Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1843-06-16

oiten constructed of hollow clay pots unitoo by
| cement instead of stone common BRICK. IhB
| practice seems to have been resortod TO, for tho
! purpose Of tightening the weight and pressure OF
the arch but IN some instances these pots or vases
were so disposed as to facilitate the propagation
OF sound Bricks, as is well known, are general
| ly formed by filling wooden mould, open on
two sides, with tempered clay, bun various me-
| chanical contriyances have been proposed for
moulding them, none of which have been suffi-
GENTLY simple and effective, TO cupersede the
common mode Of filling the moulds by hand
| Pressed brick are much in use, and are superior
TO common brick in weight, solidiiy and smooth
| ness of surface. The pressure is applied when
The bricks are partly dried, wet Clay approaching
| too near the nature Of fluid 10 be readily COM
pressibIc. Bricks are applied to other purposes
! besides ordinary building, and one oil the most
| importan; uses is the construction OF furnaces,
| for which purpose they are moulded from fire
! clay, sometimes tempered with other ingredients.
! Fire bricks have been made, not only possessing
the property Of resisting the hottest fires, but so
light as to float in water, and at tie same time ai-
i most perfect nou-condUciors Of rsof. in connec-
| ton with this branch of the subject, may men,
! ton the use OF tiles for roofing Roofing tiles
are thin carved plates of baked and glazed clay,
moulded with lip on side and correspond
! ing hange on the other They make tight and
durable roofing, but objectionable from their
weight, which requires strong carpentry for their
support.
Whether the art of brickmaking preceded that
! Of hei0ing stone s'not easily determined but 1t s
certain, that the art of shaping hare stones Ivy
some means not now well understood was one of
the oldest and most primitive arts. In all rude
nations Inc earliest cutting instruments, and the
first weapons of war and the,chase, as well as the
1 inorlars, which are the primitive -four mills, are
/ always of this maieriah The kinds most COM
monty used were flint and quartz for sharp insru-
ments, while the softer rocks generally supplied
! the blocks for the hollow ware, but porphyry, ba-
| olS nj
ness have been sometimes employed. Spear and
arrow heads, knives, axes, chses and masses of
stone, precisely similar 10 those so frequently
| found about the favOrite haunts OF our own In
dians, all the world, and they are FASH
| ioned in a way denotng considerable ingenuity
and much perseverance. Not long since, an an
cirnt mandatory of Aint tools and weapons was
found IN Denmark. Besides q considerable stock
of the raw material, in geodly Jumps oil unwrougt
flint aud quartz, there were found arrow and spear
| heads, knives and other articles, in all stages of
progress, from a mere splinter to the finished i'm
| PIGMENT. Fragments of stone would no doubt
| often occur so nearly resembling the different in-
srumens in form, MS to require but little aid from
art 10 fit them for But where the manufac-
tlrer was obliged 10 take the raw material alto
| gether in the rough, the process, so Tar as could
| lie determined from q careful examination of the
| remains Just mentioned, appeared TO be this: An
oblong stone selected, having its planes of
cleavage, or so to speak, grain at right angles 10
ling or beating With other stones, and parity by
grinding, brought to such shape, that trans
verse section would give the form of the nstru
meut required. This being done, the lamine were
split off, probably by n stone chisel, and nothing
further was required, but 10 dress the edges which
were sharpened by chipping, and not by grinding.
The spear and arrow heads, as well as the ak
es appear TO have been attached to the shaft or
handle, by thongs, for which purpose there is al
ways groove near the thick end. The next step
in the art of stone eu,rg appears to have been
the manufacture of mortars, lamps, ana Other
hollow ware. This probably suggested ny
the po.like excavations in hard rocks, so often
formed at water falls by curious natural process,
the action namely, of small revolving currents of
wafer stones and gravel, accidentally deposited
in the depressions of the rock. The ancient stone
pots being of great thickness, and frequently, no
doubt, of materials which would not bear the lire,
were first heated by throwing IN red hot stones,
but there is found in many countries, and parlc-
uarIy the north of Europe, species OF steatite
called pot. stone, extremely soft when first quar-
j ried, but like many other stones becoming very
hard and tough, after some exposure. Tbis may
be fashioned with great ease into potts. and other
hollow ware, and it bears heat well, that the
, poorer peasants in Sweden and Norway, in the
= vicinity OF the quarries, form their cooking uten-
= siIs Of il TO this day.
: Stone appears next to have been used for bull
ding, at first unlewn, and without mortar, the in.
/ terstices filled with moss or clay aud when this
mode no longer satisfied the demands OF comfort
), or of taste, the stone-hewer came 10 the aid OF
the mason, and fitted the blocks to each other, so
IS as 10 make close joints without mortar. This was
d accomplished, not by hewing all the stone, Hat
c and square, but with perverse and laborous inge-
nuity, by cutting in one stone cavities TO cores"
If pond TO the protuberencies of another. Ihls
r, mode Of building has the advantage OF great SOL
q dity because the corresponding projections and
IS depressions serve as bowels to bind the courses,
or rather blocks. for the stones were not yet laid
e in courses The immense labor Of this style OF
>, masonry and the rugged appearance OF the walls,
caused il soon 10 be discarded for the PLAIN lash
j. ion of square hewn work, and this, when once a.
IS dopled, has never been abandoned. The stones
>. used by the ancient builders were sometimes OF
d an immense size. as at Balbec, where some oil the
blocks are sixty feet in length nineteen in breadth
n and ten in thickness, and therefore imply great
s. skill in quarrying. All the different MODES OF de-
n tachng the blocks from the ledge now in use, ex-
IF cep blasting, were praclised by the ancients-
j. The earliest mode is supposed to have been the
tedious one of chisellng the block from The quar-
y ry, by channel cut on oil sides OF 1t, but iapori-
3, Gus processes were Invented at very remote pc
n rod. Sometimes a row of holes was drilled at
is short distances from each others and the blocks
n split off by thin metal wedges driven into all the
n holes, precisely as now practissd in granite quar-
N ries. In other cases, dry plugs OF wood were
10 driven into the drill holes, and these being wetted
IN the swelling of the plugs, sometimes aided by the
l. expansive power of frost, would burst the rock:
" Sometimes a line was traced upon the surface OF
d ledge along which narrow fire was kept up, I'M
d Ill the stone was heated to considerapie uepth'
m The fire being then swept of, cold water was
poured along the heated line, and crack was
i. thus produced into which wedges could be driv-
10 en-. The masses separated from the granite quar-
j. ries of Egypt by these various means were some-
S. times one hundred feet in length, and eight or ten
"a in BREADTH and we have accounts Of some of even
g. greater dimensions.
" The Egyptians were skiIlful, not only in squar'
:, ing and hewing granite sandstone, and the hard
IN er rocks porphyry and basalt, but in finer
ID and much more difficult style Of work. The
hi obelsks, characteristic feature in Egyptian ar
ID chitecture, and many parts of the temples tombs,