at the York Mcrtiiuj, 1848. 
397 
interinpdiate stages between the pug-mill and the kiln; and his 
very efl'ective machines have been extensively patronized by the 
public. 
The writer, however, cannot but think that Mr. Clayton 
would have done well to have discarded the vertical for the 
horizontal mode of delivery, unless where the production of ])ipes 
of very large size was an especial object. It is true that these 
machines may be adapted to either plan, but the one which was 
tried before the judges at York was worked on the vertical 
system, so that it is fair to infer that he still considers this the 
preferable mode, though the decisions of different judges at 
several successive meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society 
have been recorded in favour of the horizontal method. 
Mr. Scragg has by his numerous improvements been mainly 
instrumental in developing the great capabilities of the horizontal 
mode of delivery ; and of his excellent machines it is sufficient 
to say, that they have twice received the Society's prize, and that 
their form and general principles of construction are nearly 
identical with those of the prize implement of this year. 
After this passing tribute to one or two of the greatest improvers 
of the machines now under consideration, it will perhaps be de- 
sirable to describe rather more fully those properties of White- 
head's machine which obtained for it the prize. Some of its good 
qualities, such as strength and good workmanship, require no 
further notice than has already been made of them by the judges, 
but one of its best points is, the arrangement by which straight- 
ness of cut and uniformity of length of tile are secured con- 
currently with rapidity of production. It is now well known 
that to produce a straight-ended tile the streams of clay must be 
cut into lengths when at rest, and to stop the machine for each 
cut occasions a loss of time. There is also this objection 
to the plan of cutting off only one length of tiles at once, 
that the tiles are either not of equal length, or that to make 
them so a waste of manufactured clay is incurred. In all 
effective tile-machines, when engaged in manufacturing tiles or 
pipes of moderate dimensions, several streams of clay are 
made to issue simultaneously from the die-plate, and no 
method has yet been devised of preventing a slight difference 
in the rate at which the clay is delivered from different parts 
of the plate, so that the streams are never of precisely equal 
length. This creates a difficulty in cutting them into tiles, as 
it would be tedious to cut each stream separately, and if with- 
out further preparation all were divided by one movement of the 
cutting wires, the tiles would be of unequal length, and thus 
occasion additional labour in stacking, as well as loss of room in 
the kiln. The method adopted has, therefore, been to cut off a 
