Bricks made of Anthracite and Clay. 1 19 



of brick-making in this country, which promises not only greatly to 

 reduce the price of so necessary an article, but also to improve them 

 in all the essential qualities of strength and durability. 



In the neighborhood of the town of Newburgh, the trade of brick 

 making has been carried on extensively for many years. The situ- 

 ation on the banks of a navigable river being extremely favorable for 

 that purpose, as affording great facility to the New York market ; the 

 materials also on the spot are particularly well calculated for the man- 

 ufacture of brick or tiles, and from the superiority of the article, the 

 reputation of their bricks has always commanded the highest price 

 in the market. But the price of wood for fuel increasing annually 

 here, as in every other quarter, it required a considerable capital to 

 insure a sufficient supply for the season ; any substitute, therefore, for 

 this essential requisite, or which contributed in any degree to lessen 

 the consumption of fuel, seemed to be a great desideratum. For 

 this purpose, a person of the name of Wood, a native of England, 

 residing at Haverstraw, on the North River, and extensively engaged 

 there in brick-making, commenced a series of experiments on the 

 use of the anthracite coal of this country, not in the usual way, as an 

 article of fuel, but mixed in certain proportions with the brick earth 

 when preparing it for the manufacture of brick. It is not for me to 

 say whether the idea suggested itself to him from the knowledge of 

 the mode of making brick in all parts of England, but particularly in 

 the neighborhood of London, where coal ashes is a necessary ingre- 

 dient in the materials of all bricks, indeed, so imperatively, that 

 according to an act of parliament, no bricks can be made without a 

 due admixture of breeze, (that is, cinders,) and coal ashes, the quan- 

 tity of which is regulated by law. Now when it is recollected that 

 those ashes consist of the cinders of sea coal, as well as the small 

 coal which passes through the grate without being ignited, it will nat- 

 urally suggest itself that the refuse or finer parts of the anthracite coal 

 of this country may be used in the same manner, and for the same 

 purpose. The object of using those ashes in England, is not only to 

 save the consumption of fuel, but to assist in more perfectly and uni- 

 formly burning the brick, rendering them much harder than former- 

 ly, and consequently more durable and less pervious to moisture : 

 the manner of using these ashes is well described in Malcomb's trea- 

 tise on brick-making, and consists in mixing uniformly the sifted ashes 

 with the brick earth ; each layer of this earth when duly prepared, 

 about six inches thick, being covered with a thin layer of the coal 



