Jackson Brick & Tile

E. S. and J. L. Shener of Cullom, Ills., have purchased land near the C. M. & St. Paul Ry. station at Jackson, Minn., and expect to erect a tile factory at once. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, August 30, 1907, Volume XXXI, Number 4, Page 39)

E. S. and J. L. Shearer, Cullom, Ill., are interested in the establishment of a tile factory at Jackson, Minn. These gentlemen have already purchased five acres of land, containing a valuable clay which has been satisfactorily tested. It is expected that the plant costing $20,000 will soon be erected, and that it will employ from 5 to 40 men. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, September 1907, Volume XXVII, Number 3, Page 87)

The new plant of the Jackson (Minn.) Brick & Tile Co. is rapidly nearing completion. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, November 1907, Volume XXVII, Number 5, Page 174)

Jackson Brick & Tile Co. The Jackson Brick & Tile Co., Jackson, Minn., is a company which is erecting a new plant at that point. The heads of the enterprise are E. S. Shearer and S. G. Cass. The plant is located at Jackson on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. The company owns five acres of land. The buildings are substantially constructed and comprise a clay shed, 36x100 ft., machine room, 40 x 60 ft., a dry shed, 18 x 150 ft., and a boiler and machine room. A yellow clay is obtainable of a very plastic character. It is mined by pick and shovel and hauled in cars on a track to the clay-storage shed. From this shed it is taken as required to a 9-ft. Frost dry pan. The crushed material then passes to a piano-wire screen, 5 x 24 ft., and thence to a brickmaking outfit supplied by H. Brewer & Co., Tecumseh, Mich., consisting of a No. 34 pugmill, a No. 9 "B" tile and brick machine and automatic cutting-tables for brick and tile. The machine is equipped with a brick die, two hollow-block dies, and tile dies ranging from 4-in. to 16-in. A belt conveyor connects the storage shed with the dry pan and an elevator the dry pan with the screen.

The products are dried in a Barron steam drier furnished by the Barron Dryer Co., Chicago. This drier has four tracks, is built of brick, and has a capacity of 15,000 brick every 24 hours. In the operation of this drier 72 drier cars are used and 2 transfer cars. Both live and exhaust steam are utilized. The products will be burned in down-draft kilns, of which several are already nearly completed. Each kiln has 6 furnaces and is 26 ft. in diameter. The kilns have open floors and coal will be employed as fuel. The power plant consists of two engines and one 150-h. p. boiler furnished by the Frost Mfg. Co., Galesburg, Ill. The products of the company will be drain tile, all sizes, brick and building block. The working season will extend over 10 months in the year and between 35 and 50 men will be employed. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, December 1907, Volume XXVII, Number 6, Page 216)

E. S. Shearer, president of the Jackson Tile & Brick Co., of Jackson, Minn., is investigating a proposition for putting in an artificial clay drying plant. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, August 1908, Volume XXIX, Number 2, Page 374)

The Jackson Tile & Brick Co. are planning to build some new kilns. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, September 1908, Volume XXIX, Number 3, Page 421)

The Jackson Tile & Brick Co., of Jackson, Minn., is finding the demand for its drain tile being larger than its capacity. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, October 1908, Volume XXIX, Number 4, Page 460)

The Jackson (Minn.) Brick & Tile Co., announces that many improvements will be made at its plant. A steam drying shed 156 ft. x 16 ft. is now under construction. Eighty new triple deck drying cars will be added, with other new machinery, and the output of the factory will be increased from a daily capacity of 15,000 to 50,000. A storage shed holding many tons of clay will also be erected. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, February 1, 1912, Volume XL, Number 3, Page 154)

At Jackson, along the flood plain of the river, there is a deposit of clay of about 20 acres in extent, known to be 5 feet thick. It was developed about six years ago, and the product was used in several buildings in Jackson. Its working and burning properties seem to be excellent, but there are a few limestone pebbles which have caused difficulties. Blue clay is said to lie below it. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout and E. K. Soper, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1914, Page 117)

Page 255. Device for Tempering Clay. In my experience, in plants where dry pans are used, one of the difficult problems is to keep the clay evenly tempered. It either becomes too stiff of too soft, causes breakage and loss of time, which means lost money to the manufacturer. The man who tempers the clay is usually made to shoulder the blame, although the fault is not altogether his. If he has a good device for adding the water to the clay, and then allows the clay column to vary, that is another matter, but using the ordinary faucet, and trust-

Page 256. ing to the "feel" of the clay is not a good way of making uniform ware. The sketch which accompanies this description (not shown here) illustrates a device that I have used for several years, and with it, a man can learn in a very short time, to keep his clay evenly tempered. It gives him three chances to get the clay right before it reaches the machine, for if he does not get enough water with the first valve, there is the second and third at his hand. This simple device does away with the high-priced, experienced clay temperer, and it will be found that it lessens the breakage and loss of time much more than you would imagine, considering its simplicity. – E. O. Fogerty, Jackson, Minn. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, February 2, 1915, Volume XLVI, Number 3)

The Jackson (Minn.) Tile and Brick Company, under the direction of its manager, S. G. Cass, is making many improvements on its plant at that point to enable it to take care of a greatly increased demand for its products. The clay storage sheds are being enlarged to three times their former capacity, a new thirty-foot down-draft kiln is being constructed and an addition is being made to the steam drying sheds. Also a trestle is being built to the storage sheds that will greatly facilitate the hauling of the clay. A gasoline locomotive will supplant a team of horses previously used in hauling the clay cars. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, June 6, 1916, Volume XLVIII, Number 11, Page 1061)

Believes Business Will Come Suddenly. "We believe that the outlook for business for the coming summer is good. It may be a bit slow in starting but we anticipate that it will come big when the confidence of the people is restored." F. F. Carhart of the Jackson (Minn.) Tile & Brick Co., takes this optimistic view of the future. The company is replacing its old auger machine with a No. 233 American which will add to the present capacity of the plant. The Jackson Tile & Brick Co., was formerly owned as a partnership by A. V. Everett and F. F. Carhart, but has now been incorporated with a capital of $150,000. The officers of the new company are A. V. Everett, president; F. F. Carhart, vice-president and treasurer; W. Bruce Robertson, secretary. The other two directors are C. C. Carhart of the Sheffield Brick & Tile Co., and Sheffield Tile Co., both of Sheffield, Ia., and Mrs. Adelaide Dukes of Jackson. F. F. Carhart, who was largely instrumental in completing this corporation is also vice-president of the Sheffield Brick & Tile Co., and Sheffield Tile Co. He was active with these companies until the Spring of 1919, and has been the resident manager of the Jackson Tile & Brick Co., during his partnership with Mr. Everett. (Brick and Clay Record, Industrial Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL, April 19, 1921, Volume 58, Number 8, Page 677)

Using New Tractors on Clay Gatherers. The Jackson (Minn.) Tile & Brick Co., which was recently bought by A. V. Everett and F. F. Carhart, of Marshall, Minn., advise that they are using Fordson tractors on their clay gatherers in place of horses and find that they are doing about twice the work of as many teams. They write: "They are sturdy little machines, are much faster travelers than a horse and one nice feature is that no matter how hot the day, you do not have to stop to give them a breathing spell in the hot clay pit." Mr. Carhart, who is also connected with the Sheffield (Iowa) Brick & Tile Co., is now managing the Jackson plant and hopes to be able to improve the methods of manufacture and so increase the production of the plant. Three thousand square feet of floor space has recently been added to the dryer capacity of the Jackson plant. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, July 27, 1920, Volume 57, Number 2, Page 153)