DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation view of the self-extinguishing candle.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the wick appliance with a wick section contracted within.
FIGS. 3A-3C are sectional views of wick appliances, illustrating means by which a wick section is contracted within the wick appliance.
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate alternate embodiments of the wick appliance.
FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention with multiple series of wick appliances.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The following discussion describes in detail one or more embodiments of the invention. The discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments, and practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. The complete scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.
A self-extinguishing candle, as illustrated in FIG. 1, comprises in part a candle body 10, which is comprised of a combustible material such as wax, including but not limited to paraffin wax, waxes derived from animal or insect sources, such as beeswax, shellac, lanolin wax and spermaceti wax, or from vegetable sources, such as carnuba wax, bayberry wax, candelilla wax. Synthetic waxes can also be made from ethylene glycol diesters. Like most candles, paraffin wax is the preferred material for the candle body 10.
Traversing longitudinally through the candle body 10 is a collinear series of wick appliances 14. Each wick appliance 14 is generally of a tubular shape, defining a hollow central channel 22. At the top end section of each wick appliance 14 is disposed a tab 20, providing a means for manually gripping the otherwise thin wick appliance 14. The tab 20 is slightly offset radially from the body of the wick appliance 14, thereby allowing the proximate ends of adjacent wick appliance 14 to abut without any significant gap.
The uppermost wick appliance 14 is disposed below the surface of the unused candle a depth approximately equal to the length of the wick appliance 14, without the tab 20. This provides an initial gap 28 and a wick stub 32 for an initial burn period before the candle self-extinguishes at the top of the uppermost wick appliance 14.
A single wick 12 passes through the channels 22 of the series of wick appliances 14, typically extending beyond both the lower and upper wick appliances in the series. The wick 12 may be made of cotton or other fibers typically used in the art, and may be braided or woven The wick 12 is usually impregnated with wax.
Below the lowermost wick appliance may be a base, such as a typical wick clip, to which the bottom of the wick 12 is attached and which supports the wick 12 and wick appliances 14 during candle manufacture. Alternatively, a simple tubular spacer 30 without a tab may be disposed around the section of wick 12 below the lowermost wick appliance 14 to finally extinguish the candle at a safe height above the base 16 and surrounding surface.
As shown in FIG. 2, within the channel 22 in each wick appliance 14, the section of wick 12 passing therein forms a wick contraction 18. A wick contraction, as used herein, refers to some alteration in the geometry of an otherwise elongated, straight wick, such that a section of wick longer than the length of the channel 22 is placed within the confines of the channel 22. Some example ways of forming a wick contraction 18 within a wick appliance 14, include bending or folding, as in FIG. 3A, twisting, coiling or spiraling, as in FIG. 3B, or gathering or furling, as in FIG. 3C. These are to be understood as only examples of how a wick section may be contracted within the wick appliance. In every case, the amount of wick contained within the channel of the wick appliance 14 would be, when extended, sufficiently longer than the length of the channel 22 so as to provide a sufficiently long stub 32 to permit relighting the candle.
The wick appliance 14 may be completely closed circumferentially, or, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, may have a slot 24 running longitudinally along some, FIG. 4A, or all, FIG. 4B, of the length of the wick appliance. The slot 24 facilitates inserting a wick section with a pre-formed wick contraction 18 into the channel 22 during the candle manufacture process, which is mechanically simpler to carry out than to form a wick contraction 18 within a closed channel 22 as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C.
The internal diameter of the channel 22 in the wick appliance 14 is slightly larger than the diameter of the straight wick 12. It is of a size to permit insertion of a wick contraction without undue radial compression of the wick 12 and wick contraction 18, and thereby provide enough friction between the interior wall of the channel 22 and the wick contraction 18 to hold the wick 12 section and wick contraction 18 in place, but not so much as to preclude removal of the wick appliance 14 from the wick 12.
If needed to secure the wick appliance to the wick, the top and/or bottom ends of the wick appliance 14 may be slightly crimped around the wick, as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. The friction provided by the crimp 26 should be sufficiently low to allow the wick 12 to pass through without binding, abrading or tearing. A slight crimp 26 at the bottom of the wick appliance will aid in elongating and straightening the wick contraction, providing a more aesthetically pleasing wick stub 32 after removal of the wick appliance 14.
To use a self-extinguishing candle as disclosed herein, a candle is provided as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5. The wick stub 32 extending beyond the upper surface of the candle is lit. Initially, the wax impregnating the wick stub 32 melts and ignites when first exposed to the flame of a match or lighter. The heat of the flame around the wick melts the wax surrounding the wick, forming a shallow pool of molten wax. Molten wax is drawn up the wick stub 32 by capillary action, where it continues to provide fuel for the candle flame. By drawing up the molten wax, the surface of the pool of molten wax lowers, thereby lengthening the wick stub 32, and extending the upper tip of the wick stub 32 higher into hotter portions of the candle flame, where the tip of the wick stub 32 is oxidized and burnt off. This process continues, gradually lowering the height of the candle body and the wick simultaneously, until the tip of the wick 12 reaches the upper end of the uppermost wick appliance 14. Once the wick 12 tip has burnt below the upper edge of the wick appliance 14, the flame is extinguished. The molten wax cools and solidifies, leaving the tab 20 exposed. When desired to relight the candle, the uppermost wick appliance can be removed by grasping the tab 20 and pulling gently upward. As shown in FIG. 5, this will cause the section of wick 12 within the wick appliance 14 to emerge and to straighten and elongate the wick contraction 18. Once the wick appliance has been removed and the wick extracted from therein, a short wick stub 32 will again be provided, emerging from the candle surface. This can then be relit, repeating the above process.
In another embodiment of the invention, shown in FIG. 6, the candle body comprises two or more series of wick appliances, with wicks disposed therein as described above.
While various embodiments of the invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not of limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit, scope or application of the invention. This is especially true in light of technology and terms within the relevant art that may be later developed. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should only be defined in accordance with the appended claims and their equivalents.
Patent Application
20080076081
