Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887
Various
Science -- Periodicals
In another type of machine there is a large revolving drum working on a
horizontal axis, with open moulds all round its edge. The clay enters
these moulds, and there is an arrangement of plungers by which it is
first compressed within the mould and then forced out on to an endless
band or some other contrivance that receives it. A third type of machine
has the moulds in the flat top of a revolving table, which, as it turns,
carries each mould in succession first to a part where it is filled from
the pug mill, next to where its contents are compressed, and lastly to
where they are pushed out for removal. However made, the brick, when
moulded, dried, and burnt, and ready for market, belongs to some one
sort, and is distinguished from other sorts by its size, color, quality,
and peculiarities.
The sorts of brick that are to be met with in the London market are very
varied. To enumerate them all would make a tedious list; to describe
them all would be equally tedious. I will endeavor, however, to give
some idea of the most conspicuous of them. We will begin with that
family of bricks of which the London stock brick is the type. It has
been said these are clamp burnt, and almost all the internal
brickwork--and not a little of the external--of the metropolis is of
stock brickwork. A good London stock brick is an excellent brick for
general purposes, but cannot be called beautiful.
Considering the vast quantity of brickwork done in the metropolis, it is
a matter for congratulation that such sound materials as good stock
bricks, stone lime, and Thames sand are so easily procurable, and can be
had at a price that puts them within the reach of all respectable
builders. When a clamp has been burnt its contents are found to have
been unequally fired, and are part of them underburnt, part well burnt,
part overburnt. They are sorted accordingly into shuffs, grizzles,
stocks of two or three qualities, shippers, and burrs. Several sorts of
malm stocks, which are superior in color and texture, are made, and are
used for facing bricks and for cutting; and what are called paviors,
which are dark and strong bricks, are also made. The London stock is
erroneously, but usually, described as gray. It is really of a pie crust
yellow of various tones. Sometimes it is the same color when cut, but
the hardest stocks are of a dark, dirty purple or brown, or sometimes
nearly black inside. A stock brick is rarely quite square or quite true;
its surface is often disfigured by black specks and small pits, and a
stack of them often looks uninviting; yet a skillful bricklayer, by
throwing out the worst, by placing those of bad colors or much out of
shape in the heart of the wall, and by bringing to the front the best
end or side of those bricks which form part of the face, can always make
the bricks in his work look far better than in the stack. Another
important group is the group of Suffolk and Norfolk bricks, red and
white.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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