HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



when heated, will fail by buckling or bending before an equiva- 

 lent beam or post of wood will be dangerously affected. It is 

 important that steel members essential to stability of a structure 

 be fireproof ed if thej- are to resist fire as well as the floors." 



The above opinion is voiced by every fire insurance expert in 

 the country. Slow burning wood construction is commended by 

 fire insurance authorities as safer, saner and better than steel 

 or reinforced concrete construction, and yet the public has gone 

 off on a tangent of steel and oouerete madness. 

 SPECIFIC EXAMINES 



A prominent manufacturer of wooden office furniture on July 

 29 last, participated in a test to demonstrate the relative fire- 

 proof qualities of wooden vs. steel filing cabinets. A large 

 wooden box was secured and a support was firmly fastened be- 

 tweeen the top and bottom. A one-drawer wooden card cabinet 

 and a one-drawer steel card cabinet were placed on the support. 

 The cabinets were approximately of the same size, and each 

 was partly filled with cards and guides, the same quantity in each. 

 The conditions were identical for each of the cabinets. 



The box was packed with excelsior and kindling, and a match 

 applied. The fire was permitted to blaze fiercely for about twelve 

 minutes, when it was extinguished by a stream of water. The 

 cabinets were taken out of the smoldering box and photographed. 

 Their appearance is shown in the illustrations at the head of 

 this article. 



The wooden box was badly charred on the outside, and the 

 metal label holder had dropped off. The steel cabinet was warped 

 and buckled, crevices opening up between the rivets. 



The cards in the wooden cabinet were absolutely unharmed, 

 and in fact were in as perfect a condition as before the fire was 

 lighted. They were not even warm. There was an envelope in 

 this drawer containing loose celluloid cards. The envelope and 

 contents were uninjured, and it does not take much heat to 

 ignite celluloid. 



The cards in the steel cabinet were badly charred and 

 powdered, and the guides were burned off. A manila shipping 

 tag at the back of the drawer was entirely consumed. Its 

 charred remains can be seen in the illustration. 

 STEEL DOORS AND FINISH 



A word about steel doors: lu addition to their frailty in 

 fireproof or even fire-resisting qualities, steel doors have others 

 that may be mentioned. They are in no wise sound-proof, which 

 is an important essential in good building construction; and 

 again, at their very best, they are a base imitation of a wooden 

 door, and imitations are always fraudulent. Again they are 

 noisy in both closing and opening; they have the metallic ring 

 which gets on one's nerves, and in no respect do they offer in- 

 creased hygienic qualities over the modern flush-panel wooden 

 door, which is now coming into such general use. They are just 

 as fraudulent in character as the majority of other wood sub- 

 stitutes. 



Think these matters nut for yourself, and awaken to the fact 

 that it is high time that a logical publicity campaign be instituted 

 to educate the public, wean it from following strange gods, and 

 get it back to sanity and the employment of "proved-by-time" 

 wood for car building, for furniture, for structural purposes, 

 automobile bodies, and for doors and interior finish. 



'' C'i>:>s:>spK>sti»;TOiOJcaiia^>^tV5t:Boi^ ' 



Fancy Floors in Shop Windows 



A consuming interest which is constantly requiring more hardwood 

 flooring, and one which is not ordinarily regarded as being woithy 

 of attention, is that which is composed of the retail merchants of the 

 country. The use of this material in the show-windows of the up-to- 

 date retail emporium has been rapidly increasing and thousands of 

 merchants are using it as a base for their displays and finding that 

 it is better than any other that can be used. 



I'or a long time, before the value of the window display was deter- 

 mined, it was thought that any old thing was good enough to floor 

 the window with. Paper, cloth and other temporary coverings were 

 used, and the results were not startling, as far as that part of the 

 display was concerned. However, someone finally decided that since 

 hardwood floors made the most beautiful appearance in the home, 

 they would be worth while in the show-window— and an order to the 

 contractor and through him to the manufacturer was the result. 



The result was all that could have been desired. The beautiful 

 effect secured through the use of hardwood flooring, which was in 

 keeping with the high-class goods that were shown in the windows, 

 aided in making sales, and those in charge of the displays appre- 

 ciated this fact and called for more material of the kind. Stores 

 which one used hardwood flooring in their windows never go back to 

 the former material, while others experiment with all sorts of sub- 

 stitutes, some of them much more expensive, trying to get a har- 

 monious and satisfactory base for their windows. 



While it is possible to get very good effects from the use of hard- 

 wood flooring in the window even if only tongue and groove stock 

 is used, yet the dealer frequently puts in a border of parquetry, while 

 others use block stock exclusively in order to get the richest effect 

 possible. In view of the fact that the background admittedly counts 

 for a great deal, the merchant is usually willing to go to unusual 

 expense in order to carry out the idea properly, and if he believes 

 that the parquetry offers the best opportunity for good results, he 

 will specify it. As stated, however, the experience of most retailers 

 has been that they can get good results by using ordinary hardwood 

 flooring, perhaps set off with a border of parquetry. 



Those who have thouglit that it is not worth while to pay atten- 

 tion to this trade, should see a job that was recently finished in an 

 Ohio valley firm's windows. This concern sells women's gavrients 

 and millinery, and desired the finest windows that could be secured. 

 Handsome mahogany panels were used to enclose the window, and 

 the floors were covered with parquetry squares. The job amounted 

 to about 1,000 square feet of material, and kept the contractors in 

 charge of it busy for days. The result was splendid, and the beau- 

 tiful gowns, cloaks and hats that were displayed seemed to get an 

 added touch of luxury and beauty from the floors. Certain it 

 is that the work attracted general attention and caused much com- 

 ment, as a matter of news interest. 



While this is an exceptional case, as the average retailer will not 

 buy anything like 1,000 feet of flooring for his windows, yet he can 

 use enough to make it worth while to pay some attention to the 

 business. Agents of the manufacturers should be instructed to oc- 

 casionally send out advertising matter to firms whose windows are 

 not covered with hardwood flooring, and occasional calls on pj-omi- 

 nent dealers who would be likely to order stock of this kind, if con- 

 vinced of its value, would be worth while. Each individual order 

 would be comparatively small; but the aggregate would be sufficient 

 to create a big department, and to fill many dull periods in the 

 experience of the manufacturer. 



' ' Provided we had enough good dealers, ' ' said a well-known floor- 

 ing manufacturer recently, "and could secure their co-operation in 

 creating new lines, I believe that the use of hardwood flooring in 

 shopkeepers' windows would develop to such an extent as to amaze 

 most of us in the trade. There are tens of thousands of important 

 retailers in the cities, who are studying every possible method of 

 improving the appearance of their windows. If we once convinced 

 them that hardwood flooring is the right kind of material, we would 

 have scored a big advance. 



"Although the business that has come to us thus far has been de- 

 veloped without any assistance from us, yet it has been gradually 

 increasing until we have been forced to notice it. We have now 



