Im- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE PROM PLASTIC OR SILICEOUS MATERIALS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING PEAT OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Tooth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1869.
I, WILLIAM HENRY TOOTH, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES MADE
PROM PLASTIC OR SILICEOUS MATERIALS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR MOULDING AND PRESSING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING PEAT OR OTHER SUBSTANCES FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FUEL," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to an improved composition of
which bricks, tiles, and other articles (principally required in building
operations) may be made. The base of the composition, as in most
concrete masses used, for similar purposes, is gravel, broken stone, or
other hard material, preferring such materials as contain a proportion of
iron. The mass is wetted with a solution of soda or other alkali together
with a small quantity of sal ammoniac. The addition of a little sulphur
in powder will quicken the setting of the ingredients, as it will act on
the iron and will develop heat. When well mixed the ingredients may

page_text: 'my Invention.
The second part of the Invention relates to a novel arrangement of
machinery particularly applicable for making bricks or blocks, and by
means of which bricks made of concrete, clay, or other suitable material
may be turned out more complete and with greater expedition than
heretofore.
This machine consists of a pug mill in which there is a central
vertical shaft furnished with horizontal knives and cutters. The knives
(of which there are four) form sections of a four-threaded screw,
and are arranged radially round the shaft. The knives are fixed in
horizontal arms which are secured to the shaft by keys or cottars. To
this end the arms are forked at their inner ends, which are made to
embrace the square shaft, and the key or cottar is passed through holes
made in the forked ends of the arms, and pass behind the shaft instead
of through it. As the arms with their knives are carried round they
come in contact with a weighted scraper, which scrapes. the material
from the faces of the knives and guides it down through a hole in the
bottom or in the side of the pug mill into a space, from which it is
pushed forward by a reciprocating piston into a small chamber or short
tube, which acts as a measure to receive the proper quantity of clay,
concrete, or other material to form a brick. The measured quantity of
clay is then forced by a descending piston into a mould formed in a
revolving table. This pug mill part of the machine can be used for
making drain pipes for agricultural purposes by simply removing the
moulds and revolving table and adapting to the aperture through which
the moulds are fed for making bricks a die and core of suitable form.
The revolving table is actuated by means of a ratchet and bevil gearing in
the manner usually adopted in rotary table machines. When the mould
in the revolving table is filled with the requisite amount of clay or
concrete the table is made to revolve one-sixth or other portion of a
revolution according to the number of moulds employed; and when the
mould in advance of the one that has just been filled is brought under
the action of a press a plunger forming part of the press will descend
and force the concrete or other material in the mould. When the
plunger rises again the table will revolve another sixth or other part of a
revolution, the filled mould above referred to then comes under the
action of the compressing plunger of the press, which descends and

page_text: brings a pressure of ten tons to bear upon the clay or concrete in the
mould with a view to thoroughly compress it and make it perfectly hard
and solid.
This part of the press consists of a large box containing a crank,
which as it revolves pushes down a smaller box (contained within
the larger one) on to the clay or concrete in the mould. This small box
contains a solid piece of metal, the lower part of which is made of the
same form as the top of the brick to be pressed. Above this solid
block and contained in the smaller box is a powerful spring intended to
yield about one inch against a pressure of about 10 tons. This spring is
very important, as supposing there be a little too much material in the
mould when the plunger descends (if the spring were not there so as to
allow the plunger to yield), some of the gearing must inevitably break
or give way under the great strain to which it would be subjected.
When the plunger of the press again rises the revolving table above
mentioned will begin again to rotate, and will advance another sixth or
other part of a revolution. Directly the table begins its rotating motion
the brick is made to ascend in its mould by means of an iron lever or a rod
attached to the bottom of the mould. This rod is furnished with a small
roller at its lower extremity, and as the table revolves the roller begins
to ascend a circular inclined plane placed underneath the table for the
purpose, and the bricks are forced up out of the mould to the level of
the top of the table, where they are taken off and are passed away by the
attendant boy or man. Before the clay or concrete is forced into the
mould a thin piece of wood or pallet of the same length and width as
the brick is pushed into the mould by means of an iron plate, which is
pushed forward by means of a bell-crank lever operated by the plunger
of the press as it descends. A spring catch is also attached to the
machine to stop the table when it has rotated the required part of a
revolution. This catch is also operated by a lever that is made to act by
the descent of the plunger of the press. There are of course the usual
devices for sanding the mould, the pallet plates, and the upper
surface of the material in the mould, so as to prevent the plunger from
adhering thereto.