Improvements in Dies for Brick Presses and Appliances connected with the said Dies.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dies for Brick Presses and Appliances connected
with the said Dies.
I, JOHN SNAPE WILKES, of "Chaseley," Sutton Coldfield, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer and Brick Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in constructing
and arranging the parts of the dies of brick presses and appliances connected
with the said dies, the object of my improvements being to effect the perforation
of the moulded brick during its compression or consolidation in the die, whereby
the brick is improved and its weight considerably reduced.
My improvements are applicable to steam or power worked brick presses as
well as to hand worked brick presses.
In constructing dies for brick presses and appliances connected with the said
dies, I fix by screwing or otherwise to the underside of the top plate of the press,
which plate is worked in the ordinary way, a series of rows of equi-distant
cylindrical punches, either solid or tubular. By the descent of the said punches
during the pressing of the moulded brick in the die, they pass completely through
the pressed brick and form therein a series of parallel rows of holes or perforations.
The moveable bottom plate or plug, working in the die is drilled with holes
to permit of the clay displaced by the punches passing away as waste.
For the purpose of ensuring perfect parallelism in the holes or perforations
made through the pressed brick, the punches are made sufficiently long to pass
into the holes in the bottom plate of the die.
The said punches are also guided in their descending motion by the perforated
guide plate hereinafter described.
A rising and falling horizontal perforated guide plate carried by rods at the
sides of the press is made to slide on the punches. To this perforated rising and
falling plate the "indent" plate, or the plate which enters the mouth of the die
for the pressing operation, is screwed, the said indent plate being similarly per-
forated to that of the rising and falling guide plate. By means of this rising
and falling guide plate, the compressed and perforated brick is held in the die
until the punches have been partly withdrawn from the brick by the action of
the press. After the punches have been partly withdrawn, the side rods raise
the plate together with the indent plate sufficiently high to permit of the pressed
and perforated brick being removed from the die.
I do not limit myself to any particular way of working the rising and falling
perforated guide plate carrying the indent plate, as it may be worked by eccen-
trics, toggle joints or otherwise, according to the kind of press with which my
improvements are used. Instead of attaching the series of punches to the top
plate of the press they may be attached to the bottom plate or plug; and my

page_text: improvements may be applied to horizontally worked presses as well as to verti-
cally worked presses.
Dated the month
P
יז
T
1007
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in Dies for Brick Presses and Appliances connected
with the said Dies.
I, JOHN SNAPE WILKES, of "Chaseley," Sutton Coldfield, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer and Brick Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in constructing
and arranging the parts of the dies of brick presses and appliances connected
with the said dies, the object of my improvements being to effect the perforation
of the moulded brick during its compression or consolidation in the die whereby
the brick is improved and its weight considerably reduced. Further, as the fire
in the burning process passes through the perforations, a very uniform burning
of the bricks is obtained and consequently much harder bricks result, and the
bricks when laid in mortar or cement adhere together much better than the ordi-
nary hand made pressed or wire cut bricks inasmuch as the mortar or cement
used in the laying or jointing forms dowels in the bricks which dowels being
brought in contact make the bricks practically inseparable.
Air or ventilating bricks for buildings may be made by the use of my improved
dies and appliances as well as perforated bricks for building purposes generally
the pattern of the holes in the bricks being varied according to the particular use
to which the bricks are to be applied.
In making chains and also nails it is usual to put the rods of iron being worked
through holes in a perforated fire brick into the fire. By this means the ends
only of the rods of iron are heated. Firebricks used for these purposes may be
made by the use of my improved dies and appliances at a great saving in labour.
My improvements are applicable to steam or power worked brick presses as
well as to hand worked brick presses.
In constructing dies for brick presses and appliances connected with the said
dies, I fix by screwing or otherwise to the underside of the top plate of the press,
which plate is worked in the ordinary way, a series of rows of equi-distant
cylindrical punches, either solid or tubular. By the descent of the said punches
during the pressing of the moulded brick in the die, they pass completely through
the pressed brick and form therein a series of parallel rows of holes or perforations.
The moveable bottom plate or plug, working in the die is drilled with holes
to permit of the clay displaced by the punches passing away as waste.
For the purpose of ensuring perfect parallelism in the holes or perforations
made through the pressed brick, the punches are made sufficiently long to pass
into the holes in the bottom plate of the die.
The said punches are also guided in their descending motion by the perforated
guide plate hereinafter described.
A rising and falling horizontal perforated guide plate carried by rods at the
sides of the press, is made to slide on the punches. To this perforated rising and
falling plate the "indent" plate, or the plate which enters the mouth of the die
for the pressing operation, is screwed, the said indent plate being similarly per-

page_text: forated to that of the rising and falling guide plate. By means of this rising
and falling guide plate, the compressed and perforated brick is held in the die
until the punches have been partly withdrawn from the brick by the action of
the press. After the punches have been partly withdrawn, the side rods raise
the guide plate, together with the indent plate, sufficiently high to permit of the
pressed and perforated brick being removed from the die.
I do not limit myself to any particular way of working the rising and falling
perforated guide plate carrying the indent plate, as it may be worked by eccen-
trics, toggle joints, quadrants, coiled springs or otherwise, according to the kind
of press with which my improvements are used.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation a brick press to which my improvements
are applied the working parts being represented in their raised or out of action
position, and Figure 2 represents in vertical cross section the die of the press
together with the series of punches, the rising and perforated guide plate carrying
the indent or pressing plate, and the moveable bottom plate or plug working in
the die, the said punches and guide and indent plates being represented in their
lowered position. The said Figure 2 is drawn to a larger scale than Figure 1.
Figure 3 represents in elevation (partly in section) the top plate of the press
and punches separately and Figure 4 is a plan of the underside of the same;
Figure 5 is a section and Figure 6 a plan of underside of the guide and indent
plates detached, the said Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 being drawn to the same scale as
Figure 2.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the
drawings.
a is the die in which the moulded brick is compressed or consolidated and at
the same time perforated; 6 is the moveable bottom plate or plug working in
the said die; c is the top plate of the press carrying on its underside a series of
rows of equi-distant taper (or cylindrical) punches d, d by the descent of which
the moulded brick in the die is perforated during the compressing operation. The
said top plate c is fixed to the cross head e sliding in the guide ways f, f and
worked from the driving shaft g by an eccentric or its equivalent. From the cross
head e, side rods h, h descend and their lower ends are secured to the bottom cross
piece on which the moveable bottom plate or plug b, working in the die a, is
supported. Through the said side rods h, h and bottom cross piece i the said
plug b is operated to lift the compressed and perforated brick from the die; k is
the rising and falling perforated guide plate carried by and working upon the
side rods h, h of the press, the said guide plate having on its underside the indent
plate which enters the mouth of the die (see Figure 2) for the pressing opera-
tion. The said indent plate 7 is perforated with holes, similarly to that of the
guide plate k, and the punches d, d in their rising and falling motions are guided
by the said combined guide and indent plates. The guide plate k is capable of
sliding on the side rods h, h as before stated and is pressed to and held against
the shoulders h2, h² of the side rods by the coiled springs m, m around the said
rods, the upper ends of the springs taking an abutment against the cross head e
and their lower ends taking an abutment against the sliding guide plate k as
represented. By means of the said rising and falling guide plate & the compressed
and perforated brick is held in the die until the punches have been wholly or
partly withdrawn from the brick as hereinafter described. It will be seen by
referring to Figure 2 that the moveable bottom plate or plug b of the die is perfo-
rated with holes into which the ends of the punches when in their lowered positions
enter, thereby ensuring parallelism in the perforations made in the pressed brick.
Through these perforations in the bottom plate or plug 6 the clay cores punched
from the brick pass and escape as waste at the side passages represented.
The action of the parts is as follows: The moulded brick having been placed
in the die a the punches d, d descend and with them the guide plate k and indent

page_text: plate, the latter entering the mouth of the die and effecting the compressing
or consolidating of the brick and the punches d, d passing through the perfora-
tions in the said plates and through the compressed brick for perforating it as
represented in Figure 2. As the shoulders h³, h² of the side rods h, h descend
the guide plate k is left behind resting on the brick in the die a and is held upon
the said brick by the compressed springs m, m and the indent plate / thereby
maintained in its place in the mouth of the die until the downward stroke is
completed and the brick compressed and perforated. On the first portion of
the upward stroke of the press, the punches d, d are wholly or nearly withdrawn
from the brick without affecting the position of the guide plate k and indent
plate, which latter plate is held in the die by the elongated springs m, m bearing
on the guide plate. After the punches have been withdrawn from the brick the
shoulders h², 2 of the rising side rods h, h now lift the guide plate k upon the
said rods sufficiently high (see Figure 1) to permit of the pressed and perforated
brick being removed from the die by the upward sliding motion of the bottom
plate or plug b. As the guide plate and indent plate rise they slide upon the
punches and the die is ready to receive another moulded brick. Thus it will be
understood that while the punches d, d are in their lowered or perforating position
in the die and until they have been withdrawn wholly or partially from the
pressed and perforated brick, the guide plate & and indent plate are stationary,
being held in their lowered position, with the indent plate in the mouth of the
die, by the coiled springs m, m, but on the withdrawal of the punches the guide
plate and its indent plate are lifted and taken out of action by the shoulders h², h
of the side rods h, h upon the said guide plate as before particularly explained.
Instead of holding the rising and falling guide plate k in its lowered position
during the withdrawal of the punches by coiled springs as represented in Figure 1,
the same object may be attained by holding down rods worked from eccentrics
on the driving shaft of the press.
The
This modification is represented in elevation in Figure 7 where the holding rods
are marked 2, P worked by eccentrics at q, q on the driving shaft g
eccentrics q, q
of the holding down rods 1, 2 and the eccentric working the top
cross head of the press are so timed or arranged on the shaft that on the descending
stroke of the press the said holding down rods bear upon and carry down the
guide plate and its indent plate and hold them upon and in the die until after
the withdrawal of the punches when the said holding down rods make their up
stroke leaving behind them the said plates k, which at the proper time are lifted
by the shoulders h², h2 of the side rods h, h as before described with respect to
the spring arrangement.
Or the rising and falling guide plate may be held in its place by weighted
rods as represented in Figure 8 where the weighted rods are marked r, r which
rods are hung upon or connected to the guide plate k. The weighted rods r, r on
the down stroke of the press carry the guide plate onto the die a and hold it there
until the punches have been withdrawn from the brick when the said weighted
rods and guide and indent plates are lifted to the position represented in the
said Figure 8 by the shoulders h³, h² of the rising side rods.h, h of the press.
The parts of the modified presses Figures 7 and 8 which I have not described
are the same as corresponding parts of the press. Figures 1 to 6, and corres-
ponding parts are marked with the same letters of reference.
Although I have described and represented the guide plate k carrying the indent
plate, as operated either by coiled springs or by holding down rods or by weighted
rods, yet I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to those arrange-
ments as other equivalent arrangements for effecting the same object may be
employed.
Instead of attaching the series of punches to the top plate of the press they may
be attached to the moveable bottom plate or plug, but I prefer to employ the
arrangement shown in the drawings; and my improvements may be applied to
horizontally worked presses as well as to vertically worked presses.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my
invention:
The additions to and appliances connected with the dies of brick presses herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings for effecting the
perforation of the moulded brick during its compression or consolidation in the
die of the press, the said additions and appliances consisting essentially of a
series of rows of punches worked by the press in combination with a moveable
perforated bottom plate or plug in the die, and with a rising and falling perforated
guide plate and indent plate, the said rising and falling guide and indent plates
holding the brick in the die until the punches have been wholly or partly with-
drawn from the compressed and perforated brick in the die, the combined guide
plate and indent plate being afterwards mechanically raised upon the withdrawn
punches to permit of the removal of the compressed and perforated brick from
and the feeding of another moulded brick into the die substantially as described
and illustrated.
DJ
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