The development of candle making machine

The development of the candle making machine is a fascinating story of industrialization, moving from pure manual craft to highly automated, computer-controlled production. It mirrors the broader history of the Industrial Revolution.

Here is a detailed overview of its development, broken down into key stages:

1. Pre-Industrial Era: Manual Craft (Before the 19th Century)

Before candle machine, all candles were made by hand through two labor-intensive methods:

2. The First Revolution: Mechanization and New Materials (Mid-19th Century)

This period saw two critical innovations that made machine production possible.

Key Material Innovation: Paraffin Wax

In the 1850s, chemists learned to refine paraffin wax from petroleum. It was hard, odorless, clean-burning, and could be produced cheaply and in large quantities. This replaced messy tallow and expensive beeswax as the primary material, creating a demand for mass production.

Early Mechanization:

The first "Candle machine" were simple devices that automated the manual processes.

Dipping Candle  Machine: Frameworks with rotating racks that carried large bundles of wicks through a vat of molten wax, then allowed them to cool, before repeating the process. This significantly increased output over hand-dipping.

Molding Candle Machine: Basic tables with multiple mold plates (often 50-200 molds). Workers would pour wax manually, but the scale was much larger than a single mold.

Pioneers: Companies like Candle Machine Company (CMC) in the UK began manufacturing these early industrial candle machine.