through apertures of the desired shape and size. To make the mass thus
forced through the aperture, _hollow_, the hole must have a piece of
metal in the centre of it, around which the clay forms, as it is pushed
along. This centre piece is kept in position by one or two thin pieces
of iron, which of course divide the clay which passes over them, but it
unites again as it is forced through the die, and comes out sound, and
is then cut off, usually by hand, by means of a small wire, of the
required length, about fourteen inches.

Tile machines work either vertically or horizontally. The most primitive
machine which came to the author's notice abroad, was one which we saw
on our way from London to Mr. Mechi's place. It was a mere upright
cylinder, of some two feet height, and perhaps eight inches diameter, in
which worked a piston. The clay was thrown into the cylinder, and the
piston brought down by means of a brake, like an old-fashioned pump, and
a single round pipe-tile forced out at the bottom. The force employed
was one man and two boys. One boy screened the clay, by passing through
it a wire in various directions, holding the wire by the ends, and
cutting through the mass till he had found all the small stones
contained in it. The man threw the masses thus prepared, into the
cylinder, and put on the brake, and the other boy received the tiles
upon a round stick, as they came down through the die at the bottom, and
laid them away. The cylinder held clay enough to make several, perhaps
twenty, two-inch pipes. The work was going on in a shed without a floor,
and upon a liberal estimate, the whole establishment, including shed and
machine, could not cost more than fifty dollars. Yet, on this simple
plan, tiles were moulded much more rapidly than bricks were made in the
same yard, where they were moulded singly, as they usually are in
England. It was said that this force could thus mould about 1,800 small
tiles per day.

This little machine seems to be the same described by Mr. Parkes as in
general use in 1843, in Kent and Suffolk Counties.

Most of the tile machines now in use in England and America, are so
constructed, as to force out the tiles upon a horizontal frame-work,
about five two-inch, or three three-inch pipes abreast. The box to
contain the clay may be upright or horizontal, and the power may be
applied to a wheel, by a crank turned by a man, or by horse, steam, or
water power, according to the extent of