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hardening blocks made of a mixture of sand and lime by treating them with high-pressure steam for a few hours, and the so-called sand-lime bricks are now made on a very extensive scale in many countries. There are many differences of detail in the manufacture, but the general method is in all cases the same. Dry sand is intimately mixed with about one-tenth of its weight of powdered slaked lime, the mixture is then slightly moistened with water and afterwards moulded into bricks under powerful presses, capable of exerting a pressure of about 60 tons per sq. in. After removal from the press the bricks are immediately placed in huge steel cylinders usually 60 to 80 ft. long and about 7 ft. in diameter, and are there subjected to the action of high-pressure steam (120 lb to 150 lb per sq. in.) for from ten to fifteen hours. The proportion of slaked lime to sand varies according to the nature of the lime and the purity and character of the sand, one of lime to ten of sand being a fair average. The following is an analysis of a typical German sand-lime brick: silica (SiO₂), 84%; lime (CaO), 7%; alumina and oxide of iron, 2%; water, magnesia and alkalis, 7%. Under the action of the high-pressure steam the lime attacks the particles of sand, and a chemical compound of water, lime and silica is produced which forms a strong bond between the larger particles of sand. This bond of hydrated calcium silicate is evidently different from, and of better type than, the filling of calcium carbonate produced in the mortar-brick, and the sand-lime brick is consequently much stronger than the ordinary mortar-brick, however the latter may be made. The sand-lime brick is simple in manufacture, and with reasonable care is of constant quality. It is usually of a light-grey colour, but may be stained by the addition of suitable colouring oxides or pigments unaffected by lime and the conditions of manufacture.

Strength of Brick.?The following figures indicate the crushing load for bricks of various types in tons per sq. in.:?

Common hand-made	from	0.4	to	0.9
� " � machine-made	"	0.9	"	1.2
London stock	"	0.7	"	1.3
Staffordshire blue	"	2.8	"	3.3
Sand-lime	"	2.9	"	3.4

See also Brickwork.

(J. B.*; W. B.*)

[1] The term "marl" has been wrongly applied to many fire-clays. It should be restricted to natural mixtures of clay and chalk such as those of the Paris and London basins.

BRICKFIELDER, a term used in Australia for a hot scorching wind blowing from the interior, where the sandy wastes, bare of vegetation in summer, are intensely heated by the sun. This hot wind blows strongly, often for several days at a time, defying all attempts to keep the dust down, and parching all vegetation. It is in one sense a healthy wind, as, being exceedingly dry and hot, it destroys many injurious germs of disease. The northern brickfielder is almost invariably followed by a strong "southerly buster," cloudy and cool from the ocean. The two winds are due to the same cause, viz. a cyclonic system over the Australian Bight. These systems frequently extend inland as a narrow V-shaped depression (the apex northward), bringing the winds from the north on their eastern sides and from the south on their western. Hence as the narrow system passes eastward the wind suddenly changes from north to south, and the thermometer has been known to fall fifteen degrees in twenty minutes.

BRICKWORK, in building, the term applied to constructions made of bricks. The tools and implements employed by the bricklayer are:?the trowel for spreading the mortar; the plumb-rule to keep the work perpendicular, or in the case of an inclined or battering wall, to a regular batter, for the plumb-rule may be made to suit any required inclination; the spirit-level to keep the work horizontal, often used in conjunction with a straight-edge in order to

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 / "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"