THE AMERICAN BRICK & TILE CO.
The American Brick & Tile Co., of Mason City, Ia., was organized on March 7, 1900, with a capital stock of $50,000. The plant is located on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad with shipping facilities radiating in many different directions. The products are common brick, hollow brick and block and drain tile. The capacity of the works is 50,000 bricks per day. The drying and kiln capacity is fully equal to the making capacity. The raw material is secured close by from a bank of clay, yellow clay on top and blue shale beneath, both strata being of a very fine sedimentary composition. The mixing of the two produces a plastic material which molds nicely and dries and burns with but little waste. Stiff mud machinery is used. The operation of the plant is continued throughout the year employing from 45 to 50 men according to the conditions of the weather, season, etc.
The accompanying illustration shows the factory at its commencement but many improvements have been made since then and more are contemplated in the way of building larger stacks and more kilns. Business so far has been very satisfactory and the prospects for the future are good.
The officers of the company are C. M. Adams, president, A. F. Shotts, secretary, G. E. Winter, treasurer, and C. I. Smith, manager. (Brick and Clay Record, Windsor & Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, August 1903, Volume XIX, Number 2, Page 41)
American Brick & Tile Company
One of the Prosperous New Enterprises of Flourishing Mason City, Where the Next Iowa Convention Will Be Held
Mason City, Iowa, has taken a very important position in the clay-working world. It is probably the largest producer of drain-tile in the country, some 40 carloads being shipped daily from the various plants during the active season.
Mason City has been selected as the place for the next annual convention of the Iowa Brick and Tile Association, to be held in January, and therefore any descriptions of the clay-working plants there will be of especial interest. A number of new enterprises have been launched during the past year or will be in operation before January, and this will help to make the convention city of greater interest, affording practical illustrations of modern methods.
One of the most important of these enterprises is the American Brick & Tile Co., whose plant is located on a 110-acre tract having spur connections with five different railroads. The product of this company includes not only drain tile, but wire-cut building-brick, hollow-brick and hollow-block. The business was established in 1900, but the plant was greatly enlarged during the past year and is now modern and up to date in every respect. The officers of the company are I. I. Nicol, president; G. E. Winter, secretary and treasurer, and C. I. Smith, manager.
The plant is very economically arranged and constructed in a substantial manner. The buildings are built of hollow-brick and cover an area of 212 ft. x 240 ft. The shale mines are conveniently located adjacent to the works and the material consists of a Devonian fat blue shale, showing 52 per cent silica, and a yellow shale showing 5 per cent silica. The mine is worked from the surface, the Hackburg yellow shale overlying the Devonian to a depth of 10 to 14 ft., and the latter having a depth of 30 to 40 ft. The shale is hauled up an incline track by drum and cable to a tipple-dump, and much of this material is used directly without weathering, although for the No. 2 plant, storage room is provided for 2,000 to 3,000 tons.
In preparing the material, Brewer machinery is used, the two crushers and disintegrator having a capacity of about 150 tons in 10 hours. The crusher is of the smooth-roll type. In tempering the clay, some water is used in the Brewer horizontal pug-mill.
This, of course, is a stiff-mud plant and to manufacture the brick, two “No. 10-A Brewer Special” machines are used, and a Taplin-Rice steam press for the large tile.
The elevating and conveying system is very complete, including Taplin-Rice cup-elevators and Brewer belt-conveyor. Double-deck steel dryer-cars are used, having a capacity of 600 brick each, and five double and two single transfers are required.
The first floor of the drying house is provided with the usual tunnel system and the second floor is used for the drying of the large tile. This dryer was designed by the Richardson-Lovejoy Engineering Co., and is built of concrete and hollow-block. It has 57,000 sq. ft. of floor space and 24 tracks for 600 dryer cars. It is heated by waste heat from the cooling kilns and also by exhaust steam, the fans and coils having been furnished by the American Blower Co. From 18 to 24 hours are required for the drying in the tunnels and from two to eight days on the open floors.
The kiln battery consists of 16 round down-draft kilns, each 25 ft. in diameter with 8 furnaces to the kiln, of the slanting-grate, open-mouthed pattern. The common brick are set 36 high and the drain tile 12 high. From 15 to 30 tons of steam coal are used for water-smoking and burning for each kiln. The kiln-flue arrangement is of the triple-draft, open-floor type.
The power plant includes a four-valve Erie City engine of 250 h. p. and a blower engine of 125 h. p., steam being generated in three-horizontal, tubular boilers of 150 h. p. each, furnished by the Erie City Iron Works, pressure to 145 lbs. being maintained.
This plant is in operation the entire 12 months of the year and, notwithstanding its increased capacity since the recent enlargement, it continues to operate full time, and its products have met with great favor. The company has no difficulty in disposing of its entire product and gives promise of a most prosperous future. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, August 1908, Volume XXIX, Number 2, Page 345)