Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887
Various
Science -- Periodicals
These are very largely employed as facing bricks and for arches
and cut mouldings.
Moulded bricks are also to a large extent made of the same material.
These bricks are brought to London in large quantities. They have a
sanded face, are mostly square, true, and of uniform color, but they are
usually porous, soft, and absorbent. Still, they are in great demand as
facing bricks, and the moulded bricks enable the architect to produce
many architectural effects at a moderate outlay. These fields furnish
many sorts of bricks, which are called rubbers, and which are employed
(as malm stocks also are) for arches of the more elaborate sort, where
each brick is cut to its shape and rubbed true, and for mouldings, and
even sometimes for carving.
Mouldings that are formed by cutting the bricks can be got more
perfectly true than when moulded bricks are used; but the expense is
greater, and when it is done the material is less durable, for the
softer sorts of brick are naturally used for cutting, and the moulded
face is less sound than the original burnt face of any brick. Red bricks
are to some extent made in fields within easy reach of London; but the
best come from some distance. Red Suffolk bricks have been alluded to.
There is a considerable importation of red Fareham bricks, brought all
the way from the vicinity of Portsmouth; these are good both in quality
and color. Good red bricks are also now made at Ascot, and are being
used to a considerable extent in the metropolis. A strawberry-colored
brick from Luton has been extensively used at Hampstead. It is hard, and
of a color which contrasts well with stone, but not very pleasing used
alone. Glazed bricks of all colors are obtainable. They are usually very
hard and square, and the use of them where an impervious glazed face is
required, as, for example, in a good stable, is better than the
employment of glazed tiles, in the employment of which there is always a
possibility of part of the lining becoming loose or falling off. There
is a difficulty in obtaining a large quantity (of some colors, at least)
exactly uniform in tint. Bricks with a very hard face, but not glazed,
are obtainable. What is called a washing brick is now made in various
colors, adapted for the lining of interiors, and there are hard bricks
of a very pale straw color, known as Beart's patent bricks, made, I
believe, of gault clay, which were some years ago bought up by the Great
Northern Railway in large numbers. These bricks have the peculiarity of
being pierced with holes about ½ in. in diameter, passing quite through
the brick, and they are extremely hard, partly because these holes
permit the hot air and smoke in the kiln to approach very near to the
interior of the brick. I am of opinion that the glazed or dull qualities
of hard bricks might with great advantage be often introduced into
London streets. What we want is something that will wash. The rough
surface of stocks or Suffolk facing bricks catches the black in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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