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We made tile pipe and flu liners. One summer, my last month of work I got to fire kilns. The kilns were huge igloo-shaped structures made of brick and the clay tile were placed inside to be cooked.
There were 10 fire boxes spaced around the kiln that I had to shovel coal into, and get the clinkers out with a bar that weighed almost as much as me. You had to watch the fire would blow back on you. The trick was to raise the temperature inside the kiln so many degrees every 8 hour shift, work was around the clock.
I worked firing kilns for about a month before I had to go back to school. I spit black for 2 weeks after I quit.
After many years the owner decided to switch to natural gas, no fireman was needed and the temperatures could be much better regulated.

Also, someone should show Krasnov pictures of Pittsburgh before and after heavy coal usage.