Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades. Vol. 2 (of 2)

by Edward Hazen

THE BRICKMAKER.

1. Brick is a sort of artificial stone, made principally of argillaceous earths formed in moulds, dried in the sun, and burned with fire.

2. The earliest historical notice of bricks is found in the book of Genesis, where it is stated that the posterity of Noah undertook to build a city and a lofty tower of this material. Whether the bricks were really exposed to the action of fire, as the passage referred to seems to imply, or only dried in the sun, is an unsettled point. But Herodotus, who visited the spot many centuries afterwards, states that the bricks in the tower of Babylon were baked in furnaces.

3. It is evident, however, that the earliest bricks were commonly hardened in the sun; and, to give them the requisite degree of tenacity, chopped straw was mixed with the clay. The manufacture of such bricks was one of the tasks imposed upon the Israelites, during their servitude with the Egyptians.

4. The extreme dryness and heat of the climate in some of the eastern countries, rendered the application of fire dispensable; and there are structures of unburnt bricks still remaining, which were built two or three thousand years ago. Bricks both sun-dried and burned, were used by the Greeks and the Romans.

5. The walls of Babylon, some of the ancient structures of Egypt and Persia, the walls of Athens, the rotunda of the Pantheon, the temple of Peace, and the Thermæ, or baths, at Rome, were all built of brick. The most common bricks among the Romans were seventeen inches long and eleven broad; a size, certainly, far preferable, as regards appearance, to those of modern manufacture.

6. In the United States, a great proportion of the edifices, particularly in the cities and towns, are constructed of bricks, which are usually manufactured in the vicinity of the place where they are to be used. The common clay, of which they are made, consists of a mixture of argillaceous earth and sand, with a little oxyde of iron, which causes them to turn red in burning. The material for bricks is dug up, and thrown into a large heap, late in the fall or in the winter, and exposed to the influence of the frost until spring.

7. The operation of making bricks is conducted very systematically; and, although every part of the work seems to be very simple, it requires considerable dexterity to perform it properly and to the best advantage. The workmen, in the yards about Philadelphia, are divided into gangs consisting of three men and a boy. The first is called the temperer, who tempers the material with water and mixes it with a spade; the second is called the wheeler, who conveys it on a barrow to a table, where it is formed in moulds by the moulder, whence it is carried to the floor by the boy, who is denominated the off-bearer.

8. The bricks are suffered to remain on the floor a day or two, or until they have become dry enough to be handled with safety. They are then removed and piled into a hack, under cover, in such a manner that the air may circulate freely between them. It is the business of the whole gang to remove the bricks from the floor, and also to place them in the kiln to be burned. In both cases, each one has his due proportion of labor to perform.

9. The day's work of a gang, when the weather is favorable, is to make and pile in the hack a tale of bricks, which consists of 2332, or an even 2000. The former number is called a long tale, and the latter, a short tale. Considerable skill and much care are required in burning the bricks in a proper manner; too much fire would cause them to vitrify, and too little would leave them soft, and unfit for atmospheric exposure.

10. In many places, the clay is mixed or prepared for the moulder by driving round upon it a yoke of oxen, or by means of a simple machine, consisting of a beam, into which has been driven a great number of spokes. One end of this beam is confined in a central position, while the other is moved round in a sweep by animal power.

11. Machines have also been invented by the aid of which the clay may be both mixed and moulded; but these have been very little used. A machine, however, is often employed in pressing bricks which have been formed in the usual manner. The pressing is done after the bricks have become partially dry. Such bricks are employed in facing the walls of the better kinds of structures.

12. Tiles.—Tiles are plates used for covering roofs. They resemble bricks in their composition and mode of manufacture, and are shaped in such a manner that when placed upon a building, the edge of one tile receives that next to it, so that water cannot percolate between them. Tiles, both of burnt clay and marble, were used by the ancients; and the former continue to be employed in various parts of Europe. Flat tiles are used for floors in many countries, and especially in Italy.