BURNING PRESSED BRICK.
" When we come to the final and most important part of manufacture, which is when the properly-dried and pressed brick go to the kiln to be burnt, that is where a brick-maker, and especially one engaged in the manufacture of pressed brick, has most of his trouble to overcome before he can make his business a success.
" The burning of clay after it has been made into any of the different kinds of articles for which it is now used, either in the form of any kind of brick or terra-cotta, crockery or tile, has always been a matter of great study and care.
" The manufacturer who is compelled to depend on the firing of clays before he can make a final success of his goods, will always have something more to learn, no matter how long he may have been engaged in the business.
" A successful manufacturer of pressed brick after he has taken into consideration all the benefits he may have received during the last twenty or thirty years from the improvements in machinery for the making or re-pressing of the brick, or the preparing and tempering of the clay, and after summing up the advantages he has gained by these, he will still claim that he has made more money and met with more substantial success to his business by careful study and improvements in the burn ing of the brick than he could make by all the other improve ments combined. If a careful record could be obtained of what has caused the different failures in brickmaking, about four-fifths of such failures we think could be truthfully attributed to improper burning.
" We have mentioned these facts in regard to the burning of the pressed brick for the reason that we think it is the all important question, and also that the matter may be fully dis cussed here, so that we can all have the benefits of the views of the different members of the Association on this subject.
" The reason why the proper burning of the brick is of vital importance in the business is that we have, before the brick reaches the kiln, expended upon it a very large proportion of the actual cost of its production, and notwithstanding all these expenses, the brick has no market value until it is burned. In fact, the green pressed brick has no more commercial value up to the time it reaches the kiln than the raw materials have while they are in the ground. You can therefore see by taking this view of it that the place for press brick manufacturers to make a sure success of their business is at the kiln.
"And I think, gentlemen, that if any one of you has a friend who contemplates starting in the brick business, and he should come to you for advice as to what kind of a machine is the best for a pressed brick manufacturer to make money with in the business, I think you will always be safe by simply answer ing the kiln.'