LAYING BRICKS

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 16212, 29 September 1924, Page 3

LAYING BRICKS

A new method of bricklaying for which important advantages of speed and econmy are claimed, has been evolved in Britain. Its originator is a Mr Brownlow, of Tonbridge, and some months ago a brick cottage was erected in that town by the new method. *»lt is stated that on this job ex-service men without previous training or apprenticeship, were able to lay bricks at the rate of from 6 to 10 per , minute, or 3000 in the course of the ordinary working day. The system is standardised, and is patterned somewhat after the system of moulding concrete in “ shuttering ” or boxing. When the site of a new building has been laid out, uprights, preferably of angle iron, are fixed on the ground level at the four corners. Upright tee : pieces are fixed between these at ini tervals of 100 feet, or shorter distances where required. These uprights are fixed true and plumb and form the building line of the structure. Inside these angle and tee uprights are placed adjustable boards; usually ten feet long by seven inches deep, and one inch thick, and against this face the bricks are laid. Inside as well as outside walls are laid against these guide boards, which are moved as the worn progresses. If the uprights and boards are kept true there is no chance for even unskilled labour to go wrong. When the boards are removed, the walls present an even surface, just as concrete appears when the forms are removed. The new system appears to have exceptional advantages for rough brickwork to be covered with plaster, or on jobs where beauty of finish is not a factor. Improved and more economical methods of laying bricks might lead to their being used much more freely in the erection of dwellings and other buildings than they are at present.