IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Craven and Benjamin Craven, both of Wakefield, in
the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER LIKE
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 18th December 1877, and dated the 10th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Craven and Benjamin
Craven at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th July 1877.
JOHN CRAVEN and BENJAMIN CRAVEN, both of Wakefield, in the County of York.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS,
TILES, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."
Our Invention relates to an improved arrangement and combination of machinery
or apparatus whereby the clay or other material employed for the manufacture of the
articles is prepared and delivered into the moulds in which it receives its form, and
the moulded article is ejected therefrom and conducted into a press under the action
of which it is condensed or consolidated, and is finally delivered from the press in a
finished condition to be dried or baked in any usual manner.
The Invention has reference to that description of apparatus in which a rotary
mould table is employed, such table having a number of orifices or moulds, the
bottoms of which are formed of movable pistons, and it consists chiefly of an
improved mode of combining therewith a pug mill or pug mills, and a press or
presses, whereby great simplicity in the construction of the apparatus is obtained.
The apparatus may be either single or double acting, that is to say, arranged
for the manufacture of either one set of articles at a time or of two sets simul-
taneously, as required.
In carrying out our Invention for the manufacture of one set of articles at a time
(say, bricks for example), we construct and arrange the apparatus in the following."
manner:-
The rotary mould table, having a number of orifices or moulds arranged radially
all round, is actuated by a revolving tappet wheel fast on a vertical shaft upon
which is also secured a bevel wheel which receives its motion from a bevel
ID 637

page_text: pinion fast on a horizontal shaft mounted in bearings in the main frame or
The
casting in which the lower end of the vertical shaft is also supported.
horizontal shaft carries at its opposite end a spur wheel which derives its motion
through the intervention of a spur pinion from an upper horizontal or main
shaft upon which the driving pullies are mounted. The vertical shaft which
is thus driven from one and the same shaft as the tappet wheel of the table
is supported at its upper extremity and intermediate in bearings in an upright
casting or pillar bolted to the main frame or casting, and carries at its upper
end a spur wheel which imparts motion to a spur pinion fast on the upper
end of another vertical shaft which is also supported in bearings in the said upright
casting or pillar.. Beneath the lower end of the vertical shaft, secondly mentioned,
there is arranged a pug mill, the position of which coincides with the circle described
by the moulds by the rotation of the table, so that as the table rotates intermit-
tently under the action of the tappet wheel, each mould will be brought in succession
beneath the pug mill.
The lower end of the second vertical shaft which enters the pug mill is fitted with
knives of any suitable construction, so that as the clay is. introduced into the
pug mill it is duly prepared and then delivered into the whole series of moulds
in succession as they are brought one by one beneath it. The clay thus assumes
the shape of the mould, and each article in its semi-plastic condition is delivered
when the table has performed, say, a quarter of a revolution, by means of a lever
mounted on a fixed centre or fulcrum and acting at one extremity upon the under
side of the movable piston of the mould, its opposite extremity being operated by
inclines upon the tappet wheel. The mounted article is thence delivered by the
apparatus, herein-after described, into a press arranged at the side of the machine
and which consists of a die, the bottom of which is formed by a movable piston
operated by a cam, and of an upper piston-carried by a cross head, which slides
up and down in vertical guides, being operated through the intervention of connecting
rods on its opposite ends by cranks formed on another horizontal shaft driven by
spur gearing from the horizontal shaft secondly. herein-before referred to.
The apparatus for delivering the brick in course of manufacture into the dies
consists of a pusher connected to a bar which is jointed to one arm of a bell-crank
lever or its equivalent mounted upon a fixed' centre, and the other arm of which is
attached to a system of rods connected with the cross head so that as the cross head
rises, the pusher will be moved towards the die and vice versa; the moulded brick is
thus delivered into the die by the pusher and condensed or consolidated by the
action of the press, and ejected by the operation of the cam as the cross head rises;
the finished brick is then removed clear of the mouth of the die by the act of the
pusher forcing forwards another brick, the distance between the mould table and the
die and the stroke of the pusher being, however, by preference, so arranged that
there shall always be one brick or more between the brick in course of compression
in the die and the brick in course of ejection from the mould for the time being
at the side of the press.
By arranging another press with a similar set of gearing at the opposite side of
the table, and another pug mill opposite to that herein-before referred to, and driven.
through the intervention of additional gearing from the same shaft as the said pug
mill, the apparatus may be made double acting, the clay being delivered into two
moulds on opposite sides of the table simultaneously, and the bricks from moulds
previously filled, ejected two at a time, one on each side of the table, and delivered
to the presses which both operate in unison,.so that the series of operations herein-
before described with reference to the single-acting apparatus may be duplicated,
two sets of bricks being carried through the several stages of manufacture simul-
taneously, whereby a considerable saving in time, and consequently economy in the
cost of production is obtained.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Craven and Benjamin Craven in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th January 1878.
JOHN CRAVEN and BENJAMIN CRAVEN, both of Wakefield, in the County of York.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS,
TILES, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."
. Our said Invention relates to an improved arrangement and combination of
machinery or apparatus whereby the clay or other material employed for the
manufacture of the articles is prepared and delivered into the moulds in which
it receives its form, and the moulded article is expelled therefrom and conducted into
a press under the action of which it is condensed or consolidated, and is finally
delivered from the press in a finished condition to be dried or baked in any usual
manner.
The Invention has reference to that description of apparatus in which a rotary
mould table is employed, such table having a number of orifices or moulds, the
bottoms of which are formed of movable pistons, and it consists chiefly of an
improved mode of combining therewith a pug mill or pug mills and a press or presses
whereby great simplicity in the construction of the apparatus is obtained.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figuer 1 of our Drawings represents a front elevation of a machine for the manu-
facture of bricks (for example) constructed and arranged according to our said
Invention; Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the same; and Figures 3 and 4 are
elevations of the left and right hand sides respectively, all corresponding to
Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a detail of one of the moulds with its movable bottom or piston, and
of a portion of the press; and Figure 6 is a diagram plan illustrating a modification.
The apparatus may be either single or double acting, that is to say arranged for
the manufacture of either one set of bricks at a time, or of two sets simultaneously, as
required. In our Drawings we have shewn a single-acting apparatus by the aid of
which example a double-acting apparatus may be readily constructed by simply
duplicating the pug mill and press, and connecting the additional set by means of
supplementary gearing with the first set so that both shall work in unison.
A is the mould table mounted on a vertical shaft B, supported at its lower end in
a footstep bearing a in the main frame or casting C, and at its upper end in a bearing
a in a bracket D extending from the pug mill E. This table is provided with any
suitable number of orifices or moulds (twelve being shewn in the example illustrated),
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, arranged radially all round, and fitted with
movable bottoms or pistons 6 (see Figure 5) in the usual manner, and it carries
projections a², a², which are acted upon. by tappets f, f, formed on a revolving tappet
wheel F, whereby an intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the table as is well
understood.
The motion of the tappet wheel F is obtained in the following manner :-The
tappet wheel is mounted fast on a vertical shaft G, supported at its lower end' in a
footstep bearing g in the main frame or casting C, and at its upper end and
intermediately in bearings g³, g², respectively in an upright casting or pillow H, bolted
at h, to the main frame or casting C. On this shaft is also secured a bevel wheel I,
having engaging therewith a bevel pinion 1' fast on one end of a horiztontal shaft
K, which latter (supported in bearings k, k, in the main frame or casting C) carries at
its opposite end a spur wheel L with which engages a spur pinion L' on an upper
horizontal shaft M supported in bearings m, m, in standards N, N.
The horizontal shaft M (constituting the main or driving shaft) carries the fast and
loose pulleys O, O¹, which are actuated from any suitable prime mover, and the

page_text: motion of the train of gearing herein-before described, and consequently of the
tappet wheel F and table A is thence obtained and controlled.
-The
We employ in combination with the rotary mould table A a pug mill E and a
press Q, which are constructed, arranged, and operated in the following manner :-
pug mill E is attached to the upright casting or pillar H in such a position that the
centre of its orifice coincides with the circle described by the centre of the moulds, and
within the pug mill is arranged the lower end of a vertical shaft R, supported in
bearings,, in the upright casting or pillar H, and provided on the said lower
end with knives P of suitable construction for preparing the clay or material from
which the bricks are to be made, whilst its upper end has fast thereon a spur pinion
S, driven by a spur wheel S¹, secured to the upper end of the vertical shaft G,
whereby the shaft R is caused to receive a rotary motion simultaneously with
the tappet wheel.
The clay or material from which the bricks are to be manufactured is introduced
by any convenient means into the pug mill E, and after having been duly prepared
under the action of the knives P carried by the shaft R, it is delivered by the said
knives into the whole series of moulds in succession as they are brought one by one
by the intermittent rotatory motion of the table beneath it. The clay thus assumes
the shape of the mould, and each brick in its semi-plastic condition, when the table
has performed a quarter of a revolution (videlicet, when the mould arrives at 13) is
expelled from its mould and delivered, by the means herein-after explained, to the
press Q, which is constructed and arranged in the following manner :-
The press Q, which is situate at the side of the rotary table A, as shewn, consists
of a die c (see detail, Figure 5), the bottom of which is formed by a movable
piston d and of an upper piston e carried by a cross head R¹ which slides up and down
in vertical guides S2, S, forming a portion of the framing of the press. This vertical
motion of the cross head R¹, and consequently of the upper piston e, is obtained
through the intervention of connecting rods 1, 2, on its opposite ends, and cranks
t, t, formed on a side horizontal shaft T, which latter (supported in suitable bearings
at ', ') is driven by means of a spur wheel U from the spur wheel L fast on the
horizontal shaft K.
The brick which has been partially moulded in one of the moulds of the mould
table A, as herein-before described, and delivered therefrom in the manner herein-
after explained into the die c, is compressed therein during the descent of the cross
head R, operated as before mentioned between the upper piston e and the lower
piston d, which latter takes it, bearing upon and is supported during the compressing
operation by the frame of the press at 14, 14.
Under the action of the piston c the brick becomes duly condensed and
consolidated, and it is then as the cross head rises expelled from the die by the
operation of a cam & mounted on the horizontal shaft T, and which acts (with the
interposition of the end of a lever i) upon the under side of the lower piston & so
as to elevate it until the brick is clear of the top of the die, after which the brick
is removed by the act of forcing another brick towards the die in the manner
herein-after explained.
The lever, before referred to, the end of which is interposed between the 4
cam and the lower piston d, is mounted at its opposite end upon a fixed centre or
fulcrum 2, whilst its intermediate portion 15 is situate within but beneath the path
of the moulds of the mould table A. When therefore during the ascent of the cross
head and a pause in the motion of the table, the cam 2 is operating on the end
of the lever i, in order to effect the expulsion of the condensed or consolidated brick
from the die c, the said intermediate portion 15 of the lever i acts upon the under
side of the movable bottom or piston b of the mould so as to elevate it simulta-
neously or nearly so with the ascent of the lower piston d of the press; the brick
partially moulded in one of the moulds of the mould table A, and a brick which
has been condensed or consolidated in the die c are thus raised concurrently above
their respective orifices to be removed clear thereof by the apparatus next herein-
after described.

page_text: This apparatus consists of a pusher V, jointed by a rod k' to a lever W, mounted
upon a fixed centre at L, and connected by a bar X with a projection m³ from the
cross head R¹, so that as the cross head rises, after compressing a brick in the die c,
the pusher V will be moved forwards or towards the die c,. and vice versa.
By the forward motion of the pusher the partially moulded brick, which remains
supported upon the movable bottom or piston b, is removed clear of the mouth of
the mould, and brought into a position intermediate between the mould and the
die c, thereby displacing a partially moulded brick which had previously occupied
that position, the distance between the mould table and, the die and the stroke of
the pusher being so arranged in the example illustrated that there shall always be
one brick between the brick in the course of compression in the die and the brick in
course of expulsion from the mould. The partially moulded brick thus displaced
in its turn forces the finished brick which had remained supported on the lower
piston d of the die c clear of the mouth of the said die, and occupies its place, being
carried by the said lower piston d, so that when the latter descends on its being
released by the cam t2 the partially moulded brick will enter the die to be subjected
to compression on the next down stroke of the cross head taking place, and subse-
quently expelled when the cross head again rises, and delivered under the action of
the pusher V, which in the meantime will have receded and returned, feeding
forward a fresh brick, and so on in succession during the operation of the machine.
In the position of the parts shewn in the Drawings a partially moulded brick 16
(see Figure 3) has been expelled from one of the moulds, and moved by the pusher
V into the intermediate position between the mould and the die c, thereby forcing
a brick 17; which had previously occupied that position, over the orifice of the die c
on to the lower piston d, and causing that brick.in its turn. to displace a finished
brick 18, which had been expelled from the die c. The lower piston is also
assumed to be descending, carrying with it the partially moulded brick 17, which is
to be compressed by the next descent of the cross head R', and expelled when the
cross head again rises, and then delivered into the position occupied by the
brick 18.
The bricks, as delivered from the press, are ready to be dried or baked in any
usual manner.
It is obvious that in the examples herein-before given it has been assumed that the
machine has been started, and is in full operation. In commencing to work the
machine the motions of the press correspond to those herein-before referred to, but
until, say, three bricks have been partially moulded in succeeding moulds of the
mould table no compressing action will take place, the reciprocating motions of the
lower piston d and of the cross head R¹ being simply utilized for effecting the delivery
of the partially moulded bricks.
If desired the bricks may be subjected, previously to their being delivered from
the moulds, to a preliminary pressure by the employment of a lever Y, see Figure 6,
mounted at one end upon a fixed centre or fulcrum 19, and acting intermediately at
20 upon the under side of the movable piston b of the mould, whilst its opposite
extremity is operated by another cam 21 upon the shaft T, the moulds in their
traverse being caused to pass beneath a stationary plate 22, which forms the resistance
against the compressing action of the lever.
It is obvious that the lever may be arranged otherwise than in the manner
described, so as to produce the same action. The bricks thus partially compressed
are then by the means herein-before described conducted to the press, where they
are subjected to further compression, and they are finally delivered therefrom in a
finished condition to be dried or baked in any usual manner.
By arranging another press with a similar set of gearing at the opposite side of
the table, and another pug mill opposite to that herein-before referred to, and driven
through the intervention of additional gearing from the same shaft as the said pug
mill, the apparatus may be made double acting, the clay being delivered into
two moulds on opposite sides of the table simultaneously, and the bricks from moulds
previously filled, expelled two at a time, one on each side of the table, and delivered

page_text: to the presses, which both operate in unison; so that the series of operations herein-
before described with reference to the single-acting apparatus may be duplicated,
two sets of bricks being carried through the several stages of manufacture simul-
taneously, whereby a considerable saving in time and consequently economy in the
cost of production is obtained.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, we
would observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and original and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the combination in a machine or apparatus for the manufacture of
bricks, tiles, and other like articles, of a pug mill or pug mills for preparing the clay
or material from which the articles are to be made, of a rotary table having moulds
into which the clay or material is introduced, and wherein it is partially moulded,
and of a press or presses to which such partially moulded articles are delivered from
the mould table, and under the action of which they are condensed or consolidated;
and finally delivered in a finished state, the whole actuated from one and the same
shaft, and constructed and arranged so as to operate substantially in the manner
herein-before described, and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Craven and Benjamin Craven, have to
this our Specification set our hands and seals, the Second day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.