IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF CLAY
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Pimlott Oates, of Lichfield, in the County
of Stafford, Surgeon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR
MAY BE MADE OF CLAY."
Sealed the 22nd August 1854, and dated the 15th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Pimlott Oates at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th March 1854.
I, JOSEPH PIMLOTT OATES, of Lichfield, in the County of Stafford, Surgeon,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY
BE MADE OF CLAY," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to such machines for making bricks and
other articles as have moveable boxes or dies open throughout, in which the
brick and other article is formed by the forcing of a column of clay therein.
Figure 1 represents in vertical section a portion of my Invention. a is a
slide in which are formed two dies or moulds b, c, of the size of the bricks
and other articles to be manufactured. A column of clay passes down the
channel d, through the mould b, and by the motion of the slide a the said

page_text: mould b retires filled with clay, and the mould c by the same motion is
brought under the channel d, and filled; that is to say, by the alternating
motion of the slide a the moulds b, c, are alternately filled with clay. The
excess of clay supplied down the channel & passes off through the channel e,
d
which said channel is supplied with valves f, g, which, by being made to
collapse or close more or less, offer a greater or less resistance to the
escape of the waste. clay, and thereby preserve the column of clay under
pressure. As the moulds pass over the slots h, i, any excess of clay in
the said moulds may escape through the said slots. I sometimes effect the
same object by the arrangement shown in section in Figure 2, in which
the slide is supported on the two outer rollers k, l, and the escape of the
waste clay impeded by the middle roller m. The middle roller m is supported
in bearings capable of yielding, so that on the occurrence of more than the
ordinary or calculated pressure the said roller yields, as shown in Figure 3, and
by enlarging the spaces n, o, at which the clay escapes, relieves the machine of
the unusual pressure; p, q, are knives or edges by which the face of the brick

page_text: is shaved smooth as it passes over them. The clay is supplied to the channel d
by a revolving shaft, on the upper and lower ends of which are screws and
in the intermediate space knives, by the joint operation of which the clay is
comminuted and carried forward under pressure. The upper screw or feeder
is of a conical figure, and forces the clay into a cylindrical channel under
pressure; the knives comminute the clay in the said cylindrical channel, and
the said clay is carried down by the lower screw, which is cylindrical. The
sectional area of the apparatus is the same from the bottom of the first screw
to the mould.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Pimlott Oates in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
PINLOTT OATES, of Lichfield, in the County of Stafford, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Pimlott Oates, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES, AND
BUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE MADE OF CLAY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal,, 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 Joseph Pimlott Oates, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: My said Invention relates principally to such machines for making bricks
and other articles usually made of clay as have moveable boxes or dies open
throughout, that is to say, having neither top nor bottom, and in which said
dies bricks or other articles are made by a column of clay being forced therein.
Some portion of my Invention is applicable to machines for making bricks
and articles of clay other than those above defined. The essential novelty in
my Invention consists in preparing and forcing a continuous stream or column
of clay into moulds or dies open at top and bottom, and providing for the ready
escape of the surplus clay during the filling of the said moulds or dies. By
providing for the escape of the said surplus clay the machinery is not subjected
to the strain to which it would otherwise be subjected, and the motive power
employed in driving the said machine is not consumed wastefully. A machine
for manufacturing bricks according to my Invention is represented in the
accompanying Drawing. Figure 1 representing an elevation, and Figure 2
a vertical section of the same. a, b, c, is a vessel of irregular figure, the top
portion a having a cup-like form, and constituting a hopper into which the
crude clay is delivered; the portion marked 6 is conical or nearly conical,
and the portion c is cylindrical. The transverse section of the cylindrical
portion c has the same area or nearly the same as the mould or die in which
the brick or other article is formed; d is a chamber connected with the lower
end of the cylinder c. The upper opening of the chamber d is circular, and
the lower opening of the said chamber dis rectangular, or of such other
figure as may be most convenient to prepare the clay for delivery into the
die or mould in which the article to be manufactured is moulded, the sole
function of the said chamber d being to change the cylindrical form of the
stream of clay into whatever other form is most convenient. e is a vertical
shaft situated in the axis of the vessel a, b, c; the said shaft carries two
screws f, g, the upper screw f being so formed that it fits or nearly fits the conical
part b, in which it works, and the lower screw g being so formed that it fits or
nearly fits the lower part of the cylinder.c, in which it works; h, i, are curved
arms or ploughs fixed on the axis e above the screw f; and k, k, are blades or.
pug knives fixed obliquely on the shaft e, the said knives being equidistant
from each other, and in the line of a helix drawn on the said shaft, as illustrated
in the Drawing; 1, 1, are the moulds or dies, which have an alternating sliding.
motion, immediately under the chamber d; the figure of the said moulds will
be best understood by reference to Figures 3 and 4, which said Figures repre-
sent in perspective two of the said moulds for making four and two bricks each.
respectively. The said moulds 1, l, are guided in their motion by the plate m on
the bottom of the chamber d, and the plate n, between which said plates the.

page_text: said moulds slide; o is a channel through which the stream of clay passes after
leaving the mould I, which said channel I call an expanding, and contracting
rectum; the said channel or rectum the said channel or rectum o is attached to
the under surface of the plate n; p, p, are two valvular flaps, which by being more
or less closed contract to a greater or less degree the opening out of which the
surplus clay passes from the machine. The position of the said flaps p, p, may
be determined by screws, springs, or any other suitable mechanical contrivance.
In the platen are three openings q, r, 8; the surplus clay passes through the
central opening r, and the object of the outer openings q, s, is to permit of the
planing of the lower face of the brick against the edges q¹, s', and the escape
of the clay planed off the brick through the said openings q, s. In place of the
plate n, and flaps p, p, I sometimes use three rollers, as represented in Figure 5,
the outer rollers t, u, carrying the mould v, and the central roller regulating
the escape of the surplus clay. The bearings of the outer rollers t, u, may
either be fixed or made capable of a slight yielding, and the bearings of the
central roller w are fixed upon springs (either of india-rubber, metal, or other.
elastic material), and the said springs are made capable of adjustment by screws
or otherwise, so that the said roller may be pressed upwards with any required
degree of force. When the stream of clay exceeds but by little the quantity
required by the mould, the roller w rises, and thereby contracts the space
between it and the outer rollers; and when the surplus clay is great in
quantity, it forces down the roller w, by which the space between it and the
outer rollers is increased, and the escape of the surplus clay permitted.
The motions of the several parts are given as follows:-Motion is com
municated from the driving power to the bevil wheel y; a pinion on the axis
of the bevil wheel y engages in the teeth of the wheel x, and the bevil wheel y
gearing in the bevil wheel z, situated on the top of the shaft e, communicates
a rotatory motion to the said shaft; a hollow camb, indicated by dotted lines.
at 1, Figure 1, is situated on the axis of the wheel x, and the motions of
the plungers by which the bricks are removed from the moulds are produced.
by the said camb; 2 is a lever turning on a joint 3, on the frame of the
machine; the end of this lever engages in the hollow camb 1, Figure 1.
The cranked end 2¹ of the lever 2 transmits motion through the connecting
rod 7 to the lever 8, which said lever engages in a slot in the plunger 9,.
and by its rising and falling raises and depresses the said plunger; a pin
on the opposite side of the camb 1 gives motion to the lever 5, through
the connecting rod 4, and the said lever 5 moves the moulds through the
connecting rod 6. The action of my Invention is as follows:-The crude
clay is introduced into the hopper a, and the ploughs h, i, by the rotation of

page_text: the axis e on which they are situated, carry the said clay to the conical part 6;
the said clay is carried by the screw f into the cylindrical part c, where it is
comminuted by the knives k, k, while under pressure; the clay is next carried
by the cylindrical screw g into the chamber d, in which it assumes a sectional
figure resembling that of the mould into which it is to be forced. The
column of clay enters and passes through the mould 7, into the rectum o, the
contracted bottom of which preserves the clay under pressure. As the filled
mould slides away, the empty one is brought under the chamber d, and the
bottom face of the brick is planed as it passes from under the chamber d, by
the edges q', 8, of the openings q, 8. When the filled mould has moved under
the plunger 9, the said plunger descends and forces the brick from the mould
on to the webbing 10 by which it is carried away.
I have thought it only necessary to describe the mechanism on one side of the
machine for raising and depressing the plungers; the mechanism on the other
side, undescribed but represented in the Drawing, being the exact counterpart
of that which I have described, excepting that those parts are omitted which
are required to work the sliding mould.
Although I have described the best method with which I am acquainted of
carrying my Invention into effect, yet I do not confine myself thereto, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Inven-
tion; for instance, the moulds or dies may be brought under the chamber d
by a rotatory instead of a sliding motion, and the bricks and other articles may
be removed from the dies by an upward motion of the pistons, instead of a
downward motion as described. Instead of the valvular flaps p, p, or rollers
t, u, w, herein described, the resistance to the stream of clay which the said
flaps and rollers produced may be obtained by the simple elongation of the
chamber o, or by giving a tapering figure to the same; but I prefer the
method herein described of carrying my Invention into effect.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
said Invention,―
my
Firstly, the method herein described, and represented in the accompanying
Drawing, of preparing clay for moulding into bricks and other articles,' and
propelling the same into the moulds, that is to say, by the rotation of a shaft
carrying screws at its upper and lower ends, and provided with pug knives in
the intermediate space.
Secondly, the use of a chamber situated between the feeder by which the
prepared clay is supplied and the mould in which the said clay is to be
fashioned into bricks or other articles, the said chamber changing the sectional

page_text: figure of the clay during its passage through the same from the figure it
has on leaving the feeder to that which it is most suitable to give it before
entering the mould, as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly, the use of an expanding and contracting rectum or opening through
which the surplus clay passes, the object of the said rectum being to maintain
any required degree of pressure on the column of clay, whether the said rectum
be constructed in any of the ways herein described, or according to any modifi-
cation of the same, or by the combination of other mechanical arrangements.
whereby the same effect may be produced.
Fourthly, the method herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, of smoothing or planing the face of a brick by causing it to pass over
a slot, by the edge of which slot the face of the brick is planed, and the surplus
clay removed through the said slot.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Pimlott Oates, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH PIMLOTT OATES. (L.s.)