Murray's Brick-making Machine 



103 



movement of the clay is effected by means of 

 a push board, which, as it advances, pushes 

 the clay against and past the fixed wires, thus 

 dividing the mass into the required number 

 of bricks. The push board is actuated by a 

 rack and pinion motion under the table, best 

 seen at fig. 4, and which is worked by a crank 

 handle. On this handle being thrown back 

 the weight causes the push board to be at once 

 drawn back to its original position. The 

 bricks thus formed are by this lateral move- 

 ment deposited on a portable board, on which 

 they are removed to the barrow. Referring 

 to fig. 3, it will be noticed that the bars to 



consequently diminish the working power of 

 the intermittent delivery machines with rotary 

 action dies in general use. As the block of 

 clay to be divided upon the cutting table is 

 only I inch longer than is required, a very 

 small amount of waste is thrown back for 

 second manipulation. The removal of the 

 bricks, too, from the machine is effected with- 

 out their being handled, so that they sustain 

 no injury from that source. It requires but 

 one set of men to one of these machines, so 

 that a great economy of labour results as 

 against an intermittent delivery apparatus, 

 which requires two sets of attendants, with 



Fig. 2. 



which the cutting wires are connected are 

 slotted. The wires are attached to pins in 

 the upper bar with screws and nuts, and are 

 kept taut by means of india-rubber tension 

 springs. The bars being slotted permits the 

 wires to be shifted either farther apart or 

 closer together, thus altering both their gauge 

 and angle, so that the thickness and the bevel 

 of the bricks can be varied to suit the require- 

 ments of manufacture. The cutting table is 

 the key to the numerous advantages pos- 

 sessed by Mr Murray's apparatus, and which 

 consist in dispensing with several auxiliary 

 movements which necessarily encumber and 



out a corresponding advantage of making a 

 larger number of perfect bricks. In the ar- 

 rangement under notice, brickwork founda- 

 tions are unnecessary, the machine being 

 mounted on cast iron foundation plates. 



Such is the apparatus— or at least a portion 

 of it, the cutting table — which gave rise to 

 the action between Messrs Middleton & 

 Company and Messrs Clayton & Company. 

 To render this clear we should observe that 

 in Messrs Clayton's machine the clay runs on 

 to a lubricated metal table, and by a turn of a 

 handle from left to right this table is made to 

 pass under a fence board, which is attached 



