TOOLS AND APPLIANCES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAND-MADE BRICK.
' The tools and appliances used by a hand-made brick gang, in addition to those which have been mentioned, are as 'follows, viz :— One Ames's spade, No. 2, for wheeler.
One clay barrow for wheeler.
One sieve, No. 42, for off-bearer.
One brick barrow for off-bearer.
One brick barrow for moulder.
There is a tool used for scraping off and levelling the mould ing floor, and levelling the bottom of the drying-shed prepara tory to hacking the brick. It consists of a piece of light pine board, one inch thick, , twenty inches long by six inches wide, set upright, with a long light handle in the centre. At the bottom is tacked a thin piece of steel, generally an old wood-saw blade, with the teeth turned upward, and the smooth edge forming the bottom.
This tool is never furnished by the pro prietor of the yard, it is always the private property of the moulder. The tool is called a " lute," and it is shown in Fig. 6.
The time of the men around the burning kiln is divided into periods called "watches ;" a watch is two days and a night, that is, a man starts to work on a kiln, say at six o'clock in the morning; he stays that day and night. and the next day until five o'clock in the afternoon, at which time he is relieved. After resting that night, he is at the kiln the next morning, and takes another watch of two days and a night ; the time made at night is counted as a day extra.
The centre of a kiln settles first in burning, after which the settling fires are put close to the mouth of the arches, no coal being thrown in the centre ; the fires in the mouths are called "head fires." To enliven these fires a "short moon" is used,
and it is similar to the long moon described before, and shown in Fig. 5, the difference being only in the length of the handle.
In addition to the long and short moons, another tool, called a rake, is used ; it is as long as the long moon, and has teeth three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and four inches long, set into a back of iron ten inches long, two inches wide, and three quarters thick.
Soft coal increases in bulk after being fired, and the rake is used for levelling the high places in the fires of the arches of the kiln.
A sledge-hammer, weighing about ten pounds, is used for breaking up the large lumps of coal, fine coal being used for settling the kiln.
For each kiln hand there is required a small furnace shovel or " scoop," for firing, and in addition, two large coal shovels for general use in throwing the coal into the kiln-shelter and spreading it along in front of the arches.
A rough ladder for climbing about the kiln is also necessary, as well as two stout water buckets in which to carry the mud, or " daub," used for plastering over all the cracks which appear as soon as the kiln commences to get hot.
It is often necessary to place a barricade of boards around the kiln-shelters, and often around some part of the top of the kiln during periods of high winds, and lumber and nails suffi cient for erecting this barricade should be kept on hand.