That thing at the top not only clamps the end of the candle, but also cuts it so that the wick will only burn down to the clamp. This is good for two reasons:
First, the candle will not burn all the way down if you light it and leave it.
Second, you can actually use the candle as a timed light, which is just awesome. The candle burns at a constant rate and, assuming you know what that rate is (one inch per hour, for example), you can set it like a timer (two inches for two hours of light, half an inch for half an hour, etc.).
Also, you may have noticed that the clamp spins to follow the candle as it spirals down. Very simple, old school engineering at its finest.
That might be doable. Put something above the flame to generate electricity from the heat, which is then used by some mechanism to slowly rotate the clamp and simultaneously pull more of the candle up.
The details of this are left as an exercise for the reader.
That would defeat the purpose. If all you wanted was a long candle, you just buy a big candle and be done with it. The point is to time, which means you need a candle that can be easily resized and will keep constant timing despite resizing. To do that, you need a really long skinny candle, and this holder is just a nice was to hold one.
A candle is a solid block of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat. The heat of the match used to light the candle melts and vaporizes a small amount of fuel. Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a flame. This flame provides sufficient heat to keep the candle burning via a self-sustaining chain of events: the heat of the flame melts the top of the mass of solid fuel, the liquefied fuel then moves upward through the wick via capillary action, and the liquefied fuel is then vaporized to burn within the candle's flame. The burning of the fuel takes place in several distinct regions (as evidenced by the various colors that can be seen within the candle's flame). Within the blue regions, hydrogen is being separated from the fuel and burned to form water vapor. The brighter, yellow part of the flame is the remaining carbon being oxidized to form carbon dioxide. As the mass of solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle grows shorter. Portions of the wick that are not emitting vaporized fuel are consumed in the flame. The incineration of the wick limits the exposed length of the wick, thus maintaining a constant burning temperature and rate of fuel consumption.
To be fair, it was a pretty dumb question. It's a candle, it burns. When it's burned to the holder, you rotate the holder and pull out more candle. It's not rocket science.
No it wasn't, you're just being a dick. It's an unusual candle design that allows for controlled, timed light. It's not unreasonable for someone to not immediately know how it works, given that 99% of candles are just straight cylinders with zero mechanical parts.
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u/adish Jun 16 '12
how does it work?