HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



ucation of the people on this subject. He 

 is still chairman, too, of the National Con- 

 servation Commission. 



After all, the proper measure of his work 

 is not the number of square miles of land 

 that he has saved for right and perpetual 

 use, but the changed thoughts of the whole 

 nation about the sources and perpetuation 

 of all fundamental wealth. He has been 

 a great awakener of the people on a sub- 

 ject that strikes deeper than any political 

 policy. 



Mr. Pinchot is now forty-four years old. 

 He has the biggest constructive idea of our 



generation, an idea that works for the di- 

 rect personal benefit of every dweller on 

 our land in our generation and in all suc- 

 ceeding generations. He has no private 

 ends to seek. He has no private business. 

 He has given once for all his life and his 

 time for the public welfare. He is a well- 

 equipped man, of prodigious industry, of 

 attractive personality and of the hardy vir- 

 tues — a woodsman, a sportsman — a man at 

 home in all parts of our country and with 

 real persons of every grade of life. He 

 has already made a great career, but a 

 greater is before him. 



Utilization of HardWoods 



ARTICLE XXXVir 

 BOWLING ALLEYS 



It is not often that in a line of manufac- 

 ture involving many thousands of dollars 

 only one kind of hardwood plays an impor- 

 tant part. Several varieties are usually 

 required where hardwood is used at all, but 

 in the manufacture of bowling alleys and 

 pins there is only one hardwood employed, 

 namely, the best grade of clear white 

 maple. 



Illustrations shown in connection with 

 this article are furnished by the Bruns- 

 wicke-Balke-Collender Company, the largest 

 manufacturer of bowling alleys and their 

 accessories in the world. This concern, in 

 order to secure a perpetual supply of high- 

 grade maple, in 1908 bought 12,000 acres of 

 timber situated in Wisconsin and Michigan, 

 which bears, among timber experts, the rep- 

 utation of being the finest stand of maple 



in the world. In addition, the company 

 owns a similar tract in Wexford county, 

 Mich.; it has its own steam barge on which 

 the raw material is transported from Lake 

 Superior to the plants at Chicago and Mus- 

 kegon. The pine used for the main part of 

 the alley is partly bought from southern 

 manufacturers and partly cut from a tract 

 owned by this concern in North Carolina. 



There are three types of bowling alleys: 

 the continuous alley, the sectional alley, in 

 which maple is used for the entire length, 

 and the sectional alley, in which maple is 

 used only for approach and pit-ends, and 

 Georgia pine for the main alley. The hard 

 usage to which approach and pit-ends are 

 subjected necessitates the use of hard ma- 

 ple in that part of the construction. In 

 the case of the main alley, however, the 



chief requisite is a smooth, slick surface, 

 producing as little friction as possible, and 

 not necessarily being required to endure 

 any great wear. Speed is here sought, and 

 clear Georgia pine is the material used, as 

 it seems best to answer all requirements. 



As before stated, only the finest quality 

 of maple is used, stock being selected for 

 grain and color. After cutting it is stacked 

 on end and air dried for a considerable pe- 

 liod before being shipped to the factory. 

 Before finally being worked, the stock is 

 subjected to a re-drying at the plant, and 

 is then cut into strips one by three inches, 

 of various lengths. Special machinery is 

 employed in cutting these strips, which are 

 tongued and grooved and dovetailed into 

 the pine of the main alley. Steel clamps 

 are used to hold the strips securely in place, 

 one of the accompanying illustrations show- 

 ing the method employed. 



The pine is selected for grain and hard- 

 ness, only "B" and better grades being 

 used. Georgia pine is used exclusively, as 

 it grows much more slowly than the ordi- 

 nary yellow pine and hence is much tough- 

 er. All the stock is quarter-sawed, and be- 

 fore shipping to the factory is air dried 

 for several months, and later is re-dried 

 in the factory kilns. The strips into which 

 the Ismber is sawed are treated separately 

 in a machine, which in addition to giving 

 them a perfectly smooth and true surface, 

 provides a side, tongue and groove, similar 

 to that employed in the maple. This pro- 

 cess of tonguing and grooving involves a 

 large waste in the thickness of the material, 

 and hence adds considerably to the ex- 



MODERN CONTINUOUS BOWLING ALLEY 



