View from West showing blowing engine house and Hoffmann kiln Digital image of B 9330

Description View from West showing blowing engine house and Hoffmann kiln Digital image of B 9330

Date 1/6/1980

Collection Records of the Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Sco

Catalogue Number SC 730880

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 9330

Scope and Content Blowing engine house and Hoffmann kiln from the west, Dunaskin Brick Works, Waterside Iron Works, Dalmellington, East Ayrshire The Dalmellington Iron Company founded the iron works at Waterside in 1847. The works were bought in 1931 by William Baird & Company Limited who established a new firm called Baird & Dalmellington Limited and built the brick works. The brick works closed in 1976. This shows the blowing engine house on the left with the Hoffmann kiln on the right. The arches in the kiln were entrances to the chambers. The kiln had 24 connected chambers which were heated to 1,000-1,100°C. Up to 14,000 bricks were fired for two weeks in each chamber. With a Hoffmann kiln a fire was lit in the first chamber and the draught from a tall chimney drew the heat through each chamber. This system allowed bricks to be fired continuously as some chambers could be emptied or filled during the baking process. Originally the blowing engine house was where cast iron would have been produced but when the iron works became a brick works it was converted to house brick presses. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/730880

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap