328 LOGGING 



lower extremities. Each post ends in a broad shoe which rests on 

 the crossties outside of the rail. The empty cars pass under the 

 deck, traveling on the main track. The loader is equipped with 

 a pair of trucks at both the forward and the rear end, on which 

 the loader travels. The frames to which these trucks are at- 

 tached and the trucks themselves are so hung on a shaft under 

 the floor of the deck that during the loading operation they may 

 be brought to a horizontal position under the loader. The 

 machine is then supported on the ties by the spuds. When ready 

 to move, the weight of the loader is lifted from the spuds by 

 bringing the truck frames to a vertical position by means of 

 cables and other mechanism. ' This raises the loader off the spuds 

 ready for a change of base. Power is transmitted to the axles 

 of the trucks by means of sprocket chains. 



This machine is adapted for longer logs and wider-gauge roads 

 than the Decker, because of the greater space between the rail 

 and the deck. 



The McGiffert loader costs from $4500 to $6000. 



(g) Surry Parker. — This loader embodies the same general 

 principles as the two loaders previously mentioned, having the 

 upper deck high enough to permit loaded flat cars to run under 

 it. An early type was built without a device for transporting 

 itself, being carried about on a fiat car. The modern type of 

 machine, however, is portable, the power being transferred from 

 the engines to the axles by a chain drive. 



Capacity. — The output per day of a given type of loader is 

 dependent largely on the skill of the operator and the loading 

 crew, provided logs are at hand and the supply of empty cars is 

 adequate. The daily output may be as low as from 30,000 to 

 40,000 feet and again may rise to nearly 300,000 feet. For short 

 logs the swinging-boom base-control type of loader is the more 

 active and under average conditions may load from 100,000 to 

 130,000 feet daily. 



Cost of Operation. — The cost of operation per thousand feet, 

 log scale, depends on the daily output, the wage scale of the region, 

 and the price of fuel. The general range is from 18 to 35 cents 

 per thousand feet. 



