Candle | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Candle

Peace, comfort, reverence, gaiety—all of these emotions and more are symbolized by the flame of a candle. But for thousands of years, candles also served as humankind's main source of lighting. Although experts differ on just who invented the candle and when, it is believed that primitive forms of candles were used by ancient civilizations in Egypt, Crete, and Italy. The candle may have begun to evolve when hunters, cooking meat over an open fire, noticed that the burning fat created a bright light. Early candles were made of this animal fat, called tallow, and of beeswax, which comes from honeycombs.Initially, reeds were utilized as a means of keeping the candle burning; eventually,the burning properties of candles were improved with the invention of fiber wicks. The modern braided wick, which burns itself up instead of having to be trimmed, was not introduced until 1824. By the Middle Ages, candlemaking had become a thriving trade,supporting two guilds--one for makers of tallow candles and one for makers of beeswax candles. Wax candles smelled better and gave off less smoke than tallow candles, but only wealthy people could afford them. Servants who worked for kings and nobles often received candles as part of their wages. This candle allowance was a status symbol, and the number allotted was jealously eyed by workers of lower rank. Although less prestigious, tallow candles held the advantage of being edible. Once, when British lighthouse owners investigated the cause of high candle consumption, they found that the lighthouse keepers were eating them. In the American colonies, women discovered that boiling bayberries would produce a sweet-smelling, clean-burning wax, though the process of extracting the wax was tedious.

Toward the end of the 1700s, as the fishing industry grew, people began making candles from a by-product of whale oil called spermaceti, which solidifies as a wax. Then when paraffin wax was crystallized from petroleum in the 1800s, it too became a raw material for candles. Around the same time, French chemists Michel-Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889) and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac (1788-1850) patented yet another, improved candle material--stearic acid, which Chevreul had isolated during his studies of animal fat. He had found that the unpleasant odor of burning tallow was due to glycerin, not to the fatty acid itself. Often, candles were blended from more than one raw material to maximize stiffness, brightness, and cleanliness. Today, candles are made mostly of paraffin. Just as candle materials evolved, so did processes for making them. Early tapered candles were made simply by dipping the wick into molten fat, letting it cool, and then repeating the process until the candle reached the desired thickness. Beeswax candles were made by pouring melted wax onto the wick repeatedly, after which the candle maker would roll the wax into the desired shape. Candles were molded by hand as early as the seventeenth century in France. In 1790 the second patent ever granted in the newly created United States was for a candlemaking process invented by Joseph Sampson. Then in 1834, Joseph Morgan invented a machine for molding candles, which led to today's automated,continuous candle production. Despite the introduction of electric light in the late 1800s, candles have remained popular, and their production has grown steadily. Candles are now inexpensive and plentiful,and people use them for emergency lighting,for atmosphere and to add pleasant scents to a room.