AN IMPROVED PRESS FOR THE COMPRESSION OF BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES OF PROALATION
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Julien Brethon, of Tours, Department d'Indre
et Loire, France, Practical Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
PRESS FOR THE COMPRESSION OF BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Julien Brethon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1860.
I, LOUIS JULIEN BRETHON, of Tours, Department d'Indre et Loire, France,
Practical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said. Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PRESS FOR THE COMPRESSION OF BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR
ARTICLES OF EITHER PLASTIC OF OTHER SUITABLE COMPRESSIBLE MATERIALS," to
be as follows:-
This press is composed of two stands S, bolted fast on a frame A, which
may be moved about like a wheelbarrow. The brick or other similar article
previously moulded is placed at B, in a suitable cast-iron frame F. The
pressure is given by a hand lever fixed to a shaft; this shaft carries camb,
which moves two sliding rods up and down; these rods are attached to a top
pressing plate C, which presses the brick or other similar article into shape.

page_text: When the pressure has been given the weight D causing the lever to rise
suddenly, the camb causes a rod to push the compressed brick out of its shape
or mould.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Julien Brethon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JULIEN BRETHON, of Tours, Department d'Indre et Loire, France, Practical
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Louis Julien Brethon, Her special licence that I, the said Louis
Julien Brethon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Louis Julien Brethon, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED PRESS FOR THE COMPRESSION OF BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR
ARTICLES OF EITHER PLASTIC OR OTHER SUITABLE COMPRESSIBLE MATERIALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis Julien Brethon, my execu-
tors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their bands 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 Louis Julien Brethon, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My improved press is intended for compressing bricks, tiles, and all other
articles made of potter's clay requiring regular' forms. The pressure is given
with the hand by means of a lever and of a wiper,-described below, their com-

page_text: bination producing the force for obtaining the necessary pressure and quickness
of action. The machine is easily moveable and can be carried from place to
place as a wheelbarrow when required.
The annexed Drawing is an illustration of my press, made to the scale of To
of the real size.
Fig. 1 is a side view; Fig. 2, a front view; Fig. 8, a vertical section
through the line A, B, of Fig. 2. The press is composed of two cast-iron up-
rights or stands C, C, bolted fast on the wooden frame H, provided with wheels
I and handles L for moving it about. The uprights C are united together by
a cross piece D, bearing the brick mould S, and serving to guide the sliding
rods T, T, carrying the pressing or cover plate R of the mould. The journals
of the shaft E carrying the wiper are adjusted in braces fitted in the uprights
C, so as to move freely therein when actuated by the hand lever F. When
this lever is moving down quarter of a revolution, its wiper P catching against
small rollers carried by the sliding piece O, causes it to move downwards; the
sliders V, connected with the piece O, slide up and down, the uprights C carry-
ing along the rods T, T, bolted to the pressing cross piece R; the rods T are
guided in their motion by running through the top piece D; in this descend-
ing motion, a small plate carried by the cross piece R enters the brick mould
S, in which the prepared clay brick M has previously been placed, and presses
it with great force. When the pressure is complete the lever F is left loose,
and the counterpoise K brings it back to the position shown, Fig. 1 and 2;
when this motion takes place the wiper P drives up the sliding piece O by its
action on the upper roller, whence the roller J fixed on the piece O and carrying
the bottom plate e, moveable in the mould S, pushes out the compressed brick,
as shown, Fig. 3. The bottom plate c moves back down in the mould by the
pressure of the upper plate on the brick, but when the under plate is bearing
on the bottom of the mould the rod J, which had pushed it up, stops with it,
because it enters freely in the piece O, which cannot pull it down, so that the
upper pressing plate moves alone up and down during part of its motion.
The compressing plate R is bolted fast on the slide rods T, T, with nuts
over and under it, which allows of its position being modified for compressing
thicker or thinner bricks. The counterpoise K helps the workman to raise up
the lever F, its position can be modified by sliding on the arm, where it is fixed
by a setting screw in the best position.
The machine is simple in its construction, of a small size, and can be easily
carried from place to place, according to the requirements; its squeezing power
is very considerable, and it can produce from 400 to 500 good sound com-
pressed bricks per hour.

page_text: The nature of my Invention being now completely described, and the
manner in which it is to be put into effect, I claim the combination of a hand
lever with a wiper or cam, disposed. as shewn on the annexed Drawing,
although some modifications might be introduced in the shape and size of the
various pieces composing it, for compressing bricks, tiles, and other articles
made of potter's clay having regular forms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Julien Brethon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed and sealed in the presence of
L. D'AUBREVILLE, C.E.,
Boulev. de Strasbourg, 60, Paris.
L. J. BRETHON. (L.S.)