Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company, Passage to Kiln, 1906 - Porter, Indiana
Main Passage Way Into Kiln, Showing Track Used to Bring Dry Brick From Dryer Direct to Kiln.
Date: 1906
Source Type: Photograph
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: The Clay-Worker, March 1906
Postmark: Not Applicable
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: In 1890, the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company established a large production facility at Porter. Two additional facilities were erected in Porter over the next decade. On October 21, 1904, the plant was destroyed by fire, with the exception of the barns, clay sheds, and some minor buildings. The fire resulted in a loss reported to be $50,000. Early in the spring of 1905 the plant was rebuilt, and the buildings were made to be more fire proof. The image how the brick manufacturing facility in 1906 after it was rebuilt. The facility ceased operations in 1924 when clay was becoming scarce, and thereby too expensive, to make brick manufacturing profitable in the area.
This image was obtained from the following article published in the March 1906 issue in The Clay-Worker:
A MODEL PRESSED BRICK PLANT.
A MODEL PLANT, unique in more than one detail, is that put into commission by the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Co., at the beginning of the season just closed. Located at Porter, Ind., it has risen, Phoenix-like, (with apologies for that thread-bare phrase) from the ashes of the company's first plant, which was destroyed by fire October, 1904.
A device for using the waste heat from the cooling kilns in a dryer into which the brick are run on rack cars directly from the presses and again directly to the kilns, a truss roof stock shed absolutely without center supports to interfere with handling, and a movable shelter shed under which the clay is dug out from the rich clay bank, are among the features which make the Hydraulic's plant at Porter, remarkable among the other pressed brick plants in the country.
The Chicago Pressed Brick Company was incorporated February, 1890. It is controlled by the Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company of St. Louis, which, prior to 1890, had furnished practically ninety per cent. of the face brick of all colors used in Chicago. Operating at Porter, Ind., prior to 1890 were the Purington-Kimbell Brick Company, the Thomas Moulding Company, and the Hinchcliff and Owen Brick Company.
The Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company purchased the yards from the parties last named, and other acreage comprising a total of 420 acres. This area contains the only deposits of clay burning a deep red, within 150 miles of Chicago. As Porter is only 45 miles from Chicago, and with an unlimited supply of clay, the object of the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company in securing this property is self-evident.
The plant up to October 1904 had a capacity of 20,000,000 brick a year. Then came the fire, entirely destroying this valuable and productive plant, at the close of a season when it had been worked to its limit. The Company was not long in preparing the recoup this loss and rebuild the plant. Rebuilding operations commenced March 2, 1905, were completed the following May, and the plant is now the most modern pressed brick plant owned by any company, according to Chicago experts. No expense was spared in rebuilding, and every advantage given be recent patents in handling the product in an up-to-date manner, was eagerly seized by the alert management. E. C. Kimbell himself, had immediate oversight of almost every detail, and spent the greater part of his time down at Porter during the building of the new plant.
The output of the plant during its first year was practically 18,000,000. Being located on the Michigan Central, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railways, with switch connections with the Pere Marquette and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, the shipping facilities are perfect. The plant is equipped to run winter and summer, and since rebuilding, has been run continually to its full capacity.
The officers of the company are: E. C. Eliot, president, St. Louis; F. G. Middlekauff, first vice-president, St. Louis; F. L. Joy, second vice-president and secretary, St. Louis; G. F. Baker, treasurer, St. Louis; and E. C. Kimbell, assistant secretary and general manager, Chicago.
At the Hydraulic's new plant it has been demonstrated for the first time that a pressed brick manufactured by the hydraulic process can be successfully passed through a dryer in which the waste heat from the cooling kilns is used, and this process in addition to turning out a superior product of brick, lessens the cost considerably, as the brick have only one handling from machine to kiln, ready to set. Reference to the cut will show the position of the rack car as bricks are being loaded onto the pallets direct from the machine. This will make it clear to any one interested in the manufacture of pressed brick wherein the advantage of handling brick in this manner lies.
A 50,000 per day Potts machine for the manufacture of sand molded brick, which are also handled through the dryer, is another feature of the plant, and the cut shows also the sand mold clay pit with the track cars are drawn up the incline by cable direct to the disintegrating hopper.
One of the prize features of the plant, however, is the temporary shelter shed which has been installed. This follows along the clay bank as the clay is dug out, enabling the shovelers to work in any kind of weather. This shed is thirty-two feet square. The corner supports are six by eight timbers. The "bank side" of the shelter is seven feet high and runs along the top of the bank on a grooved wheel which rides a track set on a plank. The low side is sixteen feet high and also rides along on grooved wheels set at the two lower corners, these also running on a track bent to a plank. This shed keeps twelve feet of the clay bank under operation. Two tracks run through it and the cars carry the clay away as it is "mined." A volcano stove rests on a platform which is hung from a truss in the roof by rods. The mean leave their dinner pails around this stove and have hot dinners, while on an ordinary winter day the temperature is so hot that the men work with their coats off. The shelter is equally good against the heat of summer, however. The shed is so strong that it has been found possible to explode a two-pound charge of dynamite under it without effecting [sic] it at all, and one man with a crowbar can "pinch," the whole structure along by working at the front wheel.
Another cut shows the main passageway into the kilns, and the track used to bring brick from the dryers direct to the kiln. Three transfer tracks run from the main kiln track, and each car on these tracks is a double transfer car. These double cars run on a four-foot guage [sic]. The pallet or rack cars are on a two-foot guage [sic]. These run out from the dryers to the double transfer cars, aboard the double transfer cars, down the movable tracks, running into the kilns. These movable tracks are also two-foot guage [sic], and the cars are run off the transfer car direct to the kilns.
The interior of the stock shed is also shown in a cut. It is 290 feet long and sixty-four feet wide. Its truss roof and absence of center posts make it absolutely unique. A loading track runs through the center of the shed. It is the first stock shed of its kind used for this purpose.
This model plant is in charge of W. J. Soper, the superintendent, who, with the exception of three years has been with the company since its organization.
Source:
Anonymous. 1906. A Model Pressed Brick Plant. The Clay-Worker 45(3):475-476.
Copyright 2021. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.
Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company, Passage to Kiln, 1906 - Porter, Indiana
Main Passage Way Into Kiln, Showing Track Used to Bring Dry Brick From Dryer Direct to Kiln.
Date: 1906
Source Type: Photograph
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: The Clay-Worker, March 1906
Postmark: Not Applicable
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: In 1890, the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company established a large production facility at Porter. Two additional facilities were erected in Porter over the next decade. On October 21, 1904, the plant was destroyed by fire, with the exception of the barns, clay sheds, and some minor buildings. The fire resulted in a loss reported to be $50,000. Early in the spring of 1905 the plant was rebuilt, and the buildings were made to be more fire proof. The image how the brick manufacturing facility in 1906 after it was rebuilt. The facility ceased operations in 1924 when clay was becoming scarce, and thereby too expensive, to make brick manufacturing profitable in the area.
This image was obtained from the following article published in the March 1906 issue in The Clay-Worker:
A MODEL PRESSED BRICK PLANT.
A MODEL PLANT, unique in more than one detail, is that put into commission by the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Co., at the beginning of the season just closed. Located at Porter, Ind., it has risen, Phoenix-like, (with apologies for that thread-bare phrase) from the ashes of the company's first plant, which was destroyed by fire October, 1904.
A device for using the waste heat from the cooling kilns in a dryer into which the brick are run on rack cars directly from the presses and again directly to the kilns, a truss roof stock shed absolutely without center supports to interfere with handling, and a movable shelter shed under which the clay is dug out from the rich clay bank, are among the features which make the Hydraulic's plant at Porter, remarkable among the other pressed brick plants in the country.
The Chicago Pressed Brick Company was incorporated February, 1890. It is controlled by the Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company of St. Louis, which, prior to 1890, had furnished practically ninety per cent. of the face brick of all colors used in Chicago. Operating at Porter, Ind., prior to 1890 were the Purington-Kimbell Brick Company, the Thomas Moulding Company, and the Hinchcliff and Owen Brick Company.
The Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company purchased the yards from the parties last named, and other acreage comprising a total of 420 acres. This area contains the only deposits of clay burning a deep red, within 150 miles of Chicago. As Porter is only 45 miles from Chicago, and with an unlimited supply of clay, the object of the Chicago Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company in securing this property is self-evident.
The plant up to October 1904 had a capacity of 20,000,000 brick a year. Then came the fire, entirely destroying this valuable and productive plant, at the close of a season when it had been worked to its limit. The Company was not long in preparing the recoup this loss and rebuild the plant. Rebuilding operations commenced March 2, 1905, were completed the following May, and the plant is now the most modern pressed brick plant owned by any company, according to Chicago experts. No expense was spared in rebuilding, and every advantage given be recent patents in handling the product in an up-to-date manner, was eagerly seized by the alert management. E. C. Kimbell himself, had immediate oversight of almost every detail, and spent the greater part of his time down at Porter during the building of the new plant.
The output of the plant during its first year was practically 18,000,000. Being located on the Michigan Central, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railways, with switch connections with the Pere Marquette and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, the shipping facilities are perfect. The plant is equipped to run winter and summer, and since rebuilding, has been run continually to its full capacity.
The officers of the company are: E. C. Eliot, president, St. Louis; F. G. Middlekauff, first vice-president, St. Louis; F. L. Joy, second vice-president and secretary, St. Louis; G. F. Baker, treasurer, St. Louis; and E. C. Kimbell, assistant secretary and general manager, Chicago.
At the Hydraulic's new plant it has been demonstrated for the first time that a pressed brick manufactured by the hydraulic process can be successfully passed through a dryer in which the waste heat from the cooling kilns is used, and this process in addition to turning out a superior product of brick, lessens the cost considerably, as the brick have only one handling from machine to kiln, ready to set. Reference to the cut will show the position of the rack car as bricks are being loaded onto the pallets direct from the machine. This will make it clear to any one interested in the manufacture of pressed brick wherein the advantage of handling brick in this manner lies.
A 50,000 per day Potts machine for the manufacture of sand molded brick, which are also handled through the dryer, is another feature of the plant, and the cut shows also the sand mold clay pit with the track cars are drawn up the incline by cable direct to the disintegrating hopper.
One of the prize features of the plant, however, is the temporary shelter shed which has been installed. This follows along the clay bank as the clay is dug out, enabling the shovelers to work in any kind of weather. This shed is thirty-two feet square. The corner supports are six by eight timbers. The "bank side" of the shelter is seven feet high and runs along the top of the bank on a grooved wheel which rides a track set on a plank. The low side is sixteen feet high and also rides along on grooved wheels set at the two lower corners, these also running on a track bent to a plank. This shed keeps twelve feet of the clay bank under operation. Two tracks run through it and the cars carry the clay away as it is "mined." A volcano stove rests on a platform which is hung from a truss in the roof by rods. The mean leave their dinner pails around this stove and have hot dinners, while on an ordinary winter day the temperature is so hot that the men work with their coats off. The shelter is equally good against the heat of summer, however. The shed is so strong that it has been found possible to explode a two-pound charge of dynamite under it without effecting [sic] it at all, and one man with a crowbar can "pinch," the whole structure along by working at the front wheel.
Another cut shows the main passageway into the kilns, and the track used to bring brick from the dryers direct to the kiln. Three transfer tracks run from the main kiln track, and each car on these tracks is a double transfer car. These double cars run on a four-foot guage [sic]. The pallet or rack cars are on a two-foot guage [sic]. These run out from the dryers to the double transfer cars, aboard the double transfer cars, down the movable tracks, running into the kilns. These movable tracks are also two-foot guage [sic], and the cars are run off the transfer car direct to the kilns.
The interior of the stock shed is also shown in a cut. It is 290 feet long and sixty-four feet wide. Its truss roof and absence of center posts make it absolutely unique. A loading track runs through the center of the shed. It is the first stock shed of its kind used for this purpose.
This model plant is in charge of W. J. Soper, the superintendent, who, with the exception of three years has been with the company since its organization.
Source:
Anonymous. 1906. A Model Pressed Brick Plant. The Clay-Worker 45(3):475-476.
Copyright 2021. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.