• Home
  • Machinery
    • Extruders & Pug Sealers
    • Dies & Bridges
    • Crushing & Grinding
    • Feeding
    • Mixing
    • Auxiliary Equipment
    • Upgrades & Tools
    • Used Machinery for Sale
  • Resources
    • Engineering & Lab Services
    • Manufacturing
    • Parts & Sub-Assemblies
    • Field Service & In-Shop Repair
    • Steele Virtual Service Calls
    • Educational Resources
    • Documents & Downloads
    • Extrusion Efficiency Calculator
  • Industries
    • Heavy Clay
    • Iron and Steel
    • Ferro Alloys
    • Gypsum
    • Paste Backfill
  • News / Blog
  • About Us
    • Steele USA
    • Direxa Engineering
    • Händle
    • Steele Australia
    • ZMB Braun
    • History
    • Careers
  • Contact Us
    • Worldwide Partners

800.278.3353 (Toll-free US) • 1.704.872.3681

Steele Service Login
J.C. Steele & SonsJ.C. Steele & Sons
Shaping solutions for tough raw materials
  • Home
  • Machinery
    • Extruders & Pug Sealers
    • Dies & Bridges
    • Crushing & Grinding
    • Feeding
    • Mixing
    • Auxiliary Equipment
    • Upgrades & Tools
    • Used Machinery for Sale
  • Resources
    • Engineering & Lab Services
    • Manufacturing
    • Parts & Sub-Assemblies
    • Field Service & In-Shop Repair
    • Steele Virtual Service Calls
    • Educational Resources
    • Documents & Downloads
    • Extrusion Efficiency Calculator
  • Industries
    • Heavy Clay
    • Iron and Steel
    • Ferro Alloys
    • Gypsum
    • Paste Backfill
  • News / Blog
  • About Us
    • Steele USA
    • Direxa Engineering
    • Händle
    • Steele Australia
    • ZMB Braun
    • History
    • Careers
  • Contact Us
    • Worldwide Partners

Heavy Clay

Home IndustriesHeavy Clay
Steele brick and block making machines

Steele machines produce over 90% of all bricks made in the U.S.

Steele brick and block making machines for the heavy clay industry

Steele has served the brick industry since 1889. We’re internationally recognized for our expertise in stiff extrusion, or extruding a product durable enough to be handled immediately following extrusion.

In most cases, brick manufacturers using Steele extruders set products directly on kiln cars for both drying and firing. This is the most efficient manufacturing process (where practical) and why most bricks made in the U.S. and Australia are made with Steele machines.

Steele provides an easy, cost-effective way to test the thin brick market

Responding to growing market demand for thin brick, Steele introduced its HD-10 extrusion system for creating and testing thin brick. The new HD-10 extrusion system shapes up to 2,000 thin bricks an hour.

Watch the Steele thin brick video (right) >

Lower capital and operating costs

Stiff extrusion offers other advantages where direct setting isn’t practical. Our extruders use less water, for better quality and less product loss for applications with manual handling, open air drying or chamber dryers.

Using less water during extrusion requires less energy to dry units, for more efficient production. Regardless of your degree of automation, Steele stiff extrusion offers operational savings with lower capital costs.

Steele Heavy Clay Extrusion - Brick making machines
Brick void areas

Void areas up to 65%

Steele stiff extrusion does more than produce facing brick. Our extruders deliver efficient production of pavers, tiles and hollow block with void areas up to 65%.

These machines are cost-effective, whether you’re producing five tons per hour of tile or 100 tons of facing bricks or pavers.

Why Steele machines are tougher

Steele extruders, like all of our machines, are typically heavier than competitive machines built with fabricated frame components and fabricated augers. Our in-house foundry casts primary frame components from ductile iron and wearing parts with a wear-resistant high chrome alloy.

Steele extruders also use larger motors than competitive machines, delivering the required high torque for years of reliable stiff extrusion.

More about our Machines
Steele 25-Series Extruder
Green Block handling Steele stiff extrusion

Set higher

Steele stiff extrusion requires less water than comparable technologies, which means greater strength for green products.

kiln cart drying

Dry faster

Brick and structural clay plants using air-drying can stack units higher without deforming. Plants with chamber dryers can dry faster and more efficiently.

Steele hydraulic die changer

Faster, safer die changeovers

Install our hydraulic die changer to change a die or product size in about 60 seconds. The push of a lever replaces an entire maintenance crew handling multiple heavy components.

Hydraulic Die Changers
Online Shaper Cap Order Form

Tell us about your project.

Send us a few details about your heavy clay project, and we’ll help you find the right equipment for the job.
Fill out our online heavy clay questionnaire and we’ll be in touch.

Get In Touch With Our Sales Experts

For more information on Steele stiff extrusion, talk to your regional Steele sales representative or call +1 704.872.3681.

Ready to learn how 135 years of experience with tough raw materials can help you? Contact Us
Logo

Follow Us

About Steele

Our roots are in heavy clay, working with brick, block and tile manufacturers. That experience, along with our ability to add value to bulk raw materials, has driven our expansion into by-product management and resource recovery for iron & steel mills, ferro alloy mines and gypsum/wallboard producers.
Learn More

Recent News

  • Extrusion Seminar June 17th & 18th, 2025 April 21, 2025
  • Extrusion Seminar April 8th & 9th, 2025 February 24, 2025
  • Join JC Steele & Sons at MINEXPO 2024 August 16, 2024

Contact Info

J.C. Steele & Sons
710 S. Mulberry St.
Statesville, NC 28677
+1-704-872-3681

After-hours / 24-Hour Pager:
704–832–0455

Contact Us

© 2025 J.C. Steele & Sons Inc   |   All Rights Reserved   |   Site by radii

  • Home
  • Machinery
  • About Us
  • Contact Us