View of autoclave Digital image of B 9495/15

Description View of autoclave Digital image of B 9495/15

Date 20/6/1979

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

Catalogue Number SC 751462

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 9495/15

Scope and Content Autoclave at Ballochmyle Brick Works, Knowehead Quarry, Dumfries & Galloway Ballochmyle Brick Works was founded in 1935 at Knowehead Quarry, Locharbriggs, 3.2km north-east of Dumfries. The quarry produced high quality red sandstone for construction. The brick works made sand/lime bricks using ten parts waste sandstone dust from the quarry mixed with one part lime. This shows one end of a closed autoclave, a pressurised chamber in which the newly formed sand/lime bricks were steamed under pressure for seven to eight hours to harden them and bring them to the required strength. The bricks were loaded onto cars which ran on rails into the autoclave. Locharbriggs Quarry was started about 1890 and enjoyed an economic boom from 1895 to 1910 before being closed at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. When the quarry reopened in 1935, the brick works was also established. One quarry is still active but the brick works closed in 1977. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/751462

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap