IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRICKS, TILES, OR SLABS, AND OTHER SUCH ARTICLES." PROAL SP
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Farmer, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster
Engineer, and Charles Hadfield, of Hadfield, in the County of Derby, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING
BRICKS, TILES, OR SLABS, AND OTHER SUCH ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Farmer and Charles
Hadfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 19th September 1863.
We, JAMES FARMER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and
CHARLES HADFIELD, of Hadfield, in the County of Derby, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
MAKING BRICKS, TILES, OR SLABS, AND OTHER SUCH ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates, firstly, to an improved pug mill, by which the clay
or other plastic material is worked, and is subsequently forced out either
through moulds or in a mass suitable for being moulded by an after process.
The arrangement consists of a cylindrical or other chamber, to which the
material is fed with or without rollers. Within this chamber is a revolving
shaft carried at one end by external bearings, but not supported at the other
end, which is that from which the material is forced. Upon the above men-
tioned shaft are vanes or blades working between spikes projecting from the
chamber, and at the end of the said shaft are vanes arranged spirally thereon,
by which the material is forced through the mould or other orifice.

page_text: Another part of our Invention relates to apparatus for cutting the
stream of moulded material transversely as it issues from the above described
or other construction of pug mill or moulding machine. The wire for
effecting the desired severance is mounted upon a bar moving in slots and
carried by rods which receive intermittent reciprocating motion through the
medium of "star wheels," acting upon rods and levers, whereby the cutting
wire is carried alternately and at intervals downward and upward through the
stream of material. The bar which carries the wire is mounted in slots
formed in levers which are caused to turn upon centres by means of a crank or
similar mechanism, so that at each cut the acting angle of the wire is altered,
so as to cause it to cut the moving material at right angles both for its down-
ward and upward action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Farmer and Charles Hadfield, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
FARMER, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and CHARLES
HADFIELD, of Hadfield, in the County of Derby, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Farmer and Charles Hadfield, Her special license that we, the said
James Farmer and Charles Hadfield, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said James Farmer and Charles Hadfield, our
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 MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRICKS, TILES, OR SLABS, AND OTHER SUCH ARTICLES,"
upon, the condition, amongst others, that we, the said James Farmer and
Charles Hadfield, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Farmer, on behalf of myself and
of the said Charles Hadfield, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
Drawings (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates, firstly, to an improved pug mill by which the clay or
other plastic material is worked, and is subsequently forced out either through
moulds or in a mass suitable for being moulded by an after process.
The arrangement consists of a cylindrical or other. chamber to which the
material is fed with or, without rollers. Within this chamber is a revolving
shaft carried at one end by external bearings, but not supported at-the other
end, which is that from which the material is forced. Upon the above-
mentioned shaft are vanes or blades working between spikes projecting from
the chamber; and at the end of the said shaft are vanes arranged spirally
thereon, by which the material is forced through the mould or other orifice.
Another part of our Invention relates to apparatus for cutting the stream of
moulded material transversely as it issues from the above-described or other
construction of pug mill or moulding machine. The wire for effecting the
desired severance is mounted upon a bar moving in slots and carried by rods,
which receive intermittent reciprocating motion through the medium of "star
wheels "acting upon rods and levers, whereby the cutting. wire is carried alter-
nately and at intervals downward and upward through the stream of material.
The bar which carries the wire is mounted in slots formed in levers, which are
caused to turn upon centres by means of a crank or similar mechanism, so that:
at each cut the acting angle of the wire is altered so as to cause it to cut the.
moving material at right angles, both for its downward and upward action...
In the accompanying Drawing, these two portions of our Invention are:
shewn in combination, but they may, as before mentioned,, be used separately:
if desired.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, and Fig. 2. is .a.plan view.of. the
cutting-off portion. The clay is placed in a hopper situate between two rollers,
one of which is shewn at a, which rollers being caused to revolve by the gearing:
seen in the Drawing, or by other convenient means deliver. the .clay into a.
chamber 6; within this chamber is a shaft c, which according to the arrange-
ment shewn in the Drawing is provided, with a series of rings d, running in.a
bearing e, but such bearing may be of. more ordinary.construction if desired.
Upon the shaft c are projecting blades f placed at an angle, and situate between.

page_text: a series of spikes g fixed to the chamber c, and upon the outer end of the shaft
(which has not any end bearing) are spiral blades h. The rollors having been
caused to revolve force the clay downward into the chamber b, and the shaft c
*being at the same 'time put in motion works the clay by the revolution of the
"blades f between the spikes g, driving it towards the other spiral blades h, which
by their revolution force it through the dies at i, which dies may be of any
desired form.
The clay thus delivered may be cut off by any ordinary means into required
lengths, but according to the arrangement shewn it passes to the machinery,
constituting the second part of our Invention, and which we will now describe.
At k is a travelling apron passing around drums 1, 1, and supported on its
upper side by rollers m. Upon the drum is a toothed wheel n taking into
another o mounted upon a shaft p, which shaft carries teeth 9, which gives an
intermittent motion to the "star wheel" r. Upon the axis of this "star
wheel" is a spur wheel's taking into a pinion t, the shaft u of which is provided
with a crank pin v; this crank by means of a rod w gives à vibratory motion to
a bell-crank lever a, a*, turning upon a centre at y, the part of which is jointed
to a rod ż extending upward and connected to a sliding piece 1. situate in a
slot formed in a lever 2 hereafter to be more particularly referred to. The
shaft y extends across the machine, and at each end is provided with a lever **
and rod 2, there being also two sliding pieces 1 and levers 2.
The sliding
pieces 1 carry screws, provided at their inward ends with hooks to which
the cutting off wire is attached, and which may be drawn to the requisite
degree of tension by turning the nuts on the ends of the said bolts. Suppose
the stream of clay to pass from the chamber 6 into the apron k, or to be fed there
from any other source, its passage will cause the drum to revolve, but in
order to assist this revolution we apply a driving strap to the shaft p; this
revolution will give motion to the spur wheels and o, thus causing the teeth q
to rotate and communicate an intermittent motion to the star wheel r, which
through the wheels and pinion t will impart a like motion to the crank v.
In the "star wheel "r there are eight spaces, but the spur wheels and pinion t
are as four to one, and every action of the teeth q will therefore cause the
*crank v to perform one half revolution, and supposing that motion to be in the
direction of the arrow the levers a, *, will be turned downward, carrying with
them the rods %, so that the cutting-off wire will be drawn through the clay and
⚫the required severance will be effected. After which another space of the
"star wheel" being taken the crank. v will pass in the opposite direction,
thereby reversing the motion of the levers, and causing the wire to pass upward
⚫through another portion of the sheet. of clay, such sheet having advanced

page_text: between the cutting action as is usual in machines of this description. It
should be observed that the travelling apron k does not extend up to the line
in which the cutting-off wire acts, but terminates at the drum *, the said sheet
of clay subsequently passing over rollers 5 only, between which rollers the wire
may pass.
The above description alludes to one motion of the machine, but another.is
necessary in order that the wire may sever the material at right angles to its
surface, for as the cutting is effected while the clay is travelling the severance
would take place at an angle if no provision were made to compensate for the
same. It will also be seen that this compensation must be twofold, because
that which would answer for the down cut would be opposed to that required
for the up cut, and vice versa.
The method by which we accomplish this object is as follows:-At 6 is a
star wheel receiving intermittent motion from teeth similar to those above
described and shewn at q, and driven by a similar arrangement of gearing, but
as this gearing is situate immediately behind that described, it does not shew
in Fig. 1, the situation thereof, however, is seen in the plan view Fig. 2.
Upon the axis of the star wheel 6 is a spur wheel 7 taking into a pinion 8
upon a shaft 9, which shaft carries a crank pin 10; this crank is connected by
a rod 11 to a cross bar, which unites the two lower ends of the levers 2, and
the star wheel 6 therefore in revolving communicates a vibratory motion to the
levers 2. The star wheel 6 is so placed that the vibrations of the levers 2 take
place between the intermittent motions which carry the wire through the clay,
and the crank pin 10 is set so as to impart such a vibratory motion to the
levers 2, as will bring them to the required angle for causing the cut to be
effected at right angles. It will therefore be seen that the two star wheels r, 6,
act alternately, the latter causing the levers 2 to move in one direction for the
down cut, and when that cut has been effected to move in the other direction
for the up cut, and by these means rectangular blocks may be severed from a
sheet of clay, which passes onward with uninterrupted motion.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent.
Firstly, the use of a shaft acting after the manner shewn at c, such shaft
not being provided with any bearing at the outward end.
Secondly, in the cutting-off apparatus we claim imparting the upward and
downward motion of the wire through the agency of a "star wheel." Also
causing the said wire to vibrate for the purpose above set forth, and as au

page_text: agent for effecting the said vibratory motion, we claim the application of a
." star wheel."
In witness whereof, I, the said James Farmer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES FARMER. (L.S.)