acidification being required. The well- 

 known " composite candles" of this form are made from a combination of 

 this oil at low melting point and the hard stcaric acid of the palm oil, their, 

 relative proportions varying according to the varying condition of the price 

 of each in the market. We have yet to speak of the production of candle 

 material from the novel substance petroleum, a natural product of the king- 

 dom of Burmah, where it wells up from the ground, like naphtha, to which it 

 bears a very striking resemblance. It is a mineral substance, composed of a 

 number of hydro-carbons, varying in specific gravity and boiling points. 

 The preparation of this dark-orange-colored liquid is conducted simply by 

 distillation; a number of very different products coining over at different 

 temperatures, ranging from 100 to 02 (P Fahrenheit. The first product to 

 distil is the extraordinary liquid termed sherwoodole, a detergent very simi- 

 lar to benzine collas, the well-known glove-cleaner, removing grease-stains 

 like that liquid, but without leaving any smell behind. A very beautiful 

 lamp-oil, termed Belmontine oil, is the next product. This oil burns with a 

 brilliant li.uht, and, as it contains no acidifying principle, it never corrodes, 

 like other oils, the metal work of the lamps. The two next products are 

 light and heavy lubricating oils, used for lubricating spindles, at a much 

 cheaper rate than the ordinary oils now in use. The last product to distil is 

 termed Belmontine, a new, solid substance, of a most beautiful translucent 

 white, somewhat resembling spermaceti, and forming a candle of a most 

 elegant appearance, very similar to the paraffine lately distilled from peat. 



The candle-making material being now fit for moulding, let us introduce 

 the reader to this department of the manufactory. A room, 127 by 104 feet, 

 is fitted up, throughout its entire extent, with parallel benches, running from 

 one end of the department to the other. In these benches, ranged close to- 

 gether in a perpendicular direction, are the candle-moulds, which, viewed 

 from above, their open mouths pi-csent the appearance of a vast honeycomb, 

 commensurate with the size of the room itself. Along the top of each bench, 

 104 feet in length, there runs a railway, and working on this railway is what 

 may be termed a candle locomotive, a large car, running on wheels, con- 

 taining hot candle material. The wicks having been adjusted truly in the 

 long axis of the mould, the locomotive now advances, and deposits in each 

 line of moulds exactly enough material to fill them, proceeding regularly 

 from one end of the bench to the other, setting down at different stations its 

 complement of passengers. After a sufficient time has elapsed to allow them 

 to cool, preparations arc made to withdraw them from their moulds. This is 

 done in the most ingenious manner: in an apartment close at hand, an iron 

 boiler of great thickness is filled with highly compressed air, by means of 

 a pump worked by a steam-engine; pipes from this powerful motive com- 

 municate with every distinct candle-mould, and convey to it a pressure of 

 air equal to 4-~> pounds to the square inch, about the surface of the diameter 

 of a candle. These candle-moulds and the air-pump constitute an immense 

 air-gun, containing thousands of barrels, each barrel loaded with a candle. 

 The turning of a cock, by boys in attendance, lets off these guns, and ejects 

 the candle* with a slight hissing noise. This fusillade is going on all over 

 the roo'n throughout the entire day, and in the course of that time no less 

 than ISS.KiO candle projectiles, weighing upwards of fourteen tons, have 

 been shot forth. 



