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Patent Brick Company
History
In 1870, the Patent Brick Company established a brickyard on Petaluma Road (now Smith Ranch Road and Silveira Parkway) at
Brick Yard (Gallinas) Station, on the S.F.& N.P.R.R., 4 mi. northeast of San Rafael, Marin County, California. Clay was
found in the low hills west of the plant. The Patent Company had their office at 513 Montgomery St., and a sales
yard at 3rd and Berry streets, San Francisco. Philip Caduc was President and F.A. Hihn of Santa Cruz was
part owner.
The first Hoffman brick kiln in United States was said to have been built by this company. The kiln had a capacity
of 25,000 bricks per day. Equipment included two soft mud machines, each with a capacity of 40,000 bricks per day,
a stiff mud machine, with a capacity of 100,000 bricks per day, a drier, three dry-pan grinders, a pug-mill, and cutters.
The stiff-mud machine was added in November 1904.
The Patent Brick Company made common brick, pressed brick, fancy brick, and Roman brick. They were producing
1.5 million bricks per month in 1915. The plant closed in 1918.
Remnant brick wall on the plant site of the Patent Brick Company.
Patent Brick
Patent bricks in a wall at the plant site.
Common brick is pale red to orange red, with no visible clasts on surface. Broken surface show specks of red and white clasts.
Gritty, rough, granular surface texture. Irregular edges and rounded or broken corners. Thin irregular lip present around top edge
in some bricks. Hand-molded, sand-struck, soft-mud process. Sides undulate and some show large cavities or open cracks and some have
longitudinal or transverse bulges. Top and bottom faces show the usual mold-filled forms. Length 8 - 8 1/2, width 3 1/2 - 4 1/8,
height 2 1/2.
Patent brick bottom face.
Patent brick top face.
Patent brick broken interior showing white clasts.
Patent fancy brick showing a key shaped form from the Patent kiln site. Photo courtesy of Vicky S.
Patent fancy brick showing a hexagonal shaped form from the Patent kiln site. Photo courtesy of Vicky S.
Patent fancy brick showing a single point edge, or exterior octagon form, from the Patent kiln site. Photo courtesy of Vicky S.
Patent fancy brick showing a recess cap form from the Patent kiln site. Photo courtesy of Vicky S.
No descriptions are available for other types of Patent bricks.
Source
California Division of Mines Report 12, 1893-94.
California Division of Mines Bulletin 38, 1906;
California Division of Mines Report 14, 1915.
San Francisco City Directories, 1871-1918
Vicky S., photographs of saved Patent fancy bricks, 2007.
Copyright © 2004 Dan Mosier
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Comments or questions are welcomed.
Please send email to Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.