IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TILES AND QUARRIES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Brindley Inskcop, of Madeley, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TILES AND QUARRIES."
Sealed the 6th April 1875, and dated the 10th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Brindley
Inskeep at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th October 1874.
I, JAMES BRINDLEY INSKEEP, of Madeley, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TILES AND QUARRIES,"
to be as follows:-
The nature of this Invention will be understood from the title, and its
object is by the means herein-after described to make tiles and quarries
at a cheaper rate than is now practicable, as well as to form them with
greater exactness, and so to give them a greater commercial value.

page_text: Hitherto they have been made singly, and have been generally formed in
the following manner:-A lump (or lumps) of clay has been thrown into
a mould, and then beaten by hand with a "plane" until the mould has
been completely filled. Thus much hand labour is necessary, and the
manufacture of each tile or quarry becomes a tedious and expensive!
process.
My Invention consists substantially in making several slabs at once,
and this I do by providing a "mouth-piece," through which the plastic
clay may be fed by any convenient or well-known means, the said
mouth-piece consisting of a number of longitudinal apertures or openings
corresponding in length and thickness to the slabs of clay desired to be
formed, the said slabs of clay being received on the other side of the
said longitudinal apertures or openings upon boards or "palettes"
corresponding exactly in size to the article desired to be made. When
these palettes are filled with a necessary quantity of plastic clay to
constitute the tile or quarry the supply of clay is cut off, and by an
automatic motion the filled palettes are removed and empty ones come
to supply their places. Whilst these are fed in a similar way with the
necessary supply of plastic clay through the said longitudinal grooves of
the mouth-piece as before described the contents of the first set of:
palettes are removed for "firing," and they once more return to be again
filled, and so again with the second set of palettes. Thus, instead of
being made singly any desired number of the olay slabs may be formed
at one operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said James Brindley Inskeep in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, James
BRINDLEY INSKEEP, of Madeley, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
3

page_text: cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Brindley Inskeep,
Her special licence that I, the said James Brindley Inskeep, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Brindley Inskeep, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TILES AND QUARRIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Brindley Inskeep, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Brindley Inskeep, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained.
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
The nature of this Invention will be understood from the title, and its
object is by the means herein-after described to make tiles and quarries
at a cheaper rate than is now practicable, as well as to form them with
greater exactness, and so to give them a greater commercial value.
Hitherto they have been made singly, and have been generally formed
in the following manner:-A lump (or lumps) of clay has been thrown
into a mould, and then beaten by hand with a "plane" until the mould
has been completely filled. Thus, much hand labour is necessary, and
the manufacture of each tile or quarry becomes a tedious and expensive
process.
My Invention consists substantially in making several slabes at once,
and this I do by providing a "mouth-piece," through which the plastic
clay may be fed by any convenient or well-known means, the said
5 mouth-piece consisting of a number of longitudinal apertures or openings
corresponding in length and thickness to the slabs of clay desired to be
formed, the said slabs of clay being received on the other side of the said

page_text: proper height above the next lower palette and its proper vertical
position as regards the openings in the mouth-piece are preserved..
Sufficient clay having been forced through the mouth-piece to cause
each stream to project slightly beyond the outer edge of its palette the
5 supply of clay is stopped, and the now stationary slabs of clay are cut
off into tiles of the desired width or length as the case may be in the
following manner:-An open rectangular frame h (Figs. 1, 2, and 4) is
placed against the mouth-piece a, a margin of the latter being reduced
in thickness to receive the said frame, so that the outer face of the frame
and of the central portion of the mouth-piece are in the same plane
(see Fig. 2). A second similar frame i is rigidly connected to the
frame by means of rods K having adjustable nuts l. The compound
frame thus formed is balanced by means of a weighted cord or a spring
(not shewn), and can be moved vertically upwards or downwards until
its lower or upper bar is stopped by the projecting face of the mouth-
piece a. Each open frame has stretched across it two wires m, one end
of each wire being looped over a peg n, and the other end tightened by
means of a screw pin o. When the said compound frame is depressed
from its highest position two of the four wires sever the whole of the
six (more or less) slabs of clay close against the mouth-piece, and the
other two wires trim the outer edges of the said slabs. The simultaneous
removal of the whole of one set of tiles thus formed is effected by fixing
the vertical pillars f,f, upon a table p, which has rollers underneath
it travelling upon a frames, which is bolted to the mouth-piece a or to
some other portion of the framing of the machine. A separate plan of
the table is shewn in Fig. 5. The table p and its contents being moved
endwise until the palettes with their tiles occupy the position shewn by
the dotted line d, the whole of the six (more or less) palettes may be
lifted at once by hand from the pillars f,f, and may be carried away to
the oven. The tiles having then been removed from the palettes these
are returned to the machine for further use. An empty set placed upon
the duplicate pillars f¹,f¹, is shewn in Fig. 1, marked a³, and the said
pillars being also fixed upon the table p the same movement which
removes one set of full palettes places the other empty set in front of
the mouth-piece. The length of travel of the table is determined by
means of suitable stops.
Having now donomibed the antuan nf
Tation
""

page_text: limit myself strictly to the details herein-before mentioned, but what I
claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the general construction of a machine for
making tiles or quarries, whereby several tiles at one time are moulded,
cut off, and removed at each of the respective operations, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Brindley Inskeep, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April,
in the year of our Lord 1875.