Ul' 



"Ijnarj- steum ov air pressure woulii l^avc 

 riy such effect as ''breaking" or -'expi-vi- 

 iiig" the colls. What does occur, howivor, r.« 

 our ex|)crimeiits and inicrosf()|iic, examinarioiis 

 have demonstratoil, is a minute (microscopic) 

 slitting of the cell walls when wood is steanied 

 miu'h '^ abovi' atmospheric pressure which 

 renders the cells permeable. These slits 

 occur also, however, whenever wood is thor 

 oughly dried, whether naturally in the air or 

 V.v ai'iy known process. B>it it must not be 

 inferred from this statement that these slitf. 

 are essential tn drying, since drying occurs 

 by infiltration through the walls themselves. 

 In all liardwoods, it must be remembered, 

 there are in addition to the masses of sniall 

 cells, open "pores"' or vessels like long pipes 

 or tubes, through which, in some species, as 

 red oak and honey locust, air may be rcailily 

 blown by the mouth. 



Another fact which appears to have Ijeeu 

 wrongly interpreted is that with high steam 

 pressures it is the high temperature in the 

 presence of moisture, and not the pressure, 

 which does the injury. No wood, in ray e.x- 

 perience, will stand a saturate steam tem- 

 perature of 330° r., corresponding to a pres- 

 sure of ninety pounds, without injury, and 

 higher temperatures will disintegrate the 

 wood. The reason superheated steam may be 

 used at higher temperatures is simply because 

 the wood itself does not lieeome heated to 

 anywhere near the temperature of the super- 

 heated steam, at least not while it contains 

 any moisture, on account of the extremely low 

 specific heat of the steam. 



Tr may be of interest to your reailers tn 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



know that the Forest Service contemplates 

 making a fundamental experimental study of 

 the subject of conditioning lumber at its new 

 laboratory located at Madison, Wis. A'ery 

 truly yours. Harry D. Tiem.\nn, 



Engineers in Timber Physics. 



ilr. Tiemann's letter refers specifically to 

 the communications from the Emerson Dry 

 Iviln Company, the Grand Kapids Veneei- 

 Works and A. H. Andrews &■ Co., published 

 in the issue of August 25. The thrashing out 

 of this subject of common sense in lumber 

 seasoning so that the lumberman not jjos- 

 sessed of scientific education can understand 

 exactly what he is trying to get at, promises 

 to be very fertile and valuable. The point 

 that the writer niakes that steam pressure 

 does not ' ' break the cells ' ' of wood is a point 

 well taken. He avers -that it is self-evident 

 that no ordinary steam or air ]iressure would 

 have the effect of "breaking'' or "explod- 

 ing" the cells. What does occur, the writer 

 alleges, is the minute slitting of tlic cell walls 

 when wood is steamed above atmos|;)heric 

 pressure which renders the cells permeable. 



jt is to be hoped that, the experiments being 

 undertaken at the new laboratory by Mr. 

 Tiemaun and his associates will add ma- 

 terially to the sum of knowledge necessary 

 for the correct treatment and seasoning of 

 Inmlu'v. 



Some Phases of Handle Production 



BY H. B. ALEXANDER 



TURNING SPECIAL HANDLES 

 Tn the ordinary handle factory, especially 

 on..- devoted to straight turnings such as 

 broom handles and dowels, there are often re- 

 .•eived orders for special turnings of various 

 kinds. In the minds of many handle opera- 

 tors it is questionabde whether it really pays 

 to do this class of work or not. Of course, 

 most concerns dislike to turn down any busi- 

 ness that is offered them, but if the truth 

 were known undoubtedly much work of this 

 nature is handled actually at a loss. By close 

 liguring the hamlle man charges all that the 

 customer will stand and all that the work 

 scem.s to be worth, and yet when the disturb- 

 ing element of disarranging the system in the 

 plant, which cannot be estimated in money 

 value, is considered, this special work very 

 often costs more than the handles bring in 

 return. 



When it is considered that the lathes in 

 :i handle factory are set up in a certain man- 

 ner and the men operating them are trained 

 for a special kind of work, it will readily 

 be appreciated that a change to an unusual 

 type of turning will interfere with the smooth 

 running of the plant and check the steady 

 stream of handles which should flow from the 

 lathes into the finishing and shipping rooms 

 under ordinary conditions. 



For example, suppose a plant gets an order 

 lor one or two thousand special handles. 

 These, perhaps, can be turned out of the reg- 

 ular stock of lumber at the factory, but their 



manufacture makes it necessary for the cut- 

 off man to change his gauges, and for the 

 ripsaw man to do the same. Then the lathe 

 man, who is to turn the handle, must spend 

 considerable time studying the order and fig- 

 uring out from the drawing or sample the 

 best means of turning the special shape of 

 handle. Then he must get a cam to suit, and 

 after he has made it and put it in place on 

 the lathe, it will probably take him some time 

 to get it properly adjusted and the gears 

 changed to make it. After he has done all 

 this the sander has to change the gearing on 

 his machine to suit, and so it goes all through 

 the shop. The handling of this special order 

 has probably only stopped one lathe in its 

 regular work, but it has thrown the entire 

 shop out of routine, and considerable time is 

 needed to get things changed to handle the 

 order, and then after it is gotten rid of to get 

 them back in their usual shape again. 



In actual value these special turnings are 

 probably not worth any more than the regu- 

 lar type of handle turned out, as far as the 

 material and labor of making are concerned, 

 but when the time required at the different 

 machines to change them for the special work 

 and then change them back again is figured 

 into the production cost, it would seem that 

 a twenty per cent addition should be made 

 to the time expended on their manufacture. 

 It is doubtful if any buyer would stand for 

 this, but special work in the handle factory is 

 certainly worth it, as most special orders are 

 for a thousand or so at a time. If they were 



for larger quantities it would be an entirely 

 ■lifferent matter. 



A most exasperating case, which fortun- 

 ately is uncommon but still has actually hap- 

 pened, and our own concern was the victim, 

 was a firm which needed a dozen or so turn- 

 ings of a special kind to fill out with, and in 

 order to get them cheap sent a sample to a 

 handle plant asking to have a dozen samples 

 submitted. When these were submitted the 

 concern was never heard from again, having 

 been able to fill out their lot from the 

 s.amplc. 



I ha\i' heard a great many arguments re- 

 garding the position that a ripsaw should 

 occupy above the table, but I have never yet 

 heard one which was good enough to con- 

 vince me that my own view is not the best 

 practice in this matter, iiy idea on this 

 point is to have the saw as high above the 

 table as it can be placed. Some men claim 

 that the saw will do better and more work 

 if it is just high enough to cut through the 

 lioard, but it seems to me that when a saw is 

 running in that position it is working against 

 the operator, in that it is pushing back all 

 the time, making the cut harder, and also 

 making the sa^v more apt to fling boards 

 liack. The best plan seems to me to be to 

 hiwer the table so that the cut of the saw is 

 IS nearly directly down as possible, which 

 i^nables it to do better work more easily, and 

 it is not nearly so apt to kick back a board. 

 At our factory we are running a gang self- 

 feed ripsaw with three saws at fast speed in 

 this way, and when they were running the 

 ither v.-ay they were using only two saws and 

 at not nearly as fast speed as at present, 

 and it was necessary to sharpen the saws a 

 good deal oftener than it is now. 



Tliese days there is so much talk about 

 system that a great many people are growing 

 tired of the word, and yet there are many 

 kinds of business which would be much bet- 

 ter for a little more system. In fact in a 

 great many factories about all the system 

 that is in evidence is the whistle blowing at 

 stated times for the men to start and quit 

 work. But after they get into the building 

 the foreman must explain to them or show 

 them just what they are to do and sometimes 

 how to do it. This causes a great waste of 

 time, anil under such conditions the foreman 

 spends most of his time finding work for his 

 men. It is usually true that in a factory 

 where such conditions exist the men do not 

 take the interest in their work that they ex- 

 hibit in a shop where things are more sys- 

 tematically conducted. If a man knows just^ 

 what he is ex-pected to do every day he will" 

 do more work and from a sense of pride will 

 try to do it better than if he is treated like 

 a child, and has to be directed in every step 

 he takes. This is also more advantageous 

 for the foreman, as it brings out his capabili- 

 ties and shows what he can do aside from the 

 disagreeable task of a mere driver. Needed 

 improvements in equipment, in methods of 



