Split Brick, as I know it, that is, is found in most big name home centers
in the US.  They are usually called pavers, and are just as you describe,
regular size bricks half the thickness.  They are great for floors, patios,
walks, and any other paving situations which are nto likely to have heavy
traffic that would fracture them.  The ones you can get nowadays are
essentially regular bricks sliced in twain to make two thin flat bricks.

I found a section of old sidewalk in Richmond, VA, perhaps laid down in the
1870s, that had nothing but this very thin brick.  Most of it had been
crushed and pulverized over the years and was barely discernable as a brick
sidewalk until it was pulled up during construction.  The larger fragments
made wonderful edging for my gardens.  At work we use the modern split
brick in the same way as edging for our herb garden around the old well.

I have never seen it actually marked "Split" and don't know of any examples
that were actually rived from whole bricks as the term would imply,
although a web page I list below shows bricks split in a different way to
make square lengths.

In searching through Google I found several references to Split Brick that
definitely indicate they are talking about brick or concrete blocks that
have been cleaved to give a rough surface.  That doesn't seem to be the
original usage of the term as I think this is a fairly recent
innovation.  It also does not match with most of what I know about bricks
and other sites I saw.

Unfortunately, I only found one page that actually illustrated their
product called Split Brick and it showed a brick that was cut in half
lengthwise providing a square profile.  I presume this would be used in
refacing where a full brick would not fit?
http://www.beavertownblock.com/blocks.htm

Having laid up my share of the stuff, I can report that in the trade (or at
least to fellow boneheaded laborers with whom I had the pleasure to share a
hoddy) these rough blocks have a variety of names, some probably
proprietary, others made up because they didn't know what it was and called
it what it looked like: ashlar, rough, faced, knocked off, split faced,
etc.  They also use the universal term "paver" for the thin bricks I know
as Splits, even if they were used for trim, decorative inclusions, etc.

But then again, if you had a driveway, you would not use the thin paver
"Splits" but the regular bricks which are also called pavers depending on
how you use them!

Argggggg.  Can we talk about different grades of gravel next?

         Dan W.



At 3/17/03 08:55 PM, you wrote:
>Dear Histarchers
>
>I am undertaking some research on a brick that was raised from the
>shipwreck MV City of Rayville (1940). This was a US Merchant navy vessel,
>and was the USA's first vessel lost in WWII. The City of Rayville was built
>by Oscar Daniels in Tampa, Florida in 1920. The brick is imprinted with the
>word "SPLIT". Imprinting on bricks normally identifies the maker, however
>web searching suggests that split is a manufacturing process, involving
>splitting the brick along its length prior to firing. This also appears to
>be a uniquely American manufacturing process, although I found the term
>"Soap" brick used in the UK, which also seems to refer to a half-width
>brick. The dimensions of the brick are 230 x 32 x 112: approximately half
>the normal width of a normal sized brick. Some Real Estate links came up
>that refer to split brick court yards etc, but after questioning some
>architects & brick experts here in Australia I have determined that this
>was not common here.
>
>Does anyone have information about split bricks that they could share with
>me?   I also thought it was rather strange to imprint the word 'split' onto
>the brick, given that it ought to be obvious that the brick is half the
>width anyway! I located a reference in a builder guide to a company in
>Alabama called Split Brick Inc, however the emails keep bouncing and access
>to the website comes up as 'forbidden'. Therefore I guess my question is:
>is "Split" the maker's mark, or does it identify the process?
>
>Hope you can assist! If you are interested I can email an image of the
>artefact.
>
>
>
>Kind Regards
>
>Cassandra
>
>
>
>
>Cassandra Philippou
>Maritime Heritage Unit
>Heritage Victoria
>Level 22, Nauru House
>80 Collins Street
>Melbourne 3000 Victoria
>Ph:   03 9655 9752
>Fax:  03 9655 9720
>
>Visit these sites!
>http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au
>http://www.aima.iinet.net.au
>http://www.archaeologyweek.com
>
>
>
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