CY 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 127. | 
APRIL 1, 1805. 
[ 3, 0f Vox. 19. 
ot 
Me 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
IR, 
HE object of this paper is to give a 
greater currency to an ingenious 
communication from Mr. Walker, 
Lynn, inferted in Mr. Nicholfon’s Jour- 
nal on Natural Philofophy, Chemiftry, and 
the Arts, “ Ona mode of increafing the 
quantity of light afforded by candles, and 
of obviating the neceffity for fnuffing 
them ;”’ and alfoto furnifh your readers 
with a fimple contrivance which I have 
found it neceffary to adopt with candles 
ufed after Mr. Walker’s mode, both for 
the common purpofe of refleéting the 
light, and alfo for the removal of an ob- 
ftacle to the ufe of them, which I found 
to be very confiderable. 
Mr. Walker ftates, that ‘© common or 
mould candles, placed in candlefticks 
made for the purpofe, fo as to form an 
angle of thirty degrees with the perpendi- 
cular, require no {nufing, and give a 
fteady and uniform light, without the 
lealt {moke. ‘Thefe effects are thus pro- 
duced. Whena candle burns in an in- 
clined pofition, moft part of the flame 
rifes perpendicularly from the upper fide 
of the wick. As the end of the wick 
projects beyond the flame, it meets with 
the air, and is completely burnt to afhes : 
hence it is rendered incapable of aéting as 
a conduétor to carry off any part of the 
combuftible matter in the form of 
{moke.”’ 
By this fpentaneous mode of fnufing, 
feveral material objeéts are attained. The 
candle gives an uniformly bright and 
fteady light, inftead of that fluctuating 
light occafioned by the application of the 
fnuffers, and which ts generally held to be 
highly prejudicial to: the fight. 
lume of light is larger and more brilliant, 
which, from the candle being in this in- 
clined’ pofition, while the flame tends per- 
pendicularly, will readily be conceived, as 
the flame is thereby lefs encumbered with 
‘the wick. Its brilliancy, too, may be 
farther increafed by a greater degree of 
inclination. It is fcarcely neceflary to 
MontTaty Maa. No. 127. 
of 
The vo-. 
obferve, that the combuftion proceeds the 
quicker in proportion as the is clifa- 
tion is greater. From the experixients: 
which f have made, I flhould contider an 
angle of forty degrees with the perpendi- 
cular as the maximum of inclination, bé- 
yond which feveral confiderable inconve= 
niencies would occur; and I thould take 
25 degrees as the minimum of inclina- 
tion, lefs than which does not fufficiently 
expofe the point of the wick to the action 
of the air. 
By thofe who are much: in the habit of 
reading or writing by candle light, it will 
alfo be efteemed no inconfiderable addi- 
tion to the advantages already mentioned, 
that the trouble of feeking and applying 
the fnuffers is fuperfeded. A candle of 
common fize, in a vertical pcfition, re= 
quires the application of the {nuffers 
forty-five times during its es con- 
fumption. 
But I found, Sir, an aitueke to the 
adoption of Mr. Walker’s plan, which, 
from the inclined polition of the candle, 
it did not immediately occur to me by 
what means to counteract. Any agitas 
tion of the air of the room, occafioned ci- 
ther by the opening or fhutting of a door, 
or by the quick paflage of a perfon near 
the candle, caufed the melted tailow to 
run over, or, in more familiar language, 
caufed the candie to gutter; which, with 
the candle in this pofition, became an 
infuperable bar to the ult of it. 
For the prevention of this inconveni+ 
ence, I have had a wire fkele:on-thade 
adapted toa rod bearing the fame incli- 
nation as the candle, and which at bottom 
joins the candleftick in an horizontal line 
“of about two inches, teymi nating in a 
the ¢andieffick —- 
trom the candle- 
nozzle fitting that of 
The diftance “of this ro 
ftick, or, which is th. fafne hing, the 
length of the foot or}. rizontal line, is of 
courfe to be determined by the diflance 
between the two uncle. which form the 
upper and lower ape:tures of the fhade.— 
It may ferve, perhaps, more faniiliariy to 
deicribe this part of the apparatus, te flate, 
Ded . that 
