HARDWOOD RECORD 



The cart is of ancient origin. The wheel, 

 however, is older still, for of necessity it 

 had to be invented before the cart was pos- 

 sible. The idea of the wheel may have come 

 to primitive man from seeing a log roll 

 down hill. At any rate we know that the 

 first wheels were solid, and in fact vehicles 

 with solid wheels are still used in Burma, 

 China and Japan, and even in parts of the 

 western world; an English writer says it is 

 still seen in parts of Ireland. The spoked 

 wheel is also of great antiquity. That the 

 Egyptians, who were vastly more civilized 

 than we moderns are willing to believe, used 

 spoked wheels 2,800 years ago, we are cer- 

 tain, and doubtless long befpre that time. 

 In Europe we find them in the prehistoric 

 lake dwellings. 



To come down to modern vehicles — aston- 

 ishing is the variety of forms into which 

 the rude cart of early man has developed. 

 There is the wheelbarrow, which may have 

 been the first type; the two-wheeled cart, 

 carriages, coaches and wagons, with their 

 many shapes and uses; automobiles, railway 

 and street cars of various kinds, steam and 

 traction engines, bicycles; sleighs and sleds, 

 which may have grown up independently 

 of the cart but are alike as regards the box; 

 and at least one more — the roller skate! 

 One might strain a point and add all wheel- 

 propelled and screw-propelled boats; but 

 these are combinations of the canoe, the 

 wheel and the oar — for the function of the 

 oar taught civilized man that he could ap- 

 ply the wheel principle to water locomotion. 

 The wheel has had a tremendous influence 

 upon the arts and crafts of civilization — ■ 

 witness the millwheel, the circular saw, ma- 

 chinery of all kinds,, and a thousand and 

 one other things. But we are directly in- 

 terested only in the wooden wheel which 

 has to do with vehicles. The woods com- 

 monly used number about a dozen. Box 

 boards are usiinlly of yellow poplar, cotton- 



Utilization of HardWoods 



.RETICLE VIII. 



WagonS' 



wood, red gum or tupelo; box woods as axh 

 cleats of yellow poplar, Cottonwood 

 or rock elm; box beds of Idngleaf 

 pine, birch or oak; bed cleats, 

 brake bars and hounds of oak or 

 rock elm; axles of hickory or ma- 

 le; bolsters and sand boards of 

 oak or hickory; poles, reaches and 

 spokes of oak; standards of oak, 

 rock elm or hickory; rims and fel- 

 loes of oak and sometimes osage 

 orange; hubs of white, red and 

 willow oak, black and yellow birch; 

 doubletrees of hickory, rock elm 

 or oak; singletrees and neckyokes 

 of hickory or rock elm. 

 As every lumberman well knows, habit 

 and prejudice have a great deal to do with 

 the choice of woods in making of wagons, 

 as with all kinds of articles. For example, 

 the pre.judice against red hickory is generally 

 known. But recent government tests have 

 shown conclusively that a large proportion 

 of genr parts made of rod hickory should by 

 rights be included in the higher grades, be- 

 cause of their strength and thickness. Lum- 

 bermen have believed this for a long time, 

 and the result of the government tests was 

 merely a confirmation of general knowl- 

 edge. As hickory is much employed in wag- 

 on building, and still more in the construc- 

 tion of carriages and automobiles, and as 

 the present rate of cutting may cause the 

 disappearance of this wood within fifteen 

 to twenty years, it is to be hoped that the 

 red hickory will soon come into its own. 

 Many suggested substitutes for hickory have 

 not yet been tested; some of them are for- 

 eign timbers. 



Hickory is the great wood for axles. For 

 carriage axles it is practically the only tim- 

 ber used, but for wagon axles, as outlined, 

 there is a considerable demand for maple. 

 This wood finds greater favor with the 

 northern trade, while in the South hickory 

 is preferred. The government tests, which 

 investigated the relative value of these 



woods as axle stock, found hickory the su- 

 perior in toughness and resistance. The 

 steel axle is sometimes used for heavy ve- 

 hicles, but it lacks the resilience of wood. 



The chief timber for hubs was formerly 

 white oak, but its excessive checking, 

 coupled with the high market price, has 

 led to the substitution of willow oak, red 

 oak and black and yellow birch. Some 

 manufacturers of great prominence make no 

 secret of the fact that they prefer black 

 birch. 



White ash was formerly much used for 

 wagon poles, but the increase in the price 

 of ash is leading to its gradual disuse for . 

 this purpose, and white or red oak are the 

 principal timbers utilized, with the occa- 

 sional employment of Douglas fir and long- 

 leaf pine. The great test of a wagon pole 

 occurs when the front wheels are blocked 

 and the team turns sidewise. Strength, 

 stiffness and elasticity are required, and 

 select oak appears to be on the whole the 

 best material. 



The preponderance of oak in the gearing 

 parts of a wagon is due to the comparative 

 commonness of this timber among the hard- 

 woods and also to its well-known strength. 



For wagon-bcx woods the preference is 

 decidedly yellow poplar for the sides and 

 longleaf pine for the bottom. For the sides 

 there is demanded a timber that will not 

 warp or split and is easily worked. Eesist- 

 ance to abrasion is important, but durability 

 is not considered. The conditions required 

 are fulfilled by yellow poplar, but cotton- 

 wood is also largely utilized. Eed gum, 

 tupelo, Douglas fir, cypress, western yellow 

 pine, western spruce and redwood ha%'e been 

 used, all to a limited extent except red gum, 

 which occupies third place in the favor of 

 some makers. All these timbers have been 



