IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK MACHINES." -A communication from
abroad by Henry Bulmer and Charles Sheppard, both of Montreal,
Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canade
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th December 1872:
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK MACHINES,” to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to an attachment to brick machines, whereby
the clay is pressed into the mould at suitable pressure and the moulds
when filled are pushed out from below the drum without manual
labor.

page_text: The machine may be worked by steam, water, or horse power, and
will with the same attendance manufacture a greater number of bricks
than the devices for the same purpose now in use. The different parts
are so arranged that when stones or other obstructions get into the drum,
or when the moulds are displaced, the machine will be partially
thrown out of gear and thus prevent injury to it. The pressure upon
the clay in the moulds is greater and the clay may be used much stiffer
than in the hand brick making machine. The pressure upon the clay
may be regulated at pleasure and to suit stiff or soft clay.
For the sake of clearness I will first enumerate the parts of an ordi-
nary hand brick machine, and afterwards describe the improvements in
the machine forming the subject of the present Invention. The clay
knives which are placed in a mill tub are attached to a shaft and revolve
and mix the clay, which when mixed is forced through an opening in
the botton of the tub, and below the drum by two feeders on the lower
end of the knife shaft. A presser (connected according to the present
Invention by means of a rod with a crank wheel), as herein-after
more fully described, forces the clay into wooden moulds, each divided
for moulding six bricks at a time. One mould is below the presser
filled with clay, and the other which is empty is lying on the mould
bed ready to be moved below the drum for filling when the full one is
moved out. Cams are provided for lowering the front of the mould bed
to remove the moulds when they are disarranged or obstructed, operated
by a handle. An iron frame supports the presser, mould-bed, levers, and
other parts.
The improvements of this Invention consist of a frame for supporting
the mill tub and machinery, provided with pillow blocks of wood or
metal, and with pinions which transmit motion from a crown wheel to a
crank wheel. The one pinion is movable upon the shaft and is thrown
in or out of gear with the crank wheel by a clutch. To the crank
wheel is fixed a crank pin to which is connected the upper part of a
pressure rod while its lower end has a thread cut upon it and passes
through a coupling and is fitted with a small nut. 'Above the
coupling an adjusting nut and collar is screwed upon the rod. By
turning this nut the length of the rod and the pressure upon the drum
may be regulated at pleasure..
In order to throw the machine out of gear there is a cam mounted
loosely near the end of the crank wheel shaft, which cam fits upon a

page_text: fixed collar by a beveled clutch. The cam is pressed against the collar
and kept in gear with it by a spring. The pressure of the spring against
the cam may be regulated at pleasure by a nut.
In case of any obstruction from misplacement of the moulds or
other causes the beveled clutch on the collar presses against the cam and
forces the spring to yield, so that the cam is thrown out of gear with
the collar, and the shaft is allowed to complete a revolution, when the
cam is again thrown into gear with the collar by the spring.
The shifting of the moulds is effected by means of a lever fulcrumed
in the centre, one end of which is attached to a connecting rod, while
the other is acted upon and depressed by the cam above-mentioned at
cach revolution of the shaft. As one end of the lever is depressed by
the cam the connecting rod on the other end is raised, and being con-
nected at the lower end to a lever shaft by a crank it acts upon the
levers attached to said shaft so as to move forward the empty mould
below the drum, and the full one. to the front of the mould bed ready
for emptying.
°
The lonth
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad
by Henry Bulmer and Charles Sheppard, both of Montreal, Province
of Quebec, and Dominion of Canada, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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 Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :—
°
This Invention relates to an attachment to brick machines, whereby
the clay is pressed into the mould at suitable pressure, and the moulds
when filled aro pushed out from below the drum without manual
labor.
The machine may be worked by steam, water, or horse power, and
will with the same attendance manufacture a greater number of bricks
than the devices for the same purpose now in use. The different parts
are so arranged that when stones or other obstructions get into the
drum, or when the moulds are displaced, the machine will be partially
thrown out of gear and thus prevent injury to it. The pressure upon
the clay in the moulds is greater, and the clay may be used much stiffer
than in the hand brick-making machine. The pressure upon the clay
may be regulated at pleasure and to suit stiff or soft clay.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 represents a plan or top view
of the machine; Figure 2, a front elevation; Figure 3, a side elevation
of the same; and Figure 4, a detail side view of a section of pressure
rod and adjusting nut.

page_text: The parts indicated by figures are those of the ordinary hand brick-
making machine, and the parts indicated by letters are the novel portions
of the machine.
1 is a mill tub, in which the clay knives 2, 2, attached to the shaft 4
revolve and mix the clay. When mixed it is forced through an opening
in the bottom of the tub and below the drum by the two feeders 3 on the
lower end of the knife shaft; 5 is a presser (connected by the rod G
with the crank wheel D) which forces the clay into the moulds; 6, 6¹, are
wooden moulds, each divided for moulding six bricks at a time. The
mould 6 is below the presser filled with clay, and 6¹ which is empty is
lying on the mould bed 7 ready to be moved below the drum for filling
when the full one is moved out; 8, 8¹, are levers acted upon by the con-
necting rod O which moves forward the empty mould below the presser,
and the full one to the front of the mould bed ready for emptying; 9 is
a shaft provided with a crank arm, to which the levers 8, 8', are
attached; 10 are cams for lowering the front of the mould bed to
remove the moulds when they are disarranged or obstructed. These are
operated by the handle 11; 12 is an iron frame for supporting the
presser, mould bed, lovers, and other parts of the machine; 13 is the
crown wheel.
A is the frame for supporting the mill tub, machinery, et cætera;
B, B, pillow blocks of wood or metal; C, C, pinions which transmit
motion from the crown wheel to the crank wheel D. The pinion C is
movable upon the shaft, and is thrown in or out of gear with the crank
wheel by the clutch F and the handle E; D is a crank wheel in which
the crank pin H is fixed; G is a pressure rod, the upper part of which is
connected with the crank pin, while its lower end has a thread cut upon
it and passes through the coupling and is fitted with a small nut I.
Above the coupling an adjusting nut and collar J is screwed upon the
rod. By turning this nut the length of the rod and the pressure upon
the drum may be regulated at pleasure. L is a cam near the end of the
shaft K. This cam is loose upon the shaft, and fits upon the fixed
collar M by a beveled clutch. The cam is pressed against the collar,
and kept in gear with it by the spring Q. The pressure of the spring
against the cam may be regulated at pleasure by the nut R.
In case of any obstruction from misplacement of the moulds or other
causes the bevelled clutch on the collar presses against the cam and

page_text: forces the spring to yield so that the cam is thrown out of gear with the
collar, and the shaft is allowed to complete a revolution, when the cam
is again thrown into gear with the collar by the spring; N is a lever
with the fulcrum in the centre; one end is attached to the connecting
rod O, and the other is acted upon and depressed by the cam L at each
revolution of the shaft. As one end of the lever is depressed by the
cam the connecting rod on the other end is raised, and being connected
at the lower end to the lever shaft 9 by a crank it acts upon the levers
8, 8¹, so as to move forward the empty mould 6' below the drum, and
the full one 6 to the front of the mould bed; P is a swivel joint with a
right and left screw, by which the length of the rod and the stroke of
the levers may be regulated.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1st. The pressure rod G working loose in the eye of the fork that
connects it with the hinged presser in combination with the presser
and the crank wheel D, all constructed and operating as and for the
purpose specified.
2nd. The combination of the collar M, cam L, spring Q, and nut R,
with the shaft K, lever N, connecting rod O, and crank shaft, and levers
9, 8, 8¹, all as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
HENRY W. DEWEY,
53, Chancery Lane.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)