April 10. lUlO 



Steam Specialties in Sawmills 



Hv AiiUiuiiv .S. Hill' 



tt>t> tairtniU indiintry nan in iU infancy. Many of 



■ ■ ■ V on a time when »foani 



■ ;;!< mill liinil)cr wcro 



^tli. A l(i)> Uiioi.^1. ;i mill n» iirrniii'oil lit tlint 



later ilntt', nn.l tli.n ngain at tJio i>n's<'nt time 



/ 



Fortr yean ago, 



the oilier mill- 

 macliineti or 

 liaiiJle<l l>y ■. 

 |H<rio>I, and ' 

 may prove interest- 

 injj. 



Taking the first 

 IMTtotl and (tarting 

 at tiie log yard or 

 pond, if a log Kns 

 too long, it was cut 

 into proper length by 

 two men, uiiing an 

 ordinary cro8»-cut 

 taw. It was then 

 pulled or rolled onto 

 a log deck that won 

 usually built flat, 

 then rolled to tho car- 

 riage by means of 

 ennthooks and loaded 

 onto same. When it 

 was necessary to torn 

 the log on the car- 

 riage tho canthooks 

 again were used to 

 do the work. It usually required from two to four husky men on the 

 log deek for tliis work. At a later period, tho turning was done in a 

 slightly easier manner by use of overhead and friction log turners. 



The cnrriagc was moved in and out of cut by a rack and pinion feed, 

 later by friction and cable 



feed, both slow and rigid, 



and in this manner the 



log was slowly cut into 



proper dimensions, the 



lumber or cants dropped 



onto dead rolls, or in some 



cases live rolls, and car- 

 ried to a point opposite 



the edger, lifted off by 



band, put through edger 



and again transferred by 



hand to the. trimmer, and 



from there by hand and 



carts to proper piling 



places. 



With the advent of the 



steam specialties and con- 

 sequent increased prodnc- 



tion the other machinery 



throughout the mill had 



to be redesigned and 



strengthened to stand up 



to the work required of it. 



Transfers and conveyors 



were added and the ca- 

 pacities of the old style 



mills were at first doubled, 



then tripled and finally 



in many cases more than quadrupled. 



Xow, take another trip through a modem, up-to-date mill, starting 



at the same point. At the foot of the slip one will find a steam drag 



DIItECT .\CTING STE.\M DRAG SAW MACHINE 



mw mnehino witli steam dog for holding tlie log. Theso devices enable 

 cutting tho log into the desired length almoKt instnntly. It is then 

 lontled onto tho car hnulup ur endless chain and quickly drawn into mill. 

 If an endless chain is used, tlio drag saw or a circular cutoff saw with 

 ili'Miii iii'tii.'iti'il ryliiiijiT !ii><l the ^l<•:lnl dog me sonielinies lorntcil on 



thu deck across tho 

 log trough to cut 

 the logs into proper 

 lengths. 



As soon aa cut to 

 length, the log is 

 thrown out of tho 

 log trough onto an 

 int'lined deck by 

 means of the steiun 

 kicker or log un- 

 loader. This ma- 

 chine is very simple 

 as shown in the 

 illust ration. Aa 

 many kicker arms as 

 length of log re- 

 quires can bo used. 

 This machine and the 

 drag saw or cutoff 

 saw are operated by 

 one man who also op- 



erates the car haulup or jacker rig, and is now the only man nec- 

 essary on a modern up-to-date- log deck. 



As soon as the log is kicked out of the trough onto the inclined 

 deck it rolls by gravity down against tho arms of a steam log stop 



and loader. A full deck- 

 load of logs can be held 

 in place by this loader. 

 Tho arms of same are so 

 formed that when steam 

 is applied to cylinder, 

 tho front part of tho 

 arm drops down out of 

 tho w-ay, permitting the 

 log to roll onto tho car- 

 riage. At the same 

 time, tho back end or 

 heels of the arms comes 

 up between this log and 

 the next, holding it until 

 stream is applied to the 

 other end of loader cyl- 

 inder, throwing the 

 front end of arms back 

 into position, then next 

 log rolls dovm against 

 the arms ready to be 

 loaded when needed. 

 The loader is operated at 

 will; the sawyer by sim- 

 ply stepping on a foot 

 treadle rolls the log onto 

 the carriage, and remov- 

 ing foot causes the cylin- 



* Mr. mil Is sales cnplnepr for the American Saw Mill Machinery Com- 

 pany of Uackettstown, N. J. 



—16— 



STEAM CinCCLAR CUT-OFF SAW 



der to reverse the arms and block the next log. 



Now into use comes one of the greatest, if not the greatest, 

 labor-saving and capacity increasing devices ever put into a saw- 

 mill — the steam nigger. Operated by a lever in the hands of the 

 sawyer, it reaches back, gets the log from where the loader left 



