"A ton of bricks". Is there evidence that bricks were ever measured in tons?

(*laugh*) I just did the same thing with another question!

In earlier days bricks were generally measured in cwts (the weight of 100 bricks), which was roughly 3.8 tons.

A little more digging produced this interesting tidbit:

"This expression, often coupled with 'come down on,' replaced the earlier 'thousand of brick' or 'hundred of brick.' The allusion in all these is to the considerable weight of such a load. [Early 1900s] "

So what I imply is that "a ton of" simply means "a lot," given that the original expression was essentially "thousandweight" or "hundredweight," and that they weren't originally measured by the ton.

BTW, a brick generally weighs 6-8 lbs, so you can calculate how many in a ton. ;-)

These days, because bricks vary so much in size and are machine-cast, their measurements are quite precise, and therefore you buy them by the pack or load, depending on how many you want. For example, a set of purchasing specs might look like this:

Colour : Red Black

Texture : Stock

Course Height (mm) : 65.00

Length (mm) : 218

Depth (mm) : 102.5

Water Absorption ( % ) : 19

Compressive Strength : 20 N/mm2

Pack Size : 430

Full Load Size : 10320

It just makes sense. If a brickyard sells a large volume of bricks, its easier to sell by weight than by counting each individual brick. The buyer puts their truck on the scale, the seller dumps the bricks into the truck until the truck weighs a ton more. That method is the most efficient.

You haven't asked a question in awhile. But you are faithful to answer. Thanks again. And how come you'll cry at the drop of a dime but not over the beautiful phrasing of Kahlil Gibran? What do you mean you haven't represented yourself rightly in past forums? I think it's funny you drive cab and I don't drive. The Avatar you have chosen is smart. Men are attracted to the color red. And women like, and I suppose, resemble your rose. When I looked close I couldn't help but blush. Quite sensual. Dude, Google is a wonderful tool. I don't feel like looking up the answer. But Women are referred to as brick houses.

Probably. People have done everything now a days. So someone probably took time out of their life to sit there and do all these calculations to weigh bricks.

♥

go ask the 3 little pigs