THE MASON CITY CLAY WORKS.
Not very many yards away is to be found one of the most compact plants which it has been our pleasure to visit. The Mason City Clay Works was founded in 1900. F. A. Stephenson is the president and manager and we record here our sincere appreciation of his courtesy in piloting us around the intricacies of his yard. Shale of a similar character to that found on the last plant described is here also. We found the men busy in the clay bank which is entirely covered in by a good roofing and is worked to a depth of 45 ft. being blasted by dynamite. A large stove in the center of the clay bed was giving out a gentle heat and helped materially in the comfort of working the clay. The raw material is hauled the length of 300 ft. up a steep grade by cable to the machine house. The arrangement of the machinery, the construction of the pugmill and Drake rolls, Brewer and Fate cutters are just exactly the same as at the Mason City Brick & Tile yard, but they are massed together in much more compact form, Mr. Stephenson having had all the experience of Mr. Denison to help him in obtaining the best and most effective arrangement.
Switching facilities are obtained with the Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago Great Western railroads. The grounds of the plant comprise some 20 acres. In this case there is a fine new office building built of hollow blocks in which the visitor will find every convenience.
The chief difference between this plant and the last is to be found in the driers, the drying of the products being accomplished by exhaust steam and waste heat from the cooling kilns.
There are eight round down draft kilns 26 ft. in diameter. Firing is conducted with coal as fuel and the burning is accomplished in about five days. The driers have five tunnels, of three tracks each, and are 100 ft. in length. There are two fans employed, one to take the heat from the kiln and the other to distribute it in the tunnels.
Mr. Stephenson has had considerable experience in clay working in Illinois and has achieved much success in his new enterprise in Des Moines. The demand for the products of this plant is good and considerable improvements are anticipated in the future. (Brick and Clay Record, Windsor & Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, August 1903, Volume XIX, Number 2, Page 42)
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The Mason City Clay Works
One of the oldest plants at Mason City is that of the Mason City Clay Works, established in 1900, and which from a modest beginning has developed into a large and important enterprise. As is the case with most of the clay works of the city, this plant produces not only drain tile, but common brick and hollow block. The drain tile are manufactured from 4 to 12 in. in size. The same gentlemen who own and officer the Mason City Drain Tile Co. also control the Mason City Clay Works. F. A. Stephenson is president; O. T. Denison, vice-president; L. W. Denison, secretary, and F. E. Keeler, treasurer. The plant is situated on 30 acres of shale land, the
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buildings including a boiler room, 30 x 50 ft.; engine room, 40 x 50 ft.; a machine room, 60 x 80 ft., and a drier, 84 x 140 ft.
The shale, after being blasted by dynamite, is dug from the bank and hauled to the plant in cars by means of cable operating on a winding drum belted to the main line shaft. In preparing the material a granulator and conical rolls are used and a Madden horizontal pugmill. The stiff-mud machine was furnished by Madden & Co. and is known as their No. 6 “C,” having a capacity of 50,000 brick daily. Cars manufactured by the Vulcan Iron Works are used for conveying the product to the drier. As is the case with the other works controlled by the same gentlemen, the drier was designed by Messrs. Stephenson and Denison, and is constructed of brick and block and is fireproofed with block and covered with cinder concrete. It contains 21 tracks and has a capacity of 320 cars. Waste heat from the kilns and steam conveyed in coils from the engines are used for drying.
The kilns are 12 in number, of the down-draft type, and have an inside diameter of 28 ft. with eight fire-boxes each.
The power plant includes two Murray corliss engines; one of 100 h. p., the other of 200 h. p., and two 6 ft. x 18 ft. horizontal tubular boilers. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, January 1909, Volume XXX, Number 1)