CANDLE. 



373 



iiull now describe the process of dipping and 

 moulding. The dipping-room is furnished with three 

 important pieces of apparatus, vi/. a boiler for melt- 

 ing the tallow, the dipping-mould, and a large wheel 

 for supporting the broaches. The first part of the 

 process must obviously consist in remelting the tal- 

 low, which had been previously rendered and set aside 

 solid state. The expence and trouble of re- 



in a 



melting is sometimes saved by commencing the oper- 

 ation of dipping immediately after the rendering, or 

 before the tallow cools ; but the saving thus effected 

 is no* to be compared with the advantage gained by 

 employing tallow of different ages. We are told, 

 that a mixture of tallow recently rendered, with 

 some of ten or twelve months standing, is the best 

 for making either dipped or moulded candles. The 

 melted tallow, after being carefully skimmed, is trans- 

 ferred into the dipping mould by means of ladles or 

 small buckets, in such quantities as may be requi- 

 red. The dipping-mould is nothing else than a 

 box of an oblong form, lined with lead, of about 

 three feet in length, two in breadth, and two feet in 

 depth, erected on a frame at such a height as to suit 

 the convenience of the workman, who sits on a chair 

 beside it. To the extremities of the box are some- 

 times attached two leaves or boards, to receive the 

 droppings of the candles as they rise successively 

 from the dipping-mould. This additional piece of 

 apparatus may, however, be dispensed with, provid- 

 ed the workman is careful to raise the candles slowly 

 from the liquid mass ; or, what is to the same pur- 

 pose, to allow the suspended drops again to touch 

 the surface of the tallow. To prevent the tallow in 

 the dipping-mould from freezing, or becoming less 

 liquid than the process requires, it is usual, in some 

 manufactories, to place a chaffing-dish below the dip- 

 ping-mould, for the purpose of keeping the tallow 

 at the proper temperature. When the tallow is kept 

 very hot in the adjoining boiler, and when the pro- 

 cess of dipping proceeds with such rapidity as to oc- 

 casion a constant renewal of the tallow in the dip- 

 ping-mould, it will be found that a chaffing dish is 

 quite unnecessary, except in very cold weather. At 

 each supply, however, of new tallow, the workman 

 ought to be careful to remove from the sides of the 

 vessel whatever may have hardened in the interval. 

 Things being thus arranged, the workman, accord- 

 ing to the first plan of dipping, takes into his hands 

 three sticks or broaches, on which has previously 

 been suspended a certain number of wicks, corre- 

 sponding to the size of the candles intended to be 

 made, and keeping them at an equal distance from 

 each other by means of his second and third fingers, 

 he immerses the wicks two or three times in the li- 

 quid tallow, and then hangs the rods upon a rack to 

 cool. The same operation is repeated several times, 

 till the candles acquire the proper thickness. With 

 the view of facilitating the process of dipping, and in 

 order to diminish the fatigue of the workmen, the fol- 

 lowing improvement, we are told, has for more than 

 fifteen years been practised by the London manufac- 

 turers. From the ceiling of the workshop is sus- 

 pended a long beam in the shape of a balance, to one 

 t-xtremity of which is attached a wooden frame for 

 holding the broaches with the wicks arranged at pro- 



per distances : the opposite arm is loaded with a 

 weight to counterbalance the wooden frame, and to * 

 enable the workmen to ascertain the proper size of 

 the candles. The end of the lever winch support* 

 the frame (it is almost unnecessary to observe) u 

 placed immediately above the dipping-mould ; and 

 the whole machine is so adjusted, that, by a gentle 

 pressure of the hand, the wicks are let down into 

 the melted tallow as often as may be required. Af- 

 ter the first dipping, the frame is removed and hung 

 up to allow the candles to cool, and the same opera- 

 tion is repeated till the candles acquire the proper 

 size. It is obvious, that the only advantage gained 

 by this improved method, is a small increase in the 

 number of broaches, and a partial diminution of the 

 labour of the workman. Much delay is still occa- 

 sioned by the tardy system of cooling ; and the ne- 

 cessity of removing the frame after each dipping is 

 certainly a great inconvenience. Many of these dis- 

 advantages, we think, are completely removed by the 

 following method, which has been practised for se- 

 veral years in Edinburgh : 



In the centre of the dipping-room is erected a 

 large upright shaft AA, which turns easily on its 

 two extremities. See Plate CVIII. Fig. 8. Near the 

 middle of the shaft are cut, at small distances from 

 one another, six mortises, into each of which is in- 

 serted a long bar of wood BB, which moves verti- 

 cally upon an iron pin also passing through the mid- 

 dle of the shaft. The whole presents the appearance 

 of a large horizontal wheel with twelve arms. A 

 complete view of two of them only is given in the fi- 

 gure. From the extremity of each arm is suspended 

 a frame, or port as the workmen call it, containing 

 6 rods, on each of which are hung 18 wicks, ma- 

 king the whole number of wicks upon the wheel 

 1296. The machine, though apparently heavy, turns 

 round by the smallest effort of the workman ; and 

 each port, as it comes in succession over the dipping- 

 mould, is gently pressed downwards, by which means 

 the wicks are regularly immersed in the melted tal- 

 low. As the arms of the levers are all of the same 

 length, and as each is loaded with nearly the same 

 weight, it is obvious that they will all naturally as- 

 sume a horizontal position. In order, however, to 

 prevent any oscillation of the machine in turning 

 round, the levers are kept in a horizontal position, 

 by means of small chains a a, one end of which is fix- 

 ed to the top of the upright shaft, and the other 

 terminates in a small square piece of wood b, which 

 exactly fills the notch c in the lever. As one end of 

 the levers must be depressed at each dip, the square 

 piece of wood is thrown out of the notch, by the 

 workman pressing down the handle D, which com- 

 municates with the small lever?, inserted into a groove 

 in the bar B. In order that the square piece of wood 

 fixed in one extremity of the chain may recover its 

 position upon the workman's raising the port, a small 

 cord is attached to it, which passes over a pulley in- 

 serted in a groove near c, and communicates with 

 another pulley and weight, which draws it forward 

 to the notch. In this way, the operation of dip- 

 ping may be conducted by a single workman with 

 perfect ease and regularity, and even dispatch. No 

 time is lost, and no unnecessary labour expended is 



PtATt 



CVI1I. 

 Fig. 8. 



