HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



made some very careful observations and has 

 deduced some dependable facts on this sub- 

 ject. It is the opinion of the best qualified 

 judges that there is no European tree wMch 

 can be proved to be over SOO years old, and 

 that no tree in Germany attains even that 

 age in a healthy state. The rings formed by 

 the annual growth of exogenous trees are of 

 course the best evidence of their age, but this 

 is only to be obtained before decay and age 

 have effaced the record. Documentary evi- 

 dence of the existence of a specified tree at 

 a certain date, it is pointed out, is not neces- 

 sarily conclusive. Tliis does not question the 

 truth of the record, but it is claimed that 

 very often young trees have been planted on 

 the sites of their famous predecessors, and 

 as the one died the other sprang up and even- 

 tually assumed the identity of the older tree. 

 Cases in which a young tree has sprung up 

 spontaneously at the very foot of a noted 

 tree have been observed not infrequently, and 



other instances wliere a healthy young sap- 

 ling took bodily possession of the hollow 

 trunk of an old tree and grew at its expense 

 have been noted. It is claimed that it is by 

 no means unlikely that some of the ancient 

 old oaks of England have undergone such a 

 transformation. An age of 700 or 800 years 

 has undoubtedly been attained by many trees, 

 and this can be proved by unquestionable evi- 

 dence in many eases, but the tradition at- 

 tached to many well-known growths must be 

 accepted with some measure of doubt. About 

 ihe only conclusion that can be reached in 

 regard to very old trees is that they can not 

 be less than a certain age, but beyond that 

 there is nothing but estimates of probabili- 

 ties. Experts base their calculations of tree 

 ages upon species, size, and the known laws 

 of a tree 's growth, allowing, of course, for 

 modifications of these under varying condi- 

 tions. 



Individual DriVe in a Planing Mill 



The Great Southern Lumber Company, at 

 Bogalusa, La., operates the largest electrically 

 driven lumber manufacturing plant in the 

 world. The complete electrical equipment, 

 with the exception of the transformers, was 

 furnished by the General Electric Company of 

 Schenectady, N. Y. 



The powerhouse equipment consists of two 

 500 Kw. and one 200 Kw. generators, direct 



generators set supply current to the direct 

 current motors in the machine shop. There 

 are also two 30 Kw. 125 volt engine type 

 exciters. 



The switchboard eqmpment consists of 

 three generator panels, two exciter panels, 

 twelve feeder panels, two motor-generator 

 panels, two luminous arc lighting panels, two 

 .series A. C. lighting panels. 



ROW OF IXDIVIDU.\L GENERAL ELECTRIC MOTORS. 



connected to steam engines. All three gen- 

 erators are of General Electric three phase 

 revolving field type, running at 100 R.P.M. 

 and generating current at a potential of 

 2,300 volts and a frequency of 60 cycles. The 

 current is transmitted at a potential of 2,300 

 volts and stepped down to 440 volts for the 

 operation of the alternating current motors. 

 The 50 Kw. 250 volt direct current motor- 



In addition to the above apparatus there 

 are two 50 light C. C. transformers and mer- 

 cury arc rectifiers for supplying current to 

 the luminous arc system installed on the tow- 

 ers in the mill yard and three 25-light C. C. 

 transformers for supplying alternating cur- 

 rent for lights in the streets of the miU town. 



Eighty-one General Electric motors, rang- 

 ing in capacity from 5 to 150 H. P., aggre- 



gating a total capacity of 2767 H. P., are 

 employed throughout the works. 



In general the requirements of the lumber 

 and woodworking industries can best be met 

 by constant speed motors, and so alternating 

 current induction motors were adopted for the 

 majority of the machines, the exception be- 

 ing a few direct current motors for use in 

 the machine shop where a wide range of speed 

 is required. 



The type of alternating current motor 

 used is the well-known General Electric Com- 

 pany 's form K induction motor. This is sim- 

 ple and strong in construction and capable of 

 maintaining high efficiency over a wide load 

 range. The open type of construction of the 

 frame materially improves the cooling of all 

 parts of the motor and avoids spaces for the 

 accumulation of dust. The entire absence of 

 sparking is an especially valuable feature and 

 permits of their installation where the air is 

 laden with fine dust. They are quick and 

 certain in starting, have high overload ca- 

 pacity, and require practically no attention 

 while running. 



The cut illustrates the advantages of the 

 individual drive very effectively. 



The absence of belting and shafting con- 

 tributes greatly to the neat appearance of the 

 mill and allows a much better diffusion of 

 the light, and also eliminates the circulation 

 of dust and dirt, the dripping of oil from 

 shafting, the power loss in belting and shaft- 

 ing and the danger to employees incidental 

 to their use. 



There are seventeen planers and matchers 

 in this bank, each being driven by a 35 H. P. 

 induction motor. The individual starting 

 compensators are shown at the right, located 

 conveniently near che machine. 



Each machine is a unit in itself and may 

 be shut down when not in use and will then 

 contribute nothing to the cost of operation 

 while idle. 



Second-Hand Poplar 



A few weeks ago Howard Bros. Company, boat 

 Ijuilders of Jeffersonville, Ind., received a tele- 

 phone message from a Louisville contractor ask- 

 ing them to come and look at a lot of second- 

 hand poplar Joists they were taking out of the 

 warehouse ttiey were dismantling. At that time 

 Mr. Howard gave no heed to the message, but a 

 few weeks later, happening to be in the vicinity 

 of the building being demolished, he noticed a 

 pile of 500 2 y2x24— 26-foot old and yellow clear 

 poplar joists that had been removed from the 

 structure. Although the top edges showed some 

 little decay, and the eSfect of the nail holes of 

 frequent floors that had been laid on top of 

 them was apparent and the sides were some- 

 what rusty, the bunch of stuff looked good to 

 him. 



Very soon he struck a trade with the con- 

 tractor for the entire lot at $20 per M. He 

 transferred the material to his shipbuilding plant 

 at Jeffersonville. He has dressed the stock two 

 sides down to 2 Inches and ripped off the de- 

 fective edge and resawed the material to inch, 

 with the result that he probably has the finest 

 lot of poplar panel lumber that exists in the 

 I'nited States. He says perhaps forty-year-old 

 clear yellow poplar of the old fashioned yellow 

 variety won't make panels in steamboat cabins 

 that the owners will be proud of, but he thinks 

 it will ! 



