26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



August 25. 192 



YARD AND KILN 



cA Section Intended to Promote EfSciencyO 

 and Economy in Lumber Drying ^ 



A Novel French Kiln Drying Stunt 



The floor plans in one of the drying rooms where the radiators are under 



ground 



Hardwood Eei'ord recently received from outside sources descrip- 

 tion and illustration of a French method of kiln drying lumber 

 through the use of what is known as ozone air or super-oxygen. 

 It is claimed that when kept to a certain degree of temperature 

 the apjjlication of this air will dry the lumber in less time and 

 more effectively, and with greater destruction to any animal or 

 plant growth which may exist in or on the wood. 



Hardwood Record was more or less dubious regarding the appara- 

 tus and in order to establish its possible value laid the entire 

 matter before the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., 

 which answered as follows: 



We have the prints showing the Marius Paul Otto dry W\\r\. This 

 process has been patented in the United States, No. 1,381,656, June 14, 

 1921, and Paul Durand, 1133 Bi'oadvvay, New York, is interested in its 

 adoption and use in this country. 



The kiln is of the progressive type and tlie process is described in 

 the claim as follows: 



"The herein described process of seasoning wood by the combined 

 action of heat and of ozone, which consists in submitting the wood 

 successively to hot air acting alone, to ozonized air acting alone, and 

 to a mixture of hot air and of ozonized air acting together and moving 

 the wood during each of these three successive actions in a direction 

 opposite that in which the gaseous current flows." 



No description of the ozone generator Is included in the letters patent 

 and one can not judge therefore what effect, if any, this generator 

 may have upon the air passing through it. The kiln is. as you can 



Showing manner of piling and aperture through which "Super-oxygen" is 

 carried into drying room 



readily understand, of the forced circulation type, being equipped with 

 several blowers, and if properly designed it should give very satis- 

 factory results whether the ozone generator is effective or not. 



I can readil.v understand how a process such as described, if properly 

 carried out, would be a very great improvement over the methods of 

 drying in more or less common use in France. I am not at all sure, 

 liowever. that the results secured would be any better than those 

 which can be obtained in first-class forced circulation compartment 

 kiln. We have been in correspondence with Mr. Durand, but we are 

 not contemplating the experimental work to determine the merits of 

 the pi'ocess. 



We would hesitate to recommend the process as an advance over 

 our best present seasoning methods. 



One of these pipes carries the "Super-oxygen" vapors while the other 

 distributes them 



