GB814620A - Improvements in or relating to brick pressing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

814,620. Removing bricks from pressing machines. GIANNELLI, G. March 27, 1956 [March 28, 1955], No. 9474/56. Class 87(2). To remove bricks from a brick pressing machine a carriage 24 is reciprocable on horizontal guides 12 to and from a position beneath a mould frame 3 where a platform 39 supported from the carriage receives an ejected brick, the platform support 31 being vertically displaceable and continuously biased upwards but acted on by restraining means against the upward bias, the action of the restraining means being overcome by mechanical means when the carriage approaches the ejection position to allow the platform to rise and the downward ejection of a brick also overcoming that action and lowering the platform. The invention is described as applied to a machine, Fig. 2, in which radial arms 2 project from a housing 20 rotatable about a vertical axis and carry mould frames 3 with separate mould bases 4 which are movable on rollers 5 carried by the arms. The carriage support 11, on which are the guides 12, can swing on a vertical pivot 10 and is normally urged to do so by a spring in the direction 15, i.e. opposite the rotational direction of the moulds. The housing and arms are turned to the position where a mould from which a brick is to be ejected is approximately above the carriage 24 and a stop 21, projecting from the housing 20, passes over a chamfered, spring-loaded pin 19. As soon as the rotation ceases compressed air is supplied to a cylinder 16 and the resulting movement of its piston swings back the carriage support 11 until the unchamfered surfaces of the pin and stop 19, 21 meet and the carriage is thus aligned with the mould. A bar 25, pivoted at 26 and slotted to receive a pin 27 on the carriage 24, is then operated by a piston and cylinder 40, 41 to move the carriage 24 radially inwards, a stirrup 45 on the carriage engaging the end of an arm 46 projecting from the mould base which is thus pushed from under the mould. The platform 39 is carried by a structure 30 which can move vertically, on rollers 29, in guides 28a of a support 28, Fig. 6, its weight being counteracted by a spring 32. The platform is maintained in any position of its vertical travel by friction, under pressure from a spring 34, of slippers 33 against the walls of the guides 28a. The platform 39 is hinged to the structure 3,0 so that it is self-aligning with the bottom of the brick which it is to receive. In the movement of the carriage a roller 35 runs up a ramp 34a and elevates the platform to the underside of the mould. The ejector 6 is lowered, which action may be initiated by the operation of a limit switch 44 by the carriage 24, and ejects the brick on the platform which continues to be lowered until the ejector reaches its bottom position, and is then held by the action of the slippers 33. When the piston and cylinder 40, 41 are again operated to return the carriage 24 outwards the roller 35, being mounted on a lever pivoted on a spring- biased stirrup 37, passes over the ramp 34a. When it reaches its outer position the carriage trips a switch 43 and the next cycle of the machine is thereby started. Fig. 7 shows an embodiment in which, when a carriage 51 carrying a platform 58 reaches its position underneath the brick to be ejected, the lower end of a rocker arm 68 pivoted thereon meets a tooth 74 and is rocked in a direction to move a toothed wheel, mounted on its end, from a rack surface on the support 54 of the platform 58. The wheel 69 is capable of rotating in one direction only and, when engaged with the rack, holds the platform down against a spring 64 ; thus, when the carriage 51 moves into position, the platform rises. The ejector 78 lowers the brick on the platform against the spring 64 and the carriage 51 returns, the end of the rocket arm 68 riding over the tooth 74 since the latter is spring-biased. The ejector does not operate until a switch 83 is tripped by the carriage.