Will Organize Company To Make Sand Brick

WILL ORGANIZE COMPANY TO MAKE SAND BRICK

For some time it has been known that a scheme was on foot to promote a factory for the manufacture of a sand brick in this city and that a number of well known business men were becoming interested in the matter. But it was not until last evening that the matter assumed definite shape so that if was in condition for publication.

The gentlemen who have been ling Pinot the matter held a meeting at O. M. Martin's office last Friday evening, when a representative of the company manufacturing the machinery used in making the brick was present, also a chemist familiar with the process under which the brick is made, and they fully explained the merits of the brick and the machinery. The matter was canvassed thoroughly and it was decided to open books for the reception of subscription to stock for the purpose of organizing a company in Ann Arbor.

There have been repeated attempts during the past few years to manufacture what is known as a sand brick and many tales have been told of the success reached by different ones and the fabulous wealth that would accrue to them, but all these stories have flattened out and nothing has come of them. It is a fact that sand and lime bricks have been made for years and that cement and sand have been successfully united in a brick, but these have not been commercially a success, nor have they been able to make them cheap enough or sufficiently stable to compete with the common brick of clay. Of late years the chemist has taken a hand in the matter and by the use of chemicals succeeded in making a brick capable of standing severe tests.

The process under investigation by the local investors is known as the burns Artificial Stone and by its use the ordinary sand is combined with cement, chemicals are then put into the mixture and the whole put through a press when the chemicals form silicates of potassium and calcium, which serve to harden and solidify the brick. It is considered by experts, that the bricks made under pressure in which silicates of potassium and calcium are formed are far more capable of withstanding high temperatures and climatic changes and are far superior to sand-lime bricks which are manufactured without the use of chemicals.

The syndicate owning the Burns process have two factories already in process of erection – one at Fort Wayne, Ind., and the other at Cleveland, O. – both of which are expected to be in shape for turning out brick in a few months. The company have several of the brick, which were manufactured at Willoughby, O., on exhibition and they have every appearance of being a first class article. They are smooth in appearance, very hard and sand be beautifully colored. It is claimed for them that while they are superior in every way to the ordinary clay brick they are no more expensive.

The gentlemen interested will hold another meeting in a few days, when it is expected the organization of the company will be completed.