B R I
B R I
Dutch or Flemifh bricks are of a yellowifh colour, and chiefly ufed for paving of yards and ftables; alfo for foapboilers vats and cifterns. They make a very durable pavement, and, when laid edgeways, a very handfome one, efpecially if laid herring- bone fafhion. Moxcns Mechan. Excrc. p. 238. Briqiie de Cbantignote, or Demibrique, is that only an inch thick, but otherwife of the fame dimensions as the whole brick ; ufed in paving between borders of ftones, and alfo for the making hearths and chimney backs. Felib. Princ. de l'Ar- chit. 1. 1. c 17. p. 124. Detvil. Explic. Term, de l'Archit, Worlidge, and others after him, have laboured to accitsbrick- makers to try their ikill in making a new fort of brick, or a compofition of clay and fand, whereof to form window- frames, chimney-pieces, door-cafes, and the like. It is to be made in pieces fafhioned in moulds, which, when burnt, may be fet together with a fine red cement, and feem as one entire piece, by which may be imitated all manner of ftone-work. The thing mould feem feaftble by the earthen pipes made fine, thin, and durable, to carry water under ground at Fortfmouth, and by the earthen backs and grates for chimneys, formerly made by Sir John Winter, of agreat bignefs and thicknefs. In reality, much might be done towards making chimney- pieces, lion e-moul dings, architraves, fafcias for fronts of buildings, and the like, if men of this profeflion had a little tincture of chemiflry, which would enable them to contriv fome good compofition of earth, and a proper way to manage it in the moulding, burning, &c Might not even a compofi- tion, fomething like common crockers earth, in fome meafure anfwer the defign ? It is apparent, that into whatever form the crockers put their earth, it retains it after drying and burn' in^, altho' their crocks be formed very thin. If chimney- pieces, thus made in moulds, and dried and burnt, were not found fmooth enough, they might be polifhed with fand and water: or were care taken, when they were half dry, in the air,' to have them pohibed with an inflrument of copper or iron, then leave them till they were dry enough to burn, 'tis likely they would not want much polifhmg afterwards. The work might even be glazed, as potters do their fine earthen ware, either while or of any other colour; or it might be veined in imitation of marble, or be painted with figures of various colours, which would be much cheaper, and perhaps equally durable, and as beautiful as marble itfelf. Neve, Build. Diet, in voc.
Mating of BRiCK.-V/kh regard to the manner of making bricks, we have maxx~br:cis, generally made in the eaftern part of Suflex; fo called becaufe of a level fmooth place juft by where they are ftruck or moulded. In this place, the bearer-offlays the bricks fingly down in ricks or rows, as foon as moulded, where they are left till they are ftiff enough to be turned on their edges, and dreft, i. e, till their inequalities are cut off"; when they are dry, they carry them to flacks, or places where they row them up, like a wall of two bricks thick, with fome fmall intervals betwixt them, to admit the wind and air to dry them. When the {rack is filled, they are covered with ftraw on the top, till they be
. dry enough to be carried to the kiln to be burnt. Neve, Die! ibid?
Stack-bricks are of the fame form with phce-bricks, though dif- ferent in the quality of their earth, and manner of making. They are made on a frock, that is, the mould is put on a flock, after the manner of moulding or finking of tiles; and when one brick is moulded, they lay it on a piece of board, a little longer than the brick, and on that brick they lay another like piece of board, and on this another brick, till after this manner they have laid three bricks on one another ; and fo they continue to flrike and place them on the ftage, as they do tiles, till the ftage is full, and then they take each three fucceffively, and carry them to the flacks, and turn them down on the edges, fo that there will be the thicknefs of a thin piece of board betwixt each brick. When the flack is filled with one height of bricks, from one end to the other, they begin to fet them upon thofe firfl laid on the ftack ; by that time they will be a little dried, and will bear the others; for they are moulded of a very ftiff" earth. When they come to fet a fecond, third, &c height or courfe, they cater them a little, as they call it, to prevent their reeling. When the flack is as high as they think fit, they cover them with flraw, as they do pUce-bricks, till they be dry enough to burn. This way is more troublefome than that of making place-£nVi* ; but they are forced to have recourfe to it in ma- ny places, where, if they laid their bricks abroad in a place to dry, as they do phce-bricks, the nature of the earth is fuch, that they would burflto pieces. Neve, Diet, ubi fupra. The feveral fteps in the procefs of our inVi-making, are, caftino- the clay or earth; treading or tempering the fame with water ; fanding the brick, which is to riddle or caft dry fand on the wet brick lying on the ground ; raifing the bricks on onefidc, that they may dry the better and fooner; walling the brick, is to lay one upon another, after the manner of a wall, to keep them from foul weather, and that they may dry thorough- ly ; fodding the bricks, is to cover them up with turf ; fetting the bricks in the kiln, is the laying of flack or fmall-coal be- tween every courfe or row of bricks ; dawbing the kiln, is the claying of it all about the top, to keep the fire in, and fecure the kiln from weather ; firing, is to fet the fuel put into the
' arches on fire ; earthing implies to put eajth about it, to flop
the arches, that the fire may take upwards to the top of the kiln; cooling the kiln after it has done burning ; breaking the kiln; counting of the hicks; carrying the brick, which is to bring them to the place where they are to be ufed, either on horfeback or in tumbrels. Diet. Rufl. in voc. The arches of a kiln of bricks, are the hollow places at the bot- tom where the fire is; pigeon-holes are apertures in the fire- arches ; checker courfe, denotes the lower row of bricks in the arch; tying courfe, thofe which cover the top of the arch; binding courfe, is the laying of bricks over the joints of the un- der courfe; dividing courfe, is the divifions or parts of akiln; flatting courfe, is the top of all the kiln ; the wheeler is he who carries the clay from the pit to the moulding board foot, and there turns it off" the wheelbarrow ; ftaker, he who puts the clay off the ground upon the board ; moulder, he who works the clay into the brick-moulds, and llrikes the Superfluous clay off" the top of the moulds ; breaker off", he who takes the mould, with the clay in it, from the moulder, and lays it on the ground to dry ; moulder, he who parts oft* the clay from the mould ; off-bearer, he who pulls off the empty mould into the tub of water or fand ; taker up of the brick has his work alfo to drefs and fmooth them from irregular edges. DicX Ruff. T. t. Art. Brick-making.
After calling the clay,tbe nextftep is to tread or temper it, which ought to be performed doubly of what is ufually done ; iince the goodnefs of the bricks depends chiefly upon this firfl prepa- ration. The earth itfelf, before it is wrought, is generally brittle and dufly ; but, adding fmall quantities of water gradu- ally to it, and working and incorporating it together, it opens its body, and tinges ihc whole with a tough, glewy, flrong band or fubftance. If, in the tempering, you over-water them, as the ufual method is, they become dry and brittle almofl as the earth they are made of; whereas, if duly tempered, they become fmooth and folid, hard and durable. A brick of this J aft fort takes up near as much earth as a brick and a half made the contrary way; In which the bricks are fpongy, light, and full of cracks, partly through want of due working, and part- ly by mixing of afhes and light fandy earth, to make it work eafy, and with greater difpatch ; as alfo to fave culm or coals in the burning. We may add, that for bricks made of good earth, and well tempered, as they become folid and ponderous, fothey take up a longer time in (frying and burning than the common ones ; and that the well drying of bricks, before they be burn- ed, prevents their cracking and crumbling in the burning. Neve, Diet ubi fupra.
Brick-making, among the Romans, was conducted with great care and choice ; by which means their bricks were rendered of much longer duration than ours 3 . 1 n this refpect moft of our neighbours excel us; the bricks which we import from Hol- land, Denmark, tsc. being better than our own b . — [ a Philof. Tranfac"*. N' 351. p. 563. " Hought. Colled. T. 2. N* 168. p. 26.]
For making bricks, the ufual rates paid, exclufive of the earth, are five or fix fhil lings per thoufand; of which the moulder has fixpence, the bearer-off, fourpence, he that tempers the earth, fourpence, and he that digs it, fixpence. Diet. Ruft. in voc.
With refpeft to the pofition, or manner in which bricks are laid, we meet with Bricks in bond, Briques en liafon, thofe laid flat wife, and fo
as to over-reach each other by half their length. 7%c/--Biucks, Briques de champ, thofe laid edgewife, toferve as
a pavement. Davit, lib. cit. p 436. Spicated Bricks, Briques en epi, thofe placed diagonalwife, af- ter the manner of Hungarian point. Such is the pavement of Venice. Davit, ibid. See Brick. -laying. Bricks, in medicine and chemiffry, are not only ufed in the preparation of the oil, which takes its denomination from them; but heated kicks arc frequently added in diflillation, to increafe the fervour of bodies in boiling c . Some adulterate the foda, or kali afhes, for glafs, with brick-duft d . — [ c Junck. Confp. Chem. tab. 6. p, 170. $ Id. Confp. Med. tab. 20.
P . 589.]
Oil of Bricks. — Some extol it as a feptic, excellent for taking away callufes, cleanfing and removing ulcers, csV. It is now fallen much into difufe. Junck. Confp. Chirurg. tab. 39. p. 252. Item, tab. 41. p. 258. Item, tab. 42. p. 262. Jtem, tab. 43. p. 265.
Brick is alfo ufed in fpeaking of divers other matters made in the form of bricks.
In which fenfe we fay, a penny brick, or brick-hrezd. Some alfo mention brick-tin, a fort of tin in that fhape brought from Germany ; and brick-foap, made in oblong pieces, from 2 pound and a half to three pounds. Savor. Diet. Comm. T. 1. p. 48:. See thearticles Tin, Bread, Soap, tsV.
Bricks, or Briques, in heraldry, are figures or bearings in arms, refembling a building of bricks; being of afquare form, like billets and tablets; from which they only differ in this, that they fhow their thicknefs, which the others do not. Coat. Diet. Herald p. 58.
Brick, in zoology, the name of a fort of lamprey, called by the
writers on thefe fubjects, lampetra medium genus ; and di'frin-
guifhed from the other lampreys, by having a number of black
tranfverfe Ipots, very narrow and long. TViiiugb, H, Pifc. p,ic6.,
4 Bjuck-
