1839] 



FARMERS' R E G I S r E R , 



399 



but (o accomplish this he will require six hands to 

 wait on him, all oC which are children. They sup- 

 ply him with the temperoci clay and sand, and wa- 

 ter to dip his tools into, remove the bricks a? fast 

 as they are moulded, and return (he turnici^ boards. 



VViien small quantities of brick are required in 

 a country where they cannot be obtained, or (or 

 particular jobs, the clay may be tempered and 

 mixed by placiufr it on a hard boiton], an i work- 

 ing it by a shovel or spade with water, and tramp- 

 ling it in the manner already described for [)ud- 

 (lling instead of waiting for a frost to break it 

 down. In this case more water must be added 

 than is fit tor tempering brick earth, but it can be 

 got rid of afterwards by draininij it away, or ex- 

 posing the earth to dry; when the mouhhnij and 

 drying must be conducted as above described, but 

 on a smaller scale. 



In the vicinity of London, where the demand 

 lor bricks is enormously ijreat, the large brick- 

 makers adopt a (liricreiit methotl to that above de- 

 scribed ibr tempering and preparing their clay, 

 but there is no vari;\tion in the manner of mould- 

 ing and dryiuii upon the hacks. The clav is dug' 

 in autumn and frosted as usual ; but instead of be- 

 ing piled in ridges or small hea|)S, the whole is 

 wheeled into one immense pile, as frosting the in- 

 terior is of less importance when machinery is 

 used. At the breaking up of the frost the clay is 

 carried in navigators' barrows to a mill called a 

 pug-mill, where it is worked by liorse power, and 

 incorporated with the necessary quantity of sand, 

 chalk, or other material, and water, which is olien 

 pumped up and delivered into the mill, by the 

 same power, in such quantit}^ as will reduce the 

 whole earth to so thin a state that it is just capa- 

 ble of running from an opening made in the bot- 

 tom of the mill lor its discharge. It is received 

 upon a wire sieve or strainer, that stops all stones 

 or Ibrcign ingredients, if their size would prove 

 prejudicial to the bricks about to be made. Two 

 capacious ponds or reservoirs, about three or four 

 leet deep, are Ibrmed for receiving this diluted 

 earth, and they are so placed in respect to the mill, 

 that its produce can be discharged into either at 

 pleasure, by means of wooden shoots or spouts. 

 The pugged stuff is conducted into one reservoir 

 until it is quite filled, when it is turned into the 

 other; and while the second is filling, the earthy 

 matter subsides in the first, leaving nothinir but 

 clear water at the surface, and this is carefully 

 drawn off by withdrawing pegs, that are placed 

 very close, one below the other, from holes in a 

 thick plank let into the upper part of the reservoir. 

 In this way the water is drained off and runs to 

 waste, leaving a finely divided and most equable 

 mud in the reservoir, which becomes of such con- 

 sistence by draining, that it can be taken up by 

 shovels, put into barrows, and be taken away. 

 The discharge of the mill is then again turned into 

 the first reservoir, which fills, while a similar drain- 

 ing and removal of the contents of the second is 

 taking place. In this manner the clay is more 

 minutely divided and broken up, or tempered, than 

 could possibly be done by the former process o/" 

 hand labor, and in its soft state, when first moved, 

 is in excellent condition (or receiving finely sifted 

 breeze, or any thing else that may^^be necessary 

 lor improving the quality or color of the brick. 

 After this, all that is necessary for rendering the 

 earth fit tor the moulder, is a lew days exposure to 



•he air, to make it suflii-iently dry for his use ; and 

 then tlie process proceeds exactly as belbre de- 

 scribed, unless indeed a patent moulding machine 

 should be employed, instead of a hand moulder, 

 for f )rming the bricks, and then the compost is de- 

 livered to the machine, of which there are several 

 varieties, said to produce more compact bricks 

 than liand mouldini,'', because greater pressure is 

 exerted to compress the clay into the mould than 

 can be exerted by a man working the whole day 

 throuifh. 



All that now retnains to be done, is the burning 

 of the bricks, which is an operation of great nice- 

 ty, because, if not burnt enough they will be soft 

 and worthless, and, if over done, they viirily, loose 

 their shape, and olien run together so as to be in- 

 separable and useless. Accordingly, various me- 

 thods have been adopted Ibr producing the due de- 

 gree of firing as it is called. In general, bricks 

 are burnt, both in this country and in England, in 

 a kind of building constructed Ibr the purpose, and 

 called a brick-kun ; but in London, the burning 

 constantly takes place in the open air, the brick.^ 

 bein^ made up into immense quadrangular piles, 

 consisting of from two to five hundred thousand 

 bricks in each. The built kiln is ihoujilit by many 

 to produce the best bricks, or at all events, a larger 

 proportion of good bricks out of any given quan- 

 tity, and must certainly consume less fuel ; but as 

 they are never adopted in the immense brick man- 

 ufiiclories of London, where no pains or expense 

 for conducting the concerns in the best and most 

 advantageous manner is spared, this is evidence 

 that there must be some objections to them ; Ibr if 

 they possessed real advantages, there can be no 

 doubt but they would be adopted. 



A brick-kiln, as usually constructed^ is formed 

 of bricks built info a square form like a house, 

 with very thick side walls, and a wide door-way at 

 each end, for taking in and carrying out tlie bricks; 

 but these doors are built up with soft bricks laid in 

 clay, while the kiln is burning, and a temporary 

 roofing of any light material is generally placed 

 over the kiln to protect the raw bricks from rain 

 while setting, and so made that it may be removed 

 after the kihi is fired. The English kilns are ge- 

 nerally thirteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twelve 

 feet high, which size contains and burns 20,000 

 bricks at once. Wood is the usual fuel used in 

 these kilns, and they are frequently built with par- 

 titions, for containing the fuel and Ibr supporting 

 the bricks, in the form of arches, as will be pre- 

 sently described. A brick-kiln has no flue or chim- 

 ney, as its chief purpose is to direct the heat of 

 the fire through the body of bricks piled above it. 

 To ellect this they must be placed in a particular 

 form with great care, and this operation is called 

 seitinrr the kiln, and is performed by one or two 

 men who understand the business, and to whom 

 Ihe raw bricks are delivered in barrows. The 

 form of the setting is pretty nearly the same in 

 the country kilns, or London clamps, except that 

 in the latter, the arches are mucii smaller, be- 

 cause wood is only used for kindling, and not lor 

 burning. 



The bottom of the kiln is laid in regular rows, 

 of two or three bricks wide, with an interval of 

 two bricks between each, and these rows are so 

 many walls extending lengthvvise of the kiln, and 

 running (|uite through it ; they are built at least 

 six or eight courses high, so as to give the kiln the 



