CLAY MANUFACTURES. 705 
is heated in a large cauldron at one side, the flues from which circulate 
beneath the vat. In this way the clay is warmed first by the water, and 
then kept warm by the fires underneath. The expense of this apparatus 
for softening clays is light, and it may easily be put up by any mechanie, 
and it is found efficient in keeping the works going without interruption 
all winter. : 
The clay is pugged as usual and delivered to the molder, who 
shapes it. The bricks are covered with a yellow-molding sand or 
earth, which, from the large percentage of iron it contains, assists in 
giving the bricks the cherry-red color which has done so much to recom- 
mend them. The drying is done on an ordinary fire-brick floor. The 
bricks are pressed in a Miller Brick Press, and again dried. They are 
all rubbed to remove the wire-edges, ete., and are ready to set in the 
kiln. The kilns employed here are very large; at the works visited 
the two kilns were of 320,000 and 215,000 brick capacity, respectively. 
The walls are permanent and massive; there is no roof but a tem- 
porary plank one; the fireplaces are large compound ones, each fireplace 
heating three arches of the kiln. The burning is from 10 to 12 days, 
and the cooling 3 or 4. The setting of the kiln is done very carefully ; 
the common brick are used to make the arches, and are piled up to an 
even height of about 4 or 5 courses above the top of the arch. At the 
ends and sides they are piled up about 1 yard thick. In the space left, 
the pressed brick are piled to within 1 yard of the kiln top ; above, the 
common brick are again piled, so that the pressed brick are in shape of 
a rectangular solid, separated by at least a yard of common brick, from 
the walls on all sides or the air above and the fire below. . By this 
means the utmost uniformity of burning is secured, and of the produc- 
tion at least 9 shades of color are separated. ‘The brick are each one 
subjected to a critical examination, and are rejected for a defect in= 
visible to one unpracticed in the examination. Many ornamental shapes © 
are made to relieve the monotony of a plain wall; some of them are 
only artistic, such as tiles, 1 foot square, containing well-drawn designs, 
etc. The price of the plain pressed article of any shade is $20.00 a 
thousand, or 2c. a piece, and ornamental shapes are just twice as much. 
These Zanesville brick are well known in the markets, and they meet 
but little competition in Ohio, though Cleveland and Liverpool both 
make pressed brick. The sharpest competition and the best market is 
in Chicago. 
45 G, 
