The Useful Properties of Clays (Classic Reprint) PDF Download

Author: Allerton S. Cushman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781332286232
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Useful Properties of Clays As soon as a greater number of individuals among our people become interested in the properties and possibilities of our native clay bodies, development is sure to follow. Clay working is neither so difficult nor so expensive but that in some cases objects of art have been molded in the home and burnt in private kilns. On the other hand success is attained only at the price of diligent study and persistent effort. It is with the hope that the dissemination of knowledge concerning the useful properties of clay will lead to a wider popular interest in their study and use, that this article is written. Formation Of Clays. Clay may be defined as an earthy deposit, found on or below the surface, which when finely ground and mixed with water forms a moldable or plastic mass and can be burned to a hard, stonelike substance after drying. The original crust of the earth was of course formed of the rocks which crystallized from a molten magma. These crystalline rocks of igneous origin underwent gradual crumbling and decay caused by the varied actions of the elements. It is probable that only students of rock structure realize how steadily and continually rocks are undergoing secondary changes, and decay. "Enduring as the rocks" is an expression of merely relative truth. When rocks crumble the resulting material may be found either heaped up in place, in which case they are known as residual deposits, or the fine material may have been picked up in suspension by moving waters, sifted out and deposited at some remote place in beds or layers forming sedimentary deposits. These deposits once formed have been, in some cases, acted on by tremendous forces in the course of the great geologic periods. Folded and buried under great crumplings of the earth's crust they have been to varying degrees subjected to heat and pressure and have thus become metamorphosed. Consolidated into sedimentary rocks and shales they become again subject to decay. Changed and disintegrated, now acted on by percolating waters, in which it is known that many of these crystalline minerals are distinctly soluble, or again subjected to acid or alkaline solutions, as the case may be, it is little wonder that every useful earthy deposit found by man on the surface of the earth is to a certain degree unique in its properties, requiring special study and treatment in order to insure the highest degree of success in its working. Clays of nearly the same chemical composition and of similar physical texture, owing to some slight modification will yield entirely dissimilar results in mixing, molding, and firing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.