IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of Plumstead, in the County of
Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 22nd November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd November 1873.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL
FUEL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction
of machinery for moulding and compressing artificial fuel and other
substances, and whereby the same can be manufactured into spherical
balls or other desired forms with great rapidity.

page_text: A table or bed plate formed of cast iron or other suitable material or
materials is fixed on standards or supports provided for that purpose,
and in or to which are fixed suitable bearings for a driving shaft, the
latter being at one end thereof furnished with driving pulleys and fly
wheel. At the opposite end is fixed a toothed pinion which gears into
a large wheel by which motion is given to four pressing rolls or mould
wheels arranged above the bed plate. Two of such pressing rolls or
mould wheels are fixed on long shafts which run parallel with the bed
plate, and are geared together at one end with two spur wheels having
an equal number of teeth. On each side of the last mentioned pressing
rolls or mould wheels are placed two other pressing rolls or mould wheels
of the same dimensions, one on each side, and which are respectively fixed
on short shafts set at right angles to each other, and connected or geared
with strong mitre wheels to the longer shafts previously mentioned. On
the outer end of one of the said longer shafts is fixed the large driving
wheel which gears into the pinion on the driving shaft as before
mentioned.
The outer edges of the pressing rolls or mould wheels are made of
a A shape, and at such an angle as to fit closely together when brought
into juxtaposition, and are also respectively provided with an equal
number of hollow spaces or cavities round their surfaces, each space or
cavity forming a quarter of a sphere, and which meet together during
the revolution of the pressing rolls or mould wheels which revolve in
the same direction and at the same speed.
A pug or mixing mill provided with a shaft having suitable blades as
well understood is placed above the pressing rolls or mould wheels and
supported by pillars from the bed plate of the machine, and into which
pug or mixing mill the artificial fuel or substances to be moulded or
compressed is or are admitted. Openings are provided in the bottom of
the mill opposite each of the pressing rolls or mould wheels, and upon,
the machine being set in motion the action of the revolving blades in
the mill forces the fuel or other substances which has or have been
placed therein through the openings on to the tops of the respective
pressing rolls or mould wheels, each of which takes a portion thereof,
the same being quickly drawn to that part at which the rolls or
wheels meet, and is there forced into the form of balls, receiving its
greater pressure on passing the centre line of the rolls or wheels. After

page_text: passing the centre line the rolls or wheels are turning in opposite
directions thereby causing the moulds to open on the lower side and
allow the balls to fall freely into an inclined trough or on to an endless
band by which they are conveyed to any convenient receptacle. The
moisture contained in the materials readily escapes during the gradual
closing of the moulds, but in order to facilitate the expulsion thereof the
moulds are formed with perforations through which the moisture can
escape. The pressure on the materials is regulated at pleasure while the
machine is in motion, either by means of a four-way sluice or regulator
above the moulds actuated by a screw or lever, as will be well under-
stood, or by depressing the mill shaft with its blades so as to cause a
greater quantity of the materials to pass or be forced downwards.
1
It is obvious that the moulds need not necessarily be of a-spherical
form but may be of any other desired section.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd May 1874.
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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
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WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said William Clark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Clark, 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
O vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING ARTIFICIAL
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page_text: .
FUEL AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Clark, 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 William Clark, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction
of machinery for moulding and compressing artificial fuel and other
substances whereby the same can be manufactured into spherical balls
and other desired forms with great rapidity.
A table or bed plate formed of cast iron or other suitable material or
materials is fixed on standards or supports provided for that purpose,
and in or to which are formed or attached suitable bearings for a driving
shaft, the latter being at one end thereof provided with driving pulleys
and a fly wheel. At the opposite end is fixed a toothed pinion which
gears into a large wheel by which motion is given to four pressing rolls
or mould wheels arranged above the bed plate when it is desirable or
requisite to obtain greater power as, for instance, in pressing and
moulding balls or blocks of large dimensions. I prefer, instead of
employing one large wheel, to have an intermediate shaft and two
wheels, as herein-after described. The table or bed plate may be of any
desired form and may be bolted or otherwise fixed on or to any suitable
foundation. Two of the said pressing rolls or mould wheels are fixed on
the bosses of mitre wheels keyed on long shafts run parallel with the
bed plate, and are geared together with two spur wheels having an equal
number of teeth. On each side of the last mentioned pressing rolls or
mould wheels are placed two other pressing rolls or mould wheels of the
same dimensions, one on each side, and which are respectively fixed on
the bosses of strong mitre wheels keyed on short shafts, set at right

page_text: angles to the before-mentioned long shafts, and connected or geared
with the strong mitre wheels previously mentioned.
The outer edges of the pressing rolls or mould wheels are of a A shape,
and at such an angle as to fit closely together when brought into juxta-
position, and are also respectively provided with an equal number of
hollow spaces or cavitics round their surfaces, each space or cavity
forming a quarter of a sphere, the same meeting together during the
revolution of the pressing rolls or mould wheels which revolve in the
same direction and at the same speed.
.Suitable openings are provided in the bed plate to allow the pressing
rolls or mould wheels to turn freely, and also for the spur wheels at the
opposite end, and, as before mentioned, in some cases I prefer when
great pressure is required to use two smaller wheels with pinions
similar to those employed in any ordinary reducing motion; for this
purpose an intermediate shaft is used, the same running in two bearings
one of such bearings being fixed on the end of the bed plate, and the
other on an outer bracket. On this shaft are placed a wheel and pinion,
the pinion being fixed on the end of the intermediate shaft and over-
hanging the bearing and being geared into a strong wheel which is fixed
on one of the long shafts between the outer bearing and the spur wheels
which are connected with the long shafts. The driving shafts also run
in two bearings one of which is fixed on the end of the bed plate and
the other on the outer bracket which supports the intermediate shaft.
The driving shaft has a fly wheel and band pulleys, and also a small
pinion which gears into the wheel on the intermediate shaft.
À
pug or mixing mill provided with a shaft having suitable blades, as
well understood, is placed above the pressing rolls or mould wheels and
supported by pillars from the bed plate of the machine, and into which
pug or mixing mill the artificial fuel or substances to be compressed or
moulded is or are admitted. In the bottom of the pug or mixing mill
are openings with flanges which project downwards and coincide with
the curve of the pressing rolls or mould wheels, and which serve as
guides for the fuel or other substances on the passage thereof. Between
the pressing rolls or mould wheels moveable scrapers may be fixed at
the end of each opening and fitted to the curve of the pressing rolls or

page_text: mould wheels and which clean or scrape off any matters or substances
which may adhere thereto as the same are turning round.
In the centre of the pug or mixing mill is an upright shaft arranged
to turn freely in bearings provided in cross bars or brackets which are
fixed to the pug or mixing mill. On the top of this shaft is fixed a
mixer having any number of suitable blades, and on the top of the
upright shaft is fixed a bevel wheel which gears into a bevel pinion
fixed on the end of a small shaft, which latter turns in bearings attached
to the cross bars of the pug or mixing mill, and is furnished with a
pulley on the outer end thereof which can be connected by means of a 1
band to any desired part of the machine or driving shaft. The upright
shaft projects through the bars of the mixer on the lower side and has a
screw fixed thereon, with two or any desired number of blades placed at
a suitable angle, and which blades press the fuel or other substances on
to the faces of the respective pressing rolls or mould wheels, or the 1
blades may be fixed on the lower side of the blades of the mixer of the

page_text: be adjusted or set backwards or forwards so that the corresponding
moulds of all the pressing rolls or mould wheels will meet accurately
together and form complete spherical moulds on passing the centre line.
C, C, are spur wheels which gear the long shafts a², a³, together; D is a
strong spur wheel fixed on the shaft a³,; e is the first motion shaft with
the fly wheel e¹ and driving pulleys e², e³; E is the intermediate shaft
with the wheel F¹ geared into the pinion e' on the fixed motion e; F2 is a
pinion fixed on the intermediate shaft and geared into the spur wheel D
which gives motion to all the pressing rolls or mould wheels.
Figure 2 is a front elevation shewing the pug mill g supported over
the pressing rolls or mould wheels from the bed plate B with cast-iron
pillars B¹. The lower sides of the openings in the bottom of the pan
hang down, as shewn at g¹, so as to fit closely round the upper portion of
the pressing rolls or mould wheels and serve as guides for the fuel to
pass in between the latter. Hand H¹ are a bevel wheel and pinion to
drive the mixer J. By the shafts H³, H³, and pulley H* motion may be
communicated by means of a band from any convenient part of the
machine or source of motive power.
Figure 3 is an end elevation partly in section shewing two pressing
rolls or mould wheels a, a, fitted on the bosses of mitre wheels a¹, and
bolted together with bolts which are arranged to work in a slot so that
the pressing rolls or mould wheels can be accurately adjusted on the
centre line and the respective pressing rolls and mould wheels firmly
bolted together. J is the mixer by which the fuel or other substances
is or are thrown on the top of the several pressing rolls or mould wheels.
J¹ is a screw with two or any desired number of angular blades by
which the fuel or other substances is or are pressed on to the faces of
the pressing rolls or mould wheels.
Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view shewing the position of the
ways of four pressing rolls or mould wheels when the ball has received:
its greatest pressure.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion that what I consider novel and original and therefore claim
as constituting the Invention secured to me by the said herein-before in 3

page_text: mechanism substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described
and set forth, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.