24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



March 10. 1921 



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Fig. 11— External Blower Type of Dry Kiln. Steam Jets May Be Provided 



to Increase Humidity, and Dampened Fresh Air Connects on the Suction 



Side of the Blower to Reduce It 



Fig. 12— Simplest Type of Ventilated Dry Kiln with Vertical Stacking 



vided — often there is enough leakage around the doors to take 

 care of this. This type of kiln is adapted only to woods capable 

 of being dried at temperatures of about 225 degrees Fahrenheit. 



Variations of Circulation 



While the sketches indicate the direction of the circulation, it 

 frequently happens that the air in the kiln actually circulates in 

 some other manner. This is especially true in those types in which 

 the circulation is not very positive, and eddy currents or stagna- 

 tion cause much of the uneven drying found in these types. 

 Further, lack of uniform heating often produces a longitudinal cir- 

 culation which may be much greater in volume than that in the 

 indicated directions. Short-circuiting of the air around the lumber 

 frequently causes slow and uneven drying and should be avoided. 



A remedy for any specific kiln trouble can not usually be satis- 

 factorily prescribed without an individual study of this kiln from 

 the inside to determine the direction and amount of the circula- 

 tion and the temperature distribution. Once the faults are charted, 

 the remedy usually becomes evident. If circulation be ample, it is 

 usually possible to guide it by means of suitable baffles and proper 

 arrangement of heating and humidity regulating elements. If 

 more circulation is needed, however, recourse must generally be 

 had to mechanical means, such as fans or blowers or other means, 



Fig. 13 — Reversing Type of Superheated Steam Kiln. The Right-Hand and 



Left-Hand Sprays Are Turned on and off Alternately, Producing a Reversal 



of the Circulation Through the Lumber Pile 



frequently necessitating more or less remodelling. As stated in the 

 introduction, ample circulation is a prerequisite to the satisfactory 

 drying of green stock of difficult species, and it is useless to 

 attempt to do this kind of drying in kilns which are not capable 

 of producing the necessary circulation. Parenthetically, most 

 ordinary ventilated kilns fall in this class. Kilns of the water 

 spray and blower types are capable of producing, under commer- 

 cial conditions, a circulation of from 25 to 50 feet per minute 

 through the lumber pile itself; this necessitates, of course, a much 

 higher circulation through the inlet and return ducts. 



In conclusion, the operator having trouble with his kilns is 

 advised to get inside and "smoke out" the kinks in his circulation. 



News from the National Capital 



Simultaneous with the action of the Department of Justice in 

 filing suit against the Southern Piue Association, the Federal Trade 

 Commission has submitted to the Senate Committee on Eeconstruc- 

 tion and Production, another report on the lumber industry, which is 

 concerned with the operations of the association. 



"Prom time to time since the formative period in 1915-1916, the 

 Association leaders have urged the membership to regulate their 

 production according to the demand, as indicated by the barometer, 

 so that prices could be advanced or at least prevented from reced- 

 ing," reads the report of the Commission. 



As shown by the Association barometers, the production of Southern 

 Pine has been belon- normal ever since 1916, and with the exception of 

 6 or 7 scattered months the orders placed during the same period have 

 also been "below normal." It would seem to follow that the high prices 

 obtained for Southern Pine lumber have not been the result of unusual 

 demand as such, but because the demand has almost constantly exceeded 

 a less than normal supply. 



The continued shortage of production as compared with the demand 

 has been reflected in prices and profits. For the .year of 1918. 39 Southern 

 Piue companies paid excess profits taxes averaging 43. 5 per cent on their 



combined sales, 13 of them paying more than fifty per cent each, as 

 reported by them to an ofilcial of their association. These profits were 

 made while an average price of .$28 per thousand feet or less was in effect, 

 that figure being the Government maximum price during the last six months 

 of 1918. The excess profits taxes for 1919, when the average price at 

 times reached from $55.00 to $59.00 per thousand, are not available to 

 the Commission, The documents show that besides regulating the pro- 

 duction to the demand, the Southern Pine Association has been the medium 

 for direct and concerted action on prices, both before, during and since 

 the war. 



• *♦*** 



The Federal Trade Commission has cited Dalby & Hardwick, of 

 Jamaica, Iowa, a lumber company, in complaint of unfair compe- 

 tition in the lumber business. 



The citation is to answer the averment that the company follows 

 the practice of applying to a competitor for estimates and bids on 

 numerous items of building materials without disclosing that the 

 request comes from the respondent and without any intention of 

 making any purchases from the estimates received. The re- 

 spondent is alleged to use the information received from its com- 

 (Continved on page 26) 



