IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES, AND IN APPARATUS FATED PEOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Parker, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr,
North Britain, Manager of Fireclay Works for an invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES, AND IN APPARATUS
FATED PEOR
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Parker at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th February 1882.
JAMES PARKER, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Manager
of Fireclay Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES,
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
This Invention has for its object to approximate more closely than has hitherto
been effected to uniformity of size in the manufacture of bricks and tiles; and it
consists principally in subjecting the bricks and tiles before being fired but after
they have become dry enough to be fired, or nearly so, to operations whereby
excess of material is removed from the upper and under sides and inequalities
which show themselves in the drying process are corrected. The improvements aro
more especially advantageous in the case of facing bricks or bricks of the better
qualities and which it is desired to have as accurate and uniform as possible
in shape and size; and they are also applicable to enamelled bricks and to glazed
bricks.
In a modification of apparatus designed for carrying out the Invention an endless
belt carried and driven by pulleys is arranged for moving the bricks or tiles
horizontally through the apparatus, and is fitted with chairs or holders on and
against which the bricks or tiles are placed. In the case of bricks each brick is
placed with its face uppermost and the belt carries it between vertical dressing
surfaces which act simultaneously on opposite sides of the brick. The dressing
surfaces consist of wire card fixed on stationary beams or blocks of sufficient
length; or other suitable roughened surfaces may be substituted for the wire card.
The dressing surfaces are fixed or adjusted so as to be wide enough apart at the
end at which the bricks enter for any of the unsized bricks to enter easily between
them; but at the other end the space between the dressing surfaces is of the size
to which all the bricks are to be reduced; and as each brick is carried along
between the dressing surfaces it gets stripped of any material which is in excess of
the proper size. If desired the bricks inay be passed through a similar machine
with a broader belt and with dressing surfaces arranged to act on the ends and
reduce the bricks to a uniform length.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Parker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th August
1882.
JAMES PARKER, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Manager
of Fireclay Works, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
My said Invention has for its object to approximate more closely than has
hitherto been effected to uniformity of size in the manufacture of bricks and tiles;
and it consists principally in subjecting the bricks and tiles beforo being fired, but
after they have become dry enough to be fired, or nearly so, to operations whereby
excess of material is removed from the upper and under sides, and inequalities
which show themselves in the drying process are corrected. My improvements are
more especially advantageous in the case of facing bricks, or bricks of the better
qualities and which it is desired to have as accurate and uniform as possible
in shape and size; and they are also applicable to enamelled bricks and to glazed
bricks.
In carrying out my Invention the bricks placed with their faces uppermost are
carried between vertical dressing surfaces which are sufficiently wide apart where
the bricks enter between them to admit the widest, but which are inclined so as to
have the space between them narrowed down to the exact size at the parts where
the bricks leave them..
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 hereinafter referred to and representing one modification of the apparatus to
be employed in carrying out my Invention.
Figure 1 on the accompanying sheet of drawings is a plan of the apparatus and
figure, 2, is a sectional side elevation the latter showing the machine as with one of
the side frames and parts on it removed. Figure, 3, is an enlarged view corre-
sponding to one end of figure, 2, and figure, 4, is an enlarged end elevation
corresponding to figure, 3. In these drawings the same reference numerals are
used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The parts of the apparatus are carried upon two long wooden side frames, 5,
which are parallel, and which have two pulleys, 6, 7, mounted at the ends and
entering partly between them. A small special steam engine, 8, is represented as
provided for driving one, 6, of the pulleys by means of a pinion and spur wheel, 9,
but any other convenient driving arrangement may be adopted. An endless
belt, 10, is carried and driven by the pulleys, 6, 7, and its upper side is guided and
supported horizontally by a number of small rollers, 11, the end spindles of which
run in small bearings made for them in metal bars, 12, fixed to the inner sides of
the frames, 5. The endless belt, 10, is for carrying the bricks or tiles through the
apparatus, and it is fitted with chairs or holders, 13, 14, on and against which the
bricks, 15, or tiles are placed. Each chair or holder consists of a right-angle metal
plate, 13, riveted to the belt and faced with a piece of rubber; and a bed, 14, of
rubber fixed to the belt completes the chair. For the rubber any other suitable
material of a yielding kind may be substituted.
In the case of bricks, each brick, 15, is placed with its face uppermost, and the
belt, 10, carries it between vertical dressing surfaces which act simultaneously on
what are then the sides of the brick but which are to form the top and bottom
surfaces of the finished brick. The dressing surfaces consist of wire card fixed on
stationary beams, 16, or blocks of sufficient length; or other suitable roughened

page_text: surfaces may be substituted for the wire card. The dressing beams or blocks, 16,
may be of wood; but in the drawings they are represented as made of angle iron,
one flange of which serves as a foot or base and is made with transversely elongated
holes for the bolts which fix it to the top of the frames, 5. The beams, 16, are
adjusted and fixed so that the dressing surfaces are wide enough apart at the end
at which the bricks enter (that is at the right-hand end in figures 1 and 2) for any
of the unsized bricks to enter easily between them; but at the other end the space
between the dressing surfaces is of the size to which all the bricks are to be
reduced; and as each brick is carried along between the dressing surfaces it gets
stripped of any material which is in excess of the proper size.
If desired the bricks may be passed through a similar machine with a broader
belt, and with dressing surfaces arranged to act on the ends and reduce the bricks
to uniform length, the bricks being placed transversely on the belt.
Instead of the dressing surfaces being stationary they may be movable in any
suitable way. Thus they might have a short vertical reciprocating motion; or
they might be on endless belts moving in any suitable direction or on rotating
disks. I however consider it essential in order to obtain a uniform sizing of the
bricks to have them carried mechanically between dressing surfaces which whether
stationary or in motion are sufficiently wide apart where the bricks enter between
them, whilst the space between them is gradually reduced so as to correspond to
the exact size where the bricks leave 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 and in terms of the hereinbefore
in part recited Letters Patent is :—
1. The subjecting of bricks and tiles before being fired, but after they have
become dry enough to be fired or nearly so, to operations whereby they are
reduced to uniformity of size or nearly so substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of parts constituting apparatus for reducing bricks and tiles
to uniformity of size or nearly so, and comprising means for mechanically passing
the bricks and tiles between suitable dressing surfaces substantially as hereinbefore
described.
In Witness whereof, I, the said James Parker have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty-second day of August in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.
Witness
EDMUND HUNT
Patent Agent
Glasgow
JAMES PARKER. (L.S.)