IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF BRICKS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles May, of Great George Street,
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BRICKS."
Sealed the 6th October 1853, and dated the 1st August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles May at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st August 1853.
I, CHARLES MAY, of Great George Street, Westminster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS" to be as follows:-
This Invention is chiefly applicable, though not wholly confined, to
the making of perforated bricks, part of the Invention being applicable
for expressing and pressing brick earth when making and pressing other
bricks. And the Invention consists of causing the brick earth to be
expressed through orifices or in moulds by hydraulic pressure, in place
of the means of pressure heretofore used; for which purpose it is pre-
ferred that the water should be constantly pumped into a vessel kept
subject to the pressure required, the water being used at intervals for

page_text: acting to press the brick earth through moulding orifices or in moulds,
and when making perforated bricks through moulding orifices, the
bricks are subsequently pressed in moulds with pins or plugs to enter
the several perforations to improve the form and give compactness to
the bricks; and when moulding perforated bricks parts of the moulds
are prepared with pins, which, on being pressed into the brick earth in
moulds, cause the same to be pressed and expanded so as to fill the
moulds, thus producing pressed perforated bricks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles May, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 1st February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES MAY, of Great. George Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles May, Her special licence that I,
the said Charles May, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles May, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BRICKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles May, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Charles May, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, (that is to say):
This Invention is chiefly applicable, though not wholly confined, to the
making of perforated bricks, part of the Invention being applicable for
expressing and pressing brick earth when making and pressing other
bricks. And the Invention consists of causing the brick earth to be
expressed through orifices or in moulds by hydraulic pressure, in place
of the means of pressure heretofore used; for which purpose it is pre-
ferred that the water should be constantly pumped into a vessel kept
subjected to the pressure required, the water being used at intervals for
acting to press the brick earth through moulding orifices. The bricks
are subsequently pressed in moulds with pins or plugs to enter the
several perforations to improve the form and give compactness to the
bricks; and when moulding perforated bricks parts of the moulds are
prepared with pins, which, on being pressed into the brick earth in
moulds, cause the same to be pressed and expanded so as to fill the
moulds, thus producing pressed perforated bricks.
My first part of Invention consists of the application of a reservoir
of water under great pressure, or, as it is termed, an "accumulator,"
to the ordinary hydraulic press when used in the manufacture of bricks.
Figure 1, represents this accumulator in section. A, is a hollow
pillar on a base plate B, the outside of this pillar turned accurately
and smooth; C, is a strong cylinder with a cupped leather at D;
E, the inlet pipe from the pumps; F, the outlet pipe to the press; the
whole forming an inverted hydraulic press intermediate between the
forcing pump and the hydraulic press, which is to act immediately on
the clay in the process of forming the bricks.
The cylinder C, is to be loaded with the requisite amount of weight
that may be needful. It will thus be obvious to a mechanic that when
the force pump is put in action the water or other fluid will pass
through the pipes E, and F, into the hydraulic press until the resistance
to the movement of the ram of the press becomes greater than the force
required to raise the cylinder C, and its load. The action required of
the hydraulic press being then completed, a valve at G, is shut, when
the pump continuing in action the cylinder C, continues to rise until

page_text: it reaches the limit shewn by the dotted lines, at which point a valve
opens to allow the fluid to pass off; but usually before this point is
reached the press has been discharged and recharged, when the valve G,
being open, the fluid from the cylinder C, discharges into the cylinder
of the press so as rapidly to bring it up to its work; and by this means
the force pump may be continually going, and much time saved. I
would have it distinctly understood that the combination of an accu-
mulator with the hydraulic press is not new; but it has not, to my
knowledge, been heretofore used in combination with machinery
arranged for the manufacture of bricks.
The second part of my Invention consists in pressing perforated
bricks, formed by expressing the clay through dies with a series of cores,
such as are made under Patents granted to Mr. Robert Beart, and
which process is well known. I take these descriptions of bricks
when in a partially dried and tough state, and if the surface is much
drier than the interior it is best to stack them together closely for
a time to allow the moisture to become more equally diffused, and
the state of the substance homogeneous; I then place each of such
bricks in a mould such as is shewn at Figure 2. H, H, H, H,
represents a metallic mould of the dimensions which the brick is
to assume when pressed. I, is the cover of this mould, having
fixed to it as many pins as there are holes in the unfinished brick.
K, is a plate fitting in the mould, and having two or more stan-
dards L, L, passing through the cover of the mould I; and it has
perforations corresponding with the pins in the cover, and capable of
passing freely on them for the purpose of discharging a brick after it
has received the requisite pressure. M, is plunger, also fitting the
inside of the mould, having in it perforations corresponding with the
pins, and also cross perforations M', to admit of clearing away any
particles of dirt. The unfinished or unpressed brick being placed on
the plunger M, the latter is forced up by any convenient mechanism,
such as a lever, a screw, a cam, or by hydraulic means; and, a sufficient
force being applied, the plastic state of the clay admits of its being
pressed so as accurately to fill the mould, the pins preserving the form
of the holes. The plate K, is then forced downward through the

page_text: medium of the standards L, L. The plunger M; is withdrawn, and
the brick is discharged from the mould a perforated pressed brick
ready, according to its state and the nature of its substance, either to be
placed at once in the kiln, or to be further dried before burning.
Figure 3, represents a vertical end section of the mould, and
Figure 4, a horizontal section, the letters denoting similar parts in
each of the three Figures 2, 3, and 4.
I would here remark that in the process of expressing the clay
through the dies before alluded to, it frequently happens that there is
an imperfect cohesion of the clay in the substance between the holes,
and that the object of this part of my Invention is not only to give a
better form to the exterior of the brick, but also to render a brick
sound by producing a more perfect cohesion in the parts referred to.
The third part of my Invention consists in making perforated bricks
of clay reduced to powder, and in such state as will admit of coherence
by pressure. For this purpose the clay or earth employed is so far
dried as to be pulverulent, but not entirely free from moisture; and I
then press it in a mould shewn at Figure 5. H, H, H, H, represent
the four sides of a mould, which requires to be in depth about three
times the thickness of the intended brick; the mould is a fixture.
M, is a follower to be acted upon from below upwards, impressing
the material, and having projecting pins x, x, x, x, x, the length of
which is such as not to extend quite through the finished brick.
N, N, is a hollow plunger also fitting the mould, and having holes
for pins the counterparts of those in the follower M. These pins
y, y, y, y, y, are attached to the end of an arm or connecting rod Q,
fitting the inside of the plunger N, N. Between the inside of the
plunger and the end of this connecting rod is placed an elastic sub-
stance, or springs of metal, which serve, when the machine is at rest, to
keep the inside horizontal surface of the plunger and the end of the
connecting rod somewhat separated.
I will now proceed to describe the mode of action of this machine.
The inould being open, the plunger withdrawn, and the plate K, at the
bottom of the mould, the requisite quantity of pulverulent or partially
dried clay is put into the mould; the connecting rod is caused to force

page_text: the plunger N, N, into the mould, and when the resistance of the sub-
stance in the mould is greater than that of the elastic medium in the
space 0, 0, 0, 0, the connecting rod forces the pins through the plunger
to the limit assigned. The surfaces a, a, of the pins being parallel and
contiguous, and the surfaces b, b, being slanting, it will be seen that
their joint action tends to press the clay outwards horizontally, thus
consolidating the substance between the perforations, and assisting in
making a clean surface to the brick.
The connecting rod being now at rest, having performed the first
compression, and being able to resist a great force, a second and greater
pressure is brought from below upwards through the medium of the
follower M, and this completes the formation of the brick. The con-
necting rod is now elevated, the elastic substance or springs o, o, keep
the plunger N, N, pressing on the upper surface of the brick until the
pins are partially withdrawn, which prevents the edges of the perfora-
tions being broken up; the plunger is then carried up by the ascending
of the connecting rod, and the brick is ready to be discharged from the
mould by the plate K, acted upon through the medium of the standards
L, L; and thus is produced a pressed perforated brick, having the holes
of larger area inside than at the orifices, the advantages of which
consist in saving material of the brick, and retaining a sufficient
opening for the keying of the cement without wasting the same.
Figure 6, is an end section, and Figure 7, a horizontal section of the
same mould, in each of which the letters denote the same parts as in
Figure 5.
When I wish to make perforated bricks of dried clay with
parallel or nearly parallel perforations, I use a mould represented in
Figures 8, 9, and 10, which is similar to the first-described mould,
but inverted and deeper. H, H, H, H, is the mould; I, the bottom,
to which are attached the pins. K, is a plate fitting the mould, with
holes to admit the pins passing freely through. L, L, are lifters or
standards passing through the bottom of the mould, and attached to the
plate K. M, is a plunger having holes to admit the pins, and cross
perforations M', to admit of clearing out any dirt. A sufficient quan-
tity of dried clay being put in the mould, the plunger is pressed down

page_text: with sufficient force to consolidate it; the plunger then retires, and the
plate K, being elevated through the medium of the standards L, L, the
brick is delivered from the mould ready to place in the kiln for burn-
ing. In order to bring the dried clay to a proper state of moisture to
cohere simply by pressure as above explained, I prefer to sift it from an
elevation through an atmosphere charged with steam, by which means
a proper degree of moisture is diffused through the mass; but I make
no claim to such process.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it
understood that I do not claim the Invention of the hydraulic press as
applied to making bricks; nor do I claim the making bricks from pul-
verulent clay, both of which were described in the Specification of a
Patent granted in One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight to
Mr. Mencke; neither do I claim any particular combination of ma-
chinery for giving motion to the parts of the moulds described. But
what I do claim is,-
First, the use of the accumulator as a means of saving time and
power, in conjunction with an hydraulic press, in the manufacture of
bricks.
Second, the use of moulds in combination with pins and apparatus
as described for pressing and forming perforated bricks.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles May, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JOHN N. RYDER, Engineer,
CHARLES MAY.
MAY. (L.S.)
Norwood,
Surry.