at the Northampton Meeting, 1847. 



355 



Clayton's machine is certainly expensive in the working, but 

 the great desideratum in tile-making, as well as in all operations 

 whether agricultural or manufacturing, is to get over the work 

 fast and well. The description of the machines exhibited by 

 Scragg, Clayton, and Weller are therefore appended to this 

 report, particularly as Clayton now delivers the tiles horizontally 

 as well as vertically, which cannot be regarded but as a great 

 improvement. It will be seen likewise in the subjoined statement 

 that Messrs. Sanders and Williams, to whom the prize was ad- 

 judicated, do not themselves profess to work with less than one 

 man and tivo hoys. The following is their description of the 

 implement : — 



A machine for making draining-pipes and tiles, invented, im- 

 proved, and manufactured by the exhibitor: the improvement 

 consists in enlarging the spur-wheel in diameter, which gives 

 additional power to the man turning it. The compartment 

 which receives the clay has likewise been enlarged, which em- 

 powers the man working the machine, from the greater quantity 

 of clay now contained in the box, to manufacture a larger quan- 

 tity of pipes or tiles in the same given time than he could have 

 done with the smaller box. The machine is calculated to make 

 6000 Ig-inch pipes per day with one man and two hoys. Price, 

 with one die and one horse, 12/. 12^. 



Each end of Mr. Scragg's machine is formed into a square 

 box lined with plates of iron, the lids of which open on hinges to 

 admit of the clay being put in, and when shut are secured by 

 cross bars. At the outside end of each box is a frame of cast- 

 iron, made to receive and hold fast the dies which give shape to 



proof of the ability of the machines. Some makers were better provided 

 with hands than others : several worked at a desperate racing pace ; while 

 others proceeded at a comfortable working speed. The Judges, after 

 giving the machines the most careful attention, decided in favour of the 

 machine manufactured by Messrs. Sanders and Williams, as the quality 

 of the tiles was excellent, and the quantity made as great as could be 

 dried within a reasonable distance of the machine ; and far more than could 

 be burned in an ordinary kiln holding 40,000, even supposing no time to 

 be lost in burning. Ainsley's machines produced, perhaps, the best tiles, 

 but the numbers were very deficient and the labour in working great. It 

 will be seen that three machines produced immense quantities, but the qua- 

 lity was hardly equal to those produced by the prize machine ; besides which 

 the drying and burning processes could not be carried on at the same rate : 

 these machines also required greater capital to purchase and work them. 

 Perhaps, after all, too much importance is attached to these machines, as 

 the principal labour in tile and pipe making consists in digging the clay, 

 turning it over, watering, and carrying it to the machine ; and subsequently 

 conveying the tiles, &c., to the hacks or shelves ; from thence, when 

 sufficiently dry, to the kiln to be set and burnt, and then taken out and 

 stacked for sale. These processes, it will be seen, can only be performed 

 by manual labour. — Note hij Messrs. Everett and Taylor. 



