IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING BLOCKS OF FUEL, PEAt, Clay, AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Hall, of the Wear Fuel Company,
South Docks, Sunderland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING BLOCKS OF FUEL, PEAt, Clay,
AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th March 1873.
I, SYDNEY HALL, of the Wear Fuel Company, South Docks,
5 Sunderland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING BLOCKS OF FUEL,
PEAT, CLAY, AND OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My improved machine consists of a framework carrying two horizontal
shafts with two equal spur wheels gearing into each other. Each of these
shafts carries a powerful cam; each cam is set opposite to the other.
In front of the cams are two rams or plungers working horizontally in
tubes as guides, and lying freely in the same. In one of these tubes is

page_text: F
an opening placed at the extremity of one ram when the same is drawn
back to the limit of its stroke, and the length of the stroke or movement
of the ram is such that it will move the whole of the material to be
compressed into a block into the forward part of the said tube in which
is the moulding chamber before any compressing power is exerted.
The
material to be compressed is filled into this chamber or opening in the
tube by any of the ordinary methods. Between the two tubes is a space
rather larger than the size of the block when the same is compressed.
The action of the pressing arrangement is as follows:-The material
to be compressed being fed into the open space in front of the one ram,
the rotation of the shafts causes the one cam acting on that ram to push
the material forward into the pressing chamber, while the other cam
acting simultaneously causes the ram to advance across the open space
between the two tubes and enter the mouth of the pressing chamber on
the opposite side; the continued rotation of the shaft now causes the cams
to exert their full pressing power on the material enclosed between them
in the pressing chamber, and on the further and continued rotation of the
shafts the ram which entered the mouth of the mould in front is
suddenly withdrawn by means of a balance weight acting on the under
side of the same through a bell crank; the first ram is now at liberty to
advance and propel the compressed block of fuel out of the pressing
chamber which is effected by the following arrangements :-On the side
near the periphery of each of the spur wheels is a stud carrying a roller,
and a shaft is supported on the frame below the filling and moulding
chambers with a lever attached to the under side of the ram by means
of connecting rods fixed to a lug on the under side of the said ram.
The bottoms of the tubes or guides are cut away at the ends next the
cams, so as to allow this lug to advance into the tube as far as is necessary.
This shaft has on its outer end and lying close to the spur wheels a
peculiar shaped double ended lever carrying pallets or striking plates at
each end thereof, in such a way that when the roller on one spur wheel
meets and acts on the one pallet it raises the other end, and brings it
into a position to be acted upon by the roller on the other spur wheel as
soon as its action has ceased, by this means the pressure on the block of
fuel being completed the roller on the one wheel through the striking
pallet acts on the shaft, and by means of the lever and connecting rods
on the under side of the ram propels the block of compressed fuel into
the space between the two tubes, when the roller of the other wheel

page_text: immediately pressing on the opposite striking pallet brings back the
ram into its first position in the rear of the filling chamber, and the
operation is ready to be repeated. The block of compressed fuel may
now be removed by hand or by any of the ordinary methods now
generally in use, but I prefer to have a grooved cam fixed on the main
shaft in such a way that by means of a stud on the end of a horizontal
unequal ended lever lying alongside the ram and tube, and working on
a fixed central pin a reciprocating movement is imparted to the same,
and the compressed block of fuel receives a lateral movement by the
action of a plate fixed to a rod and working in guides, by means of a
stud working on a slot on the said lever opposite to that which works in
the grooved cam; the block of compressed fuel is thus removed from
before the mouth of the mould and the space left clear for the action of
the ram.
When two or more blocks of Patent fuel or other substance require to
to be compressed I vary the above arrangement, and have two or more
cams on each of the main shafts set at suitable angles with each other,
but set in such a way that the pressing cams on each act in compressing
the material as above described, but in order to project the compressed
block of fuel from the mould I employ other cams of a less powerful
character and attached to the same shafts as the principal or pressing
cams, and so placed that they act on a long horizontal bar or frame on
the under side of the pressing tube and lying in the same direction,
and supported by radius rods or rocking frames, or by guides or friction
rollers from the bed plate or bottom of the framing. At each end of
such bar or frame and toward the middle of this bar or frame, the
connecting rods before described as fixed on the under side of one of the
pressing rams is attached. By this means when the ram is withdrawn
from the front of the compressed block of fuel, the cam comes into
action pressing on blocks secured to the sides of the horizontal bar or
frame, and by means of the connecting rods acts on the under side of
the ram and forces the compressed block out of the pressing chamber
into the space between the tubes, when immediately the cam on the
other shaft coming into contact with blocks fixed to the side of the
opposite end of the horizontal bar or frame forces it back again into the
position it stood at first, leaving the ram in the rear of the filling
chamber as before described. I also connect the horizontal frame with
a balance weight by means of a bell crank and connecting rods set in

page_text: the reverse direction to that which brings back the ram as before
described, in order to quicken the backward movement of the first ram,
and allow more time for filling in the material to be compressed into a
block.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sydney Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SYDNEY
HALL, of the Wear Fuel Company, South Docks, Sunderland, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Sydney Hall, Her special
license that I, the said Sydney Hall, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sydney Hall, my executors,
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 FOR MOULDING AND COMPRESSING BLOCKS OF FUEL, PEAT, CLAY, AND
OTHER LIKE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Sydney Hall, 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 Sydney Hall, do hereby declare
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 :—
My improved machine consists of a framework carrying two horizontal

page_text: shafts with two equal spur wheels gearing into each other. Each of
these shafts carries a powerful cam, each cam is set opposite to the
other. In front of the cams are two rams or plungers working
horizontally in tubes as guides, and lying freely in the same. In one of
these tubes is an opening placed at the extremity of one ram when the
same is drawn back to the limit of its stroke, and the length of the
stroke or movement of the ram is such that it will move the whole of
the material to be compressed into a block into the forward part of the
said tube in which is the moulding chamber before any compressing
power is exerted. The material to be compressed is filled into this
chamber or opening in the tube by any of the ordinary methods.
Between the two tubes is a space rather larger than the size of the
block when the same is compressed.
The action of the pressing arrangement is as follows:-The material
to be compressed being fed into the open space in front of the one ram,
the rotation of the shafts causes the one cam acting on that ram to push
the material forward into the pressing chamber, while the other cam
acting simultaneously causes the ram to advance across the open space
between the two tubes and enter the mouth of the pressing chamber on
the opposite side; the continued rotation of the shaft now causes the
cams to exert their full pressing power on the material enclosed between
them in the pressing chamber, and on the further and continued rotation
of the shafts the ram which entered the mouth of the mould in front is
suddenly withdrawn by means of a balance weight, and the first ram is
now at liberty to advance and propel the compressed block of fuel out
of the pressing chamber.
One mode of giving motion to the plungers as above described is
shown by the diagrams, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Sheet 1. In these
Figures B, B, are the two equal spur wheels geared together and fixed
on parallel shafts A, A, on these are cams C, C, acting on rams D, D.
E is a passage by which the material to be moulded is supplied to the
rear end of the mould F from a pug mill or other feeding apparatus.
As the rams are by means of the cams caused to advance towards one
another, the material is moved forward into the moulding chamber, and
is compressed by the rams into a brick or block, the right hand ram then
becomes freed from its cam and is quickly drawn back by the balance
weight G, whilst the left hand ram is caused to advance to expel the
brick or block from the mould, which is effected by the following

page_text: arrangements:-On the side near the periphery of each of the spur
wheels is a stud carrying a roller H, and a shaft I is supported on the
frame below the filling and moulding chambers, with a lever J attached
to the under side of the ram, by means of connecting rods fixed to a lug
on the under side of the said ram. The bottoms of the tubes or guides
are cut away at the ends next the cams so as to allow this lug to advance
into the tube as far as it is necessary. This shaft has on its outer end
and lying close to the spur wheels a peculiar shaped double ended lever
carrying pallets or striking plates K at each end thereof in such a way
that when the roller on one spur wheel meets and acts on the one pallet
it raises the other end and brings it into a position to be acted upon by
the roller on the other spur wheel as soon as its action has ceased. By
this means the pressure on the block of fuel being completed the roller
on the one wheel through the striking pallet acts on the shaft, and by
means of the lever and connecting rods on the under side of the ram
propels the block of compressed fuel into the space between the two
tubes, when the roller of the other wheel immediately pressing on the
opposite striking pallet brings back the ram into its first position in the
rear of the filling chamber, and the operation is ready to be repeated.
The block of compressed fuel may now be removed by hand or by any
of the ordinary methods now generally in use, but I prefer to have a
grooved cam L fixed on the main shaft in such a way that by means of
a stud on the end of a horizontal unequal ended lever lying alongside the
ram and tube and working on a fixed central pin, a reciprocating move-
ment is imparted to the same, and the compressed block of fuel receives
a lateral movement by the action of a plate M fixed to a rod and working
in guides by means of a stud working on a slot on the said lever opposite
to that which works in the grooved cam; the block of compressed fuel is
thus removed from before the mouth of the mould and the space left
clear for the action of the ram,
When two or more blocks of Patent fuel or other substance require to
be compressed I vary the above arrangement and have two or more cams
on each of the main shafts set at suitable angles with each other so as
to be in action at different times, but each pair of cams arranged to act
in compressing the material as above described and to project the
compressed block of fuel from the mould. I employ other cams of a less
powerful character at the sides of the principal or pressing cams and
attached to the same shafts. The side cams act on a long horizontal

page_text: bar or frame on the under side of the pressing tube, and lying in the
same direction and supported by radius rods or rocking frames or by
guides or friction rollers from the bed plate or bottom of the framing,
and toward the middle of this bar or frame the connecting rods before
described as fixed on the under side of one of the pressing rams are
attached. By this means when the ram is withdrawn from the front of
the compressed block of fuel the side cams come into action, pressing on
blocks secured to the sides of the horizontal bar or frame, and by means
of the connecting rods act on the under side of the ram and force the
compressed block out of the pressing chamber into the space between
the tubes, when immediately the cams on the other shaft coming into
contact with blocks fixed to the sides of the opposite end of the
horizontal bar or frame force it back again into the position it stood at
first, leaving the ram in the rear of the filling chamber as before
described. Or I connect the horizontal frame with a balance weight in
order to effect quickly the backward movement of the first ram and
allow more time for filling in the material to be compressed into a
block.
The above arrangement for forcing forward the first ram to expel the
moulded block and for afterwards drawing it back is also applicable to
single machines, that is, machines for moulding one brick or block only
at a time.
Figures 6 and 7 shew sectional elevations, and Figure 8 a plan of a
machine constructed in the manner above described. The mechanism
for moulding one brick or block only is shewn, but it will be evident
that the two parallel shafts may be prolonged, and be fitted with other
cams to mould any desired number of blocks for each revolution of the
shafts. In these Figures A, A, are the two parallel shafts having fixed
upon them two equal spur wheels B which gear together. One of the
spur wheels is driven from a pinion B*, on the shaft of which is a spur
wheel which receives motion from a pinion on a driving shaft. On the
shafts A are the cams C for forcing forwards the rams D. E is a pug
mill from which measured quantities of material are from time to time
supplied to the tube F, as herein-after described. When a measured
charge of material to be moulded has been supplied to the tube the two
rams are by the cams C caused to advance towards one another. The
right-hand ram closing one end of the moulding chamber, whilst the
left-hand ram carries forward the measured charge of material into the

page_text: chamber, and the material being thus enclosed is compressed between
the rams.
The right-hand ram then becomes free from its cam, and is
quickly drawn back by the action of the weighted lever G which is in
connection with it, as shewn. The left-hand ram is coupled to the
rocking frame H by the links I. When a block has been compressed,
and the right-hand ram has been drawn back, the side cams K, K, on
the shaft A come against the blocks L, L, on the frame, and force for-
wards the frame, together with the ram to which it is attached, and
expel the block or brick from the mould. When the cams K, K, have
by the revolution of the shaft A been carried round clear of the blocks :
L, L, the frame and ram are drawn quickly back by the weight M which
is coupled to the frame by a chain or cord, as shewn. A fresh measured
charge of material is then again delivered into the tube F, and the rams
are again caused to advance by the cams C to compress the charge into
a block. As each block is compressed, and after it has been pushed
forward out of the mould by the advance of the left-hand ram it is
pushed away sidewise by the pusher N, which is then caused to advance
by the action of a cam O, as shewn. This pusher, also serves to scrape
the face of the rams, and so sweep off any material which may be
adhering to them, and the pusher N is afterwards drawn quickly back
by a weight, as shewn. Whilst the loft-hand ram is in its forward
position the charge of material to be next delivered to the mould is
being measured out in a measuring chamber O. This is effected in the
following manner:-Whilst the ram is advancing a slide P which
separates the measuring chamber O from the pug mill or hopper E in
which is contained the material to be moulded is drawn back and the
measuring chamber fills with material, the material in the hopper being
kept agitated by a stirrer, as shewn. The slide P is then again forced
forwards by the action of the cam R so as to shut off the measuring
chamber from the hopper before the ram D has moved back, and when
the ram D has subsequently been drawn back, the measured charge of
material drops down in front of the ram, and when the ram again
advances is swept forward by it into the mould.
This arrangement of mechanism for delivering measured quantities of
material to the mould is more especially applicable when forming bricks
from powdered clay nearly in a dry state, and I would state that I do
not confine myself to this mechanism for supplying the material to be
moulded to the mould, as any ordinary arrangement of apparatus may

page_text: be used for this purpose; but what I claim as my improvements in
machinery for moulding and compressing blocks of fuel, peat, clay, or
other like substances is,―
1. The combination of a fixed mould with two rams working in it, the
rams being forced forward into the mould by cams on two parallel
shafts which are geared together so as to revolve at equal speeds, and
the mould having an opening at one extremity, through which the
material to be moulded is supplied to it.
2. The combined arrangements of apparatus, substantially as herein
described and shewn by the Drawings annexed.
3. The combined arrangement of two rams working with a fixed
mould, substantially in the manner herein described, the mould having
an opening at one extremity through which the material to be moulded
is supplied to it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sydney Hall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
SYDNEY HALL, C.E. (L.S.)