470 
lloic to establish a Tile • Yard. 
of the arch in the head wall. From this point the bricks are 
overlapped in the courses, but with a space of 2 J inches between 
each row, to allow the fire to ascend, so that in four courses 
the bricks meet in the centre of the fire-hole, and the bottom 
of the kiln presents an even surface with longitudinal openings, 
2^ inches wide from side to side. On the top of this it is neces- 
sary to lay bricks one deep edgeways, to raise the tiles a little, 
so that the flame may not catch the tiles too soon ; these bricks 
are placed laterally across the longitudinal openings. The whole 
bottom then presents an even surface, full of pigeon-holes 6 inches 
by 2J inches, upon which the tiles may be at once placed, and if 
properly burnt, little or no loss is sustained. The kiln-pit, or 
hopper, KK, is 27 feet by 13 feet 6 inches, partly covered by a 
roof, abutting against the head wall ; it requires to be large to 
allow the burner room to use the irons for the fires. The roof 
covers 8 feet in width, and rises from the ground to the head wall 
4 feet 6 inches above the level of the ground ; it is covered with 
patent felt, and has two openings in it or gangways to the hatch- 
ways : the remainder of the kiln-pit is open for coals. Planks 
o o are laid across the kiln-pit to the hatchway, to wheel on : p is 
the kiln roof, running on four wheels on a rail, to cover the tiles 
while the one kiln is being set, and while burning is run over the 
other kiln, which, though not much used at present, is one of the 
great improvements in the construction of kilns ; it is covered 
with felt : r is an embankment of earth round three of the sides 
of the kiln, 6 feet wide at the base, and rising up to within 1 foot 
of the top of the kiln. It entirely keeps out the winds that 
often destroy a portion of the goods, the fireman or burner not 
being able to guide his fires universally over the kiln, it also 
tends much to strengthen the walls. 
The single kiln, in drawing No. 2, does not differ materially 
from No. 1, excepting in the inside construction; the difference 
consisting in the bearing and other bars, which, instead of running 
the whole length of the fire-holes as in No. I, only extend the 
thickness of the head wall 3 feet 6 inches ; the rest of the fire- 
hole being left perfectly open, these short bars are laid a little pn 
the incline towards the inside. The benches, instead of being 
carried up and finished with overlapping bricks as in plan 1, are 
only built up 18 inches high, and from this height unburnt bricks 
are set, according to the fancy of the burner, and drawn when 
burnt. Some persons imagine these bricks, say 4000 in each kiln, 
are burnt without any additional expense, but this is a mistake, 
as bricks, being more solid, require more fuel to burn them than 
tiles, and a longer number of hours; and I have seldom seen any 
good ones burnt in the bottom of a kiln of this description. I 
