AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR FORMING A DEILD Donment An PRIAN TE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Boulton, of Providence Foundry,
Burslem, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR FORMING
A DEILD
Donment
An
PRIAN
TE"
Sealed the 12th May 1876, and dated the 16th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Boulton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1875.
I, WILLIAM BOULTON, of Providence Foundry, Burslem, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR
FORMING ARTICLES IN POTTERY OR IN THE BRICK AND TILE TRADE," to be as
follows:-
-

page_text: "
more perfect pressing, or forming, or stamping of clay for "bats" used
in the manufacture of pottery, roofing or flooring tiles, or for the making
of various articles from potters' brick or tile clay, the material parts of
which consist of two cranks or revolving discs driven either by a worm
and wheel or by spur wheel and pinion, each crank or disc having a
crank pin and connecting rod to give motion to a press head, which is
filled in with plaster of Paris or other suitable material, and causing it
to descend into close proximity with a bottom block, which may be
made of the same material as the press head, and which proximity can
be regulated to make the article any required thickness.
Other kinds of pottery articles can be made by making the moulds of
iron, brass, or other suitable material and varying them in form to suit
the sides or other configuration or shape of the article required, and
feeding them with a stream of clay by a pair of rollers and a mouth-
piece, or by a pug mill, or in any other equivalent method.
The pinion or worm is made fast on its spindle, to which motion is
imparted by a strap and flat grooved pulley, and the motion thus
received is imparted by the wheels with which they gear to the con-
necting rods by which the upper mould is worked. There are other
small connecting rods arranged so as to throw the top mould back when
it rises by means of a swing beam, which brings a swing hopper or
carrying cam over the centre of the bottom mould, at which same time
a rod carried by the upper mould comes in contact with a stop, and this
arrest of motion causes the hopper to open and let fall its contained
piece of clay on to the bottom mould or plate. A continuation of the
motion of the disc then brings the upper mould back and down, and
compresses the clay between it and the bottom mould, at which time a
fresh piece of clay is placed in the hopper for the succeeding article; or
the feeding of the clay may be otherwise effected by hand, or as above
referred to.
In feeding the clay in a continuous flat piece by means of the
rollers above mentioned I make a suitable provision for an intermittent
motion of the rollers, and one way of doing so is to leave a certain
number of teeth out of the spur driving wheel at one part so that it
shall fail to actuate the gearing working the feeding rolls at the time the
article is being compressed between the lower and upper moulds by the
donnant of the lotton

page_text: In the making of some articles it may be necessary to partially dry
the flat piece of clay, which would also give it a better delivery than
has been hitherto accomplished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Boulton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BOULTON, of Providence Foundry, Burslem, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Boulton, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Boulton, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Boulton, 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 "An Improved
MACHINE OB APPARATUS FOR PRESSING OR FORMING ARTICLES IN POTTERY OR IN
THE BRICK AND TILE TRADE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Boulton, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument 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 William Boulton, do hereby declare

page_text: t
DOUTION 8 Lmproved machine for Fressing Louery, go.
by the following statement in writing, and on reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to novel and peculiar arrangements and com-
binations of parts constituting an improved machine or apparatus for
the more perfect pressing, or forming, or stamping of clay for "bats"
used in the manufacture of pottery, roofing, or flooring tiles, or for the
making of various articles from potters' brick or tile clay.
The Invention is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
in Figures 1 to 4, which are drawn to a scale of 1½ inches to
1 foot.
The material parts of the improved machine consist of two cranks or
revolving discs 1, which are driven either by a worm 2 and wheel 3,
Figures 1 and 2, or by a pinion 4 and spur wheel 5, Figures 3 and 4,
each such crank or disc 1 having a crank pin 6 and connecting rod 7 to
give motion to a press head 8, which is filled in with plaster of Paris, or
other suitable material and causing it to rise and descend into close
proximity with a bottom block 9, which may be made of the same
material as the said press head 8, and which proximity can be regulated
by right and left handed screws on connecting rods and swing beam
(which may be made of wrought iron) to make the article any required
thickness.
Other kinds of pottery articles can be made by making the moulds of
iron, brass, or other suitable material, and varying them in form to suit
the sides or other configuration or shape of the article required, and
feeding them with a stream of clay by a pair of rollers 18 and a mouth-
piece 19 (as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4), or by a pug mill, or in any
other equivalent manner.
The pinion 4 or worm 2 is made fast on its spindle 10 (carried by the
bearings 11), to which motion is imparted by a strap and a flat or grooved
pulley 12 fast thereon, and the motion thus received is imparted by the
wheels 5 or 3, with which they gear to the said connecting rods 7, by
which the upper mould 8 is worked. There are other small connecting
rods 13 arranged, as shewn most clearly in Figures 1 and 3, so as to
throw the top mould 8 back when it rises, by means of a swing beam 14
in the modification illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, brings a swing hopper
or carrying can 15 over the centre of the bottom mould 9, at which

page_text: same time a rod 16 carried by the upper mould 8 comes in contact with
a stop 17, and this arrest of motion causes the hopper 15 to open and
let fall its contained piece of clay on to the bottom mould or plate 9; a
continuation of the motion of the discs 1 then brings the upper mould 8
back and down and compresses the clay between it and the bottom
mould 9, at which time a fresh piece of clay is placed in the hopper 15
for the succeeding article. At the next rising of the mould 8 the
finished article may be removed from the mould 9. The feeding of the
clay may be otherwise effected by hand or as above referred to.
In feeding the clay in a continuous flat piece by means of the said
rollers 18 (illustrated in Figures 3 and 4) I make a suitable provision
for an intermittent motion of the said rollers, and one way in which I
do so is to leave a certain number of teeth out of the spur driving
wheel ŏ at one part so that it shall fail to actuate the gearing 20, working
the said feeding rolls 18 at the time the article is being compressed
between the moulds 9 and 8 by the descent of the latter.
In the making of some articles it may be necessary to partially dry
the flat piece of clay, which would also give it a better delivery. The
said rolls 18, mouth-piece 19, and gearing 20 are carried by side
frames 21. 22 represents suitable bed plates, to which the above-
described parts are bolted or otherwise rigidly secured, as shown. Thus
the operation of the machine illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 in forming
say a roofing tile, is as follows:-The clay is fed to the back of the
rollers 18, by which it is forced through the mouth-piece 19, and issues
therefrom in a continuous flat piece between the moulds 8 and 9, which
then press it to the form desired, as above described, during which time
the rollers 18 are not actuated owing to the teeth being omitted from
part of the said wheel 5, so that the feed is stopped during such time
until the mould 8 rises and carries with it the pressed tile, when the
feed is again actuated, and sufficient clay to form another tile is then
passed on to the mould 9.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention for "An Improved Machine or Apparatus
for Pressing or Forming Articles in Pottery or in the Brick and Tile
Trade," together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion
that I claim as my Invention the above-described novel and peculiar

page_text: combinations and arrangements of parts constituting an improved
machine or apparatus adapted to effect the more perfect pressing,
forming, or stamping of clay for forming articles of pottery or for the
brick and tile trade, substantially as described and as illustrated on the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Boulton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.