CANDLE (Lat. from eamlere, to be white, glow). A cylinder of wax or fatty mat ter, with a wick, intended for giving light. Candles are made of tallow, the solid portion of palm and cocoanut oils, bleat-lied wax, sperma ceti. and paraffin, and other oily substances found in coal, shale, and gas tar. They are either dipped. molded. or rolled. 'Dips' are made by stretching a her of wicks up(m a suitable fraJne. so that they may hang dowu at a distance from each other equal to about double the intended thickness of the candle; these are then dipped in a trough of melted tal low and hung upon a rack until cooled, then dipped again and again, until the required thick ness is obtained. The dipper has a. number of frames prepared before commencing the opera tion, and by the time be has dipped the last the first. is cool enough to dip again. The tal low in the trough has to be kept only a little above its melting-point. for it it were much hotter it would melt away a. portion of the tallow already on the wick, instead of adding to it. Alolds. or mold candles, :ire made by pouring the tallow into a metal tube, along the axis of which the wick has been previously fixed. These tube: are well polished in-the in side, and several are fitted in a frame, the tip per part of which forms a trough. into which the molds all open. Thus, by pouring into the trough, all the molds are filled at, once. Some process of is now used in the manu facture of candles of all materials except those of wax. and machines are employed.
Wax candles are not molded, on account of the great amount of cootra,_tion whkh wax on and the difficulty of re moving it from the molds. The tricks are
warmed and suspended over a basin of melted wax, which is poured them until they acquire the proper thickness; they are then rolled, while hot, between two tlat pieces of smooth, hard wood, kept moist to prevent ad hesion. Pure stearic acid, or stearin, the chief fatty acid of tallow so largely used for candles, is a hard, crystalline substance, perfectly dry and free (Nun any greasiness. with a somewhat pearly lustre. Its crystalline structure presents a difficulty in the manufacture of candles, for when east in molds it contracts on cooling, and ]oases small spaces between the crystals. This has been obviated by mixing the stearin with a little wax or pa ratlin and pouring into hot molds.
Paraffin (q.v.), a white, crystalline body. ob tained by distillation from cannel coal, etc, af fords a beautifol white and clear material for candles. and having thus, in a great degree. the properties of wax at a much smaller expense, it is much used for this purpose. fe:oecriic (q.v.) is another oily mineral substance used for can dles. For candies as standards of illumination, sec P110TOMFTEY.
To obViale the necessity sniffling candles. several devices all of them the object is effeeted by causing the wick to bend over and its end to fall outside of the flame: and thus, by coming in contact with the oxygen of the air, to be completely burned—for such combustion cannot take place within the flames.
For the use and _signification of candles in religious worship, see LIGHTS, USE OF, IN PUBLIC 'WORSHIP.