BRICK. 



477 



morning until eight at night, is calculated at about 

 500O. The clay is brought to tin- moulder's bench 

 iu lumps somewhat larger than will lit the mould. 

 The moulder having dipt his mould into dry sand, 

 works the clay into it, .uul \\iih a flat smooth stick 

 strikes oil the inperfluoui earth. The bricks are 

 then carried to the hack, and there ranged with 

 great regularity one above the other, a little diago- 

 nally, in order to give a free passage to the air. The 

 hacks are usually made eight brieks high ; and wide 

 enough tor two br eks to be placed edgewise across, 

 with a twcrn the heads of each brick. In 



fiiir \ve.i;ii,r a tew days are sufficient to make them 

 dry enough to br slutted ; which is done by turning 

 them, and resetting them more open ; and in six or 

 eight days more they are ready for the fire. 



Bricks in this country are generally baked either 

 in a clamp or in a kiln. The latter is the more pre- 

 fer. il le ii.cthod, as less waste arises, less fuel is con- 

 sumed, and the bricks are sooner burnt. The kiln 

 is usually 13 feet long, by 10* feet wide, and about 

 12 feet in height. The walls are one foot two inches 

 thick, carried up a little out of the perpendicular, in- 

 clining towards each other at the top. The bricks 

 are placed on flat arches, having holes left in them re- 

 sembling lattice- work ; the kiln is then covered with 

 pieces of tiles and bricks, and some wood put in, to 

 dry them with a gentle lire. This continues two or 

 three days before they are ready for burning, which 

 is known by the smoke turning from a darkish colour 

 to traiuparent. The month or mouths of the kiln 

 are now dammed up with a shining, which is pieces 

 of brick piled one upon another, and closed with wet 

 brick earth, leaving above it just room sufficient to re- 

 ceive a faggot. The faggots are made of furze, heath, 

 brake, fern, &c. and the kiln is supplied with these 

 until its arches look white, and the fire appears at 

 the top ; upon which the tire is slackened for an hour, 

 and the kiln allowed gradually to cool. This heating 

 and cooling is repeated until the bricks be thorough 

 ly burnt, which is generally done in 4-8 hours. One 

 of theae kilns will hold about 20,000 bricks. 



Clamps are also in common use. They are made of 

 thebrickstlKmselves.andgenerally of an oblong form. 

 The foundation is laid with place bricks or the dri- 

 est of those just made, and then the bricks to be burnt 

 are built up, tier upon tier, as high as the clamp is 

 meant to be, with two or three inches of breeze or 

 cinders strewed between each layer of bricks, and the 

 whole covered with a thick strata of breeze. The 

 fire place is perpendicular about three feet high, and 

 generally placed at the west end ; and the flues are 

 Formed by gathering or arching the bricks over, so as 

 to leave a space between each of nearly a brick wide. 

 The flues run straight through the clamp, and are fil- 

 led with wood, coals, and breeze, pressed closely to- 

 gether. If the bricks are to be burnt off quickly, 

 which may be done in 20 or SO days, according as the 

 weather may suit, the flues should be only at about 

 six feet distance ; but if there be no immediate hur- 

 ry, they may be placed nine feet asunder, and the 

 clamp left to burn off slowly. Coke has been recom- 

 mended as a more suitable fuel than either coal or 

 wood for this manufacture, botli with regard to the 

 fxpence, and the proper burning of the bricks ; for if 



''Stance be applied, the flues or empty places of 

 the pile, as well as the strata of the fuel, may 1- 

 siderably smaller ; winch, since the interference i t the 

 legislature with regard tothe measurement of clamps, 

 mall consideration ; and as the heat produced 

 by coke is more uniform and more intense than what 

 is produced by the other materials, the charge of 

 bricks has a better chance of being burnt perfectly 

 throughout, so that the whole saving may be calcu- 

 lated ai least at 32 per cent. 



Mr G"ldham observes, that bricks will have dou- 

 ble the strength if, after one burning, they be steep- 

 ed in water and burned afresh " The excellency of 

 bricks," -ays Mr Malcolm, in his Compendium o/'M'i- 

 liern Husbandry, " consists chiefly in the first and 

 last operations in the tempering of the clay, and in 

 the burning of the bricks ; and as every man who 

 has occasion to use bricks, whether on his own es- 

 tate, or on that of his landlord, cannot but be sensi- 

 ble of the great value of a perfectly dry house ; and, 

 as it is impossible a house can be dry if bricks ar;; 

 used which are insufficiently burnt, he will do well 

 to consider whether it will be more advantageous to 

 him in the end, to make use of the very best hard 

 sound britks, be the colour of them what they may, 

 and be the cost of them what they will. Such bricks 

 are easily known by their sound, and by their stri- 

 king fire with steel." For a more minute account 

 of the various processes of brick-making, we must 

 refer our readers to that author, from whom much of 

 the preceding information has been extracted. 



Bricks are made in various forms; but those which 

 are made for sale, and are in common use for build- 

 ing, are required, by act of parliament, to be not less 

 than 8f inches long, 2J- thick, and 4 inches wide. 

 There are also square bricks, for pavement or facing 

 walls ; and cutting bricks, which are used for arches 

 over doors and windows, being rubbed to a centre, and 

 gauged to a height. Various improvements, how- 

 ever, have of late been made in the moulding of bricks ; 

 and as the use of this article is daily becoming more 

 prevalent, they are now formed so as to suit almost 

 every purpose in building. Among these improve- 

 ments, the patent bricks of Mr Cartvvright deserve 

 particular attention. These bricks are formed with 

 a groove down the middle, a little more than half the 

 width of the side of the brick, leaving two shoulders, 

 each of which will be nearly equal to one half of the 

 groove. When these bricks are laid in courses, the 

 shoulders of the first course fit into the groo 

 thv second, and the shoulders of the second fall intt> 

 the grooves of the first, thus forming an indented line 

 of nearly equal divisions. The grooves, however, 

 ought to be somewhat wider than the two adjoining 

 shoulders, to allow for mortar, &c. The construc- 

 tion of these bricks is perfectly simple ; but the prin- 

 ciple will be preserved, in whatever form of indenture 

 they may be made to lock into, or cramp each other. 

 Brick walls, constructed upon this principle, require 

 no bond timber ; one universal bond connecting the 

 whole building, which can neither crack nor bulge 

 out without breaking through the bricks themselves. 

 This invention is also particularly useful in the con- 

 struction of arches; and when employed for this pur- 

 pose, the shoulders of the bricks and the sides of the 





