AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BRICK MACHINE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
BRICK MACHINE."-A communication from abroad by Peter Hayden,
of Pittsburgh, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Scaled the 28th October 1868, and dated the 23rd June 1868.

page_text: moulding and compressing clay and discharging the same after being
compressed. The clay to be moulded into bricks is supplied to a hopper
in which work a pair of crushing rollers. These rollers are geared
together and have different surface speeds to facilitate the indraught of
the clay. One of the crushing rollers is mounted on the main driving
shaft of the machine, and upon the same shaft is also mounted loosely
a moulding wheel, through which radial recesses are made at equal
distances apart and from the centre of motion. These recesses corre-
spond in form to the plan of the bricks desired to be moulded. The
hopper communicates at bottom with a horizontal cylinder, in which
rotating blades (parts of a screw) are mounted on a horizontal central
rotating shaft. This shaft is driven from one of the crushing rollers, and
the blades serve to traverse the clay from the hopper to the moulding
wheel. To prevent an undue accumulation of clay in this cylinder it is
fitted with a hopper (communicating with the interior), which hopper
will receive the excess of clay (if any exist) and allow of its escape. A
similar provision is also made for the escape of an excess of clay from
the moulds when pressure is applied thereto. The moulding wheel is
provided on its periphery with star wheel teeth, into which a driver
takes for giving it an intermittent axial motion. The driver is mounted
on a shaft running parallel with the main driving shaft, and it receives
motion therefrom through spur gearing, a pinion on the driving shaft
being thrown into and out of action by a clutch for the purpose of
stopping at pleasure the rotation of the moulding wheel. Fitting into
the recesses of the wheel are followers, which serve to compress the clay
and to discharge the bricks from the moulds. On the star wheel driver
shaft is a cam which works into a notch in the stem of a horizontal
plunger and serves to give that plunger an endway motion in its guides.
This plunger as the followers in succession arrive at a given position
moves forward, and pressing on the rear of the follower causes it to
compress the clay contained in the mould, the opposite end of the mould
being closed by a solid part of the standard of the machine, over the face
of which the moulding wheel rotates. When this pressure is withdrawn
the wheel moves round the distance of another tooth, and the moulded
brick is brought opposite another plunger and in front of an opening
made in the standard. This plunger is the discharging plunger; it is
jointed to a rock lever, which passes through a slot in the compressing
plunger and works on a fixed fulcrum. The traverse of the compressing
plunger serves to operate the discharging plunger and cause it to

page_text: discharge from the moulds the bricks as they are compressed or moulded.
The followers are slotted at their rear to admit of their working over a
fixed cam T-shaped in cross section. This cam serves to withdraw the
followers and hold them in the proper position for the admission of clay
to the moulds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BRICK MACHINE," being a
communication to me from abroad by Peter Hayden, of Pittsburgh, in the
County of Alleghany, and State of Pennsylvania, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors
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 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
This Invention relates to a new and improved machine for moulding
and pressing bricks, and it consists of an improved means for conveying
the clay from the crushing or rolling mill to the press boxes, and also
in a novel and improved construction and arrangement of parts for
moulding and compressing clay and discharging the same after being
compressed, as herein-after fully shewn and described, whereby the work
may be done with great rapidity and in a satisfactory manner.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a side view of the
improved machine, partly in section; and Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the
same, also partly in section. In Sheet II., Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical
section of the machine, taken in the line x, x, of Fig. 1, and looking in
the direction of the arrow 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken
in the same line x, x, and looking in the direction of the arrow 2; and
Fig. 5 a vertical section of Fig. 4, taken in the line y, y.
of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Similar letters
The frame of the machine is composed of two cylindrical heads A, A¹,
provided with feet a, which are firmly secured to any suitable bed B, and
also composed of upright supports C secured to the bed, the supports C
having a hopper D fitted to their upper ends. E is the driving or main
shaft of the machine, having a roller F keyed upon it between the
supports C, C, and partially underneath the hopper D; keyed on the end
of the shaft E is a toothed wheel G, which gears into a larger wheel H
keyed on the axle of a roller I, which is parallel and works in contact
or nearly so with the roller F. Motion is communicated to the roller I
from the shaft E, and I has a slower motion than F, owing to the
difference in the size of the gears G, H. The rollers F, I, crush and
pulverize the clay which is thrown into the hopper D in a properly moist
state, and the crushed or pulverized clay is discharged from the rollers
into a hollow cylinder J, which has a shaft K fitted longitudinally and
centrally within it, said shaft having a rotary movement given it by
means of a spur wheel L which gears into the wheel G of the shaft E
(see Fig. 1). The shaft K has a series of spiral wings or blades b
attached to it, each of which is a section of a screw thread, and at the
discharge end of the cylinder J the shaft K carries two wings or blades

page_text: b', 6', which form a complete screw thread or extend entirely around the
shaft, as shewn clearly in Fig. 1. This shaft K conveys the crushed or
pulverized clay as it is discharged from between the rollers to the mould
or press boxes L, which are mounted in a cylinder M; this cylinder is
carried by a hub or boss c, on which it is free to turn, and through the
hub the driving shaft E passes loosely and is allowed to turn freely.
The press boxes L' are placed or made at equal distances apart in the
cylinder M, and are of a rectangular form corresponding to the desired
shape of the bricks to be moulded, and at the outer or face side of the
cylinder M there are radial recesses d, into which geers (after the
manner of a star wheel pinion) a friction roller e at the end of a crank
arm on a shaft N; this shaft receives its motion from the driving
shaft E through the wheel and pinion O, O¹, the former O being keyed
to the shaft N, and the latter O' being on the driving shaft E and con-
nected to and disconnected from it by a clutch P, operated through the
medium of a lever Q. The crank arm thus rotates the cylinder M and
brings the several mould or press boxes L' consecutively in line with the
discharge end of the cylinder J (see Figures 1 and 5), and at each
movement of the cylinder M a press box L' is carried from the discharge
end of the hollow cylinder J upwards to a point in line with a plunger R,
which is fitted horizontally in a bearing g in the head A¹, see more
particularly Fig. 1. Besides the crank arm f for rotating the cylinder M
there are two teeth h, h, on the end of the crank arm f, which engage
with teeth i between the recesses d of the cylinder M, and bring the
recesses d in proper position at the required time to receive the friction
rollere of the arm f. Each time a press box L' is brought in line with
the plunger R the latter is pressed by means of a face cam S on shaft N,
said plunger acting upon a follower T in the press box and compressing
the clay therein. As the plunger R is drawn back by the cam the
cylinder M is again turned and a succeeding press box and follower are
brought in line with the plunger, and the clay in the press box is
compressed as before, while the filled press box with the previously
compressed clay therein is brought in line with a plunger U, which is
moved by a lever V having its fulcrum at j, said lever passing through
a slot in the plunger R and receiving its motion from the same, so that
it may force the compressed clay or moulded brick out from the press
box L' directly in front or in line with it upon a table W, from which
the bricks are taken to the yard or other suitable place for drying. The
follower T after being thus forced inward to discharge the brick is drawn

page_text: out by a fixed or stationary cam X at the inner side of the head A', said
cam having an oblique outer end with a flange k at each side to catch
into a recess in the outer ends of the follower of each press box L', see
more particularly Fig. 1. In this arrangement the clay may be moulded
and compressed into bricks with rapidity and great facility. There are
no parts liable to get out of repair or become deranged by use, and the
machine may be constructed at a reasonable cost and may be worked
with a moderate expenditure of power. I should remark that in order to
provide against an excess of clay in the mould box a slot L is made in
the frame of the machine in a line with the plunger R. When therefore
this plunger acts to compress the confined clay any excess of clay
contained in the mould box will escape at the slit and the mechanism
will be relieved from excessive strain. It may also be found desirable
to relieve the cylinder J from risk of an accumulation of clay therein.
This may be effected by mounting on the cylinder a hopper J' and
opening a passage thereto, which allow of a small escape of clay which
may accumulate in the hopper.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Brick Machine," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement of mechanism above
described for moulding and compressing bricks and discharging the same
from the moulds or press boxes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)