CLAY WORKING INDUSTRIES. , 165 



The Raymond press has by far the most extended use of any 

 machinery of its kind. Other types of represses are in process of con- 

 struction by other manufacturers, but nothing of any importance is yet 

 on the market, except the Eagle. 



The capacity of the single Raymond repress is about 12,000 brick 

 per day of ten hours. It can be run at a speed sufficient to make 15,000 

 per day, but this speed results in loss of perfection in the work, and 

 rapid wear. Two men are required to run the machine. The latest styles 

 of Raymond press are adopted to press large blocks, like furnace tiles, 

 etc., or to press two bricks of the paving block size together. The con- 

 struction and action are exactly the same, but the expense of repressing 

 is much reduced, as one man can feed both dies and two boys can receive 

 and pile up the pressed blocks. The best records yet made on the new 

 double press show 26,400 brick in ten hours. 



The Eagle repress is also fitted with two dies and makes two bricks 

 at each pressure. 



The labor of feeding it and disposing of the brick is just the same as in 

 the Raymond. The machine is guaranteed to produce 22,000 bricks per 

 then ours and it can just as easily produce more as any other machine, since 

 the results are mainly dependent on the work of feeding and taking away 

 the bricks. 



The mere fact of repressing is not a good reason for any great in- 

 crease in price over plain material, but if the qualities of a brick are much 

 improved by repressing, the public should demand that it should be done, 

 and the maker should be glad to do it at a fair profit on the cost. 



The labor of three men, estimated at $3.75, is sufficient to press an 

 average of 20,000 per day which is less than two cents per thousand. 



Drying. The bricks are ready for drying either when they come 

 from the auger machine, or when they come from the repress. 



The work of driving out the water which has been added to secure 

 plasticity in the clay is no light affair. In the course of a day's run in a 

 factory making 30,000 nine-pound blocks, the amount of water used in 

 tempering is not far from fifteen tons. To remove fifteen tons of water 

 from bricks by evaporation once in twenty-four hours is a more serious 

 problem than would appear at first sight. 



Paving brick plants are in a state of growth or evolution in this 

 country and their mechanical processes, and chemical ones as well, are 

 accomplished in a great variety of ways which a few more years' experience 

 will considerably simplify. 



Many firebrick and sewerpipe plants have been converted into 

 paving brick plants of late— hence, we find the methods of drying which 

 characterize the other industries, applied to paving brick merely because 

 the facilities are there. There are also several processes of drying 

 especially designed for the rapid and economical production of brick 

 which have not yet fully demonstrated their value to the public. 



