528 



BRICK 



from tho hopper into the several moulding boxes as the wheel passes round under it, 

 the earth being pressed into the moulds, and its surface scraped off smooth by a 

 conical roller,/, in the bottom of the hopper. 



Through the bottom of each moulding box there is a hole for tho passage of a 

 piston-rod, g, the upper end of which rod carries a piston with a wooden pallet upon 

 it acting within tho moulding box ; and the lower end of this rod has a small anti- 

 friction roller, which, as the wheel a revolves, runs round upon the face of an oblique 

 ring or inclined way, h h, fixed upon the masonry. 



The clay is introduced into the moulding boxes from the hopper fixed over tho 

 lowest part of tho inclined way h ; and it will bo perceived that as the wheel revolves, 

 the piston-rods, g, in passing up the inclined way, will cause the pistons to force the 

 now-moulded bricks, with their pallet, or board, under them, severally up the mould, 

 into the situation shown at t, in fig. 256, whence they are to bo removed by hand. 

 Fresh pallets being then placed upon the several pistons, they, with the moulds, will 

 be ready for moulding fresh bricks, when, by the rotation of the wheel, a, they are 

 severally brought under the hopper, the pistons having sunk to the bottoms of their 

 boxes, as the piston-rods passed down the other side of the inclined way h. 



The second head of the invention is another construction of apparatus for moulding 

 bricks, in this instance in a rectangular frame. Fig. 257 is a front elevation of the 

 machine ; fig. 258, a section of the same taken transversely, a a is the standard 

 frame-work and bed on which the bricks are to be moulded. Near the corners of 

 this standard frame-work, four vertical pillars, b b, are erected, upon which pillars 



the frame of the moulding boxes, c, slides up and down, and also the bar, d, carrying 

 the rods of the pistons, e e e. These pistons are for the purpose of compressing tho 

 clay in the moulding box, and therefore must stand exactly over and correspond with 

 tho respective moulds in the frame c, beneath. 



The sliding frame, c, constituting the sides and ends of the moulding boxes, is sup- 

 ported at each end by an upright sliding rod,/, which rods pass through guides fixed 

 to the sides of the standard frame, a a, and at the lower end of each there is a roller, 

 bearing upon the levers, g, on each side of the machine, but seen only in fig. 258, 

 which levers, when depressed, allow the moulding boxes to descend and rest upon 

 the bed or table of the machine h h. 



In this position of the machine resting upon the bed or table, the brick-earth is to be 

 placed upon, and spread over, the top of the frame c, by the hands of workmen, when 

 the descent of the plunger or pistons e e c will cause the earth to be forced into the 

 moulds, and the bricks to be formed therein. To effect this, rotatory power is to be 

 applied to the toothed wheel i, fixed on the end of the main driving crank-shaft k k, 

 which on revolving will, by means of tho crank-rods 1 1, bring down the bar a, with 

 the pistons or plunger e e e, and compress the earth compactly into the moulds, and 

 thereby form the bricks. 



When this has been done, the bricks are to be released frv.m the moulds by the 

 moulding frame, c, rising up from the bed, as shown in fig. 257, the pistons still re- 

 maining depressed, and bearing upon the upper surfaces of the bricks. The moulding 

 frame is raised by means of cams, m, upon the crank-shaft, which at this part of the 

 operation are brought under the levers g, for the purpose of raising the cams and the 

 sliding rods /into the position shown \nfig. 258. 



