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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



April 25, 1917 



Varnishing by Immersion 



A New Method Has Successfully Been Put in Use 



ARNISHING BY IMMERSION is one of the latest 

 developments to secure the attention of piano 

 ^'i\^^j' and cabinet makers. This new style of varnish- 

 ing is in vogue in a number of automobile manu- 

 factories and in but one or two piano or cabinet plants, 

 and it has been applied to the latter industry with com- 

 plete success. 



The advantages of this process is due to the quality of 

 the work and to the great saving of time — one man can do 

 the work of about five or ten working by hand. 



By means of some hydrau- 

 lic immersion system this 

 method can be and has been 

 applied to pianos, and it is 

 stated that this insures an 

 absolutely even distribution 

 of varnish, no part of the 

 piano case being neglected. 

 The apparatus consists of a 

 steel tank for the varnish, 

 with an adjustable cover 

 which can be raised or locked 

 when the apparatus is not 

 in use, an hydraulic lift for 

 raising the work slowly out 

 of the varnish, a small horse 

 power pump, operated either 

 by steam pressure or com- 

 pressed air. 



The principal investment 

 for the piano manufacturer 

 lies in the carriers or racks 



for holding the separate pieces to be dipped, and these 

 carriers may be adjusted so as to save the labor of 

 handling. Carriers holding sides require some twenty to 

 twenty-five minutes' immersion, the length of the immer- 

 sion determines the heaviness of the coat. It is desirable 

 to have a sufficient number of carriers to hold all the 

 work until the varnish is sufficiently dry for rubbing, and 

 these are sometimes made by the staffs of factories at low 

 cost. It is stated also that very little additional varnish 

 is required by this method. 



Thus by this process with carriers containing six com- 

 plete pianos the factory is enabled to turn out 1 08 pianos 

 with one coating during a nine-hour working day, while 

 smaller or larger arrangements can be made according 

 to the size of the output. This same means can be applied 

 for use in the cabinet factory and vi^here large-sized 

 veneers are frequently used. 



It affords an opportunity on the part of those prepared 

 to lay down the necessary plant — apparently no very 

 serious matter — of getting the varnishing done in a 

 wholesale and rapid way hitherto impossible, and of 



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effecting an appreciable saving in cost. Once the car- 

 riers have been obtained and the speed of the raising and 

 lowering apparatus has been set — this of course varies 

 with the kind of work — the operation becomes mechan- 

 ical, the manipulation of the carriers in and out of the 

 tank takes up only a part of the attention of the man in 

 charge, who is free to superintend or to assist in the fixing 

 of the parts on the frames preparatory to their being 

 dipped. 



As will be seen by the illustration, the pianoforte cases 



are fixed on the carrier in 

 as compact a manner as pos- 

 sible; this, perhaps, is the 

 most exacting part of the 

 process, the dipping of the 

 whole into the varnish tank 

 being a simple matter. 



The Packard Piano Com- 

 pany, Fort Wayne, Ind., 

 found that up to two years 

 ago submersion of cases in 

 varnish was not practical. 

 When it learned of a new 

 submerging device that has 

 been perfected, it imme- 

 diately adopted this system. 

 This varnish bath is located 

 in a specially built, dust- 

 proof room. The parts of 

 the case are fastened in 

 frames and the submersion is 

 complete. There are several 

 varnish baths before this process is finished, the cases 

 drying between each submersion. The result is freedom 

 from dust that the old racking method carried with it — 

 a perfectly even varnish distribution that no older system 

 attained. Stain, filling, and varnish are handled expertly, 

 the kind of expertness that only men, material, facilities 

 and principles, acting in harmony, can exercise. 



An individual of the Packard Piano Company, who is 

 the head of the finishing department, when asked what 

 part of the piano was most important, said: "Tone is 

 most important, but finish sells most of them." 



A. H. Koble. 



I.\ V.\R.\ISH USED BY I'l.\.\() 

 M.VMK.VCTritKIfS 



The Inman Veneer arid Panel Company of Louisville, Ky., re- 

 cently incorporated with a capital stock of $200,000, is getting 

 along nicely with its new plant on Broadway, and has placed con- 

 tracts with the United Equipment Company for machinery totalling 

 $15,550. 



The average millman does not feci inoliiied to buy now machineTy 

 and enlarge his plant iiivpstinpnt when ImsinpBs is dull, but just 

 the same that is thp right time to overliaul, maUp improvements 

 and prepare for the busy times to come. 



