The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-17
AN EXODUS.
Brick Makers for the Santa Clara Valloy-An
Enterprising Firm.

On Saturday Of last week, Robert Thomas,
Of the well-known firm Of Fletcher & Thomas,
brick-makers, and dealers in all kinds Of brick
making machinery and supplies. left for Califor-
MIA, where he goes to place in position and put
into operation an outfit Of briok-making ma
chinery.
On the 25th of March they will send from this
city to San Jose, in the famous Santa Clara val
ley Of California, forty workmen to operate ma
chinery there, bought of Fletcher & Thomas.
This all came about in this way: Sometime ago.
the president of large milling and brick manu-
featuring company at San Jose came East and
spent much time in looking at brick making
machinery. He stopped day or SO at the brick
yard of Fletcher 81 Thomas and closely observed
their methods of brick making and the operating
OF their improved machinery. de had been
everywhere and examined everything In the way
of brick making machinery but when he saw
the way the operation was conducted here ne
freely expressed himself and gave the Fletcher
q Thomas machinery the heartiest approval
acknowledging that they had the best in the
market Following this they sold to him two
complete brick making outfits, including heavy
steam power Quaker brick machines, pug mills,
mold sanding machines, with all other necessary
appliances, besides selling them large engine
from the Atlas works of this city.
This sale assisted in bringing about another
change. The Santa Clara Valley Company have
been employing Chinese, which fact does not, In
the present state of anti Chinese feeling, har-
monte with their surroundings This matter
came up in the course of correspondence be-
tween the president of the company and Fletcher
d Thomas, who proposed to send good. reliable
workmen from here to take their places whom
they would find greatly superior TO the Celestials
In accordance with that Fletcher & Thomas are
to send out forty men, and il the experiment Is
satisfactory, more will doubtless be required.
This well known firm of brick men has been
established in Indianapolis since 1873 and has
been highly successful. They made bricks by
hand until 1878, during all of which period they
were looking about for brick making machinery
that would handle our intractable clay. No
machinery had ever been found that would work
here successfully. and number OF firms one
after another. who tried various machines, were
broken up The late Tompkins A. Lewis, one of
the shrewdest business men this community has
ever known, had a narrow escape from disaster
as one of these experimenters. Fletcher q
Thomas at last found a machine-tne Quaker.
They took the first machine sent out from the
factory and began to work our tough, sticky,
stony clay. Their experience soon enabled them
to detect defects which, one after another, were
remeded and improvements made until they
now look upon the Quaker as being the most
perfect tempered mud-brck machine IN use any
where. For several years they have made with
the Quaker over four million bricks year. In
addition to brick machine, they found that
was necessary beyond the old style of using soak
pits-which way was also an expensive ons.
They then invented the Fletcher & Thomas
spiral pug mill. This admirable machine is for
attachment to any mud machine, and one man
handles all the clay that can be made into brick,
which ranges from thirty to forty thousand q
day in different yards. This pug machine saves
from S. to 81 day in actual cash where 1t has
been put in connection with brick ma
chimes at different points. They are
now in use pretty much all over the
United States. Two of these pug-mills are
at Boston, two at New Haven, several in New
York State, and scattered all along down to
Texas, and from Missouri up to Wisconsin
Nine of these pug mills have been set up at Kan
sas City within the past ten months.
Mr.. Fletcher in conversation with the report
err, remarked that there seemed great opening
for their brick making machinery in California,
and they intended to pay some attention to the
demand that came from the Pacific slope.
Fletcher & Thomas are successful business men.
Their trade in brickmaking machinery and
brick makers supplies has increased each year
from the start The pugmill and haeking-pal-
let are their own invention. They are known to
nearly or quite all the brickmakers in the United
States, and each year send out more than ten
thousand large illustrated pamphlets describing
their inventions and the other supplies they deal
n