Ill 



PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE PHYS- 

 ICAL AND CHEMICAL PROP- 

 ERTIES OF THE CLAYS 

 OF ALABAMA, 



BY HEINBICH RIES, PH. D. 



The tests which are described below were made in part 

 on samples collected by the writer, and in part on sam- 

 ples collected by Prof. Smith. In the examination of the 

 different lots of clay an endeavor has been made to per- 

 form such tests on the materials as would tend to give 

 information of value to the practical clay worker. 



This therefore includes the determination of the shrink- 

 age of the clay in drying and burning, the degree of its 

 plasticity, the color when burned at different tempera- 

 tuns, the temperature of incipient fusion, vitrification 

 and viscosity, and other minor points. 



In some cases it is possible to state what the possible- 

 applications of a given clay are, but in many instances 

 any one clay is susceptible of being mixed with two or 

 three other clays and utilized in four or five different, 

 ways. The main point therefore, is to point out the 

 properties of the deposits, so that the manufacturer may 

 find out more readily whether the State contains materi- 

 als of the nature desired by him, and in what portion of 

 the State they are to be found. 



It may be said in general that the results of the tests 

 made indicate the occurrence of a great diversity of clays 

 in the State, ra aging from the more impure and easily 



