CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS FOR AND IN THE MAKING OB MANUFACTURING OF BRICKS
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MENCKE, of Park Place, Peckham, in the County of Surry, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eleventh day of August, in the ninth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Mencke, His especial licence that I, the said William Mencke,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
William Mencke, my exors, adñiors, and 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, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS FOR AND IN
THE MAKING OB MANUFACTURING OF BRICKS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Mencke, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High 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
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Mencke, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings annexed to this Specifi-
cation, and the following description thereof (that is to say):-
I
I prepare the materials for the bricks in the following manner :-According
to the nature or strength of the clay or brick earth I mix it with a greater or
lesser proportion of chalk as may be required, and as usual in brick making.
These materials I wash in the wash mill, and let off from the surface the
floating matters into proper receptacles, where they must remain until they
have settled or deposited themselves; I then draw off the water from the
surface by means of a sliding pipe or trunk, which I can lower as the water
descends. I then add to them a certain proportion, greater or lesser, according
to the nature of the mixture, of sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, in order to pro-
duce a state of union or combination amongst the component parts of the said
mixture, as well as to assist in drying it. I then remove it from the receptacles
and spread it abroad upon an extended surface or platform exposed to the
action of the air until it is become sufficiently dry to be capable of being
removed in masses, which are to be piled up in sheets, open at each end, and
where there is a thorough draft of air to assist in its drying. When it has
become capable of being raked into loose earth I employ it to fill the moulds
in the manner to be afterwards described.
Having thus stated the manner in which I prepare the materials for the
bricks I shall proceed to describe a machine or compound press which I
employ for moulding them, as follows:-In the Drawing Figure 1 is a side
view or elevation, Fig. 2 an end view, and Fig. 3 a plan of this press, which
is a combination of a screw press with a hydraulic press. A, A, &c., are four
wrought iron pillars by which the head B and the bed C of the machine are
united together and secured by screws and binding nuts, the bed C resting
upon and being firmly secured to wooden blocks, or other proper bearings,
as usual. D is the screw of the press. E, the beam or lever of it. F, one of
two lead or cast iron weights with which the beam is loaded, and which may
be one hundred pounds' weight cach, or more or less as may be required.
G, the gun-metal box or female screw firmly secured in the head B of the
press. To the lower end of the screw D the follower H is hung, and secured
by a coupling plate and screw, as usual. I, the hollow cylinder of the hydraulic
press which is firmly secured into the bed C of the press. J, the piston of it.
K, the follower of the hydraulic press. L, the injecting pump with its water
cistern. M, N, the pipo which conveys the water from the injecting pump L

page_text: to the hydraulic pump of the press. O, the screw of the conical valve, which is
turned to allow the water to flow out of the press cylinder, and to release the
press. Q, a metal frame which is firmly secured to the four pillars A, A, &c.,
it resting upon the shoulders R, R, &c., and being bound down or secured
from rising by keys or wedges S, S, driven into holes made through the pillars
to receive them, and it is secured sideways by the four sets of half holes
T, T, T, T, which are bound upon the pillars by screws. This metal frame Q
has as many moulds or divisions formed within it as there are bricks intended
to be compressed at once; in the present example eighteen are shewn. The
bottoms of these moulds are formed of the flat board or plate U, which rests
upon or is supported by the follower K of the hydraulic press. Underneath
the follower H of the screw of the press I affix as many wooden or metal
blocks V, V, &c., as there are divisions in the frame Q, and the frame Q is
made of a sufficient depth to receive within it as much of the prepared loose
brick earth as when compressed shall form the bricks of a proper thickness.
In using this compound press I first raise up the board or plate U by the
action of the injecting pump L until it firmly rests against the under side of tho
frame of moulds Q. I then fill the moulds with the said brick earth by means
of spades, shovels, or otherwise, and strike the surface of the brick earth level
with the tops of the moulds. I then put the lever or beam E of the screw press
into motion, and cause it to run down by the power of the screw, aided by the
momentum of the weights F, with a sufficient force to compress the brick earth
in the moulds to a sufficient degree. When the compression has been thus
effected I release the press by opening the conical valve O of the injecting
pump, when the board or plate U, loaded with the compressed bricks, will be
lowered, and their removal from out of the moulds will be completely effected
by causing the screw of the press to drive the blocks V, V, &c., down through
the moulds after them. The board with the bricks lying upon it may then
be removed, and another board be laid in its place to continue the operation.
The bricks thus moulded are next to be removed to arched buildings which
have doors at each end of them for the purpose of introducing and removing
the bricks, but which said doors may be built or closed up with bricks in a
temporary manner as required, and as will be described hereafter. Each of
these said arched buildings are likewise provided with a fireplace at one end
of them, fitted up with a grate and doors as usual, and also with a chimney at
the other end, which may be made of a greater or lesser length or height
according to the draft required to bo produced by it.
In the Drawing Fig. 5 is a longitudinal elevation or view of one of these
said arched buildings; W, its chimney; and Fig. 6 shows three of them built

page_text: side by side; X, the fireplace; Y, the passage to the chimney; and Z, a
clamp of bricks. The moulded bricks are to be piled in hacks in these said
arched buildings in the same manner as they are usually piled in the brick-
fields, that is, in such a way as to leave spaces around each brick for the
escape of the moisture contained in it. And I hasten or promote this drying,
when necessary, by the aid of the heated air from the fireplace, it being caused
to circulate amongst the bricks in its passage to the chimney. When the
bricks have become sufficiently dry for burning I remove and again pile them
in the ordinary manner, with layers of fuel interposed between them, within
the said arched buildings. I also provide openings along the sides of the said
arched buildings for the admission of air to support cumbustion in the clamp
of bricks, and also other openings in arches which cover them to permit the
escape of the heated air, smoke, or vapour, and which said openings I can
occasionally close as may be necessary.
I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention any of the
methods herein described which may have been already known or in use; but
I do hereby claim the introduction of the sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol into
the brick earth, the moulding of the bricks by means of the compound press,
the drying of them in the arched buildings, and, lastly, the burning them in a
clamp within the said buildings.
In witness, whereof, I, the said William Mencke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) MENCKE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of February, in
the year of our Lord 1829, the aforesaid William Mencke came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, 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.