IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND MOULDING MATERIALS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS ARE APPLICABLE TO MOULDING BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND MOULDING MATERIALS
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS ARE APPLICABLE
TO MOULDING BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES."-A communication.
Sealed the 25th June 1858, and dated the 4th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th May 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND
MOULDING MATERIALS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS
ARE APPLICABLE TO MOULDING BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improved apparatus for mixing and moulding materials
for the manufacture of fuel relates to an arrangement of apparatus for manu-
facturing artificial fuel according to the process for which I have already
applied for Letters Patent on the 20th day of March 1858, parts of the said
improved apparatus being also applicable to the moulding of bricks and other
analogous articles. The apparatus consists principally of, first, a mixing

page_text: apparatus; and, second, a moulding and pressing apparatus. In the former
the various ingredients composing the fuel are intimately combined by means
of a rotating stirrer, which is kept constantly in motion, while the ingredients
are fed into the upper part by a hopper or hoppers, which are kept constantly
supplied by an archimedean screw, or endless series of buckets, or other con-
venient and suitable mechanical contrivance. Before supplying the materials
to the stirring or mixing apparatus they are to be first pulverized or ground
either in a separate apparatus, or in a mill adapted to and forming part of the
mixing chamber. Steam, either common or superheated, or hot air, or gas,
is admitted to the lower part of the mixing chamber, and by the mass of
ingredients in this chamber being kept in constant motion by means of the
rotating stirrer, the hot vapor will be brought into intimate contact with the
carbonaceous matters, and will consequently soften them, and cause them to
agglomerate. By the continued rotation of the stirrer the mixed ingredients
are in a soft state forced out of an aperture at the bottom of the mixing
chamber into a series of moulds, which are brought in succession under the
aperture. For this purpose the moulds are adapted to or formed in a
horizontal wheel or frame, to which an intermittent rotary motion is com-
municated by means of suitable gearing. In these moulds are fitted moveable
pistons, which are worked by a vibrating lever below. This lever is provided
with bowls or rollers, which act against the under side of the pistons, and
force them up in the moulds at the proper time to form and compress and
force out the bricks or blocks. This vibrating lever is actuated by means of
a piston working in a steam cylinder, the valves of which are worked by cam
pieces or other contrivances connected with the moveable horizontal mould
frame, or some other convenient moving part of the apparatus. There are
four moulds in the rotating frame, and the operation of the moulding apparatus
is as follows: A mould is filled from the mixing chamber, and is then carried
forward one-fourth of a revolution of the rotating mould frame; this will
bring a second mould under the aperture of the mixing chamber, and at the
same time the first mould will be brought under a stationary plate or block,
against which the brick or block of fuel in the mould will be compressed by
the ascent of the piston in the mould by the action of the vibrating lever
thereon. This compression of the material having been effected, the mould
is moved forward again one-quarter of a revolution, a third mould being
brought under the aperture of the mixing chamber, and the second mould
under the compressing block. Another quarter of a revolution will bring the
first compressed block over the opposite end of the vibrating lever, and when
the latter is again raised by the piston in the steam cylinder the first block will

page_text: be forced out of the mould, and will, by means of a small lever, be pushed off
the face of the mould piston on to a travelling cloth or band, which will convey.
it away from the machine. It will be obvious, that a similar arrangement of
parts for filling, moulding, compressing, and discharging may be employed for
producing bricks and other similar articles capable of being moulded.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MIXING AND MOULDING MATERIALS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF FUEL, PARTS OF WHICH APPARATUS ARE APPLICABLE TO MOULDING BRICKS
AND OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-

page_text: This Invention of improved apparatus for mixing and moulding materials
for the manufacture of fuel relates to an arrangement of apparatus for manu-
facturing artificial fuel according to the process for which I have already
obtained Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-eight, parts of the said improved apparatus being
also applicable to the moulding of bricks and other analogous articles. The
apparatus consists principally of, first, a mixing apparatus, and, second, a
moulding and pressing apparatus, whereby the ingredients when intimately
mixed may be moulded into any convenient form. In the mixing apparatus
the various ingredients composing the fuel are intimately combined by means
of a rotating stirrer, which is kept constantly in motion, while the ingredients
are fed into the upper part from a hopper or hoppers, which are kept constantly
supplied by an archimedean screw, or endless series of buckets, or other con-
venient and suitable mechanical contrivance. Before supplying the materials to
the stirring or mixing apparatus, they are to be first pulverized or ground, either
in a separate apparatus, or in a mill adapted to and forming part of the mixing
chamber. Steam, either common or superheated, or hot air, or gas is admitted.
to the lower part of the mixing chamber, and by the mass of ingredients in
this chamber being kept in constant motion by means of the rotating stirrer,
the hot vapor will be brought into intimate contact with the carbonaceous
matters, and will consequently soften them, and cause them to agglomerate.
By the continued rotation of the stirrer, the mixed ingredients are in a soft
state forced out of an aperture at the bottom of the mixing chamber into a
series of moulds, which are brought in succession under the aperture. For
this purpose
the moulds are adapted to or formed in a horizontal wheel or
frame, to which an intermittent rotary motion is communicated by means of
suitable gearing. In these moulds are fitted moveable pistons, which are
worked by a vibrating lever below. This lever is provided with bowls or
rollers, which act against the under side of the pistons, and force them up in
the moulds at the proper time to form and compress and force out the bricks
or blocks. This vibrating lever is actuated by means of a piston working in a
steain cylinder, the valves of which are worked by cam pieces or other con-
trivances connected with the moveable horizontal mould frame or some other
convenient moving part of the apparatus. There are four moulds in the rotating
frame, and the operation of the moulding apparatus is as follows:-A mould is
filled from the mixing chamber, and is then carried forward one-fourth of a
revolution of the rotating mould frame; this will bring a second mould under
the aperture of the mixing chamber, and at the same time the first mould will
be brought under a stationary plate or block, against which the brick or

page_text: block of fuel in the mould will be compressed by the ascent of the piston in
the mould, which is effected by the action of the vibrating lever thereon.
This compression of the material having been effected, the mould is moved
forward again one-quarter of a revolution, a third mould being brought under
the aperture of the mixing chamber, and the second mould under the com-
pressing block. Another quarter of a revolution will bring the first compressed
block over the opposite end of the vibrating lever, and when the latter is again
raised by the piston in the steam cylinder, the first block will be forced out of
the mould, and will, by means of a small lever, be pushed off the face of the
mould piston on to a travelling cloth or band, which will convey it away from
the machine.
The Figures in the accompanying Drawings represent various views of the
apparatus forming the subject of the present Invention, similar letters being
placed upon corresponding parts in all these Figures.
Fig. 1 (Sheet I.) is a front elevation of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is an end
view; Fig. 3 (Sheet II.) is a plan or bird's-eye view of the same; Fig. 4
(Sheet III.) is a vertical section of the mixing and compressing or moulding
apparatus; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the same; Fig. 6 is a detached
sectional view of the moulding or compressing apparatus, with its accessories
and the steam apparatus adapted thereto.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The coal intended to be
mixed with the other ingredients for the production of the fuel is thrown into
the hopper Z (Sheet II.), and is fed forward by the archimedean screw C to
the endless chain of buckets F (Figures 1, 2, and 3), by which it is raised and
thrown on to the rollers of the crushing mill G (Sheet I.), to which the binding
material is at the same time supplied from the hopper E, and pulverizing
mill H, which is driven at a speed proportionate to the quantity of binding
material required to be supplied. The ingredients thus combined fall into the
steam mixing apparatus or pug mill A, seen in vertical section, and drawn on
an enlarged scale at Fig. 4, and which consists of a vertical cylinder, in which
works a shaft provided or armed with toothed beaters a³, which work between
stationary or projecting arms b', which are also furnished with teeth. Steam
is supplied to this cylinder at the orifice K, and the ingredients, when well
mixed and softened, fall through the orifice L into one of the moulds, say
No. 1 of the moulding or compressing apparatus B, Fig. 5. This apparatus
is composed of a horizontal moveable plate M, carrying the four moveable
moulds 1, 2, 3, 4, mounted upon a circular framing N, which is hollow in the
middle, and is provided at a (Figures 4 and 6) with a steam cylinder O, the
piston of which communicates motion to the double-acting lever P, whereby

page_text: the block of fuel in the mould 2 is compressed against the fixed plate a, and
at the same time another block is forced out from the mould 4. The mould
plate M has an intermittent rotary motion imparted to it by means of the
wheel Q, the pinion R (Fig. 4), and pulley S (Fig. 2), until the plunger b
moving upon the lower horizontal plane c of the frame N arrives at the point
of descent y of the upper plane d, thereby arresting the motion of the mould
plate by means of the band T (Fig. 2). This intermittent motion may be
produced by any other suitable means. At this period of the revolution of
the mould plate, the rod e of the steam valve f will fall into the nick g of
the mould No. 2, by the action of the counterweight h (see Fig. 6). The
steam will act upon and raise the piston i, and with it the double-acting
lever P, up to the point when the tail of this lever raises the steam valve by
acting against the rod or lever k, this movement being of course regulated
according to the nature of the material to be operated upon, and the degree of
compression required. The steam will then escape above the piston by raising
the valve from its seat m, and the block of fuel No. 4, which has been driven
from its mould, will be pushed by the levers n and o on to the endless band p,
by which it is conducted away from the machine. During this time the
plunger having been freed from the pressure of the lever P, and merely
sliding upon the upper horizontal plane d, will allow the mould plate M to
continue its rotation for another quarter of a revolution, during which move-
ment the plunger 6 will in its turn fall upon the lower plane c, when the
movement will be again stopped by the plunger b. The plunger 6" will then
be again forced up, so as to discharge its block from the mould, and so on, the
machine continuing to form or mould, press, and discharge four blocks for
each revolution of the mould plate. Motion may be communicated to the
apparatus by a steam engine or any other suitable motive power, the same
being transmitted to the various parts by means of bands, pullies, and gearing,
as shewn in the Drawings.
It will be obvious, that a similar arrangement of parts for filling, moulding,
compressing, and discharging may be employed for producing bricks and other
similar articles capable of being moulded, and it will also be evident that,
instead of moulding, compressing, and delivering only one block or brick at a
time, as shewn in the Drawings, two, three, or more moulds may be filled and
operated with simultaneously.
Having now described the Invention of "Improved Apparatus for Mixing
and Moulding Materials for the Manufacture of Fuel, Parts of which Apparatus
are Applicable to Moulding Bricks and other analogous Articles," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,' as communicated to me

page_text: by my foreign correspondent, I claim, in conclusion, the arrangement or con-
struction of parts herein shewn and described, or any mere modification
thereof for mixing the ingredients, and for moulding, compressing, and
discharging the plastic materials from a rotating mould plate or frame.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)