A NEW METHOD OF MAKING BRICKS BY MACHINERY
Year: 1820

page_text: SHAW'S SPECIFICATION..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SHAW, of Frederick Place, Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Clock and Watch Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His 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 Twenty-first day of June, in the first year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said John Shaw, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Shaw,
my exors, adiñors, 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, and also in all IIis Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF
MAKING BRICKS BY MACHINERY;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso that if I, the said John Shaw, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
and-cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advau-
tages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become
void, 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, I, the said
John Shaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: "
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say)
In the Drawing, Figure 1 is a side view of a double machine for making
bricks; Figure 2, a top view thereof; and Figure 3, a view taken at the
right-hand end of Figures 1 and 2.
Figures 4, 5, and 6, are longitudinal sections and views of parts of the
machine taken at the line A, A, in Figure 2. In these three last Figures
the situations of the parts are shewn as they appear during the progress
of the operation. In all these Figures the same letters and figures of
reference apply to the same parts of the machine. B, B, &c. is the
frame or support of the machine, which, as well as the other parts of it,
may be constructed of wood, cast iron, or any other fit and proper material.
C is the axis to which the moving power is to be first applied, and which
may be communicated to it either by hand, at the winch or handle D, or
by the power of horses, or other first, movers, communicated by a band from
a band wheel acting upon another band, wheel or rigger E, or by toothed
wheels, or in any other proper manner. Upon the axis C is fixed the fly
wheel; F and the band wheel G. From the band wheel G a band passes to
another band, wheel H affixed upon an axis I, which carries a number of
arms J, J, &c., which are so shaped, as to divide and draw down the clay,
which is placed from time to time in the hopper K, and cause it to fill the
moulds in the manner hereafter described. On the axis C is also fixed the
pinion L, which works into the toothed wheel M, which is fixed, on the shaft.
or axis N, N. Upon the axis N, N, are fixed the eccentric, wheels or cams O
and P, the peripheries of which act against the friction wheels R and S,
which turn upon the joint pins T, T, which connect together the two pairs of
inflexible metal bars or pieces U, U, and V, V, which form the two com-
pound levers W, W. On the ends U, U, of the compound levers W, W, are
affixed the loops or eyes X, X, which lodge or rest upon or against the cross
bar or abutment Y, firmly fixed on the frame, B, B, of the machine. On the
other ends, V, V, of the compound levers W, W, are affixed, by. means of the
joints Z, Z, the two metal pistons or plugs a, a, which slide backwards and
forwards in the metal trunks b, b, and c.. c, which contain those. parts of the
moulds which form the edges and ends of the bricks, the sides, of the, bricks
being formed between the pistons a, a, and the metal blocks or wedges d, d,
which occasionally close the moulds. The edges e, e, of the blocks or
wedges d, d, move up and down. in the tapering grooves f, ff, f, made
in the cuter ends of the trunks b, b, and c, c. 9, 9, are the moulds,

page_text: being cast-iron frames, the tops and bottoms of which are made flat,
but their ends have projecting ribs which fit into grooves made in recesses
near the outer ends of trunks b and c, so as to prevent them from being
thrust out of their places in the trunks by the action of the pistons a, a.
The insides of the moulds are exactly of the same size as the insides of
the trunks and c. On the upper side of each
trunk is made an aperture.
7, h, to admit the clay to fall into the trunks from the hopper K. On
the outer sides of the eccentric wheels O and P, are fixed two studs i, i,
which act against one end of each of the levers j, j, which turn upon the axis k
as a fulcrum; to the other ends of these levers are hung 'the metal blocks d, d;
by means of the double connecting joints 1, 1, and when the studs i, i, act upon
the ends of the levers j, j, they raise or lift up the blocks 'd, d, which are hung
as aforesaid at their other ends. The studs i, i, in their further progress
act also upon one end of the two levers'm, m, which turn upon the axis n as
a fulcrum. In the other ends of these levers are made eyes or loops 0, 0,
which receive within them studs p, p, with friction rollers upon them, fixed
into the bars V, V, of the compound levers W, W, and the use of which will
be described hereafter. On the inner sides of the eccentric wheel O and P
are fixed two other studs q, q, which act against the ends of the levers 7, 1,
which turn upon the axis s as a fulcrum. These levers 7, 7, when pressed
upon by the studs q, q, act against two other studs t, t, likewise affixed to the
arms V, V, of the compound levers W, W, in the manner described hereafter.
The eccentric wheels O and P are so fixed upon the axis N as to act alter-
nately upon the several parts of the double machine, here shewn, and to
produce similar effects thereon. As, however, it will much conduce to the
facility of describing the different motions of the machine to confine my
description to those made by one set of the movements only, I shall now
proceed to do so by a reference to Figures 4, 5, and 6, which, as aforesaid,
are longitudinal sections and views of the parts beyond the line A, A, in
Figure 2.
.
In Figure 4, the compound lever W is represented as being depressed,
or as having descended by its own weight, and resting upon the edge of
the eccentric wheel P at its smallest eccentricity ; the piston a being
also drawn back, and the trunk band mould g ready to receive the
clay of which a
brick is to be formed from the hopper K. The outer
end of the mould is also represented as being closed by the block d
which is sufficiently heavy to fall by its own weight, and also to raise
up the end of the lever j; the lever also hangs by its own gravity
in a proper situation to be acted upon in its turn. If now the machine'
be put in motion, the eccentric wheel I' begins to act upon the friction

page_text: wheel S, in the compound lever W, and to raise it up quicker at first, and
slower as it begins to rise to its bigbest elevation, as is regulated by the form
of the curve given to the eccentric wheel P. from u to v, and which situation
is shewn at Figure 5. As the end U of the compound lever W thrusts
against the abutment Y, and cannot move farther that way, so its other end V
and piston a is pushed forcibly into the trunk 6, and strongly compresses the
clay brought by the action of the arms J, J, &c. into the mould from the
hopper K to its proper thickness in the brick mould, the power of compressing
the clay continually encreasing as the compound lever W approaches to a
straight line, as well as being assisted by the slowly encreasing eccentricity of
the wheel P at that time. As soon as the eccentric wheel P has acted upon
the friction wheel S with its greatest eccentricity, that wheel falls into a
depression w made in the eccentric wheel P to receive it, and at the same
time the compound wheel W becomes a little bent by its own gravity, and the
piston a is at liberty to be withdrawn a little back so as to leave the block d
at liberty to be raised up, owing to the great pressure being taken off the
brick in the mould which before pressed against that block. As the eccentric
wheel P turns à little farther, the stud i on the outer side of it acts against the
end of the lever j and raises the block d a sufficient height for the brick to pass
beneath it, and it is kept e'evated by the end j of the lever resting upon the
broad concentric face of the stud i until the brick is thrust out of the mould by
the stud q on the inner side of the eccentric wheel P acting against the lever
r so as to push it forwards, and with it the compound lever w, by means of the
stud t affixed to it, and as shewn in Figure 6. The end U of the compound
lever W is withdrawn at the same time from its abutment Y to a distance
equal to the thickness of the brick, and is supported by the other end of the
loop X resting on the abutment Y. The eccentric wheel P still continuing
to turn, the study will get past the end of the lever j, and permit the block d.
to fall and push off the brick from the end of the piston a at the mouth of the
mould, should it not have previously relieved itself, and which brick will be
received upon a revolving endless web or band a, a, which passes around the
rollers y, z, affixed in the frame B, B, ready to be taken away. The roller y.
receives its motion from a band wheel 1 upon the axis N, N, around which a
band passes, and over another band wheel 2 in the middle of the axis
which carries the roller y. As soon as the brick is removed from the end of the
piston a, the stud q will pass the end of the lever r, and the compound lever w,
together with the piston a, will be at liberty to be withdrawn to its original
situation (as shewn in Figure 4) by the action of the stud 2 upon the upper
edge of the lower arm of the lever m,
against the stud and friction roller
the upper arm of that lever acting
Iving in the slit o of the lever m.
..

page_text: Figure 7 represents the axis N, and the eccentric wheels O and P, with their
two sets of studs i, i, and q, q, and the band wheel 1. Figure 8 is a
view of the trunks b and c, having their covers or top plates removed, and also
the brick moulds taken out. 3, 3, 3, 3, are the grooves in the recesses of the
trunks for the ribs on the ends of the brick moulds to lie in. Figure 9 is a
view of the upper side of one of the covers of the trunks 6 and c, having six
holes coinciding with the six other holes made in the lower part of the trunk
for the screws which bind the two parts together when the mould g is in its
place in the trunk and the trunks to the frame B, B, of the machine.
Figure 10 is a view of the upper side of one of the brick moulds g, and
Figure 11 a front view thereof, and Figure 12 is a view of the under side of
one of the pistons a, which are attached to the compound levers W, W, by
means of the joints Z before described. I do not intend hereby to limit
myself to the number of machines which may be combined together, such
depending upon the power to be employed, the number of bricks required,
and other circumstances not necessary to be enumerated here; neither do I
mean to confine myself to this particular manner of employing the compound
levers and eccentric wheels to the compressing of the clay in the moulds, but
to avail myself of every method of employing them for that purpose. I do
not, however, mean hereby to claim as my Invention the other parts of which
this machine is composed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Shaw (party hereto), have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty.
(L.S.) SHAW.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1820, the aforesaid John Shaw came before our
said Lord the King in Ilis Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty.