Modern Brick Making Methods

Modern brick-making methods as demostrated at B.J. Forder & Sons Ltd, Bedford.

The film begins with panoramic views of the brick works with its nine chimneys rising above the clay pit. In the clay pit an electric navvy and a Ruston navvy remove top soil. This is taken away by a small locomotive. The long jib excavator is filmed scraping away at the face of the pit. There is a close up shot of the bucket removing clay followed by a long shot of the clay pit and the machines at work.Two methods of removing clay are demonstrated. One shows a small locomotive at work pulling and shunting small wagons. Another shows tracks on rails driven by chain.There are shots of the machinery that feeds the clay into the grinding pass and onto the brick making machines. Men load bricks into the kiln, leaving space between them. A man loads fuel into the kiln and there is an attempted shot of the interior showing the bricks under fire. Bricklayers build a new kiln chamber and there are shots from the power plant showing the various engines. Shots from the engineering workshop show the company making and repairing their own machines and parts.Workmen come down a staircase and return to work loading the locomotive wagons. These are taken away by train. The film ends with a caption giving a resume of Forders Brickworks.

Keywords

Bricks; Brickworks

Intertitles

Panoramic view of Works embracing Clay Pit. Removing Top Soil with Electric Navvy and Ruston Navvy. The Long Jib Excavator at work on the 50 ft face of Clay or Shale. Particular attention is drawn to size of Bucket or Scoop which has a capacity of over three tons. Over 200,000 tons were dug by this machine last year and converted into 55 1/2 million bricks. Notice also the method of loading wagons through dividing Hopper and conveying clay to the factory by means of small Locomotive and Endless Chain. The clay is mechanically fed from towers to Grinding Pass. The ground clay is elevated on to Screens whence it passes by Spiral Conveyor and is fed by gravity into BrickMaking Machines. Battery of Brick Presses, each machine pressing 22 bricks per minute. Transferring bricks from Press Shed to kilns by mechanically operated Transfer Cars. Settling 'Green' bricks in Kiln Chamber. Capacity 20,000.Feeding fuel to Chambers during process of burning and bricks under fire. Repairs:- Bricklayers arching Chambers of Kiln. Power Plant. Two 350 BHP Twin Cylinder 'National' Suction Gas Engines, one 30 BHP Gas Engine, two 75 kilowatt Generators and switchboard. Engineering Shop showing:- Planing Machine at work on Press Parts. Grinding die plates.Lathe boring gas engine bearings. Radial Drilling and Tapping Machine. Slotting Machine cutting keyway in press cam. Pouring Metal into Brick mould or die Boxes to fit die plates. After dinner:- workmen leaving the canteen. The LNW Ry taking away a day's output, 250,000 bricks, sufficient to build 14 houses. Sixty million Bricks were made at this works last year, sufficient to build over 3,000 houses. B.J. Forder & Son Limited.