552 
Ma.wig and burning Draining Tiles. 
easily moveable, and manufactured and sold by Messrs. Cottam 
and Hallen, VVinsley-street, London. The latter machine is the 
invention of Mr. John Hatcher, brick and tile maker and potter, 
living in the parish of Benenden, in Kent, where I reside, and is 
the one I have adopted ; and all the subsequent calculations and 
quantities arc made in reference to the producing power of that 
machine : and I beg to assure you that, as my sole object is to put 
the public in possession of the readiest and cheapest way of ob- 
taining these tiles, if any other machine as yet discovered could 
make them better and cheaper, I should instantly adopt it, as I 
certainly shall if any such be hereafter invented ; and it is quite 
certain that the public will apply the only real test of merit to 
these machines in determining their choice of one, viz., the 
cheapest rate at which tiles can be produced by them, taking inio 
account the price of the machine, the amount of labour necessary 
to work it, the goodness and the quantity of tiles it can produce 
in the dav, and the simplicity of its construction. 
Being fully aware that Hatcher s machine was not excelled by 
any other yet discovered in all these essential points, and there- 
fore assuming that machinery had accomplished much, if not all 
that could reasonably be expected from it, I still felt that the 
heavy expense of erecting kilns, as they are now constructed, 
together with the necessary sheds and other buildings incidental 
to a regular brick and tile yard, required so large an outlay, that 
the price of draining tiles would still continue too high for uni- 
versal use, notwithstanding ever)' improvement in the mechanical 
production of them. To this difficulty another must be added, 
no less serious, in attempting to reduce the price of tiles, 
viz., the expense of carriage of an article so bulky. Every one 
must be aware that beyond a certain distance from every brick 
and tile manufactory (unless it stands on the bank of some navi- 
gable water), the expense of carriage of tiles will impose the 
limit of their application to land drainage. What then is to be- 
come of those immense districts in the United Kingdom that are 
so situated ? It will not much reduce the evil to incur all 
the heavy expenses of erecting kilns, sheds, &c. &c., after the 
usual manner ; for interest on capital embarked in the business, 
together with rent, must be added to the cost of making them ; 
and after all, if the object be to make draining tiles onhj, it is ob- 
vious that these buildings of a permanent and expensive cha- 
racter will become useless, whenever the circle around them is 
furnished with tiles, the extent of that circle being always deter- 
mined by the expense of carriage beyond it. 
Reflecting on these obstacles to universal drainage, where 
required, I conferred willi Mr. John Hatclier on the possibility 
of erecting a kiln of common clay, that would be effectual for 
burning these tiles, and of cheap construction — and the result 
