IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICKMAKING MACHINES.
Year: 1874

page_text: 13
LETTERS PATENT to William Steven, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Brick Maker and Builder, for the Invention
of
IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICKMAKING MACHINES.
เ
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Steven at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, on the
28th February 1874.
I, WILLIAM STEVEN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Brick Maker and Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the'
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICKMAKING MACHINES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object to render brickmaking machinery
more efficient, simpler, and less liable to derangement than hitherto.
The improved machine comprises a pug mill resembling in its con-
struction those in ordinary use, its central vertical shaft being driven by
means of a bevil wheel fixed on it below.the pug mill, and having in

page_text: gear with it a bevil pinion on a horizontal shaft, constituting the first
motion shaft of the machine. The pug mill is formed with two
diametrically opposite lateral outlets at or near its bottom, and beneath
cach outlet there is a slide fitted to reciprocate horizontally in guides
formed in the framing. Each slide is formed with two mould cavities to
receive the clay, and when one is at the outlet being filled the other is
beyond it at one side or the other, having the brick pushed downwards
out of it by a piston or delivering plate. These delivering plates, of
which there are four, are worked by heavy cross heads, which are raised
by cam surfaces, which may be formed or fixed on the upper side of the
bevil wheel on the pug mill shaft. This working of the delivering plates
by weight instead of by a positive action prevents breakages from stones
or other obstructions, as when such are in the way the plates simply
remain elevated. The mould slides are moved by connecting rods acted
on by cranks on a transverse horizontal shaft, but the rods are made
with slots so that the cranks move them intermittently and not con-
tinuously. The transverse shaft is driven by bevil gearing from a
second motion horizontal shaft above and parallel to the first motion
shaft, the two last mentioned being geared together by equal spur
wheels.
When it is considered desirable to compress the clay in the moulds,
pistons or plungers are for that purpose fitted to work down through the
pug mill outlets. These plungers are acted on by levers on a transverso
horizontal shaft, which has a third lever fixed on its middle, having a
connecting rod jointed to it that is acted on by a cam, crank, or eccentric
on the second motion shaft, or if preferred on the first motion shaft.
The pug mill outlets, the mould slides, and the compressing plungers, or
one or more of these parts are formed with cavities for the admission of
steam or hot water (by flexible or jointed pipes if necessary) to heat the
moulding surfaces with the view of preventing the adherence of the
clay to them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Steven in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STEVEN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Brick
Maker and Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Steven, Her special
licence that I, the said William Steven, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Steven, 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
BRICKMAKING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Steven, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal 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 Steven, do hereby declare.
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for its object to render brick-making machinery
more efficicient, simpler, and less liable to derangement than hitherto.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing a

page_text: Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or
like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan of the machine.
Figure 2 is a side elevation, but with parts supposed to be broken
´away; and Figures 3 and 4 are elevations of certain parts as at right
angles to Figure 2.
My improved machine comprises a pug mill 1 resembling in its con-
struction those in ordinary use, its central vertical shaft 2 being driven
by means of a bevil wheel 3 fixed on it below the pug mill, and having
in
gear with it a bevil pinion 4 fast on a horizontal shaft 5, constituting
the first motion shaft of the machine. The pug mill 1 is formed with
two diametrically opposite lateral outlets 6 at or near its bottom, each
outlet being in the form of an open bottomed box, communicating at its
inner side with the interior of the pug mill. Beneath cach outlet 6
there is a slide 7 fitted to reciprocate horizontally in guides 8 formed in
the framing, and cach slide 7 is formed with two mould cavities (indi-
cated by dotted lines 9 in Figure 2) to receive the clay, and when one of
these mould cavities is at the outlet 6 being filled the other is beyond it
at one side or the other having the brick pushed downwards out of it by
a piston or delivering plate 10.
In Figuro 2 the mould slide 7 is shown in its middle position. Each
mould cavity 9 is formed vertically quite through the slide, and when
either mould cavity is at the filling outlet 6 its bottom is then closed by
the bottom of the guide made close at that part, but when the cavity
reaches the position for discharging the brick it is over an open part of
the guide bottom so that the brick can be pushed out downwards by the
piston 10 entering the upper side of the cavity. The mould slides 7 are
moved by connecting rods 11 acted on by cranks 12 on a transverse
horizontal shaft 13, but the rods 11 are made with slots or loops so that
the cranks move them intermittently and not continuously. The trans-
verse shaft 13 is driven by bevil gearing 11 from a second motion
horizontal shaft 15 above and parallel to the first motion shaft 5, to
which it is geared by equal spur wheels 16.
The delivering plates or pistons 10, of which there are four, are
worked by heavy cross heads 17, of which there is one to each pair of
pistous 10, as best seen in Figure 3. Each cross head 17 is raised by a

page_text: cam 18 formed or fixed on the upper side of the bevil wheel 3 on the
pug mill shaft. This working of the delivering plates by weight instead
of by a positive action prevents breakages from stones or other obstruc-
tions, as when such are in the way the plates simply remain elevated
instead of being forced downwards.
In the modification of my improved machine shown in the accom-
panying Drawings provision is made for compressing the clay in the
mould cavities. The machino may however be made without such
provision when the clay used and kind of brick intended to be made do
not require it.
When the clay is to be compressed the filling outlets 6 are made with
open tops to admit of the descent within them of pistons or plungers 19
attached to rods 20 working vertically in guides and formed with slotted
enlargements, in which are entered the ends of levers 21 fast on a
transverse horizontal shaft 22 carried by bracket bearings attached to
the
pug
mill. This transverse shaft 22 has also fast on its middle a
lever 23, to the outer end of which there is jointed a rod 24 extending
downwards, and with its lower end working in a guide 25, and near its
lower end this rod 21 has fixed to it a horizontal stud with a roller 26
on it working in a grooved or recessed cam 27 fast on the inner end of
the second motion shaft 15. This cam is shaped as shown in face view
in Figure 4, or so as to cause the plungers 19 to be depressed at the
times when the mould cavities 9 are being filled, and the clay is thereby
compressed in the mould cavities and its solidity insured. A crank or
eccentric on the second motion shaft 15 or on the lower shaft 5 may be
used instead of the cam 27 for acting on the compressing plungers 19.
The pug mill outlets 6, the mould slides 7, and the compressing
plungers 19, or one or more of these parts may be formed with cavitics
for the admission of steam or hot water (by flexible or jointed pipes if
necessary) to heat the moulding surfaces, which may be of cast iron,
with the view of preventing the adherence of the clay to them.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The arranging or combining together of parts to form a brick-

page_text: making machine, substantially in the improved manner herein described
and delineated.
2. The combining of the reciprocating mould slides 7 with delivering
pistons 10, which latter work by weight only, substantially as and for
the purposes herein-before described.
3. The arranging of the plungers 19 to compress the clay on its being
filled into the mould cavities, the said plungers being actuated through
levers from a cam 27 or from a crank or eccentric, substantially as
herein before described.
E
In witness whereof, I, the said William Steven, have hereunto 1
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM STEVEN. (L.S.)