IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING FROM CLAY OR OTHER SUITABLE MATERIALS, QUARRIES, BRICKS, TILES, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
STEVENSON, of Colridge, Stafford, Potter, send greeting.
WHEREAS His late most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of March, in the year One thousand eight
hundred and thirty, in the eleventh year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ralph Stevenson, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority that I, the said
Ralph Stevenson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other.
as I, the said Ralph Stevenson, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MAKING FROM CLAY OR OTHER SUITABLE MATERIALS, QUARRIES, BRICKS, TILES, AND
OTHER ARTICLES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Ralph Stevenson, by an instrument in writing under my hand.
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the.
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ralph Stevenson, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascer-
tained in manner following, reference being had to the two Sheets of Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements relate to that kind of machinery for making quarries,
bricks, tiles, and other articles, which operates by forcing the clay or other
suitable materials through orifices or apertures by mechanical pressure;
that is to say, the clay or other suitable material being properly prepared, is
put into boxes or chambers of a prismatic form, into which boxes moveable
pistons are inserted after the clay is put in, and which pistons are impelled by
millwork, or by the power of men or animals, aided by wheelwork, screws,
or other mechanical powers, in order to press with so much force upon the
clay as to force it out of the said boxes through suitable apertures made for
that purpose in them at the part most remote from the end where the pistons
are inserted, the form of these apertures being adapted to the form of the
article which is to be manufactured; for the clay is forced out through the said
apertures in long prisms or sheets, of the same sectional figure and size as the
apertures, and those prisms or sheets are afterwards cut across to divide them.
into lengths, which will form the articles required.
I "f
Figure 1; parts 1 and 2, Sheet I., is a front view of machinery for making
quarries, bricks, tiles, and other articles constructed according to my improve-
ments, and Figure 2, Sheet 2, is a side view of the same.
1, 1, are two prismatic boxes or chambers to contain the prepared clay or
other suitable material whereof quarries, bricks, tiles; or other articles are to.
be 'moulded and made. The boxes 1, 1, are mounted upon small trucks
or wheels a, a, which run upon railways b,-b, supported on strong horizontal
cross, bars B, B, which are framed into the upright standards A, A, of the
frame. The standards A, A, are surmounted by horizontal cross bars or
caps C, C, which are united to the lower cross bars B, B, by upright bolts é, e.
At the outsides of the standards A, A, (see Figures '1 and 2)-10, 10, are strong
and thick plates of iron, fitting into the prismatic boxes 1, 1, in the manner of
pistons Each piston is pressed down into its box by two screws 2, 2, which are
fixed fast into the top of the piston, and pass up through holes in the top cross
bar C, C, of the frame. The nuts or female screws which are fitted on the.
screws 2, 2, beneath the cross bar C. are adapted to be turned round by wheel-
work.8, 4, 12, 13; 14, 16, and 16, so as to raise or dépress 'those pistons
within their respective clay boxes 1, 1, according as the driving wheel is turned
round one way or the other, one piston always rising whilst the other descends.

page_text: 5, 5, are holes formed in the front and in the back of the boxes 1; 1, at the
lower parts thereof, near to the bottoms (see Sheets 1 and 2). to receive the
moulds through which the clay is to be forced out of the boxes by the pressure
of the pistons and screws, in order to give the required form for. the quarries,
bricks, tiles, or other articles intended to, be made by the machinery. The
-moulds are filled to the holes 5, and fill up those holes, so that no clay can be
forced out of the boxes 1, 1, except through the interior aperture of the
moulds, which apertures, at their outer ends, are of the shape and size of the
transverse section of the quarries, bricks, tiles, or other articles that are to be
manufactured. The moulds, may be made of, any suitable metal. They are
inserted into their places at the lower parts of the boxes 1, 1,. near. to the
bottoms thereof from the inside of those boxes, and the moulds are retained
in the apertures 5 by the pressure of the clay passing through them, suitable
prominent rims being formed around the outsides of the moulds at their inner
ends, to enter into corresponding rebates around the apertures 5 withinside of
the boxes 1, 1; or else the apertures 5 may be made wedge-shaped that
is, smaller at the mouths or external orifices than at the throats or entrances
within the boxes 1, 1, and the moulds made also wedge-shaped to fit them.
6 and 7 are horizontal axes, which are supported in bearings projecting out
from the boxes 1, 1, but those bearings are not shewn in the Drawing. The
axes 6 and 7 act as rollers to receive the clay between them, for one is above
and the other is below the mouths of the moulds, and the clay which is forced out
therefrom passes between the two, and they being exactly the same distance apart
as the intended thickness of the bricks or other articles, they smooth and finish
the upper and lower surfaces of the prisms or sheets of clay which are forced
out of the apertures of the moulds. Also circular plates or flanges 17 may bé
fixed on the rollers 6 and 7 (see Figure 1,.. part.1) to apply against the
surfaces of the vertical sides or edges of the prisms or sheets of clay, in order
to smooth and finish those sides or edges as they come out of the moulds.
The operation of making quarries, tiles, bricks, and other. .articles by
machinery constructed according to my improvements is as follows:-One
of the boxes 1, 1, is filled with clay or other material suitably prepared for
moulding, according to the kind of article that is to be manufactured, (the
piston 10 of that box having been previously raised up out of it above its top
edge, as in part 2, Figure 1, Sheet I., and the box then wheeled out from the
frame on its railway b, b. After the box is filled it is wheeled back again under
the piston, and the wheelwork being put in motion, the piston 10 is forced
down upon the clay in the box 1, and compresses it until the clay becomes so
tight filled in the box that it will issue through the apertures of the moulds;

page_text: and the piston being continually depressed forcibly on the top of the clay in
the box 1, it continues to issue in the form of long prisms or sheets of clay,.
which have the same transverse figure and size as the apertures of the moulds
from which they have issued. The upper and under surfaces of the said long
prisms or sheets of clay are dressed smooth by passing between the circum-
ferences of the rollers 6 and 7, and the vertical edges or surfaces of the clay
are pressed by passing between the flanges: 17 which project from the
rollers 6 and 7. The long prisms or sheets of clay are received as they issue
from the several moulds on a flat inclined table 9, Sheet 2, and, as they
advance along the same an attendant cuts them across with a knife, or with a
wire or other suitable instrument, to divide them into proper lengths to form
the articles intended to be moulded, and which are then ready to be stacked
for drying, and are very soon fit for firing, because the clay is moulded in a
very stiff state. Note, the moulds shewn at 5, 5, (part 2, Sheet 1,) are
intended for common bricks; but other moulds may be provided to fit into
the same places for forming various shapes, such as are sketched on the
front of the box 1, at 8, 8, Figure 1, Part 1. Two boxes 1, 1, are provided
to each frame, and those boxes being mounted upon wheels a, a, either of
them can be run out upon its railway b, b, from under its piston 10 and
the wheelwork, as shewn in Sheet 2; the piston having been previously raised
quite out of that box, above the top edge thereof, as in Part 2, Sheet I., and
a fresh charge of clay is filled into that box whilst the other is under the
machinery and in action for moulding.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I do hereby declare that I do not make claim to the first
Invention of pistons impelled by machinery to force clay contained in a
prismatic box out therefrom through the apertures of moulds of any required
form; but I claim only the machinery which I have herein-before described in
reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the mode of applying the boxes
1, 1, beneath the pressing machinery, and removing them therefrom to be refilled
again. Also, the rollers 6 and 7, with their flanges 17, for the purpose of smooth-
ing, dressing, and finishing the surfaces of the prisms or sheets of clay, immediately
after the same have been forced out through the apertures of the moulds, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Stevenson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
RALPH (L.S.) STEVENSON..

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixth day of September,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Ralph Stevenson came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Sixth day of September, in the year above written.