IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING CLAY RETORTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM CLAY
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Porritt Ingham and
Alfred Clayton Hill at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th September 1875.
We, WILLIAM PORRITT INGHAM, and ALFRED CLAYTON HILL, both
of Coatham, in the County of York, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MAKING CLAY RETORTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM CLAY," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in improvements in the construction of
machinery for manufacturing retorts and other similar heavy articles
from clay, whereby such articles can be made much more efficaciously
and easily than by the means hitherto employed.
According to this Invention a steam, water, or air cylinder is mounted
upon a suitable bed plate, in which cylinder a piston carrying a piston
rod or piston rods works up and down. Upon the other end of the
piston rod or piston rods (which passes or pass through suitable stuffing
boxes and glands in the cylinder cover) is placed another piston head,

page_text: which is capable of entering and working in a clay chamber placed
concentrically, and in a line with the steam, water, or air cylinder.
In the side or sides of the clay chamber a hole or holes is or are
formed for the introduction of the clay to be treated, and which hole or
holes may if desired be provided with a suitable door or doors,_and_
_above_the_clay-chamber when the machine is a vertical one, or in a line.
with and in front thereof in the case of a horizontal machine, is placed
a die or mould of the size and form of the article desired to be
produced.
When steam, water, or air is admitted into the cylinder the piston
therein is acted upon, thereby actuating the piston rod or rods and
causing the other piston head to enter and work in the clay chamber, and
force the clay contained therein upwards or forwards through the die or
mould, and thus to form the article required to be produced.
When it is desired to close one end of the retort or other article, a
cake or picce of clay moulded of suitable size and form is placed upon
the face of the die or mould, and kept in position by means of a cover
which is placed over it and securely fastened down, so that when the
clay is forced through the die or mould it comes into contact with the
cake or piece of clay and adheres thereto. The cover is then unfastened
and the retort or other article allowed to issue from the dic or mould,
and the cover which travels with it and is guided by suitable guide rods
assist to steady it.
In order to prevent a vacuum or partial vacuum forming inside the
retort or other article, and the consequent injury from the atmospheric
pressure on the outside thereof, a hole or holes is or are made in the
piece of clay forming the end of the retort or other article, and through
which passes a pipe or pipes formed on or attached to the cover, or a
hole or holes may-be-formed-in-the-side or sides of the retort or other
article, or the air may be admitted through the centre spindle of the die
which may be made hollow for that purpose. These holes are stopped
up with clay when the retort or other article is removed from the
machine.
When a sufficient length of the moulded clay to form the article
required has issued from the die or mould a carriage mounted upon;
wheels or slides and carrying two or more cutting plates working in
suitable slides is run up to the machine, and the cutting plates brought

page_text: to bear upon the moulded clay so as to cut it off to the desired
length.
In order to prevent the cutting plates crushing or compressing the
article so formed a piece of wood or other substance of suitable size
and shape is secured by means of catches or other suitable appliances
to the top of the die or mould centre inside the retort or other article.
When the retort or other article has been so cut off it is carried away on
the before mentioned carriage to the kiln or other. desired place for the
purpose of being dried, or the retort or other article may be cut off by
a fixed apparatus, and lifted and carried away to be dried by a travelling
or other cranc or other suitable means.