IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND BRICKS, AND IN PREPARING THE MATERIALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
Year: 1874

page_text: Sealed the 11th December 1874, and dated the 21st September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Griffiths at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st September 1874.
I, JOHN GRIFFITHS, of Birchgrove Colliery, near Neath, in the County
of Glamorgan, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL
AND BRICKS, AND IN PREPARING THE MATERIALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF FUEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the introduction into machinery used
in moulding blocks or bricks of improvements that will provide for

page_text: regulating the pressure imparted to the materials, the object being to
prevent the straining and breakage of the machinery when an undue
amount of plastic material has been supplied to the moulds. The moulds
I prefer to mount in a rotating horizontal table, and to fit them with
vertically sliding bottoms. The plastic material to be moulded is fed to
the moulds from a stationary vessel fitted with rotating pugging arms,
and set above the table. An intermittent rotary motion is imparted to
the table through suitable gearing from the vertical shaft which carries
the pugging arms. Over the table and in close proximity thereto is
situated a cross head, which is intended to resist the upward pressure
imparted to the material to be moulded. Below the table and at right
angles with the cross head is mounted a rocking lever, the fulcrum of
which is carried by a hydraulic ram or piston rod, while its opposite end
bears upon an excentric or its equivalent, the rotation of which will
impart a rocking motion to the lever. This lever is intended to bear at
about its centre against projections pendent from the sliding bottoms of
the moulds, and by forcing up these bottoms in succession (as the
moulds are brought under the cross head) to compress the material fed
into the moulds into bricks or blocks. The cylinder in which the
hydraulic ram works is connected with a force pump by a pipe, to which
is fitted a compressed air vessel and an escape valve. The ram, it will
be understood, is maintained in a raised position by the action of the
force pump; but when the lever, while compressing the block or brick
under the action of the excentric, meets with an undue resistance the
ram will be forced to give way and ease the mould, a portion of the
water supporting the ram being driven out past the escape valve. At
the next repetition of the compressing action the ram will sustain the
fulcrum of the lever at its normal position assisted by the elastic pressure
of the air in the compressed air vessel, and after a few successive strokes
of the force pump the normal pressure of water within the pipe will be
restored.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a modo of treating the plastic
material used in the manufacture of artificial fuel. Great difficulty has
hitherto been experienced in pressing blocks of artificial fuel, owing to
the amount of moisture contained therein.
I now propose immediately before delivering the material to the
moulds to subject it during its passage to the press to currents of heated
air obtained from an adjacent furnace, and introduced to the tube

page_text: through which the material is being propelled by the aid of a steam
exhaust. By this means a considerable amount of moisture will be
carried off, and the state of the material for moulding will be greatly
improved.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Griffiths in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GRIFFITHS, of Birchgrove Colliery, near Neath, in the County of
Glamorgan, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Griffiths, Her special licence
that I, the said John Griffiths, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Griffiths, 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, usc, 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 FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND BRICKS, AND IN
PREPARING THE MATERIALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Griffiths, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, 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 within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Griffiths, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to.
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in anḍ.

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the introduction into machinery
used in moulding blocks or bricks of improvements that will provide for
regulating the pressure imparted to the materials, the object being to
prevent the straining and breakage of the machinery when an undue
amount of plastic material has been supplied to the moulds.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews in side cleva-
tion a rotary moulding press with my improvements applied thereto;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an elevation taken at right
angles to Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken in the line
1, 2, of Fig. 2.
In these Figures A, A, is a horizontal rotating table mounted on a
central pillar A' standing up from the bed of the machine. This pillar
is cast with a flange or collar, which serves as a bearing for a loose ring
of antifriction rollers, which carry the weight of the table A. In this
table are mounted a series of moulds a, a, set radially around the axis of
rotation, as is usual in moulding presses of this class. These moulds are
severally fitted with a vertically sliding bottom a¹. The plastic material
to be moulded is fed to the moulds from a stationary vessel supported by
a standard and a bracket piece B*, B*. An opening is made in the bottom
of the vessel at 6 for the discharge of the plastic material into the moulds
as they are severally brought round into coincidence with that opening;
b¹, b', are rotating pugging arms carried by a shaft B¹, which projects
upwards for that purpose through the bottom of the vessel B. An
intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the table A through a segment
rack 6 on the shaft B', the teeth of which rack gear into stud pins a²
pendent from the table. This shaft is driven through bevil gear
from the main driving shaft F. Over the table and in close proximity
thereto is situated a cross head C, which is bolted to the central pillar A¹
and to the pillars C³, and is intended to resist the upward pressure
imparted to the material to be moulded. Below the table and at right
angles with the cross head is mounted a rocking lever D, the fulcrum of
which is carried by a hydraulic ram E, while its opposite end bears upon a
a brass guide fitted to a crank of the main driving shaft F. By the
rotation of this shaft a vertical rocking motion will be imparted to the

page_text: lever. This lever is intended to bear at about its centre against projec-
tions pendent from the sliding bottoms a¹ of the moulds, and by forcing
up these bottoms in succession (as the moulds are brought under the
cross head c) to compress the material fed into the moulds into bricks or
blocks. E is the cylinder in which the hydraulic ram E works, and it
is connected by suitable pipes with a force pump not shown in the
Drawing; E is an escape valve for the discharge of water when an
undue pressure exists in the cylinder E¹. The ram or plunger E is made
hollow or bell shaped, so that it constitutes at once a piston and a com-
pressed air chamber. It carries at its upper end a cross head, which
works in fixed guides E3 bolted to the bed of the machine, and set over
the hydraulic cylinder. A trunnion of the rock lever is held in brasses
which rest on the cross head, and rise and fall therewith to adjust the
lever to its work. The ram E, it will be understood, is to be maintained
at a given height by the action of the force pump, but when the lever,
while compressing the block or brick under the action of the crank
shaft F meets with an undue resistance, the ram will lower the fulcrum
of the lever D and ease the mould, a portion of the water supporting the
ram being driven out past the escape valve E². At the next repetition
of the compressing action the ram will sustain the fulcrum of the lever
at its normal position, assisted by the elastic pressure of the air in the
compressed air chamber, and after a few successive strokes of the force
pump the normal pressure of the water within the hydraulic cylinder
will be restored. To ensure that the segment rack 62, which disengages
itself at every rotation of the shaft B' from the pins a², shall re-engage
with those pins as its teeth are again brought round into position for
action I provide for the locking of the table after each axial motion
thereof. This is effected by the following arrangement:fis a cam
upon the crank shaft F, which when in action bears upon an arm G
pivotted to a stud projecting from the central pillar A'. This arm G is
connected by a link rod G¹ with an arm G2 keyed to a rock shaft G³
supported in bracket bearings on the main framing. Keyed to this rock
shaft G³ (between the pillars C¹) is a bell-crank lever G, the lower limb
of which (as the shaft G³ is worked by the action of the cam f) enters
between the studs a², and thereby locks the table firmly.
To the upper
limb of this bell crank is jointed a connecting rod G³, the upper end of
which is jointed to a lever Gº. This lever G' is pivotted to a bracket
arm standing up from the central pillar, and it is so situated and propor-
tioned as to sweep over the moulds as they are brought into line with

page_text: the cross head C. Fitted to the lower end of this lever G® is a plate
which is intended to strike against the moulded blocks as they are
severally raised out of the moulds, and push them off the table on to a
travelling belt provided to receive them. The discharge of the moulded
blocks is effected, as is usual in moulding presses of this class, by means
of a fixed segment-shaped incline H, in travelling over which the loose
bottoms of the moulds are gradually raised and caused to act as plungers,
and thrust un the moulded blooks
the cross head C. Fitted to the lower end of this lever G® is a plate
which is intended to strike against the moulded blocks as they are
severally raised out of the moulds, and push them off the table on to a
travelling belt provided to receive them. The discharge of the moulded
blocks is effected, as is usual in moulding presses of this class, by means
of a fixed segment-shaped incline H, in travelling over which the loose
bottoms of the moulds are gradually raised and caused to act as plungers,
Land thrust up the moulded blocks clear of the moulds.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a mode of treating the plastic
material used in the manufacture of artificial fuel. Great difficulty has
hitherto been experienced in pressing blocks of artificial fuel, owing to
the amount of moisture contained therein.
I now propose immediately before delivering the material to the
moulds to subject it during its passage to the press to currents of heated
air obtained from an adjacent furnace and introduced to the tube
through which the material is being propelled by the aid of a steam
exhaust.
A convenient arrangement of apparatus for carrying out this part of
my Invention is shewn in Sheet II. of the Drawings, Fig. 5 being a
sectional elevation, and Fig. 6 a sectional plan of the apparatus. In
these Figures B may be supposed to represent the vessel for supplying the
plastic material to the moulding press, as shewn in Sheet I., the same
being supplied thereto by means of arms on the rotary shaft I mounted
in the cylindrical mixing chamber K.
For the purpose of regulating the supply according to the require-
ments of the press I propose to drive the shaft I from the central shaft
of the feeding vessel B; L, Fig. 5, is a vertical extension of the
cylinder K, or it may be a tank or hopper fitted thereto, into which the
plastic material to be operated upon is to be thrown; L' is an adjustable
sliding partition for regulating the supply of material to the cylinder K,
and K' is a similar adjustable partition for regulating the discharge of
the material into the feeding vessel B; M, M, Fig. 6, are steam pipes
for heating the materials as they enter the apparatus; N is a flue leading
from an adjacent furnace, and fitted with a steam jet O for facilitating
the discharge of the hot gases into the mixing chamber K; P, Fig. 3, is.
a flue for discharging the steam and gases from the mixing chamber.

page_text: By subjecting the plastic materials to the action of steam and heated
air while being stirred and mixed by the rotary arms or their equivalent a
considerable amount of moisture will be carried off, and the state of the
material for moulding will be greatly improved.
Having now set forth the nature of my improvements in machinery
for moulding and pressing artificial fuel and bricks, and in preparing the
materials to be used in the manufacture of fuel, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. Providing the pressing lever of the moulding press with a
yielding fulcrum, substantially in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
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