IMPROVEMENTS IN CLAY PRESSING MACHINES OR PRESSES FOR THE Manu- FACTURE OF BRICKS. TILES, OR OTHER WARES THEREFROM.
Year: 1873

page_text: . LETTERS PATENT to James Gillespie, of Woodhead, Garnkirk, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Brick Maker, for the Invention of
“ IMPROVEMENTS IN CLAY PRESSING MACHINES OR PRESSES FOR THE Manu-
FACTURE OF BRICKS. TILES, OR OTHER WARES THEREFROM.'
"
Sealed the 14th October 1873, and dated the 7th August 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Gillespie at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th August 1878.
I, JAMES GILLESPIE, of Woodhead, Garnkirk, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Brick Maker, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLAY PRESSING MACHINES OR
PRESSES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, OR OTHER WARES THEREFROM,”
to be as follows, that is to say:-
This said Invention has for its object a new and improved mode and
means of preventing the clay from sticking to the faces of the pressing
piston or blocks in brick and tile and other clay pressing machines
or presses, which improvements make smoother and better surfaces on

page_text: the articles and work compressed with less waste, besides enabling these
presses to compress certain kinds of clay, especially fire-clay, and
various articles of semi-dried clays, which have heretofore been either
found most difficult or wholly impossible to effect properly by the modes
and means heretofore employed, such as by the drying and heating of 5
the blocks by steam or gas jets.
And the nature of this Invention consists, first, in automatically
cleaning or brushing and oiling or greasing the pressing surface of the
main reciprocating piston for pressing the clay into the moulds in suo-
cession, formed in the cylinders of semi-dry clay brick and tile making 1
machines by a motion taken from the reciprocating presser itself, or
the parts of the mechanism moving and pausing therewith, such as the
cross head or side rods attached to the presser, which would cause a
brush or other equivalent to pass and rub across the pressing face of the
presser to clean and oil it during the short space and interval of time 1
it was raised out of and above the moulds.
And, second, in the brushing or cleaning and oiling of the pressing
face of the lower blocks or pistons within the moulds, also, when
preferred, during the short time they project each above the mould after
having delivered the compressed brick or other article, and before it 2
recedes within the mould again by a revolving or non-revolving and reci-
procating brush or other cleaner and oiler, or it might be a separate one
for each purpose.
One means of performing the first part of this Invention, as applied
to the said main piston which compresses the clay into the moulds 2
formed in the cylinder of a "Scholefield" or other revolving cylinder,
semi-dry brick and tile making machine, consists in fixing a guide bar
to each end of the piston, or its reciprocating block or cross head, for the
two ends of the bar or frame of a single or double brush, or a brush
and soft oil pad or other equivalent on it, to be reciprocated to and fro a
across the pressing face of the piston, and so clean and oil it every time
it rises out of the mould, by a motion preferably taken from itself, or
from the cross head or its actuating connecting rods, as by a tappet fixed
on the top of the cross head or piston block, with a pin on it, working in
the slot of a short lever, keyed on a rocking spindle working in a
stationary bearings screwed to the main guiding standards of the piston
cross head or other equivalent stationary part of the machine, This

page_text: working spindle has two long levers keyed on it at some distance apart,
with a rod fixed through their outer free ends parallel to the spindle,
and a link or connecting rod on each end of the said parallel rod is
directly connected to corresponding joint pins on the ends of the
bar or frame of the cleaning and oiling brushes which are thus pushed
forward through below the narrow space between the piston and mould
cylinder, by the rising of the cross head and tappet pin, slotted lever,
rocking spindle, and parallel lever frame, as a bell-orank motion, which
on the downward motion withdraws the brush frame again in time
before the piston reaches the cylinder to enter the next mould, and each
following one in succession; and curves on the guides, withdraw the
brush quite up out of the way of the compressed brick, being discharged
when it and its actuating mechanism is fitted on the delivery side of
the piston.
The carrying out of the second part of this Invention of cleaning
and oiling the internal pressing blocks of the moulds is effected, either
by a revolving or non-revolving cleaning and oiling brush or brushes, or
equivalent scraper or pad attached to a frame or bar on the free ends of
an oscillating lever frame carried in stationary journals, so that the
brushes or other cleaner and oiler used press and act on the pressing
surface of the pistons while they project beyond the moulds and
cylinder. Below and after they pass the delivery platform and before
they recede into the moulds again, so as to thoroughly clean and oil the
acting surface of each block or piston as it comes round, a cord attached
to the longer arm of the lever frame and passed over a pulley with a
weight or other equivalent presses and reciprocates the brushes, pre-
ferably in slotted guides with and against the surface of the blocks;
and when the brushes are made fixed or non-revolving, this lever frame
for pressing and carrying them, might be made to reciprocate across the
face of the pressing blocks by a motion taken from any adjacent recipro-
cating part of the machine as that of the connecting rods for actuating
the main piston; and the brushes when made revolving might be either
actuated automatically by the surface of the blocks themselves, or
have a positive revolving motion communicated to them in the reverse
direction to the face of the blocks by a pulley on their spindle, and a
cord or band passed over it from a corresponding pulley on any
revolving spindle of the machine or other equivalent actuating
gear.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Gillespie in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, James
GILLISPIE, of Woodhead, Garnkirk, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Brick Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Gillespie, Her special licence that
I, the said James Gillespie, my executors; administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Gillespie, 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 CLAY PRESSING MACHINES
OR PRESSES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER WARES THERE-
FROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Gillispie, 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 James Gillespie, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the several
figures and reference letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object a new or improved mode and
moons of preventing the clox from sticking in the fo

page_text: piston or blocks in brick and tile and other clay pressing machines or
presses, which improvements make smoother and better surfaces on the
bricks or other articles and work compressed, with less waste, besides
enabling these presses to compress certain kinds of clay, especially fire-
clay, and various articles of semi-dry clays, which have heretofore been
either found most difficult or wholly impossible to effect properly by the
modes and means heretofore employed, such as the drying and heating
of the pressing bricks by steam or gas jets.
And the nature of the Invention consists, first, in automatically
cleaning or brushing and oiling or greasing the pressing surface of the
main outer reciprocating ram or piston for compressing the clay in the
moulds formed within the cylinders or moulds of the semi-dry clay,
brick, and tile making machines, and revolving or coming round in
succession by a motion taken from the reciprocating presser itself (or
other part of the mechanism moving and pausing therewith, such as the
cross head or side rods attached to the presser), which would cause a
brush or other equivalent to pass and rub across the pressing face of the
presser to clean and oil it during the short distance and interval of time
it is withdrawn or raised out of or above the moulds as they come
round.
And, second, also in brushing or cleaning and oiling the pressing face
of the lower or internal blocks or pistons working within the moulds,
when preferred, successively during the short time they project each
above the mould just after having delivered the compressed brick or
other article, and before it recedes within the mould again, by a revolving
or non-revolving and reciprocating brush or other cleaner and oiler, or
it might be a separate one for each purpose, such as a scraper and a
brush respectively.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings are a
sectional side elevation, front or delivery and elevation, and a plan with
the mould cylinder removed, all respectively of a revolving mould cylin-
der semi-dry clay brick making machine (I believe of the "Scholefield"
Patent construction), having my said improved mechanism applied
thereto, and which I have done for the purpose of showing the nature,
novelty, and best modes and means I am at present aware of for perform-
ing my said Invention, the same reference letters indicating the same or
like parts in all the Figures where shown, the capital letters indicating

page_text: the new parts and improvements, and the small italic letters the ordinary
parts of the machine, which form no part of my said Invention.
Figure 4 is an end view of the mould cylinder 6 and its internal
pressing piston blocks a* and main pressing ram or block A, with
acting cross head, as detached from the machine, to a large scale, with
the new cleaning and oiling mechanism in working position, to make
the details more clear than can be seen in the small scale general views
of the machine, Figures 1, 2, and 3.
. This machine has its revolving mould cylinder a, b, carried in bearings
at one end of the side frames c, cast in one or secured together as a
strong portable frame, carrying the whole working parts of the machine,
'and secured to a suitable foundation. The first motion shaft c¹, carried
_near the middle of the frame through the strong pinion and wheel,
toothed gearing c", c³, actuate the main crank shaft d, carried in bearings
at the other end of the frame c, nearly in a line or plane with the middle
of the cylinder b, so as by the central crank ď¹ and two connecting
rods d¹¹, d³, to actuate the clay filling and the compressing rams or
plungers d³ and A respectively at right angles to each other, the latter
through the strong beam or lever e, fulcrummed at e¹ in the frame c.
The cylinder b, with its four moulds a in it, is turned while these plungers
d³ and A are receding from the moulds a, by the disc f and its four
pins f¹ and hook rod f³, actuated by the crank pin f" in the side of the
wheel c², and so as to rest and be steady while the rams are approaching
and compressing the clay in the moulds.
The clay is fed into the hopper g, and falls into the feeding box g²,
from which it is rammed by the ram d³ into the moulds a as they are
brought round to the rear side at ; also forces the internal pressing or
resisting blocks a* out to or through the surface of the front of the
moulds, and delivers the compressed brick on to the front delivery table
at h³, the clay getting its final compression to form the bricks in
their intermediate position between the said filling and delivery
positions h, h¹, as they come round from below by the outer presser or
piston A working in guides at c³ in the side frame c, and actuated by a
strong pin e in the short end of the lever e working in a slightly
elongated hole in the pendant checks of the presser A, which in this
machine is made hollow, and heated by high-pressure steam led into it
by the steam pipe i fitted above the small pipe attached near the

page_text: bottom for drawing off the condensed steam or water, both fitted with
flexible tubes to allow of the motion of the compressing block or
piston A.
Referring to these Figures 1 to 4, the first part of this Invention of
cleaning or brushing and oiling the said main piston or ram A, which
compresses the clay in the moulds a formed in the cylinder 6 of this
"Scholefield" or other revolving cylinder semi-dry clay, brick, block,
or tile making machine, or it might be of stationary mould machines,
consists in fixing a slotted guide bar B to each end of the piston or its
reciprocating block or cross head A, as by the snugs and bolts B¹
steadied by the end cross stay Bч, so that the two end slides and
holders O of the bar or frame O¹ of a single or double brush D (or it
might be a brush and soft oil pad or other equivalent) on it reciprocates
to and fro on these guides across the pressing face A¹ of the piston A,
and so clean and oil it, or any under cut or projecting lettering or device
which may be on it every time it rises out of the moulds by a motion
preferably taken from itself (or from the cross head or its actuating con-
necting lever or rods), as by the brackets E fixed on the side or end of
the cross head or piston block A with the tappet rod or pin E¹ in them
working in the slot of the short lever Eu keyed on a rocking spindle F
working in stationary bearings or brackets F1 secured to the main
guiding standards c at c™ of the piston cross head A, or other equivalent
stationary part of the machine. This working spindle F has two long
levers Fu keyed on it at some distance apart with the rod F² fixed
through their outer free ends parallel to their spindle and brush, and
having the one end of two links or connecting rods G at each end
between the points of the levers F" and the outside of the guides B, so
that their free ends G³ are each linked or jointed to the central pin C¹ on
each of the end slides O of the bar or frame O' of, the cleaning and
oiling brushes D, which bar and brush 0³, D, are thus pushed forward
through below the narrow space at A" between the piston A² and mould
cylinder a, b, by the last part of the outward motion of the cross head A
and tappet rod E¹ out from the mould and the reciprocating motion of
the slotted lever E", rocking spindle F, and parallel lever frame F", F³,
as a bell-crank motion, which, on the first part of its reverse motion by
that of the piston A. towards the mould a, withdraws the brush D and
its frame C, 0³, again (as shown in those inward and outward positions
in Figures 1 and 4 respectively) all in time before the piston A' reaches

page_text: the cylinder 6 to enter the next mould a, and each following one in suc-
cession brought round by the turning of the cylinder by its hook rod ƒ³
during the said motion of the piston A and brush D, and then sufficiently
round the curved part of the guides B to withdraw the brush D quite out
of the way of the cylinder or compressed brick being discharged, when it
and its actuating mechanism are fitted near the delivery side ², and so
as to bring the brush D into an oiling trough D¹, or against an oiling
pad D or other equivalent supplied from it, or by hand at intervals as
may be desired.
Although my said new or improved mechanism indicated in capital
letters has herein been only described and shown as applied to one of a
class of semi-dry clay brick-making machines with a vertically revolving
mould cylinder, having the main pressing plunger A heated by steam, it
will be evident to engineers, and it is to be understood that my said
mechanism and improvements are also applicable to other semi-dry clay
pressing machines for making bricks, tiles, "blocks," and other articles,
having the moulds revolving or moving in other ways, or even with
stationary moulds, and also whether the pressing plunger A is heated
by other means, or is not heated at all, so long as the guides B with
their reciprocating cleaners and oilers D are carried and actuated by the
pressing plunger A or its moving parts; and that although oil has been
described as used and supplied to the brush D it is to be understood that
melted grease may be used, and that when the presser A is heated the
brush D might be rubbed on congealed or hard grease; also that when
there were no letters or device on the acting surface of the pressing
block or plunger A a scraper might be used as the cleaner D, and have
a brush or pad D behind it for oiling or greasing the plain surface, in
which case the pad or brush might be made to form the bottom of a
long narrow slit in an oil supplying trough attached to the reciprocating
bar or frame C, O¹.
The carrying out of the second part of my said Invention of cleaning,
or of cleaning and oiling, the acting surface of the pressing or pressure-
resisting blocks a* reciprocating within the moulds a is effected, as
shown applied in Figures 1, 2, and 4, in accordance with one modifica-
tion by the scraper I carried on the cross bar or frame J, reciprocating
to and from the surface of the cylinder b, and surface of the blocks a*
to be scraped in slotted guide brackets J¹, at the ends secured to the
side frames c, which bar J may also have a brush J" (or it might be

page_text: other equivalent brush or oil pad) attached to it behind the scraper,
served with oil by the feeding tray or cloth on it at J. The bar J has a
lever frame K, K³; K³, carried behind it by the cross spindle K² recipro-
cating on its end journals in bearings in the stationary brackets J¹, so
that the two short front arms K press down the bar J by the raising of
the long arms K³, with cords L attached and carried up over pulleys L'
by drawing weights I" so as to cause the acting edge of the soraper I
and cleaning and oiling brush Ju to press and act on the pressing surface
of the pistons a* when they reach or project beyond the surface of the
moulds a and cylinder 6, after they pass the delivery platform 7 before
they recede into the moulds again, and thus thoroughly clean and oil
the acting surface of each internal sustaining or pressing block or
piston a*. Two kneed or inclined pieces or guides I¹ are secured to the
front of the scraper to raise the scraper over the front or advancing
corner of the projecting blocks a* as they come round, and then allow
the scraper to act on the surface.
It will also be understood that the bar or frame J carrying the scraper
and brush might be attached to the short arms of the lever frame
K, K³, K³, when preferred with little difference in the action or effect,
and that a spring might be used instead of cords L and weight L";
and all the dirt as cleaned off the surface of the blocks a* would fall
down on the screen or apron M erected to receive it on the stay 7" above
the delivery platform h' for receiving the bricks or tiles as compressed.
When the lettering or device is formed on the surface of these pressure
blocks a* a flat and reciprocating or round and revolving brush may be
used instead of the scraper I, and when the brush is made flat and non-
revolving the frame for depressing and carrying it may be made to
reciprocate across the face of the pressure bleeks a*, analogous to that
described in reference to the brush D and block A under the first part
of the Invention by a motion taken from any adjacent reciprocating
part of the machine, as from that of the actuating connecting rods or
beam or the main piston A; and the brush when made as a round
revolving one might be actuated automatically by the surface of the
blocks themselves, or have a positive revolving motion communicated to
them in the reverse direction to the face of the blocks a* by a pulley on
their spindle and a cord or band.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my said Invention

page_text: state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described
or delineated, but what I believe to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
First. The construction and arrangement of mechanism referred to
and indicated by capital letters for cleaning and oiling or greasing the
acting surfaces of the pressing and pressure resisting mould blocks,
rams, or pistons of semi-dry clay pressing machines for making bricks
and tiles and other articles, all substantially in the manner and for the
purposes herein described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The cleaning and oiling or greasing the acting face of the main
outer mould pressing block of the semi-dry clay brick and tile pressing
machines by the reciprocation of a brush or other equivalent across the
said face and through the narrow space between it and the mould auto-
matically by a motion taken from the block itself or its actuating
connecting rod, lever, or other adjacent part moving simultaneously
with it, substantially as and for the purposes herein described.
Third. The cleaning or cleaning and oiling of the acting surface of
the inner mould pressure, sustaining blocks or pistons of semi-dry clay
brick and tile pressing machines by a scraper or brush, or both, carried 2
on a bar or lever frame oscillated automatically by a cord and weight or
equivalent spring, or reciprocated by a motion taken from the main
moving presser or its actuating lever or connecting rod, substantially as
and for the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Gillespie, have hereunto set 2
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES GILLESPIE. (L.S.)