Alright, let’s yak about them brick cookin’ things, yeah, the kilns, that’s what they call ’em. Don’t rightly know why they gotta use fancy words, but anyways, let’s get down to brass tacks.
So, you wanna make bricks, huh? Well, you gotta have a place for it. They call it a brickyard, or sometimes a brickfield. Makes sense, I guess. It’s just a yard where they make them bricks, cook ’em up real hot, and then stack ’em ’til someone needs ’em. Just like stackin’ firewood, but with bricks.
Now, there’s all sorts of ways to cook these bricks. Some folks use gas, yeah, the same stuff you cook your supper with. They got these big ol’ ovens, they call ’em gas kilns, and they stuff ’em full of bricks. Then, whoosh, they light the gas and let them bricks bake like a pie. Natural gas or propane, they use, makes it hot as blazes in there.
Then there’s these other kilns, been around for ages, they say. Folks been usin’ ’em since way back when. They classify them kilns, you know, put ’em in different groups. Lots of different kinds, some old, some new. It’s like folks and their dogs, all sorts but they all bark somehow.
- Some are big, some are small
- Some are round, some are long
- Some burn this, some burn that
But two main types they talk about a lot are the Bull’s trench kilns and them zigzag kilns. Sounds fancy, don’t it? But it ain’t so complicated. Them Bull’s trench kilns, they got these tall chimneys, like a big stovepipe stickin’ up in the air. They just stack the bricks in a long trench, light the fire, and let it burn slow and steady. Takes a while, but it gets the job done.
Them zigzag kilns, they’re a bit different. They got these fans, they call ’em induced draft fans. Sounds like somethin’ you’d use on a hot day, but it ain’t. These fans suck the hot air through the kiln in a zigzag pattern. That way, the heat gets to all the bricks even-like. They say it’s more efficient, cooks the bricks faster and uses less fuel. But I reckon it costs more to build one of them fancy contraptions. Cheaper ain’t always better and better ain’t always cheaper, you know how it goes.
Why do they use different kilns? Well, it’s all about how much you’re cookin’, how fast you wanna cook it, and how much money you got to spend. Some folks want it done fast, some folks want it done cheap. Some folks care about safety, some don’t. Just like when you buyin’ clothes.
Them gas kilns, they’re pretty clean, don’t make a lot of smoke. And they heat up fast, so you can cook a batch of bricks quick. But gas ain’t always cheap, so it can cost you more in the long run. Then you got them old-fashioned kilns, they might take longer and make more smoke, but they can be cheaper to run if you got the right fuel. Efficiency, safety, and production processes, they say, that’s what matters. Seems to me like it all comes down to how much money you wanna spend and how fast you need them bricks.
It’s like pickin’ between a mule and a tractor. A mule is cheaper, but a tractor gets the work done faster. Each has its own good points and bad points. You just gotta figure out what works best for you. And that’s all there is to it, really. Brick kilns, big and small, old and new, all just cookin’ bricks, one way or another.
No matter how you cook ’em, you still end up with bricks. And bricks, well, they’re good for buildin’ houses, walls, and all sorts of things. So, next time you see a brick building, you remember them kilns, workin’ hard to get them bricks just right. It ain’t easy work, but someone’s gotta do it.
Now, I’ve said my piece. I ain’t no expert, just an old woman who’s seen a thing or two. But I reckon I know a thing or two about bricks and how they get made. It ain’t rocket science, just good ol’ common sense and a whole lotta heat.
Tags: [brick kilns, brickyard, gas kilns, Bull’s trench kilns, zigzag kilns, brick making, brick firing, kiln types, brick production, construction materials]
