IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING BRICKS AND SUCH LIKE ARTICLES."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alleyne Bosworth, of Humberstone, in the County
of Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MOULDING BRICKS AND SUCH LIKE ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alleyne Bosworth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th March 1876.
JOHN ALLEYNE BOSWORTH, of Humberstone, in the County of Leicester. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING BRICKS AND SUCH LIKE ARTICLES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for moulding bricks
and such like articles.
In making bricks from powdered clay a considerable pressure is required to
consolidate the clay in the mould. If this pressure is communicated from the stean
engine to the plunger of the press through gearing great loss of power results
from friction, and a great mass of metal being in motion the machine is liable to
be broken if stones or other hard substances are present in the clay. The engine
also being required alternately to exert great pressure, and then to simply drive the
machine, great loss of steam results if the engine is not fitted with expensive cut-
off gear and governor.
Also in bricks made from powdered clay it is often found that the lower corners
of the brick are defective. This is caused by the friction of the mould and resistance
of the clay being so great that at the bottom of the mould the clay remains sta-
tionary instead of giving way to the pressure and becoming consolidated.
According to my Invention I so arrange the machine that the steam pressure
is applied directly to two opposite faces of the brick or other article to be
moulded.
I employ a steam cylinder with two pistons, between which steam is admitted,
and the pistons are thus caused to recede from each other. The piston rod of one
of the pistons abuts upon a moveable plate, which forms the bottom of the brick
mould, whilst the piston rod of the other piston is firmly fixed to the frame, which
is able to rise and fall in suitable guides. On this frame is fixed a plunger, which
[Price Gd.]

page_text: when the frame descends enters the top of the mould and compresses its contents
in a downward direction. A series of moulds or moulding cavities are employed;
they are formed around a disc mounted on a vertical axis. The disc is caused to
rotate step by step; it remains stationary at the times when the pressure is applied,
and after each pressure it is moved round the distance between inould and mould,
so that each mould in succession is brought to the place where the pressure
is applied. The same motion takes the moulds in succession beneath a hopper,
from which they are filled, and over a pusher, by which the pressed bricks are
cjected.
The rotation of the disc having the moulding cavities formed in it is produced
by the following means:- Upon au horizontal axis, which is driven continuously
by means of a belt and belt pulleys, or in other convenient way, a drum is mounted,
having a cam groove formed in it, which engages with pins on the under side of the
disc in which the moulding cavities are formed. At each revolution of the drum
the cam groove acting on the pins gives to the disc at the proper time the necessary
forward motion. The cam groove is so formed that there is always one or other of
the pins engaged by it, before releasing one pin it engages with the next.
The
horizontal axis above mentioned is geared with another axis parallel to it, on which
cams are mounted. One of the cams actuates the valve by which steam is admis-
sible to and allowed to escape from the steam cylinder. Another cam lifts the
lower piston and the parts connected therewith at the time when the steam is
escaping from the cylinder; and a third cam actuates the pusher by which the
pressed bricks or other articles are raised up out of the moulding cavities ready to
be taken away by hand or by machanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Alleyne Bosworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
September 1876.
"JM-
JOHN ALLEYNE BOSWORTH, of Humberstone, in the County of Leicester.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING BRICKS AND SUCH LIKE ARTICLES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for moulding bricks
and such like articles.
In making bricks from powdered clay a considerable pressure is required to con-
solidate the clay in the mould. If this pressure is communicated from the steam
engine to the plunger of the press through gearing great loss of power results from
friction, and a great mass of metal being in motion, the machine is liable to be
broken if stones or other hard substances are present in the clay. The engine also
being required alternately to exert great pressure, and then to simply drive the
machine great loss of steam results if the engine is not fitted with expensive cut-
off gear and governor.
Also in bricks made from powdered clay it is often found that the lower corners
of the brick are defective. This is caused by the friction of the mould and resistance
of the clay being so great that at the bottom part of the mould the clay remains
stationary instead of giving way to the pressure and becoming consolidated.
According to my Invention I so arrange the machine that the steam pressure is
applied directly to two opposite faces of the brick or other article to be moulded.
I employ a steam cylinder with two pistons between which steam is admitted,
and the pistons are thus caused to recede from each other. The piston rod of one of
the pistons abuts upon a moveable plate, which forms the bottom of the brick mould,
whilst the piston rod of the other piston is firmly fixed to a frame, which is able to
rise and fall in suitable guides. On this frame is fixed a plunger, which when the
frame descends enters the top of the mould and compresses its contents in a down-
ward direction. A series of moulds or moulding cavities are employed; they are

page_text: Recording to my inventio
a, a, is the frame of the machine supporting the steam cylinner b and the rotating
table c in which are formed the moulding cavities. The cylinder b contains two
pistons, the rod of one of these pistons projects upwards, and when it rises it abuts
upon the moveable plate or block forming the bottom of the moulding cavity which
at the time happens to be over it. The other piston rod projects downwards and
abuts upon the lower part of the strong frame or slide d, which can move up and
down in guides formed for it on the frame. The slide d carries at its upper end a
plunger d, which when the frame is forced downwards by the piston rod enters the
top of the moulding cavity, the bottom of which is simultaneously raised by the
other piston rod. Thus it will be observed that the material in the inoulding cavity
is pressed on two opposite sides by the same charge of steain admitted to the
cylinder b. The rotation of the table is obtained by means of a pin wheel e on its
axis, the pins or rather the friction pulleys on which engage with inclines on the
drum This drum is driven by a spur wheel on its axis gearing with a pulley
pinion on the axis of the belt pulleys g, g. On the axis of the drum f there is also
a spur wheel which drives another wheel of the same size on the axis h. The axis
carries three cains, one of them (the cam ) lifts the slide d each time after it has been
forced down by the lower piston rod. Another cam acting on the lever / works the
valve admitting steam to the cylinder b, and a third acting on the lever m works
the pusher by which the bricks are ejected from the moulding cavities. For filling
the moulding cavities there is a hopper not shown in the Drawings under which they
pass in turn.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim-
First. The construction of machinery for moulding bricks and such like articles
in such manner that a charge of steam acting on two pistons in the same cylinder
forces them apart, and through suitable instruments presses on the opposite sides of
the brick or contents of the moulding cavity, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. The construction of machinery for moulding bricks, and such like articles
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Alleyne Bosworth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.