12 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



either a sawmill or a veneer plant is the log 

 yard or pond, and the plant should so be 

 laid out as to give the best facilities possible 

 for handling logs as they come into the yard 

 and for getting them from the log yard into 

 the factory with the least trouble. Beginning 

 with the log track or haul-up, which, instead 

 of connecting directly with the mill, must 

 reach it usually via boiling vats, logs usually 

 go on to the floor or deck for peeling, then 

 into the veneer machine, and on" to the clipper 

 table. This is not always the case, and it is 

 usually advisable to stop at the rotary veneer 

 machine and make a study of the work and 

 of the machines with which it is to be done. 

 The first and most important tiling is the 

 laying out of the track for handling the logs 

 from the yard to the mill. In some cases 

 logs are pulled out of the pond with the reg- 

 ulation bull chain, with a lug deck and drag 

 saw at the top, where they are cut into block 

 lengths and then go direct to the dock of 

 the boiling vats, but more frequently^ even 

 though logs are brought in by water, they 



is in the center of the yard the drag saw 

 should, of course, be near the boiling vats, 

 the exact position being governed by the de- 

 tails of local conditions. It is usually better 

 to have it at either end of the vats, but not 

 directly in the center, for reasons that will 

 appear later. 



The next question is the location of the 

 vats, and on this point the writer holds a 

 different opinion from that evidenced by the 

 plan referred to, even though it may seem in 

 violence to the rule of continuity. If all 

 stock from the drag saw goes directly into 

 the boiling vats there is no serious objection 

 offered to the plan referred to, except 

 the heat and steam from the tanks, be- 

 ing in such close proximity to the veneer ma- 

 chines, will make it disagreeable to the work- 

 ially in warm weather. But, in the 

 average veneer factory, the stock is not all 

 subjected to the boiling process; some of it 

 goes direct to the machines and is cut cold. 

 Where this plan is followed, if the boiling 

 are located between the track and the 



FLOOR PLAN FOR A VENEER FACTORY. 



arc pulWl out and yarded before being taken 

 to the veneer factory, so, for general plan- 

 ning, it is best to work on the assumption 

 that logs are to be yarded. The log track 

 should pass as near through the center of the 

 yard as possible, so that the logs may be 

 skidded on each side of it, and the track may 

 extend along the side of the veneer factory, 

 so that the logs may be put in vats and taken 

 thence to the veneer machine with the least 

 trouble and expense possible. It will be ob- 

 served that in the foregoing plans the log 

 track passes along the side of the building, 

 but there is nothing to indicate which side 

 of the building the main log yard is on. It 

 is immaterial, except that it may have some 

 bearing on the location of the drag saw. Sup- 

 pose, for example, that the main log yard is 

 on the boiler room B ■ factory, then 



it would probably be better to have the drag 

 saw located mar the boili r 1 - it would 



not only shorten the length of steam pipe 

 required to reach it, but would also lea\. 

 waste product from this saw within con- 

 venient reach r,f the firemen. It the factory 



cutting machine, they are in the way, for 

 these cold blocks must either be pass.il u\ . r 

 or around the vats, and it is advisable to pn1 

 the log track near the building, with the 

 across the track from the veneer ma- 

 chine. This leaves the way free for dumping 

 cold blocks right on to the deck in front of 

 the machine, and it does not interfere mate- 

 rially with the handling of blocks from the 

 vats to the machines. It also frees the work- 

 man of the disagreeable steam and heat by 

 removing the vats farther away. Since a 

 crane, an overhead trolley, or something of 

 the sort, must be used to take logs out of 

 the vats, and they must be dumped on to the 

 deck for peeling before going into the veneer 

 in.', it really docs not lessen the con- 

 venience in handling to have the tanks on the 

 t' Bide of the track. Although this 

 does not adhere strictly to the rule of con- 

 tinuity, it is a plan that is preferred by many 

 good veneer manufacturers. 



In planning from the log deck on, still 

 observing the rule of continuity and seeking 

 to prevent stock from doubling back on its 



track, other factors must be taken into con- 

 sideration. One of the most important of 

 these is the proper distribution and transmis- 

 sion of power. In the sawmill, as is well 

 known, we plan to get the main saw as near 

 directly connected with the engine as possi- 

 ble, belting directly off of the fly wheel in 

 the small mills and reaching the saw with as 

 little intermediate shafting as possible in the 

 equipping of the large mills. No man, for 

 example, would think of putting his engine 

 and boiler room down by his dry kiln, or at 

 the back end of his mill, and driving his big 

 saw from the tail end of his line shaft. The 

 idea of placing the heaviest machine closest 

 to the driving power is a wise one, no matte} 

 what class of machinery is under considera- 

 tion, and in the equipment of a veneer factory 



it is usually c eded that the rotary ve I 



machine is the heaviest cutting machine lo 

 lie installed, and while circumstances may cre- 

 i i necessity for driving it at some dis- 

 tance from the engine, that distance should 

 be as short as is logical, considering local 

 surroundings and the other equipment of the 

 plant. Take the mill plan referred to above, 

 for example, and with the one idea of getting 

 the veneer machine as near the engine as pos- 

 sible, tin tendency would be to just change 

 en with the veneer cutting department 

 of this plan and the drying department, put- 

 ting the veneer cutter next to the engine and 

 the dryer beyond. However, local conditions 

 may frequently be such as to make the plan 

 as represented more desirable. It is desira- 

 ble t.. place the dryer as close to the heat 

 of the plant as possible, and, 

 there are no other factors to be con- 

 sidered, it i^ merely a question of giving the 

 preference to either tie- dryer or the veneer 

 cutter. Hut. generally, there are other con- 

 siderations, :i cutting up or stock room, and 

 frequently both, and, possibly, a gluing de- 

 partmenl also. Assuming that the stock will 

 pass from the dryer to another department 

 for cutting up and putting in shape for ship- 

 ment, the question to be considered is the 

 location of this department. If it is to be 

 located on the side of the main building next 

 to the boiler house and to extend along the 

 main building, then the general setting, as it 

 stands in this plan, is correct. Should it be 

 on the other side of the building, however, 

 or in a separate building on the other side, 

 it is plain that the plan should be reversed. 

 All this is getting a little ahead of the 

 game, though it has been done to show that 

 there are other elements to be considered be- 

 sides the straight rule of continuity, and in 

 analyzing the plan proper, progress can only 

 be made as far as the veneer machine. It 

 is not easy to make plans beyond this point 

 without knowing something of the nature of 

 the stock to be cut. If the making of basket 

 stock is to be a part of the work of the 

 veneer machine, the general rule is to have a 

 clipper so set that the endless bed table comes 

 near enough to the cutting-out side of the 

 veneer machine for the operators to lay the 

 stock as it comes out on the clipper table. 



