CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS, MACHINERY, OB APPARATUS FOR FORMING, MAKING, OR PRODUCING MOULDS OR VESSELS FOR REFINING SUGAR, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MATERIALS HITHERTO UNUSED IN MAKING THE SAID MOULDS
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, THOMAS
POWELL, WILLIAM POWELL, and JOHN POWELL, of the City and County of
Bristol, Glass Merchants and Stoneware Manufacturers, send greeting."
WHEREAS IIis most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of May, in the ninth year of His reign,
give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Powell, William Powell, and John
Powell, our exors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Thomas Powell, William
Powell, and John Powell, our executors, administrators, and assigns, during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS, MACHINERY,
OB APPARATUS FOR FORMING, MAKING, OR PRODUCING MOULDS OR VESSELS FOR
REFINING SUGAR, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MATERIALS HITHERTO UNUSED IN
MAKING THE SAID MOULDS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, that if we, tho said Thomas Powell, William Powell, and John
Powell, or one of us, shall not particularly describo and ascertain the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner tho same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, and cause to be inrolled in His Majesty's ligh
Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and
all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto`
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance-with-the-said-proviso, wc, the said.
Thomas Powell, William Powell, and John Powell, do hereby declare that
the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the samo is to
be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
Our Invention comprises an intirely new mode or method of making or
forming moulds or vessels for refining sugar by the apparatus, machinery,
and process hereafter described, and likewise for making and producing the
said moulds or vessels from materials hitherto unused for that purposes,
namely, of stone ware clay, the same being glazed inside and outside with a
salt glaze.
DESCRIPTION of the Machinery or Apparatus for making, forming, and
producing Moulds or Vessels for Refining Sugar.
No. 1, a block; partly of wood and partly of plaster of Paris, or wholly of
wood or other material, of, the shape of a loaf of sugar, very smoothly and
regularly made, in the broad end of which a hole is very nicely made in
the centre of about half of an inch diameter, and in the other or small end
is a spindle projecting about three inches, which must be in diameter the
size of the hole to be in the small end of the sugar mould or vessel. The
hole in the broad end and the spindle in the other, give the exact centre of
the block..
:
No. 2 is an upright spindle in a frame and turned with a large vertical
wheel and string, in a similar way to that of turning potters' wheels for
throwing or making ware. The top end of this upright spindle is very nicely.
turned to fit the hole in the large end of the block No. 1. This upright
spindle has a collar about one inch from the top, and is about three inches
diameter, the top part of which is very accurately turned so that the work
may go true. The frame is so made that when the block No. 1 is placed
upon the upright spindle, the end of the spindle being placed in the hole at
the broad end of the block No. 1, that the spindle in the small end of the
block aforesaid works in a box of brass or other material, so that when the
upright spindle is turned, the block No. 1, which is then standing perpendicular
upon its broad end, will also turn, taking care to see, that it moves, very
nicely upon its centre. In the top of the collar in the upright spindle a hole

page_text: is drilled about half of an inch from the centre, in which is a peg of iron
or some,
,other material standing up about half of an inch, and a corresponding
hole in the broad end of block No. 1 is made to fit so that when block No. 1
is put upon the upright spindle as. before described, this peg will act, as a
purchase to turn the block round. There are two kinds of apparatus for the
same purpose, namely, for preparing the clay for block No. 1, which'a
original, which we shall describe under No. 3 A and No. 3 B.
are equally
No. 3 A is a tub of nearly triangular form made very strong of wood or
other material twenty-four inches deep, and the inside in form and size of
the clay required. This tub is fixed two feet. two inches from the ground:
between two strong upright pieces of wood ten feet high which are strongly
framed together at the top and bottom. Underneath the aforesaid tub is a
table four feet long by two feet six inches wide hung with hinges, at one end
to a framo two feet high, and which frame is securely fixed to the upright
pieces before described, and the other end of the said table is allowed to move
up and down about two inches. Upon this table is a sliding board three feet.
long by two feet six inches wide and one inch thick, and upon this sliding
board and exactly under the tub is a flat mould of wood or other material
about half of an inch thick, and of the shape and size of the clay required to.
make one sugar mould or vessel. This flat mould, together with the sliding:
board and table before described, is wedged up close to the bottom of the tub..
This being done, the tub is filled with clay, which clay is pressed through the
tub by a screw from above, working between the two upright pieces aforesaid..
This screw of iron, two inches and a half diameter, and half of an inch thread,.
is sufficiently powerful. This screw is made to work in the following way,-
namely, there are two strong staples fixed, one on each side of the tub...
Three staples go through a strong arm or beam, which rests upon the top.
of the tub, and project sufficiently above the arm or beam to allow, a pin.
or bolt to pass through each of the said staples. The screw is made to
work into and through this arm or beam, which gives the effect of the screw.
upon the clay beneath, there being a strong board or flat plate of iron fixed
to the end or bottom of the screw of the exact size and shape of the inside-
of the tub. To work this apparatus thus described is as follows:-the
table, sliding board, and flat mould, being wedged up closely to the bottom.
of the tub, and the tub being full of clay, turn the screw until the flat
mould beneath the tub is filled with, clay; then slacken the wedge a little,
and pass a wire immediately between the bottom of the tub and flat mould,
by which means a cake of clay is produced of, the thickness and size
required for making one sugar mould or vessel. This flat mould thus filled
"

page_text: with clay is drawn out together with the sliding board from under the tub,
and when the tub is disengaged from it, it is replaced and wedged up under
the tub as before, and so on successively until the tub is emptied. To
replenish the tub again with clay you must knock back the pins or bolts
from the staples above the arm or beam, and then by means of a pulley the
screw and arm or beam, &c. is pulled up sufficiently high to allow moro
clay to be put in at the top of the tub.
No. 3 B, a flat tub about twelve inches high of nearly a triangular form
outside, the sides of which to be made of thin frames of wood half of an
inch thick, or other material, placed one upon the other, and securely braced
together until the tub is filled with clay, and then it is unbraced or slackened.
The inside of this tub is of the shape of the clay required. When this tub
is well filled with clay and slackened as above, a wire is passed between
each of these thin frames or sides of the tub, and thereby a cake of clay is
cut off of the exact size and shape to make one mould or vessel for refining
sugar.
No. 4, a kiln or oven for burning or baking stone ware moulds or vessels
for refining sugar, so that the same may be glazed on the inside as well
as the outside with a salt glaze. The kiln is of an oblong form of about
cight feet long by four feet wide, with a strong wall or abutment on each
side. The heighth of the kiln is twelve feet exclusive of the chimney, but
might be varied according to circumstances. The inside is divided by arches one
over the other from two to three feet asunder. These arches of nine inches
or four inches and an half thick, according to the distance from the fire,
are of fire bricks, and the sides of the kiln are of the same material. There
are holes made in the arches to admit the fire through the kiln; the fire-
holes through which the kiln is heated are at the ends and made in the
usual way.
INSTRUCTIONS for making, forming, and producing Moulds or Vessels for
Refining Sugar.
First, the clay is pressed in its proper shape, as described in No. 3 A, and
No 3 B, and cut off in thin cakes the thickness required. The surface is
then made very smooth with a pallet knife or some such instrument. When
this is done, the clay is rolled round the block No. 1, and very carefully
joined together. The sugar mould or vessel is thus formed; and after being
put by for a short time to get hard, is put upon the upright spindle No. 2,
the block still remaining in the mould or vessel, and when so placed upon
the said spindle the outside of it is turned to its proper shape. The block is

page_text: then knocked out, and the mould or vessel is finished and put into a warm
place to dry preparatory to its being burnt or baked.
Secondly, after the sugar mould or vessel is quite dry, it is placed in the
kiln or oven to be burnt or baked. Every mould or vessel is placed with
its broad end downward and 'set. as upright as possible, taking care that the
kiln gear is so arranged as to give free circulation to the fire within as well
as without the moulds or vessels. When the kiln or oven is set, burn it till
the body of the ware is vetrified and then, after glazing the ware therein with
salt in the way usually done by stone ware potters, the kiln is stopped up to
cool, and when sufficiently cold is drawn in the usual way. The apparatus
and machinery herein described, as well the process of making, forming, and
producing moulds or vessels for refining sugar, being entirely original and of
our sole invention, is applicable to all sorts of clay or other materials of which
pottery, sugar moulds, or vessels have been or can be made, we therefore claim
the exclusive right in applying the said process, machinery, and apparatus
accordingly.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Powell, William Powell, and
John Powell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Fourteenth
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-eight.