IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING AND MOULDING PLASTIC MATERIALS IN THE FORMATION OF EARTHENWARE AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Wood at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents on the 26th July 1877.
JOHN WOOD, of Newton Heath, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING AND MOULDING PLASTIC
MATERIALS IN THE FORMATION OF EARTHENWARE AND OTHER ARTICLES."
My Invention relates to the manufacture of earthenware, potteryware, porcelain,
and other articles, and of crucibles and other articles moulded from plastic materials,
and more particularly to the cases wherein the indicated articles are shaped or formed,
or partly formed, within moulds. In such cases the moulded article has a tendency
to adhere to the mould, and as a consequence cannot readily be withdrawn there-
from in all cases.
To remedy this defect is the principal object of my Invention.
To this end I employ a stationary knife blade or detacher in connection with a
revolving mould. The said blade or detacher is or may be formed of thin sheet
steel, or may be otherwise formed by forging or other means. The said blade is
secured to a suitable fixed point or part, and extends into the mould as far as it is
desirable to loosen or detach the article.
In the cases of moulds formed to impart irregular or curved shapes to articles,
the blades are formed to suit the formations of the moulds. The leading edge of
the blade, that is to say, the edge which meets the plastic material when the mould
is revolving is, by preference, sharp or comparatively sharp, and is arranged to lie as
close as is conveniently practicable to the mould.
When the mould containing the article in process of formation is caused to revolve
the stationary blade acts as a separator or detacher, and prevents the plastic material
from cohering to the mould, so that when the formation is completed the article can
readily be withdrawn from the mould.
In some or in all cases I supply water or lubricant at the part where the article
is separated by the blade, the said lubricant being supplied through a groove or
passage in the blade, or through the interval between the two parts of a double
blade, or between two blades, or being admitted between the article and the mould
when the two are separated by the said blade.
I may employ more than one blade in connection with a single mould,

page_text: In some cases the blades may be attached to blocks or sliding carriages, which
may be actuated to force the blade into position between the article and the mould
when the said article is completed.
it
In some cases, as for example, when moulding bottles or narrow mouthed articles,
may be advisable to divide the mould into two parts, one part being fixed, and
the other part revolving, or both parts being caused to revolve in unison, the blade
extending, out of the mould at the point of separation of the two parts of the
mould. I'may form the said blade of other material than steel, and may employ a
revolving blade in connection with a stationary mould. I may also use the said
blade in connection with moulds, which impart interior form to the articles.