O34 
manufacturer gets supplied with bone, much new 
and unconsumed coal and cinders are obtained, 
and this furnishes the only fuel with which all 
the bricks of London are burnt, while the small 
and almost incombustible matter, consisting of 
very small cinders, and new coal, fire-dust, de- 
cayed animal matter, and whatever else may be 
mixed in the mass is breeze. This breeze is mixed 
with the clay, is in a great measure combustible 
when exposed to the high heat required to burn 
bricks, and it is said to assist the brick in getting 
red hot throughout its substance, and otherwise 
| to improve it very materially. 
A great deal of care and trouble is necessary 
in preparing the earth for making good bricks, 
in order to reduce it to one uniform texture, and 
to deprive it as much as possible of all stones 
that might destroy the form of the brick, by 
breaking in the fire, or becoming vitrified. The 
_ bricks of Philadelphia are in general so good, 
| that we will describe the process used there for 
making them, and point out where it differs 
from that pursued near London. The clay in 
both places is invariably dug in the autumn, and 
during the winter before frost sets in. The 
ground is divided out into square allotments 
called spits, four feet wide and sixteen feet long, 
which surface when dug a foot deep, furnishes 
the right quantity of earth for 1,000 bricks, and 
of course each foot in depth is equivalent to the 
same quantity. This earth is shifted by barrows 
to an adjoining piece of ground previously levelled 
to receive it, and sunk a little under the general 
surface to prevent water running off. On this 
it is worked, if in a ‘fit state to make bricks; if 
not, sand is added in sufficient quantity, accord- 
ing to the judgment of the workman, to make it 
sufficiently short or mild, and at this period the 
London brickmaker adds his breeze, which, an- 
swering the purpose of sand, it is added in less 
quantity. It is then cut, slashed, and worked 
with the spade, adding water to it to soften it ; 
and the quantity of two spits being added to- 
gether in one heap, sufficient earth to make 2,000 
bricks is exposed to the frost in each heap, and 
the more severe the frost is, the better incorpora- 
tion will take place. Nothing more can be done 
with it until spring, when the warm weather 
thaws the heaps, and if the frosting has been 
effectual no lumps will remain, but the whole 
will be converted into a uniformly soft and 
yielding mass. If too wet, the heaps are opened 
and spread to dry, or if too dry, more water is 
added, before the last working with the tool 
called tempering, in order to render the whole 
mass uniformly smooth; it is then pressed and 
patted down, and covered with boards, cloths, or 
bushes, to prevent the injurious effects of the sun 
and air, and is now ready for the moulder. The 
moulder works at a table or bench in the open 
air, covered by a shed reof only, to protect him 
from sun and rain, and the clay is brought to 
| him in a barrow from the tempered heap, and is 
BRICK-MAKING. 
placed by the boy who brings it on the left hand 
end of his table; another boy supplies him with 
dry silicious sand previously dug or provided, 
and placed on the right hand end of the table, 
and a third boy stands in front to remove the 
bricks as fast as they are formed. The mould is 
formed of mahogany or other hard wood, bound 
with iron for strength, and cased with iron plate 
on its top and bottom, or is sometimes lined with 
thin iron throughout; moulds have been formed 
wholly of iron, but they are too heavy for expe- 
ditious work, and cold to handle in early spring. 
The mould is four sides of a box without either 
top or bottom, as the moulding table forms the 
bottom, and must be very smooth, on which ac- 
count, and to prevent wear, it may be covered 
with sheet-iron. The moulder first covers his 
table thinly with sand, and cutting off a suffi- 
cient quantity of the prepared clay with his two 
hands, finger-end to finger-end, to form about a 
brick and a quarter, he kneads it on the table, 
by pressing on it with the palms of the hands, 
first drawing it towards him and then pushing 
it from him, and patting the ends to bring it to 
a form similar to the mould into which it is to 
be introduced (the mould having been previously 
sanded), and presses it down with force, so as to | 
fill up all the corners. The superfluous earth is 
now cut off by running a steel tool like a large 
thick knife, called a plane, along the top of the 
mould, when the top of the brick is sanded, and | 
a thin board, called a turning board, as wide as 
the mould, and three inches longer than it is, is 
laid over it, and the whole being inverted, the 
mould may be raised carefully by the two hands, 
and the soft brick will be left on the turning- | 
board, in which state it is taken away. Should 
any clay remain about the mould, it is now 
cleaned out and sanded, to prepare it for the 
next brick. 
mould must be full half an inch or more longer, 
and a quarter inch wider and higher, than the 
brick intended to be produced, as all clay will | 
sink thus much in drying, and sometimes more. 
In order to receive the bricks when moulded, 
a high and open piece of ground is provided call- 
ed the floor, and this is formed into what are 
called hacks. The hacks are perfectly level pro- 
jections of earth about two feet wide, and rising 
six or eight inches above the surface of the floor, 
and are fifty yards or more in length, for receiv- 
ing the bricks to be dried, and they should run 
in a north and south direction, in order that 
both sides of the pile may receive its due propor- 
tion of sunshine, and they must be about four 
feet apart to allow wheeling with a barrow be- | 
tween them. The boy that receives the bricks 
from the moulder, holds them by the ends of the 
turning-board and places them on a barrow con- 
structed for the purpose, with a high raised stage 
of frame-work, that is level when the barrow is 
running, and holds twenty bricks. It must run 
upon planks to prevent concussion to the yet 
It should here be observed, that the | 
aa 
