1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of candle systems and more specifically to a system and a method for enhancing candle burning and improving volatiles' performance. The invention further relates to a method for manufacturing the same. This invention specifically relates to a system and a method to continuously supply the fresh air near the foot of the burning wick and the top surface of candle in a candle container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Candles have traditionally been used to lighten the dark and are still an important light source in some countries and are still an important emergency light source even in the developed countries when the electric light source is shut off for any reason.
In addition candles, are used to heat up some materials such as portable foods. Nowadays candles with volatiles are very common in providing fragrance, aromas, pesticides, and even anti-microbial compounds into the atmosphere for a wide variety of reasons. In addition to brightness of burning candle flame, fragrances and aromas from a candle are used to improve the feel or mood of a location and are often used to improve an original emotional response room and also aid in the development of a specific emotional response.
In addition, biologically active compounds, such as pesticides and pest repellants are delivered by using candles. Candles are still preferred because of their portability and cost mood performance in many occasions.
However, one of the drawbacks of candles is that a part of a solid candle wax is liquefied (to melting wax) while it is burning; wherein the melting wax pool gradually becomes a rather large pool, and the melting wax often times drips from the top of the candle; wherein the candle becomes messy and ugly, and in some case the melting wax even cause damages such as on furniture surfaces. Accordingly there is a need for a system that controls the dripping of melted wax and minimizes surface damage.
In particular, candles including oils such as fragrance oils possibly cause more damage than non-fragrance candles, to furniture surfaces. To avoid this kind of drawback due to the melting wax, either a candle unified with a container or a candle sitting in a container (or holder) while burning, are getting more and more popular to avoid such dripping followed by damages.
As an additional advantage, a highly decorated container enhances more atmospheric mood than only a candle itself. Instead of using a container, some people use a plate or a tray to avoid such damage with better burning of the candle because the candle is always exposed to the fresh air (“open-candle”), but dripping of the melting wax almost always takes place; wherein not only the amount of wax is being significantly lost for a long period of time without burning due to wasting dripped wax, but also the dripped melting wax again is solidified and it looks very ugly and makes bad atmospheric mood.
Furthermore, as in a worst scenario, the spread melting wax on the tray occasionally starts to vigorously burn (from combustion) even without a wick and may becomes a serious fire hazard. Finally, performance of open-candle is poorer than a candle in a container (‘closed-candle’) because the melting wax pool is occasionally broken and the wax drips to give inconsistent fragrance dispersion.
Accordingly, a candle in a bottle-like container (or holder) (‘closed-candle’) is preferred by many consumers. Unfortunately, burning of a closed-candle is generally not very good because of its structural drawback to supply fresh air (oxygen supply) compared to an open-candle.
To improve burning, formulation wax, type of wax and kinds of wick have been newly modified and developed. However none of these modifications can substantially improve the supply of fresh air to the foot of burning wick and the top surface of candle, which is a significant advantage for open-candles. Therefore an appropriate fragrance formula for scented candle in a container is very critical to maintain good burning due to rather shortage of the fresh air supply after burning for a while. In general, the longer period of time of candle burning, the poorer quality of candle burning because the candle's height and the wick gradually shorten and sinks into the bottom of container and in contrast the wax pool becomes larger and deeper, and as a result the supply of the fresh air to the foot of the burning wick and top surface of candle becomes gradually less and less.
No system is in the market or literature that effectively, economically, or continuously supplies fresh air directly to the foot of the burning wick and candle.
Referring now to
Candle wax 12 may contain various components such as fragrances, essential oils, insect repellents, insecticides, and anti-microbial compounds. During initial operational use, shown at the beginning in
Candle flame 16, as hot as hot as 2000° C., warms air flows A2a in combination with the combined pressure from surrounding air flows A3a of the container 11; and creates a broad and strong hot airflow as updraft A5a.
At the beginning of the candle burning (
Accordingly, after burning for some time (as shown in
Unfortunately, as a result of the multiple disadvantages inherent with conventional delivery candle systems, manufacturers have been forced to respond by: (1) changing the wax base material to a more expensive substance; (2) changing the wick material to a more expensive material having a lower temperature of combustion;(3) improving the thermal resistance of the active volatiles placed in the base material; (4) increasing the of volatile components within the base material to an expensive and unnecessarily high concentration; and (5) placing hoods above the wick in attempts to wick minimize wick flare-ups and re-radiate heat downward to minimize irregular molten pool shapes.
As a further unfortunate circumstance, available commercial candle-base systems are only positioned to protect the candle flame from being blown out or for pleasing decoration or design purposes. Many candle hoods substantially decrease volatile performance because of inadequate design and use. There is not such a simple and feasible system to be able to supply the fresh air to the lower inside part of the candle container.
A candle hood, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,439, is narrower at the top than bottom and the candle is retained within walls extending above the molten pool level. Consequently, volatiles that escape from the molten pool are forced into a narrow cone containing the hot combustion gasses, and are thermally consumed. Volatiles that do escape the hot combustion gasses experience the additional turbulence resulting from the pressure gradient between the wide bottom and narrow top openings of the hood. In addition, the disclosed invention does not improve any air supply to the inside of candle container.
The candle holder taught by Lee in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,454 only diminishes fragrance or volatile performance in a number of ways. A retainer element is required that extends above the molten pool level and prevents the air from picking up the volatiles and transporting them away from the flame before combustion, while at the same time increasing the odds of combusting any volatiles which do escape from the molten pool. The volatile and smoke exit rate is so slow as to prevent almost any real distribution of fragrance within a room. The Lee system further minimizes performance distribution by trapping the volatiles and combustion gasses below a bowl (and cup) thus creating a positive downward pressure and increased turbulence to further minimize volatile distribution. In addition, the Lee system does not improve any air supply to the inside of candle container.
The solid fuel burning apparatus shown in Kracauer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,763, also fails to resolve the needs noted above. Kracauer provides an opaque fuel container bounding a wick apparatus and is supplied with a chimney like structure as shown in the drawings. During operation, a series of adjustable air openings allow first access to light the wick, and later sealing to the chimney to extinguish combustion. In all scenarios, Kracauer fails to appreciate the unique assembly and structure provided by the present invention.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a system for better candle burning in the container.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for constantly supplying the fresh air to the foot of the burning wick of the candle in the container.
Another object of the invention is to provide better performance of volatiles from the candle with volatiles. Another object of the invention is to provide better fragrance performance from candle the candle.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a system and a method for enhancing candle burning and improving volatiles comprising: a candle container with at least one inner-tube having at least one or preferably plural holes and/or cuts which allow the air and melting wax to pass the inside of the inner-tube; and wherein the height of the wall of inner-tube is higher than the height of container wall.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is a candle burning enhancing system comprising a tube or a cylinder having holes and/or cuts along its lower parts, which allow the air and melting wax to pass when it is used as an insert in the container.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is a candle burning system comprising: a candle in the container, the candle having a wick, the candle may-be including a plurality of volatiles disposed within the wax, the candle container including an inner-tube having hole cuts which allow passage of the air and melting wax to the inside of said inner-tube and to pass the air and the melting wax outwardly as necessary.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is a candle burning method comprising putting separate candle (open-candle) from the container in the inside of the inner-tube of the container of the present or making unified candle (closed-candle) with the container, burning candle, fresh air supplying through the holes and/or cuts wherein each hole and/or cut is opened according to lowering level of the wax height to pass the air and the melting wax to supply the fresh air to the foot of the burning wick while the candle is burning.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood, that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
A detailed description of a preferred embodiment is provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
According to an alternative of the present embodiment, a user may optionally select either a unified inner-tube design with the container or separable inner-tube design from the container to employ the in the present invention. When the separate candle (open-candle design in
In general, while burning an open-candle in the container with the inner-tube of the present invention, the fresh air is constantly supplied to the inside of the inner-tube through holes 27a, 27b, 27c and so on of the minus or low pressured inside of the inner-tube due to updraft A5a (
Meanwhile, after the open-candle starts to burn (see initial unburned condition in
During continued operation, more melted wax accumulates at the bottom and at some point the wax in the inside of inner-tube 27 and the wax between the inner-tube 27 and the wall of the container become the same as a unified candle of the present invention (see
Referring specifically now to
Referring now to
The hole 27b, and any related openings of any shape or size has a similar function but the air flows are not described and not shown in
A unified candle (closed-candle—see
Actual burning and performing of the closed-candle is almost the same as described for the separate type candle (open-candle see FIGS. 2 and
As the aforementioned method, the present invention can supply the fresh air to the surface of the melted pool and near the foot of the burning wick without disturbing the upwardly air-Inflow, thus inner-tube serves as a barrier to disturbing the fragrance distribution flow. As the inner-tube 27 has also the chimney function, the constant updraft A5a and/or A5b can be achieved from the surface of the wax pool in a concise manner, and accordingly the performance of volatiles is dramatically increased. More specifically, according to the aforementioned description of transporting fresh air to the foot of the burning wick, a more efficient and constant updraft air-flow can be achieved and accordingly the volatiles in the candle can be efficiently and constantly dispersed to the air. In addition, the inner-tube 27 keeps the melting wax pool 14 warmer while burning as an “inner-jacket” effect, and accordingly the volatiles in the wax pool can be further more efficiently and constantly dispersed to the air.
The present invention is manufactured by the following method, but is not limited to the precise steps noted below. Those skilled in the art will recognize that adaptations may be made to the present method without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The twelve holes (27a, 27b, and 27c, etc.) are 8 mm in diameter, made using an electric drill on the sidewall of a plastic or glass inner-tube having the following dimensions, 57 mm diameter×70 mm height.
The four holes are placed at the upper portion of the inner-tube every 90 degree at ca. 20 mm lower from the top edge, another 4 holes are placed at the lower portion of the inner-tube every 90 degree and the holes at each level are 30 degree turned from the upper holes and lowered 32 mm lower from the top edge, at each level more 4 holes are drilled at the lowest portion of the inner-tube every 90 degree and 60 degree (30 degrees and 30 degrees) are turned from the upper holes at ca. 52 mm lower from the top edge. The above inner-tube can be applied with an appropriate size container, for example, 75 mm diameter×70 mm height glass jar, for an appropriate pillar-type candle, for example, 50 mm diameter×50 mm height to be sit in the inside of the inner-tube.
The present invention is manufactured as described in Embodiment 1 and then the aforementioned inner-tube is positioned in the inside container, for example, 75 mm diameter×70 mm height glass jar. An appropriate length of wick is set in the inside of the inner-tube followed by filling with an appropriate volume of melting candle wax either with or without volatiles, and being solidified for use to approximately the level of the top-most holes 27a, allowing for slight air flow there through during initial use.
The container of the present invention is compared with traditional candle container. Two commercial scented candles in the container (closed-candle) were purchased from a local market. Both candle waxes and wicks were removed from the containers and melted. The inner tube is set to the bottom of one of the containers and the melting wax poured into both containers with the same formula of commercial candle. After two hours, both candles' performance were compared.
Referring now to
As disclosed, this particular embodiment addresses manufacturing concerns. During use, consumers prefer to view a burning wick through a translucent medium such as glass, unfortunately, glass is difficult to machine in final form, and it is particularly difficult to drill holes in as shown in the previous embodiments. The present solution is to provide base 52 of a second material more easily machined, and employ the base 52 to support the top tube 50, in combination forming an inner tube 27. Materials suitable for base 52 include, but are not limited to metals, plastics, ceramics (including glass), and combinations of the same. Those of skill in the art will recognize the capacity of the present base 52 to be selected from a number of adaptively colored materials to enhance a mood and a pleasing consumer look.
As shown, the present invention employs a relatively short top tube 50 and a relatively longer base 52, although nothing herein shall limit the disclosure to this select embodiment. As a result, the substantial benefits of the present invention are provided without detriment to the necessary commercial demands for a candle lighting system.
In the claims, means-or step-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described or suggested herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures. Thus, for example, although a nail, a screw, and a bolt may not be structural equivalents in that a nail relies on friction between a wooden part and a cylindrical surface, a screw's helical surface positively engages the wooden part, and a bolt's head and nut compress opposite sides of a wooden part, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail, a screw, and a bolt may be readily understood by those skilled in the art as equivalent structures.
Having described at least one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various changes, modifications, and adaptations may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
This application claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/641,626, filed Aug. 16, 2003, the contents of which are fully incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10641626 | Aug 2003 | US |
Child | 11082492 | Mar 2005 | US |