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is placed on the platform, over a hole, and has an iron ring on the top, 

 fitting the inside, upon which rests a wooden plug or piston attached to 

 a cross-bar, which slides up and down in a groove formed in each up- 

 right of the frame. By means of a wooden axle, connected by two 

 short cords with the piston cross-bar and a handspike, the man forces 

 down the piston and expresses the clay through the die. The pipe is 

 received by a boy, on a stick loosely fitting its bore, which also guages 

 the length of the pipe. It is then cut off by a wire, and placed on a 

 shelf By this machine, one man and two boys make about two thou- 

 sand pipes per day. It is requisite that the clay should be well washed 

 and sieved before pugging, if not, the operation of drawing will be 

 greatly impeded from the space around the die becoming incommoded 

 with small stones, etc. The clay is brought from the pugmill so dry 

 that when squeezed through the machine, not a drop of water exudes- 

 from it, hence the tiles undergo little or no change of figure while dry- 

 ing, which takes place very rapidly ; they are placed in the kiln when 

 containing only about 12 per cent, of moisture, in consequence of which 

 there is but a very trifling loss in the burning. 



Among English machines, that of John Ainslie, Alpenton Works, 

 Middlesex, occupies a prominent place. It is of small bulk, and con- 

 sists of a pair of rollers, to which motion is communicated by a series , 

 of pinions and wheels, which give the machine a great mechanical ad- 

 vantage and ease in turning. The clay is inserted between these roll- 

 ers in the shape of large cakes ; the rollers crush small stones and other 

 hard substances, and express the clay through the dies or moulds; an 

 apparatus is attached which cuts the tiles into proper lengths; this re- 

 ceives its motion from the movement of the tiles, as they are pressed 

 along an endless web passing over a series of small rollers. The cut- 

 ting apparatus is placed at such an angle, that in passing through the 

 tiles, it partakes of their progressive motion, and cuts them at right avi- 

 gles to their base, so that either end of them will fit when placed in the 

 drain. The dies are of various shapes and sizes, to answer whatever 

 description of pipe or tile may be required. 



With this machine one man and two boys can manufacture from 

 5000 to VOOO pipes or tiles in a day. Worked by one horse, or by 

 steam or water power, from 14 to 20,000 pipes or tiles can be manu- 

 factured daily. Tho cost of this machine is about $175. The descrip- 



