IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRESSING AND MOULDING, ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR MAKING BRICKS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Duncan, of Madeley, in the County
of Salop, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR PRESSING AND MOULDING, ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR MAKING BRICKS,
☑
Scaled the 15th February 1876, and dated the 28th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Duncan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th August 1875.
I, ROBERT DUNCAN, of Madeley, in the County of Salop, Gas Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR PRESSING AND MOULDING, ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR MAKING BRICKS,
ROOFING AND FLOORING TILES, AND CLAY PIPES," to be as follows:-
The tiles and bricks are made in machines which for example I
construct as here described; these machines consist each of a hollow
cylinder in which are formed a number of moulds corresponding in size
and form with the edges of the tiles and bricks intended to be made.

page_text: On the outside of this mould cylinder are made one. toothed and two
catcher wheels; the toothed wheel for the purpose of working a roller
which forces the clay into the moulds, and the two catcher wheels being
used to work the mould cylinder round to bring each mould alternately
into position for the clay to be pressed into the shape required, and
afterwards to be delivered out of the moulds; the mould cylinder as also
the inner and two outer flanges formed at the ends of the moulds, these
flanges having rounded edges which guide the pressers in between them.
Also on the ends of the cylinders are two turned bearings on which the
cylinder rotates when worked round by the catchers. The cylinder is
placed horizontally, the clay being filled into the moulds at the top and
prevented falling through them by a curved plate screwed to the frame
of the machine. The moulds may be filled with clay or with dust, and
one mould will be brought into position for its contents to be operated
upon at every revolution of the driving crank.
In the inside and outside of the mould cylinder and in horizontal line
with its centre are worked two pressers formed at their ends of the
reverse shape to be given to the clay, and fitted with fire-bars, fire-door,
and chimney for fire to be made and kept up in their insides to mako
their ends hot which come in contact with the clay; these pressing
ends are cased with brass and lubricated to leave the clay smooth and
clean after having given to it the form required.
In pressing the clay the pressers do not enter the moulds but overlap
them at top and bottom, cach mould being over filled with clay which
is pressed out if required to be at the overlap before the pressers come
into contact with the faces of the moulds. The inside presser is made
of sufficient length to pass through the opposite mould to that which has
last been operated upon and to force out the newly made article, and
also to clean and lubricate the sides of the moulds on the return stroke
of the crank.
The machine may also be fitted with a bottom delivering presser if
required. The pressers are guided by cross heads working between
horizontal planed guides connected to the framing of the machine.
The machine frame consists of two flanged plates fitted with carriages
to receive the crank and driving shaft, catcher, and roller shafts, and
journal ends of cylinder, and connected together by distance pieces and
screw bolts.

page_text: This machine will make roofing and flooring tiles, and plain and
ornamental bricks, by removing the mould cylinder suitable for onc class
of goods and replacing it with another with moulds of the size required;
also the presser ends must be of the shape required to fit the faces of
the moulds. Motion is given to the machine by steam or any other
power; the moulds also can be kept hot by air or steam, and the bricks
are made equally hard on both sides. The surface of the roller which
forces the clay into the moulds, and the surface of the curved plates
which form their bottoms, are coated with a lubricating liquid, such as
paraffin for instance, which assists in separating the newly formed article
from the pressers and in making the surface smooth, the head preventing
the articles being too soft or plastic to be handled..
The moulds can be straight, but they may be made curved if required.
The clay is to be fed into the moulds cither in a plastic or semi-dry state,
and the goods can be delivered on to a band and carried to the kilns if
preferred.
The machine acts in the following manner:-Clay being put into the
hopper formed at the upper part of the machine and the machine set in
motion the catchers come into contact with the teeth of the catchèr
wheels and bring the mould cylinder forward for the distance of the
pitch of the moulds. This action gives motion to the roller and also
carries the clay forward, while the roller forces it into the moulds
brought under its surface during the return stroke of the catcher, and
during a portion also of its forward stroke, the mould cylinder remaining
stationary, affording time for the partial filling of the next mould when
the catcher comes again into action and brings another mould forward
under the roller which forces the clay into it; the mould previously
filled is advanced towards the position right for coming into line between
the pressers; thus the machine will carry the soft clay forward and bring
it between the two hot pressers, when it will receive any device required
and sufficiently dried and hardened to retain its shape. When the
newly formed article has been carried by the machine to the bottom of
the cylinder it will be pressed out, or if preferred can be delivered at the
opposite side to that at which it was formed.
The machine for making clay pipes consists of annular cylinders fitted
with pistons having a front and back ring connecting them together;
these pistons fit the cylinder and force the clay through a mouth-

page_text: piece when rotated round the cylinder. The clay enters at the top and
is forced by the pistons into the annular cylinder and against a detent
or stop held in position by a detent wheel which admits of the stop
being moved away when the piston requires to pass by. The detent is
again brought into position by a wheel on the outside of the frame, and
the detent obliges the clay to find its way out through a mouth-piece
when pushed forward by the rotating piston, and the mouth-piece gives
to the clay the shape and size of the pipe or other article required. The
pipes and such like are cut to the required length by a wire. The
machine is driven by hand or by any other power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Duncan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DUNCAN, of Madeley, in the County of Salop, Gas Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Duncan, Her special
licence, that I, the said Robert Duncan, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Duncan, my exe-
cutors, 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,
excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PRESSING AND MOULDING, ESPECIALLY USEFUL FOR
MAKING BRICKS, ROOFING AND FLOORING TILES, AND CLAY PIPES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Duncan, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
4

page_text: the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Duncan, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My Invention consists in the improvements herein-after described in
roofing and flooring tile making, bricks and building block making, and
clay pipe machines; also in hollow and solid, ornamental and plain
bricks and building blocks, to be made by the machines.
I will describe my Invention in connection with the tile making
machine, remarking that for making bricks the machinery will be of
substantially similar construction.
This machine consists of a hollow cylinder, in which are formed a
number of moulds corresponding in size and form with the edges of the
tiles intended to be made. The axis of the cylinder is horizontal. Clay
is filled into the moulds by a hopper arrangement or pug mill at the top
of the machine. The filled mould is then brought under a roller, which
increases its density and makes the thickness even. The clay is then
brought between two pressers working in guides horizontally, the one
presser being inside and the other outside the mould cylinder. These
pressers press any device on the clay, and also forms the tiles, after which
the tile is delivered on to an endless band worked near the bottom of the
mould cylinder. Steam for heating said pressers may be used, same
being conveyed by pipes to the said pressers.
The pressers may be fitted with fire-bars, fire-door, and chimney for
fire to be made and kept up in their insides to make their ends hot
which come in contact with the clay. The machinery for producing
this action is arranged as follows:-A toothed ring is keyed on the out-
side of the mould cylinder near one end of the moulds, when the mould
cylinder revolves through a part of a revolution equal to the pitch of the
moulds. This toothed ring gives motion to two toothed pinions; one of
these is near the top of the machine, and works the roller used to make
the clay of an even thickness in the moulds. The shaft of this roller
has a wheel keyed on it which works into another wheel that gives

page_text: motion to the stationary or movable bottom of the mould by a roller
working inside the mould cylinder, round which the band forming the
stationary or movable bottom is carried. The other pinion is situated
near the bottom of the machine, and is used to give motion to the
endless band upon which the tiles are delivered; the shaft of this
endless band roller drives a bevel pinion that gears into a wheel
driving a vertical shaft which, through another pair of wheels, gives
motion to a roller used to print designs on the surface of the clay. The
mould cylinders, whose moulds are ornamented at the edges, receive
motion through a pair of catchers worked by a shaft that receives its
motion from a crank driven by hand or power. These catchers work
two catcher wheels keyed on the mould cylinder near its opposite ends,
and having the same number of teeth that the cylinder has moulds, by
which means one mould is brought into proper position for filling and
another for pressing at cach revolution of the crank. The pressers are
situated one inside and one outside the mould cylinder, and worked in
slide guides. Each presser is fitted with two projecting strips of iron,
one at the top side and the other at the bottom side; these are forced
forward in advance of the face of the pressers by spring, and come first
into contact with the mould cylinder, overlapping the moulds and con-
fining the clay, and thus rendering it unnecessary for the pressers to
enter the moulds except at the ends into which they are guided by the
slides and by bell-mouth rings cast in the cylinder. After the advance
spring strips have come into contact with the mould cylinder and con-
fined the clay, the pressers advance to the level of the strips, and thereby
press the clay into the shape required on the return stroke; the inside
presser enters the mould at the opposite side of the cylinder, and clears
out any clay remaining in it. After the clay has been pressed into the
form required, the pressers recede, and the crank working the catchers
brings forward another filled mould to be operated upon as before, while
that which has been already pressed is carried forward to the delivering
band at the bottom of the machine.
The delivering band works close to the moulds near the bottom of
the cylinder, and moves in the same direction as the cylinder and at the
same speed, stopping when the cylinder stops and moving when it
It receives the tiles on to its surface, and conveys them to the
front of the machine or to any distance in advance of the machine to be
dried and burned in the kilns.
moves.

page_text: To prevent the tiles sticking to the pressers, their faces are lubricated
with petroleum or paraffin' for instance, and such lubrication is pre-
ferably effected by brushes or rubbers, worked by a lever sliding on a
twisted bar. This lever is moved along the twisted bar by the sliding
presser, by which means longitudinal motion agrees with that of the
presser, while a transverse motion is given by the twisted bar which
is fixed at the side of the mould cylinder, by which means the brush
or rubber is made to sweep the face of the pressers, after which it is
returned by the weight.
The hopper arrangements or pug mill is worked by a strap from the
driving shaft and by bevel wheels, and the whole of the parts are carried
by a strong frame.
The relative positions of the various parts of the machine are such
that each part acts at its proper time; thus the catchers bring the
moulds into proper position to be filled and pressed. By the time-this.
action is complete the pressers are in position to immediately do their
work. When that is done the inside presser advances to the opposite
side of the cylinder and cleanses out that mould, and immediately this
is done the catchers recommence their work, and other moulds are
brought forward to be operated upon as before.
.
The action of the parts is as follows:-The hopper arrangement or pug
mill being filled with clay the knives force the clay downwards and fill
the mould immediately. below 'the mill. The catchers driven by the
crank move the mould cylinder forward, and thereby bring another
mould under the hopper arrangement or pug mill, while that filled is
brought under the roller and is levelled at succeeding revolutions of the
crank. The filled mould is brought opposite the two pressers, and the
tiles formed and tiles made, when succeeding revolutions bring it out to
the canvas or india-rubber endless band which delivers it to the front
of the machine.
The machine for making clay pipes consists of annular cylinders
fitted with pistons having a front and back ring connecting them
together; these pistons fit the cylinder and force the clay through a
mouth-piece when rotated rounder the cylinder; the clay enters at the
top and is forced by the pistons into the annular cylinder, and against a
detent or stop held in position by a detent wheel, which admits of the
stop being moved away when the piston requires to pass by. The detent

page_text: is again brought into position by a wheel on the outside of the frame,
and the detent obliges the clay to find its way out through a mouth-
piece when pushed forward by the rotating piston, and the mouth-piece
gives to the clay the shape and size of the pipe or other article required.
The pipes and such like are cut to the required length by a wire. The
machine is driven by hand or by any other power.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to
describe same with reference to the accompanying Drawings, in order
the better to exemplify the manner in which the same is carried into
effect.
Figure 1 represents in elevation, Figure 2 in plan, Figure 3 in front
end elevation, and Figure 4 in back clevation, a tile making machine
provided with mechanism constructed according to my Invention.
Figure 5 is a transverse section through centre of mould cylinder,
and Figure 6 a side elevation.
These two last named shew the mechanism for working the lubri-
cating brush or rubber.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several
Figures of the Drawings.
I will now describe the arrangement represented in Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4. A is the mould cylinder; B, the catcher wheels; C, the tooth
ring or wheel which works the pinion wheels C' and C²; the former pinion
drives the top roller, and through it the wheel C which drives C and
the roller C which works the endless band forming the movable bottom
to the top moulds filled by the hopper arrangement or pug mill; the
other pinion C² drives the endless band 6 for delivering the tiles near
the bottom of the machine. This band is carried round the rollers e
and f, and round the bottom portion of the mould cylinder, as shewn by
the dotted lines in Figure 1. The catchers K and K' are worked by the
levers K and K³, which are keyed on the shaft K'. This shaft is worked
by the lever K through the rod K, which receives its motion from the
crank, which also drives the outside presser P through the rod P'. The
inside presser I is worked by the connecting rods I and I³ from the

page_text: The
crank pins I and I at the outside of the machine. The pug mill M is
worked by the bevel wheels M' and M, which are driven by the hand
pulley M by a strap from the hand pulley M' on the driving shaft S,
which is driven by the larger pulley D by the driving strap D'.
bevel wheel W drives wheel W, which drives the vertical shaft W,
and through it the printing roller P, R; O is the cleaner which enters
the opposite moulds to those in which the tiles are pressed, G and G¹;
G³, G³, Gʻ, G³, are guides for the pressers; F is the frame of the
machine; I is the driving pinion giving motion to the wheel U which
works the crank shaft X.
Referring to Figures 5 and 6, which show the arrangement for
working the brush, B is the brush worked by the twisted bar B¹, the
brush being slided along the bar by the projection B² on the pressers
which catches the brush socket where the faces of the pressers have
come opposite to the brush; the twist in the bar causes the brush to
sweep past the presser face and lubricate it. On the return of the
presser the brush is slid back along the bar by the cord and weight.
Lubrication can be conveyed to the outside surface of the clay by the
top roller which presses the clay even in the moulds.
Figures 9, 10, and 11 are details of the pressers showing the pro-
jecting strips and springs.
Figures 7 and 8 shew a side elevation and sectional plan respectively
of a mould cylinder to be used with this arrangement of machine, and
suitable for making bricks.
Figures 14 and 15 show a hollow brick or building block to be made by
a large size machine similar to those described, except that the pressers
have projections shown by Figure 12 for making the bricks hollow, the
ends of the holes being closed up by the action of forcing them out of
the moulds, the forcing out presser being formed as shewn by Figure 13.
Referring to Figures 20, 21, and 22, which show the arrangement for
clay pipe-making machine, A is the annular cylinder; B, the pistons
for forcing the clay through the mouth-piece C; D is the detent which
is moved out of the way by the wheels D' and D; F is the frame of the
machine, and W the driving wheels; H, the hopper for receiving the
clay.
When making tiles and bricks of some kinds of clay, I prefer to use

page_text: the arrangement of mould cylinder shewn by Figures 16 and 17, which
consists of a ring of moulds open at one side only, and fitted with piston
bottoms forced out and drawn in by a cam acting on rollers fitted to
the piston rods. When working clay with this cylinder I use an external
presser only, and lubricate the pistons by a stationary brush which
sweeps the pistons as they pass it when the ring of moulds revolves.
Figure 16 is a side elevation part in section, and Figure 17, a
sectional plan of this mould cylinder; A is the ring of moulds shewn
closed at the inside with piston bottoms which are pressed forward for
delivering the goods and being lubricated, and then are drawn in by the
cam B; P is the piston; R is the piston rod, and E the roller worked
by the cam ring; the other portions of the machine are the same as used
with the mould cylinder before described, except the endless band.
forming the movable bottom to the top moulds, which is not required
with this last-named arrangement of moulds with pistons.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion, but I claim as my Invention improved apparatus for pressing and
moulding, especially useful for making bricks, whether solid or hollow,
roofing and flooring tiles, and clay pipes, wherein the following are
peculiar and important points,-
Firstly. The filling of the moulds by arrangements such as herein-
before described.
Secondly. The pressing of the clay from both sides simultaneously, the
pressers not entering the hollow moulds, but pressing the clay after it
has been confined or boxed in by spring projecting strips overlapping
the moulds, and thus making the goods equally hard on both sides.
Thirdly. The delivering the goods on to an endless band worked by an
intermittent motion and partially surrounding the mould cylinder.
Fourthly. Lubricating the pressers in the manner described and set
forth.
Fifthly. The pressing, printing, or moulding of ornamental designs
on bricks and tiles in one and the same machine in which the bricks are
made complete without being removed from one machine to another,

page_text: and at the same time making them equally hard on both sides and without
handling them or removing them from one machine to another.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Duncan, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
. six.
ROBERT DUNCAN. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. MORGAN,
Secretary,
Inventors' Patent Right Association, I.,
21, Cockspur Street,
S.W.
.