| TILE, | - | |
| TYLE, |
in military building, a sort of thin, factitious, laminated brick, used on the roofs of houses; or more property a kind of clayey earth, kneaded and moulded of a just thickness, dried and burnt in a kiln, like a brick, and used in the covering and paving of different kinds of military and other buildings. The best brick earth should only be made into tiles.
The tiles for all sorts of uses may now be comprised under 7 heads, viz. 1. The plain-tile, for covering of houses, which is flat and thin. 2. The plain-tile, for paving, which is also flat, but thicker; and its size 9, 10, or 12 inches. 3. The pan-tile, which is also used for covering of buildings, and is hollow, and crooked, or bent, somewhat in the manner of an S. 4. The Dutch glazed pan-tile. 5. The English glazed pan-tile. 6. The gutter-tile, which is made with a kind of wings. 7. The hip, ridge, or corner-tile.
Plain-Tiles, are best when they are firmest, soundest, and strongest. Some are duskier, and others ruddier, in color. The dusky-colored are generally the strongest. These tiles are not laid in mortar, but pointed only in the inside.
Paving-Tiles, are made of a more sandy earth than the common or plain-tiles: the materials for these last must be absolutely clay, but for the others a kind of loam is used. These are made thicker and larger than the common roof-tiles; and, when care has been taken in the choice of the earth, and the management of the fire, they are very regular and beautiful.
Pan-Tiles, when of the best kind, are made of an earth not much unlike that of the paving-tiles, and often of the same; but the best sort of all is a pale-colored loam that is less sandy; they have about the same degree of fire given them in the baking, and they come out nearly of the same color. These tiles are laid in mortar, because the roof being very flat, and many of them warped in the burning, will not cover the building so well as that no water can pass between them.
Dutch glazed Pan-Tiles, get the addition of glazing in the fire. Many kinds of earthly matter running into a glassy substance in great heat, is a great advantage to them, preserving them much longer than the common pan-tiles, so that they are very well worth the additional charge that attends the using them.
English glazed Pan-Tiles, are in general not so good as the Dutch ones under that denomination; but the process is nearly the same.
Dutch Tiles, for chimnies, are of a kind very different from all the rest. They are made of a whitish earth, glazed and painted with various figures, such as birds, flowers, or landscapes, in blue or purple color; and sometimes quite white: they are about 6.5 inches each way, and three quarters or an inch thick. They are seldom used at present.
Gutter-Tiles, are made of the same earth as the common pan-tiles, and only differ from them in shape; but it is adviseable that particular care be taken in tempering and working the earth for these, for none are more liable to accidents. The edges of these tiles are turned up at the larger ends for about 4 inches. They are seldom used where lead is to be had.