IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES, AND IN MOULDS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Basford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
February 1869.
I, WILLIAM BASFORD, of Burslem, in the County of Stafford,
Brick and Tile Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND TILES, AND IN MOULDS
FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to give strength to clays or marl and
to facilitate the operation of manufacturing front facing bricks, floor
bricks, roof and floor tiles.
The first part of my Invention relates to the treatment of clay or
marl preparatory to manufacturing from it front facing bricks, floor
bricks, roof and floor tiles, and I propose in some cases for the purpose
of improving the strength of the clay or marl and also for giving a
tint by mixing it with pulverised slate rock. Besides this I take the
shale or bass or brasses which are thrown away as waste from the coal
pit, and when necessary calcine them, and then mix the cinder or
calcined shale in proportions with the clay or marl. I also use silicate
of iron to mix with my clay or marl, and for that purpose I take the

page_text: slags of blast and puddling furnaces, and having reduced them to
powder I mix them in suitable proportions with the clay or marl, I
propose also to mix with it pulverised anthracite or stone coal. When
ironstone dust is used to aid in giving a blue colour to bricks and
tiles it often produces blisters; to correct this I propose to add a
compound composed chiefly of silicate alumina; as a substitute for this
I grind up the old broken saggers and pitchers, and having mixed them
with the ironstone dust introduce them in suitable proportions into
the clay or marl. In order to improve the colour of the surfaces of
front facing bricks, floor bricks, floor & roof tiles I mix the marl
and clay with a solution of boiling tan water, or the tan may be partially
burnt and pounded to dust and mixed with the clay or marl. Also I
propose for the purpose of improving the surface and colouring to mix
red sand such as is used at the mouding foundry for colouring, and if
necessary grind the sand to powder.
The next part of my Invention relates to improvements in the manu-
facture of front facing bricks, floor bricks, roof and floor tiles from the
before-described mixture of clay or marl, and my first improvement
consists in the shape of moulds to make the front facing bricks. This
mould stand on its edge instead of on its flat; the bricks are made
edgeways; it has a nick at each of the 4 corners for the purpose of
inserting a board or brass plate on both of its sides, having also a
projecting piece on the centre, by means of which a panel is formed on
either one or both sides of the brick similar to pressed bricks. When
I want to make two front facing bricks at once I make the brick, say, 9
inches long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches on the face.
I form my
mould from 9 to 10 inches long, 64 inches wide, and 3 to 5 inches deep
from the face side of the brick; by means of this I make two ordinary
bricks at once on edge. This mould is made with a nick at each of the
4 corners inch or so square so as to form the panels; the ordinary clay
is then put in and the face surfaced with the mixture of improved clay
as before described according as it is for a blue or a red; then the
clay is turned out of the mould on a board suitable with a nick in the
centre; a gauge templet guides the wire string to a bow, thus forming
two front facing bricks exactly in the centre,
My next improvement relates to the mode of making roof tiles.
When the lump of clay from which the tile is made is put into the
mould, the surplus being removed by means of a curved wire or knife

page_text: raised in the centre in such a way as to leave one-eighth or a quarter of
an inch of the clay projecting above the mould. At this stage of the
process I use a batter with a handle at the back, and with the batter I
give the projecting clay several sharp raps; by means of this I can use
clay much stiffer than at present, and am enabled to make the tile more
solid. In making plain tiles I propose to make the mould about, say,
three-quarters of an inch thicker than the tile, and I insert a loose
wooden bottom within the mould having sunk holes to form nobs so as
to hold the tile. On this loose bottom I fit 3 or 4 strips of wood inch
thick which forms grooves on the knob side of the tile, which allows the
tile to be much lighter. The tile is then made as before, the surplus
clay is removed with the curved or raised wire or knife, which leaves
the centre of the tile elevated; I give the tile several sharp raps with
my improved batter. In making roof tiles instead of putting a loose
bottom in the mould as above described I have the wood bottom made
an inch wider and 3 to 4 inch longer than the mould, and this mould
having projecting ears at each corners I fit a strip of wood about one
inch wide in the wooden bottom between the projecting ears of the
mould; these strips hold the mould fast while the tile is made as before
either with sunk nob holes or nob holes made in the end of the mould.
The clay is removed by the curved or raised wire or knife as before
described,
My next improvement relates to the mode of making floor tiles. I
make the mould about of an inch thicker than the floor tile. I insert
a loose bottom of wood within the mould with ribs to make a key for
mortar or cement to stick to. When the lump of clay of which the
floor tile is made is put into the mould the surplus clay is removed by
means of a wire or knife as before mentioned and then struck with the
batter as before described; by this means I am enabled to work the
clay which makes the floor tile much stiffer than at present; thus
obtaining a more solid and firm tile. When I want to make two floor
tiles at once I make the mould twice the size of one floor tile, which
would be about 64 inches wide by 13 inches long; this when burnt
could make two floor tiles 6 inches square. This mould is made of an
inch deeper than the floor tiles and with a wooden bottom or ribs to
form grooves for mortar or cement, and the wood bottom has a nick in
the middle for wire to drop in dividing two tiles. The process of making
or moulding is the same as above described. A gauge templet guides
the wire or knife and divides the clay exactly through the middle, which

page_text: makes the floor tile of equal size.
the assistant and taken off to dry.
tile as in the first described, or two as in the last described, the assistant is
putting the former out of the mould, dusting the false bottom and mould,
setting it ready for the maker. I sometimes put the roof and floor tiles &
under press before they are put out of the mould.
The floor tiles are cut and divided by
While the maker is making one floor