The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-08


Ing of loads enca.sed In solid stone.
Ii is a mystery how they got there,
and more Particularly how they man
aged to resist the tremendous pres
sure to which they We're subjected a
remarkable experiment Of thfS kind
Was made recently at a brick ma
chine plant at Bucyrus, o. At the
instance Of a society nf physical re-
search a toad was cncAscd in ptere
IF clay which was placed in brick
making machine, and subjected to
the remarkable pressure of 1900
pounds To the square inch. When the
hritk WAS taken out and Opened IL
was found that his toadship was stlll
very much alive and none the worst
for the tremendous squeezing He
was able Immediately thereafter To
pose for his photograph. sitting con-
tentedly on top OF the trick in which
he had been incascd. What Was 1t
that enabled him to resist such
pressure
Tho largest chimney In the world
is made of brick. 1t stands at Great
Fails, Mont, and was buiit for "a btg
smelling company, 1T is 500 feet
hieh---as high as the windows of the
Washington monument For the first
twenty-five feet the chimney ~ octag-
email In shape and thereafter circular.
Is inside diameter is seEenty-tlNe
ftT-F at The base, tapertng 10 nfty
feet Ak the top, 1t is connected with
s feet
long. The bricks were made es-
pcoiaily for IT, II they had been
common bricks nearly six millions
would have been required. The
weight Of the chimney is equivalent
Ia that Of a battlcship like the Nir-
g.nia.
one Of the most interesting cases
that has come before the Interstate
Commerce Commission In recent
Years was brought there by the brick
manufacturers OF Cleveland. O. The
railroads made one rate for one kind
of brick and another rate for another
kind. The brick manufacturers
claimed that a brick is "A brick when
il goes 10 rate making. and that 1t
costs no more to haul Vitrified or "a
pressed }-ftek than 1t does TO trans
port one of the common every day
variety The railroads answered that
their rates We're made in accordance
with the value of the thing hauted,
and that the tariff on high priced
brick was really lower IN proportion
than the rate on common kind. The
Interstate Commerce Commission
could not see how it costs more 10
haul one kind than another, so 1t
decided in favor of the brick manu-
factirers. The result will be the
saving Of four cents hundred pounds
on the shipment of brick from Cleve-
land to New York.
The annual output Of common brick
in the United States amounts to- APP
praximateiy ten -AiliiaR,-IH addition
to these. there are made 60O,00o,00U
front brick, 100000, 000 vitritied paw
ing brick, and others in proportion.
The total clay products made in the
United States each year are worth
about $4,000, 900, Of which $780,
AG0. 600 represents pottery values The
first bricks ever made In the United
States were burned in a Virginia
kiln in 1912, and some of these are
/ sun in use. Before this time all such
building material was imported from
England. and there are dozens of old
houses still standing that have i'm
ported brick in them,
The Geological Survey has made a
careful test of All the huilding ma
terials now in use In the United
States, and has decided that no other
material has the fire resisting quail
ties OF brick In Europe a vastly
larger proportion of buildings are Of
! brick than in the United States, and
all building laws there are extremely
: &iflflkent Inc result Is llat Nnlit
/ in the United States the annual fire
! tax amounts to about $3.50 per capt.
] Ia: in Europe it is held down 10
/ SO cents per capita Emperor Will
liam owns a pottery which nets him
$50 geo a year, and many of the Ger
man buildings are decorated with
terra Gotta pieces from his plant.
! lie himself has some forty homes,
/ hunting lodges and estates, and is a
great believed in brick as a building
material
Statistics show that brick publicity
/ IL beginning 80 pay, IN New York
there were Approximately one-fourth
more brick houses built last year than
the wear before and the value repre-
( scented by them Increased in like ra-
ITO. This applies to fiat buildings as
+ well as to residences. The same is
true Of other cities OF course, a
Part Of this came about by reason OF
the Ict-up of the financial stringency
but not all of il can be explained this
way, as the ratio of increase was
4 larger in the case of brick houses
than of those built of other material
/ The contractors say the fashion IN
( brick construction is changing. Here
tnfore ii has been the custom FOR
walls to he made ~ brick of uniform
size and color, with the smallest pos
sit,le mortar Joints. Now the ten
deney In the finer types OF buildings
Is TO have the bricks of Irregular
sizes and shapes. A Western house
was built recently. SO that by tho
diffcrenre in the color Of the brick
"A beautiful tree was portrayed in one
of tho walls. while in another ar
o1d-time court scene was represented
II this becomes universal fashion
the houses of the future may have
as much arr on the outside lis on tbs
inside,
tTo- morrow--Moving Pictures)