IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ENCAUSTIC TILES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Barlow Wright, of Parkfield Stone, Stafford-
shire, and Henry Thomas Green, of Moreton, Staffordshire, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ENCAUSTIC TILES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Barlow Wright
and Henry Thomas Green at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 16th February 1855.
We, SAMUEL BARLOW WRIGHT, of Parkfield Stone, Staffordshire, and HENRY
THOMAS GREEN, of Moreton, Staffordshire, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ENCAUSTIC TILES
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of causing clay to be expressed through a suitable
die in the form of a sheet (as has heretofore been practised in the manufacture
of other tiles), which is received on to a tray or surface as it moves past the
expressing machine, such tray having sides of vulcanized india-rubber moving
at a like speed. The sheet of clay in its movement passes under, and is acted
on by, a roller made with a suitable surface to produce the desired pattern to
the surface of the sheet of clay, which after passing from the roller has the
hollow parts of the pattern filled up with fluid clay or slip from suitable vessels.
The clay is cut into tiles, and the excess of clay is afterwards scraped off or
removed from the surfaces of the tiles. The tiles when partially dried and
passed under a revolving scraper or surfaces, and afterwards faced by a
revolving polisher. When dry and ready for the oven, they are made true
square and slightly undercut at the edges by a revolving stone or grinding
surface previous to firing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry Thomas Green in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
BARLOW WRIGHT, of Parkfield Stone, Staffordshire, and HENRY THOMAS
GREEN, of Moreton, Staffordshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry Thomas Green, Her special licence
that we, the said Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry Thomas Green, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry Thomas Green, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might makc, 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
ENCAUSTIC TILES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry Thomas Green, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
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 bo 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 we, the said Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry
Thomas Green, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of causing clay to be expressed through a suitable
die in the form of a sheet (as has heretofore been practised in the manufacture
of other tiles), which is received on to a tray or surface as it moves past the
expressing machine, such tray having sides of vulcanized india-rubber moving
at a like speed. The shect of clay in its movement passes under and is acted
on by a roller made with a suitable surface to produce the desired pattern to
the surface of the sheet of clay, which after passing from the roller, has
the hollow parts of the pattern filled up with fluid clay or slip from suitable

page_text: vessels. The clay is cut into tiles, and the excess of clay is afterwards scraped
off or removed from the surfaces of the tiles. The tiles when partially dried
are passed under a revolving scraper or surfaces, and afterwards faced by a
revolving polisher. When dry and ready for the oven, they are made true
square and slightly undercut at the edges by a revolving stone or grinding
surface previous to firing.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 is a plan, of a machine for
manufacturing encaustic tiles according to our Invention. A is the main axis,
which receives motion from a strap passing over the fast pulley B. On the
end of the axis A is a bevelled wheel C, which takes into another bevelled
wheel D on the vertical axis E. F is an iron cylinder forming the body of a
pug mill, which is fed with clay of a suitable description from the stage G.
H, H, are inclined knives attached to the axis E, which by revolving force the
clay out at the moulding orifice I in a long, continuous sheet, which is received
by the boards K, K. These boards K are fed into the machine by hand
between the rollers L and L', which are geared together by spur wheels so as
to run at equal speeds. The lower roller L has on its axis the cone M, which
is driven from the other cone N by the band O, which can be traversed by the
fork on the screw P, so as to adjust the speed of the boards to the speed of the
sheet of clay issuing from the pug mill. The roller L' is mounted in such a
manner that it has a slight vertical play, and it is made to press against the
boards by springs. Q, Q, are rollers for supporting the boards through the
machine; R, R, are endless bands of vulcanized india-rubber mounted on the
small rollers R, R', which project over the edges of the boards K, as shown in
the plan; and the distance between the bands is adjusted to the width of the
sheet of clay formed by the moulding orifice, and whenever the moulded
orifice is changed, the distance between the bands must be adjusted by altering
the position of the axes of the rollers in the slots in the framing which carries
them. S is a roller of plaster of Paris or other suitable material running in
bearings attached to the frame of the machine. On the surface of the roller
S is formed in relief the pattern with which the tile is to be ornamented. T is
a bottomless trough which rests on the sheet of clay. Into this trough is
poured slip or thin clay of a color different to that of the body of the tile. As
the printed sheet of clay passes under the trough T, the slip therein fills the
indentations produced by the printing roller. After the sheet of clay has

page_text: passed from under the slip trough, it is cut up into separate tiles either by hand
or by the machine in the same way as the cutting is effected in brick machines.
When this is done the boards with the tiles thereon are delivered one after
the other on to the table U, from which they are removed by hand, and the
tiles are allowed to dry. After two or three days the tiles will be sufficiently
dry to be scraped, which may be done by hand in the ordinary manner, or it
may by preference be done by curved knives revolving on an axis, see Figure 3,
and the tile should be presented to a knife or knives of this description, so
that the scraping action may be from the edges to the centre of the tile. After
scraping, the tile has to be burnished, which again may be done by hand in
the ordinary manner, or it may by preference be done by bringing the tile into
contact with surfaces of steel rotated by machinery, as shewn at Figure 4. I
would, however, state that the form of the rotating cutters and burnishers may
be varied. The tile when burnished is then to be dried, squared at the
edges by a grinding surface, and then finished in the ordinary manner.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the exact details described; but what we claim is, the printing on
a continuous sheet of clay by a roller or pattern surface, and filling the indenta-
tions produced by the pattern surface by passing the printed sheet under a
trough containing clay of a color different from the body of the sheet. We
also claim the manner in which the tiles are delivered from the machine on
boards, as herein described. Also the manner in which the tiles are scraped
and burnished by the action of revolving scrapers and revolving burnishers.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Barlow Wright and Henry
Thomas Green, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
Witness,
FRED HARRIS.
SAML B. WRIGHT.
(L.S.)
HENRY THOS GREEN. (L.S.)