254 



IMPROVEMENT IN BRICKS. 



Saving in their 

 ■sfe, 



11 inch wall. 



Drains. 



Drawback of 

 duty. 



Mode of mak- 

 ing the brick. 



Remarks on 

 She utility of 

 tbe*e bricks. 



DEAR SIR, 



On inquiry from builders, I am informed, that the saving 

 by the use of the bricks I have invented will be from two 

 and a half to nearly five per cent, in a five-window house in 

 brick work and labour, in a front of forty feet with or with- 

 out piers. In ornamental brick piers for gateways, I think 

 the saving of bricks by means of cutting may be very con- 

 siderable, and in the labour still more, beside the work being 

 done more sound and substantial. 



I am using a few of them in an eleven inch brick wall, (a 

 system hitherto entirely new), in a westernly aspect, as a 

 preventive or guard against the effects of weather, and it 

 will, in point of dryness, be equal to a fourteen inch wall. 

 I have enclosed a letter from Benjamin Garroway, a brick- 

 layer, who has requested me to let him have all the bricks I 

 have of this kind, and to bespeak more for him. 1 have also 

 sent a certificate from Mr. Robert Wright, who is exten- 

 sively engaged in buildings. 



The drains for agricultural purposes might be done by 

 women or children, except the digging of the drains, espe- 

 cially two inch drains. With respect to longerdrains, if they 

 are required of four inches, and to be covered with brick, I 

 would recommend the bricks to be laid anglewise, in order 

 to promote strength in covering. 



It would be of great importance if parliament would allow 

 a drawback of the duty on all bricks employed in draining. 



Every brick, intended for the operation I recommend, is 

 taken off the stack two or three days after it is moulded. 

 It is then put on a stool or board, and a wire, about the size 

 of No. 23, is pressed on the upper side of the brick, so as to 

 pass through each end of it; it is then immediately placed 

 on the stack again, and afterward burned. 

 1 am, dear sir, 

 Your most obedient humble servant, 

 Reading, December 8, 1810. JOHN STEPHENS. 



Letter from Mr. Richard Billing, to Mr. Stephens. 



SIR, 

 Agreeably to your request, I have taken into consideration 

 the utility of your closure bricks, and beg leave to say, 



that 



