IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE WORKING OR MANUFACTURE OF FUTTERS CLAY UK OTHER PLASTIC MATERIAL.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Boulton, of Providence Foundry,
Burslem, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE WORKING
OR MANUFACTURE OF FUTTERS CLAY UK OTHER PLASTIC MATERIAL.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Boulton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st March 1874.
I, WILLIAM BOULTON, of Providence Foundry, Burslem, in the County
of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE WORKING
OR MANUFACTURE OF POTTERS' CLAY OR OTHER PLASTIC MATERIAL," to be as
*follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in substituting for the usual hanging
and driving arms of the ordinary "blunging" or "blending" machines
used by potters in mixing raw potters' clay or similar material blades or
knives set at or on such angles as to cause the solid materials to be raised

page_text: "
from the bottom of the "blunge pan, and to cause them to mix
intimately with the fluid matters therein in order that they shall be
properly blended and incorporated together, the materials being thereby
thrown against suitable splash boards and directed by them towards the
centre of the pan. In order to accomplish this object in the most
effectual way I apply the said blades or knives to a hollow shaft which I
suspend from a bearing placed above and out of reach of the materials in
the pan. The said hollow shaft is suitably keyed, coupled, or connected
to an inner solid shaft which receives motion by bevil gearing or other-
wise from a driving shaft placed either below or above the pan.
The Invention also consists in imparting to the sifting apparatus
(consisting of an octagonal or other shaped framework covered with silk
or other lawn, and provided with the requisite receivers to receive the
blended material from the blunge pan, and with troughs to receive and
carry away the knottings and sieved clay or other plastic material) a
vertical or horizontal shaking motion in addition to its ordinary revolving
motion. In order to accomplish this I key a studded cam on one or
both ends of the sifter shaft, which revolves in an oblique position, so
that as it in revolving comes against any firmly held part, such as a
small turned wheel carried by a stud pin, it causes the shaft to rise and
fall and give the desired motion, and thus causes the blended material to
be more completely, sifted than usual.
.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Boulton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
.BOULTON, of Providence Foundry, Burslem, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our 3
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Boulton, Her special licence
that I, the said William Boulton, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said William Boulton, my exccutors,
administrators, and 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS. TO BE USED IN THE WORKING OR MANUFACTURE OF
POTTERS' CLAY OR OTHER. PLASTIC MATERIAL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Boulton, 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 William Boulton, 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 in writing, and on reference being had to the accom
panying Drawings, that is to say:-
દ
:
The first part of this Invention, which is illustrated on the accom.
panying Drawings in Figures 1 to 3; consists in substituting for the
usual hanging and driving arms of the ordinary "blunging", or
blending" machines used by potters in mixing raw potters' clay or
similar material an arrangement of blades or knives 1 set at such angles
as to cause upon their revolution the solid materials to be raised from
the bottom of the "blunge" pan 2, and to cause them to mix intimately
with the fluid matters therein in order that they shall be properly
blended and incorporated together, the materials being thereby thrown
against suitable splash boards 3, and directed by them again towards the
centre of the pan 2. In order to accomplish this object in the most effectual
way I apply the said blades or knives either singly or in pairs opposito
to each other to a tubular shaft 4, by preference in the manner shewn in
the perspective view Figure 3, which I suspend from a flanged collar 5, sec
Figure 1, keyed upon or coupled or connected to the upper end of an inner
solid shaft 6, and placed above and out of reach of the materials in thic
pan 2. The said shaft 6 which receives motion by bevil gearing 7, or
otherwise from a driving shaft 8, placed either below or above the pan.2

page_text: L
at its upper-end works in and is supported by a bearing 21, carried by a
hollow column 9 situated between the shafts 4 and 6, and bolted at 22:
to the bottom of the pan 2, and which column 9 prevents the materials.
getting at or to the lower bearing of the shaft 6; or the shaft 6 may be
driven from above the pan with a footstep. resting on the top. of the
column 9, or from a footstep working in the bottom of the pan 2, and
the blades or knives 1 fastened on the suspended down shaft. Or I may
have two bearings above the top of the pan, and have the shaft 6 hanging.
down inside with the knives 1 fastened on it, dispensing with the column 9.
or not, as preferred, the bottom of the shaft being suitably guarded or
protected to prevent its being suddenly strained.
.
The second part of the Invention, which is illustrated on the accom.
panying Drawings in Figures 4 to 6, consists in imparting to a sifting
apparatus (consisting of an octagonal, hexagonal, or other shaped frame-
work 10, covered with silk or other lawn, and provided with the requisite
receivers 11 to receive the blended material from the blunge pan; and
with troughs 12 and 13-to receive and carry away the knottings and
sieved clay or other plastic material) a vertical (or.horizontal) shaking
motion in addition to the ordinary revolving motion. In order to
accomplish this I key a studded cam (or cams) 14 on one or both ends
of the sifter shaft.15, which revolves in an oblique position, so that, as it
in revolving comes against any firmly held part such as a small turned
wheel 16 carried by a stud pin 17, it causes the shaft 15 to rise and fall
and give the desired motion, and thus causes the blended material to bo
more completely sifted than usual..
18 represent pedestal blocks for carrying the shafts 15; 19, the fly
wheel; and 20, driving pulleys..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said. Invention, together with the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I
would remark in conclusion that I claim as my. Invention the above
described improvements in machinery or apparatus used in the working
or manufacture of potters' clay or other plastic material, substantially as
described and as illustrated on the accompanying Drawings, and especially
I claim in a blending or blunging machine the substitution for the usual
hanging or driving arms of the arrangement of knives or blades; and in
a sifting machine the effecting a vertical or horizontal shaking motion in

page_text: addition to the usual revolving motion, both substantially as in the
manner and for the purposes respectively above specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Boulton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.