5000. To assist him in the preparation of the soil, &c. from the heap (which is usually dug after the season for brick-making is over, and laid up), there is generally a gang, consisting of six persons one man tempers and prepares the soil, which is done with a hoe made long, in the shape of a mattock, a shovel, scoop, a thick plank or board, and a cuckhold; with the hoe he pulls down the soil from the great heap, which is chopped backwards with the shovel, to turn it as often as may be necessary, to mix and thoroughly incorporate the ashes and soil to gether, because it is to be understood, that at the time the soil is dug out, and made into this heap, a layer of coal ashes is alternately placed between a layer of soil, as often and in such quantities in each layer as the quality of the soil and other circumstances may make necessary. The scoop is used to throw water over this portion that is pulled down with the hoe, in order that it may become, more and more, in a tempering state, more soft and ductile; and with the board he kneads it together, over which a certain quantity of sand is thrown, and it is then covered with pieces of sacking or matting, to keep the sun and air from it. A boy scoops or cuts off a slice, with an instrument or shovel having a short handle, and the blade of it made concave, called a cuckhold; this he brings on his arms to the moulding table, which is placed under a moveable shed, upon which, another boy rolls out a lump somewhat bigger than will fit the mould, the table have been previously strewed with sand. The moulder, after dipping his mould into dry sand, placed at one corner of his table, throws the lump prepared into the mould, and with a flat smooth stick, about eight inches long, previously dipped in a pan of water, strikes off the surplus soil; he then immediately turns out the brick upon a stand, or board, of the same size with the brick; a boy takes it from thence, and places it on a light barrow, with a latticework frame fixed over the frame of the barrow, at about three feet high above the wheel, and reduced to about eighteen inches in height towards the handle, forming an inclined plane. The new made bricks are placed on this lattice frame, and over them sand is thrown in sufficient quantities to prevent their adhering to each other, as well as to prevent, in a certain degree, their cracking in drying while on the hacks. A boy wheels the barrow to the hacks, and places them with great regularity and despatch, one above the other, a little diagonally, in order to give a free passage to the air. Each hack is made wide enough for two bricks, to be placed edgeways across, with a passage between the heads of each brick; they are usually made eight bricks high; the bottom bricks at the end of each hack are old ones. Wheat or rye straw is, in showery weather, carefully laid over the hacks, at least near London, where the brick-makers do not, as in some places distant from the metropolis, go to the expense of roofed coverings, or sheds; their works being too extensive. If the weather is tolerably fine, a few days is sufficient to make them dry enough to be turned, which is done by resetting them more open, and turning them; and six or eight days more are required before they are fit to be put into the clamp or kiln for burning. Bricks throughout the country are generally burnt in a kiln thirteen feet long, by about ten feet and a half wide, and twelve feet in height. It will hold about 20,000 bricks. The walls are one foot two inches thick, carried up a little out of the perpendicular, inclining towards each other at the top. The bricks are placed on flat arches, having holes left in them resembling lattice work; the kiln is then covered with pieces of tiles or bricks, and some wood put in, to dry them with a gentle fire. This continues two or three days before they are ready for burning, which is known by the smoke turning from a darkish color to transparent. The mouth or mouths of the kiln are now dammed up with a shinlog, or pieces of brick piled one upon another, and closed with wet brick earth, leaving above it just room sufficient to receive a faggot. The faggots are made of furze, heath, brake, fern, &c. and the kiln is supplied with these until its arches look white, and the fire appears at the top; upon which it is slackened for about an hour, and the kiln allowed gradually to cool. This heating and cooling is repeated until the bricks are thoroughly burnt, which is generally in forty-eight hours. Near London, when the bricks are sufficiently dried by the air, the clampmaker levels the ground, at one end of the range of hacks, making the foundation of the intended clamp somewhat higher than the surrounding ground; and with place bricks, if they have any, or otherwise with the driest of those just made, makes a foundation of an oblong form, beginning with the flue, which is nearly a brick wide, and running straight through the clamp. In this flue dry bavins, coals, and cinders, vulgarly called breese, are laid and pressed in close, in order that the interstices between wood and coal may be properly filled up. On the sides of the flue, the bricks are placed diagonally about one inch asunder, and between each layer of bricks three or four inches of breese are strewed, and in this manner they build tier upon tier as high as the clamp is meant to be; never omitting between each layer, as well as between each brick that is placed diagonally, to put a due portion of breese. When they have made the clamp about six feet long, another flue is made similar in every respect to the preceding, to the extent of the size of the intended clamp, provided only that the bricks are meant to be burnt off quick, which they will be in about twenty-one or thirty days, according as the weather may suit. But if there is no immediate hurry for the bricks, the flues are placed about nine feet asunder, and the clamp left to burn off slowly. When the fire is set to the clamp, and it burns well, the ash-hole, being placed at the west end generally, the mouths are stopped with bricks, and clay laid against them; the outsides of the clamps are plastered with clay if the weather is at all precarious, or the fire burns furiously; and to the end against which addition is made to the clamp, skreens made of reeds worked into frames about six feet high, and sufficiently wide to be moved about with ease, are placed to keep off the weather, and against any particular side where wet is 1 most prevalent. On the top of the clamp a thick layer of breese is uniformly laid. The excellency of bricks, says Mr. Malcolm, consists chiefly in the first and last operation; for bricks made of good earth, and well tempered, become solid and ponderous, and therefore will take up a longer time in drying and burning than our common bricks seem to require. It is also to be observed, that well drying of bricks, before they are burned, prevents cracking and crumbling in their burning; for when the bricks are too wet, the parts are prevented from adhering together. The best way of ordering the fire is, to make a gentle fire at first, and increase it by degrees, as the bricks grow harder. It has been said to give bricks additional strength if after burning they are steeped in water and burnt afresh. The common computation is, that every acre of land will yield one million of bricks, in every foot in depth, including ashes, which are usually mixed with it. In general our fields are shallow, with a bottom of gravel, yet we think they will average nearly five feet, though we believe we have none that will run twelve or more feet, as about Kingsland; at least such is Mr. Malcolm's information on this subject. Among modern improvements, the patent bricks of Mr. Cartwright deserve some attention. These are formed with a groove down the middle, a little more than half the width of the side of the brick, leaving two shoulders, each of which will be nearly equal to one-half the groove. When they are laid in courses, the shoulders of the first course fit into the grooves of the second, and the shoulders of the second fall into the grooves of the first, thus forming an indented line of nearly equal divisions. The grooves, however, ought to be somewhat wider than the two adjoining shoulders, to allow for mortar, &c. The construction of these bricks is perfectly simple; but the principle will be preserved, in whatever form of indenture they may be made to lock into, or cramp each other. Brick walls, constructed upon this principle, require no bond timber, one universal bond connecting the whole building, which can neither crack nor bulge out without breaking through the bricks themselves. This invention is also particularly useful in the construction of arches; and when employed for this purpose, the shoulders of the bricks and the sides of the grooves should be radii of the circle, of which the intended arch is a segment. It is, however, recommended that if the arch be particularly flat, or applied in situations which do not admit of end walls, to have the shoulders dovetailed, to prevent the arch cracking across, or giving way edgeways. In forming an arch, the bricks must be coursed across the centre, and the grooved side of the bricks must face the workmen. The bricks may be either laid in mortar, or dry and the interstices filled up by pouring in lime putty, Paris plaster, or any other convenient material. The obvious advantages of arches constructed upon this principle, are, that the same centre, which, whatever be the breadth of the arch, may be in no case many feet wide, may be regularly shifted as the work proceeds; and, as they have no lateral pressure, they require no abutments to prevent their expanding at the foot, nor any weight upon the crown to preven their springing up. They may be laid upon a common perpendicular wall, and if used in the construction of common buildings, they will not only preclude the necessity, and save the expense of timber, but will also afford an absolute security against the possibility of fire. A M. Legressier has also lately announced an invention of the kind in the Archives des Decouvertes et des Inventions Nouvelles, pendant l'annee 1809. The principle is Mr. Cartwright's followed out to a greater extent. M. Legressier merely proposes, that the bricks should be formed in seven different moulds, according as they are to be placed in the middle or outside of the walls; in the bottom or on the top; in the arches or in corners; and, by the proper disposition of these bricks in the building, every pressure, either longitudinally or laterally, is resisted, in proportion to the strength of the indentures by which they are locked. Fire-bricks are of different materials to common bricks; but made in the same way. The best clay for them is Stourbridge clay; and, instead of sand, it is usual to mix the clay with a quantity of old fire-bricks, crucibles, or glass pots, reduced to powder. The kinds of bricks made in this country, are principally placebricks, gray, and red stocks, marle facing bricks, and cutting bricks. The place bricks and stocks are used in common walling. The marles are made in the neighbourhood of London, and used in the outside of buildings; they are of a beautiful yellow color, hard, and well burnt, and in every respect superior to the stocks. The finest kind of marle and red bricks, are called cutting bricks, and are used in the arches over windows and doors, being rubbed to a centre, and gauged to a height. There is also a fine kind of white bricks made near Ipswich, which are used for facing, and sometimes brought to London for that purpose. In Sweden it is said to be customary, at some of the iron foundries, to cast the scoriæ into bricks, which they employ in constructing their furnaces. Any quantity of such bricks could then be produced by some of our large iron foundries; ard it is surprising that a recommendation upon this subject, long since given, has never been acted upon by them. As articles of taxation, and furnishing a considerable revenue to Government, the size of bricks has been regulated by act of parliament. They must not be less than eight inches and a half long, two and a half thick, and four inches wide. But for specific purposes, they are allowed to be made of different sizes. BRICKING, among builders, the counter feiting of a brick wall on plaster. It is done by smearing it over with red ochre, and making the joints with an edged tool; these last are afterwards filled with a fine plaster. The BRICKLAYERS in London are a regular company, which was incorporated in 1568; and consists of a master, two wardens, twenty assistants, and seventy-eight on the livery. BRICKLAYERS' TOOLS. These are 1. The trowel, for taking up and spreading the mortar, in order to cement the bricks together, and for cutting them to any shape required. 2. The hammer. 3. The plumb rule, generally about four feet long, and used with a plumb line, to carry the faces the soffits across the breadth of the bricks. 21. The bevel, for drawing the soffit line on the face of bricks. 22. The mould, used in giving form to the back and face of the brick, that it may have its thickness reduced to its proper taper, to which end one edge of the mould (which has a notch for every course of the arch), is brought close to the bed of the brick already squared. 23. The scribe, any piece of iron ground to a point, to mark by the edge of the rule or mould. 24. The tin-saw, for cutting the lines upon the bricks about one-eiguth of an inch deep, that when the axe is used the edges may not spalter away. It is also used in cutting the soft through its breadth, in the direction of the tapering lines, drawn on the face and back of the brick; the cut being made deeper on the face and back than in the middle of its thickness, for the purpose of entering the axe. The saw is likewise useful in cutting false joints. 25. The brick are is used for axing off the soffits of bricks to the scribes, and saw cuttings. The more care that is taken in axing, the less will be the labor of rubbing. 26. The tamplet is used in taking the length of the stretches and width of the header.-The last ten articles relate to the cutting of gauged arches. The chopping block is any convenient piece of wood, placed so as to be three inches from the ground, supported either on legs or piers, and used for axing bricks upon. Its length must be according to the number of men that are to work at it. The float stone is used to rub the curved surface of the bricks smooth; it is necessary to bring it as near as possible to the figure of the surface intended to be rubbed, before the operation is begun. BRICK-LAYING, the art of framing edifices of bricks. This business in London includes tiling, walling, chimney-work, and paving with bricks and tiles. In the country it is very common for the same person to exercise masoury, brick-laying, and plastering. In laying bricks in the winter season, they should be kept as dry as possible. In the summer, on the contrary, it will quit cost to employ boys to wet them; for they will then unite with the mortar better than if dry, and will make the work stronger. Where it is thought too much trouble to dip all the bricks separately, water may be thrown on each course after they are laid, as was done at the building of the Physician's College, by order of Dr. Hooke. In working up a wall, it will be proper not to work more than four or five feet at a time, for as all walls, immediately after building, shrink, the part which is first brought up will remain stationary, and when the adjoining part is raised to the same height, a shrinking or settling will take place, and separate the former from the latter, causing a crack, which will become more and more evident as the work proceeds. In carrying up any particular part, each side should be sloped off, to receive the bond of the adjoining work on the right and left. Nothing but absolute necessity can justify the work being carried higher, in any particular part, than one scaffold, for, wherever it is done, the workman is certainly answerable for all the evil which may arise from such palpable error. N There are two kinds of bond in brick-work, which differ materially from each other, and as the subject is of the highest importance to the bricklayer, we shall lay before our readers some remarks contained in a pamphlet, written on this subject, by Mr. G. Saunders, who has treated it with a degree of attention which its importance requires. Bricks laid lengthways in the direction of the wall are called stretchers, and those laid in an opposite way crossing the direction of the wall, are called headers. Old English bond is a continuation of one kind throughout, in the same course or horizontal layer, and consists of alternate layers of headers and stretchers, the headers serving to bind the wall together, in a longitudinal direction, or lengthways; the stretchers to prevent the wall splitting crossways, or in a transverse direction. Of these two evils, the former is by much the worst kind, and is therefore much dreaded by the bricklayer.' Mr. Saunders is of opinion, that old English brick-work is the best security against these accidents, as work of this kind, wheresoever it is so much undermined as to cause a fracture, is not subject to either of the above evils, but separates by breaking through the solid brick, just as if the wall were composed of one entire piece. The brick-work of the Romans was of this kind of bond, but the specimens of their work, which remain, are of great thickness, and have three or sometimes more courses of brick laid at certain intervals of the height, stretchers on stretchers, and headers on headers, opposite the return wall, and sometimes at certain distances in the length, forming piers, that bind the wall together in a transverse direction. The intervals between these piers were filled up, and formed pannels of rubble or reticulated work; consequently great substance with strength was economically obtained. Flemish bond, which is the second kind, consists in placing in the same course alternate headers and stretchers, which disposition, accor ding to our author, is decidedly inferior in every thing but in appearance, and even in this, the difference is so trifling, that few common observers would be struck with any great superiority, that the former possesses over the latter. To obtain this, strength is sacrificed, and bricks of two qualities are fabricated for the purpose; a firm brick often rubbed, and laid in what the workmen term a putty joint, for the exterior, and an inferior brick for the interior substance of the wall. As these did not correspond in thickness, the exterior and interior surface of the wall, would not be otherwise connected together, than by an outside heading brick that was here and there continued of its whole length. But as the work does not admit of this at all times, from the want of agreement in the exterior and interior courses these headers can only be introduced where such a correspondence takes place, which sometimes may not occur for a considerable space. Walls of this kind consist of two faces of four inch work, with very little to connect them together, and, what is still worse, the interior face often consists of brick, little better than rubbish. Notwithstanding this, the practice of Flemish, bond has continued from the time of William and Mary, when it was introduced with many other Dutch fashions; and our workmen are so infatuated with this practice, that there is scarcely an instance to be seen of the old English bond. To the Flemish bond alone must be attributed the frequent splitting of walls into two thicknesses, and various schemes have been from time to time adopted for the prevention of this formidable defect. Some have laid laths or slips of hoop iron, occasionally, in the horizontal joints between the two courses; others lay diagonal courses of bricks at certain heights from each other; but the good effect of this last practice is much doubted, as in the diagonal course, by their not being continued to the outside, the bricks are much mangled where the strength is wanted. Many other practices are enumerated, to unite complete bond with Flemish facings, but with no better success. For the walls of cottages and small buildings, the system of working walls hollow is attended with many advantages. Cottages in exposed situations in the country, which are built with a nine inch wall, solid, from the porous nature of the bricks, are damp and uncomfortable; the rain passing from the external to the internal part of the wall. The plan of building walls hollow, as shown in fig. 1, consists in placing a course of alternate headers and stretchers on cage A, and the backing course is like it, leaving an interval between of the width of a half brick; these are then covered with a heading course, B, laid flat, and the system is pursued until the whole height required be attained. Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a section of the wall, showing the intervals in the same, and describing the construction of it. It will be seen by inspection that these walls possess the desirable qualities of cheapness and durability, as, from the continued dryness of them, the timbers of roofs, &c. which are laid in them, are not so liable to decay; and the saving of bricks will be 1500 in a rod of reduced work; and the quantity of mortar less by a third than in the usual way. This system may be well applied to garden walls (with piers about ten feet apart), as the walls retain the heat in summer; and, from their being hollow, admit the air, so that they are always dry. In the old English bond, the outside of the last course points out how the next is to be laid, so that the workmen cannot easily err. See ARCHITECTURE. BRICK-MAKING is mostly performed at some small distance from cities and towns; and though some, through ignorance, look upon it as a very mean employment, because laborious, yet the masters about London, and other capital cities, are generally men of substance. BRICKS. BRIDE, n. s. BRIDAL, n. s. & adj. BRIDE BED, n. s. BRIDE'CAKE, BRIDE CHAMBER, BRIDE'MAID, BRIDE GROOM, See Goth. brud; Swed. and Dan. brud; Belgic bruid; Teut. braut; Ang.-Sax. bryd; Arm. bried; Welsh priod; from Goth. reda, bereda; Sax. beredian; Teut. beraten, to be BRIDE'STAKE. trothe; to solemnise legally. Goth. rad, Teut. beyrath, signified marriage ceremony; and Sax. bryd was applied to any married woman. Tooke, however, is confident that bride is the past participle of the Ang.-Sax. bredan, to nourish, to cherish; and that groom is the past participle of the Ang.-Sax. verb gyman, to take care of; to girdle; to guard; to attend. So that, according to him, the bride is any woman nourished, cherished; and the bridegroom is the person by whom the nourished, cherished one, is attended, served, protected. Bruder, in Runick, signifies a beautiful woman; and all women at the time of their marriage are deemed by their lovers the fairest of their sex: hence the present appropriation of the term to a new married woman: bridal, as a substantive, is a nuptial festival; as an adjective, belonging to a wedding; connubial: brideman and bridemaid, attendants on the bride and bridegroom: bridestake, a post stuck in the ground, like a maypole, to dance round at a wedding: the other derivatives require no explanation. Help me mine own love's praises to resound, Spenser The amorous bird of night Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening star, On his hill-top to light the bridal lamp. Milem. Id. Your ill meaning politician lords, Under pretence of bridal friends and guests, Appointed to await me thirty spies. When to my arms thou brought'st thy virgin love, Dryden. Fair angels sung our bridal hymn above. Why happy bridegroom! Why dost thou stea! away so soon to bed? Id. In Death's dark bowers our bridals we will keep, And his cold hand Shall draw the curtain when we go to sleep. Dryden. The day approached, when fortune should decide The' important enterprize, and give the bride. Full many an age old Hymen hath not spied So kind a bridegroom, and so bright a bride. Pape. For her the spouse prepares the bridal ring, For her white virgins hymenæals sing. Oh early lost! oh fitter to be led With all the pomp of woe, and sorrow's pride! Id. Walsh. Rowe. In cheerful splendour to the bridal bed! He would contribute more to reformation than all the workhouses and bridewells in Europe. Spectater. BRIDEWELL, near Fleet Street, is a foundation of a mixed and singular nature, partaking of the hospital, the prison, and the workhouse; it was founded in 1553 by Edward VI., who gave the place where king John formerly kept his court, and which had been repaired by Henry VIII., to the city of London, with 700 merks of land, bedding, and other furniture. Several youths are sent to the hospital as apprentices to manufacturers who reside there. Having faithfully served for seven years, they have their freedom, and a donation of £10 each, for carrying on their respective trades. BRIDEWELL is also a workhouse for vagrants, strumpets, and other disorderly persons: who are made to work; being maintained with clothing and diet; and, when it seems good to their governors, they are sent by passes to their native countries. While they remain in Bridewell they are not only made to work, but, according to their crimes, receive once a fortnight such a number of stripes as the governor commands. BRIDGE, n. s. & v. a. Goth. bro. brigg: Swed. bryggia; Teut. brucke; Sax brue; Dan. bre; Russ. brod, borod; Pers. barah; from the verb to bear. A platform or arch over water; |