Brick Making Equipment

What did the equipment look like and how did it work?  Unfortunately, most of the brick making equipment in Oakleigh was sold when the plant closed.  However, there is a display of some equipment in situ at Brickmakers Park in Oakleigh Victoria that was used at Gambles Brickworks. 

Lancaster Boiler

1         The process is powered by a powerful electric motor.  Originally, steam engines, powered by boilers were used.  This motor was 50 horsepower, that is real horsepower, not brake horsepower.

  

 2          Power was  transmitted to a large pulley wheel attached to a drive shaft.

3          The drive shaft had a number of take-off wheels that had drive belts to operate other machinery.

4          There are two types of take-off wheels, each held a different type of belt.  The solid wheel had a wide belt, originally made of leather.  The slotted wheel held several belts.  These belts could be made from leather, rubber or later, some synthetic composites.  A flat leather belt was the easiest method to transmit power from the engine to the equipment.  They were replaced later by vee belts; that is why there are two types of wheels on the shaft. 

1                    Leather belts are joined by cemented lap joints and large staples.  They run in the direction of the bottom edge of the splice going over the pulley first so the joint would close.  Tension on the belt was released when not in use.  Belts were constantly being lubricated and shortened to extend their useful life.  New clips were used each time.  Belts were lubricated to replace the oils lost in the tanning process.  Vee belts were a rubber/canvas mixture.

6          The large slotted wheel took the power and operated the brick press. 

7          The moulds on the brick press.

Why did some brick makers continue to use downdraught kiln when most other brickworks used “Hoffman” kilns?  The answer is quality and control and colour matching.  They were well fired, free from cracks and distortion with sharp well-defined edges.  Some makers also made a variety of custom brick and tile to suit special jobs. 

Pipes were sometimes made in beehive kilns; an intermittent kiln, circular in plan, with fireboxes arranged around the circumference.  Pipes were stacked in the arched chamber to retain greater heat and create more durable pipes.  Although called “beehives” because of their distinctive shape, they look more like a yert. 

It took one week to stack and arrange the bricks in the kiln.  It took another week to fire the bricks, consisting of three days to dry out the bricks and four days at 2000 degrees Celsius.  It took another week to unpack. 

The kilns had metal bracing to prevent them from falling apart during firing.  This sometimes consisted of pieces of old steel railway track buried vertically about one and a half metres into the ground at regular intervals around the kilns.  These posts went to roof height and metal strapping or bars were fixed horizontally around the kiln to brace the brickwork. 

The depression of the late 1920s and 1930s hit brick makers hard.  Production declined in line with falling sales.  It was not until the late 1930s that sales picked up again, however price controls introduced during the Second-World-War meant a constant battle with bureaucracy to keep brickworks financially viable.  These price controls lasted into the 1950s and improved pay and conditions for workers during this period meant further strain on the business.  Costs were continuing to rise and many other brick-works did not reopen after the war because of these increased costs and their inability to attract enough workers.