After having sorted and purified the tallow in the manner above described, the candlcmaker now proceeds to cut and arrange the wicks, which, with the exception of such as arc intended for the coarser dipped candles, are made of fine spun cotton. The cotton usually em ployed is chiefly obtained from Turkey, and comes into the hands of the candlcmaker in the form of skeins. Four or more of these skeins, according to the intended thickness of the wick, are wound off at once into bot toms or clues, and afterwards cut by means of a very simple machine, into pieces of a particular length, cor responding to the size of the intended candle. Bcforc putting the wicks into the moulds, or placing them on the sticks for dipping, it is usual to dress them, by slipping them between the fingers and thumb, with the view of laying the threads smooth, and removing knots and such foreign substances as might injure the can dles. Even after this dressing," it is difficult, in con sequence of the shrinking of the cotton, to keep the wicks, when placed upon the broaches, completely se parate from each other. To obviate this inconvenience, it is usual to take a great number of wicks into the hand, and (lip them into melted After rubbing them between the palms of the hand, and allowing tallow which adheres to harden, they may be arranged with per fect ease upon the broaches.
We shall now describe the process of dipping and moulding. The dipping-room is furnished with three important pieces of apparatus, viz. a boiler for melting the tallow, the dipping-mould, and a large wheel for sup porting the broaches. The first part of the process must obviously consist in remelting the tallow, which had been previously rendered, and set aside in a solid state. The expense and trouble of remelting is sometimes saved by commencing the operation of dipping immediately after the rendering, or before the tallow cools ; but the saving thus effected is not 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 transferred into the dipping mould by means of ladles or small buckets, in such quantities as may be required. 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 drop pings of the candles as they rise successively from the dipping-mould. This additional piece of apparatus may, however, be dispensed with, provided the workman is careful to raise the candles slowly from the liquid mass ; or, what is to the same purpose, to allow the suspended drops again to touch the surface of the tallow. To pre vent 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 dipping-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 process of dip ping proceeds with such rapidity as to occasion a con stant renewal of the tallow in the dipping-mould, it will be found that a chaffing-dish is quite unnecessary, ex cept 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 work man, according to the first plan of dipping, takes into his hands three sticks or broaches, on which has pre viously been suspended a certain number of wicks, cor responding 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 liquid tallow, and then hangs the rods upon a rack to cool. The tame ope ration is repeated several times, till the candles acquire the proper thickness. With the view of facilitating the process of clipping, and in order to diminish the fatigue of the workmen, the following improvement, we arc told, has for more than fifteen years been practised by tho
.ondon manufacturers. From the ceiling of the work shop is suspended a long beam in the shape of a balance, to one extremity of which is attached a wooden frame 191. 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 which supports the frame (it is al most unnecessary to observe) is placed immediately above the dipping-mould ; and the whole machine is so that, by a gentle pressure of the hand, the wicks arc let down into the melted tallow as often as may be required. After the first dipping, the frame is re moved and hung up to allow the candles to cool, and the same operation is repeated till the candles acquire the proper size. It is obvious, that the only advantage gain ed by this improved method, is a small increase in the number of broaches, and a partial diminution of the la bour of the workman. Much delay is still occasioned by the tardy system of cooling; and the necessity of remov ing the frame after each dipping is certainly a great in convenience. Many of these disadvantages, we think, arc completely removed by the following method, which has been practised for several years in Edinburgh : In the centre of the dipping-room is erected a large upright shaft AA, which turns easily on its two extre mities. See Plate CV111. Fig. 8. Near the middle of the shaft are cut; at small distances from one another, six mortises, into each of which is inserted a long bar of wood BB, which moves vertically upon an iron pin also passing through the middle 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 figure. 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, making 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 re gularly immersed in the melted tallow. As the arms of the levers are all of the same length, and as each is load ed with nearly the same weight, it is obvious that they will all naturally assume a horizontal position. In order, however, to prevent any oscillation of the machine in turning round, the levers arc kept in a horizontal posi tion, by means of small chains a a, one end of which is fixed to the top of the upright shaft, and the other ter minates in a small square piece of wood b, which ex actly 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 clown the handle D, which communicates with the small lever e, inserted into a groove in the bar 13. 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 inserted 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 clipping may be conducted by a single work man with perfect ease and regularity, and even dispatch. No time is lost, and no unnecessary labour expended in removing the ports after each dip; and, besides, the pro cess of cooling is much accelerated by the candles being kept in constant motion through the air. The number of revolutions which the wheel must make in order to com plete one operation, must obviously depend upon the state of the weather and the size of the candles: but we are told, that, in moderately cold weather, not more than two hours are necessary for a single person to finish one wheel of candles of a common size. Upon the suppo sition, therefore, that six wheels are completed in one day, no less a number than 7776 candles will be manu factured in that space of time by one workman.