42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



with 2x4 sticks, allowing at least S inclies air 

 space between bundles. 



Many firms practice a false economy by al- 

 lowing inexperienced boys to manufacture lath, 

 or rather improperly manufacture them. Fully 

 ninety-flve per cent of the kicks which involve 

 loss of prestige and profit come from Improperly 

 manufactured lath. Damages resulting from 

 improper manufacture should be charged up to 

 the workmen making them. 



The above suggestions if followed out would 

 certainly revolutionize the quality of lath which 

 is generally marketed today. 



Lengthening the Life of Ties 



Various railroads have resorted to chemical 

 means for the preservation of wood ties. It 

 has been approximately calculated from results 

 obtained by this process that it will greatly de- 

 crease maintenance of way expenses." Many of 

 the important problems in the art of wood 

 preservation and in the use of preserved woods 

 also have yet to he settled. 



Of recent years critical attention has been 

 fixed on wood preservation, and it is predicted 

 that it will be put on a more rational and scien- 

 tific basis. Some of the unsolved problems of 

 wood preservation thus become timely. As be- 

 tween zinc chloride and creosote, the advocates 

 of the use of creosote in the past have had the 

 better of the argument. The leaching out of the 

 zinc chloride, however, which substance Is ad- 

 mitted to be an effective and cheap preservative, 

 has been unduly magnified. Volatilization of the 

 lighler fractions of the creosote is becoming 

 evident. liecently insistence has been upon the 

 heavy fractions of the oil which are permanent 

 rather than the lighter fractions. 



The proper amount of creosote that needs to 

 be injected in ties offers another problem. This 

 problem is one of economics and is related to 

 the mechanical life and the first cost of the ties. 

 The amount of creosote should be suflicient to 

 preserve the tie for a period equaling its me- 

 chanical life and the users of light creosote treat- 

 ments, such as the Rueping or Lowry process, 

 base their belief on the principle that it is not 

 an economy to protect the tie chemically for 

 twenty-five years when its mechanical life is 

 limited to twelve years under the present tracks 

 fastenings. 



Another matter of interest is the future supply 

 of creosote oil. This oil, a by-product of the 

 coal tar industry, is controlled by the use to 

 which the other by-products may be put. 



As to the treating process itself, it may be 

 noted that there is considerable progress toward 

 the use of seasoned timber, as reflected in the 

 specifications proposed by the committee on 

 wood preservation. It is apparently cheaper to 

 season the wood in the air than to attempt to 

 open the passages by slow steaming of green 

 ties in the cylinder. 



It is apparent that with the increased de- 

 mands of inspection more uniform results must 

 be obtained. Wood has a great inherent vari- 

 ability. It must be expected that individual 

 absorption by individual ties must vary con- 

 siderably from the average absorption that is 

 specified. The aim, however, must he to reduce 

 this variation. In other words the ties which 

 go in the cylinder must be uniform. 



With regard to the method of injection, one 

 finds a wide number of different sequences of 

 the application of the various elements, namely, 

 vacuum, hot air, pressure and temperature of 

 preservative. The object is to obtain the great- 

 est degree of penetration with the smallest 

 amount of creosote that it is safe to use. In 

 the case of creosote one is dealing with two 

 fields of knowledge about which even experts 

 are apparently at sea, namely, the physical laws 

 that control the passage of air and fluids 

 through the wood structure, and the properties 

 and manufacture of coal tar. It may be said, 

 in fact, that the whole theory of wood preser- 

 vation is apparently unsettled. One is led to 



believe that the antiseptic elements of the coal 

 tar are the least important, but that the water- 

 proofing elements are most effective. 



With reference to preservatives again, the 

 value of the oil from water gas tars, which are 

 produced in such vast quantities aud which are 

 supposed to form a source of supply for creo- 

 sote oil. is yet to be determined. 



To sum up. it may be said that continued 

 and more exi ended use of wood preservation 

 may be expected and that thereby the tie re- 

 newals in this country should be cut down from 

 the present one hundred and thirty million to 

 less than eighty million in the progress of the 

 next ten years; that we have yet to learn the 

 best method of making use of preserved ties by 

 mechanical protection in the track ; that the 

 relative merits of creosote and zinc chloride, as 

 well as the relative value of coal tar and petro- 

 leum tar as a basis for creosote, are yet to be 

 determined and that creosoting of woods and 

 the sequence of operations in tlie cylinder must 

 be elucidated by much scientific study. 



A New Departure in Molding Machinery 



Knowing Record readers are ever on tlie 

 lookout for machines that are continually being 

 built to answer their most exacting require- 

 ments, it gives us pleasure to invite their atten- 

 tion to the illustration shown herewith of the 

 moulder manufactured by J. A. Fay & Egau 

 Company. This company has made a specialty 

 of moulding machinery which for years has 

 been recognized as the standard throughout the 

 lumber fraternity. It has made a careful and 

 exhaustive study of the needs of its custom- 

 ers, and keeps in continual touch wilh the re- 



the lower head. It is made extra long to give 

 good belt length. 



The chip breakers and pressure bars are ad- 

 justable and swing back out of the way and are 

 returned to original position without readjust- 

 ment. The side heads are mounted on table 

 with independent vertical, lateral and angular 

 adjustments, all made from front of machine. 

 The outer side head, matcher clip and fence ad- 

 just laterally as a unit. 



The feed is very powerful and positive, con 

 sisting of four powerfully geared rolls, the two 

 upper ones being spur sections and the two 

 lower ones solid. The upper rolls are driven 

 down, which makes it possible for the manufac- 

 turers to attach their patent spring hold down, 

 giving uniform pressure on the material, and 

 being in every way more powerful and satisfac- 

 tory than the old system of weights and levers 

 commonly found on molders. 



Patent sectional clamp bearings applied to up- 

 per and lower head spindles, eliminate frequent 

 rebabbitting and insure cool running journals. 



Powerful screws mounted on ball bearings 

 raise and lower the bed, the section of which, 

 after the lower head, swings down out of the 

 way to give access to the knives. Lower head 

 has vertical and lateral adjustments. 



For further information concerning this ma- 

 chine you are invited by the manufacturers at 

 414-434 N. Front street, Cincinnati, O., to write 

 for a large illustrated circular. 



How to Eecognize Wood 



Identification of various woods, without com- 

 parison, is not as easy as might appear. Many 

 are so nearly alike as to make successful sub- 



NO, 1S4— FOTTR SIDE HOLDER— 12 INCHES AND 14 IN(lli:s. 



suits obtained from its machines so as to better 

 know how to improve them where it is found 

 possible or desirable. 



The molder has established a wide reputation 

 because of its superior mechanical construct iop 

 ■ — it Is equipped with eight rates of feed under 

 instant control of the operator, slow feeds for 

 doing the finest work in hardwoods, and fast 

 speeds for the softer stock. 



We are pleased to call your attention below to 

 some other features which help to put this ma- 

 chine in a class by itself. 



From the illustration you will note the extra 

 heavy frame with the massive base crest in one 

 piece and extended to form an outer bearing 

 for the upper head and eliminate overhang in 



slitution possible, yet they have their own char- 

 acteristics W'hich make them easily recognizable 

 to the expert. However, there are characteristic 

 differences which are dilEcuit to describe, accord- 

 ing to C. Clankey in Wood Craft. 



So nearly alike are certain pieces of cypress 

 and yellow pine that comparatively few men are 

 expert enough to tell one from the other by 

 sii;ht alone. With regard to coloring there is 

 always a characteristic difference between two 

 woods, although it may be obscure. It consists 

 m a peculiar blending of pink, grey and brown 

 which does not occur in the hard pine. Hard 

 pine when burning does not differ much in odor 

 from other woods, while that of cypress is very 

 marked. 



