US1935946A - Candle manufacture - Google Patents

Description

Patented Nov. 21, 1933 CANDLE MANUFACTURE James Egan, Staten Island, N. Y., and Victor Mills, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignors to The Proc-' ter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio No Drawing. Application April 20, 1932 Serial No. 606,522

'1 Claims. '(01. 87-21) v Our invention relates to the manufacture of candles, and particularly to the manufacture of candles from parafiin materials heretofore unavailable for use in such manufacture.

Stearic acid, as it is commercially known, and

as it has been commonly used in the manufacture of candles, is obtained from the saponification of tallow of high melting point, and con tains an average of approximately 45% stearic acid and 55% palmitic acid. Stearic acid has been used in the manufacture of candles by mixing about ten parts with about 90 parts of re-. fined paraflin wax. The parafiin wax required for candle manufacture has a melting point of from 128 to 138 degrees F.

The manufacture of refined wax for candles has consisted of a graining operation in which the crystalline grains separating from the paraffin oil are retained within the plates of a filter press through which the grained material is passed. The pressing operation results in the retention within the plates of a material which is known as scale, and has a melting point of from 121 to 127 degrees F. While the scale is a white product, it is too soft for use except with greatly increased percentages of commercial stearic acid. v

The refining process of the paraffin wax suitable for candle manufacture from the scale increases the expense of candle manufacture, the price variation between 'scale and the refined wax being usually about to per pound.

It is the object of our invention to utilize the less expensive scale for the manufacture of candles; and in order to secure good grade candle material having a fine opaque grain, superior to that obtainable from commercial stearic acid, we propose to mixwith the scale the split fatty acids resulting from products formed by hydrogenating natural oils having a high content of linolic, oleic or other unsaturated bodies.

In carrying out our process, we hydrogenate a suitable natural oil, such as cottonseed oil, until it has an iodine value of 5 or lower. The average titre of this hydrogenated product would be around degrees as against a variation of from 54 to 57 degrees for the best grade stearic acid.

After the oil is hydrogenated, the fatty material may .be split by any well known splitting process, such as the autoclave process, or that suggested by Twitchell or Petroff. The splittin process, as is well known, hydrolizes the fatty material and permits the glycerine to separate from the fatty acids.

The fatty acid recovered by this process is then distilled. It will have a stearic acid content of around 75%, and in admixture with commercial scale, candle material is formed which has a very fine grain and a determined resistance against cracking.

In order to explain the advantages of the use of our process over what had previously been suggested, we have in the first instance the use of a. paraffin product having softer physical characteristics and being less expensive in admixture with a split hydrogenated oil in which much less of the split hydrogenated oil is required to give the candle material a desired grain and resistance to cracking because of the much higher percentage of stearic acid present in the split hydrogenated oil. A further economy may be noted because the cost of preparation'of the stearic acid from hydrogenated oil is materially less than the cost of preparing stearic acid by the old well known tallow saponification process.

It should be understood that the percentage ofthe stearic acid, either commercial grade or synthetically produced, to be used with the parafiin wax may be varied to suit climatic conditions and the size of the candles to be made. We might state that as a specific example that from 5% to 10% of the split distilled fatty acid recovered .from hydrogenated oil can be satisfactorily used with 95% of scale. We may increase the proportion of the synthetic stearic acid however to as high as 50%.

While the use of split hydrogenated fatshas been suggested in the past, as far as we know the use of this split hydrogenated product has been merely suggested as a substitute for commercial stearic acid and not because its use would permit the use of a paraflin product which was materially cheaper in price.

If the candles are to be artificially colored, and

' if the candle stock is not to be the purest white,

which the stearic acid content is considerably higher than the 45% normally occurring in commercial stearic acid, said stearic acid content being substantially in excess of 3. The art of candle manufacture which comprises admixing with paraflin scale a proportion of the split fatty acid from a hydrogenated oil in which the stearic acid content is considerably higher than the 45% normally occurring in commercial stearic acid, said stearic acid content being substantially in excess of 65%, and the percentage of said split fatty acid varying from 5 to 50% in the mixture.

4. The art of candle manufacture which comprises using from to of paramn scale admixed with from 5 to 10% of a hydrogenated product having a stearic acid content of substantially in excess of 65%.