E.S.C. quarterly

              The E. S. C. Quarterly
VOLUME 5, NO 2-3 (FORMERLY "THE U.C.C. QUARTERLY") SPRING-SUMMER, 1947
Ceramics -Ancient Products Now Made By Modern Processes -Form Bases
Of Prospectively Large Industries In North Carolina
(1) Art Pottery, upper left; (2) Drainage Pipe, upper riaht; (3) Hollow Building Tile, lower left; (4) Face
Brick, lower right. (See inside cover)
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
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(Formerly "Unemployment Compensation
RALEIGH
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PAGE 38 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
The E. S. C. Quarterly
Volume 5 ; Number 2-3 Spring-Summer, 1947
Issued four times a year at Raleigh, N. C, by the
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners : Mrs. W. T. Bost, Raleigh; Judge C. E. Cowan,
Morganton; C. A. Pink, Spencer; R. Dave Hall, Belmont;
Marion W. Heiss, Greensboro; Dr. Harry D. Wolf, Chapel
Hill.
State Advisory Council: Capus M. Waynick, Raleigh, Chair-man;
Willard Dowell, Raleigh; H. L. Kiser, Charlotte; Dr.
Thurman D. Kitchin, Wake Forest; Robert F. Phillips, Ashe-ville;
Mrs. Dillard Reynolds, Winston-Salem; Mrs. Emil
Rosenthal, Goldsboro; W. Cedric Stallings, Charlotte.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Compensation Division
ERNEST C. McCRACKEN Director
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
M. R. DUNNAGAN Editor
Informational Service Representative
Cover illustrations represent typical North Carolina
industries under the unemployment compensation
program or related activities.
Cover for Spring-Summer, 19!t l—Four of the most important
ceramic products manufactured in North Carolina ( 1 ) Art
Pottery, pitchers made at the Jugtown Pottery, Steeds, N. C.
;
(2) Sanitary Sewer Pipe, manufactured by the Pine Hall
Brick & Pipe Co., Pine Hall and Winston-Salem; (3) Hollow
Building Tile, and (4) Face Brick, both manufactured by the
Norwood Brick Co., Raleigh and Lillington.
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
Service, P. 0. Box 589, Raleigh, N. C.
CONTENTS PAGE
"Ceramics"—Origin and Meaning 38
Brick, Tile, Pipe Making, Important N. C. Industries.— .. 39
Brick Made by 18 Other North Carolina Plants
J. C. Steele & Sons Big Clay Working Machinery Producers
Pomona Terra Cotta Co. Produces Quality Drainage Pipe
Isenhour Brick & Tile Co. Develops Modern Tunnel Kilns
Sanford Brick & Tile Co. Is Largest Producer in State
Borden Brick & Tile Co. Operates Three Modern Plants
By M. R. Dunnagan
Many Ceramic Minerals Plentiful in North Carolina 44
By Jasper L. Stuckey, Thomas G. Murdock and
Charles E. Hunter
History and Manufacture of Structural Clay Products 48
By Newton P. Vest
Brick and Tile Service Aids Builders and Public 50
By Newton P. Vest
Ceramic Education and Research at State College ' 52
»; By Dr. W. W. Kriegel
Pottery Making, Ancient Art, Increasing in State 53
Hyalyn Porcelain Large Modern Plant for Art Pottery
Glenn Art Pottery, Incorporated, Enlarges Hand Plant
Number of Small Hand Potteries Operate in This State
The Teague Pottery, A. R. Cole Pottery, North State
Pottery, C. C. Cole Pottery, Kennedy Pottery Co.,
Melvin Owen Pottery, Others
By M. R. Dunnagan
New Ways for Old Jugs—Art in Jugtown Pottery 60
By Mrs. Juliana Royster Busbee
Early Moravians in Old Salem Made Household Pottery.... _ 62
By Dr. Adelaide L. Fries
Abundant Kaolin and Feldspar; Little Manufacturing 63
By M. R. Dunnagan
Bigger Payrolls, More Employment in State Than in
War's Peak 64
Revised ESC Rules and Regulations Available.... .. 66
By Bruce Billings
Post War Program of State Employment Service... .. 68
By J. W. Beach
Vermiculite, 'Concrete Lumber', Sources, Uses,
Given in Report 69
INDEX TO QUARTERLY, VOLS. 3 AND 4, 1945-1946 71
"CERAMICS"—ORIGIN AND MEANING
Although at one time the name "Ceramic" was
thought to refer only to the art of pottery, current
usage has broadened the term to include all silicate
industries. The etymology of the term shows that it
has been derived from the Greek word "keramos,"
now commonly meaning "a potter," "potter's clay,"
or "pottery," but that the Greek word is related to
an older Sanskrit root, meaning "to burn" and, as
used by the Greeks themselves, its primary meaning
was simply "burnt stuff." The fundamental idea
contained in the word was that of a product obtained
through the action of fire upon earthy material.
As now accepted, two characteristic elements are
involved: first and primarily, a product in whose
manufacture a high-temperature treatment is in-volved
; and secondarily, a product customarily
manufactured entirely or chiefly from raw materials
of an earthy nature, as distinguished from those of
an organic and metallic nature. This definition is
so broad that it covers nearly one-third of the field
of industrial activity as indicated in the following
list of products which are now classified as ceramic
:
CLASSIFICATION OF CERAMIC PRODUCTS
STRUCTURAL CERAMICS:
1. Common brick 7. Terra cotta
2. Paving brick 8. Conduits
3. Face brick 9. Roofing tile
4. Sewer pipe 10. Flue lining
5. Drain tile 11. Floor tile
6. Hollow block 12. Wall and fireplace tile
REFRACTORIES:
13. Fire-clay brick
14. Magnesia brick
15. Silica brick
POTTERY:
19. Tableware
20. Kitchen ware
21. Art pottery
GLASS:
25. Household
26. Window
27. Bottle
28. Lighting
ENAMELED METALS:
32. Household and kitchen
33. Sanitary
ABRASIVES:
36. Silicon carbide
16. Chromite brick
17. Bauxite and diaspor brick
18. Special refractories
22. Sanitary ware
23. Stoneware
24. Chemical porcelain and
stoneware
29. Optical glass
30. Glazes, enamels, and artifi-cial
stones
31. Quartz glass
34. Chemical
35. Advertising
37. Aluminous abrasives
CEMENTS, LIMES, AND PLASTERS:
38. Portland cement 40. Calcined gypsum products
39. Building, agricultural, 41. Magnesia cement
and chemical lime 42. Dental cement
INSULATION:
43. Electrical insulators 44. Thermal insulators
r-.'OTE: Definition and etymology of the word "ceramics" is from
"Ceramic?. Clay Technology," by Hewitt Wilson, supervisory engineer,
Electrotechnical Laboratory, U. S. Bureau of Mines. Norris, Tenn. (McGraw-
Hill Book Co., New York, 1627).
AN ERROR
The caption on the front page of the last issue of
"The E. S. C. Quarterly," Vol. 5, No. 1, Winter, 1947,
should have been "North Carolina Possesses A
Bountiful Supply of NON-Metallic Minerals." The
NON was inadvertently omitted.
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 39
Brick, Tile, Pipe Making Important N. C. Industries
By M. R. Dunnagan, Informational Service Representative, ESC
The "big four" families, Borden,
Boren, Isenhour and Steele, oper-ating
five major firms, produce at
least 75 percent—it may well run
to 90 percent—of all the brick,
hollow building tile and drainage
pipe manufactured in North Caro-lina,
and one of these families,
Steele, produces approximately 25
percent of all of the clay working
machinery manufactured by the
six firms engaged in this industry
in the entire United States.
These heavier ceramic indus-tries,
making brick, tile and pipe,
have been closely woven with the
history of North Carolina from
the early days. Claims, undoubt-edly
true, are that many eastern
North Carolina landowners and
tradesmen built their colonial
mansions of brick brought from
England, either as ballast for the
ships, or ordered for the purpose.
It is also undoubtedly true that
early settlers in the eastern sec-tion
of the State did not take to
brick-making extensively since
most of the clay in the area was
overlaid with several feet of sand and was not read-ily
available.
As the population spread westward in North Caro-lina
and particularly as settlements were made in the
piedmont and western areas of the State from Penn-sylvania
and other states in the 1700's, such groups
as the Moravians at Bethabara and Salem and the
Quakers at Guilford College (New Garden), crafts-men
in these and other groups began to utilize the
suitable clays they found almost in their yards to
make brick for their homes and business buildings.
Wooden homes, largely of logs, until the advent of the
sawmills, began to give way to brick homes in which
the fire hazard was greatly reduced. Many brick
homes now standing, erected from brick made around
200 years ago, attest the skill of the early brick-makers.
In the early days brick-making was a crude and a
seasonal process. A farmer or a tradesman in a com-munity
would set up a brickyard to make enough
brick for his own home or store. While the plant
was operating, he would also make brick for some
of his neighbors. His plant consisted of a large box
or tub-like container, open at the top. Upright in
this container was a large beam., from which phlanges
or blades extended laterally. To this upright beam
was attached a pole to which a horse or mule was
hitched. This animal would go round-and-round the
BRICK MADE BY 18 OTHER
NORTH CAROLINA PLANTS
Eighteen brick manufacturing firms, other
than those mentioned in the accompanying-article,
are listed in directories and records
as now being in operation in North Carolina.
Many of these firms supply needs for brick
in their immediate areas, but several of them
also ship brick to other parts of this State
and supply customers in other states. Most
of them confine their activities to brick-mak-ing
only, but some also produce hollow build-ing
tile. The complete list of all those now
operating, as revealed in all available rec-ords,
follows:
Bostic Brick Co., Inc., Bostic; Carolina
Brick Co., New Bern; Cherokee Brick Co.,
Raleigh; Cunningham Brick Co., Thomas-ville;
O. W. Dowdy & Son, Roseboro; Grant
Brick Works, Weldon; Ideal Brick Co., Lin-den;
Kendrick Brick & Tile Co., Mt. Holly;
Roger Moore, Acme (Wilmington); Mt. Gil-ead
Brick Co., Mt. Gilead; Nash Brick Co.,
Rocky Mount; New Bern Building Supply
Co., New Bern ; Norwood Brick Co., Lilling-ton;
P. J. Patterson Brick Co., Roseboro;
E. A. Poe Brick Co., Fayetteville; Riverside
Brick Co., Smithfield; Sellers Brick Co., Inc.,
Greenville; Taylor Brick Co., Aulander.
container, his movement turning
the beam and forcing the arms
through the clay shoveled in at the
top. Water was added and the
clay was thus kneaded into a stiff
dough-like substance which came
out of a small opening at the bot-tom
of the container.
The brick-maker, usually stand-ing
in a waist-deep pit, measured
with his eye and cut off with his
hands enough of this stiff clay to
make a brick. This he threw into
a form, made to hold four or six
brick, with force enough to make
it spread out into all corners of
the five-sided form. When this
form was filled, he passed a
straight board over the top, level-ing
the top of the brick and push-ing
off the surplus mud. The off-bearer
would take the form with
the four or five soft brick by han-dles
at the ends and dump it onto
smoothed ground to dry in the
sun. After a few clays of turning
and drying the brick, they were
put into "ground hog" kilns for
baking or burning. This process
removed the remaining moisture and melted particles
in the clay, causing compact adhesion of the particles
and resulting in a hard brick.
The old kilns were usually trenches dug into the
side of the hill and covered with brick and mortar.
A furnace space was left in packing the brick in,
and air spaces were provided so the heat could pass
readily through the brick. Wood was burned for
heating and after several days of gradually increased
heat the fire was allowed to die, the kiln cooled for
Typical smaller size brick kilns in North Carolina. Most of the
kilns used by larger firms in this State are 36 feet in diameter.
Tunnel-kiln modern brick drying and firing methods are used
by some larger firms.
PAGE 40 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY SPRING-SUMMER, 1947
a few days and the brick were removed. If the clay
contained a sufficient amount of feldspar the glazed
effect was achieved through this burning. If not, or
if additional glaze was desired, the brick were dipped
into a moulten feldspar, sometimes with color added,
and the brick were again burned to "set" the glaze.
Most of these small, home-constructed, individual
brickyards would operate for a few weeks or a few
months during the summer season and then close
down. Some would operate for two or more seasons
to fill the needs of the owners and others in the com-munity.
In some instances the brickyards would be
operated for several years and then close down. Hun-dreds
of yards made brick in practically every com-munity
in the State, but to a lesser degree in the
sand-covered eastern slope, except where the rivers
had cut through the sand and exposed deposits of
clay along their banks. Brick-making was in the
early days a side-line, practiced in connection with
farming or other activity.
Then, in the 1880's, a few of the brick plants were
operating season after season—still a seasonal opera-tion
and all outside work, or at best under sheds
—
until the mud-grinding equipment and brick-drying
spaces were housed and heated to keep the moist
clay and brick from freezing. Also, in these plants
which continued operations year after year, improve-ments,
many of them crude, were made in the meth-ods
of screening, grinding, mixing, moulding, drying
(Continued on Page 65)
J. C. Steele & Sons Big Clay Working Machinery Producer
One-fourth of all the clay working machinery
produced in the United States is manufactured by
J. C. Steele & Sons, Inc., Statesville, N. C, a firm
founded in 1889 by James C. Steele and operated by
him, his sons and his grandsons as a partnership
until January of this year, when it was incorporated.
James C. Steele, native of Iredell County, who serv-ed
four years in the Confederate Army, engaged in
the lumber business during his younger years, then
turned to brick-making. During this period he be-gan
to develop and invent labor-saving devices to
take the place of the crude methods of making brick.
Demand for his machines in the many small brick
yards in this and other states caused him to produce
more and more clay working gadgets until, in 1889,
he stopped making brick and turned his entire atten-tion
to producing brick making machinery.
Within one year his older son, C. M. Steele, was
taken in as a partner and as his other sons, H. 0.
Steele, A. P. Steele, and F. F. Steele, reached matur-ity,
they, in turn, were made partners in the business.
Th firm name of J. C. Steele and Son was changed to
J. C. Steele & Sons, the name the corporation formed
this year now bears. Mr. Steele, the founder, con-tinued
in active charge of the business for many
years. He died in 1922 at the age of 82 years. His
sons continued his inventive and development pro-gram.
In recent years five grandsons, all of whom
saw military service in World War II, have rejoined
the firm. They are J. C, Jr., A. P., Jr., C. N. and F.
M. Steele, and C. N. Steele, who entered the service
from State College, returned there after discharge
and graduated in ceramics this year.
Present officers of the corporation are A. P. Steele,
Sr., only son of J. C. Steele who is actively engaged
in the management of the firm, president ; J. C. Steele,
Jr., vice-president and treasurer; A. P. Steele, Jr.,
vice-president and secretary; C. N. Steele, assistant
secretary; and T. C. Barrier, assistant treasurer.
Another son of J. C. Steele, Flake F. Steele of Win-ston-
Salem, is president and general manager of the
Pine Hall Brick & Pipe Co., and a son-in-law, E. R.
Rankin, is a partner in and manager of the Statesville
Brick Co. His son, E. R. Rankin, Jr., is superintend-ent
of the Pine Hall plant of the Pine Hall Brick &
Pipe Co. Both of these firms are closely affiliated
with J. C. Steele & Sons.
Members of J. C. Steele & Sons are constantly
studying and working to improve the machinery al-ready
developed and to develop new machinery for
clay working processes. Simplicity is the watchword.
No gadget or part is built into a machine that does
not have a definite duty to perform. Every machine
changed and every new machine built is tried out in
one of the brick, tile or pipe plants affiliated with the
parent company. The operations and processes are
studied and the machinery subjected to all kinds of
use (and abuse) that it will have to undergo during
its existence. Any flaws are thus detected and elim-inated,
thus resulting in machines which are as near
perfect as human ingenuity can make them.
The Steeles and their associates keep in close touch
with developments and changes in the ceramic in-dustry
and are quick to apply any new methods and
new principles which may come from the best minds
in the industry. For third generation Steeles to go
to college to study ceramics might seem to be in the
class of "carrying coals to Newcastle", but they real-ize
that a combination of theory with practice will
often result in improved practices.
This firm produces all machinery required in clay
working processes. For a stiff mud brick plant it
manufactures the feeder, which feeds raw clay at an
even ratQ ; the crushing machine, which crushes the
clay into fine particles ; the tempering machine, which
mixes clay and water to a stiff mud consistency ; the
auger or extrusion machine, which compresses the
clay and extrudes it through a die in the form of a
moving column ; and the cutting machine, which cuts
the column into brick or tile sizes.
Several combinations of these machines, to per-form
two or three processes at one operation, have
been developed by J. C. Steele & Sons. One is a
combination pug mill (tempering machine), vacuum
chamber and auger (extrusion machine) with a ca-pacity
of 10,000 to 12,000 brick an hour or 20 to 40
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 41
tons of holloware an hour. Another separate drive
de-airing machine is described as "the only de-airing
machine with a full-length, full-sized pug mill."
Other machines include a combination brick and tile
cutter, hand tile cutters, oil brick dies, disintegrators,
crushers, feeders, pugmills, granulators, hoisting
drums, clay cars, transfer cars, brick barrows, and
any other machinery used in working clay.
Machines produced are for all sizes and types of
clay working plants, from the largest to the smallest.
In manufacturing approximately 25 percent of the
clay working machines produced in the nation, the
Steele firm ships machinery to practically every state
in the nation and to Canada, Mexico, South America
and especially to South Africa, a particularly large
field.
The firm's plant covers a city block in Statesville
and here all types of machinery for all brick and tile
operations are cast and machined. It employs 115
machinists and moulders.
The Pine Hall Brick and Pipe Co. of Winston-
Salem, with two plants at Pine Hall, Stokes County,
and one plant at Madison, Rockingham County, is an
affiliate of J. C. Steele & Sons and is operated by
Flake F. Steele. One of the Pine Hall plants makes
common and face brick from shale, which is found
in large quantities on the company's property em-bracing
several hundred acres. The Madison plant
also produces common and face brick. These two
plants make more than two million brick a month.
The other plant at Pine Hall produces vitrified terra
cotta pipe for sewer and drainage purposes. The
three plants of the Pine Hall Brick & Pipe Co. employ
approximately 175 people.
The Statesville Brick Co., headed by E. R. Rankin,
son-in-law of the late J. C. Steele, is still a partner-ship
composed of Mr. Rankin and members of the
Steele family. The plant is located ten miles west
of Statesville on the Catawba River. Local clay is
used for the face and common brick produced. Ap-proximately
a million brick are produced each month.
Sixty people operate this plant.
It is at these four affiliated plants that the J. C.
Steele & Sons firm tries out, tests and proves the
machinery manufactured before it is placed on the
market.
J. C. Steele & Sons is another shining example of
how three generations of native born North Caro-linians
have founded and developed an important in-dustry
which supplies machinery for working clay
into brick, tile, pipe and other similar requirements
throughout the Western Hemisphere and some na-tions
in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Pomona Terra Cotta Co. Produces Quality Drainage Pipe
Sixty-one years ago, with the help of a mule for
horsepower and about a dozen local workers, W. C.
Boren and J. Van Lindley started an industry at Po-mona,
N. C, on the outskirts of Greensboro, which
has for the past 20 years produced annually an aver-age
of 4000 carloads of materials, primarily sanitary
sewer and drain pipe.
After about 25 years of operation, Mr. Boren
bought the interest of Mr. VanLindley and continued
the industry, which at that time produced farm
drain tile. After many years of trial and error and
experimentation with various types of clay and shale
this firm, the Pomona Terra-Cotta Co., early evolved
process and located clays and shales, which produce
sewer pipe which cannot be surpassed in this coun-try.
For 60 years Mr. Boren directed this industry,
continuing relatively active and intensely interested
until his death January 14, 1946, at the age of 86
years. Meanwhile, he trained his sons and grand-sons
in his footsteps. The bulk of the stock of the
corporation has remained in the Boren family, mem-bers
of which continue to direct and operate the
business. In fact, before Mr. Boren's death last year,
four generations of the Boren family were stock-holders,
including W. C. Boren, one of the founders
;
W. C. Boren, Jr., W. C. Boren, III, and W. C. Boren,
IV, the latter six years old.
Present officers of the company are W. C. Boren,
Jr., president ; G. S. Boren, Jr., and C. A. Boren, vice-presidents;
W. C. Boren, III, secretary; and D. M.
Stafford, treasurer.
During the formative years this firm used local
Four generations of Borens operating and interested in the
Pomona Terra Cotta Co., Pomona, near Greensboro, until the
death of W. C. Boren, 8r„ last year. His picture is on the right
and from right to left are shown W. C. Boren, Jr.. W. C. Boren.
Ill, and W. C. Boren, IV, four years old, hut a stockholder.
Each has before him a length of sanitary sewer pipe produced
by the firm.
PAGE 42 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
clays almost entirely, but after extensive experi-mentation
it found the best shale available, a lumi-nous
clay at Gulf, N. C, mixing" with it local clay to
the extent of about 15 percent.
The dozen workers at the beginning have increased
to approximately 300 now. Many of these have been
with the company for 30 and 40 years and the ma-jority
of them have service records of more than 15
years. The plant has never closed because of labor
difficulties. In fact, it has never closed for more
than ten days and the only time that period was
reached was due to the coal strike. One and one-half
carloads of coal are consumed each day of operation.
About 20 acres are covered by kilns on the 200 acre
farm, which adjoins the city limits of Greensboro
as they extended westward. In fact, the Boren resi-dences
were taken into Greensboro in one of the ex-pansions
and the Pomona postoffice was moved a
mile westward to keep it outside the Greensboro
area.
Thirty-four kilns are operated, most of them 36
feet, inside diameter, the largest kiln now in use. Of
the 4000 carloads of materials produced annually,
the great bulk is of sanitary sewer pipe for munici-palities
in this and other states. Most of the pro-duction
is sold in North and South Carolina and Vir-ginia,
but large quantities are also shipped to other
states. In addition to the vitrified glazed clay sewer,
this firm also produces flue lining, wall coping, silo
blocks, fire brick, septic tanks, drain pipe, drain tile,
chimney tops and many other clay products.
During the war the Pomona Terra-Cotta Co. pro-duced
miles upon miles of pipe for Army, Navy and
other installations. At Fort Bragg, for example,
more than 100 miles of pipe were furnished. Many
additional hundreds of miles were supplied to Camp
Davis, Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune, Camp Butner,
the ORD at Greensboro, Norfolk Navy Base, and
numbers of other installations in this state and Vir-ginia,
especially.
This company has a contract with the State for
furnishing pipe and other terra-cotta products for
schools, institutions and other State requirements.
"Therm-O-Tile" is a steam conduit system, pat-ented
by the Pomona Terra-Cotta Co., which is manu-factured
only at Pomona. This is a covering for
steam heating pipes which radiate to other buildings
in a group from a central heating plant. Therm-O-Tile
is sold throughout the nation by Johns-Mansville
Co. and H. W. Porter & Co., nationally known firms.
This is one of the five firms in North Carolina
which produce probably more than 75 percent of the
entire output of ceramic building materials, includ-ing
brick, tile and pipe, and is one of only two firms
which produce drainage pipe. It has been developed
in the 61 years almost entirely by the members of
one family, the Borens, now reaching the fourth gen-eration,
all members of which were born and reared
in Guilford County. It is a splendid example of what
a combination of local brain and brawn and local raw
materials can do in developing an important industry
in North Carolina.
Isenhour Brick & Tile Co- Develops Modern Tunnel Kilns
Application of the assembly line principle to pro-ducing
and firing brick, never touched by hand until
they are ready for loading and shipping, is the revo-lutionary
method developed and used by the Isenhour
Brick and Tile Co. at its East Spencer plant near
Salisbury.
The Isenhour name is one of the "big four" in
brick, tile and pipe making in North Carolina and
members of the family produce a large percentage
of the brick and tile manufactured in the State. The
founder of the original firm was G. W. Isenhour, who
started making brick in a small plant at New London,
Stanly County, in 1888. In April, 1896, he moved
to East Spencer and started a plant to utilize the vast
amount of fine clay and shale found in that com-munity.
In the years that followed, he brought into the
business his four sons as they grew up. Three of
these sons branched out to establish brick firms in
other parts of the State. C. W. Isenhour, Sr., con-tinued
to operate the East Spencer plant, and in later
years was joined by his two sons, John H. Isenhour
and C. W. Isenhour, Jr., both of whom are highly
trained ceramic engineers. John H. Isenhour is
president of the North Carolina Chapter of the Amer-ican
Ceramic Society.
For a year after World War I this plant was pro-ducing
only 6,000,000 brick a year. The industry has
expanded gradually and successfully until it now
produces 30,000,000 brick, or the equivalent in tile
and brick, annually. Products of the firm have been
increased to include common and face brick, hollow
building tile and other clay products.
The Isenhours, always alert to new ideas for re-ducing
manual labor in their plant, finally developed,
through experiments and study, the highly scientific
and completely mechanical tunnel-kiln method, which
is a far cry from the old "ground hog" trench kiln
which earlier members of the Isenhour family used.
(Continued on Page 47)
Sanford Brick & Tile Co. Is Largest Producer In State
The Sanford Brick & Tile Co., located at Colon,
four miles north of Sanford, N. C, is owned and
operated by members of the famous brick manufac-turing
family which started its activities in New
London, Stanly County, in 1888. Then George W.
Isenhour started a plant, now operated by one of his
descendants, G. M. Isenhour, as the Yadkin Brick
Yard. Later this founding Isenhour moved to East
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 43
Spencer, near Salisbury, and established a brickyard,
which his two sons, Charles and L. C. Isenhour,
operated and which Charles' son, John Isenhour, now
heads as the Isenhour Brick & Tile Co.
L. C. Isenhour, in 1919, moved to Sanford and
started a brick yard at Colon, now the Sanford Brick
& Tile Co. The firm is now a partnership, with L. C.
Isenhour still active, but in which his son, L. D. Isen-hour,
and three sons-in-law, P. K. Buchanan, G. J.
Casey and C. B. Foushee, have partnership holdings.
All live at Sanford.
The Sanford Brick & Tile Co., the present name,
originally manufactured brick alone, common and
face brick, but about six years ago began the manu-facture
of tile. The firm now owns a 1200-acre tract,
all of which has surface or near-surface clay which
is potentially suitable for brick and tile making.
During the 28 years of operation, this firm has
increased its plants as business expanded until five
plants are now operated on the tract, with a com-bined
capacity of 300,000 bricks (or tile) daily. Un-der
construction is a sixth plant, due to be completed
early next year, which will have a capacity of 100,-
000 brick (or tile) daily, this increasing the capacity
of the entire plant to 400,000 brick daily.
During the 15 years since the Naval Base at Nor-folk,
Va., was started in 1932, this firm has furnished
150 million brick for the buildings erected there, and,
since 1941, the firm has furnished 65 million brick
for the work in constructing the buildings at Camp
Lejeune. Most of the brick, additional millions, have
been furnished to Cherry Point, Quantico, Va., Lang-ley
Field, Va., Fort Bragg, Camp Butner and other
military, naval and marine corps installations.
Practically 90 percent of the brick produced by the
Sanford Brick and Tile Co. are sold in North and
South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Colum-bia,
yet shipments are also made to points in many
other states in the eastern half of the United States.
Borden Brick & Tile Co. Operates Three Modern Plants
The Borden Brick & Tile Co., Goldsboro, with
plants at Goldsboro, Sanford and Durham, N. C, is
the youngest but a very vigorous member of the quin-tet
of brick, tile and pipe manufacturers in North
Carolina from whose plants probably more than 75
percent of these products come.
This firm was organized and chartered in January,
1911, by the late F. K. Borden, Sr., who was presi-dent;
Frank B. Daniels, vice-president; and F. K.
Borden, Jr., secretary-treasurer. The authorized
capital was $100,000 and $25,000 was issued. Opera-tions
were carried on at the early Goldsboro plant on
a seasonal basis and only 7 or 8 million bricks were
produced during the next few years. In 1916 the
Goldsboro plant was enlarged to a capacity of 12 to
14 million brick a year.
An entirely new plant was built in Goldsboro in
1920 with a capacity of 33 million brick a year. At
that time the authorized capital stock was increased
to $500,000 and $290,000 of this was sold, to addi-tional
stockholders coming into the firm. In 1925
$100,000 in preferred stock was authorized and sold
and the Sanford plant was built, originally with a
Section of the Goldsboro plant of the Borden Brick & Tile Co,
Goldsboro,
capacity of 24,000 tons of tile a year. Soon the plant
was converted to making tile and brick and its pres-ent
capacity is the equivalent of 18 million brick or
30,000 tons of tile a year.
Again in 1929 preferred stock up to $500,000 was
authorized, but in 1946 all preferred stock outstand-ing
was retired. The firm now has $500,000 in com-mon
stock authorized and $290,000 outstanding.
From 1924 until it was sold in 1945, the firm operated
a building supply business in Durham, handling all
types of building material, including brick and tile.
A similar building supply business was started in
Greensboro in 1929 and operated until 1946 when
sold.
The Durham plant of the firm was started in 1940
with a capacity of 15 million brick a year. Enlarge-ment
of this plant was completed recently, increasing
the capacity to 25 million brick. This enlarged plant
gives the Goldsboro, Sanford and Durham plants a
combined capacity of 58 million brick a year, or the
equivalent in brick and tile.
During the war period the Borden Brick & Tile Co.
plants were running at full capacity and practically
all of its output went to the Federal Government or
to government agencies. Camp Lejeune took 40,000
tons of tile and 10,000 tons went to the Goldsboro
housing project. Camp Butner, Camp Davis, the
Naval Base and other projects took millions of brick
and many tons of tile. Practically all of the brick
buildings in Goldsboro were constructed of Borden
brick.
Present officers of the company are : F. K. Borden,
Jr., president; F. B. Daniels, vice-president and gen-eral
manager; H. B. Armentrout, secretary; C. A.
Lano, general superintendent; D. N. Alexander, sales
manager.
PAGE 44 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
Many Ceramic Minerals Plentiful In North Carolina
By Jasper L. Stuckey, State Geologist of North Carolina; Thomas G. Murdoch, Assistant State Geologist of
North Carolina, and Charles E. Hunter, Geologist, Tennessee Valley Authority
Pegmatite1 bodies occur throughout the greater
part of the mountain area of western North Carolina
and in the western part of the Piedmont Plateau.
Economically they are the most important group of
rocks in the State because in them are centered the
greatest number of mines. Sheet mica2 from North
Carolina accounts for about 60 percent of the domes-tic
production. There is little, if any, primary resi-dual
kaolin3 produced outside this State. About 35
percent of the nation's domestic feldspar4 is mined
in the State. Perhaps 70 percent of the domestic
scrap mica and mica schist for grinding is produced
in North Carolina. The Kings Mountain district has
been estimated to contain 650,000 tons of minable and
recoverable spodumene/' Henderson County contains
important reserves of zircon" and Cleveland County
contains important reserves of monazite.7
MINERAL PROCESSING PLANTS
The importance of the pegmatite minerals is em-phasized
by the fact that the greatest concentration
of mineral processing plants in North Carolina is in
the pegmatite region. A total of thirty-three (33)
plants located in North Carolina and three in nearby
Johnson City, Tennessee, are engaged in processing
pegmatite minerals from this State. All these plants
recover, purify, grind, fabricate, or pack minerals
mined from pegmatites. Feldspar is ground accord-ing
to all standard specifications for ceramic uses
and glass manufacture. The kaolin plants produce
china clay for use in whiteware bodies and in alkali-free*
kaolin used in making spun glass fibers. The
mica grinding plants supply mica, from 20 mesh down
to micronized material, for roofing, wallpapers, rub-ber,
paints, and plastics. The sheet mica fabricating
plants prepare mica patterns for electrical appliances,
radios, fuse plugs, and prepare mica boards from
which commutator segments and rings are fabricated
to specifications.
FOUR PRINCIPAL DISTRICTS
The principal mineral production from pegmatites
comes from four districts. These, in the order of
their importance, are: Spruce Pine, Bryson City-
Franklin, Shelby-Kings Mountain, and Stoneville.
1Pegmatite—a rock formation consisting of very coarse crystalline aggre-gates
of the same minerals as granite (quartz, feldspar, and mica).
-Mica—a highly complex silicate of aluminum and one or more basic
elements, which splits into very thin, tough, elastic plates or scales, llie
sheet or block variety is that used for electrical insulation.
3Kaolin—a high grade white clay formed from the decomposition of feld-spar,
and used in the manufacture of white earthenware and porcelain.
^Feldspar—a term applied to a group of minerals consisting of aluminum
silicate with potassium, sodium, or calcium, or all of these Used chiefly as
a flux in the manufacture of pottery, electrical porcelain, and some enamel
wares ; a constituent of many ceramic bodies and glazes.
5Spodumene—a lithium-aluminum silicate which when mixed with feldspar
In a ceramic utilization melt?-, or deforms at a low temperature.
"Zircon—a silicate of the element zirconium. Used in ceramics as a d irk-eniriK
agent in porcelain enamels and pottery glazes, and in some refractories,
special porcelains, and glasses
7Monazlte—essentially a phosphate of rare earths with thorium present,
probably as a silicate. Utilizd in certain glasses, refractories, and chemicals.
"Alkali-free kaolin—free from objectionable soluble mineral salts.
Spruce Pine District : Most of the feldspar, mica,
and kaolin production in the Spruce Pine district
comes from the Spruce Pine Alaskite,9 or the pegma-tites
associated with it. Most of the mines producing
a mixed soda-potash feldspar are located in the alas-kite,
while the best producing mines are in pegmatites
in or near the contacts of the alaskite. In the larger
pegmatites, the soda and potash feldspars are usually
segregated into zones which make it possible to keep
them separated in mining. Varying amounts of
sheet and scrap mica as well as quartz are obtained
as by-products from most of the feldspar mines in
the district. Most of the feldspar mines are worked
by the open-cut method but a few are typical under-ground
operations. The greatest depth reached by
underground mining in the district is about 450 feet.
All the kaolin deposits now being worked in the
Spruce Pine district were formed by the kaoliniza-tion
10 of the feldspars in the Spruce Pine Alaskite.
The deposits are irregular in shape and usually ex-tend
several hundred feet in width and length. Kao-linization
at some points has taken place to a depth
of about 100 feet. In kaolin mining, the overburden,
from 3 to 20 feet, is stripped by bulldozers and other
heavy earth moving equipment. The clay is mined
by power shovels and trucked to the kaolin recover-ing
plant, a distance of a few hundred feet to 3 miles.
Bryson City-Franklin District : The pegmatites in
the Bryson City-Franklin district are mined prin-cipally
for sheet mica, scrap mica, and feldspar. In
the vicinity of Franklin, many of the pegmatites
contain exceptionally white muscovite11 mica that is
in much demand for grinding to specifications for
use in the paint industry. Most of the grinding mica
is mined from kaolinized pegmatites by the open cut
method with power shovel or hydraulic giant. The
mica is recovered from the quartz, kaolin, and other
impurities by crushing, screening, and washing.
The pegmatites in the Bryson City part of the dis-trict
are unique in the fact that they contain potash
and soda feldspar but no mica. The best of these
feldspar mines are located in large pegmatites in-truded
into and along the west contact of a granite
mass at Bryson City. During the last 10 years, this
area has become an important feldspar producing
center.
Shelby-Kings Mountain District: The Shelby-
Kings Mountain district can be divided into two
areas, due to the marked difference of the pegmatites
in the eastern and western part of this district. In
the Shelby part, the pegmatites are fat lenses that
h£ve been labeled "pods" by some geologist. These
9Alaskite—a coarse-grained pegmatite granite that crops out extensively
near Spruce Pine.
10Kaolinization—the process by which a feldspar passes into kaolin.
11 Muscovite- -potash Bearing white mica; the commercial variety produced
In North Carolina.
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 45
are mined mainly by open-cut methods for the excel-lent
quality sheet mica found in them. For several
months, during the height of the recent war, one
mine near Shelby led all other mines in the country
in quantity of sheet mica produced.
One of the most remarkable pegmatite belts in the
State is the spodumene district near Kings Moun-tain.
Two small areas contain more than 700 spodu-mene
pegmatites one foot or more in thickness. Many
of the pegmatite bodies contain 15 percent or more
of spodumene, and unusually rich parts of bodies
average from 30 to 50 percent. The spodumene crys-tals
are lath-shaped and range up to 38 inches in
length and 10.5 inches in width. Some of the pegma-tites
are enormous in size with a maximum width of
395 feet and a maximum length of 3,250 feet.
During the war, quarries were operated on several
of the nearly vertical spodumene pegmatites. The
entire pegmatite material was quarried and used as
mill feed for a flotation plant which produced high
quality spodumene and albite 1 - feldspar concentrates.
The pegmatites at the quarry sites have been proven
by core drilling to a depth of about 300 feet.
Stoneville District: The Stoneville district of
Stokes and Rockingham Counties has been for many
years an important intermittent producer of high
quality mica. The pegmatites in this area are thick
lenses, in many respects similar to those in the Shelby
area. Usually in the mining process only that part
of the pegmatite containing sheet mica is broken. In
the Stoneville area, however, several deposits have
been found to contain mica throughout the formation
in such quantity as to make it economical to mine the
whole pegmatite.
ABUNDANT RESERVES
A detailed study of the residual kaolin reserves
shows that the Spruce Pine district contains more
than 50,000,000 tons of crude kaolin material. In
recent years, the clay plants in this district have
been recovering about 20 percent kaolin from this
material. A part of the Kings Mountain district con-tains
650,000 tons of recoverable spodumene and this
figure is based on a depth of only 100 feet.
No estimates have been made as to the reserves of
sheet mica. In 1943, North Carolina produced ap-proximately
2,000,000 pounds of sheet and 25,000
tons of scrap mica, as compared with the previous
10-year average of 800,000 pounds of sheet and 12,500
tons of scrap. During the war, several important
new deposits were found and many of the old mines
were re-opened and made to yield in greater quanti-ties
than ever before.
The residual kaolin deposits in the Spruce Pine
district are also mined for grinding scrap mica. If
we assume that these deposits contain 5 percent mica —we know that many conain 15 percent—the answer
is 2V-2 million tons of scrap mica. Additional scrap
mica is also produced from sheet mica mining, feld-spar
mining, alaskite, schist deposits, and in other
districts than Spruce Pine.
There have been no published estimates of the
feldspar reserves of North Carolina. The U. S.
Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook, 1944, lists long
tons of crude feldspar produced in North Carolina in
1942 at 93,644; 1943 at 112,144 and, 1944 at 122,857.
That is an increase of about 10,000 tons per year,
which is no sign of depletion. During 1945, a new
750 tons per day feed feldspar flotation plant was put
into operation in the State. This plant uses alaskite
containing about 50 percent feldspar. Detailed geo-logic
mapping shows that there are alaskite reserves
of many hundred million tons.
Olivine: 1 * Most of the peridotite 1
' and related
magnesian rocks in North Carolina are confined to
a belt of gneisses and schists that lie west of the
Blue Ridge. Many of the peridotites are of the
dunite1 -"* and saxonite 10 type and contain essentially
pure olivine while others have undergone serpentin-ization
and steatitization. 17 Between Watauga Coun-ty,
North Carolina, and White County, Georgia,
chiefly in North Carolina, there are 20 deposits con-taining
230,000,000 tons of unaltered olivine, with
more than 45 percent magnesia, and one billion tons
of partially altered olivine averaging about 44 per-cent
magnesia.
Production of olivine in the United States began
in North Carolina in 1930 and production figures indi-cate
an annual average of 3,500 short tons between
1936 and 1940. The principal production has been
from quarries near Addie, Balsam Gap, and Webster
in Jackson County, and Day Book, Yancey County.
The principal utilization of North Carolina olivine
has been in the manufacture of forsterite 18 refracto-ries
and magnesium sulphate.
Chromite: In some of the dunite deposits, chro-mite
is a conspicuous mineral occurring as well-dis-seminated
crystals throughout the dunite rock, or
as small lenses and veins of massive chromite sur-rounded
by friable 11
' and granular olivine. A small
production has been reported from Webster and Dark
Ridge, Jackson County, and Day Book, Yancey Coun-ty.
During 1941, some placer chromite was recovered
from a deposit near Democrat, Buncombe County, by
an efficient hydraulic system. In 1941, the deposits
at Webster and Democrat were surveyed by magnetic
geophysical methods and those at the former locality
were explored by diamond drilling. These investiga-tions
indicated that there is insufficient difference
in magnetic properties of the chromite and the en-closing
dunite mass to outline accurately the ore
12Albite—the variety of feldspar containing no calcium (lime) and con-sisting-
of sodium-aluminum silicate.
1301ivine—a mineral composed mostly of magnesium orthosilicate, and
which has found a utilization as a refractory and in the manufacture of
epsom salts. Magnesium metal has been produced from olivine in experi-mental
work.
"l'eridot tc—dark green igneous rock which consists wholly of ferro-magnesian
minerals.
15Dunite—a variety of peridotite composed mostly of olivine.
10Saxonlte—a variety of peridotite similar to dunite hut containing crystals
of eristat ta.
17Serpentinization and steatitization—types of alteration or "decay" com-mon
to the peridotite class of rocks.
18Forsterite—an important refractory magnesium silicate mineral
19Friable—easy to break, or crumbling naturally,
PAGE 46 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
body by standard magnetic geophysical methods, and
that the ore bodies are small disconnected lenses.
Vermiculite: 20 Vermiculite was first noted in
North Carolina as a mineral associated with corun-dum.
21 Essentially, the entire commercial production
from North Carolina has been derived from deposits
associated with the dunites and pyroxenites.22 The
vermiculite occurs as veins and lenses along the con-tact
between the dunite or pyroxenite masses and
the enclosing schists or gneisses, or along interior
fractures or zones of weakness within the basic
formation. The width of the veins may vary from
a tiny stringer to more than 20 feet.
Vermiculite is found intermittently from Clay
County on the southwest to Avery County on the
northeast. The principal production has been from
the Ellijay district of Macon County, and near Swan-nanoa,
Buncombe County; exfoliation plants have
been operated at Franklin and Bee Tree. Mining has
been by open cut and underground methods. This
unique mineral has found a ready utilization as an
insulating material and a constituent of light-weight
concrete. The individual deposits are usually rela-tively
small; however, rough estimates have placed
a total reserve at between 250,000 and 500,000 tons.
PYROPHYLLITE AND TALC
Important deposits of pyrophyllite, the hydrous
aluminum silicate mineral closely resembling talc
and often substituted for it in industry, occur along
the eastern edge of the Piedmont Plateau—chiefly in
Moore, Chatham, Randolph, Montgomery, and Ala-mance
Counties. The pyrophyllite deposits occur in
strongly metamorphosed acid volcanics, chiefly a
normal coarse-grained tuff, 23 although they occur to
a less extent with fine acid tuff and acid volcanic
breccia. 24 A prominent feature of the pyrophyllite
-"Vermiculite—a group of hydrated silicate minerals, with peculiar prop-erty
of exfoliation with intense heat, that has become important because of
its insulating properties after dehydration.
^Corundum—aluminum oxide, formerly produced extensively in North
Carolina and used as an abrasive.
—Pyroxenites—rocks consisting essentially of the mineral pyroxene (a
meta-silicate, chiefly of calcium and magnesium).
-"Tuff—cemented volcanic ash.
"Breccia—angular volcanic ejecta, larger than tuff.
bodies is their irregular, oval, or lense-like form. The
size of the bodies varies greatly, but the large depos-its
are from 150 to 500 feet wide and 1,500 to 2,000
feet long. Mines and mills are being operated at
Robbins (formerly Hemp), Glendon, Moore Coun-ty,
and at Staley, Randolph County. Pyrophyllite
is being mined near Snow Camp, Alamance County,
and manufactured into refractories at Pomona, near
Greensboro, Guilford County. These pyrophyllite
refractories are being shipped as far as Chicago,
Illinois.
Talc deposits of two distinct types have been known
in North Carolina for many years. One of these is
associated with altered basic igneous rocks such as
peridotite, dunite, pyroxenite, and soapstone, while
the other is associated with marble.
Some of the peridotite masses have been altered
and contain, among other minerals, varying amounts
of talc and soapstone. For several years, small
amounts of talc have been mined from some of these
deposits and ground at different mineral processing
plants in the area. Talc of this type is being mined in
Madison County and processed in a mill at Marshall.
Both ground talc and talc crayons are produced.
Talc deposits associated with marble are found in
the southwestern corner of the State in Swain, Ma-con,
and Cherokee Counties. The talc bodies vary
in size from a few inches in length and width to
masses 50 feet thick or more than 200 feet long. A
detailed geological examination of the area made
cooperatively by the N. C. Division of Mineral Re-sources
and the Tennessee Valley Authority has just
been completed. There has also been considerable
exploration work carried on and talc is being mined
both by stripping and underground methods. High-grade
ground talc and talc crayons are being produc-ed
near Murphy.
LARGE KYANITE DEPOSITS
Although kyanite-'5 is widespread throughout the
western region of the State, the most important de-
2r»Kyanito—an aluminum silicate mineral in demand for high-grade re-fractories
and special ceramic products.
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 47
posits are found along the line of the Black and Great
Craggy Mountains from the vicinity of Burnsville,
Yancey County, to Swannanoa, Buncombe County.
Smaller but interesting deposits occur to the north
and south of the main area and in widely separated
sections of the Piedmont Plateau. Two types of
occurrence are common. In one type the kyanite
occurs as disseminations or lenses in acid crystalline
rocks, chiefly mica gneiss and mica schist. In the
other type the kyanite occurs as bunches, pockets or
lenses in pegmatite dikes or quartz veins. The latter
type of deposits, while rich in kyanite, are small and
as a result no large tonnage is available. The de-posits
which contain kyanite as disseminations and
lenses in gneisses and schists are often large and
contain important tonnages. The kyanite content
varies from 5 to 50 percent and often averages 20
percent. Mining and concentrations were carried on
for several years near Burnsville, Yancey County.
SILLIMANITE, TITANIUM, CLAY AND SHALE
Recent discovery of extensive deposits of silliman-ite-°
in the upper Piedmont area of the State offers
promise of production possibilities in the near future.
The sillimanite occurs principally in mica schist
which extends from near Cliffside, Rutherford Coun-ty,
northeastward to the Yadkin River at Elkin, in
a belt 95 miles long and 10 miles wide. Four areas in
this zone contain coarse crystals of sillimanite that
appear to offer possibilities for concentrating into a
salable product. One area near Morganton contains
large bundles of sillimanite crystals, many of which
are one inch in diameter and two and one-half inches
long. In this area the rock is estimated to contain
from 10 to 20 percent sillimanite.
Titanium27 minerals occur in North Carolina as
follows : veins and lenses of granular ilmenite-8 in
Caldwell County, placer rutile29 in Clay County,
ilmenite-magnetite lenses in Ashe County and ilmen-ite
sands in the rivers and sounds of the eastern
region. Ilmenite has been mined successfully in
Caldwell County for several years.
Structural clay products constitute one of the
State's important mineral resources in value. The
raw materials for these items are clay and shales.
For many years the entire production came from the
sedimentary clays of the Coastal Plain and from
flood-plain clays along streams. During more recent
years, the clay shales of the State have become of
importance for the production of structural clay
products. Important plants using Triassic shales
are located near Gulf, Colon, Sanford and Durham in
the Deep River area arid near Pine Hall in the Dan
River area. Plants near Monroe, Norwood, Mt. Gilead,
Denton, Salisbury, and New London use the pre-
Cambrian shales. The Cambrian shales are process-ed
in a plant near Brevard.
20Sillimanite—a mineral similar to kyanite chemically and in uses, but
having a different crystal form.
27Titanium—a metallic element found in nature only in the combined form.
28Ilmenite—a mineral consisting of oxides of iron and titanium. Widely
used in the manufacture of pigments.
29Rutile—a mineral which is dioxide of titanium. Used in enamels, titan-ium
chemicals, and welding rod coatings.
ISENHOUR BRICK & TILE CO,
DEVELOPS MODERN TUNNEL KILNS
(Continued from Page 42)
This method is as modern as it is revolutionary. No
hand contact and a minimum of manual labor is re-quired
in making brick the Isenhour way.
Steam shovels scoop up the clay from the East
Spencer pits, deposit it in cable cars which dump it
into the mixing plant, where it is combined with
locally-supplied shale and sufficient water to bring it
to the proper consistency. The mixing plant kneads
and mixes the clay, shale and water. This dough-like
substance is forced through rollers and then dies,
from which it comes in a continuous column and
moves onto a conveyor belt. This belt carries the
column to slicers, twelve taut wires on a frame, which
swing down to cut off brick length or tile length por-tions.
They are then ready for drying and firing.
Here the Isenhour method takes an important de-tour
from the usual process. Brick or tile are dumped
onto small trucks, operating on two-rail tracks, and
are moved hydraulically, at a regulated speed, into
and through the tunnel-kilns. Each truck holds 1000
units and these trucks move bumper to bumper con-tinuously
through the kilns. The brick are dried,
fired and cooled without being touched. The kilns
are oil-fired and thermostatically controlled. After
passing through a drying temperature of 300 degrees
Fahr., the brick move through successive stages of
heat, finally reaching 2100 degrees in the firing kilns.
Heat is further controlled in these chambers to give
the desired coloring.
One by one, at regular intervals, the trucks emerge
from the tunnel, cooled and ready for loading and
shipping. Two of these tunnel-kilns are in constant
operation. They are controlled by a central control
panel, where a single operator can check the progress
of each truck of brick. Kiln temperatures, air pres-sures,
speed and operation of the trucks, all are shown
on dials and permanently recorded. Automatic sig-nals
warn of any trouble in the kilns.
Brick and tile produced in this manner are said
to be much stronger, more uniform in quality and
appearance and less porous, with fewer rejects. The
cost is reported as less per unit. Each kiln turns out
30,000 finished brick, or the equivalent in brick and
tile, each day.
The tunnel-kiln equipment was developed in the
Isenhour plant, after years of study, research and
experimentation. B. C. Miller, mechanical engineer,
played an important part in developing the machin-ery.
Obvious advantages of the system attracted
the attention of the brick and tile industry, creating
a demand for this type of machinery. So, last year
the Miller Equipment Co. was established near the
Isenhour plant. This company furnishes complete
engineering services in construction of the most
modern type tunnel-kilns, as developed by the Isen-hour
firm. This and other improvements made by
the Isenhour company are doing much toward mech-anization
and assembly line improvement through-out
the brick and tile industry.
PAGE 48 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, l 947
History and Manufacture of Structural Clay Products
By Newton P. Vest, Executive Secretary, Brick and Tile Service, Inc., StatesviUe, N. C.
It is not known when man first formed masses of
clay into blocks from which to build a shelter, for
brick and tile are old, antedating memory and the
recorded history of civilization. Skillfully fashioned
bricks nearly 6,000 years old and dating from the
reign of Sargon of Akkad, founder of ancient Chal-dea,
have been discovered. Other Chaldean and
Sumerian cities of the plains of Mesopotamia have
yielded clay building blocks almost as venerable, and
excavations in the valley of the Indus have brought
to light remarkable examples of clay building block,
laid without mortar, in perfectly aligned walls, often
as much as three feet thick.
From these early beginning brickmaking developed
both technically and geographically. A tremendous
advance was made with the discovery that firing
made brick harder and more enduring than mere
sun-baking. By the time of the great Babylonian
King, Nebuchadnezzar, the art had developed to the
point of artistically molding and enameling brick.
Needless to say, the art of brickmaking was not con-fined
to Mesopotamia, but spread south and west in
Egypt—where the Hebrews made brick for their
Egyptian masters—; eastward into Iran, India, and
China ; and westward into Asia Minor, Greece, and
Rome.
The more orderly European society which succeed-ed
the period of the Barbarian invasions resulted in
still further development of the technique of produc-ing
and using structural clay products. Wherever clay
was abundant—in northern Italy, southern France,
Germany, and the low countries—there was extensive
building with brick.
About this time brickmaking migrated to the Brit-ish
Isles. By the time of Henry VIII (1509-47) Eng-lish
brickmaking was perfected, and it took the great
fire of London (1666) to transform that town from
a place of wood to a city of brick and stone. The reign
of Queen Anne brought about the building of the
hundreds of country mansions of brick which are to
be found throughout the English countryside today,
and which are among the world's most beautiful
examples of brick and tile architecture.
The Western Hemisphere, too, has its antique
brick—the Spaniards employing it in the southwest-ern
part of what is now the United States in the
erection of ranch houses, missions, churches, and
other structures.
COLONIAL BRICK MAKING
As early as 1611 in Virginia and 1629 in Massa-chusetts
brick plants were set up, and throughout
the whole Atlantic seaboard are to be found fine
examples of the use of brick by early Colonial build-ers.
Faithfully reproduced, and of tremendous in-terest
to all Americans, is the restored city of Wil-liamsburg,
in tidewater Virginia, whose principal
buildings—the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, and
the famous Wren Building of the College of William
and Mary—are of brick. Independence Hall, Phila-delphia,
built of brick, stands as a monument both to
American independence and the artistry and skill of
Colonial brickmakers and bricklayers. Little known
to America, but one of the many manufacturing pur-suits
of George Washington, was the manufacture of
bricks in the plant owned and operated by him at
Mount Vernon, Va.
Up to 1880 the use of brick in American building
was largely confined to ordinary wall construction
and for "backing up" stonefaced walls, but since that
time the ways in which structural clay products are
used in building construction have increased many-fold.
From barns and silos to towering skyscrapers,
brick and tile will be found, with every community
boasting schools, churches, highways, walls, side-walks,
terraces, smokestacks, apartments, hotels,
and homes built in whole or in part of these materials.
It is not surprising, therefore, that America today
is the world's largest producer and consumer of
structural clay products.
The manufacture of structural clay products, in-cluding
common and face brick, structural clay tile,
and architectural terra cotta, is one of the major
industries of this country.
CLAYS AND SHALES COMPLEX
Clay suitable for manufacture into brick and tile
is a bewilderingly complex material. Technically
known as a hydrated silicate of alumina—AL03 ,
2SiOL>, 2H.0—in which may occur sundry intermingl-ed
impurities, this clay is the disintegrated remains
of feldspathic rocks, themselves the product of the
earliest periods of the formation of the earth. In the
millions of intervening years, a part of this clay has
lain at its original site, and other parts have been torn
away by glacial movements and winds, rains, and
floods, to be deposited at various levels and distances
as sediment on the beds of rivers, lakes, and oceans.
The products resulting from such evolutions com-prise
three groups: (1) Surface clays, which may be
either the upthrusts or intrusions of older deposits
or those of more recent formation and sedimentary in
character; (2) shales, materials which have over
the ages been subjected to intense pressures until
the basic clay has almost been reduced to the form
of slate; and (3) fire clays, which are usually found
in conjunction with coal and are mined at deeper
levels and are so-called because of their refractory
qualities.
Clays, unlike metals, soften slowly and melt or
fuse gradually when subjected to rising tempera-tures.
It is this property of clay, its fusibility, which
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 49
causes it when properly burned to become hard, solid,
and substantially nonabsorbent. Fusing takes place
in three stages : Incipient fusion, that point when the
clay particles become sufficiently soft so that the
mass sticks together; vitrification, when there is
extensive fluxing and the mass becomes tight, solid,
and nonabsorbent ; and viscous fusion, the point when
the clay mass breaks down and tends to become
molten. The manufacturer's problem is to so control
the temperature in the kiln that vitrification is com-plete
and viscous fusion is avoided.
ABUNDANCE IN THIS STATE
North Carolina has an abundance of clay and shale
deposits and it is the production of structural clay
products from these raw materials that has led to
the establishment of the large structural clay
products industry in the State. The shale deposits
consist of the Cambrian, pre-Cambrian, and the Tri-assic
shales.
The Cambrian shales are confined to the Brevard
Schist and the Watauga formations. Deposits of
Cambrian shale are scattered throughout the western
half of the State. The Cambrian shales grade in
color from yellow to light red. They are fine-grained
or sandy-grained in texture, have no luster, and have
an irregular fracture. The Cambrian shale outcrops
are found in Henderson County near Etowah and in
Madison County near Hot Springs.
The pre-Cambrian shales are confined to the areas
of slate in the "slate belt". These slates weathered
to shale are the present sources of material for struc-tural
clay products in this division of the State. The
slates originally consisted of fine tuff, ash, and land
waste. These materials were laid down as bedded
deposits, metamorphosed into slates and later weath-ered
back to shales. The pre-Cambrian shales grade
in color from yellow, dark yellow, bluish gray, blue
slate, to light gray. They are fine to medium grained
and shaly in texture, have a dull luster, and have a
shaly or irregular fracture. The main outcrops of
pre-Cambrian shales occur in Anson, Union, Meck-lenburg,
Stanly, Montgomery, Cabarrus, Davidson,
Moore, Alamance, Chatham, Orange, Durham, Per-son,
Granville and Randolph Counties ; and the minor
outcrops occur farther east in Wake, Vance, North-ampton,
Halifax, Nash, Wilson, Johnston, Harnett
and Richmond Counties. The pre-Cambrian or "slate
belt" crosses the central part of North Carolina in a
northeast-southwest direction. The western boun-dary
is marked by a line drawn a few miles east of
the cities of Greensboro, Lexington and Charlotte;
and its eastern boundary by a line a few miles west
of Durham, Sanford and Wadesboro. The belt varies
in width from eight to fifty miles.
TRIASSIC SHALES RED TO BROWN
The Triassic shales consist, in general, of materials
which have accumulated through the process of
weathering and erosion, in a long narrow trough on
the eastern side of the crystalline belt. With the
NOTE: Source of material on History
Bulletin No. 842.
mil Manufacture—U. S. Commerce
exception of the Pine Hall deposits, in which yellow
and black shale occurs, the Triassic shales vary from
red to chocolate brown in color. They are fine grain-ed
to sandy grained in texture, have irregular hacky
fracture and have a dull luster. The largest area in
which the Triassic shales occur is in the shape of a
large lense extending in a northeasternly and south-westerly
direction through the central part of the
State. Smaller areas are located in Rockingham,
Stokes and Forsyth Counties and in Anson County.
The most important and valuable deposits are in
Lee, Rockingham and Stokes Counties.
Throughout the Piedmont Plateau and Coastal
Plain and to a limited extent in the mountain region
alluvial clays are common and often abundant in the
terraces and flood plains along the rivers. Practically
all the clays used in North Carolina prior to 1922
were obtained from these flood plains and terraces.
At the present time some of the largest developments
in the State are on this type of deposit. These clays
belong to the Columbia formation and partly to re-cent
formations. These clays vary from yellowish
to reddish in color and occur along the flood plains
and terraces, and vary from five to fifteen feet in
thickness. Interesting deposits of this kind are
found at Weldon on the Roanoke River, Lillington on
the Cape Fear River, and Goldsboro on the Neuse
River.
MANUFACTURING
STRUCTURAL CLAY PRODUCTS
The process by which structural clay products in
North Carolina are formed is called the stiff-mud
process. In the stiff-mud process the tempered clay
is delivered to an auger machine which in turn forces
the plastic mass through the moulding die in a con-tinuous
stream called a "column". The column has,
of course, taken the shape of the openings in the die,
and, as it is extruded, another machine cuts it into
units of the desired length. The green units then
pass to a "take off" belt for inspection, the perfect
ones moving to the dryer and the imperfect ones back
to the pug mill for retempering. Standard brick is
extruded through dies either 3% by 8 inches or 3%
by 214 inches, producing side-cut or end-cut bricks,
respectively. Structural clay tile, drain tile, and sim-ilar
shapes are all end-cut.
The dies used in the auger machine are carefully
designed to suit the characteristics of the clay to pass
through them. The shrinkage anticipated, both from
drying and from burning, determines the allowances
to be made in the size of the die and the length of
the green units. All dies must be lubricated so that
the clay columns may flow through them freely and
without tearing or otherwise destroying the edges.
Oil, water, and steam are all used as lubricants.
Deairing—the removal of air occluded in the clay
—
is a recent and important development in the stiff-mud
process. A special deairing chamber is attached
to the auger machine and as the clay passes through
this chamber it is broken up and shredded, and any
air present is removed by a pump which maintains a
Page 50 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
vacuum between 15 to 29 inches of mercury. Among
the chief advantages of deairing of the clay are:
Greater strength imparted in both the green and the
fired body, increased workability and plasticity, and
a greater utilization of inferior clays is made possi-ble.
However, not all clays respond favorably to this
process, and in such instances it is not used.
Regardless of the process by which the green
product has been formed, it must be dried before it
can be burned. As much as 7 to 30 percent moisture
may be present in the green units. This moisture
may be in the form of free water which fills the pore
spaces, water which clings to the pore walls even
after the free water has been removed, and hygro-scopic,
colloidal, and chemically combined water.
Drying removes most of the water present in the
first two of these forms, and the remainder is elimi-nated
in the early stages of burning.
REQUIRES SCIENTIFIC ATTENTION
Drying requires scientific supervision. As the free
water is removed, the clay particles tend to coalesce
and cause the green unit to shrink. However, the
removal must not take place too quickly, otherwise
the surface of the unit will dry and harden before the
interior, thus causing subsequent cracking. Usually
3 days at temperatures ranging between 100° and
300° Fahrenheit are required to dry properly struc-tural
clay products. In recent years mechanical dry-ers
have come to be used quite extensively. These
driers automatically control the temperature, degree
of humidity, air velocity, and all the other factors
which may affect the drying of the green clay unit.
A further step is necessary to complete the struc-tural
clay product—it must be burned, and this is
one of the most highly specialized processes in the
entire manufacturing procedure, requiring from 60
to 100 hours. Burning is done in kilns, of which
there are several types, designed to use various fuels,
such as coal and oil. Burning takes place in several
recognizable and distinct stages which may be re-ferred
to as water smoking, dehydration, oxidation,
vitrification, flashing, and cooling. The green ware
is stacked in the kilns in such a manner that the hot
gases can flow freely around and through the entire
mass and the temperature of each piece is raised
gradually and uniformly.
The first stage, that of water smoking, lasts from
10 to 12 hours and requires a temperature of from
250° to 350° F. During this period all free water left
in the clay after drying is driven off, and since the
kiln may contain several hundred tons of green ware
the quantity of water thus removed often amounts
to several tons.
When the water-smoking period has been com-pleted,
the temperature of the kiln is gradually raised
to dehydration temperatures which start at about
800° F. and rise to 1,200° to 1,400° F. before this
stage is completed. During the dehydration cycle
the chemically combined water is driven off, resulting
in an alteration or transposition in structure of the
clay molecules. Oxidation also occurs during the
dehydration, taking place at temperatures ranging
from about 500° to 1,200° or 1,400° F. It is during
this period that all combustible material in the clay
is consumed. Products of combustion resulting from
the burning of the sulfur and carbonaceous sulfur
materials in the clay are expelled, and the ferric
oxide, if any is present, is converted into ferrous
oxide. Uniform temperature, controlled combustion
under oxidizing conditions, and time are the requi-sites
during the oxidation period, since during this
period the heated clay body possesses low mechanical
strength. However, once oxidation is complete the
burning can proceed more rapidly.
VITRIFICATION AND COLORING
The next stage, vitrification, is characterized by
the contracting and filling up of the pore spaces in
the clay. During this stage the clay product is ex-posed
to temperatures ranging from 1,600° to 2,100°
F., and the clay softens to a point where the larger
grains adhere. When this adhesion has permeated
the entire mass the product is said to be completely
vitrified, the mass is relatively impervious, and max-imum
shrinkage has occurred. Paving brick, some
vitrified sewer pipe, and conduits are burned to prac-tically
complete vitrification.
Flashing is done by reducing the fire near the end
of the burn and produces certain desired colors and
shadings which vary with the different types of clay.
This is a process requiring skill and experience with
each type of clay.
Cooling, although not strictly a stage in the burn-ing,
is nevertheless an important step in finishing
many classes of clay. The cooling cycle usually re-quires
from 48 to 72 hours, and the rate of cooling
has a direct effect on the color of the product. Too
rapid cooling may cause cracking and checking.
Brick and Tile Service Aids Builders and Public
By Newton P. Vest, Executive Secretary, Brick and Tile Service, Inc., Statesville, N. C.
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., located in Statesville,
N. C, is a trade association organized and maintain-ed
by structural clay products manufacturers in the
State of North Carolina. Organization as a trade
association was decided upon at a meeting of the
member manufacturers held January 14, 1947, in
Raleigh, N. C.
The officers of Brick and Tile Service, Inc., are:
E. R. Rankin, Statesville, president; George M. Nor-wood,
Raleigh, vice-president; Maie Stoner, secre-tary
and treasurer; and Newton P. Vest, executive
secretary.
The member manufacturers are Borden Brick and
Tile Co., Goldsboro, Sanford, and Durham; Cherokee
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 51
Brick Co., Raleigh ; Grant Brick Works, Weldon
;
Kendrick Brick and Tile Co., Mt. Holly and Monroe;
Moland-Drysdale Corp., Hendersonville ; Mt. Gilead
Brick Co., Mt. Gilead ; Nash Brick Co., Rocky Mount;
Norwood Brick Co., Lillington ; Pine Hall Brick and
Pipe Co., Winston-Salem, Pine Hall and Madison;
Sanford Brick and Tile Co., Colon ; and Statesville
Brick Co., Statesville.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSOCIATION
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., is, as its name implies,
a service organization. The function of the associa-tion
as determined by the Board of Directors, is the
rendering of service to: (1) the industry, and (2)
to the public.
Through research the members of the association
hope to improve the present structural clay units,
and by a greater utilization of the raw materials
available in the State, to develop new structural units.
By distributing technical data on brick and tile con-struction
to architects, engineers, and contractors,
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., desires to assist the users
of brick and tile in masonry design and construction.
Through the proper distribution of general and in-formative
literature regarding masonry construc-tion,
assistance to the public will be given.
SERVICES
The association, in its offices in Statesville, main-tains
an up-to-the-minute file of general and technical
data on brick and tile construction. It answers and
welcomes inquiries relative to structural clay prod-ucts
and brick and tile construction.
In March of this year the directors of Brick and
Tile Service, Inc., voted unanimously to sponsor a
research program at North Carolina State College
in an endeavor to improve the present clay products
and to develop new products with the raw materials
available. This program was established on a perma-nent
basis with funds contributed each month by the
association to the Department of Engineering Re-search
at North Carolina State College.
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., with the co-operation
of Structural Clay Products Institute, the national
association of structural clay products manufactur-ers,
located in Washington, D. C, was able to obtain
a grant amounting to $23,350 from the Industrial
Research and Development Division, Office of Tech-nical
Services, U. S. Department of Commerce, for
structural clay products research at North Carolina
State College. This project became effective June
16, 1947, and its far-reaching value will be felt by the
college and the public, as well as the structural clay
products industry.
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., took great pride in the
fact that for the first time in the history of North
Carolina State College all graduating students of the
Ceramic Engineering Department this year remained
in North Carolina to work. The association is par-ticularly
proud that two of these graduates were
employed by members of Brick and Tile Service.
Continued interest will be shown in the Ceramic En-gineering
Department of State in hopes that this will
not be an exception but rather a precedent.
The directors of the association voted at their last
meeting to donate this next school term to each
student of the Architectural Engineering, Civil Engi-neering,
and Ceramic Engineering Departments of
North Carolina State College one copy each of "Brick
Engineering" and "Tile Engineering". These hand-books
contain the latest and most authoritative data
on masonry construction and design.
The association has distributed hundreds of plan
books throughout the State to people planning to
build. In a joint endeavor to make available to the
people of North Carolina planning to build low cost
houses the best possible house plans, this association
and the North Carolina Chapter of the American In-stitute
of Architects are sponsoring a plan book of
North Carolina type houses designed by North Caro-lina
architects.
In an effort to acquaint the architects, engineers
and contractors of North Carolina with the brick and
tile cavity wall, Brick and Tile Service published in
March of this year a booklet entitled "Brick and Tile
Cavity Walls" and mailed to them copies of this book-let.
This type of masonry wall construction, while
relatively new in this country, has been used for close
to 80 years in England and on the continent of Europe
with excellent results. It is a wall construction ideal-ly
suited for our southern climate.
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., in order to acquaint
the architects, engineers and contractors of North
Carolina with the outstanding masonry structures
constructed in different sections of the country, mails
each month several hundred copies of a pictorial
brochure entitled "Brick and Tile".
The association realizes the need for rendering
service in the farm field and to accomplish this has
cooperated with the Agricultural Engineering De-partment
of North Carolina State College in the
preparation and conversion of masonry farm struc-tures.
It has distributed booklets describing the
proper use and construction of masonry farm struc-tures
and has had a representative attend farm meet-ings.
It is the intent of the association to offer more
cooperation in this field and to render all the service
possible.
Brick and Tile Service, Inc., is proud of the assist-ance
it has been able to render those vocational
schools engaged in the training of brickmasons in
North Carolina. The association has furnished these
schools with necessary brick for instructional pur-poses
; and also with instructor material and course
outlines, along with helpful booklets covering the
essentials of good brickwork for the students. In
many instances the association has been able to ob-tain
hard-to-get masonry tools for brickmason ap-prentices
as well as journeymen masons from out of
state sources when they were unobtainable locally.
While Brick and Tile Service, Inc., is a North Caro-lina
trade association youngster, it plans to be an
active one in its services to the industry and to the
State.
PAGE 52 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
Ceramic Education and Research at State College
By W. W. Kriegel, Head of the Ceramic Engineering Department, N. C. State College
At North Carolina State Col-lege
ceramic education and ceram-ic
research have been so closely
associated that it is difficult to say
correctly where one ends and the
other begins. It is the belief of
those connected with the ceramic
work that this close association
is necessary to the full realization
of the potentialities of either.
It is more than a coincidence
that the Department of Ceramic
Engineering and the Engineering
Experiment Station were author-ized
and established during the
same year, 1923. Dr. E. C. Brooks, then president
of State College, brought Dr. A. F. Greaves-Walker
to Raleigh to establish the Department of Ceramic
Engineering. Professor H. B. Shaw became the first
director of the Engineering Experiment Station.
During the succeeding years the two agencies worked
and developed together. By constant cooperation
they strove to extend the knowledge and use of the
nonmetallic mineral resources of the State. During
this period the Engineering Experiment Station pub-lished
31 bulletins, of which 15 were work of the De-partment
of Ceramic Engineering. A listing of the
titles of these bulletins shows the breadth of this
work.
Ceramic Engineering Publications by the
Engineering Experiment Station
Bull. No. 2. "Tests of Face and Common Brick Manufac-tured
in North Carolina," by A. F. Greaves-
Walker and James Fontain.
Bull. No. 6. "The Occurrence, Properties and Uses of the
Commercial Clays and Shales of North Caro-lina"
by A. F. Greaves-Walker, N. H. Stolte and
W. L. Fabianic.
Bull. No. 11. "The Production of an Insulating Brick Using
North Carolina Shales" by A. F. Greaves-Walk-er,
W. C. Cole, Jr., and S. C. Davis.
Bull. No. 12. "The Development of Pyrophyllite Refractories
and Refractory Cements" by A. F. Greaves-
Walker, C. W. Owens, Jr., T. L. Hurst and R.
L. Stone.
Bull. No. 14. "The Location and Distribution of the Ceramic
Mineral Deposits of North Carolina" by A. F.
Greaves-Walker and S. G. Riggs, Jr.
Bull. No. 16. "The Production of Unflred and Fired Fosterite
Refractories from North Carolina Dunites" by
A. F. Greaves-Walker and R. L. Stone.
Bull. No. 19. "Origin, Mineralogy and Distribution of the Re-fractory
Clays of the United States" by A. F.
Greaves-Walker.
Bull. No. 22. "The Development of an Unfired Pyrophyllite
Refractory" by A. F. Greaves-Walker.
Bull. No. 23. "Suitability of North Carolina Shales and Clays
for Mortar Mixes" by A. F. Greaves-Walker
and W. A. Lambertson.
Bull. No. 24. "Development of Light Weight Concretes Us-ing
North Carolina Vermiculite" by W. A.
Scholes, A. F. Greaves-Walker, E. R. Tood and
D. F. Cox.
Bull. No. 2 5. Ceramic Dielectric and Insulator Materials for
Radio and Radar Insulators" by R. L. Stone.
STATE COLLEGE GRADUATES
REMAIN IN NORTH CAROLINA
For the first time in the history of the
Ceramic Engineering Department of North
Carolina State College, all graduates (ex-cept
one planning advanced study) have
accepted positions with firms in North
Carolina. Heretofore most of the gradu-ates
have accepted jobs in other states of
the Union. In addition to this year's grad-uates
remaining in North Carolina there is
definite trend for graduates of former
years to return to the State. The ceramic
firms of the State are aware of the need
for trained engineers and have turned to
North Carolina State College to supply this
need.
Bull. No. 27. "Investigation of Factors
Affecting the Firing Shrink-age
of Dry-Pressed Steatite
Bodies" by R. L. Stone.
Bull. No. 28. "Part I Investigation of
Binders for Dry-Pressed Ste-atite
Porcelains. Part II
The Development of Sys-tems
of Shrinkage Control
for Dry - Pressed Steatite
Porcelains" by R. L. Stone.
Bull. No. 29. "Part I. The Development
of a System of Shrinkage
Control for Extruded Stea-tite
Bodies. Part II. The
Development of Special
Bodies for Production of
Electron Tube Spacers" by
R. L. Stone.
Bull. No. 31. "Investment Opportunities
in North Carolina Minerals" by A. F. Greaves-Walker.
POST WAR DEVELOPMENTS
IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
Realizing the imperative need for new develop-ments
in engineering, the college administration au-thorized
the reorganization of the Engineering Ex-periment
Station July 1946 with the new name of
Department of Engineering Research under the
direction of Dr. W. G. Van Note. Full time research
personnel were employed whose work is augmented
by contributions of the teaching staffs of the various
engineering departments. The teaching staffs advise
and at times actively direct the research projects in
the Department of Engineering Research. In turn
the Department of Engineering Research assists
these instructional departments by grants of aid,
advice and equipment for research activities. As a
result a very closely knit cooperative engineering
research activity is maintained.
The objectives of the research organization are
three fold
:
(1) To support fundamental researches in the fields of
the applied sciences.
(2) To develop new or improved processes that will pro-vide
wider utilization of the natural resources of the
State.
(3) To offer to industry, both large and small, complete
research services devoted to the solution of technical
problems and the development of new products.
ADVANTAGES OF RESEARCH
The direct advantages of engineering research to
the State are the developments of new products, bet-ter
utilization of present products and raw materials,
creation of new industries and expansion of old. The
advantages to the students are not as apparent but
nevertheless real. They have association with the
developments and the people making those develop-ments,
a stimulation toward research and a greater
interest in their chosen field of endeavor. Further,
research in engineering tends to keep subject and
course matter of instruction continually before the
scrutiny of practical application. Finally, active
(Continued on Page 65)
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 53
Pottery Making, Ancient Art, Increasing In State
By M. R. DUNNAGAN, Informational Service Representative, ESC
As under cover of departing Day
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away,
Once more within the Potter's house alone
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.
The art of pottery-making, ancient and honorable
skill, is interwoven with the history of North Caro-lina.
For, in the rural communities of the State, it
was necessary to have some types of containers for
water, for milk and also for whiskey, brandy and
other intoxicating drinks to which the early settlers
were not strangers.
Apparently, for obvious reasons, the first-comers
to the State, settling along the eastern seaboard, did
not go in for pottery-making on a large scale. Any
clay, suitable for pottery, was covered over with sand
and was not easily available. Wooden containers
seem to have been more extensively used, until resi-dent
planters and tradesmen acquired sufficient
wealth to import pottery from Europe. Indeed, many
palatial homes are still standing which were built of
brick brought from Europe in the colonial and early
republic days. This practice of wealthy citizens in
the eastern section of the State extended even to the
central and piedmont areas.
Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small,
That stood along the floor and by the wall;
And some loquacious Vessels were; and some
Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all.
Exhaustive research would doubtless reveal that
the Indians, in addition to carving out wooden bowls
and beating out stone dishes, formed mud containers.
Many frontiersmen, daubing the chinking in their
log houses, must have fashioned rough plates and
dishes and crocks from the pliable clay so plentiful
in the central and western sections of the State.
Expert pottery making, however, seems to have de-veloped
in the west-central and piedmont areas of
the State, where a bountiful supply of clay suitable
for pottery making was potentially available in
almost any community.
Records of the Southern Province of the Moravian
Church reveal that among the first Moravian settlers
at Bethabara (Old Town), a few miles north-west of
Salem (Winston-Salem), was a skilled potter, Gott-fried
Aust, who plied his art at Bethabara and later
at Salem, starting in 1755. This trade was carried
on after his death by his apprentice, Rudolph Christ.
They found suitable clay ready at hand at both
places and produced household pottery, including
clay pipe-heads.
The story is related that Rafe (Raffe) Cole, a pot-ter
in Lancastershire, England, center of pottery-making,
came to America before or around Revolu-tionary
War times. Rafe Cole is understood to have
settled in the northwestern area of Moore County
NOTE: Poetry is from "Kuza Nama"—"The Book of Pots"—in the
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Fifth Edition of the Edward FitzGerald Trans-lations.
and set up a pottery, at which he made "stoneware",
milk jars, churns, crocks, pitchers, liquor jugs and
other household and community wares. He taught
his son, Evin Cole, the potter's trade and Evin located
not far away in Randolph County, near Seagrove.
Descendants of Rafe Cole now operate half a dozen
pottery making plants, most of them in the commun-ity
in which their ancestor started.
Said one among them—"Surely not in vain
My substance of the common Earth was ta'en
And to this Figure molded, to be broke,
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."
Another potter, Pater Craven, from Pennsylvania,
is credited with coming to North Carolina and setting
up a potter's plant near Steeds, probably across the
Montgomery County line in Moore County, before the
War Between the States. He is said to have been re-lieved
of military duty because he was engaged in
making pottery for the Confederacy. He taught the
trade to his son, J. D. Craven, who operated a pottery
in upper Moore County for many years. He, in turn,
trained J. W. Teague, who, at the age of nine years,
was made an apprentice in the trade. Teague's sons
and grandchildren operated and continue to operate
potteries in the same community.
Another name which appears in the potter's trade
is Owen. It started with Frank Owen and continued
through Rufus Owen. Several members of that fam-ily
are now engaged in pottery making, all in the
same community. In fact, one of them, Joe Owen,
grandson of Frank Owen, has recently enlarged
operations by erecting a new plant, costing about
$35,000, in upper Moore County, not far from Sea-grove,
and installing machinery for some of the
operations. The firm, Glenn Art Pottery, Inc., con-tinues
to use hand labor for most of the work.
While the name Craven seems to have passed out
of the pottery making picture, it is of interest to note
that the old names, Cole, Teague and Owen, continue
to dominate the hand pottery field. Probably 75
percent of the hand pottery made in North Carolina —it would not be surprising to find that 90 percent
of the production—is turned out by the members of
these three families and their connections.
Then said a Second—"Ne'er a peevish Boy
Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy;
And He that with his hand the Vessel made
Will surely not in after Wrath destroy."
Another interesting, but probably natural, devel-opment,
is that the pottery making industry grew up
along "The Old Plank Road" between Fayetteville
and Salem (Winston-Salem) and in upper Moore and
lower Randolph Counties. Early in the history of
pottery making in North Carolina, an extensive de-posit
of suitable clay was found near Seagrove in
Randolph County. That deposit continues to supply
the potters in that community with their base clay,
PAGE 54 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
supplemented by clay from other areas, some from
Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.
Most of the early pottery plants were started to
supply the home and neighborhood needs. When local
requirements were met, pottery was sold and traded
in other communities. Like chewing tobacco, in the
early days, pottery was loaded onto a wagon and one
or two members of the family would take long trips,
two weeks or more, selling and trading the pottery
for cash or other family and community needs. Many
of the wagons which lumbered up and down "The
Old Plank Road", stopped at the pottery plants and
took on cargoes of the potter's products for sale at
the ends of their lines or for further shipment.
The hand potter's process is intensely interesting.
Suitable clay is secured. Early plants were located
near enough to the supply to handle it by shovel or
wheelbarrow. Most of it needs little preparation.
Usually it is ground in a tub-like container with a
removable bottom and with a timber with protruding
arms to mix and moisten the clay. This upright
timber was formerly turned by hand ; later a mule or
horse hitched to a protruding timber, went 'round
and 'round—a process similar to that of grinding the
juice out of cane for making molasses. Potters usual-ly
screen the clay to make sure it contains no foreign
substances. Yet much of the clay is so clean that it
needs no screening.
After a momentary silence spake
Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make;
"They sneer at me for leaning all awry:
What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"
Clay, ready for use, is sometimes packed away in
a moist dark place to be used as needed. For a vase
or a jar or other item to be turned, a handful of clay —usually measured by hand and eye—is placed on
the turning wheel, or base. The "kick wheel" is
turned by kicking, later the foot pedal was used, and
now, frequently, a motor furnishes the power for
turning the wheel. The potter fashions the turning
lump of clay with his hands. He runs it up between
his fingers, if he is making a vase or pot. He pushes
the mass in above the base and bulges it out above.
The clay seems to run upward between his fingers.
He presses it in again toward the top and bulges it
out again for the top. And, lo, in less than five min-utes
he has a perfect vase. He may make dozens of
them with no measure except with his hands and
eyes. Yet the casual observer would say they are
all exactly alike—just as if they had come from
moulds. Truly, it behaves "like clay in a potter's
hands."
These soft vases are allowed to dry, or are aided
in drying, for a day or more on boards placed in
racks. When a sufficient number are formed to fill
a kiln, they are placed in a kiln and heat is applied
for a few days, ranging from 1500 to 2500 degrees,
Fahr. Some potters fire the kiln for a day or two,
take out the pottery, glaze them—a process which
either is, or is the equivalent of, pouring hot liquid
glass over the pottery to give it the hard glaasy
appearance, then bake it more to set the glaze. Color-ing
may be acquired by adding color to the melted
glass, in conjunction with the original color of the
clay, or the color that comes out after the baking.
The presence of iron and other metals in the clay, and
the amount, also does much in bringing out the color.
In fact, the potter does not know, always, what color
his pottery will be when it comes from the kiln.
Frequently he will get a mottled, or streaked or
mixed effect when least expecting it. That adds to
the interest, for often the surprise is delightful, yet
sometimes distressing.
Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot
—
I think a Sufi pipkin—waxing hot
—
"All this of Pot and Potter—Tell me then,
Who is the potter, pray, and who the Pot?"
Pottery making thrived in North Carolina's pied-mont
area from its beginning until the prohibition
era dealt it a body blow—from which it only recently
has begun to recover. Many of the potters had con-tracts
with whiskey distillers and brandy makers for
their entire outputs, or at least the bulk of their pro-duction.
Jugs holding half a gallon and all the way
up to five-gallon jugs were supplied by the hundreds.
As the State became drier, after the turn of the cen-tury,
the potters became scarcer. Most of them went
out of business entirely. A few continued to make
utility pottery, including flower pots. Most of those
remaining gradually turned to making art pottery.
Two firms, at least, make flower pots, one of them
exclusively, the Kennedy Pottery at Wilkesboro.
The other, at Matthews in Mecklenburg County, also
makes art pottery.
Two types of pottery have come down through the
years in North Carolina, influenced by two European
countries. German pottery, probably fostered by the
Moravians at Salem, is of the heavier, bulkier type,
hard baked and capable of holding most liquids for
long periods. The other seems to be the English type,
lighter, thinner, baked less and not so substantial;
also probably more inclined toward the artistic. Art,
however, was not too apparent in the early pottery,
and was left to the tastes of the potter and his wife
or children. Yet, as the liquor jug disappeared, the
potters who remained at their wheels, at least a part
of the time, gradually turned toward artistry of
form and coloring. This was influenced by the de-mands
of the purchasers, individuals and retailers,
who passed by the roadside pottery. In many in-stances
customers would furnish a design, drawing
or picture, and the potter would reproduce it on a
vase or other pottery.
"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell
Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell
The luckless Pots he marr'd in making—Pish!
He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well."
About 30 years ago art pottery received a shot in
the arm which revitalized and largely developed it in
North Carolina when Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Busbee,
Raleigh residents, moved to an isolated section in
northwestern Moore County, near the route of "The
Old Plank Road" and started producing art pottery.
They needed an outlet, larger than the local trade.
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 55
Mrs. Busbee went to New York and opened an art
pottery shop. This was operated for ten years, until
the trade was established sufficiently to utilize all the
pottery Mr. Busbee and his aids could produce at
their small plant—and maintain the artistry required
by their standards.
Jugtown Pottery, as they designated their prod-ucts,
from the name they gave their location, is world
famous. Also many celebrities of many nations
have actually worn a "beaten path" to Jugtown,
where a superior pottery is produced. Mr. Busbee
adopted an early Chinese pattern and in most of the
Jugtown pottery this Chinese influence can be seen.
The obsolete liquor jug of that area is now repro-duced
in miniature, with its corncob stopper. And a
locally designated color, "tobacco spit brown", is
continued in many of the artistic pieces produced.
Local potters, influenced by the art in Jugtown
Pottery, as well as by the demands of their own cus-tomers,
have leaned more toward art in the last quar-ter
of a century, both in the form of pottery and in
the coloring. Merchandising methods have changed
also. Sales now are to sales agents or retail dealers,
many of whom designate the types of pottery wanted
for their trades. In addition, many of the local pot-ters
issue catalogues, with numbers for their wares,
and orders come in by mail. In recent years, also,
with the increase of tourist trade in the State, many
sales are made from accumulated wares to the visit-ors
who stop to view the offerings and to see the
pottery made.
"Well," murmured one, "Let whoso make or buy
My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry:
But fill me with the old familiar Juice,
Methinks I might recover by and by."
As an able ally of the increasing tourist trade in
the mountain area of the State, art pottery making
has become an important local industry in many
western communities. Discriminating tastes of many
of the mountain resort tourists have offered an in-centive
for art pottery products. Some of the plants
have operated since the turn of the century, and have
developed many valuable customers and other out-lets
through art pottery shops in many cities of the
country. With suitable clay ready at hand, these
little plants are increasing in numbers, as well as in
size, giving employment to more people and increas-ing
the State's income.
While many local potters puttered along with their
pottery making, as an adjunct to farming, or other
local bread-winning activities, during the lean years,
they are now devoting more time to their trade, and
are bringing their sons and daughters to the wheel.
Even since World War II there has been an appre-ciable
increase in the number of boys in the service
who have returned to their fathers' trade. The local
pottery is still a family operation and is still a hand
process, even though power improvements, such as
the motor for running the wheel, are being made.
Two incidents are pointing the way to greatly in-creased
local activity in making art pottery. One is
the extensive enlargement of a plant near Seagrove,
the Glenn Art Pottery, Inc., already mentioned. The
other is the erection of a large plant, the site, plant
and equipment in which cost in excess of $200,000,
just outside the city limits of Hickory. This plant
started operation early this year and while it is a
machine plant, operators report that still 80 percent
of the work is done by hand. Its wares have been
placed on sale on nation-wide scale and may be found
at local stores.
Hyalyn Porcelain, Inc., of Hickory was organized
by H. Leslie Moody, for several years professor of
ceramics at Ohio State College and for two years
manager of the internationally famous Rookwood
Potteries in Cincinnati, Ohio, who is secretary-treas-urer
and general manager. After discouraging starts,
Mr. Moody finally organized a company in which 90
percent of the stock is owned in Hickory and of
which six hard-headed successful local business and
professional men of Hickory, with Mr. Moody, are
officers and directors.
The wheels of this firm are rolling and its products,
described as art ware, lamp bases, china specialties
and decorative accessories, are beginning to roll
through the local trade channels throughout the
country.
So while the Vessels, one by one were speaking,
The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking:
And then they jogg'd each other, "Brother!
Brother!
Now for the Porter's shoulders' knot a-creaking!"
Mr. Moody brought with him six experienced pot-ters
who form the nucleus for training local workers
in the art. Early in the spring 40 people were em-ployed
in the plant, and by this fall the plant was
gradually to build up the force to 50 or 60.
Moreover, this plant is making use of the nearby
kaolin, so plentiful in the Spruce Pine area, many
tons of which leave the State each year for the china
and tableware plants of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. Much of this kaolin, cheap as it leaves
the State, comes back in tableware at many times
the price of the basic material from which it was
made.
Hyalyn Porcelain, Inc., of Hickory, and the enlarg-ed
Glenn Art Pottery, Inc., near Seagrove, can well
be the forerunners of dozens of other plants of this
type, which will not only use North Carolina clay, the
value of which can be increased manyfold through
manufacture, but will also give suitable and remun-erative
employment to hundreds of good North Caro-lina
citizens.
In emphasizing better selection of workers for
jobs, local Employment Service offices in the State
gave 3,475 tests during the first six months of 1947,
including 2,494 aptitude tests, 443 typing and steno-graphic
tests, and 538 oral trade question tests.
Employment Service personnel gave 13,418 coun-seling
interviews, 8,567 of them to veterans, in the
first eight months of 1947, in efforts to help them find
suitable kinds of employment.
PAGE 56 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
Hyalyn Porcelain Large Modern Plant for Art Pottery
North Carolina now has one of the largest, most
modern and most complete art pottery plants in the
nation—Hyalyn Porcelain, Inc., located on the out-skirts
of Hickory—in which limited production was
started on January 1, 1947.
This firm is chartered with an authorized capital
stock of $500,000, with approximately $250,000 paid
in, practically all of which was used in the purchase
of a seven-acre site, the erection of a modern two-story
building containing 28,000 square feet of floor
space, and the installation of the most up-to-date
machinery on the market today. Ninety percent of
the stock is owned by Hickory residents.
Officers and directors of the corporation include
Lee P. Frans, president; Walker Lyerly 1
, vice-presi-dent;
H. Leslie Moody, secretary-treasurer and gen-eral
manager; and G. Norman Hutton, Carl Cline,
K. C. Menzies and Lester C. Gifford. All of these
officers are directors, and except Mr. Moody, are
longtime residents and successful business men of
Hickory.
Mr. Moody, in charge of the plant, came to Hickory
several years ago to attempt the organization. After
discouraging starts, he finally succeeded in interest-ing
prominent citizens of Hickory in the enterprise
and the corporation was formed and chartered in the
fall of 1946. Coming direct from two years of suc-cessful
management of the famous Rookwood Pottery
in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Moody had served for several
years as professor of ceramics at Ohio State College.
He therefore combines the ideology of a professor
with the practical hard business experience in actual
operation of a nationally known, highly acclaimed
art pottery plant.
Although production was started on a limited scale
the first of this year, the plant is now turning out
thousands of pieces weekly of the artware line which
is to embrace the major part of the production. The
first line of merchandise was put on the market May
1. Hyalyn Porcelain is now set up to distribute its
wares throughout the United States. The lines are
now being shown in all major gift shops throughout
this and other areas of the country, through direct
sales to the various stores and shops handling art
pottery. Summer visitors to the North Carolina
mountains have been delighted to find this pottery in
the hands of local dealers, and have found the de-signs
and the prices entirely satisfactory.
Mr. Moody brought with him six highly trained
and skilled pottery artisans. These form the nucleus
for training local workers in the art of pottery mak-ing.
The plant now has approximately 40 workers
and plans to increase the number to 50 or 60 by fall.
The plant is set up to utilize the services of 100 work-ers
when full production is reached, and expansion is
included in the plans as increased production is
needed.
Production line methods are used in certain opera-tions
in the plant. When pottery has been moulded,
it is placed on platforms with four-wheel truck bases.
These trucks operate on two-rail tracks. When the
platforms are filled, the trucks are run into the baking
or firing kilns and come out at the other end when
sufficiently baked. When colors are to be added, the
pottery is painted with the desired designs, and the
pottery is again baked, to set the colors. For example,
the gold color appearing in Rotary, Kiwanis and other
civic club emblems is liquid gold, painted on ashtrays,
vases or other pottery, and is then baked in, so it will
not scale or rub off.
Most of the pottery is made in plaster-of-paris
moulds to achieve uniformity in form. One of the
interesting and little known methods is worthy of
description. Vases or pitchers are to be made. Liquid
clay, of a consistency somewhat like that of thin
molasses, is poured into moulds which form the out-side
of the vessel. This liquid clay starts drying from
the outside and solidifies inward. After a specified
time, when the proper thickness is reached, the re-mainder
of the liquid clay is poured out of the vessel
of soft clay. This vessel is gone over to remove rough
edges, dried and then baked.
Propane gas is used for firing the kilns, proving
the most economical method now available. Motors
are used for mixing clay and for glazing. Every pro-cess
which can be done by machinery is used in the
plant. Yet, as Mr. Moody explains, even in the most
modern plant, fully 80 percent of the work must still
be done by hand. Artistry in form and base coloring
can be achieved by machinery, but decorative designs
must still be applied by the hand of a skilled artisan.
Hyalyn Porcelain advertises art ware, lamp bases,
china specialties and decorative accessories. These
include all types of vases, pitchers, ashtrays, half-vases,
half-teapots and other half-form pottery, with
flat sides for wall flowers, semi-transparent dishes
and plates, and many other novelty items.
Finally, Hyalyn Porcelain is utilizing the kaolin
and feldspar found so abundantly in the nearby
Spruce Pine area. North Carolina supplies practically
all of the kaolin found in the nation for making
chinaware and ships large quantities to Ohio, Penn-sylvania,
New Jersey and other states, where it is
made into tableware, increasing in value many times
over through manufacture.
Hyalyn Porcelain is the first firm in the State to
use this kaolin in quantity and it will process
only a very small percentage in comparison with the
amount which goes to other states—and returns to
North Carolina as high-priced tableware or pottery.
'Died early in September, 1 'J 4 7
.
In August reception contacts, largely office visits,
reached a total of 197,224 in the Employment Se-curity
Commission offices in North Carolina, includ-ing
57,291 females and 139,933 males, and 93,820
veterans and 103,404 non-veterans.
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 57
Glenn Art Pottery, Incorporated, Enlarges Hand Plant
Growing pains of the former Joe Owen Pottery
resulted in the organization and incorporation last
year of the Glenn Art Pottery, Inc., with a new plant
costing more than $35,000 and located on N. C. High-way
No. 705, about midway between Robbins (Hemp)
and Seagrove. While the plant is located on Route 1
Steeds, N. C., the sales office is in Siler City.
Joe Owen is a member of the family whose name
has been connected with pottery making in North
Carolina for many years. His grandfather, Frank
Owen, and his father, Rufus Owen, were potters in
the same community for many years. A brother,
B. W. Owen, is chief potter for the famous Jugtown
Pottery, and another brother (an uncle), Melvin
Owen, operates the Melvin Owen Pottery, both also
in the same community. And, to keep up the tradi-tion,
Mary Grace Owen, four year old daughter of
Joe Owen, has turned several pieces of pottery for
her own enjoyment and satisfaction.
For many years Joe Owen operated a hand pottery
on the present site of the larger plant. Demands for
more of his pottery resulted in organization of the
Glenn Art Pottery, Inc., in 1946, of which Mr. Owen
is president and in full charge of all phases of pro-duction.
H. B. Kirkegard is secretary and treasurer
and is in charge of merchandising and sales promo-tion.
Also interested in the firm are Mrs. Joe Owen,
who assists in packing, shipping and other activities,
and Mrs. H. D. Kirkegard, who assists with the book-keeping.
James G. Teague, with another name well-known
in State pottery history, is a potter at the
plant.
The Glenn Art Pottery plant is about complete,
is rapidly stepping up production and is expected to
reach full production by early fall. The business has
been modernized in many respects. New and mod-ern
kilns, improved through research by the ceramics
industry, have been built. Oil is used to fire or burn
the pottery, thus providing higher and better con-trolled
temperatures.
North Carolina made pottery has an established
reputation and is in demand throughout the country.
The Glenn Art Pottery is preparing to take full ad-vantage
of this demand. Plans are developing for
outlets through department stores, florist shops, gift
shops, roadside pottery stands and other outlets.
Many finer stores in the nation are expected to han-dle
the increasing production of this pottery.
Local clays are used for Glenn Art Pottery, but
Kentucky shales are mixed with much of the local
clay to give the desired consistency and variety of
color. These clays are blended and ground to fine
particles, then mixed with water. The large lumps
are allowed to stand until needed and are then cut
into the sizes desired for the size and type of pottery
to be made. Although this plant is modern, the bulk
of the work is still done by the skilled potter's hands.
And those hands are so adept that hundreds of vases
can be made so much alike that the unpracticed eye
can tell little difference—they all seem as if they had
come from a mould—the same mould.
Pottery produced varies in size from only a few
ounces up to 25 pound vases, usually used in gardens,
on yards and on porches. All of the standard colors
and many shades and mixtures come from the kilns.
Joe Owen has gone modern. He no longer uses the
old "ground hog" kiln fired with slabs. He has in-stalled
new machinery and labor-saving devices and
is greatly increasing production, but no one knows
better than he does that success in the larger plant
depends still on the practiced eye and the skilled
hand.
Number of Small Hand Potteries Operate In This State
THE TEAGUE POTTERY
of Robbins, N. C.
The Teague Pottery of Robbins, located on the
Carthage-Biscoe highway No. 27, within half a mile
of the entrance to the highway leading to Robbins
(Hemp), is operated by B. D. Teague, son of J. W.
Teague, who started his apprenticeship in pottery
making at the age of nine years under J. D. Craven.
Craven made pottery for the Confederacy during the
War Between the States. In turn, J. D. Craven's
father, Peter Craven, came to North Carolina from
Pennsylvania and operated his plant on "The Old
Plank Road" from Fayetteville to Salem, near Steeds.
J. W. Teague, when he completed his apprentice-ship
and reached the proper age, established his own
pottery plant. This he operated near Steeds for 40
years, from 1876 to 1916. He turned out milk uten-sils,
such as churns, crocks, pitchers, butter jars,
pie plates, candlesticks and other household items, in
addition to the liquor jugs demanded by the trade.
Most of it was sold by wagon. Few ornamental pieces
were made.
B. D. Teague, 19 years ago, set up his own pottery
shop at his present site. His clay is secured from the
Seagrove pits, which have been the source of supply
of many potters for many years. The plant produces
and sells six or eight truck loads a year, in addition
to local roadside sales.
The Teague pottery produces 270 different items,
all catalogued and numbered, in eleven standard col-ors
and many different shades and combinations of
colors. Sizes range from that of a thimble to pots
30 inches high and 20 inches in diameter. The road-side
retail house carries from 1,000 to 10,000 pieces
in stock for sale, depending on the season and sales.
Mr. Teague, his daughter, Zedith, and her husband,
PAGE 58 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
Hobart Garner, with occasional helpers, produce most
of the Teague pottery.
The Teague Pottery is now erecting a new kiln and
otherwise enlarging the plant to double its present
capacity.
Mr. Teague's brother, James G. Teague, is a potter
with Joe Owen at his greatly enlarged plant, incor-porated
as the Glenn Arts Pottery, near Steeds.
Another brother, Charles G. Teague, was a potter
with the Jugtown Pottery (The Jacques Busbees)
for 11 years, until his death about eight years ago.
A. R. COLE POTTERY
R. h, Sanford, N. C.
The A. R. Cole Pottery, located 2 1/* miles north of
Sanford, has operated there for 14 years, and after
A. R. Cole had made pottery near Seagrove for five
or six years. He is a member of that family of Cole
potters which started in this State many years ago
with Rafe Cole and was continued by his son, Evin
Cole. "Ruff" Cole, A. R. Cole's father, learned the
trade with his father and made crockery, churns,
jars, pitchers, flower pots and probably liquor jugs,
in the northwestern Moore County area, near Sea-grove
in Randolph County.
The A. R. Cole Pottery uses the bluish clay from
the Seagrove area, and reddish clay from Smithfield,
both alone or mixed in varied proportions to obtain
desired colors. This plant produces two or three tons
of pottery a month, embracing 175 patterns, about
500 different sizes and in all of the primary colors
and hundreds of shades, solid and mixed.
A catalogue is issued by the A. R. Cole Pottery, in
which all types of pottery are numbered. Orders are
received from practically every state and from Can-ada,
Philippine Islands and other foreign countries.
Much of the pottery is sold from the plant's roadside
retail store, in which an estimated average of 10,000
pieces are on display or available.
A. R. Cole and his two sons, three daughters and
two or three helpers operate the plant. One son,
Foster, and one daughter, Celia, along with the
father, do most of the hand forming of the pottery,
the others handling other details of distribution and
sales. One kiln is in constant use, holding 400 to
500 pieces of pottery. It is fired by oil and kept at
about 2000 degrees, Fahr., for 18 hours, both the heat
and the period of firing varying with the types of
pottery being produced.
NORTH STATE POTTERY
R.F.D., Sanford, N. C.
The North State Pottery, located six miles south
of Sanford, on the Carbonton Road, was founded by
Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Cooper and began operation in
1926. Services of old potters whose ancestors had
made pottery for hundreds of years were secured to
carry out the traditions of hand-made pottery which
have come down from early periods in North Caro-lina.
The North State Pottery is not engaged in quantity
production, but bends its efforts toward developing
and maintaining individual types of pottery with
special glaze effects. Truckloads of clay are brought
to the pottery, ground and dissolved to a creamy sub-stance,
screened to remove foreign substances, press-ed
to eliminate surplus water, and ground again by
running it through a pug mill. Blocks are cut and
stored for future use.
After the pottery is turned by hand and properly
dried, it is fired in an old fashioned ground hog kiln
until it becomes bisque ware. It is then dipped into
a vat of mineral-colored glaze prepared from one of
the firm's self-developed formulas. Again it is placed
in the kiln and fired at temperatures ranging from
2100 to 2750 degrees, Fahr., for eight to twelve hours.
The North State Pottery uses some 25 different min-erals
in compounds with glass to produce rare colors
with which the pottery is decorated.
Pottery from this plant is shipped to almost every
state in the Union, some of it direct to retail dealers,
some is handled by jobbers in New York and other
cities, and some is sold to visitors who stop at the
roadside outlet operated in connection with the plant.
C. C. COLE POTTERY
R. 1, Steeds, N. C.
The C. C. Cole Pottery, located one mile south of
highway No. 705, Seagrove-to-Robbins, is a lineal
descendant of the first Cole pottery established by
the English-born Rafe (Raffe) Cole around Revolu-tionary
War times and in the same general area in
northwestern Moore County, and the second operated
by Evin Cole in the nearby edge of Randolph County.
"Ruff" Cole and J. B. Cole, descendants, operated pot-teries
in the Seagrove vicinity, "Ruff" until his death
in 1922. J. B. Cole set up another pottery nearby
and continued to operate it until his death. His son
and daughter, Cornelia, continued the operation.
C. C. Cole, "Ruff's" son, took over the pottery his
brother, E. C. Cole, operated near Seagrove and con-tinued
its operation there for 15 years. C. C. Cole, in
1939, set up his present pottery, seven miles east of
Steeds and continues operation there.
The C. C. Cole Pottery secures its clay from the
nearby Seagrove supply, supplementing with kaolin
clay from Spruce Pine and clay from Kentucky. The
hand method of production is used entirely and it is
strictly a family affair, Mr. and Mrs. Cole, their son,
Thurston, and two daughters, Mrs. Edith Bean and
Dorothy Cole, doing the bulk of the work. Occasion-ally
a nearby worker or two are brought in for larger
orders.
Regular customers take most of the production of
the C. C. Cole Pottery. Shipments are made by truck
and smaller orders go by express or freight, to all
states except a few on the Pacific Coast, but the bulk
of the business is done in this and a few nearby states.
The plant is in the Cole yard, as is a display room in
which an average of 2000 or 3000 pieces of pottery is
kept for the roadside trade.
KENNEDY POTTERY CO.
Wilkesboro, N. C.
The Kennedy Pottery, Wilkesboro, N. C, is unique
in that it is the only pottery in the State, as far as
Spring-Summer, 1947 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 59
can be learned, that manufactures flower pots exclus-ively,
and only one of two that produces flower pots
extensively.
B. J. Kennedy, native of Cleveland County and resi-dent
of Catawba County, moved to Wilkesboro in
1895 and set up the Kennedy Pottery on its present
site. There, with one assistant, he began producing
milk churns, jars, crocks, pitchers and other house-hold
containers. His market area, in addition to the
local market, was in Alleghany and Watauga Coun-ties,
and his output brought him $1500 to $2000
annually.
Mr. Kennedy, who started making pottery at 16
years of age and is now 78, ground his clay in a tub-like
hand-made mill and fashioned all of his products
by hand. He continued to turn out the items listed
above and gradually added hospital vases, lamp bases,
ash trays, bulb bowls and jardinieres. Flower pot
production was started around 1920 and gradually
increased until 1925, when 50,000 to 60,000 flower
pots were being produced. Other items were dropped
and flower pots became the exclusive product, reach-ing
500,000 a year a few years ago. In 1946 the plant
produced 600,000 flower pots.
Meanwhile, in 1925, Claud Kennedy, a son, bought
a half-interest in the business. Flower pot machin-ery
was installed, resulting in greatly increased pro-duction.
Last year Ray and George Kennedy, also
sons, bought into the firm. The three sons now own
one-third interests and their father has retired from
active work. With a few helpers, these brothers
produce the equivalent of about 70 car loads or 200
5-ton truck loads of flower pots a year.
The Kennedys own a farm on the Yadkin River
nearby, and haul their clay by truck from the bottom-lands,
in which a seemingly unlimited supply of pot-ter's
clay, the reddish type, is found. This clay is
ground and water added, if needed, and thoroughly
mixed. The lumps of clay are put in moulds, or dies,
and after a few turns, out comes a pot. These soft
pots are dried out for a day or two, then placed in
the one kiln operated. They are subjected to about
2000 degrees of heat, Fahr., for three days, About
ten days are required for a complete "run". The plant
covers about two acres.
Flower pot sizes vary from two inches in diameter,
top inside measurement, and two inches high, to 11
inches in diameter and 11 inches high. They are
sold to florists practically all over the State and in
Tennessee and Virginia. Five and ten cent stores
also handle them. The Kennedy Pottery requires no
sales promotion, all sales resulting from mail orders.
MELVIN OWEN POTTERY
R. 1, Steeds, N. C.
Melvin Owen, another of the Owen family noted
for pottery making, operates a family pottery on a
side road off from the highway leading to the Jug-town
Pottery in northwestern Moore County. He
uses a small force and the usual hand methods pre-viously
described. His sales methods also follow the
same pattern.
H. C. Cole, a member of the noted pottery making
family, operated a pottery near Smithfield, on the
Four Oaks road, for several years, but suspended
operations in recent years.
Another well-known pottery was located at Oyama
in Catawba County, on the highway between Conover
and Hickory, where it operated for several years and
produced much art and utility pottery. Designs
would be reproduced. This plant, now owned by O.
W. Jarrett, gradually drifted away from pottery, as
the potters left, and shifted to concrete and plaster-of-
paris novelties.
OTHER POTTERIES LISTED
AS OPERATING IN STATE
Several art potteries are listed as now operating,
other than those about which information is given in
accompanying items. Efforts have been made,
through letters addressed to them, to secure data for
use in this issue. It is possible that some of them
have suspended operations, but it is believed that
most of them are still in operation, although letters
addressed to them, seeking information, have not
brought responses.
A list of those appearing in compilations of recent
years, to which letters were addressed and from
which no responses were received, follows
:
Log Cabin Pottery, Guilford College
Hilton Pottery Co., Route 1, Hickory
William Penland Pottery, Candler
Reems Creek Pottery Co., Weaverville
Pisgah Forest Pottery, Brevard Road, Arden
Brown Bros. Pottery Co., Arden.
Auten & Son, Pottery, Matthews
Omar Khayyam Pottery, Candler (letter returned,
undelivered).
UNEMPLOYMENT TRUST FUND IS
SUFFICIENT FOR DEPRESSION
A balance of $131,373,819.25 is shown in North
Carolina's Unemployment Trust Fund as of August
31, a fund which is expected to be sufficient to
cushion any recession or depression which may de-velop
in this State in the foreseeable future, the re-port
made by W. H. Pitman, chief auditor, reveals.
This balance represents the difference between re-ceipts
of $166,784,102.95 to the State's fund in the
11 V2 years of collections, which started in 1936, and
the 9i/> years of benefit payments to unemployed
workers, which started in January, 1938, and
amounted to an accumulated $35,410,283.70 on
August 31.
Total receipts of $166,784,402.95 include the con-tributions
of $155,764,111.13 made by employers
subject to the State Employment Security Law, in-cluding
those for the year 1936, and $11,019,991.82
in interest earned by the State's balance in the U. S.
Treasury from the beginning and credited to the
State's fund.
PAGE 60 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY Spring-Summer, 1947
New Ways for Old Jugs—Art In Jugtown Pottery
By Juliana Royster Busbee
For I remember stopping by the way
To w