A Review of Car Tunnel Modernization System

A more modern system is called the continuous-car tunnel system. In this method, as soon as the raw bricks are cut to size, they are stacked on flatcars, slowly passed through long, heated tunnels and after from 8 to 72 hours (depending on the type of brick) they are dry. Now they are moved slowly through a long fire-brick tunnel, where they are heated and cooled in from 36 hours to four days, also depending on the type of brick. One of Portugal's largest brick factories, located outside Lisbon, has a modern continuous-car tunnel oven 180 m (590 feet) long!

When bricks were manufactured manually, their form and dimensions varied widely from region to region, adapting themselves to the local necessities. However, even the Assyrians recognized the need to standardize the dimensions of the most widely used bricks of their time.

In Portugal, the National Civil Engineering Laboratory made an inquiry of the principal factories as to the forms and dimensions of bricks produced. The 44 factories that answered the inquiry produced 330 different models!

This great diversity caused many inconveniences, for manufacturer and consumer alike. As bricks occupy a very important role in construction here in Portugal, standardization would be very beneficial, not only as to quality, but also as to dimensions and materials. With the results of this inquiry at hand, it was now necessary to determine how to limit the existing types. Ninety-nine different factories and 36 of the larger consumers collaborated in this study.

The results of the study were presented in a seminar on productivity in the ceramic industry. Reasons for the proposal were given, and the discussion was opened to questions and observations to detect any other unknown factors that could alter the proposal. Final conclusions were reached and presented to the participants, together with reasons for the decisions.

In the following year, a final document was published and approved, reducing the number of different types of bricks to seven. The document was widely published, and manufacturers and builders alike recognized the advantages of it. Thus, they began to limit their activities to the new standards. Then the document was published officially as a standard for all of Portugal. While the changeover took time, today it enjoys almost total adherence.

The brick, an ancient building block, continues to enjoy very wide use in spite of the advances made in metallic and reinforced concrete construction. If your home is not built of brick, maybe the chimney is, or perhaps the fireplace, or the barbecue area in your backyard. Here in Portugal, as in many other countries around the world, the brick continues humbly to serve modern man because of its time-proven qualities.