Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 86: With Other Selected and Abstracted Papers (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 86: With Other Selected and Abstracted Papers

The clay is first dug and carried to the wash-mill, where it is mixed with water in about equal parts by volume, and worked up to a thin slurry. In nearly all cases where stock-bricks are made, a chalk-mill adjoins the wash-mill. The chalk is also mixed with water and worked or ground up to a thin paste. Occasionally one mill is used both for clay and chalk, where the latter is soft and soluble. This chalk is run into the clay-mill, and there it is thoroughly incorporated with the washed earth. The chalk is added to the extent of 10 to 15 per cent. By volume, mainly for the superior colour it gives to stock-bricks, though it also acts as a flux or binding material, without which it would be impos sible to make bricks out of some of the very sandy loams now used.

The slurry is mostly raised by elevators or pumps, so that it may run into reservoirs, technically called wash-backs, about 100 feet square, and 5 or 6 feet deep. When the levels of the field will permit, the wash - mills are so placed that the Slurry runs into the backs by gravitation. The backs are generally divided into two parts, in order that one part may first be filled, and the Slurry in it may thus have more time to dry and be ready for use at the beginning Of the season. Where the clay is free from stones, a layer some 3 feet deep is often wheeled direct into the backs before the washed earth is allowed to run in. This saves some of the expense of washing, and also allows the washed earth to become set, ready for moulding, much sooner than would other wise be the case.

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Excerpt from Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 86: With Other Selected and Abstracted Papers

In hand-brickmaking, as now generally practised, some machinery is nearly always used in the preparation of the clay for moulding the bricks. So long as tho brick is moulded by hand it is called a hand-made brick, even though, as with the Staffordshire marls, machinery is employed in the preparation of the clay, and in the pressing of the brick subsequent to its having been moulded by hand. In olden times all the operations of brickmaking were done by hand, including the digging and weathering of the clay; the tempering, the moulding, and sometimes the dressing after the brick was partially dried, though this last operation was seldom performed oven with the highest class of bricks.

It is proposed, in the first instance, to describe the mode of brickmaking usually followed in the Home Counties, which is, in the Author's opinion, the best example of brickmaking by hand, though it has often boon severely criticised. It may be remarked, that each of the systems prevailing in different parts of the country appears to have been gradually adapted, both to the materials at hand for making and burning the bricks, and also to the value of labour, transport, and such-like conditions, in the locality.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.