460 [Senate 



rated by manual labor — it is simple in its construction, very easy to 

 operate — much liked by laborers on that account; it receives the mor- 

 tar directly from the tub-mill as it is ground; no extra expense being 

 necessary in fitting up a yard for its use — makes the brick of better 

 quality than hand work, and with greater facility — and taking the 

 place of skill, can be operated by a common laborer, which with the 

 increased facility makes an important saving in the expense. It is 

 only two years since it has been introduced, but sufficiently long to 

 test its merits. It is found to work well in every variety of stock, being 

 so constructed as to be instantly liberated from any obstruction by 

 stone or otherwise, and it is found not to cost fifty cents a year to 

 keep one in repair. It is certainly worthy the attention of all who 

 are interested in the manufacture of brick. It seems to be a fact set- 

 tled among brick-makers, that all stock must be tempered into mortar; 

 that all means for molding dry or untempered stock, are utterly im- 

 practicable — and that the best, cheapest, and most convenient mode 

 for tempering the stock into mortar, is the tub-mill I have before de- 

 scribed. 



I know of no place in the United States where brick are manufac- 

 tured so cheap, and where the business is so well arranged into a sys- 

 tem, as on the Hudson river, between the cities of New- York and Al- 

 bany. Large quantities of brick are shipped yearly from this section 

 to the various ports in New-Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, 

 and sold at a handsome profit at a price lower than they can be made 

 in those places, to the astonishment of those there engaged in the ma- 

 nufacture. 



I will now describe a brick-yard, and the process of manufacturing 

 brick in Coxsackie. The floor for drying, one hundred feet wide ; 

 the length governed according to the extent of the business ; if not 

 made on a clay foundation it should be faced with clay, and made 

 smooth and sufficiently inclined to carry the water off freely after rain 

 — say about fifteen inches. Along the lower line of this inclined 

 plane is placed the pits or vats, made in the shape of a half moon — 

 the straight side fronting the inclined plane. They should be equal 

 in size to the one half of a circle, nineteen feet in diameter, and three 

 feet deep — the bottom being six inches higher than the inclined plane, 

 made water tight, and embanked to their top. In front of each pit, 

 at the centre, is placed the tub-mill ; each of these are planted at dis- 

 tances of eighty-five feet apart ; on the opposite side of the drying 

 floor, and adjoining it is the kiln-ground, on which is erected aburn- 

 ing shed — two rows of posts being set near thirty feet, and generally 

 extended the whole length of the yard ; on the top of these are plates 

 which are kept from spreading apart by the weight of the roof by 

 iron rods which connect them ; two other rows of posts are set on 

 either side of these, and about twelve feet therefrom, to form wings ; 

 these sheds are always kept covered except when the kiln is so hot as 

 to endanger the upper roof, when the boards are slid therefrom on to 

 the lower one or wings, and when the kiln is sufficiently cool, again 

 replaced. The ground, after once being dried by burning, not being 



