IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROTATING MOULDING PRESSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTER'S PATENT to Frank Ash Yeo, of Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF ROTATING MOULDING PRESSES."
Scaled the 20th April 1875, and dated the 5th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Ash Yeo at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th November 1874.
I, FRANK ASH YEO, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTIOn of Rotating Moulding PRESSES,” to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to improvements on that class of moulding
presses (chiefly employed for pressing blocks of artificial fuel) of which
the one patented in the name of W. E. Newton, and dated 24th May
1860, No. 1289, may be taken as the type, the object being to enlarge
their capabilities of production without requiring any great increase in
the power for working the same.

page_text: The typical press may be described as consisting mainly of a rotary
table fitted with moulds which receive the granular or plastic material
to be moulded from a mixing pan placed above it, itself being supplied
from a pug mill. The moulds are each fitted with plungers, which, as
their respective moulds are severally brought under a fixed cross head, 5
are caused to rise and compress the plastic material in the moulds.
These plungers are lifted by means of steam pressure, steam being
admitted to the under side of a piston, the rod of which passes down
through the centre of the mould table, and is connected with a lever
situate below the table and in line with the fixed-cross head. The table 1
is rotated by a step-by-step motion, and as each plunger is brought into
position below the cross head, the lever rising and falling with the steam
piston will lift the plunger in its mould and compress the material con-
tained therein.
I now propose to utilize the time required for bringing the moulds 1
severally under the pressing operation, and to this end I employ two
tables which are similarly fitted with moulds and with steam pressure
apparatus. The mixing pan I so arrange with respect to the tables that
it will serve to supply the moulds of both tables as they are brought
under discharge openings formed in the bottom of the pan. The rotary 2
arms of this pan; by means of which the materials are mixed and also
discharged from the pan, are mounted on a central shaft which is
furnished with cranks for giving an alternate action to a pair of pawles
which act upon ratchet teeth formed on the peripheries of the tables,
and serve to give the tables an intermittent axial motion alternately. 2
In like manner, by a suitable adjustment of the valve gear of the
steam cylinders I cause the pistons to act alternately. Thus, whilo
putting little or no extra strain upon the motive-power engine I am
enabled to obtain double the amount of work therefrom, causing for
every rotation of the crank shaft of the press the presentation of two 3
filled moulds of artificial fuel to the compressing apparatus.
The delivery of the blocks from the moulds is effected by inclined
planes in the usual manner. By this arrangement I am enabled to
construct at relatively little extra expense a press of large production,
capacity, and from its compactness occupying a space scarcely larger 3
than the ordinary moulding press with rotary table.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Ash Yeo in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
ASH YEO, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frank Ash Yeo, Her special
licence that I, the said Frank Ash Yeo, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank Ash Yeo,
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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF MOULDING PRESSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frank Ash Yeo, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frank Ash Yeo, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hiereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
This Invention relates to improvements on that class of moulding
presses (chiefly employed for pressing blocks of artificial fuel) of which
the one patented in the name of Couillard and Mazeline, of Havre,
may be taken as the type, the object being to enlarge their capabilities
of production without requiring any great increase in the power for
working the same.

page_text: The typical press may be described as consisting mainly of a rotary
'table fitted with moulds which receive the granular or plastic material
to be moulded from a mixing pan placed above it, itself being supplied
from a pug mill. The moulds are each fitted with plungers, which, as
their respective moulds are severally brought under a fixed cross head,
are caused to rise and compress the plastic material in the moulds.
These plungers are lifted by means of steam pressure, steam being
admitted to the under side of a piston, the rod of which passes down
through the centre of the mould table and is connected with a lever
situate below the table and in line with the fixed cross head. The table
is rotated by a step-by-step motion, and as each plunger is brought into
position below the cross head, the lever rising and falling with the steam
piston will lift the plunger in its mould and compress the material
contained therein.
I now propose to utilize the time required for bringing the moulds
severally under the pressing operation, and to this end I employ two
tables which are similarly fitted with moulds and with steam pressure
apparatus. The mixing pan I so arrange with respect to the tables that
it will serve to supply the moulds of both tables as they are brought
under discharge openings formed in the bottom of the pan. The rotary:
arms of this pan, by means of which the materials are mixed and also
discharged from the pan, are mounted on a central shaft which is
furnished with a crank for giving an alternate action to a pair of pawles
which act upon ratchet teeth formed on the peripheries of the tables,
and serve to give the tables an intermittent axial motion alternately.
In like manner, by a suitable adjustment of the valve gear of the two
steam cylinders I cause the pistons to act alternately. Thus, while
putting little or no extra strain upon the motive-power engine I am
enabled to obtain double the amount of work therefrom, causing for
every rotation of the crank shaft of the press the presentation of two
filled moulds of artificial fuel to the compressing apparatus.
The delivery of the blocks from the moulds is effected by inclined
planes in the usual manner.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation a double

page_text: .
In these Figures A, A, are the two rotary annular mould tables
supported on circular beds of cast iron B. These beds have a hollow
cylindrical extension at their centre, which extension serves to carry
castings that constitute at once steam cylinders C and cross heads D.
Each steam cylinder is fitted with a piston E which is carried by a
piston rod E that works in the stuffing box of the steam cylinder, and
also in a guide carried by the bed B. The cross heads D are intended
to sustain the thrust of the compressing plungers A' as they are respec-
tively raised to compress the granular or plastic material supplied to
O the moulds, and to enable the cross heads D effectually to resist this
pressure they are connected to the base of the machine by strong tie
bolts D'; F is the mixing pan placed midway between the two steam
cylinder castings and firmly secured thereto. This pan F overlies the
tables A, A, and it is open at bottom for the purpose of discharging
into the moulds of the rotary tables the plastic material supplied thereto
from the elevated pug mill G as the moulds are severally brought into
coincidence with the openings in the bottom of the pan.
The blades of the pug mill are carried by a crank shaft H, shewn in
elevation at Fig. 4, which shaft rests in a footstep at the base of the
) machine, and below these blades the shaft carries stirrers which sweep
the plastic material out of the pan into the moulds. On the lower end
of the shaft is keyed a bevil wheel I into which gears a pinion keyed
on the driving shaft K. The crank of this shaft carries two pawles L, L, .
(see the partial plan view, Fig. 5,) which take respectively into ratchet
teeth formed on the periphery of the tables A. These pawles are held
in contact with their respective tables by their being linked to weighted
cranked levers M, M. On rotary motion being transmitted from the
driving shaft K to the crank shaft H these pawles L will be caused to
operate alternately and drive round one or other of the tables (at each
throw of the crank) a distance equal to a tenth of a rotation. Thus, the
moulds after being filled from the pan F will be severally carried round
and be brought under the cross head D, where the compression of the
plastic material will take place. The plungers A' of each mould when
they arrive at this position (see Fig. 3) are brought under the action
; of the rock lever N, which through a tumbling piece N' drives up the
plungers into the moulds, forcing-the plastic material against the fixed
cross head D; and compressing the material to the desired density.
This lever N is connected by a saddle piece with the piston rod E of

page_text: the piston E, and as steam is admitted to the under side of the piston
the lever N will be raised and the plunger A³ forced upwards into the
mould.
The supply of steam to the cylinder C is regulated by means of slide
valve gear O (see Figures 1 and 4), which gear is operated by an
excentric on the crank shaft H; C¹ are the openings for the admission
of steam to the cylinder O. The plungers A¹ in travelling round with
their tables after leaving the compressing lever pass over fixed inclined
planes P which lift them to such a height as will ensure their dis-
charging the moulded blocks from the moulds. When this is done and
the blocks are removed by the attendant the plungers are caught by an
inclined flange Q, which entering an inclined groove formed in the lower
end of the plungers will, as the tables continue their rotation, draw down
the plungers and leave the moulds free to receive a renewed charge of
plastic material..
From the foregoing description it will be understood that by the use
of my Invention I am enabled to construct at relatively little extra
expense a press of large productive capacity, and from its compactness
occupying a space scarcely larger than the ordinary moulding press with
rotary table..
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in the Construction of Moulding Presses," and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I would remark that I am aware that
since the filing of my Provisional Specification, and the publicity given
to my Invention by the practical working of the same under the a
certificate of Provisional Protection, a description of the main features
of my double moulding press has been embodied in a full and elaborately
illustrated Specification of a single moulding press filed by Mr. James
Bolton, on or about the Twenty-sixth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-five, such description being however without g
illustration, and consisting of a paragraph of seven lines in the printed
copy of his Specification placed immediately before the claiming clauses,
but having no apparent connection with the arrangement of mechanism
described in Mr. James Bolton's Provisional Specification, for which
arrangement only he obtained a Patent. As however my rights are in 8
no way affected by the insertion of such description in the said Specifi-
cation, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement of double moulding press above
described, in which a central shaft is employed for carrying the blades
of the pug mill, the excentric for working the slide valves, the stirrers
of the mixing pan, and the pawles for driving the rotary tables.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Ash Yeo, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
five.