AN IMPROVED BRICK-MAKING MACHINE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, of 31, Charing Cross, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
BRICK-MAKING MACHINE."-A communication from abroad by Louis
Fréderic François David, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 17th December 1861, and dated the 25th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th.
June 1861.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED BRICK-MAKING MACHINE," & that it has been communicated to me
from abroad by Louis Fréderic François David, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in
the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
The machine which serves to mould and to compress clay and other matters
suitable for making bricks is constructed as follows:-A cast-iron botton
plate, furnished with a certain number of moulds, and bolted on a vertical
shaft to which a rotary movement is given, each mould is furnished internally
with a pressing block, which moves up & down in the moulds. Beneath the

page_text: bottom plate a roller is placed, on which the pressing blocks ascend vertically,
in order to obtain suitable pressure on the matter to be compressed; the
height of the roller can be regulated by means of two screws, which raise or
lower the bearings in which the axle of the roller turns. A lever or arm of
cast iron, having the form of a sector, is placed on the bottom frame, and has
a backward and forward movement given to it. This arm serves as bearing
to the vertical shaft of the bottom plate at the moment of compression; this
arm moves with the bottom plate, but after the compression it moves back
alone to pass another mould, a lever is fixed in a socket made in the arm
above mentioned, and by a backward & forward motion causes the bottom
plate, which is furnished with a cog wheel to advance one cog at a time.
When the arm moves back alone a jointed gearwork causes a cast-iron presser
to act on the upper surface of the brick. The lower pressing blocks, after
their passage on the roller, ascend an incline plane, & cause the brick to come
out of the mould, then passing down a second incline plane furnished with a
projection passing in a grove made in the pressing blocks, they are thus forced
to descend. Slightly above the bottom plate a table is placed, having raised
edges, on which the clay or other matters are placed, and large enough to
supply three moulds at a time, a stop prevents the bottom plate moving when
the arm above mentioned moves back.
The several parts above mentioned are placed between two platforms, bound
together by four supports.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens, in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
24th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Stevens, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 BRICK-MAKING
MACHINE," a communication to me from abroad by Louis Fréderic Francois
David, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Stevens, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Charles Stevens, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
The object of the present Invention is an improved brick-making machine,
the advantages of which are that it produces bricks of better make, and is at
the same time of extremely simple construction, capable of being easily moved,
and requiring only ordinary labourers to work and tend it.
The machine does not require the clay to be prepared, but acts on it in its
naturel state; it can also be used for artificial pastes or any other substance
capable of being moulded and pressed into bricks.
The construction of the machine will be readily understood by means of the
following description, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2, plan; Fig. 3, a side elevation; Fig. 4
is a vertical section following the line a, b. The above Figs. are 1 the
naturel size.
Fig. 5 represents the arrangement for applying pressure on the top of the
brick, and is at the natural size.
.
P is a cast-iron plate, furnished with a certain number of moulds c, c, c, c,
to which a rotating movement is given; I, a driving shaft, to which the plate
P is bolted at t, t,; each mould is furnished with a pressor T, T, working
piston wise, that is, having an up-and-down movement in the moulds; R, a
dead roller or pulley, on which the pressers T, T, ascend; it is capable of.
being regulated so that the required pressure may be given; V, V, two. screws
for raising or lowering the bearings b, b, in which the shaft H of the roller R
revolves, and by which the latter is regulated; S, an arm or lever, having a

page_text: backward and forward motion, and shaped like a sector, and serving as bear-
ings at ff; during the compression it follows the movement of the plate P,
but after this has taken place it moves back to pass under another mould;
L, lever for giving movement to the machine; it is fixed in the socket of the
arm S; M, vertical tongue on the arm S, meeting alternately the teeth d, d, d,
of the plate, to which it gives a circular movement; Q, an inclined plane, up
which the pressers T, T, ascend till on a level with the plate P, so as to push
out the compressed brick; Z, another inclined plane, by which the pressers
are drawn down to their lowest position, the projection 9 of the inclined plane
gearing in the groove a, a, of the pressers; B, a platform or fixed table, on
which the clay or other substance to be converted into bricks is thrown; it is
so arranged as to embrace three moulds at a time; K is a stop fixed to the
binding joist X, serving to prevent the plate turning the contrary way when
the arm S moves back from one mould to the other.
The arrangement for compressing the bricks on their top surface is shown
Fig. 5, and also in red ink on the other Figs.
P is a part of the turning plato; T, a presser; c, c, moulds; S, movable
arm; L, lever; N, lever having connecting gear at each end; G, connecting
rod on the sector arm, and united to the lever N; J, J, J, connecting pieces,
effecting a rectilineal movement, by means of which the pressure is brought to
bear on the top of the bricks by the foot or block U, and when the sector arm
moves back the crank pin D draws the connecting rod G, which communicates
the movement to the compressing system, and the foot presses the brick to the
full extent; its projection exceeds that of the surface of the plate. The other
pieces used in building the machine are clearly shown in the annexed Drawings,
and do not require description.
The rotary movement of the plate can be given by steam power, in which
case the connecting rod of the engine would be connected with the lever L of
the machine, or any other motive power, such as horses or men. The machine
is fed by the clay or other substance used being thrown on the table B, when
it is pushed into the moulds by means of a wooden scraper; sand can be
thrown on the moulds to prevent sticking by any of the ordinary ways. When
the moulds have been regulated a common day laborer can feed the machine;
the moulds are easily regulated in the following manner :-Supposing they
have a depth at v, v, Fig. 4, of 5 inches, and the clay is compressed 50°, the
bricks produced would be 2 inches thick; it is, therefore, necessary to
-regulate the course of the pressers according to the nature of the clay used.
The produce of the machine depends on the speed and regularity with which

page_text: the moulds are filled; the machine represented in the Drawings contains 12
moulds, and supposing the speed to be 1 revolutions per minute, the result
would be 1080 bricks per hour.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the general arrangement of the machine, especially the
movable arm S and means of compression, as herein-before described and
shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES STEVENS. (L.S.)