BRICK AND BRICK-LAYING 



919 



BRIDGE 



inemt, exposed positions, are more elaborately 

 finished, more uniform in color and sometimes 

 glazed by a special process. Bricks are also 

 used for foundations, for linings of sewers, 

 tunnels, chimneys, cisterns and for numerous 

 other purposes. Tiles and pipes baked in the 

 same way as bricks are extensively used for 

 drainage purposes. Enameled tiles are also 

 used for decorative purposes, for floors, for 

 fireplaces and for fancy wall linings and wain- 

 scots. 



Brick-Making Industry. The great centers 

 of this industry in the United States are along 

 the Hudson River from Troy to New York 

 City, in Philadelphia County, Pa., and in Cook 

 County, 111. Over 30,000,000,000 bricks are 

 annually produced in these districts, with a 



to improve their appearance ; the veneer should 

 be separated from the wood by an air space. 

 Curtain walls are those in steel or concrete 

 skeletons; they carry no weight but their own. 

 More information about brick work will be 

 found in the articles BUILDING; ARCH; BRIDGE. 

 In the United States and Canada bricklayers 

 are formed into powerful unions which regulate 

 the scale of pay and conditions of labor. The 

 bricklayer who belongs to a labor union is 

 among the best-paid of all skilled workmen 

 and he usually works but eight hours a day. 

 In building, each bricklayer is accompanied 

 by a laborer whose duty it is to keep the 

 skilled workman supplied with bricks and mor- 

 tar. In large buildings the materials are hoisted 

 from floor to floor by machinery and carried 



cxjLJ-j-^a 



HOW BRICKS ARE LAID 



The three styles pictured are, from left to right, American, English and Flemish bonds. If 

 brick walls were built entirely of stretchers, or bricks whose long sides appear on the outer edge, 

 they would not be strong. If the inner and outer rows are bonded with headers, the weight upon any 

 point is borne partly by each row. 



value of about one hundred million dollars. 

 Throughout the United States and in Canada 

 every town of importance has brick-making 

 plants and the output is steadily increasing. 



Brick-laying. Bricks are laid in horizontal 

 rows called courses and held together by a lime 

 mortar. The latter also gives elasticity to a 

 wall and makes it dryer. For the sake of 

 strength the weight of each brick should be 

 borne by more than one in the course below; 

 therefore no vertical joint is permitted directly 

 over another. On the other hand, a pleasing 

 appearance is gained by having every joint in 

 line with one in the second course below it. 

 Bricks in America are usually eight inches long, 

 four inches wide and two inches thick; in 

 England they are slightly larger. The ancient 

 Roman brick, sometimes copied to-day for 

 architectural reasons, were twelve inches long 

 and less than two inches thick. 



Brick walls are of several sorts solid, hollow, 

 veneer and curtain. A solid wall is from one 

 to three feet thick, according to the weight it 

 must bear. Hollow walls give coolness in surn- 

 mer and warmth in winter and keep out 

 moisture, but are expensive. Brick veneer four 

 inches thick is built around wooden buildings 



to the bricklayer in what is called a "hod," a 

 scuttle-shaped wooden box carried on a pole 

 over the shoulder. F.ST.A. 



BRIDAL WREATH, bride' al reeth, a small, 

 graceful, flowering shrub, common in gardens 

 or on lawns in north temperate regions. The 

 branches are slender and curving, the leaves 

 smooth, small and oblong, sometimes with cut 

 edges. In spring, especially, there is a great 

 profusion of small rounded clusters of dainty 

 white flowers. The willowy blossoming 

 branches make very attractive decoration. The 

 various shrubs belonging to the bridal wreath 

 family, the spirea, are adapted to many soils, 

 from swamps to hillsides. Some thrive in the 

 bright sunshine, while others grow better in 

 the shade. 



BRIDGE, brij, a structure to carry a road, 

 railway, or waterway across water or over a 

 valley. Bridge-building is, perhaps, the oldest 

 branch of engineering, though until the inven- 

 tion of the railway made necessary more 

 bridges, and longer and stronger bridges, the 

 science had advanced but little since the days 

 of the ancient Romans. Nature built the first 

 bridges logs fallen over streams, giant grape- 

 vines growing across ravines, or arches of 



