IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL, TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
IMRAY, of Milton: Road, Liverpool, send greeting.
+
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give' and grant unto
me, the said William Imray, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Imray, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I,. the said Willian
Imray; my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree.with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make; use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an in all Her said. Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS," communicated to me from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said. William Imray; shall

page_text: cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in. Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by 'the same; reference being thereunto!
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Imray, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:--
The Invention consists of combining mechanical parts into a machine as
hereafter explained; and in order that the Invention may be fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed, which represent machinery combined according to the
Invention; and as the nature of each view shewn by the Drawings is written
thereon it will not be necessary to repeat the same here, and it will only be
desirable to state that the same letters of reference are used to indicate the
same parts in the various views shewn by the Drawings. The machine shewn
by the Drawings is arranged for working with three moulds, but other
machines may, if desired, be combined according to the Invention, and
arranged to work with other numbers of moulds. a, a, is the framing of the
machine; b. is an axis about which the combined rotating parts of the
machine move; c is a wheel, having teeth on its under side, to which motion
is communicated by the toothed wheel d on the axis d', which turns in
bearings carried by the framing of the machine. When driving the wheel c
with teeth below, it is desirable to place a roller above to keep the
wheel c from rising, but in place of having the teeth below they may be
at the edge of the wheel.c, and that wheel. be driven by a cog wheel on
an upright shaft... The axis. d receives motion from a steam engine or
other power. The wheel c carries and supports the moulds e, which are
affixed to the arm c', c', of the wheel c screws or otherwise, and the
parts ff, which act as slides or pistons to compress the brick earth in the
moulds, are also carried by the arms c'; c¹. The plates or guides c²; c², enter
into grooves formed on the sides of the slides or pistons f,f, and they act as
guides to the slides or pistons when being forced into or withdrawn from the
,moulds e. g is a slide which is caused to slide to and fro in the mould box so
as to form a top to the mould and a bottom to the opening (through which

page_text: the brick earth is admitted to the mould) whilst the slides or pistons f, f', are
compressing the brick earth in the mould. The form of the parts e, f, ƒ³;
and g, being shewn by separate views in the Drawings as well as in their places
in the machine, it will not be necessary to describe them more particularly here.
The brick earth, being when used nearly dry and in a state of powder,
is to be fed into a hopper supported above the machine at that point of its
revolution where the mould has just previously discharged a finished.brick, and
where the slide g has been withdrawn so as to open the mould and thus cause
it to be in a position to receive a charge of brick earth from the hopper, which
will be readily understood on examing the section of the moulds and slides
shewn at Figure 1, which shews the position of those parts when immediately.
under the hopper, the lower part of which is shewn in Figure 1 at h, and also
in the plan of the machine by dotted lines. If the brick earth does not flow
freely from the hopper into the mould its flow is to be aided by hand or other- .
wise. i is a circular plate or trough affixed to the moulds, having openings
corresponding with the openings to the moulds, so that in its revolution it
forms a stop or partition to close the under side of the hopper when the moulds
have travelled beyond it, thereby preventing the discharge of the brick earth
into the moulds until another opening is presented in the further revolution of
the apparatus. A mould being supplied with brick earth for forming a brick,
the slide g is drawn inwards by the roller g¹ coming in contact with the cam
surface g affixed to the axis of the machine, and the solid part of the slide g
shuts in the brick earth to form a brick, as shewn at Figure 2, and the portion
of brick earth drawn away from the mould by the opening in the slide g falls
through the opening formed in the slide or piston: f. The apparatus in its
further revolution causes the friction rollers f*,*, carried by the slides or
pistons ff, to come in contact with the fixed cam surfaces f° and f³, by
which means the slides or pistons f, f', are made to approach each other, and
thereby compress the brick earth contained in the mould. When the mould
has travelled beyond the cam surface f, the roller
piston comes in contact with the fixed incline f³,
the slide or piston f¹ from the mould; so as to release the confined air
in the mould previous to the final pressure, which is caused by the fixed-
cam surfaces f and f'. The slide f' having travelled beyond the cam:
surface f is drawn outwards by the roller f* coming in contact with
the fixed incline f8, and the slide or piston f is forced through the
mould by the "cam fe, thus placing the parts in the position shewn at
Figure 3. and Figure 3*. The brick is then in a position on the plate e' to be
on the slide or
which withdraws

page_text: removed from between the slides or pistons f, f', by coming in contact, during
the further revolution of the apparatus, with a projection or finger j on the arm
j affixed to the framing of the machine. The projection ja enters a 'groove
on the under side of the guide e affixed to the mould, and when the brick is
drawn out from the mould on to the plate e¹ into the position shewn ät
Figure 4, it may be removed by hand. The slide g is then forced outwards
by the roller g¹ coming against the cam surface g; so as to place the opening
in the slide g in a position to allow a fresh supply of brick earth to flow
into the mould. The slides or pistons f, f', are brought into a position to be
acted upon by the roller f' on the under side of the slide or piston f coming
in contact with the cam surface f, carried by the framing of the machine.
f" is a projection on the slide or piston f, to which is affixed the rod f¹³,
which slides freely through the projection f" on the slide or piston f¹, there
being an adjustable nut f¹ on the rod, which acts against the projection f¹³
to draw the slide or piston f¹ into position, when the roller f is acted upon by
the cam surface f". I would here remark, that the form of the mould and
of the slides or pistons may be varied, and other arrangements of cams may
be adopted without departing from the Invention; and I have shewn at
Figures 5, 6, and 7, an arrangement of parts whereby the slide g is dispensed
with, the parts being so formed as to admit of the slide or piston f passing
through the box where the charge of brick earth is received, and of its
moving the brick earth into the part of the mould where the pressure takes
place. The same letters being used to indicate similar parts as applied to
the machine just described, it will not be necessary to enter into a more par-
ticular description of this arrangement, as a workman understanding the first-
described machine will readily apply the cams and other parts necessary for
giving the proper motions to the parts shewn as they revolve round on axis;
as described in the previous machine.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood. that I do not claim any of
the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details herein
described so long as the peculiar character of the Invention be retained; but
what I claim is, the mode of combining mechanical parts into à machine, as
herein described:
In witness whereof, I, the said William Imray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand 'eight hundred and fifty-two.
WILLIAM (L.S.) IMRAY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid William Imray came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.