CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FARNSWORTH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of October, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Farns-
worth, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said James Farnsworth, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Farnsworth, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantation's abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said James Farnsworth,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's. High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully, and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I have
ascertained and set forth the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon:-
My Invention consists,―
First, of improved machinery for working or pulverizing the materials of
which the bricks or tiles are to be composed. And,
Secondly, in improved machinery for moulding the materials into bricks and
tiles; the two parts being combined to constitute one complete machine, as
shewn in the Drawings.
Figure 1 represents a plan or horizontal view of the machine (with the
hopper into which the rough clay is put, omitted). Figure 2, a longitudinal
elevation of the same (the pulverizing apparatus in section). Figure 3, an
end elevation of the moulding apparatus. Figure 4, a section of the moulding
apparatus, upon the line Y, Y. Figure 5, a section of the mould table, upon
the line Z, Z; and Figure 6, the circular railway in plan.
Note. In all the Figures the same parts are denoted by the same letters.
The pulverizer is constructed as follows:-a is the hopper for receiving the
rough clay. 6, 63, are two horizontal shafts, revolving in opposite directions,
and with different speeds. Upon these shafts are fixed a series of rotatory
cutters c¹ and c³, the flat faces of the cutting teeth on the shaft b' facing and
coming nearly in contact with the flat faces of the cutting teeth on the
shaft b. d, d, are two horizontal shafts, likewise revolving in opposite
directions and with unequal velocities, but much faster than the shafts b¹ b²,
and carrying cutters e, e³, similar to those above, but with smaller and more
numerous cutting teeth. f is a receptacle into which the clay falls after
passing between the cutters; and 9 is a series of buckets attached to an end-
less band or chain, forming the elevator by which the pulverized clay is raised
to the top of the moulding apparatus, which apparatus is constructed as
follows: h, h, are the standards, which are braced together by the top
frames i, i, and the breast pieces j, j. k is a vertical shaft, supported in bear-
ings in the pedestal l, and in the top frames at m. This shaft carries the
mould table n, which is a horizontal drum, having six equidistant apertures
o', 0, 0, 0, 0³, and o°, corresponding to the shape of the intended brick or tile
on one of its faces, and constituting the moulds. p is a shoot, into which the
clay is discharged from the elevator, and from which it descends to the
hopper g. This hopper is of the width of the moulds, and is open below
and above, extending across the table, so as to cover two opposite mould boxes.

page_text: It is attached to the top frame, standing at an angle of sixty degrees with it,
and the top of the mould table is in contact with the under edges of the
trough or hopper q. The mould boxes are each furnished with a piston or
plunger,,,, 7, 7º, forming the bottoms of the moulds, and having
at their lower ends an antifriction roller s, and between the top frames are
fixed two short cases t, t, containing the stationary plungers or pistons u, u,
which constitute the upper side of the mould, and are prevented from descend-
ing below the face of the table by stops resting on the top edges of the
boxes t, t.
v is a horizontal shaft, carrying two cams w, w, which raise two
lifters x, x, and these force up the pistons or plungers in those two of the
mould boxes o, o, which at the time are immediately over the lifters; and also,
after a certain portion of the revolution of the cams, the lifters operate upon
the levers y, y, so as to depress the stationary plungers or pistons u, u, and to
cause them to descend to the upper level of the mould table by the time the
time the pistons or plungers in the moulds o, o, have reached their highest
point. z, z, is a circular railway, formed in two pieces, and attached to the
breast pieces j, j. On the upper surface of each piece is a horizontal plane,
1, 1, an incline 2, 2, leading to an horizontal plane 3, 3, from which there is a
perpendicular descent to the lowest horizontal plane 4, 4. The office of this
railway is to support a portion of the travelling plungers or pistons r', r³, &c.,
and to deliver the moulded brick, and refill the mould boxes, as will be here-
after explained. At each revolution of the cam shaft the mould table
performs one sixth of a revolution, which is effected in the time that the cam
shaft performs about one-fifth of its revolution, the table remaining stationary
the remainder of the time. The movement of the table is effected as follows:
-Upon the vertical shaft k, which supports the table, is fixed a star wheel 5,
having six arms, and upon the cam shaft vis fixed an arm 6, which, at each
revolution, acts upon au arm of the star wheel, and thereby carries round the
table one sixth of a revolution. 7 is the driving shaft, which may be put in
motion by any suitable prime mover, and which gives motion to the several
parts of the machine by the agency of intermediate wheels, denoted by the red
circles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, which indicate the pitch lines
thereof.
0
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The hopper a, a, is charged
with clay (which may be used in its natural state), and the clay is cut,
reduced, or pulverized by the action of the revolving cutters, and falls into the
receptacle f, from which it is raised by the elevator, and discharged into the
shoot p, from which it descends into the hopper q, and fills the moulds lying
beneath it.

page_text: With the apparatus in the position shewn in the Drawing, the moulds o'
and o* lie under the hopper, and are charged with clay. 0° and o stand over
the cams, and the clay in them has been compressed by the action of the
plungers, so as to form a moulded brick, whilst the moulds o³ and oⓇ stand
over the highest horizontal plane of the railway, and their pistons in ascending
the incline have brought up the moulded brick from the moulds to the level
of the table (as shewn at B', B', Figures 2 and 3), whence they are removed
by hand. By the continual revolution of the cam shaft the arm 6 now comes
in contact with the star wheel and carries round the table one sixth of a revo-
lution, thereby bringing the moulds o³, 0%, over the cams, and the moulds o³, o³,
to the upper plane of the railway, so as to discharge the bricks or tiles
therefrom, and bringing the moulds 0, 0, under the hoppers to be filled with
clay. The table then becomes stationary, but the cam shaft continues its
revolution, and raising the pistons in the moulds o¹, o, moulds the clay therein
into bricks or tiles, and when the arm again strikes the star wheel the table is
again moved forward, and thus the operations before described are repeated;
at each revolution of the cam shaft two moulds being filled with clay, the clay
in other two moulds compressed and moulded into bricks or tiles, and the
moulded bricks or tiles discharged from other two moulds; but I do not limit
myself to this number, as the machine may be constructed to make a greater
or a less number at each revolution of the cam shaft.
In the case of the clay to be operated upon being stoney, I substitute a pair
of crushing rollers for the upper cutters; and for ordinary quality of bricks I
dispense with the use of the upper plungers, which I remove, and substitute for
them a flat plate (to form the upper face of the mould), which is secured in
dovetailed notches in the lower edges of the headstocks, as shewn by red lines
in Figure 3.
Having thus stated the nature of my improvements, and the mode in
which they are to be carried into effect, I would observe that I do not limit
myself to all the details described, as they may be varied without departing
from the characteristics of my Invention, in respect of which I claim the
employment (for the purpose of pulverizing the clay) of rotatory cutters, set
upon pairs of shafts, which revolve at different velocities, the flat faces of the
cutting teeth on the one shaft facing and revolving nearly in contact with
the flat faces of the cutting teeth on the other shaft.
Second, I claim, in reference to the apparatus for moulding bricks and tiles
herein-before described, the following parts, whether separately or combined
with each other,―
Firstly, the mould table, revolving horizontally, with an intermittent move-
ment