IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRICKS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Platt, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Machine Maker, and John Whitehead, of the same Place, Manager,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
MAKING BRICKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Platt and John'
Whitehead at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th June 1856.
We, JAMES PLATT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker,
and JOHN WHITEHEAD, of .the same Place, Manager, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR MAKING BRICKS," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate, firstly, to brick machinery, in which the series of
moulds are traversed by means of a mangle-wheel motion; and consists in
an arrangement whereby the driving pulley: and gearing, together with one
end of the mangle wheel pinion shaft, are adjustable to the angle required by
the motion of the pinion in the mangle wheel aforesaid.
..
In order to illustrate our Invention we will point out one-arrangement we
adopt. The 'driving pulley and its shafts mounted in a suitable manner,
together with an arrangement of gearing for giving motion to the opposite

page_text: end of the shaft to that upon which the pinion taking into the mangle wheel
is fixed (the same being also mounted in suitable bearings), are with their
apparatus carried by a frame turning upon centres in such a manner that
the whole are adjustable to the angle required by the shaft and pinion driving
the mangle wheel above mentioned.
Another part our Invention applies particularly to that construction and
arrangement of machine for which Letters Patent were granted to James
Mac Henry, bearing date the twentieth day of July, One Thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two, and consists, firstly, in the use of apparatus for
loosening the bricks in the moulds previous to their being finally forced out
and removed. To accomplish this object, we place a roller in suitable bearings
under the traversing table, and which acts upon the series of piston rod ends
on their passage over it, so that the bricks are loosened and raised in the
moulds, after which they are allowed. to fall by their own gravity.
Secondly, in an arrangement of apparatus for preventing the pistons forcing
the clay out of the moulds, should the same not have been properly filled.
For this purpose we use a movable tappet, or part mounted on the traversing
mould table, so that the same may or may not be acted upon by the apparatus
used for raising the pistons or forcing the bricks out of the moulds.
Another part of our Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
which Letters Patent were granted to us, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day
of October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, the Specification of
which was duly enrolled, and consists in applying an oscillating or vibrating
screen or grid in the hopper under the revolving rollers, described in the
Specification above mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Platt and John Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th December-1856.-
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
PLATT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, and Joun
WHITEHEAD, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Platt and John Whitehead, Her especial licence that we, the said James

page_text: Platt and John Whitehead, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said James Platt and John Whitehead, our 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 OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING
BRICKS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said James Platt
and John Whitehead, 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 our 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 James Platt, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our improvements relate, firstly, to brick machinery in which a series of
moulds are traversed by a "mangle-wheel motion," and consists in an'
arrangement whereby the driving parts are adjustable to the angle required
by the motion of the pinion in the mangle wheel.
Another part of our Invention applies particularly to that construction and
arrangement of machinery for which Letters Patent were granted to James
Me Henry, dated Twentieth July, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
and consists, firstly, in the use of apparatus for loosening the bricks in the
moulds previous to their being finally forced out and removed; also in an
arrangement of apparatus for preventing the pistons forcing the clay out of
the moulds, should the same not have been properly filled.
Another part of our Invention, according to our Provisional Specification,
consisted in the application of an oscillating screen or grid in a hopper, but we
have since found that the same is not new, and therefore lay no claim thereto.
The first part of our Invention is shewn at Fig. 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawings, which are views, in elevation and plan, of the "mangle-wheel
motion" and driving apparatus thereof. The pulley to which motion is
communicated from the prime mover is shewn at a, upon the axis of which
is a pinion b, taking into a wheel c, mounted upon a shaft d, the other end of
which carries a pinion e, in gear with the usual mangle wheel f.. The pulley
a, pinion b, and wheel c are mounted in a frame g, the two side parts of

page_text: which are united by cross pieces, h, and these are provided, with centre pins i,
situate within sockets k, attached to stationary parts. As the pinion e-changes
from inside to outside of the mangle wheel f, or vice versa, the position of
the shaft dwill, as usual be required to assume. different, angles, and this it is
permitted to do by causing the frame g, h, to turn, within the sockets'k, and
as the driving parts a, b, c, move therewith their correct relative positions will
be maintained.
--
The second part of our Invention is shewn at Fig. 3, which is, a partial
section of a mould table, and certain parts .connected therewith, constructed
upon the principle aforesaid. The bricks, moulded according to the usual.
machinery, which is not shown in the Drawing, are represented at,a, and the
pistons for forcing them upward at b; as these travel onward, the rods.c
thereof arrive in contact with a roller d, and they are thereby moved a certain
distance upward, so as to loosen the clay within the mould, as,shewn,at, b**
the onward motion of the table then carries them beyond the roller, and
allows them to fall by their own gravity, ready to pass on to the bar k, by
which they are elevated for removal.. This bar we have shewn constructed
with a projecting rib for positively drawing down the pistons,, according to the
Specification, of a Patent granted to, John, Platt, bearing, date the Nineteenth
of October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
"
The next part of our Invention is also shewn at Fig. 3: The bar for
elevating the moulds is shewn, as before stated, at,k, mounted upon vibrating
levers e, to the centre of one of which is affixed a second: lever f, carrying
at its upper end an antifriction roller.g.. Upon the mould, table is mounted a
bell-crank h, h, so as to turn freely upon a centre pin, but it is prevented
from doing so,in one direction by a fixed, studi. As the table moves, onward
the part * arrives in contact with the roller g, thereby causing the levers if,.e, e,
to turn upon their centres and elevate the bar as usual; but, suppose that, tlie
attendant has observed, the moulds to be imperfectly filled, he turns the bell-
crank h, h upon its centre, so that the part.h" thereof rests upon the stud i
then the parth being removed from-the plane of, the roller,g, no elevating of
the bar will take place.
P
Having thus 4described and ascertained-the-nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that-we-claim, as secured-to-us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,―
Firstly, the application of a swinging frame. for the purpose above set
forth..
Secondly, in reference to the aforesaid descriptions of machines, the use of

page_text: apparatus for loosening the pressed material in the moulds previously to its
being forced out.
Thirdly, as applied to the said machines, the use of a moveable tappet or
other such apparatus for acting upon the elevating apparatus, so that the
action thereof may be prevented if desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Platt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
JAMES PLATT.(L.S.)