Thermoluminescence (TL) has become an established dating method for ceramics and more recently for bricks. Based on the experience of the work carried out since the late 1970's at the Rathgen-Forschungslabor in Berlin on the dating of bricks from historic architecture, and after evaluating various automated and semi-automated TL-readers, a specially adapted machine for the fine grain dating of bricks was constructed at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The result is the automated TL-reader ADAM-1 (Automated Dating Apparatus for Monuments) for the dating of historic architecture.