Brick

a kind of artificial stone, made of clay, molded in_ prismatic form, dried in the sun and baked in a kiln. The word is also applied to the block in its previous condition as a molded plastic ma , and as a dried block in which the water hygrometrieally combined with the clay is driven off. When this condition is accepted as a finality, the block so dried is an adobe. Bricks were made at a re mote period of antiquity by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the A yrians, and some of them, being inscribed with written characters, have been of pricele value in conveying historic facts to the Fhe age. In the United States every State and Territory, excepting Alaska, now produces some kind of bricks, and the value of the total annual output is about $100,000,00U. The present trade cla ification is eommon or building, vitrified paving or block, front, enameled, fancy and ornamental, and fire. | Bridge, the short name of a comparatively recent and increasingly popular form of the card game of whist. Its rules and points are too numerous to be given here, and the reader is referred to special works.: Bridge, a structure consisting of an arch or series of arches supporting a roadway above it, designed to unite two banks of a river or the two sides of an open space, - ' The Brooklyn Suspension bridge, acro the East river, between New York and Brooklyn, opened in 1883, is built of steel. It has a central span of 1,59514 feet, and two land spans of 930 feet each; making, with approaches, a total length of 5,989 feet, or about one mile and one furlong. The anchorage at each end is a solid cubical structure of stone, measuring 119 feet one way, by 132 feet the other, rising to a height of 90 feet above high water mark, weighing 60,- 000 tons each. The towers are 278 feet high. The weight of the whole structure suspended between the towers is nearly 7,000 tons. The stre of suspension is borne by four cables of 5,296 steel wires each, 1554 inches in diameter. The foundations of the towers were laid by means of cai ons and compre ed air, at a level of about 80 feet below high water mark. The roadway presents five parallel avenues of an average width of 16 feet each. The two outmost avenues, 19 feet wide, are devoted to vehicles; the central avenue, 1514 feet wide, for foot pa engers; and on the two intermediate avenues are laid railways for car traffic. Cantilever Bridges.— A _ cantilever is a bracket. It is a structure overhung from a fixed base. The bridge acro the river Forth on the North British railway system is one of the largest and most magnificent bridges in the world. The site of the bridge is at Queens ferry. At this place, the estuary of the Forth is divided by the Island of Inch garvie into two channels, whose depth, as much as 200 feet, precluded the construction of intermediate piers. Hence, two large spans of 1,700 feet each were adopted. Between these, the central pier is founded on the island midway acro , and is known as _ Inch garvie pier. There are two other main piers, shore piers, known respectively as the Fife pier and the Queens ferry pier. Of these three piers respectively three double lattice work cantilevers like scale beams, 1,360 feet, or a quarter of a mile in length, are poised in line, reaching toward each other, and connected at their extremities by ordinary girders 350 feet long, by which the two main spans are completed. The bridge consists of two main spans of 1,700 feet, or nearly one-third of a mile each; two of 675 feet each, being the shore ends of the outer cantilevers; and 15 spans of 168 feet each. The total length of the -viaduct, in eluding piers, is 8,296 feet or a little over 114 miles, of which almost exactly one mile is covered by the great eantilevers. The clear headway under the center of the bridge is 152 feet at high water, and the highest part of the bridge is 361 feet above the same level. There are several of these bridges in the United States, the first of any size being the Niagara cantilever, built in 1883. Its total length is 910 feet, and it is 295 feet above the surface of the river, with steel towers 130 feet high. The Hudson river bridge at Poughkeepsie, built in 1889, has a length of 6,767 feet and is built in five spans; the first, third and fifth being true cantilever spans with fixed continuous spans connecting them. The new Hast River bridge is also a late example of the suspension bridge. The new Black well’s Island bridge is an example of the cantilever. There are four channel piers, 85 by 45 feet at the base, and 135 feet above high tide. These piers contain 810,- 000 cubic feet of granite. The bridge is 2 miles in length, with two channel spans of 846 feet each, and a ye acro Black well’s Island of 613 feet. The distance from the floor of the bridge to the top of the girders forming the span is 100 feet, making the top of the structure 235 feet above high tide. Other notable cantilever bridges are those acro the Colorade river at Red Rock, Cal., and acro the Mi i ippi river at Memphis, Tenn. Bridges in the shape of arches are often built in places where a more artistic structure than a tru is desired. The High Bridge and Washington Bridge acro the Harlem river in New York city are examples of this style of bridge. The High Bridge was built to carry the Croton Aqueduct - acro the Harlem river. It consists of 18 granite arches, the highest one being 116 feet above the river. The bridge, cro ing the river and valley, is 1,460 feet long. The Washington Bridge is situated a short distance N. of the High Bridge and consists of nine arches, three of granite on the B. side, four of granite on the W. and two central steel spans connecting them. The entire length of the bridge is 2,300 feet, and width, 80 feet; the central spahs being each 510 feet long and 135 feet above high water. Another noted bridge built 1906-07 is the 3. >> span, 230 ft. long, acro the Grand Cafion Gorge, 2,627 ft. above the Arkansas River between Florence and Cafion City, Col. The floor is gla set in steel, to allow the view beneath. One of the best examples of American long-span iron-bridge construction is the bridge acro the Kentucky river on the Cincinnati Southern raflroad, noteworthy for its economical design and comparatively light weight. The iron work of the bridge is 1,138 feet in length, and it consists of three spans of 375 feet each. It cro es a limestone canon at a height of 280 feet above the bed of the stream. The piers are of stone to a height of 60 feet, to clear the highest recorded floods; and they are about 34 feet thick at the flood level.