Microstat Brick-Making Machine
History Lesson
Until the Microstat, the brick machinery were all "egg-layer" style. That is to say, the machine would move across the production floor, setting the produced bricks to cure in-place after compacting.
Stationary machines at the time were industrial-sized behemoths (with pricing to match). Instead, once again employing the philosophy of Doubell, a machine prototype was devised to remain in place and send bricks out.
The "static" approach meant that there was no longer a need to have a costly cast concrete floor but instead to utilise wooden boards upon which the bricks would be produced. The boards were then moved away until the bricks were cured enough to free up the board. This cycle of reuse meant that only 500 boards were needed to achieve a good production output.
The Microstat was an immediate success with customers, who perceived this method to be more aligned with industrial design. It also allowed for the mixing to be co-located with the machine instead of transporting the mixture across the brickyard to a moving machine.
Since the design was formulated on paper shortly after the Jumbo MK1, the brick capacity in the mould followed a similar quantity per drop. This design would prosper for several years until its successor, the Hyperstat, in 1990.