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Contributions to the Knowledge of Vehicle Woods. 



W. K. Hatt. 



It is admitted by both tlie forester and tlie manufacturer of vehicle? 

 that the supplies of hickory and like woods used in vehicle construction are 

 becomius scarce. The quality is poorer and the price is higher each suc- 

 ceeding year. Indeed, the condition with respect to the supply of vehicle 

 woods may be said to have become acute, and the various trade organiza- 

 tions have become aroused to such an extent that meetings have been held 

 to discuss means of increasing the .sources of supply and economizing on the 

 construction. 



Three ways in general are open : 



First, an endeavor may be made to determine the availability of new 

 species as substitutes for such woods as hickory and white oak. 



Second, planting operations might be made a success. 



Third, a more economical use may be made of the timber supplies now 

 entering the mills for manufacture into wagon parts. 



The present paper discusses lines of effort in the substitution of new 

 and unti'ied species, and in improving rules of grading in the mills so that 

 excellent material, fully available for service, may not be thrown out, as is 

 the case now, by incorrect rules of grading. 



The Forest Service, United States Dejiartment of Agriculture, and the 

 Purdue University Laboratory have for some years co-opei*ated in the es- 

 tablishment of a timber testing station in the Laboratory for Testing Ma- 

 terials of Purdue University, at which studies have been made to determine 

 the essential mechanical properties of various species of wood, and what 

 effect various factors have upon these properties. Other studies to deter- 

 mine the correctness of the rules of gi-ading for vehicle parts, and to ex- 

 amine into the merits of different designs of such parts as wagon axles, 

 and to investigate the properties of possilile substitutes, have a direct ap- 

 plication to an important industry of the State. This Laboratory at Pur- 

 due University is one of a series of laboratories operated by the Forest 



