565 



CANDLE MANUFACTURE. 



CANDLE MANUFACTURE. 



666 



' Sopra gli Usi de' Candelabri.') The marble candelabrum iu the 

 Townley collection of the British Museum is about four feet high, 

 with a representation of a large flame on the top. In the Townley 

 collection there are also several bronze candelabra from twelve inches 

 in height to upwards of five feet, and of various patterns. They are 

 mostly flat on the top, although some are formed with a cup-like top, 

 as if for a large flame. One has a spike to receive a clay lamp, with a 

 hole in the centre. There is also one formed upon the principle of 

 the lamp represented in the cut, so that it can be raised or lowered at 

 pleasure. In all, there are about seventeen lamps, of which some of 

 the annexed engravings are representations. In the ' Museo Borbonico ' 

 are several representations of bronze candelabra found in Herculaneum 

 and Pompeii. 



CANDLE MANUFACTURE. Candles are commonly made of 

 tallow ; but superior kinds are made of bleached wax, of the purified 

 head-matter of the spermaceti whale, or of a composition of purified 

 tallow and wax. Within the last few years, the concrete matter from 

 which the more fluid portion of the oil of cocoa nuts has been separated 

 by pressure has been used for making candles ; and some manufacturers 

 have separated the fatty from the oily substance of tallow, and have 

 used the former alone, which is called stearine, for the purpose. Indeed 

 the careful analysis of tallow and other fatty substances has recently 

 added largely to the list of materials for candles, and to the scale on 

 which the manufacture is conducted, as we shall show further in a 

 later paragraph. The form of a candle is always cylindrical, and a 

 fibrous and combustible substance called a wick always occupies the 

 centre of the cylinder throughout ite length. 



The process by which light is produced from the combustion of a 

 candle or a lamp is the same in both cases with this difference, that the 

 solid matter of the candle must be rendered fluid by the heat of the 

 wick previous to its conversion by the continued application of heat 

 into inflammable gas. In all cases the office of the wick is merely 

 mechanical : serving in the first instance by the heat given out during 

 its combustion to fuse that portion of the tallow or wax to which it is 

 more nearly applied, and then to take up through its fibres the fluid 

 matter, which is thus prepared by minute division or separation for 

 decomposition and combustion. 



It is essential to the goodness of a candle that the size and substance 

 of the wick should be adapted to the substance of the candle. If the 

 wick be too thin, it will not be capable of absorbing the fused portion 

 of the candle so fast as it is melted, and this unabsorbed portion will 

 consequently run down the side of the candle and be wasted. If, on 

 the other hand, the wick should be too large, perfect combustion will 

 be impeded through the want of air in the middle of the wick, and the 

 melted fatty substance being less, completely decomposed will pass off 

 uuignited in the form of smoke ; in this case, too, the light will be 

 partially impeded by the body of the wick. Candles made of wax and 

 of other matters which fuse less easily than tallow burn longer than 

 tallow candles, and yield a purer and steadier light. The less fusible 

 matter requires a smaller wick to act as its carrier and to place it in 

 circumstances favourable for combustion ; and this smaller wick being 

 lew capable than the more substantial wick of a tallow candle of sup- 

 porting ite own weight, the extremity falls out of the perpendicular, and 

 being brought into contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, is con- 

 sumed. The wick of a wax candle, consequently, requires no snuffing, 

 as that of a tallow candle does, in order to ensure the brilliancy of its 

 flame j neither does it occupy so large a space in the centre of the 

 flame, and thus intercept the rays of light given off during the com- 

 bustion. In what way modern improvements have rendered possible 

 the manufacture of tallow or common candles which " require no 

 snuffing," will be explained presently. 



There are two ways of making candles, which are distinguished as 

 dipped or mould candles according to the method employed. Dipped 

 candles are made as follows : Wicks made of spun cotton are selected 

 of a size proper for the intended diameter of the candle, and are cut 

 into the requisite lengths by a simple and convenient machine, being 

 first doubled and twisted so as to leave a loop at one end. Into this 

 loop a smooth cylindrical stick half an inch in diameter and about 

 three feet long is inserted ; and several of the cottons or wicks, being 

 o treated and disposed at regular intervals on the sticks, are ready 

 t Deceive their external coating of tallow. The number of cottons 

 ranged upon each stick varies according to the size of the candles to 

 be made, it being usual to place such a number as, when the requi- 

 site quantity of tallow has been attached, will weigh two pounds : that 

 is, if candles, eight of which will weigh a pound, are to be m;wlc, 

 sixteen wicks are ranged upon each stick ; if six are to make a pound, 

 then twelve wicks are used ; and so on. The tallow, being previously 

 melted and strained, is placed in a kind of trough, into which the 

 wicks are dipped three times for the first ' lay ; ' after being kept a 

 short time over the trough for the wicks to drain, the sticks are 

 placed on a rack from which the candles hang freely, and are thus 

 allowed to harden. The same process is repeated a second and a 

 third time and oftener, according to the required weight of the candles. 

 During the operation the tallow in the trough must be stirred from 

 time to time, and fresh tallow supplied, the whole being kept in a 

 proper state of fluidity by the external application of a brazier or a 

 bath of hot water. In some of the largo establishment*, the number 

 of candles dipped at once is very considerable. In making (to take 



an example) the caudles called ' twelves,' that is, twelve to the pound, 

 there are in the first place twenty-four wicks hung on each broach or 

 stick; thirty broaches are ranged side by side, and form a group 

 called a ' frame ; ' and thirty-six of these frames are attached to a 

 machine revolving on a vertical axis. The number altogether thus 

 amounts to 24 x 30 x 36, or 25,920. In front of such a machine is a 

 vessel of melted tallow ; the thirty-six frames are each in turn brought 

 round to a position directly over the vessel, and each frame of 480 

 wicks dipped at once. A ' wiping-board," is, after each dipping, brought 

 over the cistern by the movement of a lever ; the ends of the wicks 

 or candles are wiped on it, and the board rapidly re-ascends to its 

 former position. The mode of determining when the candles have 

 been dipped a sufficient number of times is by the use of a kind of 

 steelyard or balance weight, indicating the total weight of all the 

 candles on the machine. This method of dipping can of course be 

 modified in a great number of ways ; but by such a machine as is here 

 described, a man and a boy can make nearly 26,000 'twelves' in ten hours. 



Mould candles are made in cylindrical pewter moulds, one end of 

 which is smaller than the other, to allow of the easy removal of the 

 candles. In the simple and smaller mode of conducting this operation, 

 from ten to sixteen of the moulds are placed together in a wooden 

 frame, in such way that their larger ends terminate in a kind of trough 

 common to the whole ; the wicks are inserted and kept firmly in their 

 proper places in the centre of each cylinder by strong wires. The 

 frame being then placed with the trough uppermost, the moulds are 

 filled with melted tallow, and are placed in the air to cool ; the wires 

 by which the wicks are fixed are then withdrawn, the superfluous 

 tallow is removed from the trough, and the candles are pulled out of 

 the mould. 



In Morgan's beautiful mould-candle machine, however, the opera- 

 tions are conducted in a very different manner. The wiek, instead of 

 being cut off to the exact length required for each candle, is wound 

 upon a reel in lengths of 100 feet. There are as many of these lengths 

 as there are moulds. In a kind of cnse are enclosed a certain number 

 of moulds, with a reel of cotton attached to each. A portion of cotton 

 is unwound from each reel, and made to pass through a mould, the 

 lower end of which is only large enough to admit of the passage of the 

 wick, and is held in its place by a pair of forceps. The frame is then 

 brought under a kind of cistern, into which melted tallow of fine 

 quality is poured. By turning a handle, the melted tallow is allowed 

 to flow out of as many little holes as there are moulds ; and thus the 

 moulds become filled. As the moulds fill, a man pulls the wick in each 

 mould straight and uniform, by laying hold at the lower end. When 

 one set is filled, the frame which contains them is wheeled along a 

 kind of railway, and another is filled in a similar manner. As soon as 

 the tallow has solidified, a workman disengages the forceps, and scrapes 

 the superfluous tallow from the upper ends of the moulds. The 

 frame is then turned so as to bring the moulds into a horizontal 

 position ; and an ingenious piece of mechanism forces all the caudles 

 out of the moulds, and places them in a row on a flat table. The 

 wicks in these candles are still connected with the coils of cotton 

 wound round the little reels in the frames ; but the whole are severed 

 in a few seconds by the attendant workman. Still further to facilitate 

 the working of this most ingenious machine, all the mould-frames are 

 made to move along a double line of railway. 



Wax candles are made by a process much more primitive than any 

 of the above. The wicks being cut and twisted, several of them are 

 suspended over a basin of melted wax ; the wax is taken up in a large 

 ladle, and poured from time to time on the top of the wicks ; the 

 melted wax, running down, adheres to and covers the wicks through- 

 out their length. This is repeated until a sufficient weight of wax has 

 been gathered upon each. After the candles are sufficiently cooled, 

 they are rolled upon a smooth table in order to give them a perfectly 

 cylindrical form, and are then polished. 



Various plans have been proposed to obviate the inconvenience of 

 snuffing tallow candles. One of the most ingenious of them was the 

 subject of a patent in 1799. This plan consisted in making the candle 

 a solid cylinder throughout without any wick in the centre, and apply- 

 ing on the top of the caudle a very short wick which acted in the 

 same manner as the short wick of a lamp. Two different methods 

 were employed for keeping this wick in contact with the top of the 

 candle during its combustion. One was to attach the wick to a small 

 metallic frame or ring which was placed round the top of the candle 

 like a collar, and was of such a size as to admit of its moving freely on 

 the candle, so that it sunk in proportion as the matter of the candle 

 was consumed. A cross piece, in the centre of which a socket was 

 made for the insertion of the wick, kept the latter in its proper 

 position, and prevented the undue sinking of the frame. The other 

 method was that of attaching the 'wick to an immovable vertical rod 

 which formed part of the candlestick, and of keeping the top of the 

 candle in contact with the wick by placing its lower end upon a spiral 

 spring which constantly pressed the candle upward against the frame 

 that contained the wick. It is probable that one principal cause of 

 the failure of these contrivances arose from the nature of the substance 

 of which the candles were made ; the uuconsumed carbonaceous 

 matter would form a crust upon the wick which would occupy in part 

 the place of the frame, and thus to a considerable degree cause the 

 same inconvenience as the ordinary wick. 



