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Hardw^ood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



August 25, 1922 



Evansville Invites Thousands to Market 



More than 1 4,000 furniture dealers in various parts of the 

 United States, Canada, Porto Rico, Mexico and other countries are 

 receiving invitations to attend the semi-annual furniture and stove 

 market at Evansville, Ind., that will be held September 11 to 16. 

 These invitations are being sent out by John C. Keller, secretary 

 and general manager of the Evansville Furniture Manufacturers' 

 Association. Mr. Keller is receiving some replies from the invita- 

 tions already, and he is of the opinion that in the event the railroad 

 strike does not interfere, the attendance at the market this fall 

 will be larger than it was last spring. A damper was thrown upon 

 the market last spring by the death of Benjamin Bosse. mayor of 

 Evansville and head of the Globe-Bosse-World Furniture Company, 

 which occurred at the opening of the market. Mr. Keller and the 

 Evansville manufacturers are quite enthusiastic over the outlook 

 for the market this fall. 



Especial efforts are to be made by the Evansville Furniture Manu- 

 facturers* Association this fall to secure dealers from Mexico to 

 attend the market. Secretary Keller is sending a number of invita- 

 tions to the retail dealers in the southern republic, these names 

 having been turned in by an Evansville representative who visits 

 the leading towns and cities in Mexico. The invitations sent to the 

 Mexican dealers w^ere written in Spanish, while in the past they 

 were written in English. 



Mr. Keller says that indications point to liberal buying at the 

 market this spring. Trade conditions are gradually improving and 

 farmers are in a better frame of mind than they were a year ago 

 and they are spending money more liberally, according to reports 

 from the rural communities. Bumper crops are being raised every- 

 where, and it is believed that buying in many lines is going to be 

 better this fall than it was last year. The exhibits at the Evansville 

 market will be shown in three large buildings and Evansville citi- 

 zens are going to act as a committee of one to entertain the visitors 

 and buyers. Many entertainments are being planned. An effort 

 also is being made this year to get more out of town exhibitors than 

 in former years. 



Evansville Veneer Trade Good 



The veneer manufacturers at Evansville, Ind., and towns in the 

 tri-state section report that their trade for the past few weeks has 

 been very good, although the railroad strike has interfered some 

 with their shipments. In their opinion as soon as this strike has 

 been ended there w^ill be a brisk picking up in the furniture trade, 

 and as this business gets better it is believed that the veneer trade 

 will sho^v great improvement. The manufacturers are looking 

 upon the bright side of the trade picture and express the opinion 

 that fall and winter business will show a big improvement over that 

 of last year. . 



Aeroplane Propellor Plant Attracts Attention 



Though there are no war requirements to be taken care of now^ 

 and the business has diminished to proportions much smaller than 

 it attained during the period of hostilities, the industry established 

 in Baltimore by Spencer Heath, pioneer in the designing and manu- 

 facture of aeroplane propellers and president and general manager 

 of the American Propeller & Manufacturing Company, 233 East 

 Hamburg street, continues to attract much attention and is to be 

 regarded as among the industries of note that call for the use of 

 high grades of hardwoods. The establishment now^ occupied by 

 the corporation contains some 200,000 feet of floor space, and 

 during the war produced and supplied about 75 per cent of the 

 propellers on flying machines used by the armies of the United 

 States and the Allied countries. For the war planes of Canada 

 and England alone some 10,000 w^ere purchased. 



The peculiar product of the plant is known as the "Paragon, 

 and it was designed and developed by Mr. Heath, who also designed 

 and manufactured the special machinery used in propeller produc- 

 tion. The latest of these propellers is of the geared type, the pitch 



of which can be changed at will. This enables aviators to adjust 

 their machines to all atmospheric conditions, and to land and take 

 off with greater safety. In dirigibles it enables the engineer to 

 reverse or go ahead as easily as this is done on steamships, it is 

 said. 



Mr. Heath had been in charge of the aviation patents of Simon 

 Lake, of submarine fame, and his brother Christopher. In 1909 he 

 was called on to design a propeller and became interested in the 

 technical problems involved. He established a factory in a small 

 room in Washington and in course of time his propellers w^ere 

 adopted by leading flyers. In 1910 the first hydro-plane ever 

 raised by its own power was taken off the water by a Paragon 

 propeller, and this propeller is still being used. In 1912 the busi- 

 ness had grow^n to such an extent as to suggest the seeking of a 

 location w^here the business might be carried on under the most 

 favorable conditions, which led to the selection of Baltimore, and 

 ever since then the reputation of the Paragon propellers has been 

 expanding. The NC4 which crossed the Atlantic was propelled by 

 a Paragon. 



During the war the capacity of the plant, w^hich had been estab- 

 lished in a specially constructed building on Key Highway, covering 

 nearly three acres and costing more than $300,000, rose to 400 

 propellers a day, with 865 men engaged in the industry. 



British Faker of Antique Furniture Uses Ancient 

 Oak Timbers 



What becomes of the old w^ooden battleships — "wooden w^alls" 

 — and other similarly constructed craft that pass occasionally into 

 the hands of the shipbreakers? It is a question often asked by 

 the curious, but one which seldom receives a satisfactory or ade- 

 quate reply. Naturally, the ancient, weather-beaten timbers are 

 again disposed of in varying quantities for a variety of quaint 

 purposes, and makers of "antique" furniture are eager bidders for 

 much of the residue. 



Antique furniture made with this fine old seasoned oak is in- 

 variably safe from detection, even by the most experienced of con- 

 noisseurs. Whenever they are doubtful of a particular piece of 

 furniture they test their doubts by cutting a small V into the wood. 

 Old wood and new are quickly detected by coloring, the older 

 naturally being of a darker texture than its fellow. Fakers of 

 antique furniture eschew the use of glue in their work, but have 

 made for their purposes exact copies of the type of nails in use 

 among old-time makers. 



Cathedral Panel Salved 

 Not only are the timbers of old vessels pressed into this queer 

 service, but, when opportunity offers, other old pieces of timber 

 are purchased from housebreakers. Very recently some stout, 

 beautifully carved panels from Winchester Cathedral (taken away 

 for repairing purposes there) passed into a very exclusive little 

 factory in a back turning in Shoreditch. There, by divers quaint 

 processes, best known to the proprietor of the works and to his 

 three sons, they will, in course of time, become faithful copies of 

 real antique furniture, and as such will be sold at fancy prices in 

 Bond Street and thereabouts. 



The old fellow who guides the destinies of this particular fac- 

 tory for faking antique furniture is a consummate craftsman of 

 his kind. He reproduces his pieces, faithful in every minute detail, 

 from the real stuff. 



He himself polishes very old oak by means of pumice powder. 

 He obtains the effect of use and antiquity in such necessary cases 

 as old oak chests by leaving them in the silt of a canal near by, 

 w^here the sluggish tide carries a mass of rubble past them, thus 

 rubbing them into the semblance of something worn by time and 

 constant usage. The mud is not washed off afterwards, but is 

 rubbed off by continuous rubbing with chamois leather. — W. C. R., 

 in the (London) Evening News. 



