40 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Wood Paving Blocks for Italy 



Thore is an opporlunity for American wdod 

 paving bloclts in Italian cities. Psi)ecially Milan, 

 accor<linK to Vico-Consul .Tames B. Young. Some 

 of the streets are alread.v paved with siicli ma- 

 terial from Australia and in time, it is said, 

 the principal streets will probab!.v bo thus 

 paved, following the exami)le of Paris, London 

 and other large cities, w'hei-e it is used advan- 

 ta,a;eously on a large scale. 



Atmospheric conditions in Milan do not vary 

 ^'reatly from the French and British caiiilals. 

 The streets are continuously damp in fall, win- 

 ter and spring; even when tliere is no rain the 

 air is moist, and in making paving plans these 

 conditions must be l>orne in mind. However, 

 extreme variations in temperature do not occur 

 and the winds are not strong. A chief feature 

 of Milan's traffic is the large number of horse 

 cabs, and heavy trucks are also numerous. 



American wood iiaviog blocks liave never been 

 tried in Milan. In order to introduce them, it 

 is said. municii)al lu-ejudice must be overcome, 

 and proof afforded <if their econom.v, which is 

 especially imijortant now tliat such large ex- 

 penditures have been made in constructing a 

 huge electric power plant in the Valtellina and 

 in changing the street lighting system. 



'Die high cost of wood paving blocks is one 

 ob.(ection and anotiier contemiilales an unbeara- 

 ble odor under certain conditions. The large 

 number of holes in wooden block streets is also 

 an objection. However, with the modern meth- 

 od of creosoting and the strides made in the 

 wood paving block industry, a new era for such 

 street-making material seems to he at hand. 



In connection with the foregoing it .should 

 be remembered lluu Italy has no wood. Ameri- 

 can firms desiring to exhibit \\'00d<'a blocks may 

 send samples to a certain business man of the 

 ctpy. whose address may be secured from tne 

 Bureau of Manufactures- 



Telegraph and Telephone Poles 



Tbe following repiyrt lias just been given out 

 by the Forest Service Department on the pur- 

 chase of different kinds of telephone and tele- 

 graph polos in 1009. 'OS and '07. Statistics 

 concerning poles purchased in tbe United States 

 in IDOO were obtained by tlie correspondence 

 method employed in securing those for the pre- 

 ceding year and are exceptionally comi)lete. 



The total number of wooden poles purchased 

 by pole consumers in the United States in lOO'.i 

 was 3,738,740, which is the largest total ever 

 reported. The gain over the number reported 

 for IOCS was 489,.')86, or 1.5.1 per cent, and over 

 the total for 1907. 455,472, or 13.9 per cent. 

 For the poles piu'chased in 1909 the sum of 

 S7. 073. 826 was paid, which although greater by 

 $1,145,002 than tbe expenditure reported in 

 inOS, was less by .fl,007,942 than that in 1907. 

 when the average cost of poles was greater than 

 in other years. In 1909 the leading kinds of 

 woods were cedar, chestnut, oak and pine, and 

 poles made of these species formed 92.7 per 

 cent of the total number purchased, and rep- 

 resented 95 per cent of the total co.st. As in 

 previous years, cedar and chestnut were most 

 impoi-taut. supplying i-espeetively 05.3 per cent 



1009 



and 10.3 per cent of ail poles purchased in 

 1909. The average cost of poles purchased in 

 1909 by the telephone and telegraph companies 

 was .$1.40 per pole; for steam railroad compa- 

 nies. .$2.83 ; for electric railroad and electric 

 light and power companies, $3.89. The varia- 

 tions in these figures indicate in a general way 

 the differences in the size or the grade of th<' 

 average pole suitable for the purposes of tbe 

 diffiu'ent classes of companies. 



Russian Timber 



Dealers in himber have done well during the 

 past season, according to Con.sul General .Tohn 

 H. Snodgrass at Moscow, because of tbe pre- 

 vailing high prices in 1910. In the Volga dis- 

 trict logs were quoted at a figure considerably 

 above that for 1909. In western Russia the 

 slock has been disposed of and contracts have 

 alread.v been concluded on standing timber at 

 high prices. In the northern districts the sup- 

 plies are diminishing and the bidding brings 

 high prices. 



It is reijorted that, due to the large demand 

 from abroad, a large shipment of Manchurian 

 cedar wood in various assortments is expected 

 In the near future and will be exported by way 

 of Vladivostok to England and Hamburg. The 

 exportation is increasing and so are the prices. 

 The shipments of lumber for the first eiglit 

 months of 1910 aggregated $48,410,000, .an in- 

 crease of $8,755, (too over the same period of 

 the preceding year. 



Efficiency of Ball Bearing on Line Shafting 

 It is an already jjroveu faiM in most cases 

 that ball bearings increase the efficiency of ma 

 cbiner,v. By allowing the shafting to get out 

 of line, thus pinching the bearings and crowd- 

 ing the gears, will also give rise to a great loss 

 in power. By introducing roller bearings or 

 self-oiling bearings, tlie bearing friction would 

 bo greatly reduced. lu order to obtain the best 

 results, the selection of suitable sizes of liali 

 bearings which will readily carry the required 

 load must be carefully considered. On a serii's 

 of tests recently made, it was shown that the 

 power saved varied according to the bearings 

 used, which were from three and five-tenths to 

 twenty-one per cent increased etficiency on the 

 line shaft only. Doul)le these fi.gures when both 

 line and counter shaft are equipped. 



Experiments with Red Beech Railway Ties 



SiiKc lS9t', .:xp'riincnls with red bcecb I'm 

 railway ties have been made in tlie neighlKU- 

 hood of Eberswalde by the Prussian ministr., 

 of agriculture and forestry, in connection wilii 

 the ministrj- of jiublic works. The carrying out 

 of these experiments was entrusted to the main 

 station of the exiierimental section of the for- 

 estry dep."-rtmeut, in connection with the rail- 

 way autliorities of the Stettin line, and later 

 with the central railway oflice in Berlin. 



As regards the results of these experiments 

 and the lessons to be learned therefrom. Profes- 

 sor Dr. Schwappach has published a report, a 

 concise resume of whidi is here given : 



1. Sound, soft-iiearted beeell wood, impre-- 



Klnd of Wood — Number. 



Cedar 2,439,825 



Chestnut 608.0G(i 



Oak 236,842 



Pine 179,586 



Cypress 77,677 



•Inniper 43,581 



'I'amarack 29,889 



Douglas fir 24,877 



Redwood 23,145 



Osage orange 21,491 



Sijruce 11,423 



I-ocust 10,463 



All other 31,875 



Totals 3,738,740 



nated with tar oil conlaining creosote is a very 

 (ipsirablo material for railway ties; and on main 

 lines should last at least twenty-five years. 



2. Sound, red-hearted beech wood may he 

 used for ties without any apprehension, if the 

 area of the red heart does not amount to more 

 than 25 per cent of the entire cross-section of 

 the tie, and the heart of the log does not come 

 near the outside of the tie. Ties with gray-dyed 

 heart are to be I'ejected. 



3. In selecting the wood by the forestry of 

 ficials care is to be taken that only sound wood 

 is chosen for ties; rotten places, and especially 

 al. large branches, are to be avoided. 



4. Especial attention must be given to thor- 

 ough drying of the wood before impregnation. 



5. In order to prevent splitting of the wood, 

 the proper precautions must be taken at once 

 after felling the tree. Letting the felled logs 

 lie long in the sun in the early spring, which 

 is often very dry, is especially to be avoided. 



Fire-Proof Motor 



A report was recently given out by Consul 

 .Vlbert Halstead, Birmingham. Eng., on tKe ex- 

 periment of a new flame-proof motor for coal 

 mines. It is constructed on the long-joint prin- 

 ciple, which is being introduced by a British 

 firm. In it this form of construction has been 

 consistently adhered to throughout, while the 

 l-earings, which are of the roller or ball type 

 without oil chambers or passages, are placed 

 outside and have no direct communication with 

 the interior of the motor. Where the shaft 

 passes through the crank case cooling glands 

 are fitted, which fulfill the same purpose as 

 long joints. The special requirements of colliery 

 work have been kept always in view, and large 

 clearances between live parts and the casing 

 and specially impregnated windings arp features 

 of the design. The question of accessibility for 

 fxaminntion and adjustment has also received 

 ipuch attention. 



Reparation Awards 



The following awards of reparation have re- 

 cently been approved by the Interstate Com- 

 ii;( rce Commission : 



Trexler Lumber Company vs. Atlanta Coast 

 Line Uailruad Company et al. — Refund of $22.30 

 overcharge on shipment of lumber from Aliens. 

 S. C. to Uichwood, W. Va. 



Powers Elevator Company vs. Northern Pa- 

 cific Railway Company — Refund of $209.95 on 

 four carloads of lumber shipped from Minne- 

 apolis. Minn., to Gladstone, N. D. 



Swastika Lumber Company vs. Atchison, To- 

 peka & Santa Fe Railway Company et aL — Re- 

 fund of .1:25.74 overcharge on 250,000 shingles 

 from Allen ville. Wash., to Fresno. Cal. 



Springfield Wagon Company vs. St. Louis, 

 Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company 

 — Refund of $00 on shipment of twenty car- 

 loads of lumber from Arkansas points to Spring- 

 field, Mo. 



W. E. Terliune Lumber Company vs. Central 

 of Georgia Railway Company et al. — Refund 

 of $56.82 overcharge on eight carloads of lum- 

 I»tr from Blakeiey, (la., to Arensberg. Pa. 



Williams &. McKeithan Lumber Company vs. 

 Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company et al. — 

 Refund of $24.20 on 141.600 pounds of rough 

 lumber from Lamar. S. C, to Lumber, S. C, at 

 \A hich point the lumber was dressed and 138,- 

 300 pounds of product was reshipped to various 

 interstate points. 



C. Arnett vs. Yazoo & Missis.sippi Valley 

 Railroad Company et al. — Refund of $37.40 on 

 L. C- L. shipment of cypress shingles from 

 Timberton, La., to Harriston, La. 



Gulf Lumber Company vs. Cincinnati. New 

 Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company et al. 

 — Refund of $400.48 on shipments of turpen- 

 tine cups from Daisy, Tenn., to Pickering, La., 

 on January 31, 1908. 



