Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/334

320 Recently considerable attention has been given to the construction of brick and tile kilns on scientific principles. Many improved kilns, both on the up-draft and the down-draft systems, have been invented. Art tiles and architectural terra cotta are being burned in up-draft kilns with closed tops, or muffled kilns, in which "saggers," or fire-clay boxes, are used to protect the pieces from direct contact with the flames. Mr. W. A. Eudaly,



of Cincinnati, has perfected a down-draft kiln which is arranged with compartments in the bottom, which are provided with two separate and distinct sets of flues, one of which carries a portion of the heat into the kiln, and the other conducts a portion from the kiln to stacks or chimneys built in the main wall. The heat is thus divided as it enters the kiln or leaves the furnace, a portion going up through the bags to the ware at the top, while another part surrounds the ware at the bottom of the kiln, securing uniformity of burning and perfect consumption of fuel and