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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



May 25, 1921 



Home-Made Redrier for Small Veneer Room 



By H\ Alexander 



A few days ago a friend of mine, a machinery salesman, came 

 into my office on one of his periodical visits and I was complain- 

 ing to him that we were having some difficulty and spending a 

 lot of time jointing our veneers owing to the fact that we had 

 got hold of a lot of stuff that was all wrinkled and buckled. He 

 replied in his usual breezy manner, "That's easy, old top; go 

 spend some of the money you earn so easily and buy yourself a 

 redrier." I replied that if a redrier cost somewhere in the neighbor- 

 hood of a hundred dolliira instead of up in the thousands it 

 might be an easy matter to act on his suggestion. A redrier 

 was absolutely out of the question in our plant because, in the 

 first place, we would not have enough work for one and in 

 the second place if 1 even suggested the expenditure to the man- 

 agement 1 would probably be looking for a new job immediately 

 after. 



When 1 impressed these facts on Mr. Salesman he extended 

 his sympathy, but did not volunteer anything of a helpful nature 

 until he was preparing to leave when he suddenly remembered a 

 home-made veneer drier he had seen in a plant some where years 

 before. He sketched it out for me roughly as near as he could 

 remember and between us we developed it until w^e were fairly 

 certain we had something that would be practical. When the 

 idea was explained to me it seemed as if this was exactly what 

 1 was looking for, because it looked as if it would only require 

 a moderate expenditure to construct it. I haven't built it as yet 

 but 1 am going to and 1 offer the idea to readers of Hardwood 

 Record because there may be some of you in the same position 

 as myself. Before describing it, however, 1 will caution you the 

 same as my friend the machinery salesman cautioned me. He 

 said: "Now, Bill, I'm not trying to tell you this thing is as good 



as one of the plate redriers that are on the market. It is a 

 substitute at best and, perhaps a crude one, but if you think it 

 will help you out go ahead and make one. Remember this, 

 however, if the thing blows up and puts you into a procession 

 with some men walking slow behind you, it'll be your own funeral 

 so to speak, and all you can come on me for is a bunch of 

 flowers. Further than agreeing to contribute those flowers, 1 

 take no responsibility." Cheerful sort of a devil, isn't he? All 

 the same 1 see no reason why it should blow up and personally am 

 more than willing to take the chance. 



The first thing to do in constructing this drier is to erect four 

 upright posts E. Then a number of plates A are secured to 

 these posts at intervals. The plates A are made up with a chamber 

 for steam, as show^n in the enlarged section. Where the steam 

 pipes are attached to the plates the metal is left thicker on the 

 flanged edges so the necessary boring and tapping can be done. 

 This is shown at the sketch J. The next thing is to make a num- 

 ber of boards B, two for each plate, one on each side. The 

 veneers go in between these boards and the hot plates. The next 

 thing is to provide mechanism for squeezing the veneers into 

 contact with the plates. This is done by making four frames, 

 two at each end of the drier, see C and D. The ends of the boards 

 B are attached to these frames, the lower series to one frame 

 and the upper series to the other. it will be noticed that the 

 stiles on the frame D are wider than those of C. This is so 

 that the series of boards attached to this frame can be notched 

 out at the corners and extended through C and be screwed to the 

 stiles on D. 



The frames C and D slide up and down on the posts, being op- 

 i C 'tilt inn cil nil iKuje 38) 





Plan for Construction of "Home Made" Redrier 



