IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julius Frederick Moore Pollock, of Leopold
Street, Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julius Frederick Moore
Pollock at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th March 1871.
I, JULIUS FREDERICK MOORE POLLOCK, of Leopold Street, Leeds, in
the County of York, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
making bricks and other similar articles.

page_text: In constructing a self-contained machine for making common bricks
according to my Invention I combine a receiving hopper with a pug
mill having its shaft and lower portion peculiarly constructed and
provided with a sliding bottom as herein-after described. The hopper
receives the brick-making material either unprepared or ground accord-
ing to the requirements of the substance under treatment, and conveys
it to the pug mill, which is constructed mainly on the ordinary principle
but embodies an improvement in the arrangement of the knives or screw
propellers.
These knives according to my Invention cach consist of a boss and 1
one or more blades, the boss having a hole through it, the centro of
which hole is the centre or axis of the pug mill shaft. Each of tho
bosses (except the bottom one) is provided with projections after tho
manner of claw clutches, which projections may be made in the
form of raised segments or teeth on the face of the boss, and are so 1
arranged as to be interchangeable, and when placed one above the
other with the projections of one inserted into the recesses in the
other the bosses themselves form a shaft and their blades assumo
the required spiral position, the torsional power being transmitted
from knife to knife by the clutchlike projections above described. 2
The bottom knife differs from the others in having its clutch part or
projections only on the top side and by preference is not made with less
than two blades. The knives arranged in combination as described
co-operate in resisting any torsional strain, and simply require to bo
secured together vertically and connected with the actuating gear for 2
imparting to them the necessary rotating motion. For this purpose the
upper portion of the pug mill shaft which is supported by suitable
bearings and carries the driving wheel terminates immediately below
the under bearing in a disc to which is bolted another disc or boss of the
same kind carrying on its under side projections in which the projections
on the upper side of the top knife fit, thus forming the torsional
junction with the gearing. A reccèss is formed in the contro of this
lower disc or boss (which has a hole through it corresponding with tho
holes in the knives) in which recess fits the head of a vertical bar or tio
which descends through the central holes in the various knives and is g
securely fixed by a cotter wedge or nut or other suitable means in the
boss of the bottom knife, thus drawing the whole together vertically so
that the clutches cannot escape from each other and the whole forms a
firm helical shaft.

page_text: The effect of this arrangement is that one or more of the knives can
be renewed without disturbing the gearing portion of the shaft or the
bearings, and the wearing surface of the shaft is renewed simultaneously
with the knives, and the knives being by preference cast in steel or
chilled metal no turning or fitting or other preparation is needed. The
lower portion of the pug mill instead of terminating as usual on the face
of a moulding table feeds the clay to a tapered chamber, the upper
portion of which is made round like the pug mill bottom, but tapers
gradually downwards, and at its lower end assumes the form of the brick
or article to be moulded. Across this chamber I place a flat bar or bars
whose edges are situated upwards and downwards. The object of these
bars is to insure the delivery of the clay downwards and to prevent its
rotation in the chamber. The pug mill is provided with a sliding
bottom or mould which receives motion from a rocking shaft placed
underneath it. This rocking shaft is connected with the sliding bottom
or mould by a rack on the under side thereof, and a pinion on tho
horizontal shaft or by other convenient means. The horizontal shaft
receives reciprocating motion by means of a disc crank or cam from
a horizontal driving shaft which in its turn receives motion through a
wheel and pinion giving the requisite multiplication from the driving
pulley or other actuating mechanism of the machine. The reciprocating
motion is given to a crank arm oscillating freely on the rocking shaft
but carrying a projecting portion, stud, or tappet, wliich comes in
contact towards the end of each oscillation with one of two projecting
cranks which are securely keyed to the said shaft, or projections or
studs on the faces of a disc may be substituted for the cranks.
According to the arrangement described the actuating crank is in
constant reciprocating motion, but only gives motion to the sliding
bottom or mould at each end of its stroke so that there is a dead period
in each stroke during which the sliding bottom or mould remains
stationary. During this dead period, motion is given by means of
suitable cams or levers to descending plungers which force the bricks out
of the moulds in the sliding bottom, and may be at the same time
arranged so as to lubricate them. The bricks fall on to and are con-
veyed away as required by a traversing belt arranged beneath the
moulds for that purpose. The belt is held securely between two driving
rollers by the operation of a spring contrivance whereby one roller is
pressed against the other, but so arranged nevertheless that the rollers

page_text: can give to allow for any inequalities in the belt. The machine above
described may be constructed so as to mould two or more bricks simul-
taneously. In some cases I dispense with the sliding bottom or mould
· and genring already described and substitute a circular moulding table
therefor. This circular moulding table may be of any of the well-known
constructions, as for instance, the kind described in the Specification of
* my Patent No. 2911, dated the sixth day of October 1869, or the drum
form, in which latter case the moulds may be arranged either ou the face
of the drum or its periphery.
When employing a table of the kind described in the Specification
of my aforesaid Patent, the framework of the machine is according to
my present Invention composed of a base plate bearing side frames or
pillars supporting a top frame which I call the gearing frame. From
this frame descend two vertical shafts, one of these is the pug mill shaft,
and the other gives all the self-acting intermittent or other movements
to the table, lubricators, delivery motions, and so forth. These vertical
shafts both receive motion from a horizontal shaft which carrics worms
working into worm wheels on the upper portions of the said vertical
shafts. The wheels run horizontally and both worms and wheels are
so arranged as to rotate in vessels containing oil or other lubricant.
The framework is also arranged so as to preserve the gearing from the
action of dust by suitable covers and to supply drip pans for any surplus
oil which may escape through the bearings so as to avoid waste. These
drip pans or vessels also act as cisterns for the supply of lubricant to
the moulds and working portions of the machine.
This arrange-
ment of gearing may also be applied to machines made with sliding
moulds as hicrein-before firstly described. Grinding apparatus may be
applied above the pug mill or otherwise in connection with it when
required.
Another part of my Invention has reference to a mode of pressing
bricks either in the moulds of the pressing table or in separato moulds.
For this purpose I press the sides of the bricks whilst they are confined
in the mould by means of plates of smaller area than the sides of the
brick against which such plates are intended to operate, so that only a
portion of the side of the brick is directly pressed by each plate, and I
prefer to give this pressure simultaneously from opposite sides of the
brick. The plates I use for this purposo form the central portions of
the sides of the mould and they.cach make an indentation or "panel"

page_text: in tlie brick and enable a greater pressure per square inch to be given
with the same compressing effort by applying that effort only to a
portion instead of the whole of the surface of the brick's side or face.
My improvements may be applied to machinery for making tiles and
other similar articles by modifying the forms of the moulds to suit the
articles to be moulded.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Julius Frederick Moore Pollock in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 8th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULIUS
FREDERICK MOORE POLLOCK, of Leopold Street, Leeds, in the County of
York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Julius Frederick Moore Pollock, Her special
licence that I, the said Julius Frederick Moore Pollock, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Julius Frederick
Moore Pollock, 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 MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS AND OTHER SIMILAR
ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Julius
Frederick Moore Pollock, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument 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 Julius Frederick Moore Pollock, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :—
My Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
making bricks and other similar articles, the construction of which will
be fully understood from the accompanying Sheets of Drawings and the 5
following description thereof.
Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is a vertical section of a pug mill shaft constructed
according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a side clevation thereof; Fig. 3 is
a plan of one of the intermediate knives; Fig. 4 is a plan of the bottom
or double knife.
Fig. 5 (Sheet 2) is a front elevation, partly in section, of a complete
machine, as constructed with a sliding bottom to the pug mill for
making common bricks according to my Invention; Fig. O is a side
elevation of the same also partly in section.
1
Fig. 7 (Sheet 3) is a plan of the gearing I employ for giving motion 1
to the pug mill shaft and other parts of the machine when constructed
with a circular moulding table in lieu of the sliding bottom above
referred to; and Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of parts of the same.
In constructing a self-contained machine for making common bricks
according to my Invention I combine a receiving hopper with a pug 2
mill having its shaft and lower portion peculiarly constructed and
provided with a sliding bottom, as herein-after described. The hopper
receives the brick-making material either unprepared or ground according
to the requirements of the substance under treatment and, conveys it
to the pug mill, which is constructed mainly on the ordinary principle, 2
but embodies an improvement in the arrangement of the knives or screw
propellers.
These knives, according to my Invention, cach consist of a boss a
and one or more blades a', the boss having a hole through it the centre
of which hole is the centre or axis of the pug mill shaft. Each of the 3
bosses (except the bottom one) is provided with projections a³, after
the manner of claw clutches, which projections are made in the form of
raised segments or teeth on the face of the boss, and are so arranged as
to be interchangeable, and when placed one above the other with the
projections of one inserted into the recesses in the other the bosses 3
theniselves form a shaft, and their blades assume the required spiral
position, the torsional power being transmitted from knife to knife by

page_text: the clutch-like projections above described. The bottom knife differs
from the others in having its clutch part or projections a² only on the
top side, and, by preference, is not made with less than two blades.
The knives arranged in combintion, as described, co-operate in resisting
any torsional strain, and simply require to be secured together vertically
and connected with the actuating gear for imparting to them the
necessary rotating motion. For this purpose the upper portion of the
pug mill shaft which is supported by suitable bearings (one of which
is partly shewn at c, in Figs. 1 and 2,) and carries the driving wheel
terminates immediately below the under bearing in a disc b', to which
is bolted another disc or boss d of the same kind carrying on its under
side projections a, between which the projections on the upper side of
the top knife fit, thus forming the torsional junction with the gearing.
A recess is formed (at d²) in the centre of this lower disc or boss d
(which has a hole through it corresponding with the holes in tho knives)
in which recess fits the head of a vertical bar or tic e, which descends
through the central holes in the various knives and is securely fixed by
a cotter (or by a wedge or nut) in the boss of the bottom knife, thus
drawing the whole together vertically, so that the clutches cannot
escape from each other, and the whole forms a firm helical shaft. Tho
effect of this arrangement is that one or more of the knives can be
renewed without disturbing the gearing portion of the shaft or the
bearings, and the wearing surface of the shaft is renewed simultaneously
with the knives, and the knives being, by preference, cast in steel or
chilled metal very little turning or fitting or other preparation is needed.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the lines 9 shew the form of an ordinary pug mill.
In the arrangement of self-contained machine shewn in Figs. 5 and 6
the lower portion of the pug mill 9 instead of terminating as usual on
the face of a moulding table feeds the clay to a tapered chamber h, the
upper portion of which is made round like the pug mill bottom, but
tapers gradually downwards and at its lower end assumes the form of
the brick or article to be moulded. Across this chamber I place a flat
bar or bars (one of which is shewn in section in Figs. 5 and 6) whose
edges are situated upwards and downwards. The object of the bar h¹
is to ensure the delivery of the clay downwards and to prevent its
rotation in the chamber. The pug mill is provided with a sliding
bottom or mould i which receives motion from a rocking shaft & placed
underneath it. This rocking shaft is connected with the sliding bottom

page_text: a horizontal driving
a wheel and pinion
or mould i by racks on the under side thereof, and segments of
pinions m on the horizontal shaft . These segments m are shrouded or
flanged up to their pitch lines, as shown, and the under portion of the
sliding bottom or mould i is planed and made to rest upon the edge of
the said shrouding or flange by which arrangement a rolling action is
produced and the friction which would otherwise arise from the pressure
of the sliding bottom or mould i against the fixed plate beneath it is
obviated. Crank arms having antifriction surfaces or segments and
working in slots may obviously be substituted for the segments m, but
I prefer the latter. The horizontal shaft & receives reciprocating motion
by means of a disc having teeth around its periphery as shewn from
shaft o, which in its turn receives motion through
giving the requisite multiplication from the
driving pulley r or other actuating mechanism of the machine. It will
be obvious that a crank or cam may be substituted for the disc r and
arranged in the same way to receive motion through the spur wheel and
pinion ', . is an ordinary loose pulley for convenience of stopping
the machine. The reciprocating motion is given by the disc a through
the connecting rod n to a crank arm oscillating freely on the rocking
shaſt k, but arranged as shewn, to come in contact towards the end of
cacli oscillation with one of two projecting studs on the face of a disc
which is securely keyed to the said shaft. Or in lieu of this arrangement
a projecting portion, stud, or tappet on the crank may be arranged
to come in contact towards the end of each stroke with one of two
projecting cranks or arms securely keyed to the shaft k.
According to the arrangement described and shown the actuating
crank is in constant reciprocating motion, but only gives motion to
the sliding bottom or mould i at cach end of its stroke, so that there is
a dead period in cach stroke during which tho sliding bottom or mould i
remains stationary while the crank arm ' leaves one stud / nnd travels
to the other. During this dead period motion is given by means of
suitable cams and lovers 10 to descending plungers which force the
bricks out of the moulds in the sliding bottom and may be at the same
time arranged so as to lubricate them as well understood. Only one
of the plungers a is shewn in the Drawings. The other is to be placed
on the opposite side of the pug mill and similarly arranged and actuated
The bricks fall on to and are conveyed away as required by a traversing
belt y, arranged beneath the moulds for that purpose.

page_text: The machine above described may be constructed so as to mould two
or more bricks simultaneously by placing additional moulds in the sliding
bottom and proportionately increasing its size and that of the pug
mill; additional plungers being also provided for pushing the bricks
out of the moulds. The shaft o besides driving the disc n also gives
motion to the pug mill shaft through the medium of mitre wheels the
pitch lines of which are shown at..
In some cases I dispense with the sliding bottom or mould i and
gearing already described, and substitute a circular moulding table
therefor. This circular moulding table may be of any of the well-known
constructions, preferring the kind described in the Specification of my
Patent No. 2911, dated the Sixth day of October 1869.
The parts
of the machine shewn in Figs. 7 and 8 are designed for use in con-
junction with a table of the kind described in the Specification of my
aforesaid Patent. The framework of the machine is according to my
present Invention, composed of a base plate bearing side frames or
pillars A supporting a top frame B which I call the gearing frame.
From this frame descend two vertical shafts; one of these (C) is the
pug mill shaft, and the other (D) gives all the self-acting intermittent
or other movements to the table lubricators, delivery motions, and so
forth, in the manner described and shewn in the Specification of my
aforesaid Patent. These vertical shafts both receive motion from a
horizontal shaft E which carries worms F, F¹, working into worm
wheels G, G¹, on the upper portions of the said vertical shafts. The
wheels run horizontally and both worms and wheels are arranged to
rotate in vessels H containing oil or other lubricant. The shaft E is
actuated by the pulley E' on its outer end and serves as the driving
shaft for the entire machine; E² is a loose pulley. The framework is
also arranged to preserve the gearing from the action of dust by suitable
covers I and to supply drip pans K for any surplus oil which may
escape through the bearings, thus avoiding waste. These drip pans or
vessels also act as cisterns for the supply of lubricant to the moulds and
working portions of the machine. Small lids I' are provided in the
covers I for enabling lubricant to be readily supplied to the vessels
beneath them. J represcuts the upper portion of the pug mill.

page_text: apparatus may be applied above the pug mill or otherwise in connection
with it when required.
In some cases I compress the bricks either in the moulds of the
pressing table or in separate moulds by pressing the sides of the bricks
whilst they are confined in the mould by means of plates of smaller area
than the sides of the brick against which such plates are intended to
operate, so that only a portion of the side of the brick is directly pressed
by cach plate, and I prefer to give this pressure simultaneously from
opposito sides of the brick. The plates I use for this purpose form the
central portions of the sides of the mould and they cach make an inden- 1
tation or "panel" in the brick and enable a greater pressure per square
inch to be given with the same compressing effort by applying that
effort only to a portion instead of the whole of the surface of the brick's
side or face.
My improvements may be applied to machinery for making tiles and 1
other similar articles by modifying the forms of the moulds to suit thic
articles to be moulded.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention for improve-
ments in machinery for making bricks and other similar articles, and
in what manner the same is to be or may be performed or carried into 2
practical effect, I declare that what I consider to be novel and original
and claim as thic Invention secured to me by the herein-beforo in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. Constructing the pug mill shaft substantially as described
and illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The bar (or bars) h' arranged to operate in combination
with the pug mill shaft substantially as and for the purpose described
and specified.
Thirdly. The construction of the machine for making bricks and
other similar articles with a sliding bottom or mould arranged to receive
motion in the manner described from the rocking shaft k placed
beneath it and actuated by means of the disc " which also transmits
motion through cams to the plungers for pushing out the bricks as
specificd.
Fourthly. The construction of the machine for making bricks and
other similar articles, in which the whole of the working parts are
actuated by means of the single shaft E provided with worms F, F,

page_text: giving motion to worm wheels G, G', working in oil or other lubricant
in vessels H formed in the top frame B constructed with drip pans K,
the said vessels and pans being provided with covers I to preserve
the gearing from the action of dust, all substantially as shewn in
and described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8 of the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Julius Frederick Moore Pollock,
havo hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.
Witness,
W. LLOYD WISE,
Patent Agent,
London.
JULIUS F. M. POLLOCK. (L.S.)