IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK PRESSES AND OTHER SIMILAR PRESSES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gibson, of Rutland Road, Sheffield, in the County
of York, Manager of Brick Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BRICK PRESSES AND OTHER SIMILAR PRESSES."
Sealed the 11th January 1878, and dated the 18th July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gibson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th July 1877.
JOHN GIBSON, of Rutland Road, Sheffield, in the County of York, Manager
of Brick Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK PRESSES AND OTHER SIMILAR
PRESSES."
My Invention has for its object certain improvements in the construction of presses
for the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and other similar articles, and in the method of
applying the pressure to the clay or other substance, and also in simplifying the
mechanical parts of such machines.
In carrying out my Invention as applied to a brick press, for example, I use the
ordinary moulding box, either with or without steel or other loose liners, and I
secure the top plunger to a cross head, which is connected by means of vertical rods
or otherwise to a somewhat similar cross head arranged beneath the moulding box.
The bottom of the moulding box is arranged as a vertical slide or piston, and
answers the twofold purpose of pressing and lifting the brick out of the mould.
On the under side of the vertical slide or piston and on the upper side of the lower
cross head are two friction rollers, and working between and in conjunction with
them is a cam secured to or made solid with the main shaft, and of such configura-
tion as to raise the slide or piston, also to bring down the cross head and with it the
top plunger at one and the same time, thus compressing the clay in the moulding
box, and afterwards lift the slide or bottom piston sufficiently high to force the brick
out of the mould for removal.
One or more (but by preference two) cams are arranged on the same shaft so as
to lift the cross head at the required time high enough to admit of the re-charging
of the mould box by hand or otherwise, all the motions being completed in one
revolution of the main shaft.

page_text: The framework of the machine may be of any suitable construction, and the
machine may be driven by either hand, steam, or other motive power.
I arrange the escape or vent for the surplus clay at one or both ends, or in the
bottom of the mould instead of in the top, as is usual, the result being a better
shaped and sounder brick.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Gibson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
January 1878.
JOHN GIBSON, of Rutland Road, Sheffield, in the County of York, Manager
of Brick Works. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICK PRESSES AND OTHER SIMILAR
PRESSES."
My said Invention relates to that description of presses for moulding and pressing
bricks, tiles, and other similar articles composed of clay or other plastic material, in
which a top plunger and a bottom piston are employed for compressing the material
of which the articles are formed, and it consists chiefly of a simple construction
and arrangement of cams and mechanism connected therewith, whereby the top and
bottom pressures are applied equally and simultaneously (or nearly so) to the
material or article under operation, and the finished articles are expelled from the
moulding box without exerting undue strain upon the main shaft of the machine.
It also consists in providing means in the bottom of the sides or ends of the
moulding box, in lieu of at the top, for the escape of any surplus material therefrom,
whereby cleaner and better moulded articles are obtained.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now pro-
ceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to the
several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a front elevation of a machine for moulding
and pressing bricks (for example) constructed according to my said Invention.
Figure 2 is a side elevation; and Figure 3, a transverse section of the same.
And Figures 4 and 5 are details which will be herein-after referred to.
A is the main framing of the machine, having a moulding box B bolted or
otherwise secured to the top thereof, in which the bricks are moulded and compressed
between a piston c, forming the bottom of the moulding box, and a top plunger D
attached to or formed in one with a cross head E, and receiving a vertical to-and-fro
or up-and-down motion in the manner herein-after described.
F is the main shaft of the machine, which may be driven directly from a steam
engine or other suitable prime mover, or (as shewn in my Drawings) through the
intervention of a counter shaft G carrying fast and loose pulleys H, H¹, a fly wheel
I, and a pinion K, the latter gearing with a spur wheel L keyed on the shaft F.
Upon this shaft there are also mounted cams M, N, N, and O, the cam M for
imparting the necessary motions to the feeding box P, and the others for actuating
the top plunger D and the bottom piston C.
The cross head E carrying the top plunger D is connected by means of rods Q
passing through guides R in the framing A to another cross head E arranged to
slide in vertical guides at M¹ below the moulding box B. This second cross head is

page_text: fitted with friction rollers N1, against which the portions a of the cam O, which is
a compound cam, act as it rotates (shewn detached in Figure 4) causing the cross
heads E and E¹ to descend and the top plunger D to enter the moulding box B
whilst the portion b of the said compound cam elevates simultaneously (or nearly
so) the bottom piston C by acting against a friction roller S fitted to the bottom
thereof.
The top plunger D is elevated out of the moulding box by means of the cams N,
which act upon rollers T, mounted in frames U (one of which is shewn in detail in
Figure 5) attached to the connecting rods Q.
The feeding box P is reciprocated to and fro over the moulding table in order to
supply the moulding box with clay in the following manner :-V is a rocking shaft
mounted in bearings c in the main framing A, and having keyed on one end a lever
W carrying at its outer extremity a friction roller X, which is maintained constantly
in contact with the cam M by means of a spring Y, whilst intermediately between
its extremities the shaft carries two other levers Z which are connected by means of
rods d to the feeding box P.
2
It will thus be seen that upon rotating the cam M a rocking motion is transmitted
by the lever W to the shaft V, and thence through the levers and connecting rods
d; a to-and-fro reciprocating motion is imparted to the feeding box P, the box being
prevented from rising from the surface of the moulding table whilst being traversed
to and fro by means of clips or guides e secured to the sides of the said moulding
table.
The machine operates in the following manner :-Assuming the feeding box P to
be in the position indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2, the top plunger D in its
highest position, as shewn by dotted lines in Figure 1, and the bottom piston C in
its lowest position, sufficient clay to form one brick is supplied by hand or otherwise
to the feeding box P, and the machine then set in motion, whereupon the feeding
box is caused to travel over the moulding table by the action of the cam M in the
manner herein-before described until it arrives over the moulding box B, into which
the clay then descends. By the time that the feeding box arrives at this position,
the portions a of the compound cam O commence to act upon the rollers N₁, causing
the top plunger D to descend on to the clay in the moulding box, whilst at the same
time the portion b of the said cam elevates the bottom piston C, thereby subjecting
the clay simultaneously on both sides to considerale pressure, the strain of which is
sustained by the cross heads E and E, and their connections in lieu of by the main
shaft as in certain machines of this class at present in use. The clay having thus
been compressed between the top plunger and the bottom piston, the top plunger is
by the continued rotation of the shaft F raised out of the moulding box by means
of the cams N, and by the time it arrives above the top edge of the feeding box the
latter is caused to return to its former position under the action of the spring Y,
the cam M being gradually brought then into a position to admit of the lever com-
mencing its descent into the position shewn by dotted lines in Figure 2. When this
position has been attained the continued rotation of the shaft F causes the portion
d' of the cam O to further elevate the lower piston C, so as to bring the top surface
(thereof carrying the moulded brick) level with the top of the moulding box. The
feeding box then advances again with a fresh charge of clay with which it has been
supplied, and in its forward motion forces the moulded brick off the piston on to the
moulding table, and the piston in the mean time having descended by its own
gravity to its lowest position the fresh charge of clay is deposited in the moulding
box to be operated upon in a similar manner.
It will thus be seen that one brick is moulded and expelled from the moulding
box at each revolution of the shaft F, the bricks so moulded being removed by hand
or otherwise as they are delivered to be dried or baked in the usual manner.
Any surplus clay supplied to the moulding box is allowed to escape through an
aperture provided in the bottom of one or more sides thereof, the clay appendages
thus formed being severed or separated from the compressed brick in and by the

page_text: act of expelling the latter from the mould, thus producing a perfectly smooth and
even surface on the moulded bricks.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect,
I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First. The employment in machinery or apparatus for moulding and compressing
bricks, tiles, and other similar articles, of cams and cross heads arranged and com-
bined for operating the parts of such machinery or apparatus in such a manner that
the top and bottom pressures are applied to the article being moulded and compressed
simultaneously, or nearly so, and that the strain is received and sustained by the
cross heads and their connections in lieu of by the main shaft of the machine, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
Secondly. Providing an aperture or apertures in the lower part of the moulding
box for the escape of surplus material, substantially as and for the purpose herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gibson, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-eight.
JOHN GIBSON. (L.S.)