SETTING THE GREEN BRICK IN THE KILN.
The brick having been moulded and dried, the next step is that of setting or placing them in the kiln preparatory to burn ing, which work is generally done by task, and usually by a force of five men, called the "setting gang," which is composed of one foreman called the " setter," and four men who bring the brick to him called the "wheelers and tossers." A day's work for this gang is to take 20,000 brick out of the sheds, wheel them to the kiln and toss them to the setter, who places them in a proper manner for burning.
In a kiln the first brick set are in the back arch, and arch brick in setting are divided in four classes, viz : the straight courses, pillar, hangers, and skintle brick, the names depend ing upon the position which they occupy in the arch.
The arch is generally fourteen courses high, the brick being set on edge and one-half inch apart ; the bottom eight courses of the arch are usually called the '*straight courses," on the top of which are placed the projecting six courses forming the arch, and which are called the " over-hangers." The " pillar " brick are the ones between the straight courses, and the " skintles" are the brick set diagonally in order to tie the over-hangers together, as shown in Fig. 3.
The row of brick first set on the top of the arch is called the "tie course," and the fourteen courses, including the "tie course " first set on the top of the arch, are called the " lower bench," and next fourteen courses, which usually finish the height of the kiln, are called the " upper bench." " Forty-two high" is the way that the height of the kiln is described, and this is the usual height.
Fig. 4 shows ten courses of common brick set on the bench in the kiln, so placed as to preserve one uncrossed face to each brick. The arch, lower and upper benches, having been set, there is a brick laid flat on the topmost brick ; this brick is called the "raw platting ;" then on the top of the raw platting a burned brick is laid reversed way across it ; this is called the " burnt platting."
It is the duty of the setting gang, in addition to placing the twenty thousand brick in the kiln, to " platt" it, and then cover up the face of the raw brick with boards on end ; this process is called " facing up." In this manner the kiln is "set out," or filled with green brick, and sometimes two, three, and even four setting gangs are simultaneously at work in the same kiln if there is a great demand for the brick.
Before any brick are set into a kiln it is plastered or daubed all over the inside face with mud in order to stop any cracks that there may be in the face of the walls, and to hold the heat when the kiln is on fire. For this work one dollar and twenty five cents is paid for a small kiln holding one hundred and sixty thousand brick, and two dollars and fifty cents for a kiln hold ing one-half million of brick. The brick having all been placed in the kiln, the opening through which the brick are wheeled into the kiln, and hauled out after burning, is closed or walled up.
This opening is called a " facing," " bestowing," or " abut ment," and the process of walling it is termed "closing the bestowing." The wall of the bestowing is built in two thicknesses of brick ; the first or inner one is put up and " daubed " or plas tered over ; then the second or outer thickness is built and " daubed." Care is taken in this operation to prevent air from entering and lowering the temperature of the kiln.
The gang that puts up, daubs, and props the " bestowing " is allowed one-half day each man.
A good setting gang can commence work at five o'clock in the morning and place 20,000 brick in the kiln, and have their task completed by mid-day.
The brick having next been made and set, are ready to be burned and converted from a perishable into an imperishable substance.