CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS AND TILES
Year: 1843

page_text: FORSYTH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
FORSYTH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of June, in the sixth year of Her reign, and in
the year. of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Forsyth, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Thomas Forsyth, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Thomas Forsyth, my exors, admors, and assigns, should agree
with, and no others, from; time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein. expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BRICKS
AND TILES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Thomas Forsyth, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: In describing my inventio
mrst speak
making
will afterwards speak of the making tiles; the difference in the modes of
manufacturing the two articles, bricks and tiles, being so slight, that I shall
be able to describe it in a few words at the conclusion of the following
explanation.
Fig. 1 is a section shewing the principal features of the Invention, but the
same are divested of all external apparatus, except what is herein particularly
referred to. a is a cylinder, such as is used in a common steam engine; it is
fitted with a piston 6, and piston rod c, and receives a supply of steam from
a steam boiler, through the pipe d. To the bottom of the piston rod c is
attached a second piston e, which fits into a second cylinder f, into which
cylinder the material, from which the bricks are to be made, is deposited in
a manner and condition herein-after specified. Material having been suc-
cessively deposited in the cylinder f, is successively pressed downwards by the
piston e in a manner which will be easily understood by referring to the Figure.
When the material has been pressed to the bottom of the cylinder f it is forced
into the small spaces g, which are so many brick moulds, arranged in two
compartments in the plate h, in the manner hereafter described. The plate h,
before referred to, lies upon the base i, i, and is traversed to and fro in the
direction of the arrows j and k, (and thus brings each compartment of the
moulds g alternately under the cylinder f). The plate h has also intervals of
rest at the termination of each traverse, governed by means hereafter 'to be
described. When the plate his at rest, the plungers 7, 1, are made to move
I,

page_text: perpendicularly in the direction of the arrows m, m, and projections on the
plunger, then in motion, enters simultaneously into the moulds g in the cor-
responding compartment of the plate h, and in their progress force the
material (which has been pressed into the moulds g when they were under the
cylinder f, and subject to the steam pressure,) out of the moulds g on to the
boards n, n, which have been previously placed to receive them, thus forming
so many bricks. As soon as the bricks are forced out of the moulds g, the
plunger / returns to the position in which it is represented, where it remains at
rest until it is again brought into operation in a similar manner at the termi-
nation of the next traverse of the plate h; but while one plunger 7 is at rest;
the other is performing a similar operation to that just described.
I shall now proceed to describe the machinery or gearing by which the
movement of the above-described apparatus is effected. Fig. 2 is a side ele-
vation shewing the general arrangement of gearing and other parts of the
apparatus employed; Fig. 3 is a plan, with the upper parts removed, for the
purpose of shewing the gearing and internal arrangement of the apparatus ;
Fig. 4 is an end elevation, partly sectional, (with some portions not referred to
removed,) representing the mould plate h at the termination of its opposite
traverse as compared with Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The material for making the
bricks having been previously tempered and reduced to a proper consistency, in
the usual or any other manner, is filled into the waggons o, o, o, (see Fig. 2,)
and conveyed from the place where it was deposited on to the stage p by
horses, or by any other convenient method. These waggons 0, 0, 0, are so con-
structed that they will pass under the piston e (when it is in the position.
represented at Fig. 2), and directly over the top of the cylinder f; they are
provided with loose bottoms q, q, working upon the hinges r, r, which when
shut are fastened to the sides of the waggons by the snacks s, s. These loose.
bottoms q, g, have weights t, t, attached to them, which are so fixed, and of
such dimensions, that they will by their gravity keep the loose bottom's q, q,
shut without the assistance of the snacks s, s, when there is no material in the
waggons; but if the snacks s, s, be removed when there is material in the
waggon, then the weight of the material preponderates over the weights
t, t, and thus opening the loose bottoms q, q, falls through the then bottomless
waggon into the cylinder f, as represented in section (at Fig. 5), where
the tinted parts represent the material as falling from a waggon o into the
cylinder f; when it has fallen below the loose bottoms q, q, they, being acted
upon by the weights t, t, return to the former position (as represented at
Fig. 2), when the snacks s, s, are replaced, and the waggon is thus closed at

page_text: the bottom and ready to be reloaded with more material. A sufficient number
of waggon loads of material are in the manner just described. emptied into the
cylinder until it is full and ready to be acted upon by the piston e (as
described when referring to Fig. 1). The cylinder being charged, the further
movements of the apparatus are effected as follows:-Referring to Fig. 3, u is
a shaft receiving motion from a steam engine or other prime mover; it is
fitted with a small wheel v; which works into a large wheel w; on the crank
shaft x.
The crank pin.y works into the slotted connecting rods.z, z, the other
ends of these connecting rods being attached to the mould plate h, so that as
the crank shaft a revolves, it communicates. a reciprocating traverse, to the
said mould plate. This reciprocating traverse is not constant, but-intermitting,
the periods of rest being the times which expire while the crank pin y is
travelling along the slots in those ends of the connecting rods zz, to which
it is attached, which are the periods required for forcing out the bricks from
the moulds.g, by the action of the plungers 1, the movement of which I shall
next describe. At one end of the crank shaft x, there is.fitted a bevil wheel a',
which works into another bevil wheel b¹, fitted upon the upright shaft.c¹, (see
Fig. 2), and on the shaft c¹ there is fitted a third bevil wheel-d'; which works
into a fourth bevil wheel e', fitted upon the shaft f.. On to the revolving
shaft fare fitted two cams g', g', the shape of which is represented-by the
dotted lines (see Fig. 4); these dotted lines represent a groove in the side of
a cam g', into which groove is placed a pin or projection proceeding from
one end of a sliding bar h', ', which is thereby traversed, to and fro at
each revolution of the cam g¹; the other end of the sliding bar h¹³, is
coupled to the end of a lever ', which is fast to the shaft j. On the
shaft is placed a second lever k¹, the end of which is connected by the
links,, to the plunger 1, which thereby receives an intermittent and
reciprocating motion (in the direction of the arrows m, m, seen at Fig. 1,
by which it descends and forces. the material. out of. the moulds g, on to
the boards n, and then returns to its former position (as described in Fig. 1.
I shall..now explain by what means the receiving boards n, n, are placed
ready to receive the bricks, and how they are removed after they have received
them. It is necessary to have a considerable number of these boards detached,
but all of such dimensions that they will fit on the waggon m', which, with a
board n placed upon it, is brought under the mould plate h to receive the
bricks as they are forced from the mould g. As soon as the bricks are forced
out, the. waggon m¹ is removed clear of the machine, and the board n, with
its compliment of bricks, is removed from the waggon m' and placed upon one

page_text: means.
of the waggons or carriages n'; n', (see Fig. 6); the waggon m! is then fitted
with another of the detached boards n, and returned to its former position
under the mould plate h, it being then ready to receive another delivery of
bricks from the machine. Thus I arrange à succession of the boards », filled
with bricks, one upon another upon waggons or carriages n¹, 'n², (see Fig. 6),
and when several of such carriages or waggons are loaded in the manner above
specified, they are moved from the machine by a horse or other..convenient
The waggons or carriages are then to be unloaded and returned to
the moulding machine for a fresh supply of bricks. If the materials.of which
the bricks are made is sufficiently hard to admit of their being handled
(without injury to them), they may be built into walls for more perfect drying,
and the boards n returned to the machine forthwith; but if they are not suf-
ficiently hard to admit of being handled without injury; they must remain on
the boards n, as represented in isometrical prospective at Fig. 7, where the
tinted parts represent the bricks, and n, n, the boards,..which are built into
stacks until the bricks shall have become sufficiently dry. Figs. 8, 9, 10, and
11, are enlarged views, to which I would draw special notice; they represent
the particular shape and arrangement of the moulds gin, the plate h, the
properties of which will be hereafter described. Figure 8' is a plan. of a
portion of the mould plate h, representing two rows of moulds g: Fig. 9 is
a section of the mould plate h cut vertically and at right angles to the direction
in which it moves (as through the dotted line A, B, Fig. 8). It will be
observed that the bottom or side of each mould g formed by the base i, i, (see
Fig. 9) is a curved and not a plane surface, the uses of which curve will be
understood by referring to Figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 represents the
material (which is tinted) as being forced from a mould 92, of the usual con-
struction (that is, a simple parallelogram). In this case it will be observed that
the material is convex or rounded on one side, not being the proper shape for
a common brick. Figure 11 represents the material (which is tinted) as being
forced out from my improved mould g with a curved, concave, or hollow surface,
which forms a brick of the proper shape, that is, having all its sides plane
surfaces, and its angles right angles, or nearly so. The reason of this being,
that in the first case,: the friction on the ends of the brick-shaped material is
such as to cause it to assume the convex or rounded form when being forced
out of the mould g³, which convex or rounded form is in the second case
counteracted by the concave curve of the mould g, which thereby produces a
brick of a proper form.
In the foregoing explanations, I wish to be understood as referring only

page_text: to bricks of the common form, and not to bricks of any unusual figure, which
may be made for special purposes.
In manufacturing tiles, as compared with the manufacturing of bricks, it is
only necessary that the moulds should be of a different shape, which will be
governed by the shape of the tiles intended to be made, the moving parts of
the apparatus remaining the same with the exception of the plungers,
which must necessarily correspond with the form of the moulds and the tiles
to be made.
I have now described all that is necessary as regards the working of the
several parts of my Invention, and such detail or minor parts as are not
described may be understood from inspecting the Drawings.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of certain improvements
in machinery for making bricks and tiles, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed and carried into effect, I do not claim as my Invention any
of the well-known parts of which the apparatus herein-before described is con-
structed. But I do claim,-
First, the direct application of steam pressure for forcing the material into
the moulds without further intermediate apparatus than that described.
Secondly, I claim the construction and application of a counteracting curved
surface to the moulds, by which the bricks are rendered more perfect in their
form:
Thirdly, I claim the combination of wheeled carriages or waggons with a
series of loose boards or other surfaces n, so constructed as to admit of their
being built upon each other without injury to the newly made bricks or tiles
which rest upon them for the purpose of being conveyed from one place to
another during the process of manufacture. And I also claim such boards or
other surfaces for supporting bricks or tiles during the drying process.
And, fourthly, I claim the mode of supplying materials for making bricks or
tiles by means of waggons or boxes with opening bottoms, direct into the brick
or tile making apparatus, as described.
And such my various improvements being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, new, and never before practised in that part of Her Majesty's Dominions
called England, I deliver this as my true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Forsyth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.
.THOMAS (L.s.) FORSYTH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Thomas Forsyth came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
T
י
Enrolled the First day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.