IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
Cook and ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, of Johnstone, near Glasgów, Engineers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of March, in the fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Robert Cook and Andrew Cunningham, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Robert Cook and
Andrew Cunningham, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Robert Cook and Andrew Cunningham, our exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, with England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BRICKS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we,
the said Robert Cooke and Andrew Cunningham, or one of us, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we hereby!
declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by
the following description thereof (that is to say):-
The Invention relates to a mode of using a sliding frame or frames (applied
to a pug mill), having moulds of the desired shape and size formed therein,
into which moulds the brick earth is pressed, and subsequently the brick earth
thus moulded in the sliding moulds is transferred into other moulds, as will be
hereafter explained; and the Invention also relates to a mode of using a fixed
surface which forms the bottom of the sliding moulds. And in order that the
Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will
proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the figures and letters

page_text: the other is supported by the bracket I, which also serves as a bottom to the
moulds in the frame F while they are receiving their supply of brick earth.
In Figure II. there is a cross section of the box D, its piston E, the sliding
frame F, and the guiding beams G, G. The bracket I is also shewn there,
serving as a bottom for the moulds when they are filling. As soon as one of
the moulds in the frame F has been charged with brick earth, and before the
piston E has been drawn-up, the frame is moved forward by the crank J, and
the connecting rod K, the other mould introduced beneath the box D, and
allowed to pause for a short time, which pause in the motion of the machinery
is effected by the slot in the connecting rod K. Shortly after the frame begins
to move the piston is drawn up by the action of the coupling link M, and a
new supply of brick earth forced through the port into the box D by the
curved arms C, C; and as soon as the frame is again stationary the piston E
descending fills the mould with brick earth as before.
While the frame is thus stationary the discharging piston N descends (by
the action of several cams and levers, which will be hereafter explained) and
presses the brick earth which was first moulded out of the mould in the
frame F into a mould placed on the table O' to receive it. The piston N is
immediately drawn up again so as not to hinder the shifting of the frame.
In this way, the one mould being discharged while the other is filling, a con-
tinual succession is kept up, and the boy who attends the removing mould
withdraws it whenever it is filled, discharges the brick on a pallet, and returns
it to its former position on the table O.
We will now explain how the different parts are set in motion. The driving
shaft R, on which is fixed the pinion Q, being actuated upon by any suitable
power, gives motion to the bevil wheel P, see Figure I. P in turn drives the
pinion S on the horizontal shaft T, which, by means of the mitre wheels U, U,
sets in motion the upright shaft V. This shaft, by the two pairs of mitre wheels
W, W, and X, X, drives the horizontal shafts Y and Z. The wheel a and the
pinion 6 are fixed respectively on the shafts e and Y (the wheel a having twice as
many teeth as the pinion), and give motion to the shaft e, on which are also
fixed the cranks J, J, and by means of the connecting rods K, K, work the
sliding frames F, F. The horizontal shaft Z has two cams d, d, fixed on it..
which raise the levers &, &, and depress the pistons E, E, which are again
drawn up by the coupling links M, M,, see Figures III. and VI. f and h
are cams fixed on the shaft T, and v, w, are also cams, one of which v
is fixed on the shaft k (which works in bearings in the standards of the pug
mill, while the other w, is loose on that shaft. 1, m, n, o, are four levers
supported on studs bolted to the sides of the pug mill, as is plainly shown

page_text: in Figures II. and III., the ends of which levers work in the square eyes of
the discharging piston rods p, p, p, p. From the lever l, see Figures III. and
VI. the rod a descends, and is attached to the cam v, which is fixed on the
shaft k, and from the same lever 1, but from the opposite side of the stud or
fulcrum, descends the rod r, which is attached to the other cam on the shaft k,
namely w, the loose one. As the shaft T revolves the cam f strikes on and
depresses the cam v, fixed on the shaft k, and thus depresses the lever 1, and
the discharging piston N, while the cam h, which is fixed on the shaft T, so as
to come into contact with the loose cam w (as soon and no sooner than the
cams f and 6 are free of each other) depresses that cam, pulls down the opposite
end of the lever by. means of the rod r, and so elevates the discharging
piston N to its former position, where it is retained by a balance weight
attached to the end of the lever l until the cam f comes again into contact
with the cam v. The levers are so linked together, two and two, that when-
ever the one is depressed so also is the other, as is evidently shewn by the
Drawings, so that land m, n and o, are depressed and elevated all together.
The pair of levers and o, shewn in Figure III., are raised and depressed
by the single rod t, attached to the levers n, u, which u is fixed to the shaft k,
so that whenever k is turned, by the cam f depressing the cam v, u is also
depressed, and 'thus the levers n, o, and their respective pistons N, N, are
depressed likewise. Again, when the cam 7 depresses the loose cam w, and
elevates the lever and its piston N, the rod q raises the cam v to its.
former position; and also the lever u, by means of the rod t, elevates the
levers n, o, and raises their discharging pistons N, N, out of the moulds. See
Figure 1. 2 is a small pipe for dropping water upon the brick earth as it
passes from beneath the box D to its place under the discharging pistons
N, N, which pistons are covered on the under side with strong moleskin cloth;
there are also numerous small holes in them to admit air and make them part
easily with the brick earth. 3 is a shutter wrought by the screwed rod a, and
enables those attending the machine to encrease or diminish the size of the
port or aperture through which the brick earth is pressed, as may be found
necessary. y, y, are the moveable moulds in which the bricks are removed from
the machine. o, o, are tables on which the moulds y, y, are placed, and have
slips on their edges to guide the moulds properly under the moulds in the
sliding frame F. The tables o, o, are placed at such a distance from the sliding
frame F, that when the pistons N, N, descend, they press the brick earth on
the tables o, o, so as to make the bricks perfectly flat on that side. The
machine is so constructed that both sides work at the same time, or one

page_text: side can be kept standing while the other is at work. Figures VII., VIII., IX.,
are respectively a sectional side elevation, an end elevation, and a plan of
another arrangement of our machine, where A is the pug mill; B the driving
shaft with the knives attached to it. In this arrangement there is only one
sliding frame F, which contains four moulds, as shewn in Figure X., which is
a separate view of it. The sliding frame F, which passes underneath the pug mill,
is wrought in a similar manner to that described in the preceding arrangement,
videlicet, with a crank J, and connecting rod K, having a slot in it, so as
to allow the frame to pause while the moulds in the frame F are filling and the
discharging pistons N descending. The moulds are filled by the pressure of the
knives in the pug mill. The discharging pistons N are depressed and elevated' by
means of the levers l, m, on the end of which are pulleys or rollers working in
the double flange wyper c, which has a double incline, shewn at D, for the pur-
pose of depressing and raising the levers l, m. The wyper'c is fixed on the
upright shaft B, as shewn in Figure VII. 0, 0, are the tables
which the
upon
removing moulds are placed. [s, s, are screws for raising or lowering them when
necessary. Pieces of steel, tapered to a sharp edge, are affixed to the ports
in the bottom of the pug mill at X, X; for the purpose of cutting the brick
earth as the frame F is withdrawn, and also smoothing the top of the brick ;
water is also kept dropping on the moulds as they are drawn out from beneath
the pug mill. The plate I serves as a bottom for the moulds in the frame F
while they are receiving their supply of brick earth. The discharging pistons
N are covered on the under side with strong moleskin cloth, and drilled full of
small holes to admit air, as described in the former arrangement. The tables
o, o, also serve the same purpose as that described formerly, videlicet, to make
the side of the brick which is pressed upon them perfectly flat. T is a door
for cleaning out the mill when necessary. It should be remarked, that in
working the machine the moulds y, y, are to be occasionally washed in water
or sanded. It will be seen that the peculiar characteristics of the machinery
herein described consist in the brick earth being first forced into moulds in
the sliding frame or frames F, there being a fixed flat surface below the
moulds F on which the brick earth is pressed, and the bricks being. thus
formed are pressed out of the moulds in the frame or frames F into the
moulds y, from which the bricks are delivered on pallets in a similar manner
to delivering bricks when made in similar moulds by hand.
per-
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of ]
forming the same, we would remark that we have no claim to any of the parts
separately, nor do we confino ourselves to the precise details, provided the;

page_text: peculiar characteristics of the Invention be retained. But what we claim as
the Invention secured by the present Letters Patent, is,―
First, the mode of combining the use of moulds y with sliding moulds F, as
herein described.
And, secondly, we claim the mode of applying a fixed surface I, in com-
bination with sliding moulds F, as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Cook and Andrew Cun-
ningham, have liereunto set our hands, and seals, this Eighteenth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
forty-one.

page_text: is that of the said James Browne; and this Deponent verily believes that at
the time of the acknowledgment of the said Specification the said James
Browne was a Justice of the Peace acting in the County of Lanark.
ARCH. GRAHAME.