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Date: | Sun, 11 Jan 2004 22:53:07 -0500 |
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OK, all you brick aficionados ... tell me about VERY EARLY pressed or
machine made bricks. I was recently at a house where the bricks in the
chimney were not so evidently hand made although dating to the 1820s and
there is no indication that the chimney was a later one. They are also not
like other machine made bricks I have studied.
The bricks appear to have been formed in a hinged mold that was closed onto
the glob of clay, forcing the excess out the side, rather than the top,
where it was stricken off. In many examples the side of the brick has a
deep fold or wrinkle in it showing that the gob of clay had indeed been
folded or compressed in a hinged closing mold. Some clearly show that the
top, bottom, ends and one side were against the sides of the mold, while
the one side was open, rather than having a box mold with the top open.
I picture these things to have been made in a big old fashioned waffle
maker-like thing.
(strike marks are on one side of the brick not the top)
They are also not perfectly formed, being very slightly tapered in
THICKNESS from one side to the other (not like well bricks, which are
tapered in WIDTH from one end to the other)
Are there examples or patents for early 19th century or so brick machines
in which the bricks are molded by compressing them in a hinged mold? All
references I have handy to early brick machines refer to mechanized ways to
mix the clay and keep the bricks dry, or they discuss extrusion attempts,
which is a much different and later process.
(I want to use the word "clamp" to describe the process, as in "clamping
the mold shut like a waffle iron," but I know what a clamp is in
brickmaking, so don't get confused)
Dan W
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