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524
THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE.
Book II.
dipped in sand.
He presses it down, so that it may fill tlic wliule of the cavity, striking
ofl' tlie superfluous
clay with a flat wooden rule. Tlie ncwly-furnu-d brick is then turned
out of the mould on to a tliin board, soinewliat larger than a brick, and it is removed by a
boy to a latticed wheelbarrow, and conveyed, covered with fine dry sand, to ihe hac/t. A
bandy moulder, working fifteen hours, will mould 5000 bricks. Jn tlie hacks, which
are eight courses in height, tiie bricks are arranged diago..ally above each other, with
a passage between each for the circulation of air round them. The time required for
drying in the hacks will of course depend on the fineness of the weather
;
it is but a few
days if the season be propitious ; and they are tiien turned and reset wider apart, after
wiiieh, in about six or eight days, they arc reiidy for the clamp or kiln. If the weather
be
rainy, the bricks in the hack must be covered with wheat or rye straw ; and as they ought
to be thoroughly dry before removing to the clamp or kiln, a few are genera.
ly selected
from ditt'erent parts, and broken, to ascertain if the operation of drying has been well per-
formed. The moisture arising from bricks when burning is very injurious to their soimdness.
1816". The quantity of clay necessary to make ICOO bricks will be somewhere about 54
cube feet, which allows about 5 feet for shrinkage in drying and burning; for 1000 x 8^^
in.
X
'_'i
in. X 4 in. =49 2
3" 4"'.
The cost of making luOO brick.s, in the neiglil)ourhoo'd of
London, is nearly as follows
:

Digging, wheeling, carting, &c.

Moulding, stacking, &c.
Sand, one-sixth of 2s.
-
Straw for hacks
- - -
Barrows, moidds, planks, &c.
Fuel 9 cwt. per 1000
5 1
1817. In the brickfields about London, bricks are mostly burnt in what are called
clamps. These are generally oblong in form, and their foundations are made with tlie
driest of the bricks from the hacks, or with common worthless bricks, called place bricks.
The bricks for burning are then arranged, tier over tier, to the height assigned to the
clamp, according to the quantity to be burnt, and a layer of breeze or cinders, two or three
inches deep, is placed between each course of bricks, and the whole, when built up, covered
with a thick stratum of breeze. On the western face of the clamp a vertical fireplace is
formed, about 3 feet in height, from which flues are driven out by arching the bricks over,
so as to leave a space about one brick wide. The flues run in a straight direction through
the clamp, and are filled with a mixture of coals, breeze, and wood, closely jiressed to-
gether. If the bricks are required to he burnt (juickly, the flues should not be inore than
6 feet apart ; but if time do not press, the flues need not be nearer than 9 feet to each other,
and the clamp is allowed to burn slowly. It is possible, if required, to burn a clamp in a
period of from 20 to 30 days, according to the dryness of the weather. The i)ractice of
steeping bricks in water after they have been burnt, and then ngain burning tlieni, has
been found to have the effect of consideral)ly improving their quality.
1818. A new mode of burning l)ricks in clamps has been patented by RoI)ert White
at Eiith, wherein the advantages are stated to be that, 1st, nearly all the bricks are burnt
into stocks, and the yield of inferior bricks is reduced from 35 to about 10 per cent, of the
total make
;
and, 2ndly, the bricks are so much improved in colour and soundness as to give
them a considerable additional value in the market over common stocks.
1819. The kilns which are used tor burning bricks are usually 13 feet long, by 10 feet
6 inches in width, and 12 feet in height. The walls are one brick and a half thick, and
incline inwards as they rise. A kiln is generally built to contain 2O,000 bricks at each burning.
The fireplace consists of three arches, which have holes at top for distributing beat to the
bricks. Tl ese are placed on a lattice-like floor, and first undergo a gentle action of the fire for
two or three days, in order to dry them thoroughly. As soon as they thus become ready for
burning, the mouth ofthe fireplace is dammed up with what is called a shinhg (which consists
of pieces of brick piled against each other, and closed with wet brick earth), leaving about it
sufficient room to introduce a faggot. The kiln is then supplied with brushwood, furze,
heath, faggots, &.C., and the fire is kindled and kept up until the arches assume a white
appearance, and
flames appear through the top of the kiln. The fire is then slackened, and
the kiln gradually cooled. This process of alternately raising and slacking the heat of the
kiln is re|)eated till the bricks arc thoroughly burnt, which is usually accomplished in about
eight and forty hours.
1820. The malm or marl stock, which is of a bright yellowish uniform
colour and
textu-e, is not always to be had, especially in the London districts
;
in consequence of which,
several years ago, it was discovered that chalk mixed in certain portions with loam, and
treated in the usual manner, proved an excellent substitute for it. It not only was found
to im])rove the colour, but to impart soundness to the brick
;
and the practice is now
generally adopted about London. At Emsworth in Hampshire, and also at Southampton,