Preservation of Mine Timbers 309 



It seems strange that a branch of an industry which every year 

 uses, and loses through decay, such an enormous quantity of 

 wood has only very recently given attention to the question of 

 artificial preservation. Although in the case of many railroad 

 and telegraph companies no ties or telegraph poles have been used 

 in the natural state for many years, until 1900 practically nothing 

 could be read of a mine timber treatment ; and even today the 

 amount of mine timbers treated can scarcely exceed 10 per cent 

 in Germany, and hardly a fraction of one per cent taking the 

 world as a whole. 



A few of the historically important facts may be briefly noted 

 here. Breant, the discoverer of the process of treating wood 

 under pressure in closed cylinders, in 1831 made the first expo- 

 sition of his new method before a group of mining engineers and 

 made explicit reference to the fact that he had made a discovery 

 which was of the most far-reaching significance, for the entire 

 mining industry. Breant's discovery was, however, entirely neg- 

 lected by the mining industry, and altogether reached the great 

 importance enjoyed by it at present only after the year 1840, that 

 is, after the introduction of the railroad. It was not until 60 

 years after Breant, in the year 1891, that any serious efiforts 

 were made for the preserving of wood in mining practice. In 

 the Falkirk Mine in Scotland, mine timbers were then boiled in 

 napthaline in open vats. 



Next follows an era of suggestions of, and experiments with, 

 all possible and impossible methods. It was not until after 1900 

 that mines concerned themselves seriously with the question of 

 wood preservation. The references about this time are, indeed 

 in most cases, published by interested wood-preserving firms or 

 discoverers, and are therefore lacking, to a considerable extent, 

 in a uniform clear survey of the methods and purposes of treat- 

 ment. In a publication in the year 1904 Bergassessor Wex 

 mentions 41 mines which have made experiments, in one way or 

 another, in the preservative treatment of wood. 



Since 1903 the Schlesische Grubenholzimpragnierung G. M. 

 B. H. (Silesian Mine Timber Impregnating Co., Ltd.) has em- 

 ployed a salt of fluorin, which had been experimented with to the 

 greatest extent by the telegraph companies of Austria, Today 

 some hundred mines either treat wood themselves, or use treated 

 wood, or have made experiments with such wood, making avail- 



