HARDWOOD RECOtJD 



17 



impossible because the rotary machine autt 

 clipper occupied the entire width of the 

 building. Also, most mills used the upper 

 stories for drying rooms, requiring the 

 handling of the stock to the upper floor and 

 from there to the packing room, then to the 

 cars or wagons, thus entailing additional 

 handling cost and considerable loss by break- 

 age. 



Since the advent of the roHcr dryer the 

 width and length of veneer mills have 

 been increased, espeeiallj' the length which 

 of necessity is added to on account of the 

 great length of the dryer. An up-to-date ve- 

 neer mill should be so constructed and ar- 

 ranged that the direct forward movement of 

 the log from log pile to the dried and packed 

 veneer has no deviation. To make this 

 possible the mill should first of all be so 

 located as to have the log yard directly 

 behind the track, which should be between 

 the log yard and vats which are from 15 to 

 20 feet from the end of the building. Be- 

 tween vats and building there should be a 

 wooden floor providing a suitable place for 

 handling logs. Without a floor of some 

 kind, the ground soon becomes oozy and 

 greatly hampers operations. A substan- 

 tial foundation minimizes handling cost 

 because logs of ordinary size can then be 

 easily handled by one man, while two or 

 more are necessary without the floor. 

 Wood is suggested as the best material for 

 the floor because cement blocks, stone or 

 brick are liable to crumble, and the grit 

 cling to the logs and seriously afifect the ve- 

 neer by nicking the cutting edge of the 

 knife, causing it to scratch. 

 • It is hardly probable that the plant can 

 be so arranged that all the log yard will 

 be behind the mill, unless the building plot 

 is very long and narrow. For example, 

 suppose we have a lot 120x'2.50 feet and 

 wish to erect a mill capable of housing three 

 one hundred-inch rotary lathes, clippers, grind- 

 ers and dryers. For this purpose a one- 

 story building 100x175 feet would be the most 

 suitable. Adjoining the side of this building 

 and flush with the yard end, an adiUtional 

 twenty-foot square building would be neces- 

 sary for an engine and boiler room, making 

 the building 120 feet at one end by 175 feet 

 long, and 100 feet wide at the other end; 15 

 feet between mill and vats; 20 feet for vats, 

 and 18 feet for track and driveway, leaves a 

 space 47x120 feet for log yard. 



Within the mill the arrangement is a 

 more potent factor because many more 

 liandlings are necessary to convey veneers 

 from one point to another than are required 

 to handle the solid log. Machines with 

 one-hundred-inch cutting capacity require 

 15 to 16 feet of space; thus, three such 

 machines would require at least 50 feet of 

 the building's width at the end adjoining 

 the vats. By placing the machines 10 feet 

 from the wall allowance is made for turning 

 the log end for end without taking it outside, 

 add to this 10 feet for the machine base and 

 20 feet of the miil 's length has been con- 



i'umcd. Over e;ich macliinc a shaft witli a lunse 

 attachment and cliain hoist sliiiuld be 

 placed to raise and lower the log expedi- 

 tiously. TJiese should be directly over the 

 center of the chuck so as to bring the cen- 

 ter of the log into its direct line and save 

 the unnecessary labor that would be re- 

 quired to force the center of the log and 

 chuck to meet if the loose shaft and chain 

 were farther away. Between lathe and 

 clipper the wider the space allowed, the 

 greater will be the cutting capacity of the 

 machine and the less will be the waste. 

 Allowing 75 feet between cutter and clip- 

 per, the veneer can be run out to that 

 width at the full speed of the cutter, while 

 only a moderate speed would be safe in a 

 shorter space. If the veneer is of such 

 quality to warrant its running to the full 

 75 feet, the only waste in trimming and 

 squaring is at each side of the veneer's 

 width, whereas a shorter distance would mean 

 narrower veneer but would require the same 

 amount of trimming and squaring as the 

 wider pieces. To the allowance of 75 feet, an 

 additional 15 feet is added for the clipper 

 and its table, or in all, 110 feet of the 

 length has been utilized and 50 feet of 

 width, leaving a space 140 feet long by 150 

 feet wide before the machinery, and a space 

 110 feet long by 50 feet wide beside the ma- 

 chinery, or an L-shaped space 140 feet in 

 length from its conjunction with the stem. In 

 this space the making of crates, bundling, 

 trim sawing, packing and dryer must find 

 the necessary space to work in harmony with 

 the other equipment. 



The placing of the dryer is undoubtedly the 

 most important matter, and the most common 

 method now in use is to place it with the 

 feed end beside the machine, thus necessi- 

 tating handling the veneer back to its starting 

 point. To this arrangement the writer takes 

 exception, as it puts to an end the continuous 

 forward movement of the log and materially 

 adds to the expense of handling. The most 

 substantial argument in support of this ar- 

 rangement is that the power is located on a 

 direct line with the lathes, therefore it is 

 thought advisable to bring the machine to 

 the power, rather than the power to the ma- 

 chine. Inasmuch as the dryer has an inde- 

 pendent engine the method that seems best 

 to the writer is to place the dryer 20 feet in 

 advance of the clippers to the opposite side 

 of the building, then put an additional bed 

 of live rolls on a platform equal to the height 

 of the clipper table and adjoining it ; then 

 operate this from one side of the mill to the 

 other by means of flanged wheels and a 

 double track, laid with a system of switches, 

 so that each clipper has two cars that may be 

 switched from one track to the other, when 

 necessary, thus leaving at all times one car 

 before the clipper for loading, while the other 

 is on the opposite side, unloading directly into 

 the dryer. Thus not a moment is lost or an 

 extra handling necessary, for it is understood 

 tliat the tracks are immediately in front of 

 tlie dryer, as in front of the clipper. The 



only visible nbjectiou to such a method is 

 Ihe distance from power, though this is ulti- 

 mately cheaper than the cost of conveying the 

 veneer from the clipper back to its starting 

 point. It is also possible to arrange a sys- 

 tem of tracks to transport the veneer from 

 the clipper to the starting point, but the time 

 consumed in transporting does not make the 

 track an item of other than extra expense, be- 

 cause the veneer can be as well handled on 

 ordinary trucks in the same amount of time. 

 It may be argued: why not put the dryer in 

 front of the clipper at the other side of tlie 

 mill, instead of handling the veneer across tlie 

 building; or, if using three clippers, put tlie 

 dryer in front of the middle clipper. To do 

 tlie former would be but little more expensive 

 than the plan heretofore outlined, but it has 

 no advantage over the other, as but one clip- 

 per can pass its cuttings directly into the 

 dryer, the other iwo clippers having to give 

 their stock an extra handling. Furthermore, 

 the dryer's engine is to be placed, and tliis 

 could not be done between the clipper^, there- 

 by interfering with the working of the clipper 

 hands, who must occasionally pass around 

 their machine for some purpose or other. If 

 thei'e is but one way of getting around, extra 

 time is spent in so doing. Secondly, the dryer 

 is so placed that the stock from each clipper 

 is converging to a single point from three 

 ways, thus crowding at one point and wasting 

 space at another. 



Ordinarily the length of the dryer is 100 

 feet, so that if placed 20 feet in advance of 

 the clippers and to the opposite side of the 

 building, 120 feet of the remaining 140 feet 

 in length are taken, leaving 20 feet beyond 

 the dryer for handling the veneer onto trucks, 

 as it emerges therefrom ; this completes the 

 arrangement of the machinery for cutting and 

 drying the veneer, and fulfills its mission of 

 continuity. 



However, the completion of cutting and 

 drying does not complete the handling, as the 

 veneer is still to be trimmed, crated and 

 bundled. As the output of mills differs widely, 

 no established rule could be laid down for a 

 mill cutting both thick and thin veneers. A 

 good plan would be to have the boxmaking 

 done at the latlie ends of the mill, where ample 

 room can be f<Jmd in the 50x100 foot 

 space between end wall, side wall, dryer and 

 machines. From there the crates can be con- 

 veyed by the best means at hand to the ex- 

 freme end of the building, as near the dryer 

 a.s possible. The writer suggests this be- 

 cause thin veneers are more likely to be 

 crated than thick veneers, and if standard 

 sizes are being cut, they can be taken from 

 the dryer and placed into the crate and 

 counted with one handling. Thick veneers are 

 more likely to be trimmed to net sizes and 

 less liable to be broken by handling. To 

 minimize the cost of belting and concentrate 

 power, it is suggested that the saws for trim- 

 ming be placed far enough in advance of the 

 Clippers so as not to interfere with their 

 work. The position of these saws is lai'gely a 

 matter of judgment and condition. It seems 



