HARDWOOD RECORD 



_29 



The four veneer saws and the slicer are individually motor driven, 

 the use of electric current not only enabling the power consumption, 

 which is relatively unimportant in this connection, to be limited to 

 the amount actually needed, but also getting rid of line shafting for 

 the transmission of power. The presence of shafting and belts, which 

 are required where mechanical power is used, is known to be a con- 

 stant source of danger, as well as being inconvenient and unhandy, 

 and the use of electricity gives the mill a clean, roomy appearance 

 which is decidedly pleasing to those who are accustomed to move 

 about equipment which is operated with belts off overhead shafting. 



Another important feature of the equipment is the fan system, a 

 44% -inch fan of the Buffalo Forge Company having been installed. 

 The collection of dust is handled perfectly, and the size of the fan 

 was purposely made large so that there would be no trouble on this 



score. The pipes which carry off the dust are amply large, so that 

 there is no danger of their being stopped up by an accumulation of 

 dust resulting from insufficient power to carry it away. 



The ware room is 48 by 120 feet, with both long sides entirely of 

 Fenestra steel sash, making the building as light as outside. 



Mr. Bass, the active manager of the entire plant of Nickey Bros. 

 & Bass, has had wide experience in the business, and is expected to 

 make a marked success of this mill. He has incorporated many new 

 ideas into its design and construction, and may be said to have a 

 plant which is a model in many respects. The concern will confine 

 itself principally to the manufacture of a quartered oak veneer and 

 figured red gum veneers, and its location at a point such as Memphis, 

 where the supply of oak and gum suitable for flitches is extremely 

 large, assures the success of the new mill. 



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The searcher for substitutes has thus far failed in his quest for 

 something to take the place of wood in the manufacture of shuttles. 

 The search has been wide and thorough, but it has not yet resulted 

 in anything except failure. Steel has naturally been one of the first 

 suggestions, and it has been given many trials in textile mills. 



The shuttle is used in weaving. It is a very old tool and has not 

 undergone any great change since time immemorial. It has always 

 been made of wood. Sometimes it has been simply a stick with 

 thread wound around it. This has been its simplest form, and in that 

 form it was used in Egypt at the dawn of history, and it is stUl 

 in use among savages who make cloth of bark and other crude fibers. 



The hollow shuttle with a ' ' quill " or " bobbin ' ' inside, turning on 

 a spindle, was the first improvement upon the simple stick ; and it 

 may be said that it is the final improvement, because this is the form 

 in use today, with various modifications. 



There are many sizes, but a common form in use by textile mills 

 is shaped from a block about seventeen inches long and somewhat more 

 than two inches square. This billet is called a shuttle block, and 

 from it the shuttle is cut, all in one piece, except certain accessories. 

 It is shaped much like an old-time dugout canoe. 



When weaving is done on hand looms, the shuttles are thrown to 

 and fro by hand. Formerly all weaving was done in that manner, 

 and the shuttle was made of nearly any hard, smooth wood ; and a 

 good one lasted years in constant use. Power looms did not bring 

 any radical change in the shape of shuttles, but new conditions had to 

 be met. The shuttle is thrown back and forth by machinery. Its 

 motion is very rapid. It is driven by smart blows at each end of its 

 journey. These blows try the lasting qualities of the shuttles. Every 

 motion is quick. The movement is reversed almost instantly. 



Though many kinds of wood were satisfactory for shuttles in 

 hand looms, that is far from being the case with power looms. A 

 poor wood flies into splinters under the impact of blows. Some 

 woods ' ' feather -up ' '^that is, they become rough under the influence 

 of friction, and are useless. Some wear too rapidly, and after an 

 hour or two of use nmst be thrown away. The use of shuttle woods 

 is t>.erefore limited to those which will stand up under the severe 

 strains to which they are subjected. 



The best wood for this use, as far as is known, is the Turkish box- 

 wood. It has the necessary strength and wearing qualities. Up to 

 about thirty years ago boxwood was a common shuttle material, but 

 it then became too high in price, and dropped out of use. 



Attempts were many times made to substitute steel and other metals 

 for shuttles. Theoretically, steel ought to be satisfactory, but in 

 practice it has not been found so. The shuttle must not go beyond 

 a certain weight, because it becomes unmanageable. If of steel and 

 made of sufficient lightness, the shell is so thin that it buckles under 

 the impact of blows. The result is that metal cannot stand as much 

 as wood in the trying use to which the common shuttle is subjected. 



The search for shuttle wood has been wider than any one continent. 

 The forests of the world contain many hard, tough woods, and it 

 might be supposed that suitable kinds could be found in many regions, 



but experience has not shown that such is the case. Hundreds of kinds 

 have been given trials, only to be rejected for one reason or another. 

 One may be too light, another too heavy ; probably no one is too hard, 

 but many are too soft; some do not wear smooth; others split; 

 splinters rise on some. So many things may go wrong that one by 

 one the promising woods have been tried and found wanting. 



The United States is fortunate in possessing two satisfactory 

 shuttle woods. They have the wearing qualities and they are not 

 too expensive. They are dogwood and persimmon. Sapwood only 

 is desired, but fortunately, these two trees are largely sapwood. 



Complete statistics of shuttle wood in the United States have 

 never been brought together; but figures are available for certain 

 states. It is believed that one-half of the cut in the United States 

 comes from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, though 

 if complete figures were available it might be found that Georgia, 

 Florida and Tennessee should be added in order to cover the bulk 

 of the shuttle material furnished ty forests. 



Dogwood trunks are small and short, seldom exceeding eight 

 inches in diameter and five feet long. Persimmon is larger. Appar- 

 ently about three cords of dogwood are used to one of persimmon. 

 The following table gives the annual cut of rough stock in the 

 principal states in feet, board measure: 



Total 4,266,400 1,715,000 



Shuttle wood is always measured by the cord when bought and 

 sold in the rough; and in the foregoing table reduction to feet was 

 made on the basis of 600 board feet to the cord. 



Persimmon may be lumbered in the usual way, but dogwood is too 

 small. The bolts are usually shipped rough, and the blocks pass 

 through several hands before they reach the stage of the finished 

 shuttle. The work may or may not all be done in one factory. The 

 cost given in the accompanying table is based on the rough bolts 

 when they arrive at the factory where they are worked into blanks 

 for shuttles. The wood which actually appears in the finished shuttle 

 costs very much more. Probably four-fifths of the origiaal bolt 

 disappears as waste in process of manufacturing the shuttle. 



The cutting of dogwood shuttle bolts is not a regular business. 

 Few people follow that as an occupation for dogwood growth is scat- 

 tered, and no large quantity can be cut in one place. In the southern 

 states, where practically the whole supply is obtained, the cutting 

 is carried on chiefly by negroes who find s. few trees here and there 

 about the country. They are cut and brought to town at the next 

 trip and are there bartered for groceries or other merchandise. The 

 keeper of the store usually gets a carload of bolts together and then 

 ships them to some wholesale dealer in such products, who, in turn, 

 sells them to factories. 



It is seldom that as much as one-fourth of a cord of dogwood 

 suitable for shuttles is found growing on an acre. 



