234 GEOLOGY OF OHIO 



The manufacture of hollow goods has been fully considered under 

 the former heads. The brick industries of the state have also been 

 largely discussed and described in dealing with the more important and 

 technical subjects of paving bricks and fire bricks. However, there 

 remain several interesting forms of clay working which could not justly 

 be passed by at this point. 



The manufacture of low grade brick for the common purposes of 

 life has become a business of the very greatest importance as a commer- 

 cial matter, but is becoming less a matter of technical skill or of scientific 

 interest as the years pass by. 



The larger cities, which are the main consumers of brick, now 

 demand two distinct kinds of brick materials. One class of comparatively 

 small quantity is needed for the fronts and exposed parts of buildings. 

 In this grade, the demand is gradually stimulating the manufacturers to 

 fresh trials of skill and taste, regardless of cost. 



The second class includes the inferior grades which constitute the 

 bulk of all the walls, and of the sides and the rear portions, the whole. 

 Bricks for this purpose are certainly not becoming any better as the years 

 pass by, and many contend that the grading is becoming more and more 

 lenient. In Chicago and other large markets almost anything made of 

 clay, regardless of its shape, finish or color, is readily accepted, if it is 

 only fairly hard. Soft material, especially for tall buildings, is strictly 

 ruled out, but in proportion as attention is turned to the beauty of the 

 fronts and architectural shapes, the demands as to the finish of the remain- 

 ing portions are reduced. 



The contractors of these large buildings regard the common brick 

 as so many cubic inches of hard burnt clay and nothing else about the 

 brick interests them. This influence has led in many centers of produc- 

 tion to a distinct lowering of the grade of the common brick, and the 

 whole attention of the maker is turned to the improvement of his 

 mechanical facilities, and lowering the cost of his product, rather than to 

 improve the grade which he is able to produce. 



It is the history in every city where this spirit extends, ' that the 

 hand moulding process is rapidly being pushed to the wall. In fact the 

 hand moulding process is in full and healthy development only around 

 some of the smaller cities and in country districts. Toledo and Cleveland 

 have began to depend wholly on the product of yards in which the soft 

 mud machinery is used. Thirty thousand per day is the usual output of 

 these machine; yards are therefore classed according to the number of 

 crews they run, as thirty thousand, sixty thousand or ninety thousand 

 yards. 



In Columbus, the machine brick trade is represented by two factor- 

 ies making dry pressed shale brick for backing up purposes. No front 

 brick are made in this vicinity. In Cincinnati, the rushing methods of 

 Chicago are finding rapid acceptance. Stiff mud brick are crowding the 

 old time hand moulding yards more sorely each year. 



