Untitled record

<img file="US7453A_D0001.tif" />

AM· PHOTO-L1THO. CO. N.Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS) /2/72 Ps/ffjy/rrzteZ/tee

<img file="US7453A_D0002.tif" />

AM. PHOTO-LITHO. CO. N.Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS CULBERTSON AND GEO. SCOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BRICK-PRESS.

Specification, of Letters Patent No. 7,453, dated June 25, 1850.

To dll whom, it may concern :

Be it known that we, Thomas Culbertson and George Scott, of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Penn5 sylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Molding and Pressing Bricks, and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which dis10 tinguishes our invention from all other things before known and of the manner of making, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, 15 in which—. ; . ' .:

' Figure 1 is a .side, elevation; Fig. 2, alongitudinal· vertical, section; Fig. 3: a plan; Fig. 4, a cross vertical section: Fig. 5 a section of the pressing wheel or cylinder 20 on an enlarged scale.' ^: ” Our herein ’ described invention consists of improvements on a machine- invented and patented by Thomas Culbertson and bearing date the sixteenth day of May A. D. 1846, 25 but tlie first part of. our invention is appli&lt; able to other machines for molding and pressing bricks and other articles -made of cla\

The molding and pressing .of. bricks by 30 machinery whether from tempered or un ’ tempered clay· has heretofore been attended with serious ::; difficulty ‘ -from the tendency of the. clay to adhere to -the pressing, surfaces and the sides of the molds. To avoid 35 this tendency in part these surfaces have been sanded and otherwise treated to avoid the! adhesion. :We have discovered and by repeated trials established-.that- the heating of these surfaces effectually avoids the ad40 hesion of the clay, to the- pressing surfaces - as well as the sides of-the mold, -and the first pari of our invention- consists in the application of artificial heat to the pressing and molding surfaces in (he molding and press45 ing of bricks and other articles made of clay or of earthy compounds of which clay is the chief ingredient made by'molding and pressing. ......... ......

The second part of our invention which 50 relates to the method of discharging the molded bricks from molds arranged in a reciprocating carriage consists of elevating the followers in the molds by combining the carriage which carries the molds with a sec55 ondary carriage or carriages with rollers running on inclined ways so arranged that as the carriage of molds approaches its running out motion on either side it shall act on the secondary carriage which by the continued motion of the main carriage is car- eo ried up inclined ways that in rising it may act on the followers of the mold to elevate them in a vertical direction only instead of having an oblique action as heretofore which tends to cant them in the mold. 65

In the accompanying drawings, (A) rep-, resents the- frame and (B) the main carriage in which the molds are formed or arranged and which slide between ways (s, s') formed. . by the sides of the frame. To the molds 70 are fitted -followers (q) each with two stems (r,r) which pass through holes in the bottom of the molds which at the proper, time are acted upon to force up the followers for the discharge·. of .the bricks from the. 75 molds. The carriage of molds runs on the periphery of two rollers («, a) on the main i driving shaft (w) -which rollers ..are placed ... immediately under the place where the pressure - is.....applied; . And between these two. 80 rollers there is a cog wheel (&lt;/) the cogs of which .engage .the cogs of a rack ..formed in the under . part, of the carriage, ami be- .„ : tween the stems of the followers,., of .the. molds so that by the..reciprocating; rotary 85 motion of the shaft («·) the carriage of, \molds receives a reciprocating motion.,, Care. should, be taken; to. .have,.the, periphery; .of ^: the rollers; (a, a) on which, the.carriage,rests. ; of the diameter of the pitch, line, of the cog 90 _; wheel (c) to .avoid -slipping. and; the friction and wear which would be thereby produced. The-required- .motion is given to the main ; shaft (w). for the reciprocating,motion of j the carriage by a mangle wheel (F) .oper- 95 a ted in the usual manner of the mangle wheel motion by a pinion (G) and guide roller (I) on the end of the rotating.and: vibrating shaft. (J) which receives: motionfrpm. any first mover. In a vertical line 100 above- the main shaft :is another, .shaft. (,X)., which,carries a cylinder .(E).,the periphery 1 of which;runs on the upper surface of the i carriage of molds for the purpose.,of forcing the clay into the molds. A portion of 105 the periphery of the cylinder is cut away as at (a'). The shaft (X) has a cog wheel (Y) which receives motion from another cog wheel (Z) on the main shaft for the purpose of giving the required reciprocating 110 rotary motion to the cylinder that its periphery may move with the carriage of

7,453 molds; the proportions of the two cog wheels and the cylinder should be such as to insure an equal movement.

The cylinder is surrounded by a cast iron clay box or hopper (C') which receives the clay to feed the molds, the clay being previously pulverized or otherwise prepared. The clay from the hopper enters the molds and as the carriage runs under the cylinder it is forced and compressed into the molds by the periphery of the cylinder, and as the molds move on toward either end of the machine the bricks pass under a sharp edge (δ') at the ends of the hopper which strikes off the surplus clay should there be any and so soon as the molds have passed from under the hopper the end of the rack of the carriage strikes against a roller (n) at one end of a secondary carriage or movable platform (m) mounted on rollers (e' e') which turn on inclined ways (/' /') and as the rollers are carried up these inclined ways the upper surface of the carriage or platform comes in contact with the stems of the followers of the molds and forces them up to discharge the bricks from the molds. The roller (η) against which the end of the rack strikes, allows the platform to rise with but little friction. There is a like arrangement at each end and two sets of molds in the carriage that a set of bricks may be molded as the carriage moves in either direction.

At the end of either movement of the carriage a pin represented by red lines (Λ') strikes against a pin that projects down from the under face of a wedge (p) which pin slides in a slot in the frame of the machine an'd this wedge against a bar (Ο) to push the discharged bricks from the surface of the followers and as soon as this bar is started the attendant draws the bar by hand to remove the bricks. The bar is carried back when liberated by the attendant by weight attached to a cord passing over a pulley as shown in the drawing, and the weight should be sufficient to force back the wedge so soon as it is relieved by the back motion of the carriage. A like arrangement is employed at each end. The pressing cylinder (E) is made hollow as also its shaft and to one end of the shaft is coupled by a turning coupling joint a steam pipe (L) leading from a steam boiler or generator, and to the other end is coupled in like manner an exhaust pipe. By this means a cur rent of steam is passed through the cylinder to keep it in a heated state which artificial heat of the surface will prevent the clay from adhering to the surface of the cylinder. 60 There is a partition (/') in the bore of the shaft to prevent the steam from passing directly through the shaft to the exhaust pipe, and therefore compel it to pass through the hollow cylinder and the shaft on that 65 side of it toward the exhaust part is provided with a pipe which extends toward, and near to the inner periphery of the cylinder so that the steam can only escape through this pipe. And this pipe is also 70 used to pump out of the cylinder the water that may accumulate therein by the condensation of the steam.

This method of preventing the adhesion of the clay to the surface is equally appli- 75 cable to the platen of a reciprocating press as also to the bottom or follower, the sides of the molds, the clay box and the knife or sharp edge by making these parts hollow and providing them with pipes for the ad- 80 mission of steam. A hollow, heated rubber or roller may be applied for the purpose of smoothing the upper surface of the bricks after they have passed under the cutting edge of the knife, and it will be obvious 85 from the foregoing that any other method of applying artificial heat may be substituted for steam, such as passing heated air through the hollow parts, but we have described the mode which we have essayed 90 with success and which we deem the best.