Apparatus for forming soft mud cladding and paving articles

An apparatus for forming soft mud cladding or paving articles, comprising

• an assembly for loading a mix in a mold box which is open upward and is provided with at least one impression for forming a corresponding blank provided with an exposed surface in contact with said impression and with a laying surface which faces toward an outside of said impression, the mold box being movable along an advancement direction through the loading assembly,
• means for skimming excess material loaded into the mold box in order to finish the laying surface of said at least one blank,
• at least one assembly for overturning said mold box for extracting said at least one blank,
• an assembly for drying and firing said at least one blank so as to obtain a corresponding cladding article,
• wherein said skimming means comprise at least one skimming element which forms at least one profile which substantially matches a profile of the laying surface of the blank being processed, which is arranged along the advancement direction proximate to a region where said mold box exits from said loading assembly,
• wherein said skimming means comprise at least two of said skimming elements which are arranged in series along the advancement direction, of which a first coarse skimming element and at least one second finishing skimming element arranged downstream of the first coarse skimming element along the advancement direction, wherein said first skimming element is arranged proximate to the exit region of said mold box within said loading assembly,
• wherein said skimming means comprise two of said second skimming elements which have different profiles and are adapted to be arranged alternately along the advancement direction as a function of a geometry of the blank being processed;
• and
• wherein said two second skimming elements are arranged so as to be aligned transversely to the advancement direction and said skimming means comprise means for moving said second skimming elements in an alternating translational motion transversely to the advancement direction.