Utilization of Hardwoods 



ARTICLE SIXTY-TWO 

 THE MANUFACTURE OF WOODEN PIPE 



The aggregate length of wooden pipe doing service in this small to be bored again, 

 country exceeds two thousand miles. The business of manufac- 

 turing it is not new. Neither is its use restricted to any geo- 

 graphical region of the country, nor is the material drawn exclu- 

 sively from any one class of woods. Such pipe is in use from New 

 England to California, and it is manufactured in many places 

 and of numerous woods. There are various patterns and many 

 methods of making it. The sizes are many and the uses to which 

 it is put are more. Its manufacture constitutes a rather impor- 

 tant industry, though the factories which produce it are widely 

 scattered. 



Wooden pipe has been made in this country during such a long 

 period that the beginning is lost among the unrecorded activities 

 of early Kew England and Kew York. It was the first sewer 

 pipe and water mains the people had. One of the first important 

 events in its history seemed to be the ringing of its death knell 

 in 1805 when the discovery was made that iron pipe could take the 

 place of wood as water mains. It turned out, however, that the 

 event did not prove to he the death knell of wooden pipe. More 

 is in use in this country now than when the first piece of iron pipe 

 was laid. 



That important event occurred in Philadelphia. It is said to 

 have been the first iron water main in the world. At any rate, 

 London had none at that time. The Eomans, with all their elab- 

 orate systems of municipal water works, never had iron pipes, 

 but they used miles of lead pipe, some of it large enough for a 

 man to crawl through. 



The early wooden pipes were all bored. Augers which were 

 usually two and a half inches in diameter, and with shanks ten 

 feet long, were the only tools, except an ax for cutting the logs in 

 the forest. Trunks of about the proper size were selected, and 

 many of them went into the mains with the bark still on and the 

 knots trimmed none too closely. They were eight to ten feet 

 long. 



The boring was hand done, and by main strength. It was a 

 slow, laborious process. Half an hour was required for boring a 

 hole lengthwise through an eight-foot log. The boring of a few 

 logs was no serious matter, but to make enough pipe in that way 

 to equip the water works of a city was a large undertal<ing. It is 

 said that Detroit, Mich., had 200 miles of hand bored pipe in the 

 ground at one time. Various other towns in Michigan, New York, 

 Pennsylvania and eastward were large users during long periods, 

 and no man came to the front with a machine to bore the logs, 

 until comparatively recent times. It took four thousand years 

 to invent a sawmill to be run by water, after the practical applica- 

 tion of water power for pumping purposes was discovered. It 

 looked as if it might take that long to invent as simple a thing 

 as a boring machine, but finally the discovery was made. 



For a good while the auger itself underwent little improvement. 

 It was operated by machinery, but it wasted all the wood it cut 

 from the log. That, however, was not a matter of concern at first, 

 for trees were plentiful, and the waste cuttings of the auger were not 

 seriously considered. The principal waste was due to the fact that 

 only logs of a certain size could be used. If a large pipe was wanted, 

 a large hole was bored through a large log. 



In 1S60 an auger was invented by A. Wyckoflf of Elmira, N. Y., 

 which changed the method of making wooden pipe. The machine 

 eut out a core instead of removing the log's interior as chips and 

 shavings, as old style augers had done. The largest machine 

 removed a core seventeen inches in diameter. The largest pipe, 

 therefore, had a bore of seventeen inches, but pipes that large 

 were not often made. The first core taken out was bored again, 

 making a pipe of thirteen-inch size. A third core of nine inches 

 "was cut out, and a fourth of five inches. The last core was too 



These sizes were not always made. 

 The largest was seldom used, and many smaller than five inches 

 were made. It was found desirable to make the shell of the 

 pipe two inches or more in thickness. 



Pipes of that kind are much used now. The old style hoUow 

 log was not reinforced with metal bands. It was made large 

 enough to stand the pressure; but the two-inch shell of the pipe 

 which came in later was not strong enough where the pressure 

 was high, and it was reinforced with bands of brass or iron. After 

 it was thus banded it was coated on the outside with tar and 

 other mixtures, boiling hot. The purpose was to keep dampness 

 away from the metal rather than to protect the wood. When the 

 bands were exposed to air and water they quickly oxidized, and 

 the pipe was liable to split under the pressure of the water within. 

 The banded pipe was supposed to stand a pressure of 150 or 200 

 pounds per square inch of inner surface. If the pressure exceeds 

 this the pipe may split without breaking the bands, and close 

 agair. w-hen the excessive pressure is relieved. This has been 

 known to occur in water mains when the sudden stopping of the 

 fiow from a hj'drant has caused a ram. Few pipes, even of iron, 

 can successfully resist under such circumstances. 



It is remarkable that wooden pipe of that kind will resist 

 freezing which is suflScient to burst iron pipe. It is not because 

 the wooden pipe is stronger, but it yields to the pressure and 

 allows the expansion of the ice within. 



Pipe made of staves and banded with metal or wrapped witii 

 wire is now much nsed in this country. It is manufactured in 

 sizes impossible with bored pipe. Lines miles in length are in 

 some instances from five to seven feet in diameter. Such are used 

 in irrigation works and as outfall sewers, and for other indus- 

 trial purposes. Those of small and medium sizes are factory 

 i:'ade, the same as the bored pipe, but the large ones are built in 

 place, the staves having been made by pattern in the factory. 



Aside from irrigation, water systems and sewering, wooden 

 pipes have a wide range of uses. Large steam plants employ the 

 pipe for insulation purposes, it being a poor conductor of heat. 



It is extensively employed in mining operations, both in carry- 

 ing water to mines and in leading the waste away. The discharge 

 from mines is nearly always strong in sulphur and other minerals. 

 Some of these produce effects so injurious when in contact with 

 iron that pipes of that metal are quickly rendered useless. The 

 effect on wood is small or negligible. 



Glue factories frequently carry their liquids in wooden pipes 

 from vat to vat and from building to building. Tlie same is 

 true of breweries and distilleries. Wood imparts little stain or 

 taste to liquids which flow through the pipes, while iron may be 

 injurious. Bleacheries use dyes and chemicals which must be 

 kept free from iron rust, and wooden pipes often lead the mate- 

 rials into and from the various vats and tanks. 



Pulp mills use wooden pipes for a similar reason. Certain chem- 

 icals speedily destroy metal, and the life of an iron pipe in some 

 localities is too short to make the use of the metal profitable. 



Fish hatcheries want water kept pure and some of them ac- 

 complish that purpose by leading the water through wood. 



The brine at salt works is kept free from the stain of iron 

 rust by conducting the liquid through wooden pipes. 



Experience has shown that an iron pipe will carry less water than 

 one of wood, when size and pressure are the same. It is because the 

 friction of the flowing water is greater along the iron than the wooden 

 surface. This is true when both pipes are new, and the difference in 

 flow increases with age. The discharge through the iron pipe de- 

 creases, but it increases through the wood. The reason is evident. 

 The longer time iron is used, the more it corrodes, the rougher the 

 inner surface becomes and the smaller the opening. The effect of 

 use is the opposite for the wooden pipe. The bore enlarges by wear, 



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