IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we; WILLIAM
BETTS, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, Railroad Contractor; and WILLIAM
TAYLOR, of the same place, Plumber, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, beafing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of March; in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto us, the said
William Betts and William Taylor, Her especial license; full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said William Betts and William Taylor,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the said
William Betts and William Taylor, our executors; administrators; 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise; and vend; within England; Wales, the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad; and in
the Islands of Jersey; Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, our Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES," in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said William Betts and
William Taylor, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals; of
under the hand and seal of ofie 6f us, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed; and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Taylor (on behalf of myself and the said William Betts, do hereby
declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of our Invention is making or producing bricks, tiles, and other
similar articles from clay, which is in a much drier and harder state than that
in which it is generally employed for these purposes. The very great advan-
tages resulting from this will be evident to every person conversant with brick-
making, as, by the employment of clay in a drier and harder state than is usual,
it is obvious that the bricks or tiles will be ready for the kiln much sooner than
when clay in the ordinary or wet state is used; and furthermore, any machine
that can make bricks or tiles from clay in a partially dry state may be worked
through the whole, or at any rate the greatest portion, of the winter; whereas
when clay in a wet state is employed, the operation of brickmaking must be
entirely suspended for many wecks in the winter, as, during this damp and
cold season of the year, the bricks or tiles would never become sufficiently dry
and hard to be removed to the kiln. Before introducing the clay into our
machine it is necessary first to temper it, and then, with a conveniently-shaped
tool or instrument, rough bricks or lumps of clay, in size about nine inches
long and four inches broad, are cut out and placed on small boards or pallets,
and then introduced into the machine, where they are submitted to pressure
and made into the required form.
The machine in which the bricks are pressed or formed is shewn in the
accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 being a front elevation; Figure 2, a side
view; Figure 3, a transverse vertical section, taken in the line A, B, of
Figure 1 and Figure 4 is a horizontal section, taken immediately above the
mould and plunger.
2.
The framework of the machine is shewn at a, a, and the driving shaft, by
means of which the various parts are actuated, at b. The mould c is suspended
by the rods d, d, to the longer arms of two vibrating levers e, e. The plunger f,
whereby pressure is applied to the clay in the mould, is connected to the end
of the rod 9. the upper end of which is attached to a ring which surrounds an
excentric h. A pinion i, on the shaft b, gears into and communicates motion
to the toothed wheel ; on the spindle k, which is also the axis of an oval or

page_text: eliptical toothed wheel l. On the side of this wheel is cast an exentric m
which, by means of a connecting rod n, communicates a rocking motion to the
shaft o below. A toothed sector p is keyed on to this shaft o, and rocks or
vibrates with it, and by gearing into the rack q, on the under side of a moveable
frame r, a reciprocating motion is communicated to the latter for the purpose
of bringing the rough bricks or lumps of clay on to the platform, and under
the mould and plunger, and at the same time sliding out of the machine the
brick that has just been operated on. The rough brick or lump of clay having,
by the reciprocating motion of the moveable framer, been brought into the ma-
chine, the mould c is brought down in the following manner:-The oval or elip-
tical toothed wheel gears into a similar wheel * immediately above it, and which
is mounted on the same axis as the excentric h which actuates the plunger f.
At the opposite end of this shaft is mounted a toothed wheel 3, which
gears into
another toothed wheel t on the shaft u. Two small cams or excentrics v, v,
seen best in Figure 3, are mounted on the shaft u, and bear against the shorter
arms of the levers e, e, and as these cams revolve they depress the shorter arms,
and thereby raise the longer arms of the levers e, e. By this means the
mould c is raised, and immediately that the shorter arms of the levers e, e.
escape from contact with the cams v, v, the mould c descends and surrounds
the rough brick or lump of clay which is placed on the platform below the
edges of the mould; being bevilled, it will cut or shave off any portion of clay
that may project beyond it. The mould and clay being in this position, the
plunger is brought down on to the latter means of the excentric h before
mentioned; and in order that the plunger may move with steadiness, and
always keep in a perfectly level and horizontal position, it is connected to a
sliding frame g*, g*, which, by sliding up and down in grooves in the frame-
work, acts as a guide to keep it level and true.. It has been stated that motion
is communicated to the various parts which actuate the mould and plunger
through the intervention of the two eliptical or oval wheels 1, 1*. Toothed
wheels of this peculiar form are employed for the purpose of obtaining greater
power at the particular moment when the pressure is applied, and also for
gaining speed for quickly removing the plunger when it has performed
its office. At the time when pressure is being applied, that is, at the
moment when all the parts are in the position represented in Figure 3, the
shortest radius of the wheel is gearing into the longest radius of the
wheel *, and conscquently the former has a great amount of leverage, and
immediately it passes this point the length of its radius so rapidly increases
that it accelerates the speed of the wheel *, and thereby that of the plunger
in its upward motion. Two small circular holes f*, f*, Figure 4, are mads

page_text: in the top of the plunger for the purpose of allowing the escape of the,
superfluous clay from the mould, which, when pressure is applied, jumps
out on to a board in front, as in Figure 3. The various motive parts of
the machine, are so arranged that immediately. that, the plunger has exerted
its pressure upon the clay the small excentrics or cams; u, v, come into con-.
tact with the shorter arms of the levers e, e, and raise, the mould c suddenly,
the plunger all the while remaining in nearly, an inactive state on the top. of
the brick which has been pressed into the required form. The brick having
been by this means discharged from the mould, it, is, now: necessary: to, raise, the
plunger therefrom; and in order to prevent the brick from sticking to the,
plunger I have attached a little, apparatus, thereto, which is intended to, effect
this object. Upon, referring to, the, plan view, Figure 4, and the detached
sectional view of Figure 5, of this part of the apparatus, it will be seen that. a.
mall quadrangular hole is made in the centre of the plunger, and in this hole.
an additional plunger w, is accurately fitted. This plunger is affixed to the
end of a short pin, which is jointed. to one end of a small elbow: lever x, seen.
best in Figure 3, and in the detached view, Figure 5. The elbow: lever :
turns on a stud below, and carries at its upper end, a small antifriction, roller,.
as seen in the Drawing, and while the mould cis rising from the brick into the.
position shewn in Figure 5, the plunger has not moved more, than a quarter of
an inch, as will be seen from the position of the excentric ḥ, in Figure. 3; but
as the mould crises, a small inclined piece c*,, fixed to one of its sides,. comes.
in contact with the antifriction roller at the upper end of the elbow lever r, and
presses it back, thereby forcing out the, additional plunger w into the position:
shewn in Figure 5. By, this means, if the brick should happen to adhere to.
the bottom of the plunger, it is forced off and is carried out of the machine.by,
the advance of a second, lump of clay to be operated upon.. The pallett
containing the rough lump of clay is placed on the sliding rack frame, as; seen;
in Figure 2, and this, rack frame is furnished, on its upper side with two. flat
springs. y, y,. Figure 2, 3, and 4, which, when the clay is carried on to the plat-
form and under the mould; and plunger, push forward out of the machine the
pallet carrying the newly-formed: brick, as seen; in Figure 3. The springs.y, y,,
on which the pallet carrying the rough, brick is placed, slide in grooves; in the
platform, and when the plunger f comes down and presses the clay these
springs recede into, the said grooves. The pressure having been given,. the
moveable, rack frame is carried back, by the sector, into, its original position,
ready to receive a fresh lump,.
I may here observe that the platform, on which the clay receives: its pressure
is grooved for the purpose of receiving any extraneous matters: that may acci

page_text: dentally get underneath the pallet, and which would otherwise cause the brick
to. be made of an irregular form.
As it is necessary to lubricate or "slob." the mould between every opera-
tion, in order to make it deliver easily, I effect this object in the following.
manner: A reservoir containing water is placed at the top of the machine,
and by means of pipes the water is allowed to drip into two wipers: 2, 2, which.
are covered with cloth, felt, or other suitable, substance; and as; the inside of
the mould in rising comes into contact with cloth or felt on the wipers, it causes
the water to exude therefrom, and perfectly slob or lubricate the sides of the
mould.
Although in the foregoing description I have, for the sake of simplicity,
shewn our Invention as applied to making one brick only at a time, it is
evident that two or more bricks may be formed at the same operation
by merely increasing the width of the machine, as exactly the same motions
that are required to make one brick will, without any further alteration except
the addition of more moulds and plungers, make two or more bricks; and
when flat or round tiles are required, the moulds and plungers must be made
to correspond with the peculiar size and shape required.
Having now described our Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not mean to confine myself to
the precise arrangement of parts herein set forth and described, as it may
perhaps be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention; nor do
I intend to claim any of the parts separately, which may have been hereto-
fore used in brick-making machinery. But I claim, as the Invention secured to
us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, the general arrangement
of machinery or apparatus for making bricks, tiles, and other articles from clay
or earthy materials, as above described and exhibited in the accompanying
Drawing, subject, however, to such modifications in its parts as may be neces-
sary to suit different forms and dimensions of bricks, tiles, and other articles,
as well as in the number of such articles to be made at one operation, as above
mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Taylor, for myself and on behalf
of the said William Betts, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and forty-three.
WILL TAYLOR. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighth day of Septem-
ber, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid. William Taylor came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.