48 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



April 25, 1922 



UNDERWOOD QUALITY 



PROMPT DELIVERIES 

 ATTRACTIVE PRICES 



We Manufacture 



BIRCH, ASH, ELM, BASSWOOD and OAK 



VENEERS 



also 



THREE AND FIVE PLY BIRCH, ASH, PLAIN OAK 

 BASSWOOD, QUARTERED SAWED OAK, WALNUT, 

 QUARTERED FIGURED GUM AND MAHOGANY 



We carry a large stock of THREE AND FIVE PLY 

 PANELS on hand at all times — Write for list of sizes. 



Underwood Veneer Company 



WAUSAU, WISCONSIN 



I f '•nitimii 'I ln>in I'lnn -H I 

 temperature, will reduce the humidity of the shop air and hold it 

 to the desired point. But there are other days, during the warmer 

 season, when the outdoor air contains very much more moisture 

 than w^ould be good for the raw veneer, and which possibly might 

 also add to the moisture already contained in the panels on the 

 shop floor. It is on such days, fortunately not too frequent, when 

 the outside air must be dehumidified to the desired point or as 

 near to it as may be practicable. 



Aside from the combination of adverse conditions related in the 

 foregoing, there frequently exists another shop condition which 

 very seriously interferes with the moisture content of the air sur- 

 rounding veneers, plies and panels while on the shop floor. In 

 many establishments the gluing department is located in a corner 

 of the general shop floor where many machines are cutting wood 

 and discharging the sawdust and shavings into an exhaust sys- 

 tem, which latter at the same time also pulls vast quantities of air 

 from the shop floor. This air naturally is immediately replaced by 

 fresh air from outdoors, which, no matter how it reaches the shop 

 space, carries the moisture, or the lack of it, as obtaining in the 

 atmosphere. On rainy or very humid, warm days it is impossible 

 to keep this moisture out while the exhauster is running, and on 

 very cold, dry days everything tends to dry out excessively, includ- 

 ing the breathing apparatus of the men. 



But such a condition is also wasteful /rom the standpoint of the 

 fuel necessary to keep the place warm during the heating season. 

 The only remedy is to supply an equal amount of conditioned air, 

 to replace that air which necessarily must be withdrawn by the 

 exhaust system, the inlets to which are not always adjusted to take 

 the "right and fair" amount, and which more frequently are per- 

 mitted to use an unnecessary excess without consideration for the 

 expense of power and of heat, and much less for the disturbance 

 to the humidity conditions of that end of the shop in which is lo- 

 cated the veneer department. 



During the cold season any air brought into the shop to replace 

 that exhausted with the shavings, must be heated, only to be 

 promptly exhausted in its turn, and since such an exhaust system 

 may change the air of the average shop space from five to fifteen 

 times in one hour, the air supply becomes an object for serious con- 

 sideration from the fuel cost standpoint, unless there happens to be 

 a large quantity of unused exhaust steam available for the w^arm- 

 ing of this air, therefore, w^here fuel saving is an object, it will be 

 found desirable and entirely feasible to continually re-circulate the 

 already warm air, after freeing the same from the saw^dust and 

 shavings in the separators, and from the fine dust in proper air- 

 ^vashers, w^ith the water at such temperature as will make the then 

 saturated air contain the exact percentage of humidity required, 

 after it has been slightly re-heated before being again delivered to 

 the shop. Such an arrangement is available during more than one- 

 half of the working days of the year, and during the balance the 

 air may be taken direct from the atmosphere to the shop (de- 

 humidified if and as necessary), and the exhausters then may dis- 

 charge direct to atmosphere through their respective separators. 



During the war, in the construction of a woodworking shop 

 (300' long by 200' wide) for gunstock production, the writer 

 adopted such a system of re-circulation of the shavings exhaust 

 air in combination w^ith the heating system and air conditioning 

 system, and during tw^o years of personal observation found it re- 

 sponsive to very exacting requirements under outdoor conditions 

 ranging from summer heat and heavy humidity to the dry atmos- 

 phere at I 5 degrees below zero. 



As previously stated, circumstances alter cases, and there is no 

 universal arrangement which would answer all of the varying con- 

 ditions obtaining at the different w^oodworking plants, and the 

 writer w^ould not advise procedure without a competent engineer- 

 ing investigation embracing all local facts and requirements. This 

 paper is presented in the hope that it may awaken interest and 

 result in action. 



