PUG MILL.
STOOL, OR WORKING SHED.
BARROW FOR WET BRICKS.
BARROW FOR DRY BRICKS.
Bricks are made of clay mixed with sand or ashes. The brick-field is first covered with either of these to the depth of an inch or two, and is well dug in and turned about during several weeks; when the bricks are to be made, the mixture is put into a “pug mill;” this is a large tub having an upright iron bar passing up from the bottom, and having several broad iron blades fixed to its sides at the part which is in the tub; at the top there is a cross-bar of wood, to which a horse is harnessed; the horse, when driven round in a circle, turns the upright iron bar and consequently the iron blades. Into this tub the clay and ashes are now put, a little at a time, and as the horse goes round they are thoroughly mixed together; a man takes pieces of this clay of the proper size, and hands them to another who stands before a table in the shed, and has a mould before him; this consists of a piece of wood with sides of the size of the brick, which is always ten inches long, five broad, and three thick, before burning. The sides of this mould can be turned up and down; they are now put up, and the piece of clay forced into the mould and scraped off even at the top, the sides are put down, and the brick placed carefully on a barrow, which when filled is wheeled off by another man, and its contents arranged on the ground in long lines having a small space between each brick, that they may not stick together and the air may dry them. Long rows of these bricks are formed one on the top of the other, for four or five deep, and are changed in their position from time to time till they are quite dry and hard; they are now ready to be burnt. This is done made by placing the bricks in long rows, with narrow spaces between each row which are filled with straw or twigs of wood and cinders (these cinders are got from the ashes when they are sifted before mixing with the clay); the spaces being filled they are covered with other bricks, and then the straw, &c., is lighted. Layer after layer of bricks are next built up around the fire, so that the heat shall be well kept in, and in this way the bricks are gradually baked till they are quite hard and fit for use.
BURNING BRICKS.