3Iaterials fur the Construction of Cottages. 561 
dry the outside ; the next rain would complete the absoi-ption, and the 
bricks would scarcely ever be dried thrc.ugh, unless by tlic warmth of 
the interior. Again, a nine-inch wall, though strong enough for the 
pm-pose, was not stiff enough. It was so yielding that, as the wall 
was being built, it would oscillate when a man goes up a ladder, owing 
to the yielding nature of the mortar joints. Now, he thought that, in 
order to construct cottages economically, they must always obtain the 
bulk of the materials near the spot, the expense of conveying them 
being prohibitory ; therefore, he proposed to send a small quantity of 
materials to the place, to be used with the local materials. Accor- 
dingly, he made a perforated block, expressed through dies in an ordinary 
brick-machine ; these facing-blocks are made in pairs, to give facilities 
in drying and burning. Such a brick, if not made in pairs, would 
never dry straight, but would wai-p and twist in various ways, and 
thus cause much trouble. Or again, the bricks would be liable to be 
broken in railway transit. When the bricklayer toiiched a block at a 
certain point with the chisel, it immediately became two bricks.* He 
then commenced by laying a course of common bricks which were called 
headers, after which he took one of these blocks and laid it upon the 
headers. Then he took the ordinary bricks, and laid a com'se inside 
the wall — all stretchers ; then another of these facing-blocks ; and- 
then he repeated the headers. The facing-block rendered the wall 
perfectly stiff. It had no more bulk than the ordinary 9-inch wall^ 
because the cubical contents of the 9-inch were spread, making it 
11 inches, and naturally producing a perfectly dry area everywhere 
within the internal face, leaving that face dry. The inside of the 
brickn'ork was perfectly true. It was a weU-knowu fact that no 9-inch 
wall could ever be time outside and inside ; the different sizes of the 
bricks always presented unevenness on the inside. With his system 
there was, except for appearance and comfort, no necessity for interior 
plastering, because the wall could be made perfectly fair inside. Thus, 
he had shown the improvement which *he proposed to make in brick 
construction. 
One material which abounds in every locality, even where bricks 
were expensive, is concrete. Concrete, or materials for concrete, are 
everywhere to be foimd ; but hitherto it has not been available for the 
construction of walls. Concrete in a foundation woidd bear any weight 
which may be put upon it, because it was retained in the trench, that 
is, it was prevented from spreading ; but when it is used in building 
walls, the usual coui-se is to put uj) some temporary boards on the out- 
side and inside face ; the concrete is then pom'ed into those boards ; 
when it is sufficiently hardened the boards are removed, and jjlaced a 
little higher up ; and so the process goes on. But as the removal of 
the boards exposes it to the action of the external air, the concrete im- 
mediately begins to decay, not being adapted to bear such exposure. 
Then, it will not bear cross strain, because it depends wholly on 
the cementitious qualities of the mortar. It soon begins to resolve 
itself into its original formation, and settlements take place, showing 
* See Illustration No. 2. 
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