At several of the larger and more impor tant establishments, a beautiful machine is now employed for making mould candles. The wick is wound on a reel in lengths of 100 feet, of which there are as many as there are moulds. In a kind of frame are enclosed a certain number of moulds, with a reel of cotton attached to each. A portion of cotton is unwound from each wheel, and made to pass through a mould, the lower end of which is only large enough to admit of the passage of the wick. The frames are then so arranged that the melted tallow can be made to flow into them; and when the tallow has solidified, the frames are laid on their side, and by a beautiful adaptation of mechanism, the candles are forced out of the moulds, and thrown on a table in parallel lines ; after which the wicks are cut to a proper length.
The novelties in the manufacture of candles, and in candlesticks adapted to them, have been very numerous within the last few years. Patents have been obtained for candles made of palm oil, which is solid in Our climate, though liquid in Africa. Stearine and marga rine are also employed for this purpose. .Patmer's candles are distinguished chiefly by the use of a wick which, bending out to the hottest part of the flame as it burns, consumes without the necessity of snuffing. But the chief feature in Palmer's patents is the use of a candlestick which maintains the candle al ways at the same height; there is a spring beneath the candle, which presses it upwards with such force, that the top of the candle is always maintained on a level with the top of the candlestick, the wick alone protruding. The construction of candles with wicks so con trived as to require no snuffing, has often en gaged the ingenuity of practical men ; but in most cases the attempts have failed. A kind of candle lamp was introduced a few years ago, in which solid tallow is placed within a lamp, and melted as it is required for burning.
One of the patents obtained by Mr. Palmer in 1849, relates to several improvements in the manufacture of wicks for candles. The first is the formation of helical or spiral wicks, consisting of a number of strands bound to gether by cross gymp ; with one strand stiffer than the rest, to retain the wick in its proper position. The second form consists of cotton cord, twisted hard and firm. The third is the formation of wicks plaited on a wire, which wire is afterwards withdrawn to leave a space for capillary action of the melted tallow. The fourth is for coating one of the strands of a wick in a metallic envelope, by dipping it in melted bismuth.
Mr. MatidslaY patented a remarkable ma chine in 1847, for making candles by a sort of tube-drawing process, something akin to the Italian mode of making maccaroni. The tal low or composition is brought to a soft warm paste-like state, and in that state is forced thiiough a tube kept cold by immersion in wa ter; it gradually solidifies during its passage through the tube (which is of considerable length, and is Coiled round a circular vessel), and is discharged into water, where it at once assumes a solid form. At one particular point before the tallow has solidified, an end of cot ton wick is introduced into the tube, and is drawn in and enveloped by the tallow as it passes. The theory of the machine is such that it could produce an endless candle, which may be cut by simple machinery to any given length. The machine is remarkably novel and
ingenious in its arrangements.
The Patent Candle Company's works at Vauxhall and Battersea are interesting, as showing the application of chemistry and of mechanism on a large scale to this manufac ture. Besides the steam-engines and hydraulic presses, 700 men are employed, and 4,000 tons of palm and cocoa-nut oil are used per annum. The cocoa-nut oil is chieflyprocured from Ceylon, but the palm-bit (Which is the chief ingredient in the patent candles) from Africa. The palm-oil reaches this country iii a semi-solid state. It is first liquified by pass ing a steam-pipe through it, then converted by chemical processes into a colourless con crete mass ; then cut by a rotatory machine into slices, which are placed one upon another, with cocoa-fibre mats between them, and iron plates between the Mats. These bundles are taken to a room where are forty-two poWetful hydraulic presses, worked by steam power ; and this immense pressure is applied, first cold and then hot, to force out the oleic acid from the palm-oil, leaving the solid stearihe behind. This stearine, after being again lique fied, is in a fit state for use in making candles, which is effected by the patent moulding ma chine. The company spin their own wicks (29 miles of which form the preliminary "cottoning" of one machine), and conduct several other subsidiary arrangements on e. large scale, involving the combustion of 160 tons of coals per Week.
There are many curious little pieces of mechanism, patented within the last few years, having for their principal object the mode of adjusting candles in candlesticks. - One con sists of a candle shade constructed in a circular ring, which ring is suspended from a conical cap resting on the top of the candle ; as the candle burns this cap sinks with it, and by that means, the shade main tains a constant level relatively to the flame of the candle. Another little piece of appa ratus consists of a wire-frame for supporting a shade, and which is itself supported by having a sort of circular spring hoop, which clasps the candle. Many varieties of wedges and springs have been devised for fixing candles into the candlesticks. An ingenious self-acting extinguisher for candles was in vented a few years ago, but we believe not patented. A steel spring clasps the candle firmly within its jaws : and the extinguisher is hinged to the handle of this spring by a bent arm: A wire projects from the arm of she extinguisher, and thrusts into the solid part of the tallow of the candle. When the 3andle has burned down so as to soften the Allow around the wire, the latter slips aside by being no longer able to maintain .ts position ; and the extinguisher falls over the flame of the candle. By adjusting the wire to any particular distance below the wick, the candle can be extinguished after any given amount of time.
Among the almost endless variety of new candlesticks is one patented in 1810 by Mr. Sturges of Birmingham. Where the general character and pattern of a candlestick are such as ill fit it to be finished in a lathe, Mr. Sturges proposed to cast it with melted metal in moulds, which moulds are kept slowly rota ting during the casting.
The export of candles for the first nine months of 1850 amounted to 2,033,280 lbs. CANE. [CALAmus.]