Patent Application
20130095440
The present invention relates to a candle wick, and more particularly to a rigid wick that provides improved flame height consistency.
Candles with wood wicks, especially planar wood wicks, suffer from inconsistent flame heights during normal use. The inconsistency, regardless of the type of wood used, appears to be attributed to the natural variation of the wood itself. Whether due to geography, altitude, weather, age or processing, the inconsistency in flame height in wood wick candles is a significant detriment within the candle industry.
Inconsistency in flame heights may be considered a mark of low quality in terms of use-aesthetics and fragrance release performance. Unless designed otherwise, candles are expected to maintain reasonable flame height consistency. Inconsistency in flame heights is observed as low flames and high flames within one candle during its use or from candle to candle.
Candles with low flames produce poor use-aesthetics and reduced fragrance release and impact. For example, a traditional candle flame imparts a pleasant ambiance as exemplified by the well-known concept of “dinner by candlelight”. Low flames will suffer from significantly reduced luminescence, producing undesirable candle flame ambiance. For scented candles, it is well known in the art that the flame melts the wax which results in fragrance release. Quick melting of the scented wax and the generation of a broad melt pool is conducive to maximizing both fragrance release and impact. Low flames lack the ability to readily melt the wax and may not form a broad melt pool, thus inhibiting fragrance release and impact.
Candles with high flames are likely to produce excessive smoking and generate high heat.
The current invention provides a rigid planar wick (preferably made of wood) and one or more fabric wicks adhered together for use in candles. The fabric wicks may be planar fabric wicks, traditional shaped string-shaped wicks or a fabric sheath. The rigid wick is of a predetermined width, length, and thickness and the planar fabric wick is of some dimension equal to, less than, or greater than the surface area of the rigid wick. By combining both a planar fabric wick and a rigid planar wick, consistency in flame heights can be achieved, providing an improved rigid wick for candle use.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description which should be read in light if the accompanying drawings in which corresponding reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views. In the following descriptions of the drawings and the preferred embodiments, the term “length” is used to refer to the dimension of wick that runs the bottom of the candle to a top of the candle when a wick is used in a burning candle and the term “width” is used to refer to the dimension that runs horizontally from one side to the other side of the wick when a wick is used in a burning candle. The term “thickness” is used when referring to the shortest sides of a planar wick that run horizontally when the wick is positioned in a candle.
Referring to
The rigid wick 1 is formed in a planar shape that can be produced from a number of hard and soft woods. In preferred embodiments cherry is used. The rigid wick 1 has a thickness between 0.015 inch and 0.04 inch. The fabric wick 2 has a thickness of between 0.025 inches and 0.065 inches. The length of the rigid wick 1 and fabric wick 2 would generally be the same, and the actual length will depend upon the height of the candle in which the wick is used. In the embodiment shown in
In the alternate embodiment shown in
In the embodiment shown in
The fabric wick 2 utilized in the present invention is preferably a braided wick having a planar flat geometry manufactured using one or more of the following materials: cotton (short and longer fiber), paper, rayon, cellulose, bamboo, raffia, hemp, jute, wool, linen, silk, polyester, acrylic, nylon, and polyolefin. The wick 2 may include multiple cotton cores braided together by multiple braids containing a rayon sleeve of one or more multiple fiber ends. Such wicks can be obtained from Atkins and Pearce, 1 Braidway, Covington, Ky. 41017.
The planar fabric wick 2 is wax coated as part of the post processing of the wick 2. The wax coating includes materials with adhesive qualities such as microcrystalline wax, high-melt paraffin wax, polyethylene wax and/or poly alpha olefins. In one preferred embodiment the planar fabric wick 2 is attached to the rigid planar wick by heating both the rigid wick 1 and the fabric wick 2 to a temperature between 120° F.-190° F. and pressing the wicks together followed by cooling to ambient temperature.
The table below shows the preferred ranges for the widths of the rigid wick 1 and fabric wick 2 in the embodiments of the wick of the present invention shown in
Turning to
As shown in
In the alternate embodiment shown in
In a further embodiment shown in
It is an important feature of invention that both the planar fabric wick and the rigid planar wick be adhered together so as not to separate during manufacturing and use. Adhesion of the fabric wicks to the rigid wick may be achieved by a number of means, including bonding by adhesive or by fabric stitching.
In still another embodiment shown in
While the foregoing invention has been described with reference to its preferred embodiments, various alterations and modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. All such alterations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.
