3° 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



a remuneration so small that be was unable to 

 leave bis family in tbe comfort to which they 

 are entitled. Mr. Strode's remains were taken 

 to Charleston. III., on Tuesday, Nov. 6, and the 

 funeral services were held and interment made 

 there. 



A Common Sense Lumber Car. 



Pictured herewith is a stake and rack car 

 which, as it appears to the HARDWOOD RECOitD. 

 comes nearer answering the requirements of a 

 logically equipped car for the carrying of lumber 

 than anything that has been presented in the 

 way of a fixed or collapsible car stake during the 



constituted the series. The poles were of two 

 grades of oak and one grade of southern pine. 

 Part of the common oak poles were trussed, 

 and forty poles were tested. The axles were 

 of hickory aud maple of three designs, thimble 

 skein, thimble skein trussed, and long sleeve 

 skein trussed. There were eight axles of each 

 species and each design, making forty-eight in 

 all. The object in this series 'was to obtain the 

 comparative strength of tbe two woods and of 

 the different constructions. 



The results from the spoke tests show more 

 than 50 per cent error in the present grading 

 system, which is due to the traditional prejudice 



STAKE AND RACK CAR BUILT BY RUSSEL WHEEL & FOUN- 

 DRY COMPANY, DETROIT. MICH. 



campaign that is going on looking to the suitable 

 fitting out of lumber carrying rolling stock. This 

 type of flat car with stake and rack adjunct is 

 built by the Russel Wheel & Foundry Company 

 of Detroit, Mich., and was constructed for the 

 carrying of cord wood. It was built specially 

 to order for the Ilackley-Phelps-Bonnell Com- 

 pany's operations at Hacklcy. Wis., and most ad- 

 mirably answers the purpose. Cord wood is 

 loaded on this car and carried more than twenty- 

 . five miles over a logging railroad without any 

 cross' tieing or additional stakes. It will be 

 noticed that there is one stake pocket on tbe 

 side of the car which may be utilized if necessity 

 requires. It will also be observed that this 

 form of rack presents no difficulties in the way 

 .if loading lumber of any length in the car: 

 neither does it interfere with 1 lie utilization of 

 tbe car for the loading of tiny other material 

 The same rack system can lie as readily applied 

 to the gondola as to a l 4 .at car. The extra "'st 

 of this stake and rack equipment is about $50 

 a car. It requires no argument to show bow 

 quickly its cost would be absorbed in the avoid- 

 ance of staking and tieing. Of course in some 

 instances one set of stakes might add to the 

 safety with which the load is carried, but the 

 ordinary load of lumber could easily be trans- 

 ported in this form of car by simply tying 

 across the load a few wires, which would be 

 more in the nature of safety from the loss of 

 lumber by theft than from its being thrown off 

 tbe car while in transit. 



Tests on Vehicle Woods. 

 During the past few months the Forest Ser- 

 vice of the Department of Agriculture has been 

 conducting a series of tests on vehicle woods 

 at the timber testing station at Purdue Univer- 

 sity. Lafayette, Ind. The material was fur- 

 nished by wagon companies and wheel manu- 

 facturers anil the tests were made on three 

 manufactured parts: buggy spokes, wagon poles 

 and axles. The material tested was of the 

 grades in common use. Buggy spokes were of 

 the grades of A, B, C-" D, E and culls, for tbe 

 sateen wheel. In this selection the primary 

 object was to determine whether the grading 

 u was compatible with the strength and 

 toughness of the spokes, and also to ascertain 

 the relative strength and toughness of white 

 ami red hickory spokes. Five hundred spokes 



and discrimination against red hickory. No red 

 spokes are now allowed in the A and B grades. 

 and yet these tests show that a large proportion 

 of the red spokes now included in the lower 

 grades should be included in the higher ones 

 because of their strength and toughness. The 

 resilience factor, which is determined by maxi- 

 mum load anil toughness, varies directly with 

 the weight, showing that the best criterion for 

 judging the utility of spokes Is the weight. The 

 tests also show that, weight for weight, the red 

 and mixed spokes are fully as strong as the 

 white ones. Defects near the center of the 

 spokes are considerably more damaging than 

 those near the end. 



The tests on the wagon poles brought out 

 several important points. The present manner 

 of attaching poles could be much improved since 

 the construction at the hounds is much weaker 

 than the pole itself. The present style of truss- 

 ing is of little value because the truss is ap- 

 plied along tbe neutral axis of tbe pole. Tbe 

 southern pine pole will support a greater maxi- 

 mum load than the common oak pole, but is 

 not as strong as the select oak pole. With ref- 

 erence to load at elastic limit, the southern pine 

 ranks first. The failures in the oak poles gen- 

 erally occurred near the hounds and were fibrous 

 and localized. Fractures in the pine poles, on 

 the other hand, extended over distances of five 

 or six feet, long pieces often breaking off where 

 a fracture occurred. These poles were not of 

 the best grades of southern pine, most of them 

 having the appearance of short leaf pine and 

 being largely sapwood. 



Results from the axle tests have not been suf- 

 ficiently correlated to warrant definite state- 

 ments regarding them, but it can be said that 

 there is considerable room for improvement in 

 tbe present method of trussing. 



Further testing work along this line will be 

 carried on during the winter. A series of shaft 

 tests on hickory and red oak will be made, a 

 number mi eucalyptus axles, and some on culti- 

 vator pules ..I' ted fir and long leaf pine. 



The Tower One-Man Trimmer. 



liming the last two or three years there has 

 been a surprising increase in the demand for 

 lumber with square ends. Tbe larger mills 

 have always tinned out lumber of this descrip- 



tion, but it is only in the comparatively recent 

 past that small mills have given themselves any 

 concern about this question. Today, however, 

 there are very few buyers of lumber who do not 

 either insist on having the lumber trimmed 

 or make a deduction if it is not so treated. The 

 Gordon Hollow Blast Crate Company of Green- 

 ville, Mich., has supplied the need evoked by 

 these conditions in their Tower 1-man 2-saw 

 trimmer, which enables one man to easily take 

 care of the output of a mill cutting up to 30,000 

 feet in ten hours. Further information about 

 the machine will be given on application to the 

 manufacturers. 



Establishment of a Wood-Testing 

 Laboratory. 



A conference of those interested in the Forest 

 Service will sooil be held in Washington to dis- 

 cuss the establishment of an adequate wood- 

 testing laboratory. The question is an impor- 

 tant one to the industries depending upon timber 

 and will open the way to large economy in the 

 utilization of the wood. A wide field of useful- 

 ness in solving the problems of wood supply 

 now confronting hardwood manufacturers will 

 be opened if the laboratory is established. The 

 date of tbe conference is November 16. 



A Veteran Lumber Buyer. 



Most of the lumber salesmen who visit Grand 

 Rrapids take the time to go over on Kent street, 

 where the yards of the Berkey & Gay Furniture 

 Company are located, and have a chat with Fred 

 Spraker, even if the chances of selling him a 

 small order be ever so slim. Fred is a genial 

 soul and has a multitude of friends in the trade. 



The picture shows him seated beside a pile 

 of mahogany lumber in the yard, with his well- 

 worn board rule in hand. He has been buying 

 lumber for the Berkey & Gay people for the. 

 past thirty years and knows the ins and outs of 

 the hardwood trade as well as does anybody in 

 the city. Back in ISuO. almost a half century 

 ago, the original Berkey factory was built on 

 Mill street by the Berkey brothers, and Mr. 

 Spraker assisted in its construction. Of these 

 luothers William A. is now dead and Julius 

 retired from active service many years ago, but 

 Mr. Spraker is still doing business at the old 

 office with clear mind and erect shoulders. 



Stock in the Perkey & Gay yards is now 

 almost entirely mahogany and oak. Mahogany 



FRED SPRAKER OF THE BERKEY & GAY 

 FURNITURE CO., GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 



and Circassian walnut are imported in the log 

 and Mr. Spraker always goes to the Halladay 

 mill in Grand Rapids to superintend the cutting 

 operations. 



Fee-Crayton Hardwood Lumber Company. 



The Fee-Crayton Hardwood Lumber Com- 

 pany has been incorporated under the laws 

 of the state of Arkansas with a paid-up cap- 

 ital of $150,000. Frank F. Fee is president and 

 manager of the new concern and E. W. Cray- 

 ton secretary ami treasurer. Mr. Fee has 

 been successfully engaged in the manufacture 

 of hardwood lumber at Newark and other 

 Ohio points for the past twenty-four years 

 ami lias extensive business connections, both 

 in this country and abroad, where his lumber 

 is will known. The same high standard of 

 manufacture and grading will be maintained 

 in the new plant as has always been followed 

 in Mr. Fee. He is regarded as one of the 



