View source for Engineering:Brickworks

{{Short description|Factory where bricks are made}}
{{other|Brickworks (disambiguation)}}

[[File:Brickyard5.jpg|thumb|Large bricks on a conveyor belt in a modern European factory setting]]
A '''brickworks''', also known as a '''brick factory''', is a [[History:Factory|factory]] for the manufacturing of bricks, from [[Earth:Clay|clay]] or [[Chemistry:Shale|shale]]. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay [[Earth:Bedrock|bedrock]] (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for clay on site. In earlier times bricks were made at brickfields, which would be returned to agricultural use after the clay layer was exhausted.

==Equipment==
[[File:Puolimatkan tiilitehdas.jpg|thumb|An old Puolimatka's brick factory in Kissanmaa, Tampere, Finland, in the 1960s]]
Most brickworks have some or all of the following:
*A kiln, for firing, or 'burning' the bricks.
*Drying yard or [[Engineering:Shed|shed]], for drying bricks before firing.
*A building or buildings for manufacturing the bricks.
*A [[Earth:Quarry|quarry]] for clay.
*A pugmill or clay preparation plant (see below).

==Brick making==
Bricks were originally made by hand, and that practice continues in developing countries and with a few specialty suppliers.
Large industrial brickworks supply clay from a quarry, moving it by [[Engineering:Conveyor belt|conveyor belt]] or [[Engineering:Truck|truck]]/lorry to the main factory, although it may be stockpiled outside before entering the machinery. When the clay enters the preparation plant (Clay Prep) it is crushed, and mixed with water and other additives which may include breeze, a very fine [[Chemistry:Anthracite|anthracite]] that aids firing.<ref>
Compare:
{{oed | breeze}} - "breeze, n.3 [...] Small cinders and cinder-dust, used in burning bricks, etc.; small coke and coke-dust."
</ref>
This process, also known as [[Physics:Pugmill|pugmill]]ing, improves the consistency, firing qualities, texture, and colour of the brick. From here, the processed clay can either be extruded into a continuous strip and cut with wires, or be put into [[Engineering:Molding (process)|moulds]] or presses (also referred to as ''forming'') to form the clay into its final shape. 
After the forming or cutting, the bricks must be dried - in the open air, in drying sheds, or in special drying kilns.  The dried bricks must then be fired or "burnt" in a kiln, to give them their final hardness and appearance.
[[File:Ziegelei Schwarting.jpg|thumb|Men working in the yard of a brickworks in Germany, the tall chimney of the kiln visible, 1890]]
[[File:Ciglana EKO Međimurje - stovarište.jpg|thumb| Packed bricks stored in a brickworks in Croatia]]
[[File:Brick production in Songea, Tanzania.jpg|thumb| Bricks set out to dry in [[Place:Songea|Songea]], Tanzania]]
[[File:Building blocks of success (10692932653).jpg|left|thumb| A brick-making machine in Tanzania]]
In the mid-nineteenth century the development of automated brickmaking machines such as the Bradley & Craven Ltd "Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine" revolutionised the brick-manufacturing process.<ref>''The First Hundred Years: the Early History of Bradley & Craven, Limited, Wakefield, England'' by Bradley & Craven Ltd (1963)</ref>

{{As of|2016}}, one of the largest single brickworks site in the world able to manufacture one million bricks per day stands on the banks of the Swan River in Perth in Western Australia.<ref>
[https://www.midlandbrick.com.au/Resources/Blog/October-2016/Celebrating-70-Years Celebrating 70 Years] - "70 years on from our modest beginnings we have grown into one of the largest brickworks, employing the skills and talent of hundreds of West Australians in making the best bricks in the world."
</ref>

==Environmental effects==
Zigzag brick kilns are recommended{{by who|date=October 2022}} over traditional brick kilns because they consume less coal.<ref>[https://cdn.cseindia.org/docs/photogallery/slideshows/TP-cleaner-brick-production-20171211-15-Understanding-Zig-Zag-Sonal-Kumar-and-Rahul-Kumar.pdf Understanding Zig Zag Kilns]</ref>

==Historical notes==
In the past,{{when?|date=May 2019}} clay was often transported from the quarry to the brickworks by narrow gauge railway or aerial ropeway.

==Notable brickworks==
* The London Brick Company
* Bursledon Brickworks<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bursledonbrickworks.org.uk/page.php?pageid=15|title=The History|website=www.bursledonbrickworks.org.uk|publisher=Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum|access-date=14 October 2015|author=Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/things-to-do/bursledon-brickworks-museum-p54783|access-date=14 October 2015|author=Visit Hampshire |title=Bursledon Brickworks Museum}}</ref>
*Brickworks Limited - Australian brick manufacturer
*Evergreen Brickworks

==See also==
*Brickfield
*Masonry
*Program on Energy Efficiency in Artisanal Brick Kilns in Latin America to Mitigate Climate Change

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Molding processes]]

{{Sourceattribution|Brickworks}}