THE COST OF TILES--TILE MACHINES.
Prices far too high; Albany Prices.--Length of Tiles.--Cost in
Suffolk Co., England.--Waller's Machine.--Williams' Machine.--Cost
of Tiles compared with Bricks.--Mr. Denton's Estimate of
Cost.--Other Estimates.--Two-inch Tiles can be Made as Cheaply as
Bricks.--Process of Rolling Tiles.--Tile Machines.--Descriptions of
Daines'.--Pratt & Bro.'s.
The prices at which tiles are sold is only, as the lawyers say, _prima
facie_ evidence of their cost. It seems to us, that the prices at which
tiles have thus far been sold in this country, are very far above those
at which they may be profitably manufactured, when the business is well
understood, and pursued upon a scale large enough to justify the use of
the best machinery. The following is a copy of the published prices of
tiles at the Albany Tile Works, and the same prices prevail throughout
New England, so far as known:
_Horse-shoe Tile--Pieces._
2-1/2 inches rise $12 per 1000.
3-1/2 " " 15 "
4-1/2 " " 18 "
5-1/2 " " 40 "
6-1/2 " " 60 "
7-1/2 " " 75 "
_Sole-Tile--Pieces._
2 inches rise $12 per 1000.
3 " " 18 "
4 " " 40 "
5 " " 60 "
6 " " 80 "
8 " " 125 "
Few round pipe-tiles have yet been used in this country, although they
are the kind generally preferred by engineers in England. The prices of
round tiles would vary little from those of sole-tiles.
Tiles are usually cut fourteen inches long, and shorten, in drying and
burning, to about twelve and a half inches, so that, with breaking and
other casualties, they may be calculated to lay about one foot each;
that is to say, 1,000 tiles may be expected to lay 1,000 feet of drains.
To assist those who desire to manufacture tiles for sale, or for private
use, it is proposed to give such information as has been gathered from
various sources as to the cost of making, and the selling prices of
tiles, in England. The following is a memorandum made at the residence
of Mr. Thomas Crisp, at Butley Abbey, in Suffolk Co., Eng., from
information given the author on the 8th of July, 1857:
"Mr. Crisp makes his own tiles, and also supplies his neighbors who need
them. He sells one and a half inch pipes at 12s. ($3) per 1,000. He pays
5s. ($1.25) per 1,000 for having them made and burnt. His machine is
Waller's patent, No. 22, made by Garrett and Son, Leiston, Saxemundham,
Suffolk. It works by a lever, makes five one and a half inch pipes at
once, or three sole-tiles about two-inch. The man at work said, that he,
with a man to carry away, &c., could make 4,000 one and a half inch
pipes per day. They used no screen, but cut the clay with a wire. The
machine cost L25 (about $125). At the kiln, which is permanent, the
tiles are set on end, and bricks with them in the same kiln. They
require less heat than bricks, and _cost about half as much_ as bricks
here, which are moulded ten inches by five.
"Two girls were loading bricks into a horse-cart, and two women
receiving them, and setting them in the kiln. They made roof-tiles with
the same machine, and also moulded large ones by hand. The wages of the
women are about 8d. (sixteen cents) per day."
At the exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society, in England, the
author saw Williams' Tile Machine in operation, and was there informed
by the exhibitor, who said he was a tile-maker, that it requires
_five-sevenths as much coal_ to burn 1,000 two-inch tiles, as 1,000
bricks--the size of bricks being 10 by 5; and he declared, that he, with
one boy, could make with the machine, 7,000 two-inch tiles per day,
after the clay is prepared. Of course, one other person, at least, must
be employed to carry off the tiles.
Mr. Denton gives his estimates of the prices at which pipe-tiles may be
procured in England, as follows--the prices, which he gives in English
currency, being translated into our own:
"When ordinary agricultural labor is worth $2 50 per week, pipes
half one and a half inch, and half two-inch, maybe taken at an
average cost of $4 38 per 1,000. When labor is $3 00 per week, the
pipes will average $5 00 per 1,000, and when labor is $3 50, they
will rise to $5 62."
He adds: "In giving the above average cost of materials, those
districts are excluded from consideration, where clay suitable for
pipes, exists in the immediate vicinity of coal-pits, which must
necessarily reduce the cost of producing them very considerably."
Taking the averages of several careful estimates of the cost of tiles
and bricks, from the "Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," we have the price of
tiles in England about $5 per 1,000, and the price of bricks $7.87, from
which the duty of 5s. 6d. should be deducted, leaving the average price
of bricks $6.50. Upon tiles there is no such duty. Bricks in the United
States are made of different sizes, varying from 8 x 4 in. to the
English standard 10 x 5 in. Perhaps a fair average price for bricks of
the latter size, would be not far from $5 per 1,000; certainly below
$6.50 per 1,000. There is no reason why tiles may not be manufactured in
the United States, as cheaply, compared with the prices of bricks, as in
England; and it is quite clear that tiles of the sizes named, are far
cheaper there than common bricks.
What is wanted in this country is, first, a demand sufficient to
authorize the establishment of works extensive enough to make tiles at
the best advantage; next, competent skill to direct and perform the
labor; and, finally, the best machinery and fixtures for the purpose. It
is confidently predicted, that, whenever the business of tile-making
becomes properly established, the ingenuity of American machinists will
render it easy to manufacture tiles at English prices, notwithstanding
the lower price of labor there; and that we shall be supplied with small
tiles in all parts of the country at about the current prices of bricks,
or at about one half the present Albany prices of tiles, as given at the
head of this chapter. It should be mentioned here, perhaps, that, in
England, it is common to burn tiles and bricks together in the same
kiln, placing the tiles away from the hottest parts of the furnace; as,
being but about half an inch in thickness, they require less heat to
burn them than bricks.
In the estimates of labor in making tiles in England, a small item is
usually included for "rolling." Round pipes are chiefly used in England.
When partly dried, they are taken up on a round stick, and rolled upon a
small table, to preserve their exact form. Tiles usually flatten
somewhat in drying, which is not of importance in any but round pipes,
but those ought to be uniform. By this process of rolling, great
exactness of shape, and a great degree of smoothness inside, are
preserved.
TILE MACHINES.
Drainage with tiles is a new branch of husbandry in America. The cost of
tiles is now a great obstacle in prosecuting much work of this kind
which land-owners desire to accomplish. The cost of tiles, and so the
cost of drainage, depends very much--it may be said, chiefly--upon the
perfection of the machinery for tile-making; and here, as almost
everywhere else, agriculture and the mechanic arts go hand in hand.
Labor is much dearer in America than in Europe, and there is, therefore,
more occasion here than there, for applying mechanical power to
agriculture. We can have no cheap drainage until we have cheap tiles;
and we can have cheap tiles only by having them made with the most
perfect machinery, and at the lowest prices at which competing
manufacturers, who understand their business, can afford them.
In the preceding remarks on the _cost of tiles_, may be found estimates,
which will satisfy any thinking man that tiles have not yet been sold in
America at reasonably low prices.
To give those who may desire to establish tileries, either for public or
private supply, information, which cannot readily be obtained without
great expense of English books, as to the prices of tile machines, it is
now proposed to give some account of the best English machines, and of
such American inventions as have been brought to notice.
It is of importance that American machinists and inventors should be
apprised of the progress that has been made abroad in perfecting tile
machines; because, as the subject attracts attention, the ingenuity of
the universal Yankee nation will soon be directed toward the discovery
of improvements in all the processes of tile-making. Tiles were made by
hand long before tile machines were invented.
A Mr. Read, in the "Royal Agricultural Journal," claims to have used
_pipe_ tiles as early as 1795, made by hand, and formed on a round
stick. No machine for making tiles is described, before that of Mr.
Beart's, in 1840, by which "common tile and sole (not pipes or tubes)
were made." This machine, however, was of simple structure, and not
adapted to the varieties of tiles now used.
All tile machines seem to operate on the same general principle--that of
forcing wet clay, of the consistency of that used in brick-making,
through apertures of the desired shape and size. To make the mass thus
forced through the aperture, _hollow_, the hole must have a piece of
metal in the centre of it, around which the clay forms, as it is pushed
along. This centre piece is kept in position by one or two thin pieces
of iron, which of course divide the clay which passes over them, but it
unites again as it is forced through the die, and comes out sound, and
is then cut off, usually by hand, by means of a small wire, of the
required length, about fourteen inches.
Tile machines work either vertically or horizontally. The most primitive
machine which came to the author's notice abroad, was one which we saw
on our way from London to Mr. Mechi's place. It was a mere upright
cylinder, of some two feet height, and perhaps eight inches diameter, in
which worked a piston. The clay was thrown into the cylinder, and the
piston brought down by means of a brake, like an old-fashioned pump, and
a single round pipe-tile forced out at the bottom. The force employed
was one man and two boys. One boy screened the clay, by passing through
it a wire in various directions, holding the wire by the ends, and
cutting through the mass till he had found all the small stones
contained in it. The man threw the masses thus prepared, into the
cylinder, and put on the brake, and the other boy received the tiles
upon a round stick, as they came down through the die at the bottom, and
laid them away. The cylinder held clay enough to make several, perhaps
twenty, two-inch pipes. The work was going on in a shed without a floor,
and upon a liberal estimate, the whole establishment, including shed and
machine, could not cost more than fifty dollars. Yet, on this simple
plan, tiles were moulded much more rapidly than bricks were made in the
same yard, where they were moulded singly, as they usually are in
England. It was said that this force could thus mould about 1,800 small
tiles per day.
This little machine seems to be the same described by Mr. Parkes as in
general use in 1843, in Kent and Suffolk Counties.
Most of the tile machines now in use in England and America, are so
constructed, as to force out the tiles upon a horizontal frame-work,
about five two-inch, or three three-inch pipes abreast. The box to
contain the clay may be upright or horizontal, and the power may be
applied to a wheel, by a crank turned by a man, or by horse, steam, or
water power, according to the extent of the works.
We saw at the Exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society, at
Salisbury, in England, in July, 1857, the "pipe and tile machine," of W.
Williams, of Bedford. It was in operation, for exhibition, and was
worked by one man, who said he was a tile maker, and that he and one boy
could make with the machine 7,000 two-inch tiles per day, after the clay
was prepared in the pug mill. Four tiles were formed at once, by clay
passed through four dies, and the box holds clay enough for thirty-two
two-inch tiles, so that thirty-two are formed as quickly as they can be
removed, and as many more, as soon as the box can be refilled.
The size, No. 3, of this machine, such as we then saw in operation, and
which is suitable for common use, costs at Bedford $88.50, with one set
of dies; and the extra dies, for making three, four, and six-inch pipes,
and other forms, if desired, with the _horses_, as they are called, for
removing the tiles, cost about five dollars each.
This, like most other tile machines, is adapted to making tiles for
roofs, much used in England instead of shingles or slates, as well as
for draining purposes.
There are several machines now in use in England namely: Etheridge's,
Clayton's, Scragg's, Whitehead's, and Garrett's--either of which would
be satisfactory, according to the amount of work desired.
We have in America several patented machines for making tiles, of the
comparative merits of which we are unable to give a satisfactory
judgment. We will, however, allude to two or three, advising those who
are desirous to purchase, to make personal examination for themselves.
We are obliged to rely chiefly on the statements of the manufacturers
for our opinions.
[Illustration: DAINES' DRAIN TILE MAKER]
Daines' American Drain Tile Machine is manufactured at Birmingham,
Michigan, by John Daines. This machine is in use in Exeter, N. H., close
by the author's residence, and thus far proves satisfactory. The price
of it is about $100, and the weight, about five hundred pounds. It
occupies no more space than a common three-and-a-half foot table, and is
worked by a man at a crank. It is capable of turning out, by man power,
about two hundred and fifty two-inch tiles in an hour, after the clay is
prepared in a pug mill. Horse or water power can be readily attached to
it.
We give a drawing of it, not because we are sure it is the best, but
because we are sure it is a good machine, and to illustrate the
principle upon which all these machines are constructed.
Pratt's Tile Machine is manufactured at Canandaigua, New York, by Pratt
& Brothers, and is in use in various places in that State as well as
elsewhere. This machine differs from Daines' in this essential matter,
that here the clay is _pugged_, or tempered, and formed into tiles at
one operation, while with Daines' machine, the clay is first passed
through a pug mill, as it is for making bricks in the common process.
Pratt's machine is worked by one or two horses, or by steam or water
power, as is convenient. The price of the smaller size, worked by one
horse, is $150, and the price of the larger size, worked by two horses,
$200. Professor Mapes says he saw this machine in operation and
considers it "perfect in all its parts." The patentees claim that they
can make, with the one-horse machine, 5,000 large tiles a day. They
state also that "two horses will make tiles about as cheap as bricks are
usually made, and as fast, with the large-sized machine."
[Illustration: Fig. 53.--PRATT'S TILE MACHINE.]
These somewhat indefinite statements are all that we can give, at
present, of the capacity of the machines. We should have no hesitation
in ordering a Pratt machine were we desirous of entering into an
extensive business of Tile-making, and we should feel quite safe with a
Daines' machine for a more limited manufacture.
SALISBURY'S TILE MACHINE.
S. C. Salisbury, at the Novelty Works, in the city of New York, is
manufacturing a machine for making tiles and bricks, which exhibits some
new and peculiar features, worthy of attention by those who propose to
purchase tile machines. Prof. Mapes expresses the confident opinion that
this machine excels all others, in its capacity to form tiles with
rapidity and economy. We have examined only a working model. It is
claimed that the large size, with horse-power, will make 20,000 two-inch
tiles per day, and the hand-power machine 3,000 per day. We advise tile
makers to examine all these machines in operation, before purchasing
either.