IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING POTTERY-WARE IN KILNS AND OVENS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Elias Leak and John Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th November 1879.
ELIAS LEAK, of Longton, in the County of Stafford, Potter's Machinist, and JOHN
EDWARDS, of Fenton, in the same County, Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING POTTERY-WARE IN KILNS AND OVENS."
This Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for supporting pottery-
ware in kilns and ovens, and has especial reference to the "socket-pins" or "thimble
pins" upon the projecting arms or points of vertical series of which the ware is
supported within "saggers" during the operations of baking, glossing, or otherwise
firing the ware in the kiln or oven, the especial object of the Invention being to
construct the said socket-pins or thimble-pins in such a manner as to enable them
to be more readily separated from each other than hitherto, after having been used
in supporting the ware during the various firing processes to which the latter is
subjected, and during which great pressure is brought to bear especially upon the
lowermost ones of the vertical series by reason of the superincumbent weight of the
pins and supported ware above them, and they are thus wedged or driven tightly
into each other, and during the process of glossing or glazing the ware the glaze
flows over these, and they become as it were firmly cemented to each other, and
when subsequently required to be separated from each other great force is required
to be exerted, so much so that very frequently the pins are broken short off within
each other, and thus rendered mutually of no furthur use, and are in this state
consequently a source of great loss to the manufacturer.
It has hitherto been the practice to effect this separation of the thimble-pins or
socket-pins by knocking them sideways with a special knife or other suitable
instrument; but this, as above mentioned, results in great and unavoidable
destruction and in great loss to the manufacturer.
Now it is the special object of this Invention to remedy this very great defect,
and to construct the said socket-pins or thimble-pins in such a manner that however
firmly they may have become jammed or cemented together they can be very
easily separated, and with the minimum, if any, damage to them.
We would premise the description of our Invention by remarking that the
following improvements are applicable to every shape or form of thimble-pin or
socket-pin in which they have heretofore been made, or in which it may hereafter
be found advantageous to make them, and whether the same are produced by the use
Emin 077

page_text: of chilled dies or otherwise, or with filing and fitting them together either whole or
in parts.
Our present improvements consist in forming the said thimble-pins or socket-pins
with one or more recesses or through slots at either the back, front, or side, or with
one or more equivalent projections at either the back, front, or sides, these recesses,
slots, or projections, being variously arranged, but in such a manner as to allow of
an effective leverage being obtained by any suitable instrument, so that the
thimble-pins or socket-pins may be easily separated from each other.
One very advantageous way of carrying this principle into effect is to make a
slot in each thimble-pin or socket-pin at the front under the usual supporting arm
with which it is provided, and so low down as to come below the bottom of the
other pin which fits in it, so as to allow of the instrument used being inserted right
under the bottom of the pin to be removed, and of so removing it wholly without
damage and without breaking its bottom end off as is so usually the case.
In all cases so far as is practicable, we find it very advantageous to arrange the
parts so as to be able to get under the bottom of the inserted pins so as to more
easily and entirely remove them.
Another method consists in making a rim or projection at or adjacent to the top
of each thimble-pin or socket pin so that a good leverage may be obtained between
the top of the one pin and the said rim or projections in the one to be removed,
but, as above mentioned, we prefer in all cases so to arrange the parts as to be
able to get under the bottoms of the inserted pins, and for the express purpose
stated.
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