THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



311 



pipes were to be made suitable cores were placed in 

 the orifices to give the required diameter. This inven- 

 tion seems to be the first patented in which the plan 

 was adopted of forcing the clay through orifices by- 

 moans of a piston or plunger. His mode of operating 

 had, however, ons inconvenience, namely, the with- 

 drawing of the piston when the receptacle in which it 

 worked was to be re-charged with clay. To obviate 

 this, Joseph Hamilton (patent dated April 28, 1813, 

 No. 3685) secured the use of the Archimedian screw, 

 " with a sufficiently deep thread in one or more pieces, 

 and of a convenient diameter." This allowed the 

 cylinder or "clod" to be charged at convenience ; and 

 another advantage obtained by its use, as stated by the 

 patentee, was, the materials were subjected to pressure 

 with " less inconvenience from air" than that which 

 attended the use of the piston. 



William Uaske and Robert Harvey (Dec. 5, 1817' 

 No. 4183) patented improvements in making tubes or 

 pipes, which consisted in the use of a cylinder into 

 which the clay was placed, and from which it was 

 forced by means of a piston through a moulding orifice, 

 fitted with a core so as to form a continuous pipe." So 

 far as shown in the specification, this invention is ex- 

 actly similar to that of J. G. Deyerlein, already noticed. 

 The same remark applies to several other patented in- 

 ventions, which we do not here notice. 



In the patent granted to Robert Beart (dated May 

 25th, 1833, No. 6426), drain and other tiles are de- 

 scribed as being manufactured by the use of moulds 

 capable of containing sufficient clay for a number of 

 tiles, and provided with a false bottom, beneath which 

 a piston is caused to act when required, and thus force 

 above the upper edge of the mould a proper quantity for 

 forming one tile. This portion is cut off level with the 

 upper edge of one mould by means of an instrument, 

 furnished with a stretched wire, and then a further 

 quantity of clay is forced up. The tiles thus produced, 

 when intended (or drain tiles, will only require to be bent 

 over a proper shape or mould whilst moist." This com- 

 paratively tedious process possessed another disadvan- 

 tage in the sheets of clay not being sufficiently com- 

 pressed 80 as to allow of unnecessary distention while 

 being shaped over the horse without injury to the mate- 

 rial. 



December 9th, 1836 (No. 7253), is the date of the 

 patent granted to the Marquis of Tweedale for his drain- 

 tile machine. This has been so extensively used, and 

 has afforded succeeding inventors so many useful hints, 

 that we shall devote a little more space to its description 

 than we have yet given to others. The title of that part 

 of the patent having reference to drain, tiles is as fol- 

 lows : — " Forming drain tiles by passing the clay from 

 the feeding hopper between two horizontal cylinders on 

 to one endless web, which passes over a shaping cylin- 

 der turned out in the middle to the form of a drain tile ; 

 after which the tile is completed by passing between a 

 pair of inclined rollers, and a second shaping cylinder, 

 and Is carried by two narrov/ endless bands beneath a 

 cutting wire, and thence by one endless web to the dry- 

 ing shed." The necessary bend or curve was easily 



given to the tiles by means of rollers, pulleys, &c., but 

 the principal difficulty met with by the Marquis in per- 

 fecting the machine was the cutting of the web into 

 equal lengths. This was at first effected by a frame, to 

 which the cutting wire was attached, moving in guides, 

 and which received a reciprocating motion by means of 

 a lever ; this being actuated at intervals by the revolu- 

 tion of a wheel, from the periphery of which a cog 

 projected. On each revolution of this wheel the cog 

 came in contact with the lever, causing the frame and 

 cutting-wire to act upon the web of clay. But this 

 arrangement was found defective, inasmuch as the web 

 having- u continuous motion, while the cutting-wire bad 

 an alternating and a gradually increasing one, the web 

 was cut not at rigkt angles, but obliquely in the direction 

 of its length. This difficulty was obviated in a very 

 simple and ingenious manner, by taking out three of 

 the teeth of one of the driving wheels which gave motion 

 to the web of clay. This at intervals caused the driven 

 wheel to stop, the stoppage of the web being arranged 

 so as to be coincident with the movement of the cutting- 

 frame while severing the web. 



The next patent is that of the well-known " Ainslie " 

 machine, the date being May 22nd, 1841 (No. 8965). 

 Mr. Ainslie took out a second patent for improvements 

 in the first. This we shall notice hereafter, giving in 

 the meantime a brief description of the first patent above 

 numbered. " The clay descends between a pair of feed- 

 ing rollers (each furnished with a doctor or scraper 

 beneath for grinding the clay) into a case containing a 

 screw, by the revolution whereof the clay is forced into 

 a chamber, and thence through moulds suitably formed 

 to produce the articles required ; and emerging there- 

 from the moulded clay is recarried by a travelling end- 

 less web, which carries it beneath a cutting apparatus 

 for dividing into proper lengths for making drain tiles. 

 The roof of the chamber is formed on its internal side 

 with diverging arches : each arch diverging to its corres- 

 ponding mould receives an embryo shape, and is enabled 

 to discharge itself in straight lines." The nature of the 

 second patent (dated January 18th, 1845, No. 10,481) 

 is as follows: — "The clay, for instance, is conducted 

 by a travelling endless web to a pair of rollers (each 

 provided with a hinged scraper), which carries it into 

 a chamber, and forces it through a mould or moulding 

 surface in front of the same to an endless web, whereby 

 it is carried to the cutting apparatus. A screen (with a 

 descending shield or cleaner) may be placed in the 

 middle of the chamber to separate stones or roots from 

 the clay. When sandy clay or peat is to be moulded 

 into bricks or tiles, rollers with ' roofing slides' (moved 

 in and out by a dam) must be substituted for the plain 

 rollers." The rollers in this machine serve to keep the 

 chambjr full of the clay so as to force it continuallly at 

 pressure through the dies, and also to crush the atones 

 and extraneous matters in the clay, and make it of as 

 uniform a consistency as possible. It is essential to the 

 perfect working of this machine, that the clay be well 

 prepared, in order that the head of the different mixing 

 pipes (if more dies than one are used) be as uniform as 

 possible. In the first machines of this kind introduced, 



