20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



England. Other purposes to which the wood 

 is put are for ship building, piles, posts, ties, 

 cars and sounding boards for pianos. It is 

 used considerably as a substitute for pine, 

 which it resembles quite closely. 



Spruce gum, the resinous exudation of 

 spruce trees of the northeastern portion of 

 America, is obtained from this tree in Can- 

 ada and New England in considerable quan- 

 tities. It is a favorite masticatory. Spruce 

 beer is obtained by boiling the branches of 

 this variety as well as from the foliage of 

 the red spruce. 



The accompanying half-tone showing for- 

 est growth of black spruce was made from a 

 photograph taken in the White Mountain 

 district of New Hampshire, as was also the 

 one of spruce logs which illustrates a pe- 

 culiarity of spruce growth. The tree at the 

 stump line is rarely round, but has a flat- 

 tened side and convoluted base, as shown 

 in the illustration, the bole higher up in the 

 tree assuming the regular round contour of 

 most growths. 



BLACK SPRUCE LOGS SHOWING IKliEGULAR SHAPED ENDS PECULIAR TO SPECIES. 



Maii,ers of Machinery History 



NUMBER IX 

 V. H. Hanchett 



i,See portrait supplement.) 



The name Hanchett is familiar to users of 

 saws aU over the country. It has long been 

 associated with iiling-room equipment, and 

 at once stamps a tool as best. The name 

 was connected with the first saw swage ever 

 built and it has been practically a synonym 

 for the acme of filing equipment production 

 ever since. 



It was John Hanchett who, as a saw filer 

 in a Michigan sawmill twenty years ago, con- 

 ceived the idea that saw filing could be ac- 

 complished by a machine. He put his idea 

 to practical test and soon was running a 

 small shop malung the first Hanchett saw 

 swage. Shortly after he was joined by his 

 brother, V. H. Hanchett, and together they 

 soon built up a large business. 



V. H. Hanchett is now head of the Han- 

 chett Swage Works at Big Rapids, Mich., a 

 man of foresight, energy and perception. To 

 him is due not a little credit for the general 

 development of the business and for its ex- 

 pansion to embrace its present well-rounded 

 Une of filing-room equipment. The Recoed 

 takes great pleasure in presenting to its 

 readers the portrait and this brief sketch 

 of Mr. Hanchett, who has achieved success by 

 dint of hard work and persistent effort. 



In the southern part of Michigan nearly 

 fifty-eight years ago, V. H. Hanchett was 

 born. His father for years operated a saw- 

 mill, and here it was that Mr. Hanchett, 

 early in life, got his first training in the 

 lumber business, and he has kept in touch 

 with the needs of the sawmill ever since. 



About twenty years ago Mr. Hanchett 



formed" a partnership with his brother, John 

 Hanchett, inventor of the now famous Han- 

 chett swage. Their shop was very small at 

 first, and only one or two men were em- 

 ployed. Business, however, steadily increased 

 until in a few years it was necessary to 

 move to larger quarters. 



In 1902 John Hanchett severed his con- 

 nection with the firm and Authur K., son of 

 V. H. Hanchett, was admitted. Up to this 

 time the Hanchett Swage Works had manu- 

 factured saw swages only, but now com- 

 menced to branch out and make other filing- 

 room tools. The first new tool placed on the 

 market was the Hanchett swage shaper, 

 which met with such signal success that the 

 company was urged by several concerns to 

 manufacture other iiling-room tools and ma- 

 chinery. It was finally at the suggestion of 

 one of the largest saw manufacturers in the 

 world that the Hauchetts took up the task of 

 perfecting a line of filing-room equipment. 

 Their delay in entering this field arose from 

 the fact that they had no desire to add an- 

 other tool to those already on the market un- 

 til they could present a machine with im- 

 provements of enough importance to make a 

 real demand for it. 



In 1905 the firm was fairly launched in the 

 manufacture of filing-room machinery and L. 

 B. Hanchett became associated with it. Within 

 •two years business had grown lo such pro- 

 portions that it became advisable to incor- 

 porate, which was done, with a capital stock 

 of $150,000, most of which is paid in. 



The Hanchett Swage Works is a rare ex- 

 ample of business enterprise, showing what 



i-an be done by perseverenee and wise judg- 

 ment in following closely a good line of ma- 

 chinery. The business in less than twenty 

 years has grown from a small shop, employ- 

 ing a couple of men, to a large plant, em- 

 ploying in the neighborhood of one hundred 

 and fifty skilled workmen and fitted out 

 with modern machinery of the most approved 

 type. That the Hanchett equipment is all 

 that is claimed for it and gives universal 

 satisfaction is shown by the fact that the 

 great plant at Big Rapids turns out more 

 machinery than any of its competitors. 



Michigan Business to Be Incorporated 



The Kobinsou Lumber Company will be in- 

 corporated shortly with a capitalization of $50.- 

 000 and S. L. Eastman of Saginaw and S. A. Rob- 

 inson of Ogemaw county are the principal stock- 

 holders. Mr. Eastman has for some time held large 

 timber properties in Ogemaw county. Last win- 

 ter he entered into an arrangement with S. A. 

 Itobinson, a thoroughly practical sawmill man 

 and a gentleman of excellent attainments and 

 rtputatiou, to build a plant in the town of 

 Giodar on a four-mile spur track of the Rose 

 City division of the Detroit & Mackinac Railway. 

 A fine band sawmill of 50,000 feet daily capacity 

 was erected and has been in operation during 

 the summer. It has contracts to cut a large 

 quantity of maple and other hardwood lumber 

 for the S. L. Eastman Flooring Company, the 

 plant being located at Carrollton opposite Sag- 

 inaw. 



The new company is to take over the entire 

 property. It has about BO.000,000 feet of tim- 

 ber, enough for a long run, and there is more 

 in reach. Goodar is an active little lumbering 

 town and is growing rapidly. This year four 

 miles of track were laid to reach more timber, 

 and ultimately it will be extended twenty miles 

 to 5Iio, the county seat of Oscoda county. The 

 manufactured product comes out over the De- 

 troit & Mackinac Road to Bay City and Saginaw. 



