RECENT ADVANCES IN THE POTTERY INDUSTRY. 315 



producing inlaid and embossed art tiles, and at other points tile- 

 factories are in operation, but we must content ourselves with 

 this very incomplete sketch of the princij^al establishments in 

 this country. 



In the manufacture of printed, inlaid, and relief tiles, America 

 has advanced rapidly, but in the production of hand-painted art 

 tiles she is sadly de- 

 ficient. This is a branch 

 of the art that must be 

 developed through the 

 influence of our me- 

 chanical art schools, 

 which are paving the 

 way for an early revo- 

 lution in the ceramic 

 industry in the United 

 States. 



Various tile machines 

 have been designed for 

 the manufacture of tiles 

 from dust or semi-dry 

 clay, but we are unable 

 here to reproduce more 

 than one. Fig. 43 shows 

 a screw press, made by 

 Mr. Peter Wilkes, of 

 Trenton, for the Trent 

 Tile Company, and will 

 give an excellent idea of 

 the principle on which 

 the majority of such 

 machines are operated. 

 This forms tiles six inches to twelve inches square, the die being 

 placed between the "push-up" and "plunger." It can also be 

 used for making plates, oval dishes, and other ware. 



Architectural Terra Cotta. — It is interesting to note 

 what the fifth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, published 

 in 1815, contains relative to this subject : " Worlidge, and others 

 after him, have endeavored to excite brick-makers to try their 

 skill in making a new kind of brick, or a composition of clay and 

 sand, whereof to form window-frames, chimney-pieces, door-cases, 

 and the like. It is to be made in pieces, fashioned in molds, 

 which, when burnt, may be set together with a fine red cement, 

 and seem as one entire piece. The thing should seem feasible." 

 And so we shall find that it was. 



Terra cotta, the most enduring of all building materials, has 



Fig. 43.— The Wilkes Scbew Tile Press. 



