IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Elliott, of Ingram Terrace,
Sleaford, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of “IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS."
Sealed the 12th December 1871, and dated the 14th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Elliott
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th October 1871.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM ELLIOTT, of Ingram Terrace, Sleaford, in the
5 County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has more especially for its object to construct a
machine suitable for making bricks of fire-clay, for which the ordinary
brick-making machines are unsuitable.

page_text: For this purpose I mount a horizontal sliding frame below the orifice
of a pug mill; the frame carries two or more moulds which are open at
top and bottom below the orifice of the pug mill, and on the under sido
of the sliding frame is a fixed plate, which closes the bottom of the
mould or moulds when they are under the pug mill orifice. The sliding
frame has a reciprocating to-and-fro motion given to it in such a
manner as alternately to bring first one mould or set of moulds under
the orifice of the pug mill, and when such mould or set of moulds has
been filled to move them away from under the pug mill orifice, and
bring the other mould or set of moulds into their place to be in their
turn filled. As each mould or set of moulds is moved away from under
the orifice of the pug mill, the upper surface of the clay therein is
rendered smooth and even by reason of the two ends of the outlet orifice
being bevilled off or made bell mouthed, and to extend beyond each end
of the mould. The tapering space just above and beyond each end of
the mould will thus be filled in with clay from the pug mill, and as the
mould is moved away in either direction the clay in the tapering space is
squeezed into the mould and gives a smooth surface to the clay therein.
When one mould or set of moulds has been moved away from under the
pug mill orifice and the other mould or set brought into its place the
frame carrying the moulds remains at rest to allow time for the delivery
of the brick from the filled mould or moulds, and for the empty mould
or moulds to be filled. The moulded bricks slide down by their own
gravity out of the moulds and are received on to boards placed to receive
them, and they are carried away upon these boards. Other boards are
placed on to the top of the bricks, and the bricks are held between them
in the usual way, and whilst held between them are turned over sidewise
and deposited on their sides to dry; thus the bricks are not in any way
handled after being delivered from the moulds. To ensure the delivery
of the bricks from the moulds, plungers may be caused to descend into
them whilst they are at rest.
To give the to-and-fro motion to the sliding frame carrying the
moulds, I connect it by a connecting rod with a crank pin on a
driving axis; the pin is received into a slot in the connecting rod, and
the length of time the frame is allowed to remain at rest at each end of
its movement is governed by the length of this slot.
The plungers for ensuring the delivery of the bricks from the moulds
are also by preference worked by two tannate
Cit cam Proinctious on

page_text: opposite sides of the disc which carries the crank pin above mentioned.
For this purpose the plungers on each side of the pug mill orifice are
carried by a vertical stem capable of sliding up and down in suitable
guides. Each stem is at its upper end jointed to a lever, and these
levers at their opposite ends are connected together by a pin on one
lever entering a slot in the other. One of the levers is by an arm upon
it connected by a rod with another lever which is acted on by the cams
or tappets above mentioned. When this last-mentioned lever is acted on
by one or other of the two cams or tappets, both of the levers which
actuate the plungers move the plungers downwards, and thus both sets
of plungers are caused simultaneously to descend at the times when the
frame carrying the moulds is at rest.
In place of employing a pug mill to force clay into the moulds, the
clay might be fed between a pair of rollers into a chamber from which it
is delivered into sliding moulds as above described, or other means of
forcing forward the clay might be adopted. The machinery above
described is also applicable for making bricks from common clay.