CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Holt, of Shaw, near Oldham, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Holt at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th February
1854.
I, ROBERT HOLT, of Shaw, near Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND
TILES" to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of machinery
for effecting such manufactures, and is substantially as follows, only excepting any
slight variation of the mechanical detail of the driving or working parts. The
clay is to be fed in or on to the machine direct from the "pug mill," and con-
veyed on to or over the periphery of a drum, which is provided with a number
of openings or "moulds" of the size and shape of the brick required, say, for
example, four in number, at equal distance apart, one being opposite to the
other, extending over the four parts of the periphery of the drum. A presser
or piston is then caused to descend over the clay now in the mould Number 1,
which is just filled with the clay, and is the upper mould. The drum of

page_text: moulds is turned on its horizontal axis a quarter of a revolution, when the
empty mould Number 2 takes the place of Number 1, which has now attained
a position for a horizontal or auxiliary presser, to advance and give the clay
another and finishing squeeze. And as the drum of moulds makes another
fourth of a revolution, bringing mould Number 3 under the first operation, the
mould Number 2 will have assumed the horizontal position of mould Num-
ber 1, which it has just left, and the finished brick in mould Number 1, now
being undermost of the drum of moulds, will be in a position to fall out of its
mould on to the table or endless lattice of boards below. But as the adhesion
of the wet clay will not allow it to fall, it is pushed out of its mould by a rod,
acting across the diameter of the drum in such a manner that when the upper
mould is full, or the discharging piston and rod is at the bottom of that
mould, it shall be pushed through the lower mould until it discharges the brick.
The interior of the drum may be filled with oil, or other lubricating matter, to
assist in the discharge of the brick by simply oozing or percolating between
the edges of the bottom and sides of the moulds., These horizontal drums of
moulds may be one or more in number, and placed side by side, or one on
each side of the feeding spout, or may be otherwise arranged so as to increase
their number, or convenience of operation. And the whole movements of the
apparatus may be worked by steam or other
arrangement of mechanical detail or agency.
adequate power, and any suitable
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Holt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HOLT, of Shaw, near Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand. eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert. Holt, Her especial license that I, the said Robert Holt, my
executors, administrators, and assigns,, or such others as I, the said Robert
Holt, 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
.

page_text: 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Holt, 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 Robert Holt, 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 state-
ment and accompanying Drawings (that is to say): :-
My Invention relates to a novel construction and arrangement of machinery
or apparatus for effecting the manufacture of bricks and tiles, and is sub-
stantially as follows, only excepting any slight variation of the mechanical
detail of the driving or working parts. The clay is to be fed in or on to the
machine directly from the "pug mill," and conveyed into or over the peri-
phery of a drum, which is provided with a number of openings or "moulds,"
of the size and shape of the brick or tile required, say, for example, four.in
number, at equal distances apart, one being opposite to the other, extending
over the four parts of the periphery of the drum. A presser or piston is then
caused to descend over the clay now in the mould No. 1, which is just filled
with the clay, and is the upper mould; the drum of moulds is turned on it's
horizontal axis a quarter of a revolution, when the empty mould No. 2 takes
the place of No. 1, which has now attained a position for a horizontal or
auxiliary presser, to advance and give the clay a finishing squeeze. And as
the drum of moulds makes another fourth of a révolution, bringing mould
No. 3. under the first operation, the mould No. 2 will have assumed the. hori-
zontal position of mould No. 1, which it has just left, and the finished. .brick
in mould No. 1, now being undermost of the drum of moulds, will be in a
position to fall out of its mould on to the table or endless lattice of boards
below. But as the adhesion of the wet clay will not allow it to fall, it is
pushed out of its mould by a rod, acting across the diameter of the drum in
such a manner that when the upper mould is full, and the discharging piston
and rod is at the bottom of that mould, it shall be pushed through the lower
mould until it discharges the brick. The interior of the drum may be filled
with oil, or other lubricating matter, to assist in the discharge of the bricks

page_text: by simply oozing or percolating between the edges of the bottom and sides of
the moulds. These horizontal drums of moulds may be one or more in
number, and placed side by side, or one on each side of the feeding spout, or
may be otherwise arranged, so as to increase their number or convenience of
operation; and the whole movements of the apparatus may be worked by
steam or other adequate power, and any suitable arrangement of mechanical
detail or agency. But in order that my Invention may be better understood
and explained in detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawing, made
upon a scale of about an inch to the foot, and having in the several Figures
the same letters of reference or similar parts of the apparatus or machinery.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent side elevations of my Invention; Figs. 3 and 4 exhibit
respectively front and end elevations of the same; Fig. 5 is a plan or top
view of the machine or apparatus; Fig. 6 represents a section of the drum ;
and Fig. 7, its sliding pistons; Figs. 1 and 3 only show the hopper, steam
cylinder, and cross heads attached. In Fig. 1, a represents the hopper, fed
continuously from the "pug mill," or otherwise, so that a continuous supply
may be obtained. b is a small steam cylinder, the slide valves of which are
worked from any convenient part of the machinery which will give to the
piston of the cylinder its motion at the right time. To the end of the piston
rod is fixed a cross head c, which retains by two connecting arms a second
cross head d, carrying a presser or plunger e, the whole working horizontally.
The first motion is as the piston is driven out for the presser to follow, force
-the clay in the hopper before it and under the vertical presser or plunger f
The driving pulley 9, seen in Fig. 5, gives motion to the bevil gearing h and i,
which is transmitted along the connecting shaft to the pinion j, and thence to
the large cog wheel k; the shaft of this wheel bears at each end the crank
arms 1, 1, which by means of the connecting rods m, m, act upon the lower
arms n, n, of an angle piece, the upper arms o, o, by means of. a second series
of connecting rods p, p, elevate and depress the beams q, q, which are held
and retained at their one end by the vertical shafts r, r, at cach revolution
of the cog wheel k. It will be evident on reference to the Drawing, and
tracing the action of the above-described arrangement of leverage from
the crank arms 1, 1, to the beams 9, 7, that the guide pieces s, s; will
be elevated and depressed once, as will dependent on their action the
vertical plunger f; but as it may be considered that the first half of the
revolution of the cog wheel k depresses the vertical presser or plunger and
fills the mould, the remaining half of the revolution reverses the action, and
by so doing causes a click t, secured on the lower arm n of one of the angle

page_text: "
pieces, to act upon a snug "on the wheel u, and cause the
snug wheel"
and drum to perform one quarter revolution. It will now be seen that in one
revolution of the cog wheel there are two distinct operations performed, as
described above; but simultaneous with these are three more distinct motions,
two dependent on the revolution of the cog wheel, and the third more imme-
diately connected with the vertical plunger. At the first half revolution
this third motion is the displacement of the brick from the lower mould, con-
sequent upon the formation of a brick in the upper mould. As the vertical
plunger descends and forces the clay into the upper mould, a sliding piston,
whose upper surface, to be hereafter described, is the bed of the new brick,
descends, and thrusts out the brick in the lower mould already formed and
finished as far as regards the machine. The other two motions are performed
by the shaft of the cog wheel k, having mounted upon. it two double cam
pieces or blocks v and w. As the wheel revolves after the drum is made to take
one quarter revolution by the aid of the snug wheel, the double cam piece v
traversing in a broad slot or chace of the pointed slide bar w*, forces it forward,
the end entering an indentation & on the edge of the periphery of the drum,
thereby firmly fixing in its proper position the drum for the accurate operation
of a finishing presser y on the slide bar z, which now immediately presents
itself, and by giving the brick (but just come from under the vertical plunger)
a finishing squeeze, completes and finishes it. It now only remains for the
next quarter revolution to change the finished brick to the lowest mould, from
which it is thrust forth (as before described) on to a travelling endless chain
to any convenient distance, when it may be removed by an attendant. This
chain is operated upon by the pitch wheel 1, having on its periphery projecting
pieces, or teeth, which gear into the alternate links of the chain; the wheel 1
passes, drives by means of the chain the wheels 2, 3, and 4, on the same shaft.
The teeth on the wheels 3 and 4 effect a double purpose, for as well as regu-
lating the motion of the endless chain, each respective tooth of the wheels 3
and 4 carries forward on the chain a pallet of wood placed in the framing or
box a', a', and always kept filled. These pallets are carried along on the chain
at the same rate as the revolution of the drum, and at such a distance from
each other as to present themselves at the proper time for the reception of
each brick as it is thrust from the drum. Its course is then right through the
framing of the machine and out of the opposite end, where the endless chain
passes over and under another pair of wheels 5 and 6, placed at any distance
required, and then returns. It is not necessary that the drum should be con-
fined to four moulds, as it may be made to accommodate any number. Fig. 6

page_text: represents a section of the drum partly filled with oil, and Fig. 8 its sliding
pistons.
Having thus particularly described my Invention, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim,-
First, the peculiar arrangement or construction of the machinery or appa-
ratus as herein particularly described and fully set forth, and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
And, secondly, the use and employment of a circular drum for the manu-
facture of bricks or tiles, having sunken orifices or moulds, the bottoms of
which are moveable, as required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Holt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
DODEDT HOLT