IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES AND OTHER ARTICLES, FROM PLASTIC MATERIALS
Year: 1850

page_text: ELLIO
ION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, the said
WILLIAM GILBERT ELLIOTT, of Bliswork, in the County of Northampton,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said William Gilbert Elliott, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Gilbert Elliott, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said William Gilbert Elliott, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, PIPES AND OTHER
ARTICLES, FROM PLASTIC MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said William Gilbert Elliott, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with this proviso, I, the said William
Gilbert Elliott, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is fully described and ascertained
in and by the following instrument in writing (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of bricks, tiles,
pipes, and any other articles which may be manufactured or composed of clay
or any other plastic material, by melting such clay or other plastic material in
a suitable furnace, and running the same when fluid, semi-fluid, or in a state of
fusion into suitable moulds or casts of the articles to be manufactured, and
these improvements are effected in the following manner:-The clay or other
plastic material to be used in the manufacture of the bricks, tiles, pipes,
or other articles, is dug from the pit and 'afterwards placed in a furnace
(either blast or air), and submitted to a strong heat, whereby it becomes melted,
and after it is melted, and whilst in a state of fluidity or fusion, it is run or
poured direct from the furnace into suitable moulds or casts of the articles to
be manufactured. These moulds or casts may be made of iron or any other
suitable metal, or they may be made of stone or earthenware, but iron is pre-
ferred as they will be found the cheapest and most durable.
It is not necessary
to describe the kind of furnace wherein the clay or other plastic material may
be melted, as either a blast or air furnace may be used, but it must be here
remarked that for the convenience and saving of expense the furnace of what-
ever kind decided upon should be erected on the spot from whence the clay or
other plastic material is dug, so that it may at once, when dry, or nearly so, be
placed from the pit into the furnace. Several of these furnaces may be erected
so as to keep always some or one of them full, or partly so, of the clay or other
plastic material in a state of fluidity or fusion, and ready for use, thereby
obviating the inconvenience of interruption to the working, which would result
if one or two furnaces only were used. Bricks, paving blocks, slabs, tiles,
drain and other pipes, window cills, wall plates, mantelpieces, copings, culverts,
cisterns, or any other articles capable of being moulded from plastic materials
manufactured in the manner above described, may be ready for use as soon as
they may have become cold, care being taken in cooling to prevent the articles
from being injured from the effects of a damp atmosphere. The moulds or casts
should be brought in direct contact with the furnace, so that the clay or other
plastic material may run from a hole in the bottom or at the side of the furnace,
as is now practised in furnaces for casting metals, and the moulds or casts can
be so placed on an endless webb or chain traversing under the furnace or imme-
diately under the hole or outlet for the melted clay or other plastic material, to
fall within them. The object in bringing the moulds or casts as close as pos-
sible to the furnace, is that the clay or other plastic material will run better
within them when in a high or white heat, and will not bear to be con-
ducted or transported by gutters or ladles to the moulds or casts similar to

page_text: metal casting. It is evident that bricks and all other articles thus manufactured
will be alike and uniform, and their quality and temper nearly the same
Various methods may be employed in running the clay or other plastic material,
when in a state of fluidity or fusion, into the. moulds. or casts, but the mode
above described having reference to a traversing table or webb, constantly
bringing the mould or casts immediately under the hole or outlet in the bottom
or the side of the furnace, is preferred, and when such mould or cast is full, of
moving the same forwards and bringing the next empty mould in its place.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, it must be understood that no
claim is laid to any particular form or construction of furnace or machinery,
or apparatus for moving the moulds or casts for the manufacture of bricks,
tiles, pipes, or other articles of plastic materials, as the same may be varied
in form and size according to circumstances. But what is claimed is the
melting or running of clay and other plastic materials when in a state of fluidity
or fusion into moulds or casts of the shapes of the different articles to be manu-
factured as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gilbert Elliott, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
WILLIAM GILBERT (L.s.) ELLIOTT,
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Gilbert
Elliott in the presence of