IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR ADDADAMING TIMELOVED THEREIN M An
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas West Walker, of Poole, in the County of
Dorset, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR
ADDADAMING TIMELOVED THEREIN
M
An
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Sealed the 14th June 1861, and dated the 17th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas West Walker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1860.
I, THOMAS' WEST WALKER, of Poole, in the County of Dorset, Manager, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR
NATURE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar system or mode of manufacturing
ornamental bricks, tiles, quarries, slabs, finger plates, and other articles
capable of being so manufactured, and also to a peculiar construction and
arrangement of machinery or apparatus to be employed in such manufacture.
In making an encaustic tile according to this Invention, where, say, two
colors only are used, namely, for example, a red ground with a buff pattern, I
take a block of buff clay and place it in a suitable box or receptacle of a
shape corresponding to that of the tile to be produced. The surface of this

page_text: block of clay is now stamped with any suitable design by means of a die,
composed of flint and clay burnt and hardened, or of any other suitable
material. The impression having been made, I lay over the impressed surface
a veneer of red clay, and bring the die down again, thereby forcing portions
of such veneer into the cavities already made in the buff clay, so as to inlay it
therein. The die is now removed, and a piece of clay for forming the back
or body of the tile is laid over the veneered surface, and pressed thereon in a
moveable frame, so as to complete the body of the tile. The moveable backing
frame having been raised, a cut is made, by means of a fine wire, through the
clay at the part where the red veneer bas entered the buff clay, the result of
which is, that the red and buff will appear on the surface of the tile in the
form of an inlaid pattern or design. If more than two colors are required,
pieces of different colored clays are laid in their proper places over the
impressed surface of the clay, and the die brought down as before, and when
cut the various colors will appear in their proper combinations and forms.
According to another mode, a plate having the pattern cut through it may
be secured to the box containing the clay for forming the pattern; the backing
clay is laid upon this plate and formed into a tile by pressure, the clay beneath
the plate is now-forced-upwards,-so-as-to-squeeze it through the apertures in
the plate and force it into the backing clay. A cut is now made just above
the surface of the plate, and the expressed or ornamental clay will show in
the form of an inlaid pattern on the face of the backing clay. The face of the
backing clay may or may not be a fancy clay, as desired.
The press which I propose to employ in the manufacture of the tiles and
other similar articles above referred to, consists of the ordinary screw press,
with the addition of a moveable upper box or frame surrounding the plunger,
and serving to contain the backing clay, this moveable box or frame being
kept clean by sliding at each stroke of the press over the edges of the plunger,
the plunger being provided with suitable packing for that purpose; the bottom
plunger or plate is gradually elevated after the formation of each tile, so as to
raise the clay by self-acting mechanism worked by the press itself, such
mechanism consisting of a ratchet wheel and pall, which rotate the elevating
screw. When the die herein-before first referred to is used in the making
of ornamental tiles, it is fitted on to the face of the moveable box or frame,
and the elevation of the clay from below may be effected by a band wheel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas West Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WEST WALKER, of Poole, in the County of Dorset, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas West Walker, Her special license that I, the said
Thomas West Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas West Walker, my executors, administrators,
or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL BRICKS,
TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR NATURE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas West Walker, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal
of one of them, 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 Thomas West Walker, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures, marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar system or mode of manufacturing.
ornamental bricks, tiles, quarries, slabs, finger plates, and other articles.
capable of being so manufactured, and also to a peculiar construction and
arrangement of machinery or apparatus to be employed in such manufacture..
In making an encaustic tile according to this Invention, where, say, two.
colors only are used,, namely, for example, a red ground with a buff pattern, I
take a block of buff colored clay and place it in a suitable box or receptacle of
a shape corresponding to that of the tile to be produced. The surface of this.

page_text: block of clay is now stamped with any suitable design by means of a suitable
die composed of flint and clay burnt and hardened, or of any other suitable
absorbent material. The impression having been made, I lay over the
impressed surface a thin slice or bat of red clay for the ground, and bring the
die down again, thereby forcing portions of such thin slice into the lower or
sunk parts of 'the impression already made in the surface of the buff clay, so
as to inlay the red clay therein. The die is now taken away, and the waste
clay left on the surface is removed, when a piece of clay for forming the back
or body of the tile is laid over the inlaid surface and pressed thereon in a
moveable backing frame, so as to complete the body of the tile. The
moveable backing frame having been raised, a cut is made by means of a fine
wire through the clay at the part where the red clay has entered the buff clay,
the result of which is, that the red and buff will appear on the surface of the
tile, the one forming a ground, and the other a pattern or design inlaid
therein. If more than two colors are required, pieces of different colored.
clays are laid in their proper places over the impressed or sunk parts in
the surface of the clay in the box, and the die brought down as before, and
when-cut-the-various-colors-will appear in their proper combinations and
forms. It is obvious that in lieu of the buff or pattern clay being-contained
within the box the clay for the ground may be placed therein, whilst the thin
slice or bat which is laid on the surface of the clay may be used for
forming the pattern. By the first described method the pattern requires to be
impressed in relief upon the surface of the pattern clay, whilst in the method
last described the pattern must be impressed in intaglio, or sunk into the
surface of the clay which forms the groundwork of the pattern.
According to another mode, a plate or die having the pattern perforated or
cut through it may be secured to the top of the box containing the clay; for
forming the pattern a piece of the backing clay is laid upon this plate, and
formed into a tile by pressure; the clay beneath the plate is now forced upwards,
so as to squeeze it through the apertures in the plate and force it into the
backing clay, which should be rather softer than the pattern clay; a cut is
now made just above or upon the surface of the pattern plate or die, and the
expressed or ornamental clay will shew in the form of an inlaid pattern on the
face of the backing clay. The face of the backing clay may or may not be a
fancy clay, as desired.
The press which I propose to employ in the manufacture of the tiles and
other similar articles above referred to, consists of the ordinary screw or fly
press, with the addition of a moveable upper box or backing frame surrounding
the plunger, and serving to contain or confine the backing clay, this moveable

page_text: box or frame being kept clean by sliding at each stroke of the press over the
edges of the plunger, which is provided with suitable packing for that purpose;
the bottom of the clay box is gradually elevated after the formation of each
tile, so as to raise the clay by self-acting mechanism worked by the press
itself, such mechanism consisting of a ratchet wheel and pall, which wheel
rotates an elevating screw connected with the moveable bottom or plunger in
the clay box. When the die herein-before first referred to is used in the
making of ornamental tiles, it is fitted on to the face of the moveable box or
backing frame, and the clay is raised or forced against it from below by a
hand wheel upon the end of the elevating screw, or by a worm driven by a
winch handle, and actuating a worm wheel fast on the lower end of the
screw.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
5 refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a front elevation of
the press which I
propose to use in carrying out my Invention; and Figure 2
is a corresponding side elevation of the same. The rest of the Figures are
details and modifications, which I shall herein-after more particularly describe
and refer to.
A, A, is a cast-iron stand or framing, upon the table of which is bolted the
vertical standard B. The upper part of the standard B is provided with a
stationary nut C, through which works the screw spindle D of the fly press,
provided with the ordinary weighted lever arms E and actuating handle F, the
lower end of the screw D is connected to the cross-head G, in which it turns
freely, and to which it imparts a vertical movement; H is a slider, which is
also connected to the end of the screw spindle D, as shewn in the sectional
detail, Figure 3, the connection being so arranged as to allow the spindle to
rotate freely within the slider, and to have about one inch and a half of
vertical play or traverse therein, as will be clearly understood on referring to
the Drawing; I, I, are slide rods secured to the cross-head G on each side of
the ram or slider, and guided by passing through the fixed guide bar K, which
5 serves also to guide and steady the ram. Shoulders or collars are formed on
the rods I, I, near their lower ends, such shoulders or collars bearing upon the
surface of the blade springs L, L, which rest upon the lateral flanges of the
moveable backing frame M. An opening is made in the centre of each
spring, to allow the end of each rod I to pass through it, and a corresponding

page_text: aperture is made in the flange of the backing frame, through which the rods
also pass, being secured underneath by nuts a, a, as shewn in the detail,
Figure 4; Figure 5 is a plan of this frame corresponding to Figure 4. The
backing frame is thus connected by the slide rods I to the cross-head, and
consequently rises and falls by the action of the screw spindle D; the
operation of the springs L, L, will be herein-after explained. On the lower
end of the ram is formed a piston or plunger N, which is provided with
packing, and fits accurately inside the backing frame, in which it works freely.
This backing-frame and piston or plunger may be of any desired form according
to the shape of the tile to be produced; in the Drawings I have represented
them as being intended for the production of square tiles. O is the stationary
clay box for holding the clay, either for the ground or for the pattern of the
tile. The clay box O contains a plunger, which is made to rise and force the
clay upwards by the action of the screw spindle P, which works inside the
plunger, the latter being guided in the box-Q for that purpose. The screw P
may be worked either by the handle R and endless screw and worm wheel S,
or by the bevel wheels T, ratchet wheel U, and pall V, connected to the cross-
_head G; W is the die holder or frame for containing the impressing die X.
This holder, which is represented in section and-plan-at-Figures-6-and-7.,_is.
formed with a chamber b, b, on one side, into which the die X is placed, such
die being held therein by any suitable cement introduced through the grating
or openings in the frame at the back of the die. The die X should be
composed of a hard and absorbent material, to prevent the adhesion of the
clay thereto. I have found that a mixture of sixty-four ounces of ground
flint and twenty-four ounces of ball clay slip, burnt and hardened, forms a
good composition for this purpose, the pattern or design being formed on the
face of the die when it is in a plastic or soft state. The die holder or frame
is provided with two catch levers Y, Y, jointed thereto at c, c, and provided
with projecting studs or pins d, d', which serve to connect it to the face of the
backing frame or moveable box M when required, and admit of it also being
readily disconnected therefrom.
In making an ornamental tile of two colors by this machine according to
my Invention, I fill the clay box O with that particular colored clay which is
intended for the pattern, (say, buff color,) and after scraping the surface of
this clay so as to make it even and flush with the top of the clay box, I place
thereon the die frame W containing the die X, this frame being accurately
adjusted on the clay box by small register or adjusting pins, and corre-
sponding holes in the die frame and clay box, as shewn at e, e; the plunger
and backing frame are now brought down on to the die by turning the fly

page_text: press, and serve to hold it firmly down upon the box O, whilst the clay beneath
is forced up against the die by the action of the lower plunger inside the clay
box worked by the winch handle R. In the meantime the die holder is
coupled with the flange of the backing frame by moving inwards the gripping
ends of the catch levers Y, Y, so as to cause the studs or pins d, d', to project
respectively under and over the two flanges, and so lock them together. The
impression having been made, the die is elevated by reversing the screw D of
the press, and a thin slice or bat of a different colored clay to form the ground
is now laid upon the impressed suface of the clay in the box, as shewn in
Figure 8, where f is the thin slice of clay for the ground (colored red), and g
the pattern clay in the clay box (colored buff). The die is now brought down
again upon the surface of the thin slice of clay f, forcing portions of it into the
cavities or sunk parts of the impressed surface of the pattern clay g, as shewn
in Figure 9, after which the die is detached from the backing frame by
opening out the two catch levers Y, Y, and is removed from the machine, the
waste clay left on the surface of the pattern clay being also removed. The
back or main body of the tile is now formed of any suitable backing clay, a
piece of which, h, is placed upon the surface of the pattern above referred to.
as shewn in Figure 9ª, when the plunger and backing frame are again lowered
by turning the screw D. As a considerable degree of play is allowed between
the end of the screw D and the slider of the plunger or piston, the backing
frame begins to descend first, and by the time it has reached the clay box O,
and consequently surrounded or enclosed the piece of backing clay, the plunger
begins to descend, such descent being allowed for by the compression of the
springs L, L, and presses the backing clay firmly down upon the clay beneath
it, so as to consolidate it therewith, and forin the proper thickness of tile. On
reversing the screw D the backing frame is raised, so as to expose the tile,
and then the plunger or piston follows, when the tile is completed by being
cut from off the surface of the clay in the box O by means of a fine wire, the
cut being made through the inlaid portions, as shewn by the cut line marked
1, 2, in Figure 9, the pattern being left embedded or inlaid in the clay
forming the ground; the superfluous or waste clay is now removed from the
surface of the clay in the box O, and the operations are repeated as before.
the clay being raised slightly after each tile is made by the screw spindle P.
Figures 10 and 11 represent respectively a vertical section and plan of
another form of apparatus for making inlaid ornamental tiles. In these
Figures, O is the pattern clay box, similar to the one herein-before described;
but upon this box is fitted the pattern plate Z, which has any suitable design
cut through it, somewhat on the principle of a stencil plate or die for making

page_text: hollow articles from expressed clay. Above this plate is placed a piece of
backing clay, or a thin slice of fine clay of a different color to the pattern, so
as to form a ground, may be first laid upon the plate, and, upon this the
backing clay may be placed. The moveable backing frame and plunger
herein-before described, or other convenient apparatus for pressing and con-
fining the backing clay, are now brought down, and the clay in the clay box O
is forced upwards by means of a rising piston in the box O, thereby causing it
to pass through the perforations in the pattern plate, and to enter and imbed
itself into the clay above the plate, as shewn in the section, Figure 11, which
clay should not be quite so stiff as the pattern clay, so as to admit of it
entering therein. The tile is completed by cutting off the clay with a fine
wire from the surface of the pattern plate, when the pattern corresponding to
that of the plate Z will be found inlaid or imbedded in the surface of the tile.
The tiles are then allowed to stiffen, and are afterwards. pressed in a metal
mould by a screw press, when the edges are cleaned and the tile dried in the
usual way.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, would-observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured-to-me_by_the_herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the peculiar modes or methods of making ornamental bricks, tiles,
quarries, slabs, finger plates, and other similar articles, as herein-before
described and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second, the herein-before described general construction, arrangement, and
combination of machinery or apparatus for making plain or ornamental bricks,
tiles, quarries, slabs, finger plates, and other similar articles.
Third, the peculiar construction or composition of die or dies to be used in
the manufacture of ornamental bricks, tiles, quarries, slabs, finger plates, and
other articles capable of being ornamented thereby, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas West Walker, have hereunto my
hand and seal, the 14th day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
בזזזז
THO. WEST WALKER. (L.S.)