[Newspaper]
Publication: Augusta Evening Dispatch
Augusta, GA, United States
vol. 2, no. 404, p. 5, col. 1-2
Visit to the Works of the Porcelain
Manufacturing Company.
On yesterday, in company with Mr. HOLMAN, of this city, we visited Kaolin, the name given to the Works of the Porcelain Manufacturing Company, organized a little over a year ago. It is situated in Edgefield District, S. C., about 5 miles below Hamburg. The location is elevated and healthy, and the bed of Porcelain clay embraces about 25 acres. It is embedded some 15 feet below the surface, and is 20 feet in depth, affording a supply ample for almost an unlimited demand. The works of the Company are erected about a quarter of a mile from this bed, and consist of a main building 40 x 120 feet with a kiln-house crossing one end, 40 x 80 feet in size, two stories high, with a basement where the fuel is supplied to heat the kilns.
Adjoining this is the "Slip House" 30 x 70 feet, where flint, feldspar, & c., are crushed by means of French Burr Mill Stones, and other machinery, and thrown into vats ready for the workmen. An engine of 25 horse power drives the machinery.
We found about 30 hands busily engaged in the various processes of work, crushing the native flint, moulding pitchers, cups and saucers, or fashioning the neatest models for China ware.
Having but recently found that the clay was adapted to making China, they have not yet made complete sets, but their pitchers are very white and perfect and fully attest the practicability of producing China ware not inferior to the choisest [sic] choicest articles of French manufacture. facture.
They are now engaged in making fruit cans to be used with Dayton’s Patent Exhauster, and on yesterday were preparing a kiln, consisting of 1,200 dozen of these new and superior articles for preserving fruit. This alone will be a heavy business, as the can is much better than tin, or glass, owing to its anticorrosive and durable nature.
We could not in the limited space of a notice like this, give a definite idea of the process of making ware. When moulded it is allowed to dry until sufficiently hard to receive the sizing. After going through this process one or more times, according to the nature of the ware, it is put into the furnace in what are called saggers, or tubs, varying in size according to the size of the ware, and made of a composition of old crockery and clay. These are piled one above another, the bottom of one making a cover for that below it, until the kiln is full, when fuel is applied, and the burning process commences. This requires the utmost care, and takes we believe nearly 48 hours, when after standing about the same length of time, to cool, it is ready to unpack and remove to the sales-room.
We learn that the composition of the saggers is especially adapted to the manufacture of fire brick, and the company are about to add a machine for moulding them. This will also be a valuable course of revenue as well as a public convenience.
The company have shipped large quantities of the clay to the North, to be used by Crockery Manufacturers, and it has proved superior to any found in this country. If Northern companies can make it pay to ship it 1,400 miles at a expense of $14 per ton, it would seem that it must be profitable to manufacture it on the spot, where its cost is scarcely $2, and where wood, labor and living are all to be had at the cheapest rates. We therefore look forward to see the Southern Porcelain Manufacturing Company become a source of profit to its projectors, and of pride to the friends of progress in our community. Though located in our sister State, it is peculiarly an Augusta enterprise being owned by residents of our city, and hence we feel a local interest in its success.
The workmen are chiefly English, and occupy cottages erected in the vicinity. A neat Church has also been erected where service is held regularly, and the whole place presents the appearance of a well-ordered community.
