The Rome Brick Industry

A Rome Yard that has been operated by the Parry Family for over a third of a Century - The process and the Output - Supplying the local Demand

   One of the old industries of this city and one about which little is said or even known by the average resident is that of brickmaking.  Away back in 1862 or ‘63 John J. Parry acquired a tract of land embracing some thirty acres from the Lynch estate.  This piece of property is situated at the foot of Mill Street, right on the river banks.  There is was that Mr. Parry established the brick yard which has been continuously operated since that time.  During his lifetime it was what was known as a horse-yard, the machinery being operated by horsepower.  A clay bed of good quality located on the property furnishes the main ingredient for the manufacture of the bricks.

On the death of Mr. Parry in 1879 his son, W. W. Parry, assumed the ownership of the plant and continues the business at the present time.  Soon afterward, however, he changed the power of the plant to steam.  Under the old regime the daily capacity was 12,50 brick and by the change of power it was increased to 23,000.

To a novice the process of making bricks is a decidedly interesting one.  The clay is taken from the pit, carted to the platform, where in certain proportions are mixed sand and coal dust, after which it  passes down through the disintegrator, which is a kind of a hopper in which the small stones and other foreign substances are crushed or thrown out.  From the disintegrator the material passes, well pulverized and thoroughly mixed into the pug mill where water is added and the mass made of a proper consistency.  it is then passed into the machine which presses it into a mold and forces it into the die underneath.  The dies are in blocks of six to a tray, and are filled at the rate of ten trays in a minute.  They are then cut clear, which is done by running a knife over the op to the trays and leveling them off, giving each a smooth surface.  The bricks are then taken from the dies and  placed on shelves which are taken and placed in racks to dry.  The dry racks are called pallets and this yard has sixteen of them, each capable of holding 9, 240 brick.  Here the green bricks are left to dry out before they go tot the kiln.  This usually requires a week or more, the length of time varying somewhat as the weather conditions are settled or unsettled.

A green brick measures about 9 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/4 inches, and a thousand of them will weight over three tons.  After it has reached a satisfactory stage in the pallet the brick will show a shrinkage to 7-3/4 x 3-1/4x 2-1/4 inches.  When it has burned not much change is found in the size but the weight per thousand will drop to about two tons.

 In the clay found at this yard there is sufficient oxide of iron to impart to the brick a good red color, without the use of coloring matter to which it is necessary to resort in some places.  The sand is obtained in West Rome, and is mixed with the clay for the two-fold purpose of making the brick stronger and also to overcome to a certain extent the tendency to shrinkage, which the clear clay might possess.  Coal dust is added to the mixture to give the brick a substance which will catch the fire in the burning and give a uniform heat to the brick.

From the pallet the bricks are taken to the place where the kiln is to be erected for the burning.  in Mr. Parry’s yard what is commonly known in the business as a 20 arch kiln is used.  It  contains 400,000 brick.  Each arch is five bricks wide, forty high as they stand on their side and forty, laid lengthwise deep.  The openings of these arches where the fire is  placed are called heads and they are built on a three brick bench and when the twelfth course of brick is laid the end of each fifth brick marks the center of the next adjoining archway.  When the kiln has been erected and before the fires are started the whole pile is surrounded by an outerwall of hard burned bricks which is thoroughly plastered with mud.  This is to aid in keeping the heat confined and also to protect the baking brick from the climatic conditions.

When all is ready for the igniting of the fire it is started just outside each end of all the heads and as the force of the fire is increased, it is gradually pushed in the archways through the heads from each end to meet in the center of the pile.  After several hours one head is closed and the fire is fed from the other, which process is alternated every nine hours.  Fire is kept up for six days and six nights and in that time there is an average of five to six cords of mixed four-foot hard and soft wood consumed in each of the arches, or a total of 100 to 120 cords to a kiln.  When the fires are allowed to die out a week is necessary to elapse before the bricks are cool enough to handle.

Like every business or profession brickmaking is one in which experience plays a very important part.  A man may be a first class brick maker in one yard and a total failure in some other as the clay may contain ingredients of which he knows nothing as regard their characteristics in taking or hold heat.  Then, too, the fires must be carefully watched and the archways given opportunity to cool about once so often in order to prevent the archway being melted and thus causing the whole pile to collapse.

The capacity of Mr. Parry’s plant is about 2,000,000 bricks annually, although its output can be increased to nearly three million if demand makes it necessary.  The product is nearly all used in this city and very little of it is shipped.  The season work runs from May 1 to Oct. 1 to 15, and when business is at hits height twenty men are employed.  This year, however, the  season is cut short by the inability to secure good help and because of unfavorable weather conditions.  For the past 18 years the yard has been in charge of John Finley who was employed at the plant when Mr. Parry’s father ran it, assuming a position there in 1866, since which time he has been employed there more or less regularly.

The season will close with the baking, which will probably be beyond the middle of Next week.