The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1901-06-22
That Is the Number Being
Turned Out at the
L'Anse Yard.
NEARLY FORTY EMPLOYEES
And the Number Will be In
creased Next Week-A Hust-
ling Institution.

The installing OF the machinery
at the new brick yard OF the Michi-
gan Supply company has been
completed, and the plant placed in
actual operation. The first brick
was turned out ready for the kiln
last week, and since the beginning
of this week the plant has been
turning out from 10000 to $4,000
brick daily.
Messrs. T. H. and VA. Robinson,
who have charge of the enterprise,
and under whose supervision the
plant was erected, state that in
about ten days the FIRST brick will
be burned, and in the meantime
large kilns are being constructed
for this purpose. At present the
management is short of experienced
brick handlers, such as "wheelers "
and "setters," but this difficulty
will be remedied somewhat when
the men and boys now employed in
that capacity, who are novices at
the business, become familiar with
the work, and others are engaged
and instructed likewise. About
twenty-five men and ten boys are
now employed, and next week ten
more will be put on in the drying
yard. The force will undoubtedly y
be enlarged as the demand for the
product increases.
To those who have never wit
messed the manufacture of brick by
this process, walk down to the
yard when the plant is in operation
would be interesting. The
main point Of interest is the
Chambers "end-cut" brick ma
chine. The machine is fed from
overhead, the clay being hauled
up directly from the clay banks
by horse and dumpcart, the eleva-
tion being reached by means of a
tramway erected from the outside.
After the clay is dumped into the
hopper it passes through series of
evolutions until it is observed COM
ing out Of the machine on rubber
belt in the form of a long, moulded
strip, of the desired width and
thickness. At the end of the
machine is q revolving wheel, on
which are arranged little knives.
The strip of moulded clay passes
under the knives, cutting off bricks
of the proper length, the bricks
still remaining on the moving belt,
which carries them out to the yard.
The knives clip off bricks at an
average rate of 100 minute.
Stationed at a distance of ten or
twelve feet apart are number of
boys who "set" and take the
bricks from the belt, placing them
on wheel barrows especially con-
structed for this purpose. They
are then taken to the "hacks"
where they are placed in long piles.
The "hacks" as they are called,
are simply long piles of brick ar
ranged about half an inch
apart, to admit the air to
aid in drying. The bricks may be
moulded on the Chambers machine
stiff enough to be hacked from
nine to eleven high, direct from the
machine without injury. From the
drying yard the bricks go into the
kiln to undergo the process OF
burning.
About 100000 brick have been
moulded this week and as soon as
the kilns are constructed, will
be burned.
The company has many orders on
hand and the outlook is that the
enterprise will be successful from
the start, and as sale for the pro-
duct increases the facilities for
manufacturing will be enlarged ac.
cordingly. The people of L'Anse
are fortunate in having such a
strong organization behind the en-