IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING BRICKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Southampton Buildings, London, Patent Agents,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MOULDING AND
PRESSING BRICKS."-A communication from abroad by Benjamin
Magee Gard, of Urbana, Ohio, and Emery Ross Gard, of Chicago,
Illinois, both in the United States of America.
Sealed the 7th July 1871, and dated the 11th January 1871.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 11th January 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Southampton
Buildings, London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
and Declaration, on the 11th January 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Southampton
Buildings, London, Patent Agents, send greeting.

page_text: Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Decla-
ration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by Benjamin
Magee Gard, of Urbana, Ohio, and Emery Ross Gard, of Chicago,
Illinois, both in the United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming a
part of this Specification :-
The object of this Invention is to produce a brick machine of the
utmost simplicity of construction and operation, compactness and
strength of form, efficiency, and perfection of work.
The leading feature by which these important results are accomplished
consists in the arrangement of all the working parts of the machine
upon a single shaft whereby they are driven, thus avoiding both
gearing and unnecessary multiplication of parts, and also in placing
the stationary parts around the same driving shaft, thereby reducing
the size and cost of the machine and securing strength with the least
material. Other specific features of the said improvements will be
herein after described

page_text: of brace bars b, the whole being a single casting of a form suitable for
supporting the several parts of the machine. As an additional part
of the framework or support of the machine the tub bottom B has lateral
flanches c, c, extending horizontally outward and resting on the tops of
the side uprights a, a, of the frame A, and being secured thereon by
set screws d so as to be adjustable thercon in order to level the said
bottom and to trim it to other parts of the machine. Also upon this
tub bottom the tub C is mounted, one side or halff thereof being firmly
bolted or otherwise secured thereto, and the said fixed part being braced
at the top with cross bars to support the upper bearing of the
driving shaft D of the machine. Thus the frame proper is of the
simplest, cheapest, and most compact construction, not encumbering the
upper part of the machine, and two functional parts, the tub bottom B
and tub C of the machine are made to do the additional. duty of support
to other parts, effecting thereby further simplicity and economy of
construction. The tub C being thus required to assist in the support.
of the operative parts of the machine, provision is made for obtaining
access to the inside thereof for any purpose by hinging the half side.
or part which is not attached to the tub bottom below to the fixed
half or part fat one edge, as shown in Figure 1 so that it may swing
away from the said fixed part like a door. The free edge is fastened
to the corresponding edge of the fixed part by any suitable means..
This swinging part may have a brace bar j (Figure 4) extending across
from edge to edge with a curved portion in the middle to fit partially
around the driving shaft, and assist in supporting and steadying the
same, and also to prevent the turning of the clay in the tub. The part i
may have a flaring top or mouth to afford ample room for the intro-
duction of the clay or composition to be moulded in the pug mill.
Upon the single driving shaft D all the moving, working, or functional
parts of the brick machine proper are mounted and are driven thereby.
These revolving operative parts are the mould wheel I containing the
brick moulds Q, and the followers T, T, therein, the feeding screw I
composed of one, two, or more wings, and the mixing arms or knives. J.
Around this shaft are arranged the principal fixed functional parts of the
machine comprising the tub bottom B, the tub C, and the cam way or
track E by which the action of the followers for moulding and pressing
the bricks is produced. When the machine is driven by animal power
power is applied through a sweep K directly to the driving shaft D.
If, however, the machine is to be driven by steam or other stationary"
the

page_text: power it is most convenient to communicate the motion through at
shaft G mounted in one side of the frame, and by a cog wheel 7 thereon
gearing into a set of cogs m on the periphery of the mould wheel H.
In this case the mould wheel is not driven by the driving shaft D. on
which it is mounted. For convenience in adapting the machine to all
situations it may be permanently provided with both of these means for
receiving its motion. When the machine is driven by horse or other
animal power the sweep K has attached to it a draught arm V projecting
obliquèly downward and outward from the machine. The attachment
is effected by means of a clamp or clip X which embraces both the
sweep and the arm in the manner shown. The arm may be moved
outward or inward on the sweep and clamped fast in any position. By
this simple means the leverage of the sweep may be readily changed
and adapted to the number and strength of the horses or other animals
employed to drive the machine. Thus, if the team is weak or small the
draught arm can be moved outward to increase the leverage and lessen
the speed by travelling in a larger circle. But for a stronger or larger
team the draught arm is moved inward to utilize the power by quicker
work.
The construction of the feeding screw I and of the mixing arms.
or knives J is not special to this Invention and needs no further
description here. I may add however that the feeding screw I which
forces the tempered clay down through the tub bottom B into the
moulds Q of the mould wheel H should nearly or quite cover the entire
circle in which it sweeps, whether it is composed of one, two, or more
wings. Otherwise it will not force down the clay with uniformity or
certainty.
The construction of the tub bottom B is peculiar to and an important
feature of this Invention. One side fits down closely upon the mould
wheel H and has an aperture U though which the clay is forced down
into the moulds of the mould wheel. The other side is elevated above
the mould wheel high enough to furnish an outer space or recess Y
between it and the mould wheel to allow the bricks to be raised out of
the moulds, and to admit the hands or mechanical means for removing
the bricks from the machine. This elevated portion of the tub bottom
is a necessary feature, when, as in the machine herein described, the
mould wheel is on the same shaft as the mixing arms and feeding screw
of the pug mill. As the mould wheel turns from under the lower part

page_text: of the tub bottom through which the moulds are filled with clay it
passes under a striking and pressing plate R, by which the surplus clay
is swept back from the moulds and upward against which the pressure
or compression of the bricks in the moulds is produced by the upward
action of the followers in the bottoms of the moulds. This pressing
plate is adjusted by set screws under the tub bottom down upon the
mould wheel. It is held in its recess by wooden or other frangible
pins in front of it, so that, if a stone or other unyielding obstruction
gets into one of the moulds the pins may be broken and the pressing
plate driven out of its recess rather than some part of the machine
should be broken, as might be the result if some such precaution were
not taken.
It is necessary either to adjust the tub bottom B to the mould wheel H
or the mould wheel to the tub bottom in order that the said mould wheel
may turn closely by the lower surface of the said tub bottom; I effect
this purpose by adjusting the height of the driving shaft D on which the
mould wheel is firmly and accurately secured. To accomplish this
adjustment a screw e is set in the bottom of the lower bearing or step S
of the shaft (as shown in Figure 3); the said shaft resting on the screw,
or upon an intermediate plate or block.
The followers T, T, of the moulds Q, have their upward movements for
pressing the bricks and expelling them from the moulds produced by
means of a circular cam track E on which the downwardly projecting
stems Z, Z, of the followers travel. The cam shape of the track is such as
to effect the movements of the followers required. The track has one or
two removeable sections u, u, resting in recesses or between flanges v, v,
of the track, in the portion thereof where the pressure is given to the
moulded bricks under the striking and pressing plate R, so as to be re:
placable when worn too much. Under one or each of these removeable
sections is an adjusting screw w, arranged as shown in Figure 7, or
in any equivalent manner for adjusting the height of the section to
compensate for the wear of the track, and to regulate the degree of
compression or the thickness or width of the bricks as desired. Only
one end of the track section need be thus adjustable.
The moulds Q may be formed in the mould wheel as usual, that is to
say, vertically flatwise. But as an improvement on this arrangement, I
construct the moulds to form the bricks vertically edgewise in the mould
wheel, as represented in the Drawing. This formation of the moulds has

page_text: the advantage of making the bricks always of uniform thickness, which
is of the greatest consequence; for the horizontal dimensions of the
moulds are not affected by any variation or adjustment of the movements
of the followers; nor does the variation in the quantity of clay have any
effect on the size of the bricks in that direction. The bricks when raised
out of the moulds also are more readily seized in an edgewise than in
any other position when taken off by hand. But this arrangement of
the moulds has another special advantage in connection with an auto-
matic device for removing the bricks from the machine now to be
described. The movements for this purpose are all derived from the
mould wheel, which in this function performs the additional duty of a
driving wheel or pulley. Thus the lower part of the mould wheel
periphery receives a driving belt 22 which also passes around a pulley o
on a transmitting shaft L mounted in a suitable position in the frame.
On this transmitting shaft is another pulley p.from which a belt q passes
to a pulley on a horizontal shaft in the outer end of the attached frame
M on which is mounted the carrier belt O that conveys the bricks from
the mould wheel, the inner return of the said carrier belt being around
a small roller close to the upper edge of the periphery of the mould
wheel. In this manner the movements for conveying the bricks from
the mould wheel are obtained.
•
But the essential part of this feature of this Invention is the means
employed for automatically transferring the bricks from the mould
wheel to the carrier belt O. To accomplish this I combine the actions
of two motions, one the revolution of the mould wheel itself, and the
other that of a belt P which has a transverse movement over the mould
wheel in the open space beneath the raised side of the tub bottom B in a
diagonal direction, or obliquely between a radial and a tangential
direction. It passes around a. pulleys on the transmitting shaft L,
from which it derives its motion; and around a friction pulley hung
beneath the tub bottom. In its outward traverse movement the belt
passes alongside of a stationary plate or board t which prevents its
yielding laterally as the bricks are pressed against it. In connection
with this traverse belt the moulds Q are not only arranged vertically
edgewise as above specified, but they are located diagonally or obliquely.
both to radial and tangential directions in the mould wheel as shewn in
Figure 5, the forward ends thereof in respect to the motion of the mould
wheel being nearest to the periphery of the same so that as the moulds

page_text: are brought round under the traverse belt, the bricks then raised from
the moulds but lying edgewise directly over them will come laterally in
contact and nearly parallel with the belt. The edgewise position brings
the broadsides of the bricks around against the traverse belt and affords
more friction by the contact therewith. This edgewise position therefore
is useful but not essential to the result. The effect of the combined
motions of the mould wheel and traverse belt with this arrangement of
parts is to slide the bricks as they are brought successively to the belt
endwise outward (as indicated in Figure 5) upon the carrier belt O,
which is located in line with the bricks as they are thus moved along,
and has its upper surface even or flush with the upper surface of the
mould wheel. The bricks thus conveyed in an edgewise position on the
carrier belt are also more readily seized and lifted from the belt by the
attendants.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I claim,-
First. The arrangement of the mould wheel and feeding screw upon
the same shaft D for the purpose specified:
Second. The arrangement of the mixing arms of the pug mill on the
same shaft as the mould wheel.
Third. The arrangement of the tub bottom around the same shaft
that bears the mould wheel and feeding screw.
Fourth. The arrangement of the tub, tub bottom, mixing arms, feeding
screw, mould wheel, and follower cam track on and around one driving
shaft.
Fifth. The tub bottom having one side which is provided with the
feeding aperture arranged to fit closely over the mould wheel, and the
other side raised above the mould wheel to allow the expulsion and
removal of the bricks therefrom.
Sixth. The set screw e in the lower bearing S of the driving shaft for
adjusting the mould wheel to the tub bottom.
Seventh. The lateral flanches on the tub bottom secured upon the
frame by set screws, for adjusting the position of the tub bottom.
Eighth. The frame A composed of the two uprights a, a, connected
by brace bars b, all cast in one piece.

page_text: Ninth. The construction and arrangement of the tub C one half or
part being securely fixed so as to fulfil the additional function of a
support to other portions of the machine, and the other part thereof
being hinged to the fixed part so as to swing open when desired.
Tenth. The removable adjustable section or sections u of the cam t
track.
Eleventh. The moulds Q constructed to form the bricks vertically
edgewise in the mould wheel.
Twelfth. The combination and arrangement of the diagonal or oblique
brick moulds Q, the traverse belt P, and carrier belt O, for automatically 1
removing the bricks from the mould wheel substantially as specified.
Thirteenth. The adjustable draught arm V in combination with the
sweep K applied to the driving shaft D of the machine substantially as
and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)