Ringgold Record
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
1896

Not the least important industry of the town of Kellerton is the Kellerton Brick & Tile Co. A. H. TEALE and W. W. PEASLEY commenced this enterprise last year, 1895, and after experimenting with the clay at hand, decided to put in a 40 horse-power steam plant and about Aug. 1 made the first brick with steam power. They made over 3000, before cold weather, shutting down in October.

This season they have enlarged their words and now haul all their clay by steam power, using a [cut off] drum and cable cars. Theyclay is dumped at an elevation of 10 feet and passes through a Potts disintegrator, which crushes all stone and dry lumps before the clay falls into a pit where it is tempered with waterand then passed through a pug mill for mixing.

From this mill it is passed to the larger brick machine, where the bricks are formed and charged upon a cutting table which cuts to proper thickness, 12 bricks at each stroke of the lever, and places them on a board pallet. They are then wheeled into the dry sheds which is heated by means of steam pipes passing under a slatted floor. The sheds are 32x100 feet and hold 115,000 brick each.

They use both score and round down draft kilns, their capacity being 16,000 bricks every two hours. The cost of the plant is a little over $6,000. The company expects to make and sell 1,000,000 brick this season.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker May of 2010