Historically the clay tiles were pressed in machines which are now disused. The factory has diversified to extrusion-based production, which was used for the production of the bricks. For production, each brick type required the manufacture of a die with precisely positioned positives to create the voids. Samples were dried and fired to test results, principally to limit cracking and review the feel and quality of the hollow bricks. The dimensions were obtained by trial and error: testing brick behaviour in the kiln, which generates heat of up to 950 o C . After the first batch of firing the walls of the brick did not split form the brick ‘body’, which led to soaking of the bricks for a week to produce the final batch. The construction of the walls involved course-by-course supervision, with lime drying time restricting construction to four courses of masonry per day. Turning of the walls required bricks to be cut at angels to matching the diagonal edge.
This image is embedded in ...
- Office for the Commonwealth Tile Factory. Mangalore, 2019.