IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANU- FACTURING AND PRESSING BRICKS, QUARRIES, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY, AND FOR PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Wilks, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester,
Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANU-
FACTURING AND PRESSING BRICKS, QUARRIES, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF
CLAY, AND FOR PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND OTHER MATERIALS.”
Sealed the 29th December 1877 and dated the 17th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Wilks at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th July 1877.
ALFRED WILKS, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester, Ironfounder.
" IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING AND PRESSING BRICKS, QUARRIES,
AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY, AND FOR PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND
OTHER MATERIALS."
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said
machinery in the manner herein-after described, whereby great facility and economy
in the manufacture and pressing of bricks and other articles made of clay, and in
pressing artificial fuel and other materials are secured.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of bricks :-The
moulds in which the bricks are formed consist of oblong boxes, open at bottom and
top and at one of the longer sides. The opening at the side of the mould is situated
opposite a horizontal channel, to which clay is supplied by an ordinary pug mill or
in any other convenient manner. In this channel a horizontal slide or plunger
works, by which the clay is forced into the mould. After the clay has entered the
mould, a plunger, fitting the open bottom of the mould, rises and lifts the clay
above the opening in the side of the mould at which it was introduced. Another
plunger fitting in the open top of the mould now descends, and the clay thus
enclosed between the fixed sides of the mould and the moveable top and bottom is
strongly compressed and the brick is properly shaped. The top plunger now rises
out of the mould, and the lower plunger ascends until it reaches the level of the
Duin G21

page_text: top of the mould. The brick now rests on the lower plunger, and is wholly above
and outside the mould. A slide advancing horizontally carries the brick off the
plunger and brings it on to a fixed platform, from whence it may be removed by
hand or by a travelling band.
The machine is double acting, that is to say, the horizontal slide described 5
when travelling in one direction forces clay into a mould near one end of the said
slide, and when travelling in the other direction forces clay into another mould
situated near its other end. The moulds may be made double, so that two bricks
may be made at a time.
1
The motions of the moving parts of the machine are effected as follows:-
Rotatory motion is communicated by steam or other power to a shaft passing across
the middle of the machine; a pinion on this shaft gears with a toothed wheel on
each side of it. These wheels are on shafts situated respectively under the moulds.
At the base of the machine and under the first-mentioned shaft is another shaft
carrying an oscillating frame; upright rods on which support and actuate the tops 1
of the moulds. The bottoms of the moulds are supported by middle rods connected
with the ends of an oscillating lever on the bottom shaft. Cams on the shafts
under the moulds, having the required shapes and positions to give the proper
motions to the tops and bottoms of the moulds respectively, act at the proper times
on the supports of the said tops and bottoms.
2
The motion of the slide by which the clay is fed into the moulds is effected by
a sliding bar, to which an alternating motion is given by cams on the shafts under
the moulds. This slide has teeth on its upper side, which gear with teeth on the
lower end of an oscillating arm. The upper end of the said arm has teeth which
gear with a rack on the under side of the slide which feeds the moulds. The slides 2
by which the bricks are removed from the moulds are urged forward by springs,
their return motion being produced by cams on the shafts under the moulds.
(...
The application of my Invention to the pressing of bricks, and to the manufacture
and pressing of various articles made of clay, and to the pressing of artificial fuel
and other materials, differs in no essential respect from its application to the
manufacture of bricks.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Wilks in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th January
1878.
ALFRED WILKS, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester, Ironfounder. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING AND PRESSING BRICKS, QUARRIES,
AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE OF CLAY, AND FOR PRESSING ARTIFICIAL FUEL AND
OTHER MATERIALS."
My Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said
machinery in the manner herein-after described, whereby great facility and economy
in the manufacture and pressing of bricks and other articles made of clay, and in
pressing artificial fuel and other materials are secured.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of bricks :-The
moulds in which the bricks are formed consist of oblong boxes, open at bottom and
top and at one of the longer sides. The opening at the side of the mould is situated
opposite a horizontal channel, to which clay is supplied by an ordinary pug mill
or in any other convenient manner. In this channel a horizontal slide or plunger
works, by which the clay is forced into the mould. After the clay has entered the
mould a plunger, fitting the open bottom of the mould, rises and lifts the clay above
the opening in the side of the mould at which it was introduced. Another plunger
fitting in or closing the open top of the mould now descends, and the clay thus
enclosed between the fixed sides of the mould and the moveable top and bottom is
strongly compressed and the brick is properly shaped. The top plunger now rises
out of or from off the mould, and the lower plunger ascends until it reaches the
level of the top of the mould; the brick now rests on the lower plunger, and is
wholly above and outside the mould. A slide advancing horizontally carries the
brick off the plunger and brings it on to a fixed platform, from whence it may be
removed by band or by a travelling band.
The machine is double acting, that is to say, the horizontal slide described when
travelling in one direction forces clay into a mould near one end of the said slide,
and when travelling in the other direction forces clay into another mould situated
near its other end. The moulds may be made double, so that two bricks may be
made at a time.
The motions of the moving parts of the machine are effected as follows:-
Rotatory motion is communicated by steam or other power to a shaft passing across
the middle of the machine; a pinion on this shaft gears with a toothed wheel on
each side of it. These wheels are on shafts situated respectively under the moulds.
At the base of the machine and under the first-mentioned shaft is another shaft
carrying an oscillating frame; upright rods on which support and actuate the tops
of the moulds. The bottoms of the moulds are supported by middle rods connected
with the ends of an oscillating bar on the bottom shaft. Cams on the shafts under
the moulds, having the required shapes and positions to give the proper motions to
the tops and bottoms of the moulds respectively, act at the proper times on the
supports of the said tops and bottoms.
The motion of the slide or plunger by which the clay is fed into the moulds is
effected by a cam. The slides by which the bricks are removed from the moulds
are urged forward by springs, their return motion being produced by cams on the
shafts under the moulds.
The application of my Invention to the pressing of bricks, and to the manufacture
and pressing of various articles made of clay, and to the pressing of artificial fuel
and other materials, differs in no essential respect from its application to the
manufacture of bricks.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation; Figure 2, in front elevation; and Figure 3,
in back elevation, double-acting machinery for manufacturing and pressing bricks,

page_text: the parts of the said machinery being constructed and arranged according to my
Invention; Figure 4 is a horizontal section of a portion of the same taken on the
line A, B, Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a plan of the pug mill, taken a little above the section, Figure 4.
Figure 6 represents a plan of the brick-removing mechanism separately, and
Figure 7 is a plan and side elevation of the rocking frame to which the connecting
rods of the upper plungers or pressers of the moulds are jointed, as herein-after
described.
Figures 4 and 5 are drawn double the scale of the other Figures.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawings.
b, b², are the moulds or mould boxes in which the bricks are made and pressed,
situated at opposite sides of the machine. These moulds or boxes are open at top
and bottom and at the sides, marked respectively b³, 6, (see Figure 4). The side
openings 63, 64, of the moulds b, b2, are situated opposite the ends of the horizontal
channel d, which is supplied with clay from the pug mill e, which pug mill e is
constructed in the ordinary way. The pug mill communicates with the horizontal
channel d by means of the passages ff, which passages f, f2, open respectively
into opposite ends of the said channel d, as well as by openings f5, f, over the ends
of the channel d, as seen in Figures 4 and 5. The bottom of the pug mill e is
furnished with a base plate h having openings in it, corresponding with the
passages f, f, and openings f³, f, to the horizontal channel d (see Figure 5). In
the horizontal channel d a slide or plunger g works. By the motion of the slide
or plunger g in one direction, the clay supplied to the channel d through the
passage and opening f" is forced into the mould 62, and the other passage fand
opening are opened to the channel d; and by the motion of the slide or
plunger g in the other direction the clay which has been fed into the channel
through the open passage fand opening f³ is forced into the mould b, and the
passage and opening fat the same time opened for again supplying a charge of
clay to the end of the channel d nearest the mould b². The reciprocating motion
of the clay feeding and forcing plunger g is effected by the cam i on the vertical
shaft, which shaft also drives the pug mill. The cam i works in an opening g² in
the said plunger g. The open bottoms of the moulds b, 62, are closed by vertically
moving plungers 1, 12, which fit closely in and constitute bottoms to the said moulds,
and the open tops of the said moulds are temporarily closed during the making
and pressing of the bricks by the vertically moving upper plungers or pressers m, m².
For convenience of description I will describe the action of the parts at one side
of the machine in connection with the mould 62 with respect to the making and
pressing of a brick, and I will describe the action of the parts at the other side of
the machine in connection with the mould b, with respect to the removal of a brick
made in the said mould b, but it must be understood that while a brick is being
inade at one side of the machine the brick made at the opposite side of the machine
is at the same time being removed, and the reverse.
When the horizontal or feeding plunger g working in the channel d has travelled
to the position represented in Figure 4, the clay which has been supplied to the said
channel & from the pug mill e through the passage f2 and opening f is forced into
the mould be through the open side 6, and the clay thereby compressed in the said
mould, the top and bottom of the said mould being closed by the lower plunger 2
and the upper plunger or presser m². After the clay, marked n in Figure 4, has
entered the mould 6, the lower plunger 2 rises and lifts the clay above the
opening in the mould be at which it was introduced, and the upper plunger or
presser m² next descends upon the mould, and the clay thus enclosed between the
fixed sides of the mould, and the moveable top and bottom of the mould is strongly
compressed by the further motion of the lower plunger 1, and the brick made to
take the exact figure of the mould. After the brick has been thus made and
compressed the top plunger or presser m² and the bottom plunger 2 ascend together
until the brick reaches the level of the top of the mould, and of the table or

page_text: platform p, as will be understood with respect to the brick q which has been made
in the mould b, and which is represented in the act of being removed. On the
removal of the brick from the mould the bottom plunger descends to its lowest
position in the said mould, and again forms the bottom of the mould ready to
receive the clay, which at the proper time is forced into it by the advance of the
feeding plunger g.
The mechanism for removing the brick 7 from the mould is represented detached
in plan in Figure 6, and is constructed as follows:-It consists of a rectangular
sliding frame, which partly encloses the brick to be removed, the rear part 2 of
the said sliding frame being situated above and working upon the table or plat-
form p, and the front part being supported upon the cross roller 8.
The brick q,
resting on the lower plunger l, having been lifted wholly above the outside of the
mould b, the sliding frame 1, 2, makes its motion in the direction of the arrows,
Figures 1 and 6. The raised rear part 2 of the sliding frame r is thereby made to
slide the brick q from off the top of the plunger 1, upon which it was supported, and
carry it on to the table or platform p, from which it may be removed by hand or by
a travelling band.
The motions of the several moving parts of the machine are effected in the
following manner:-8 is the driving shaft provided with a fly wheel s²; & pinion 8³
on the said shaft s gears with a toothed wheel 84 on the shaft 8, from which shaft 8*
the several notions of the machine are taken.
The lower plungers 1, 12, are raised and lowered in their respective moulds by
cams 3, 3, situated on the parallel cam shafts t, t, the said cams 13, 13, working in
straps,, on the lower ends of the plungers 1, 12. The two plungers 1, 12, are coupled
together by the lever 15, the arins of the said lever 15 being connected by the links
16, 16, to the straps *,, of the said plungers, as seen in Figures 1 and 3. The cam
shafts t, t, are driven from the shaft 85 by a pinion 8 on the said shaft 85, gearing
with the toothed wheels 87, 87, on opposite sides of it, the said toothed wheels 87, 87,
being fixed on the said cam shafts t, t. The straps 1, 14, are slotted to permit them
to rise and fall upon the cam shafts t, t.
The way in which the motions of the upper plungers or pressers m, m³, are
obtained will be understood by an examination of Figure 3, in which the construc-
tion and mode of working the presser m² is shown. The presser m² and the
corresponding presser m at the other side of the machine is provided with two con-
necting rods u, u, which pass to the bottom of the machine, and are connected by
links u, u², to the opposite corners of a rocking frame v (shown separately in
Figure 7), the said frame moving on the same centre as that on which the con-
necting lever of the lower plungers 1, 12, turns. The connecting rods u, u, work
through guides w, w, on the fixed framing of the machine. At about the middle of
each rod u is a knee piece u³, against which a cam u on the cam shaft t acts, as will
be understood by an examination of Figure 3. By the motions of the cams u, u,
and the rocking frame v the upper plungers or pressers m, m³, at opposite sides of
the machine are raised and lowered at the proper times for opening the moulds and
for pressing in conjunction with the lower plungers 1, 2, the bricks in the said moulds,
as before described.
The motion of the removing slide 1, 2, is effected in the following way:-On the
inside of the slide are studs x, x, with which the forked upper ends of the levers or
arms x, x², engage, the said levers being fixed on the horizontal axis ³, turning in
the bearings x, x. On the cam shaft t is a cam y, which acts against a roller on
the bottom of the arm y² fixed on the axis t, and thereby gives through the said
axis t and levers x², 2, the return motion to the removing slider, r². The advance
motion of the removing slide r, 2, in the direction of the arrows in Figures 1 and 6
is effected by the spring z working in the box z². The mechanism last described
for working the removing slide is represented only in connection with the mould b,
but the said mechanism is duplicated at the other side of the machine in connection
with the mould b².
The vertical shaft k, on which the cam i for working the clay-feeding plunger g

page_text: is situated (and which shaft also works the blades of the pug mill), is driven from
the shaft s through the bevel gearing represented at 1, Figure 2.
By substituting in the machine moulds and appliances of the proper shapes, the
said machine may be used for making quarries and other articles of clay, and also
for pressing hand-made bricks and other articles made of clay, as well as for pressing
artificial fuel and other materials.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention
of improvements in machinery for manufacturing and pressing bricks, quarries, and
other articles made of clay, and for pressing artificial fuel and other materials,―
First. The construction and arrangements or combinations of parts, herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for forcing the clay or
material received from the pug mill into the moulds, and for compressing the clay
or material in and lifting the compressed bricks or material from the said moulds,
substantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. The arrangement or combination of the parts of the mechanism, herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for working the
lower plungers constituting the moveable bottoms of the moulds, between which
bottoms and the upper plungers or pressers the bricks or articles are compressed.
Thirdly. The arrangement or combination of the parts of the mechanism; herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for working the
upper plungers or pressers which constitute the temporary tops of the moulds,
between which upper plungers or pressers and the lower plangers the bricks or
articles are compressed.
Fourthly. The construction of the removing slide, herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for removing the compressed bricks or
other articles or material from the moulds, and also the arrangement of the parts,
described and illustrated, for working the said removing slide.
Fifthly. The arrangement or combination of the parts, herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for working the feeding horizontal
plunger by which the clay or material is forced into the moulds prior to its being
compressed between the moveable tops and bottoms of the moulds.
Lastly. The general arrangement or combination of the parts of the double-acting
machinery for making and pressing bricks, quarries, and other articles made of clay,
and artificial fuel and other materials, herein-before described, and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Wilks, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
ALFRED WILKS. (L.S.)