94 



On the Economical Manufactory of 



This statement shows the actual saving in this county by ma- 

 chinery is two shillings and sixpence per thousand ; hut a material 

 advantage is felt in the control of the manufacturer over his work- 

 men — common labourers being competent to the working of the 

 machine : besides which a more regular supply of tiles for the 

 kilns maybe secured by the adoption of a better division of labour; 

 I shall now proceed to give a description of the kilns, drying 

 sheds, &c., made use of. 



\st. As to the form of the Kiln. — The form of kiln which 

 has superseded all others in this county, is delineated in figures 

 2, 3, and 4. This kiln is well adapted for burning ^iles with 

 only a single course of bricks set upon the floor of the arches, 

 it can be filled entirely with tiles and is calculated to burn every 

 description of fuel ; if wood or peat are burned the furnace bars 

 are removed, and the size of the furnaces regulated by the con- 

 sumption of such fuel. Constructiug the bottom of the kiln with 

 fire bricks as shown in figure 3, not only saves both time and 

 labour in loading and unloading the kiln, but also simplifies the 

 setting of the kiln. It may be supposed that there is a loss of 

 fuel, inasmuch as, if the flues were built with unburnt bricks these 

 would be burnt without any greater consumption of fuel; but 

 this supposition is erroneous, for were an immaterial consumption 

 of fuel thus saved the time lost in setting and unloading the kiln 

 is equal to the value of the bricks, which are generally of an 

 inferior quality, when burnt in the flues of the kiln. 



'ind. Co7istruction of Drying Sheds and Pug-mill House for 

 grinding the Clay, as shown in figures 1 and 5. 



As the manufactory of a large quantity of tiles depends very 

 much upon the facility of drying them either upon shelves or 

 drying floors, which must be of sufficient extent to allow the unin- 

 terrupted moulding of the tiles, I believe the most economical 

 and convenient drying sheds are as shown in figure 1 : the four 

 sheds as thus shown are calculuted to contain from 20 to 24,000 

 draining- tiles, and the method of using them to the greatest advan- 

 tage is to cover all the shelves with tiles, which when done, those 

 first made may be removed, and set or stacked down the middle of 

 the sheds, as the shelves are required to be refilled — by these means 

 from 40 to 50,000 tiles are made before it is necessary to move 

 any to the kiln. Drying-floors for most descriptions of clay are 

 quite equal to shelves, if the clay is sufficiently strong to bear 

 setting one tile upon the other, 3 or 4 high, as they are produced 

 from the machine or mould ; they may, however, be dried without 

 sheds (as great quantities are in this county) and simply protected 

 from the weather by being covered with sedge or straw. If atten- 

 tion is paid to drying them the quality is found to be quite equal 

 to those dried upon shelves or covered floors. 



