IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING MACHINES GENERALLY USED FOR SOLIDIFYING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, SUCH AS FIRE-CLAY, COAL DUST, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL OF LIKE NATURE FOR MAKING BRICKS, TILES, FUEL BLOCKS, OR SIMILAR MATTERS."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Guthrie, of Newburn, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING MACHINES GENERALLY
USED FOR SOLIDIFYING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES, SUCH AS FIRE-CLAY, COAL
DUST, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL OF LIKE NATURE FOR MAKING BRICKS,
TILES, FUEL BLOCKS, OR SIMILAR MATTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert Guthrie at the Office
"IMPROVEMENTS
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th September 1876.
HERBERT GUTHRIE, of Newburn, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
IN PRESSING MACHINES GENERALLY USED FOR SOLIDIFYING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES,
SUCH AS FIRE-CLAY, COAL DUST, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL OF LIKE NATURE FOR
MAKING BRICKS, TILES, FUEL BLOCKS, OR SIMILAR MATTERS."
This Invention is more especially designed as an improvement to my machine for
which Letters Patent were granted A.D. 1876, 3rd January, and numbered 28, and
consists of an arrangement whereby steam is used to displace the air naturally in
the interstices of loose granular substances such as are generally fed into similar
machines.
The steam condensing tends to form a vacuum, and allows the granules to come
into closer contact with each other than can be obtained by pressure without first
excluding the air. I gain this object by leading steam into the entering end of the
mould, forming openings so that the issuing steam shall drive out the air and leave
an aqueous vapour for the granules to fall into, and which is closed up in the mould
along with the granules during the process of consolidation.
The heat of the mould and granules being so regulated that the steam or aqueous
vapour will condense during consolidation and allow the particles or granules to
come into close contact and form a hard and compact mass.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Herbert Guthrie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd March
1877.
HERBERT GUTHRIE, of Newburn, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESSING MACHINES GENERALLY USED FOR SOLIDIFYING GRANULAR SUBSTANCES,
SUCH AS FIRE-CLAY, COAL DUST, OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL OF LIKE NATURE FOR
MAKING BRICKS, TILES, FUEL BLOCKS, OR SIMILAR MATTERS."
This Invention is more especially designed as an improvement to my machine for
which Letters Patent were granted in the year 1876, 3rd January, No. 28, and
consists of an arrangement whereby steam is used to displace the air naturally in the
interstices of the loose granular substances which this machine is designed to operate
upon. A cavity or steam passage is formed along one or more sides of the measuring
box as close to the bottom as possible, so that the steam when admitted permeates
through the measured charge and drives out the air before it. Then as soon as
sufficient time has elapsed for the thorough impregnation of the charge it is at once
dropped into the mould and pressure quickly applied, the supply of steam then
being shut off and the charge being enclosed in the mould. The steam so inclosed
along with the charge quickly condenses and tends to form a vacuum, but owing to
a heavy pressure being at this moment applied no real vacuum is created, as the
particles are closed against each other as fast as the steam condenses, thus forming
a compact mass which has no tendency to split on leaving the mould by the tension
of compressed air in its interior.
The steam is admitted intermittently by a valve worked from another part of the
machine by an ordinary lever or tappet motion, and so arranged that
will open
while the measuring box is still closed at the bottom, but only so short a time before
its opening as may be necessary to allow of the steam getting through the charge
with as little as possible escaping beyond.
A second valve is provided in the steam way so as to enable the quantity of steam
to be regulated as well as the duration of injection.
The accompanying Drawing is a section of the improved part of a horizontal
machine:-
-
A is the bottom of the main hopper; B is the measuring box (the adjusting screw
is not shewn); C is the mould; D, D, are the dies or presses; E is the valve for
regulating the period of injection; F is the valve for regulating the quantity
injected G is the lip for protecting the orifice from being choked; and H is the
steam passage leading from the boiler.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention in the foregoing Specification
and the accompanying Drawings, the points of peculiarity I claim are,
The injection of steam in the measuring box immediately above the mould or
chamber in which the charge is to be compressed.
The mode of regulating that injection by the double valve arrangement.
And the mode of preventing the fouling of the injection orifice by the projecting
lip below.
In claiming the above-mentioned peculiarities of my Invention I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the details herein-before described nor
those shewn in the accompanying Drawings so long as the peculiar character of the
Invention be retained, for modifications will of necessity be made to suit the
different materials used and the different forms of blocks required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert Guthrie, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
HERBERT GUTHRIE. (L.S.)