Libro

THE rapid development that has been made in all branches of brickmaking since the first edition of this work was published has rendered a revision of the book necessary in order to present the state of the art as it at present exists in the United States.
England, Germany, and France we have now left well in the rear in the construction of nearly all classes of brickmaking machinery. Since the publication of the first edition of his work the journeyings of the writer have carried him to the ancient brickfields of Egypt, Assyria, and Chaldea, as well as into the modern brick factories of England, Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany ; but in all the countries, ancient and modern, which it has been his delight to visit there is none in which the business of brickmaking is conducted so extensively, and on the whole so satisfactorily and profitably as it is in the United States.
The trade is greatly debtor to the members of the National Association of Brick Manufacturers who once in each year are brought together to tell of their successes as well as of their mistakes and failures, and all who have a desire for progress should in the future aid the Association by their presence at its meetings and by contributing, as far as lies in their power, to the general fund of information upon all matters there coming under discussion.
In the proper places in the present volume the author has acknowledged his indebtedness to the Association as well as to individuals participating in the debates and the periodicals publishing the proceedings of the annual conventions.
In modes of digging, tempering, and moulding the clay, and in drying, setting, and burning the bricks there is room for vast improvements; but there are indications that this trade which remained almost stationary for more than forty centuries is about to emerge from a crude manufacture only imperfectly understood and take its place among the higher arts.
As an indication of the mechanical progress which has been made since the first edition of this work was published, it may be mentioned that in the machinery manufactured by the Frey-Shekler Co., of Bucyrus, Ohio, successors to Frey, Shekler & Hoover, whose machinery was largely described in the first edition, we note a vast number of improvements made during the last four years.
The Niedergesæss patent lubricating brick-die is a vast advance over all other lubricating dies heretofore known, which a close perusal of the description thereof will readily demonstrate.
The Acme Special Brick-Machine, The Acme Standard and Mascot Brick and Tile-Machines have been brought out new, each having its individual excellencies.
The board delivery cutting table for side-cut brick and hollow blocks is also a new and very useful device, as the brick are deposited on palletts while being cut by wires. Another cutting table, " The Daisy," has been introduced which is applicable to the cutting of wedge brick as well as common brick.
The Duplex Acme Brick-Machine, with auxiliary travelling belts to carry the brick from the machine, and the Steam Re-pressing Machines in connection therewith mark a new era in the art of making re-pressed brick.
The Centennial Brick or Tile-Machine has also been greatly improved by a change in the bearing, where a four-foot friction clutch pulley simplifies its construction and brings the motion so as to suit the dry-pan shafts of the firebrick factories, where this machine is now extensively used, as shown on page 194 with self-loading twowheeled truck.
Attention is also called to the various pug and mixing mills to suit the many different clays and localities to which the FreyShekler Company has adapted them.
Most of these have steel shafts and knives and will stand any amount of hard usage.
The winding drums and different dump cars described on page 173 make the use of horse-power or manual labor useless in getting the clay from the bank to the factory.
In clay crushers this firm has also added a number of improvements. In fact, in all branches of the trade this enterprising concern stands ready to adopt such clay-working machinery to the wants of the purchaser as the various circumstances may demand.
In addition to the foregoing may be especially named, the Chambers Brick Machine, of the Chambers Brothers Co., Philadelphia, Pa., which receives ordinary brick clay as taken from the bank, tempers it with water, moulds it through a die into a solid, compact bar of the proper width and thickness for a brick, sands the surfaces of this bar and, as it issues from the machine, cuts it by means of automatic devices into brick lengths. All parts of the machine regulating the dimensions of the brick are capable of adjustment, to suit the requirements of different clays and different localities.
The more recent improvements, and those contributing most largely to the increased capacity of the machine, and to its popularity, are the re-designing of the expressing screw or "augur;" its better apportionment to the tempering devices; the "duster" or sandbox -whereby all four sides of the bar of clay are thoroughly coated with fine sand- and the automatic wire cut-off. This being a much simpler device than the spiral-blade cut-off, has made possible the construction of this machine of smaller sizes than formerlv.
It would have been a pleasant task to enlarge more fully upon the history of the different branches of pottery. An irresistible law of our nature impels us to seek acquaintance with past events in connection with matters under discussion, not so much to gather practical ideas as from interest.
The adobes, as well as the burned and enamelled bricks of Assyria and Chaldea, possess for us a fascination, telling as they do a history of high civilization, and recalling the times when the plains of the Tigris were densely peopled with a rich and commercial population, when grandeur and beauty were the rule in architecture. Babylon and Nineveh seem like a dream of the past, but the great perfection to which the art of enamelling bricks attained in those places has not yet beer equalled by us.
In this branch of knowledge there is room for improvement, progress having been impeded by the difficulty in acquiring information concerning the preparation and application of enamels to clay surfaces. This want the author has endeavored to supply, and he sincerely hopes that his efforts will prove a valuable aid to those in search of such information, as well as the other and more common special branches of brick and the making herein treated.


WASHINGTON, D. C.,
1114 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
June 8, 1889