Types of Moulds
Mould classified by it's form or function
There are several main Types of moulds into which any Kind of mould can be catagorized. The Relief Mould molds one surface. It may be found as a single mould or as a multiple mould. The Plate Mould may be a series of Relief Moulds joined togather to form a plate. This may be reinforced by a wire to form a Plate Wire Mould or a steel frame forming a Plate Frame Mould. All the resulting figures are molded on one surface and flat on the other. The plate may be formed by soldering the flanges or crimping them if they are stamped (eg. chocolate moulds). The group of Relief Moulds may be pored togather in a sheet as Plate Moulds (eg. boiled sugar moulds). Single Plate Moulds may be formed into a Roller by pressing the roller against a flat surface (eg. bon bon moulds) producing a one sided candy. Multiple Relief Moulds may be poured as a cylinder or roller, by pressing this roller against a flat surface multiple one sided candies will result (eg. moulded bon bons).
A Double Mould produces a 3D fugre that may be made of two parts or more. Two sheets of Plate Moulds or two rollers of Plate Moulds may be used togather to form Double Plate Moulds resulting in multiple 3D figures. Double Plate Moulds may be formed as Gang Moulds for chocolate or formed in a row backed by a steel frame with a pewter filler between the mould and the steel frame as Rivet Moulds for chocolate or boiled sugar.
Underlined items in descriptions are in the illustrations. If you cannot find the mould you are looking for in TYPE it may be in KIND. All mould images are clickable for larger image at your convenience.
Type
Bar = Bar Moulds
Bm = Brittinia Metal
Box = Sweet Meat Box Mould
Br = Brick Mould
Cl = Closed
CM = Center Mould
Cr = Chocolate Cream Mould
Croq = Croquet Mould
Cu = Copper Ice Cream Mould
Cy = Cylinder (Roller) Boiled Sugar + Bon Bon Moulds
D = Double Mould
E = Egg Shell
Es = smooth egg
Et = textured egg
Ed = design on egg
G = Gang (book) Mould
Li = Lithophane (stone pictures) Mould
M = Mould
MM = Master Mould*
P = Plate Mould
PC = Post Card Mould
PF = Plate Frame Mould
Pi = Pillar Mould
PS = Pulled Sugar
PW = Plate Wire Mould
PWa = Plaster Water Mould *
Poly = Polycarbonate Mould
R = Relief Mould
RC = Ribbon Candy
Ri = Rivet Mould
Ro = Roller Mould
S = Sulphur Mould
Si = Silicone Mould
Sor = Sorbotier
Sp = Seperate Part Mould
Spec = Spatulas Mould
Starch = Starch Mould
T = Toy (or CT Clear Toy) Mould
Tab = Tablet (Chocolate Bar) Mould
TP = Tibetan Prayer Cookie Mould
Tir = Tirgel Mould
Trag = Tragacanth Mould
*opens to new page for sections with larger amounts of information.
BAR=Bar Mould, Assembly of Relief Moulds by soldering them onto a bar.
Br = Britania Metal, A durable lead-free pewter developed in England during the 18th century. It is lustrous and hard due to additional antimony. Parts of moulds were made by mounting a thin sheet of the pewter in a lathe and turning it over a wood or metal form. The parts were trimmed and soldered together to make the mould.
Box= Sweetmeat Box, a Double Chocolate mould. The top serves as a cover, the bottom is deep enough to hold a number of smaller candies. Pattes [paws], large tabs are usually of the same metal as the mould. Where the flange is narrow or absent they provide leverage. For more information on Pattes, please visit the Tabs page.
Br =Brick moulds are Ice Cream moulds usually of Sn or Cu in the form of closed boxes or cylinders.
Cl = Closed All of the pewter Ice Cream Moulds had to be closed to prevent the freezing saline solution from contaminating the ice cream inside during the period when they were in use (with modern refidgeration this would no longer be a problem). Chocolate Moulds were closed so that the mould could be half filled with chocolate, closed and rotated by hand or machine in all directions so that as the chocolate cooled it would be diposited on all of the interior surfaces of the mould and end with the central cavity hollow. Boiled Sugar Moulds were made hollow by pouring in the syrup allowing it to cool breifly and the remaining liquid content poured out so that a shell formed on the interior of the mould and the center of the candy was hollow.
CM= Center Mould for Ice Cream brick rectangular or cylindrical moulds. Center mould bricks Sn IC moulds [H. Sommen 1938] How to make: The center mould is filled first, frozen, and removed from the mould; the outer portion is poured soft and the center is inserted into it and the whole is frozen.
Cr=Cream= moulds pour creme Cream chocolates. See Plaster Water moulds.
Croq =Croquets for thin, crisp Chocolates.
Cy = Cylinder (Roller) The cavities may be a single releif mould or the single caviteis could be put togather in a plate mould, or they could be mounted together in a roller. If you put a roller against a flat plate in the case of the Bon Bon Press you get a series of Releif Moulds. Or if you put two rollers against eachother, in the case of the Roller Press and get a series of Double Moulds.
Display of bon bon shapes
[Ralph Waldmann collection]
D = Double mould of two or more parts whose cavities when combined form a three - dimensional model., The parts may be aligned by a hinge [charnier], Bosses, clasps, clips [a pinces], rivets [a rivets], or Tabs [a pattes paws].
E = Egg Moulds are half or whole moulds with an egg shape. They can be smoothe(Es) or, have a texture(Et) or design(Ed).
G = Gang Moulds are frame moulds in 2 halves joined by a hinge so they open like a book , hence are also called BOOK MOULDS . They are made up of large closed chocolate moulds, half the mold on one side, half on the other; but positioned to mate on closure. They are held in position by being soldered to a peripheral frame and to supporting strap frames They are designed primarily to make hollow rabbits, etc. They are partly filled with chocolate, then closed and rotated by hand or in machines in every direction. As the chocolate cools it is deposited in increasing thickness on every surface, finally leaving a hollow center.
Li= Lithophane [stone pictures] Moulds, For centuries used in China for porcelain eggshell vases. Reinvented in Paris, 1827. At first the porcelain paste was modeled directly and fired. Later a layer of wax was poured on a glass plate lit from below and modeled. Then plaster of Paris was poured on this and porcelain paste for hundreds of lithophanes could be pressed into this mould. Subsequently glass, plastic or, in our case, opalescent boiled sugar could be poured. Thin areas are lighter; thick areas are darker when lit from behind. Used for window decorations, lamp shades, night lights, the bottoms of beer steins, etc.
Derived in part from materials at the Library of the Corning Museum
M = Mould Please see under the various types.
P = Plate Mould, Poured moulds are usually connected by pouring a bridging layer among the cavities.
Stamped moulds in small numbers may be stamped on a plate. But even a moderate sized plate is awkward to manipulate at the machine and it is easier usually to stamp the cavities individually. Then the flanges are trimmed and soldered together to form the plate. The plate may be strengthened by folding the flange as in Post Card moulds or wrapping and soldering the edge of the plate around a wire ,PW, or soldering to a steel frame PF qv. Plate moulds may be a single sheet of relief moulds or two sheets of double moulds.
Crimp = Plate Moulds Crimped not Soldered
Anton Reike developed a 'cheaper and simpler' tecknique of 'crimping' togather the edges of flanges of adjacent moulds instead of soldering them to form a plate. If you have an example and would be willing to let me borrow it to photograph, please let me know, thank you.
PC= Post Card Mould, A relief mould usually of a small scene, like a post card, with a peculiar folding of the flange.
PF= Plate Frame Mould, A plate mould soldered to a steel frame underneath the border and if the mould is large in additional sites.
Pi = Pillar, Eng, Fr, usually cylindrical sides, decorated top cap. simple cap or hinged plate (See chocolate mold illustration), bottom on which are often stamped the British Registration mark, Maker’s number, and mould capacity. The bottom may be a cap with a rim or a plate whithout a rim. The latter is usually hinged to the mould.
Poly =Poly carbonate and other clear plastic MOULDS, Now most popular for chocolates. Unfortunately they lack the fine crisp details of the metal moulds from which most were copied. A few of the most modern plastics can withstand the temperature of boiled sugar.
PS=Pulled Sugar (at the seashore called Salt Water Taffy)
Not all Boiled Sugar was poured, some was pulled.
An occasional Sunday afternoons in winter grandpa Hatheway would take us into the kitchen and boil sugar water and cream of tartar. He would dribble a few drops of the syrup into a glass of cold water to determine when it was ready, until the little drops were hard. He would add a little vanilla, stir, and pour the syrup onto a marble slab. He would use a spatula to push the edges into the center as the syrup solidified and cooled enough so that we could barely stand the heat to hold and pull it out, between our two hands, and fold it over repeatedly. As it cooled further it began to crystalize becoming opaque, white, and stiffer. We might pull small peices into a narrow rod and bend the top to make a small candy cane. The rest we cut into peices of "pull taffy".
Confectioners working with larger chunks would hang them on a hook on the wall and pull them down with both hands before folding them up and pulling again and again until the candy is white. At the end they might add one or several pieces of another color and flavor to make a stripe in the final pulling. This might be cut into cubes of salt water taffy ect. or be fed into "roller machines" (see roller or bon bon machine). Sometimes the strand of pulled sugar would be flattened into a multi coloured and flavoured Ribbon Candy which would be fed into a folding machine.
Eventually a machine was invented to pull sugar automatically. It has two prongs rotating in a vertical plane matched by another pair of prongs facing these set at 80 degrees so that candy draped between the first prongs would be intercepted by the second prongs and pulled out.
Here now we also have gotten a couple videos from YouTube. For more information on them simply click the YouTube logo.
Hand Pulling from Hook in a Wall
Machine Pulling Taffy
PW= Plate Wire Frame Mould, The flange is wrapped around and soldered to a wire frame under the border and elsewhere if needed .
R= Relief mould, consists of one cavity in a surface. When the candy model is removed the front is shaped but the back is flat. Boiled sugar, butter stamps, chocolate, maple sugar, etc. may be made in relief or single plate [multiple relief] moulds but ice cream moulds needed to be double moulds to keep out the freezing brine [They now could be made with modern refrigeration techniques in relief moulds.]
CHOCOLATE RELIEF MOULDS
RC= Ribbon Candy Images courtesy of L. Eismann. See also Pulled Candy under Boiled Sugar.
Hand Operated Crimper
Hand Cranked Crimper
Motor Driven Crimper
Ri= Rivet mould, Anton Reiche invented this method to balance small double plate moulds to be poured together. Two steel bands whose width is slightly greater than the height of the moulds, have their ends bent up to the level of the flange( half thickness of the moulds ). The plate of molds, open ends facing the same way, is soldered to the steel and the space between the molds and the steel is filled with pewter. The projecting ends of the two parts are aligned and a hole is drilled through the two pieces of steel at each end. The holes of one piece are left empty. The holes of the other piece have a rivet inserted to then fit into the hole of the other piece. The mould can be stood on its side with openings of the chocolate moulds facing up. .They can then be filled. We accomplish the same effect also with larger moulds setting them, top down, in a low box containing "Rice Crispies".
Ro= Roller Mould see Cy = Cylinder (Roller) Boiled Sugar + Bon Bon Mould
S= Sulphur, Mould in plaster encasement single (Relief) and double. See also Sulfur Master Mould
Si = Silicone (Medical or food grade only). Flexible like rubber and so provides fine detail and is easy to remove from complex object.
Sor = Sorbetieres: {freezing pots} were also used as moulds ie forming base for decoration. 1735
Sarbotiere; 1782 Sorbetiere; 1835 sarbotier, sorbe-; 1878 sorbe et “impropremrnt” sarbo. de sorbet +suff. iere, empr. a l’ital Sorbettiera. [Tresar de la Langue Francais centre Nat. de la Recherche Scientific];Sorbettiera s.f. [der di Sorbetto s.m. der. de turco serbet (e questo dall’ arabo sharba “bibita fresca”) accostato a sorbire], ant.-Gelato, granita.] -Macchina ormai in disuso per preparare gelati. Si compone un mastello di legno entro il quale e posto un recipiente di rama stagnato di forma cilindrica che puo girare rapidamente per mezzo di un albero verticale accoppiato con ingranaggio conico a una manovella o a un motore.[a machine no longer used to prepare ice cream. It is composedof a wooden bucket in which is placed a container [Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano Fondata da Giovanni Treccano, Roma, 1955 v Xi p.467]Moule á Bombe is a kind of moule a Fromages as are most English pewter IC moulds for table use[58-45 etc} Center piece moulds also referred to as “moules a table.” “ Bombe glace”:conical or pyramidal as
well as spherical [Roberts Dict. Lang. Francais] Pieces Montee compositions; usually moulded ices from serv? of moulds and by creations in spun sugar,meringue, nougat, boiled sugar. For formal gala dinners. By extension large centerpieces moulds themselves, plain colored Popularity studies [33:123-154] Not entered in computer index of moulds. Dev data in 1. “Ice Cream Moulds Cast Tabulated”. 2. “Ice Cream Mould Index”[33:120 ] E+Co “No number cast”
Sp = Separate Part Moulds, Some chocolate moulds are constructed so that the head or limbs can be cast separately. Limbs are cast solid to be attached in various, but fixed positions. Heads have a collar hinge letting the head be raised allowing access to a hollow interior for small candies. The head or body may be hollowed by decanting the remaining liquid after a shell is formed around the surface of the interior of the mould.
Spec = Speculaas cookie moulds of Belg, Ger., Netherlands, Scandinavia.The dough is pressed into the mould The excess dough is cut off, so the cookie has that shape of the windmill, etc. not as in other springerli a round, elliptical, cardioid or rectangular shape of the frame of the picture.
Starch= Starch molding. The positive moulds are pressed into the tray of leveled clean starch The liquid candy (boiled sugar, Chocolate, etc)is poured into the cavities and allowed to cool. Then taken out and the starch brushed off. The starch is then cleaned and reused. 37223.
T= Toy or CT = Clear Toy in America,
Small BS candies hollowed by pouring out the syrup when a shell has formed, also called“stocking stuffers”. However, Thomas Mills and Brother catalogued all of their boiled sugar moulds as Clear Toy moulds, either “Small”, “Medium” or “Large.”
Tab = Tablet (Chocolate Bar) Mould Thin, Flat piece of chocolate usually rectangular, often with a linear or low profile design on the top. They are the most numerous mould catagory; Anton Reiche alone made 1,991; my rabbit moulds alone number 1,850; and eggs 981.
French Chocolate Tablet Mould "Vannlle"
Tir = Tirgel = Springerli from Zurich area; finer detail, sl different taste. than other Springerli.
TP= Tibetan prayer cookie moulds carved in wood. Three examples.
Trag= Tragacanth A gum obtained from certain asian herbs. Dissolved in water it is less fragile and takes finer detail than a usual cookie dough used in other Springerli products.
