December 25, 1920 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



Engineering in Furniture Factories 



By B. A. PARKS, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



Associate Member of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

 (Continued from Dec. 10 Issue) 



20. The floor space and general arrangement of the main manufac- 

 turing building having been determined, the next decision to be made 

 is the type of construction to use. This is somewhat limited to 

 materials available, although in most centers where a furniture fac- 

 tory is likely to be built the ordinary forms of construction such as 

 reinforced concrete, slow-burning mill, or steel frame, will be found 

 applicable. Reinforced concrete is rapidly coming into use as one 

 of the most economical types of construction, when all factors are 

 considered, and yet the writer regards the slow-burning, lieavy-mill 

 type of construction as particularly adaptable to a furniture factory 

 and for the reason that in addition to its slight advantage in first 

 cost it has the decided advantage of allowing the installation of 

 machinery, lineshafting, lighting, heating and plumbing equipment 

 with a minimum of labor and expense and also allows alterations to 

 be made much more readily than where reinforced concrete construction 

 is used. 



21. Mill construction is oftentimes confused with the light and 

 cheap frame structures frequently erected for factory purposes and 

 consisting of light brick walls, small wood posts and beams and light 

 joilsts placed on close centers. Good slow-burning mill construction 

 should not be maligned by using the name in connection with such 

 construction as mentioned above. True slow-burning mill construc- 

 tion consists of good substantial brick walls and pilasters, wood 

 colunms or posts not less than 10 in. on a side, heavy wood beams or 

 girders, floor and roof joists at least 8 in. in smallest dimension, and 

 heavy plank floors and roof at least 3 in. thick. Such construction 

 properly designed and erected has, in the writer 's opinion, many of 

 the advantages for factory purposes of reinforced concrete and even 

 some advantages which reinforced concrete does not possess. 



22. It seems unnecessary to more than mention the advisability 

 of so designing a building as to obtain a maximum of daylight and 

 ventilation through the use of large windows; to enclose elevators 

 and stair wells in fireproof towers, with all openings thereto fitted 

 with fire doors; to provide exterior doors to stairs to use in case 

 of fire; and to work out all details of design and construction from 

 the standpint of overall economy and efficiency instead of cheapness. 



Provision for Handling and Transporting Material 



23. One of the most important problems confronting the furni- 

 ture manufacturer is the receiving, handling, storing, drying, and 

 transporting of the raw material, namely, lumber. Much thought 

 and study should be placed on the arrangement of sidings, storage 

 yards, dry kUns, cut-off saws, etc., as an efficient layout will pay for 

 its development many times over in decreased labor and saving in 

 time. The scope of this paper is too small to permit of more than a 

 few suggestions. 



24. The lumber storage yard should be large enough to at least 

 hold a year 's supply in order that advantage may be taken of favor- 

 able market conditions and also to avoid delays in delivery due to 

 transportation difficulties. The ideal storage yard should be equipped 

 throughout with industrial trackage laid parallel with the receiving 

 siding. This trackage system should be served by at least two 

 transfer tracks running at right angles to the receiving siding. With 

 this arrangement lumber is unloaded and sorted directly on small 

 lumber trucks or "bunks" of the ordinary kind and then by means 

 of the transfer tracks the truck loads, containing about 4,000 ft., 

 are placed in storage ready to be taken to the kilns for drying. 



25. The type of kiln used will depend on the thickness and kind 

 of stock to be used and also somewhat on the individual preference 

 of the superintendent, but they should be so located in a battery 



as to be served by the same system of transfer tracks that serve the 

 storage yard. A dry storage shed equipped with industrial trackage 

 is also valuable as it allows for an accumulation of dry material and 

 thus avoids delays in receiving lumber at the cut-off saws which 

 might be occasioned by accidents to the kilns, stock spoiled in process 

 of drying, or other delays between the kilns and the mUl. 



26. The same system of transfer tracks that serves the storage 

 yard and kUus should be extended to the cut-off saws, where there 

 should be provided hydraulic or screw lifts or elevators to raise the 

 entire load of lumber and keep the top of the pile a few inches above 

 the tops of the saw tables. 



27. It will be seen that with the 'above arrangement the lumber 

 is not handled from the time it leaves the railroad car until it is 

 placed on the table of the cut-off saw, and the consequent decrease 

 in handling costs is at once apparent. The arrangement of lumber 

 storage yard, kilns and transfer track to cut-off saws is of course a 

 problem for each individual case, and consequently only brief sug- 

 gestions can be offered here which must be worked out by the 

 engineer to suit each situation. 



28. While the receiving and handling of the lumber should prob- 

 ably receive the greatest consideration in laying out the transporta- 

 tion facilities to and from the plant, yet railroad sidings to the 

 power plant, for the delivery of machinery and coal, and to the 

 shipping room for shipping the finished product, should not be over- 

 looked but should receive thoughtful study. It should be borne in 

 mind that sidings to the lumber storage, power plant, and shipping 

 room should have separate access to the main tracks, if possible, so 

 that switching may be done on any siding without its being necessary 

 to disturb the ears on any other. 



Provision for Extending the Plant 



29. Probably the most efficient and economical method of ex- 

 tending or enlarging a furniture plant is on the sectional plan, each 

 new extension consisting of a more or less complete unit in itself. 

 This method also creates the least amount of disturbance to the exist- 

 ing arrangement of any plan that might be devised. With this in 

 mind the original plant, as described above, should have a service 

 wing at one side in the center in which would be housed the toilet 

 and locker rpoms, as hereinafter described. This wing should be the 

 same height as the manufacturing building and in addition to the 

 toilet and locker rooms, should have a passageway which would give 

 access from each floor of the original plant to the corresponding 

 floor of the new unit. In other words, the new unit of a plant under 

 enlargement should parallel the original unit at a distance of 40 to 

 50 ft., the two units being joined by the common service wing. The 

 site should be so chosen and the original layout so made that exten- 

 sions to lumber storage yard, dry kUns, sidings, etc., would be logical 

 developments of the above plan. 



30. The above sectional or unit plan of plant enlargement has 

 another feature which may be valuable under certain situations in 

 that with a series of multi-storied buildings, joined together as de- 

 scribed, there are two possible methods of arranging separate depart- 

 ments or groups of departments which are closely allied. They may 

 be separated either vertically or horizontally, in other words, one 

 department or group of departments may use the several floors of 

 one building or they may occupy the same floor in two or more build- 

 ings if this arrangement seems to be more satisfactory. 



Provision for Generation and Transmission of Power, ' Light, and Heat 



31. On account of the large amount of refuse from most furnitura 

 factories, which is avaOable for fuel, it follows without much argu- 



