Hartlebury Brickworks

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The Hartlebury site, acquired by Baggeridge Brick in 1950, produces perforated and slop moulded facing bricks from Keuper marl deposits found in the Hartlebury area.

In 1987, the original factory was almost completely rebuilt and refitted with a new slop moulded brick production line. Using a Fr Petersen BD 12 slop moulding machine, clay is forced into moulds from which bricks are then pressed out by a pneumatic punching unit. After the pressing operation, the bricks spend upto three days in the refurbished drying chambers and are conveyed to the five downdraught kilns.

A new brickmaking plant, with the capability of producing over 50 million bricks a year, has been built adjacent to the original factory. The clay preparation plant, supplied by Handle, is housed in a new building situated some distance from the main production area.

The extruded clay is textured or sanded, given a combination of treatments or simply left dragfaced. The cut bricks are then automatically palletised, transferred to dryer cars and placed in a two-track dryer. After the 24-hour drying period, palletised bricks are removed via grippers and transported to the setting machine. Here, packs are formed on the kiln cars and are then automatically pushed into the Lingl tunnel kiln. The firing temperature in the kiln is normally 1050 degrees celcius.

Unloading after firing is automatic, and designed to ensure that each pack contains a representative blend of colour. During this sorting operation, the bricks are visually inspected, then banded and shrink wrapped into packs.

The bricks are delivered direct to site, on lorries fitted with cranes for mechanical offloading.

www.baggeridge.co.uk/company_information/hartlebury_pro...