32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



an east Tennessee lumber manufacturer who deals 

 largely with eastern jobbers who said that ninety- 

 five orders out of a hundred received by him 

 specified a percentage of No. 1 common thor- 

 oughly mixed with firsts and seconds. By infer- 

 ence, it was shown that this lumber was resold 

 as firsts and seconds. lie told of a Chicago job- 

 bing house which sold a car of 4/4 firsts and 

 seconds white oak at ^4:^ a thousand, which was 

 below the regular market price lor the same 

 lumber, and that the profit in the sale was 

 explained by the fact that they had mixed 

 7,000 feet of No. 1 common In the car, which 

 bad cost them hut $29 a thousand. He stated 

 tliat these citations were not exceptional cases, 

 but were everyday transactions countenanced and 

 condoned by both sellers and buyers ; that they 

 are diseus.sed as openly as a man would invite 

 a friend to step in "next door" and have a 

 highball. 



Continuing, Mr. (iilison said: There arc Iwo 

 leading hardwo4)d lumber associations in the 

 country whose grades are so nearly alike that 

 there can scarcely be found ip.'t difference under 

 either set of rules in a carload of any specified 

 quality. One of these associations is the Ilarri- 

 wood Manufacturers' Association of the Cniti-d 



Slates, made up of manufacturers, and the othi'i- 

 is the National Hardwood Lumber Association,, 

 nuide up jointly of manufacturers and jobbers. 

 Both associations have as a basis of ethics the 

 uniform grading of hardwood lumber, and both, 

 to the best of their efforts, are attempting to 

 insure to both seller and buyer a square deal in 

 lumber tran.sactions. 



The first named association does not generally 

 issue certified certificates of inspection, but main- 

 tains a corps of competent inspectors to educate 

 ;he inspectors of various plants how to make 

 gi-ades in strict accordance with its rules. In 

 the event that this grading is disputed, it sends 

 one of its corps of official inspectors to the con- 

 sumiDg market where the lumber is sold, and 

 reinspocts it, thus standing squarely between the 

 shipper and the Iniyer on the matter of the cor- 

 rect interpretation of grades according to its 

 rules. 



The National association, when required, issues 

 certified inspection certificates on its shipments, 

 and in the event the shipment is found out of 

 line it reinspects the lumber at the expense of 

 the shipper, if he is wrong, and at the expense of 

 I he receiver of the lumber if his complaint is not 

 nistified by the rcius|iection. 



I would suggest that there is a trend of pub- 

 lic sentiment among lumber associations and 

 local lumber organizations which makes for the 

 improvement of trade morals. These people gen- 

 erally deprecate special grades which leave the 

 door open for misunderstanding and unsatisfac- 

 tory dealing, and I personally know that l>efore 

 your association at tlie present time is an invita- 

 lion from one of tliese associations, which very 

 likely the second association would be glad to 

 join in. inviting you to appoint a committee to 

 confer with its inspection departments, with a 

 view of making grades to satisfy the particular 

 uses to which you wish to place lumber. 



Correct ethics of lumber inspection involve 

 the making of a series of grades that shall rea- 

 sonably accommodate the present and fast low- 

 ering quality of log output, and at the same 

 time make a series of grades that shall as nearly 

 as possible satisfy your exact requirements. I 

 would suggest that you thoroughly learn the 

 present rules of lumber inspection, and have 

 .^our inspectors learn them, and in the event 

 that you buy intelligently under these rules, 

 you will have no difficulty in establishing your 

 claim for a just aud equitable ('eal. 



'BloWer Systems for Handle Plants 



One of till' must iniprirtaiit features in a 

 handle plant, or for that matter in any 

 ■woodworking factory, is a good shavings 

 exhaust, or as more properly termed, a 

 blower system. Although most progressive 

 manufacturers realize how essential such a 

 system is to their work, it is not unusual 

 to find plants that get along somehow with- 

 out them and also factories which have in- 

 stalled these systems but which are very 

 poorly arranged and give but meager satis 

 faction. 



A plant without a blower system indi- 

 cates a lack of progress on the part of its 

 proprietor, and more than this would un- 

 doubtedly be refused insurance by modern 

 companies. Factory owners sometimes as- 

 sert that it is much cheaper to hire a boy 

 to wheel out the shavings and sawdust as 

 some of the waste material from their ma- 

 chines is too heavy for a blower to handle. 

 However, this is not as cheap as it may 

 seem on tirst thought. In the first place a 

 boy costs at least fifty cents a day, and he 

 is not much of a prize at that. Then a 

 good wheelbarrow or a big basket must be 

 purchased, and the plant must be so ar- 

 ranged that the boy can get through with 

 tliem to the firing room, and this may fre- 

 quently interfere with some of the machines 

 in the factory. Furthermore, it is practica- 

 Idy impossible for one boy to keep all the 

 plant cleaned up all the time, and this is 

 liound to cause trouble, as it is a very dif- 

 ficult thing to get the best results from any 

 machine when it is half buried in shavings 

 — result, another loss here. 



As to the cost of the blower system, of 

 course this depends largely upon the size 

 of tlie shop and the knowledge and experi 

 rmce of the man who installs the system, 

 but at most it should not exceed $100 for 

 »ii ordinary liandle plant. It is not a very 



By H. B. Alexander 



ilifKcult matter to figure out liow long it 

 will take the blower to pay fur itself, cou 

 sidering only the small w-ages of the cheap 

 lioy, to saj' nothing about the loss of time 

 to the machine and the trouble and worry 

 avoided. Probably the best feature of the 

 blower system is that the machines are kei)t 

 in good condition and fairly clean all the 

 time, and their operation is not interfered 

 with by being clogged up with shavings and 

 lefuse. By having a rule that each opera- 

 tor should .spend about five minutes each 

 ivening in cleaning up around his machine 

 li)e shop will be kept in good condition all 

 the time at practically uo expense. 



The success of a blower system depends 

 ju-incipally upon how it is installed and the 

 manner in which the pipes lead up to it. 

 There has always been more or less discus- 

 sion as to the better position for the main 

 pipes, overhead or under the floor, but this 

 point is best decided by each individual fac- 

 tory, according to the different arrangement 

 of the various appliances. For most handle 

 f.-ictories undoubtedly the best plan is to 

 have the pipes under the floor. Most of 

 the handle machines are so built that this 

 seems to be the best place to take care of 

 the shavings from them. With a rip-saw, 

 for instance, nothing is easier than to put 

 a hopper directly under the saw to collect 

 the dust and to lead a small i>ipe from that 

 directly through the floor into the main 

 pipe. With lathes the majority of .handle 

 men seem to favor the under-the-floor sys- 

 tem, which proves to be the handiest and 

 best. 



When the overhead system is used there 

 must be a short removable pipe to collect 

 tlie shavings from the lathe heads and send 

 them into the main pipes. This pipe must 

 have some sort of support, and if this is to 

 be satisfactor}' and one that will hold the 



pipe u\>. it very often proves to be quite 

 liiHicult and requires not a little time to 

 remove it. 



With the pipes laid under the floor there 

 must also be a short connecting pipe, but 

 here the arrangement is different. The pipe 

 leading from the main pipe to the lathe will 

 come only to the top of the floor, and the 

 connecting link will fit in that without any 

 fastening of any kind. It is simply set in 

 the hole and the top of it placed at the 

 mouth of the hoods on the lathe, and it is 

 then readv to operate, and whenever it is 

 necessary to move it to get at the heads 

 it is only a moment's work to pick it up 

 and put it to one side. 



Another important point in blower in- 

 stallation is the location of the blower and 

 the pipes. A very convenient place for the 

 blower is at the end of shop nearest the 

 jioint of outlet, and of course beyond the 

 last machine. A fan will pull farther than 

 it will blow, and for this reason should be 

 as near the fire room as possible. It should 

 be placed up about on a level with the line 

 shaft in order that it may have a down- 

 ward blow. The pipe coming in from the 

 shop should be the same size until after it 

 has taken in the first branch, and from 

 there on it should be reduced so that the 

 combined size of the branches will not ex- 

 ceed that of the main pipe; if they do they 

 invariably give trouble. No two pipes 

 should be placed so that the openings are 

 directly opposite each other, and every 

 branch should enter the main pipe at a 

 long angle; there should be no sharp turns 

 anywhere, and there should be no rough 

 places inside the pipe. The trouble aris- 

 ing from neglect of this feature is quite 

 apparent, as a bit of shaving might lodge 

 against a projection in the pipe and very 

 quickly other pieces would cling to it, and 



