Candle making was developed independently in many countries throughout history. The Chinese made the earliest known candles from whale fat, during the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). In early China and Japan, tapers were made with wax from insects and seeds, wrapped in paper.
In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. During the first century AD, indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest fused oil from the eulachon, or "candlefish", for illumination.
In Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, where lamp oil made from olives was readily available, candle making remained unknown until the early middle-ages.
There is a fish called the eulachon or "candlefish", a type of fish which is found from Oregon to Alaska. During the first century AD, indigenous people from this region used oil from this fish for illumination. A simple candle used to be made by putting the dried fish on a forked stick and then lighting it. The first candles to appear in Europe were made by nomadic tribes in the late Roman era, but are thought to have been in use much earlier in the colder climates of Northern Europe, where olive oil was scarce. These early candles were made from tallow, or animal fat.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, when the availability of olive oil became increasingly scarce, and therefore expensive, the use of tallow candles spread across Western Europe. Later wax candles made from various plant extracts replaced tallow as the preferred source of illumination.
The unpleasant smell of tallow candles is due to the glycerine they contain. For churches and royal events, candles from beeswax were used, as the smell was usually less unpleasant. The smell of the manufacturing process was so unpleasant that it was banned by ordinance in several cities. The first candle mould comes from 15th century Paris
MANUFACTURING
The oldest candle manufacturers still in existence are Rathbornes Candles, founded in Dublin in 1488. In 1616 the Candlelight Law decreed that every fifth home should display a light for passers-by. Later in the seventeenth century, Rathbornes Candles was contracted to supply street lighting in Dublin. It still does a range of candles, varying from paraffin wax to pure beeswax.
Candles were also commonplace in many households scattered throughout Europe. In England and France candle making had become a guild graft by the 13 century. These candle makers (chandlers) went from house to house making candles from fats saved from the kitchen or sold their own candles from within their shops.
Joseph Sampson was granted a United States patent for a new method of candle making in 1790 (this was the second patent ever granted by the US).
In 1834, Joseph Morgan began to industrialise the production of candles. He devolved a machine that allowed for continuous production of molded candles by using a cylinder with a moveable piston to eject candles as they solidified. This more efficient mechanized production produced about 1,500 candles per hour, which allowed candles to become an easily affordable commodity for the masses
Not until 1850 did paraffin become commercially viable, when James Young filed a patent to produce it from coal. Paraffin could be used to make inexpensive candles of high quality. Distilling residue left after crude petroleum was refined also processed paraffin. It was a bluish-white wax, which was able to burn cleanly, and leave no unpleasant odor, something the predecessor could not achieve like the tallow candles. Although paraffin had a low melting point the discovery of stearic acid solved this problem. Stearic acid was hard and very durable which helped elevated the melting point of paraffin. It was being produced in mass quantity at the end of the 19th century. By this period, most candles being manufactured consisted of paraffin and stearic acid.
In the 20th century as candles started to wane as the major light source due to the introduction of the light bulb, they became a more decorative item. Candles were suddenly available in a broad array of sizes, shapes and colors, and consumer interest in scented candles began to escalate. During the 1990s, new types of candle waxes were being developed due to an unusually high demand for candles. In the U.S., agricultural chemists began to develop soybean wax, which was a softer and slower burning wax than paraffin. On the other side of the globe, efforts were underway to develop palm wax for use in candles.
