IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANU- FACTURING BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Louis Bilon and Jean Etienne
Jerémie Nappey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 1st June 1861.
We, LOUIS BILON, Tile & Brick Maker, & JEAN ETIENNE JEREMIE NAPPET,
Proprietor, both of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANU-
FACTURING BRICKS AND TILES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to improved machinery for the manufacture of bricks,
tiles of various kinds, and other similar articles, and consists of, 1st, an area
or platform, above which are stretched iron or brass wires in parallel lines
perpendicular to each other, at suitable distances apart & maintained in their
respective positions by means of counter-balance weights which keep the
wires in a state of tension; the intersections of the wires form parallelograms
of the size of the bricks. The clay is placed on the platform above mentioned
& well trodden; it is then forced through the kind of network of wires and
smoothed by suitable means; we thus obtain irregularly shaped blocks of
clay, one side of which is level, viz., that which rests upon the platform.
2ndly, of a revolving press or hexagonal table, having a convex inclined
plano resting on arms springing from a centre support or pivot, to which
rotary motion is imparted, & also has a forked lever jointed to it furnished
with a plate of wood or metal. This lever has two motions, the one a vertical
up-and-down motion and a similar return motion, it being jointed to the

page_text: pivot, the other a horizontal motion, affording the capability of moving over
the surfaces of the table, the pivot on which the lever is mounted having a
rotary motion. The irregular blocks of clay before mentioned on leaving the
platform are placed on the revolving press, care being taken that the smooth
side of the clay block rests on a part of the hexagonal table, the height of
which part is regulated according to the dimensions of the bricks to be made;
the forked lever is then raised and caused to traverse throughout the surface
of the revolving press, striking the whole of the bricks successively, which
thus smooths two more of their sides; they now possess three level faces.
After having successively beaten the bricks on the six sides of the table of
the revolving press, they are removed and replaced by others to be operated.
upon in a similar manner, so as to render the operation continuous & prevent
loss of time.
3rdly & lastly, of a clay-cutting saw, which is composed of two frames
supporting a long rectangular table, the width of which should be exactly
the same as the length of the bricks; on this table are placed the bricks, side
by side, having three of their sides smooth, so that by forming a row or bed
the smooth sides of the bricks rest on the table & also touch each other.
There only now remains to smooth or finish off the upper & fourth side;
for this purpose a double rule or frame is placed at the required height for
guiding an iron wire attached to handles, and which scrapes the upper hori-
zontal surfaces of the bricks. This first layer of bricks being thus smoothed
on all four sides, another layer is then placed on them, and the operation
repeated in the same manner as before, the wire being raised to the required
height for levelling the upper surface of this second layer, & so on until
the machine be quite full, when the edges of the bricks are smoothed by
means of a knife which is caused to. traverse along the end surface of the
rectangular table, & also by an upper plate parallel to & of the same width
as the table. The mechanism for raising the double rule or frame to the
required height consists of pinions mounted on a common shaft passing under
the rectangular table and gearing with a rack with which each frame is
provided. The rack, which is fixed to the double rule by means of screws,
is further furnished with a ratchet, in which a pawl takes for preventing the
descent of the rule. It will be easily understood that by turning the pinions
by means of a crank or fly wheel the rack & also the double rule or frame
may be raised to the required height, where it is held by means of the ratchet
& pawl. By thus combining the several apparatus bercin-before described
so as to form one machine, a large number of bricks, tiles, or other similar
articles may be obtained in a very short time of regular form and proportions,

page_text: which may be varied as required by simply changing some of the parts
beforehand. The various operations effected by these improved apparatus
may be summed up as follows:-Roughly shaping the clay into blocks, to
be thence placed in the revolving press, leaving which with three level sides,
it is acted upon by the clay-cutting saw or knife, & so finished, when it may
be dried & baked as in ordinary.