Clinker bricks are partially
vitrifiedVitrification is the transition of a substance into a glass. Vitrification may also refer to:*Vitrification, the transformation of radioactive waste into a stable state for storage*Vitrification, the use of an antifreeze-like liquid in cryopreservation...
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stones used in the
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of
buildingIn architecture, construction, engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s.
Clincers are burnt under temperatures so high that the pores of the fuel property are closed by the beginning sinter process. Thus they are considerably denser and therefore heavier than regular bricks. Clincers hardly take up water and are very resistant.
In early brick firing kilns, the surface of the bricks that were too close to the fire changed into the volcanic textures and darker/purplish colors. They were often discarded, but around 1900, these bricks were discovered by
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s to be usable, distinctive and charming in architectural detailing, adding the earthy quality favored by Arts & Crafts style designers. Modern brick-making techniques can recreate the appearance of these bricks and produce a more consistent product.
In the
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, clinker bricks were made famous by the
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architecture firm
Greene and GreeneBrothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene , who established the architectural firm of Greene and Greene, were influential American architects...
who used them (often in combination with native rocks) in walls, foundations, and chimneys.
The name "clinker" is also used for the hardened residue of coal fires, that can have a similar texture.
Dutch / Low German Origins
Clinker is sometimes spelled "Klinker" which is the original Dutch, respectively Low German, word. The old onomatopoeic verb "klinken" meant "to sound", i.e. a "Klinker" is a "sounder". (These brick stones produce a specifically bright sound when hit with or against something, for instance each other ... also compare with the Standard German "klingen")
Clinker bricks are also known as hard Dutch paving bricks. In 1700's New York, the Dutch interspersed dark clinkers with regular bricks. Some used clinkers to spell out their family initials on brick dwellings. See
Jan Van Hoesen HouseVan Hoesen, Jan, House* Historic Significance: Person, Architecture/Engineering* Historic Person: van Hoesen,Jan* Significant Year: 1720...
.
Technical Information
Clincers exist of bits and ends, field-late and white-burning or red-burning clays. By different surcharges to the raw mass many varied colour nuances can be reached. For the production of masonry units the source materials clay and water are mixed and formed industrially in a string extrusion process. For special purposes, for example the restoration of listed buildings, hand-formed clincers are used. During the following drying the water concentration de-creases to approx. 3%. Then clincers are burnt with 1100-1300 °C in the tun-nel stove (earlier in ring stoves), in contrast to 800-1200 °C with normal bricks.
Klinker in Germany
In Germany, clincers are normed according to the German Institute for Standardization’s DIN 105 They differ between full clincer (KMz) with a density of 2.0 kg / dm ³ to 2.2 kg / dm ³ and high hole clincer (KHLz) with a density of 1.6 kg / dm ³ to 1.8 kg / dm ³. Because of the low portion of aerial pores all clincers show a relatively bad warmth insulating acquirement. Canal clincers are normed according to the German Institute for Standardization’s DIN 4051. Clincers are frost resisting and, hence, are suited particularly for facades. The formats of the clinker stones are normed according to the German Institute for Standardization’s DIN 1053. Base for the different formats is the normal format (NF) with length 240 mm, width 115 mm and height 71 mm (other measures see baked brick). For facade layouts architects also order clincers produced in special dimensions.
For use with facades it is possible to cope varied shaped elements (e.g., clincer expressionism, see picture). Earlier. clincers were often used in civil engineering works, for example in bridge building , the construction of sewers and hydraulic structures, for mortar floodgates and hoppers or as paving stones for road constructions.
Sculptor Ernst Barlach also worked with clincers which then were produced according to his drafts, for example by the brickyard of Ilse Bergbau AG.
Peat fire clincer
A special colouring, above all green tones, clincer adopts if burnt with peat. Famous buildings with peat fire clincer are the Chile house and the Ramada Hotel in Hamburg. The last, still operating ring stove for peat fire clincer works in Nenndorf near Aurich (East Frisia). That clincer is marketed under the name “Wittmunder Torfbrandklinker” (peat fire clincer of Wittmund).
Greppin clincer
A hard-burnt yellow clincer stone, which receives a closed surface by burning it at temperatures clearly higher compared to normal brick stones, is called Greppiner Klinker (clincer of Greppin). At the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century such clincers were mostly used to line facaedes of railway constructions.
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