IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Collins, of Gayton, in the County of
Northampton, Brickmaker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES."
Sealed the 27th March 1855, and dated the 30th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Collins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
September 1854.
I, THOMAS COLLINS, of Gayton, in the County of Northampton, Brickmaker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES " to be as follows:-
These improvements consist, firstly, in combining the drying sheds employed
by brickmakers with the kiln or kilns by means of pipes, for the purpose of
conveying heated air from such said kiln or kilns to the before-mentioned sheds,
and employing it therein for the purpose of drying the clay after it has been
moulded into bricks, instead of employing a separate fire or fires for such
purpose, as commonly practised; and, secondly, in constructing kilns with a
chamber above the crown of the kiln, for the purpose of imparting heat to air
admitted into the same by means of pipes, and afterwards employing the air
thus heated to the purposes of drying, as above stated. The nature of these
improvements will, however, be better understood by the following description
of the means by which they may be effected. And as regards the construction of

page_text: the kiln, I propose to build it with two arches at the top or crown thereof,
which are arranged about two feet from each other, so as to leave a clear space
or air chamber extending the whole length and width of the kiln; one end of
this chamber is closed, and the other end is furnished with pipes, which extend
downwards to the bars of the kiln, and are open to the atmospheric air, which
enters therein-freely-by means of dampers suitably placed for regulating the
Thus it will be seen that the heat which radiates from the top of the
kiln during the process of burning, and which has hitherto been lost, I propose
to employ for imparting heat to cold air, and applying such heated air to the
drying of the clay, as above stated, by which I effect a considerable saving in
fuel employed in the process of manufacturing bricks and tiles:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Collins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I THOMAS
COLLINS, of Gayton, in the County of Northampton, Brickmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Collins, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Collins,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Collins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
MANUFACTURING BRICKS AND TILES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Thomas Collins, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Collins, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
My improvements in manufacturing bricks and tiles consist in combining the
closed drying sheds commonly employed in and for the drying of the clay after
it has been moulded into the form of bricks or tiles (in the manner commonly
practised), and so connecting the said drying sheds with the kilns employed for
baking or burning the dried moulded clay, as that a portion of the heat from
the said kilns, and which in kilns as heretofore constructed has usually been
lost by radiation, is by these improvements secured and rendered available for
the purpose of heating the drying sheds, and thus drying the moulded clay
therein, ready for the subsequent operation of baking or burning the same
in the kilns, thereby dispensing with the necessity for employing a separate
fire or fires, as commonly practised in sheds employed for drying clay after it
has been moulded into the form of bricks and tiles, by which means I effect
a considerable saving of fuel.
.And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing annexed
to these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectivaly as follows

page_text: to charge and empty the kilns. E, E, flues for carrying off the smoke from
the fires in the kilns; these flues terminate in a closed chamber G, built against
one side of the kilns.
Adjoining the outer wall of said chamber the closed drying sheds I, I, are
built, side by side, two to each kiln, said sheds being of such capacity as to
contain each about twenty thousand bricks or twenty thousand tiles; the size
of each kiln being such as to contain and "burn" at one time about forty
thousand bricks or forty thousand tiles, more or less, according to the size and
form thereof. At each end of the aforesaid drying sheds are doors, K, K, for
the ingress and egress of workmen. The outer walls of these sheds, as also
the party walls i, i, thereof, I form of solid brickwork; and the flooring L, L,
of said sheds I form cither of perforated bricks or tiles, or of solid bricks, so
placed and connected together as to leave spaces or openings between each,
thus forming a kind of perforated flooring, upon which the moulded clay
is placed, and dried by heated air passing through the spaces of such said
flooring; the heat being conducted thereto by means of iron pipes or flues
M, one end of each of which is open to the chamber G, and terminates in
the cross wall N, and the other and opposite ends of such said pipes or
flues terminate in the end wall of the drying sheds, a communication being
established between the chimney shaft O and the aforesaid pipes by branch
flues P of brickwork, cach of which is furnished with a damper Q (of the
ordinary kind) for regulating the draught therein, said dampers being under
the control of the person attending to the fires in the kilns, from which
place wires extend, to which the aforesaid dampers are connected. Each
of the pipes or flues M passes through an arched air chamber of brick-
work R, in which slits or openings, r, are left for the escape of heated
air from the aforesaid air chambers through the perforated flooring L, L, by
which the drying of the moulded clay is effected; and I have found it desirable
in practice to employ pipes S, S, passing through the kilns (two or more in
each kiln) for generating a current of heated air, one end of each of such said
pipes is open to the atmospheric air, and the other and opposite ends con-
municate with the interior of the aforesaid drying sheds at or near the top
thereof; the use of the pipes S, S, is to get rid of the vapour which rises from
the humid clay during the operation of drying, by causing a current of heated
air to pass through the drying sheds, the heated air entering at A, and escaping
through the ventilator at B; it will be seen, upon referring to Figure 1, that
the chamber G has a wall N built along the same, thereby forming another
chamber U, which is distinct and separate from the chamber G, and may be
made to communicate therewith by lowering and raising the dampers V, which

page_text: are opposite to openings formed in the wall N. I ensure the diffusion of heat
in the angles of the kiln by employing flues W (shown by dotted lines), one at
each angle of the kiln, each of such said flues being surmounted by a damper
plate w, for regulating the draught in such said flues. The chamber X serves
as a stoke hole for the workman attending to the fires at this side of the kiln
or kilns. The chamber Y may be used for general purposes, and affords access
to the dampers V, and with a kiln or kilns and drying sheds arranged and
combined as above stated, I operate in and for the manufacture of bricks and
tiles in the following manner :-
The drying sheds are charged with the moist moulded clay in the form of
bricks or tiles to be dried; the kilns are also charged with the dried moulded
clay either in the form of bricks or tiles, after which the doors of the drying.
sheds are closed, and the mouths D of the kilns are dammed up in the usual
way; the fires are then lighted in the kilns, the dampers Q are raised, and the
burning continued without intermission for a sufficient length of time, according
to the nature of the clay, the workman lifting the dampers of the flues W,
more or less during the operation, to ensure the general diffusion of heat in
the angles of the kiln. The principal part of the smoke from the kiln and a
certain amount of heat therefrom passes along the flues E into the chamber
G, and from thence along the pipes or flues M; the heat as it radiates
therefrom imparting heat to the atmospheric air in the arched chambers
R, R, from whence it passes between the spaces », some of which are shewn
at Figures 1 and 2 (as also those in the flooring L), into the drying sheds,
and thus effects the drying of the moulded clay therein. I recommend, after
the fires in the kilns have ceased to smoke, to raise the dampers in the
chamber U, and by these means to allow the heat to pass direct from the
kilns, and circulate through the arched air chambers R, as well as through
the pipes or flues, the workman exercising his judgment as to the precise
period of time for raising the dampers during the burning operation, and the
extent to which he opens the said dampers.
I would, however, remark, as a general rule or guide for the workman, I
have found in practice that by the time the bricks in the kiln have been
sufficiently burnt, the clay in the sheds has been sufficiently dry for the sub-.
sequent process of baking or burning in the kilns. The operations of burning
the dried moulded clay and of drying the moist moulded clay in the manner
and by the means above stated being now completed, the kilns are then left

page_text: to cool, (the dampers Q being closed and V opened, so that the heat given off
during cooling may pass at once into the drying sheds, and complete the drying
of the bricks or tiles contained therein. The bricks or tiles may then be
removed from the kilns as usual, ready for commercial purposes. The kilns
and sheds are then ready to receive fresh quantities of moulded and dried clay,
and may be operated with as before.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of
Improvements in Manufacturing Bricks and Tiles, and in what manner the
same is to be and may be performed, I would remark, in conclusion, that what
I claim is, the novel mode above particularly described and set forth of manu-
facturing bricks and tiles, by rendering available the heat from the kilns
employed in such manufacture, and employing such heat for effecting the
drying of the moist moulded clay in the drying sheds during the baking or
burning of the clay which is in the kilns, thereby dispensing with the necessity
for employing separate fires in the drying sheds, as heretofore commonly
practised in manufacturing bricks and tiles, and thus effecting a considerable
saving of fuel in such manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Collins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JAMES WELLS,
Coal Merchant,
Northampton.
THOMAS COLLINS. (L.S.)