THE WORDS BELOW ARE FROM THE ACME BRICK FOLKS...This brick is in town today from noon until 2 at Acme's Shreveport Sales Office, 1919 Kings Highway in Shreveport. The Acme Brick folk invite you to go by for a piece of free pizza and a look at the world's biggest brick......
On July 4, 2007, Acme Brick celebrated America’s birthday and Acme’s 116th year in a really big way – in fact over 9,000 pounds big.
At 6 a.m., the staff of Acme’s Denton, Texas, brick plant “delivered” Baby Clay. This “baby” sets all kinds of records because he weighs in at over three tons and is 116 inches long (9 ft. 8 in.) – one inch for every year that Acme has been in business. That makes Clay nearly 3,000 times the size of a standard brick.
This giant brick has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records™ as the world's biggest. The newborn was named Clay because he is comprised of clay materials from each of Acme’s 23 brick plants around the Southwest.
Acme President and CEO Dennis Knautz said, “We think that the creation of Clay demonstrates exceptional expertise among our brickmaking staff. This was a huge, unprecedented challenge for them. It seems fitting that one of America’s oldest and the world’s largest American–owned brick company should produce the world’s largest brick to commemorate Acme’s 116 years in business.” The brick also measures 39 inches tall and 39 inches wide.
Baby Clay is Acme’s fifth attempt to create this world record brick. The first four attempts, beginning in September 2004, were tremendous learning experiences for the determined brickmakers. The crew made adjustments, and the fifth time was the charm. Acme’s Denton plant required 13 months to create Baby Clay compared to the normal time of a week for a normal brick. “I think that the successful birth of Baby Clay also says something about the traditional American values of hard work and persistence as demonstrated by Harland Dixson (Acme’s plant manager); Mack Wilcox, our project manager; and his crew," said company president Knautz.
During October and November, Baby Clay has been on tour, visiting Acme offices and plants in celebration of the company’s 116th birthday. A special trailer was created to accommodate the newborn in his travels. It is anticipated that Clay will be making a number of “guest” appearances in other venues as well.
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