18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



December 10, 1020 



Industries devoted to the manufacture of products from wood 

 received notable recognition from tlie American Society of Mechan- 

 ical Engineers at the annual meeting of that organization, held in New 

 York City, Dec. 7 to 10. One complete session was given over to 

 addresses by experts on woodworking topics, evidencing a recognition 

 of the large importance of woodworking mechanics in the general field 

 of mechanical engineering. 



This recognition Avas due in large measure to the influence of Thomas 

 D. Perry, vice-president and manager of the Grand Bapids Veneer 

 Works, Grand Rapids, Mich., who has been urging at every favorable 

 opportunity, the need of the application of more engineering brains 

 to the mechanical problems of the woodworking industries. Mr. 

 Perry, liimself a leading woodworking engineer, was chairman of the 

 Committee on Woodworking, which arranged for the "Forest-Prod- 

 ucts Session" at the annual meeting of this national organization of 

 mechanical engineers. 



A half-dozen addresses were delivered during this session, all of 

 which dealt with scientLtic thoroughness, with questions of real im- 

 portance to various branches of the great woodworking industry. 



B. A. Parks of Grand Rapids, Mich., an associate member of the 

 society, considered the problem of "Engineering in Furniture Fac- 

 tories. ' ' The publication of this address, which dealt particularly 

 witli the employment of engineering knowledge and experience in the 

 location, construction and equipment of furniture factories, is begun 

 elsewhere in this issue of H.vrdwood Record. 



The thoroughly modern topic of "Electrically Driven Sawmills" 

 was discussed by Allan E. Hall of the AUis-Chalmers Manufacturing 

 Company. Mr. Hall considered the application of electric power to 

 mill equipment, recognizing the fact that forest equipment is also 

 an important phase of lumber manufacturing, but preferring to con- 

 centrate on mill equipment, because of the breadth of both questions. 

 His paper gave a general statement of power consumijtiou and the 

 method of measuring sawmill production. He said that sawmills have 

 been driven by motors for about fifteen years, and the sysrtem is 

 gaining. 



Mr. Hall declared that a motor-driven mill will produce lumber at 

 a lower consumption than other methods and will save on various items 

 of operating expense. The economy of motor driving depends on the 

 life of the operation, size of the plant, and the addition of by-prod- 

 uct factories; very rarely on fuel consumption, he explained. Fuel 

 generally costs nothing, and under this condition, the sawmill operator 

 can install his own steam-electric plant and generate current cheaper 

 than he can buy it. The advantage of unit driving is modified by the 

 fact that each piece of lumber passes through a chain of machines. 



The motor-driven mill reduces cost of boilers, power-plant buildings-, 

 mechanical transmission, mechanical transmission machinery, belting 

 and installation ; but cost of motors and wiring must be added. In- 

 duction motors are practically universal. In a small mill the electric 

 drive will be higher in fir.st cost ; in a large mill it will be lower. 



Certain log-handling machines, and the carriage feed, are steam- 

 actuated. The other machines may be motor-driven, generally by in- 

 dividual direct-connected motors. Auxiliary machinery is group-driven. 

 The load factor averages about 60 per cent of the motor rating. A 

 list of machines with appropriate motor sizes was given. 



Wood Still Leads Steel in Cars 

 The continued supremacy of wood as a freight car building material, 

 whether it be in open-top or closed-top ears, was attested by H. S. 

 Sackett of Chicago, assistant purchasing agent for the Chicago, Mil- 

 waukee and St. Paul railway, in a paper on ' ' The Use of Wood in 

 Freight-Car Construction. ' ' He discussed at some length the relative 

 values of steel and wood, stating that from recent studies of the sub- 

 ject wood is still regarded as the most economical material. The 

 all-stec! freight cars, Mr. Sackett said, cost more to haul, require more 



expensive and complicated upkeep, spend more time out of repair', 

 are shorter lived and have a smaller salvage value than the wood cars. 

 He favored the composite gondola, that is, the car of steel under-frame 

 and steel draft i-igging, with wood super-structure. ' ' Data collected 

 show," he said, "that all-steel gondola cars in their twelfth year of 

 service cost over 36 per cent more to maintain than did the composite 

 gondola. But 60 per cent of the composite gondolas in .service required 

 repairs while 72 per cent of the steel gondolas were obliged to be 

 l)rought to the shops." 



I'ractically the same is true of the closed-top car, he showed, and 

 further more the shippers do not like the steel box car, because of the 

 diiiiculty of putting up braces inside to keep the cargo from shifting. 

 The under-structure of box cars should be of steel, however, he 

 said, for rigidity and stability and ability to resist the shocks of 

 traffic. As to the superstructure of freight cars, he expressed the 

 opinion that "no material has yet been discovered which combines 

 the properties of strength, lightness, availability and ease of working 

 such as possessed by wood, and until such a material is developed and 

 made available, wood will undoubtedly continue to be universally used 

 for the superstructure of freight cars." 



Mr. Sackett concluded with a word of caution as to the importance 

 of using nothing but well-seasoned lumber in all car construction. 



"Machining Railroad Cross-Ties" 

 Under this heading, D. W. Edwards, Greenlee Bros. & Co., Wash- 

 ington, D. C, declared that railroads both in this country and abroad 

 arc realizing more and more the importance of tie conservation. Years 

 of observation and tests on both treated and untreated ties, have 

 proved that there is marked economy in the machining of railroad cross, 

 ties by triumiing, adzing, boring and branding. The machines for 

 these operations are installed in either of two systems, portable and 

 stationary. . Mr. Edwards gave the advantages of each of these sys- 

 tems, describing the machines employed and outlining the processes 

 followed in both. 



Lambert T. Erickson, Toledo, O., chief engineer of The Jennison- 

 Wright Company, dealt in a broad way with tlie problems involved in 

 constructing creosoted wood-block factory floors. He demonstrated 

 that the installation of such floors is a si^ecialty which should be 

 handled by those who are thoroughly expert in the work. Methods 

 were described which will permit engineers to specify and build 

 creosoted wood-block factory floors without entailing any risk of the 

 failure of the floors. 



Two members of the Pittsburgh Wood Preserving Company, E. S. 

 Park, Pittsburgh, Pa., and J. M. Weber, Orrville, Pa., went into the 

 "Processes and Equipment Used in Wood Preservation" with great 

 thoroughness. Treatments to prevent the destruction of timber through 

 decaj- or boring of insects were classified by the authors of the paper 

 as surface application, open tank treatment and pressure treatments. 

 The first two were outlined briefly, and the third, which was considered 

 of the greatest interest from an engineering standpoint, was discussed 

 at more length. The paper was illustrated with drawings showing the 

 layout of treatment plants and equipment used in treating processes. 



The Federal Reserve Board's review of general business and fi- 

 nancial conditions throughout the several Federal Reserve Districts 

 during month of November, as contained in forthcoming issue of 

 Federal Reserve Bulletin. Says in part: "The month of November 

 has continued perior of readjustment in business. Prices have 

 continued their decline, board's general index showing net loss 

 or month of 18 points. Activity of manufacturing in many lines 

 has been still further reduced and there has been some increase in 

 unemployment. Tliere has been a corresponding reduction of buy- 

 ing power which is reflecting itself in a noticeable way in a lessen- 

 ing in volume of trade, particularly in volume of wholesale trade.. ' 



