594 INDUSTRIAL USES OF WOOD. 



The manufacture of railway-carriages and trucks consumes 

 enormous quantities of wood of high quality. The horizontal 

 beams, underlying all passenger-carriages as well as goods- 

 trucks, are made of squared oak timber. They lie between 

 the iron girders supporting the carriage, and rest directly on 

 the axles. Broad-ringed ashwood is preferred for the uprights, 

 these are dove-tailed into the horizontal beams and pieces, 

 which unite with them to form the framework of the carriage, 

 but sometimes oakwood is used. The flatly-curved roof- 

 supports are made of bent elm, ash, or Scots pinewood. For 

 roofing the long dining-cars and sleeping saloon-carriages, 60 

 to 70 feet coniferous balks are used. All panels and the interior 

 work are made of light woods, coniferous, poplar- wood, etc., 

 also of sheet-iron, and, more recently, in England, of pressed 

 oakum made out of old ship-cables. The brakes are made of 

 poplar, aspen or beech. 



In the frequently very luxurious passenger-carriages and 

 sleeping-cars, valuable ornamental veneers are used in the 

 internal fittings ; or exotic woods, such as teak, pitch-pine, 

 American walnut, fine ash, maple or mahogany, in a solid 

 form. 



Even the iron goods-trucks require about 36 cubic feet of 

 ash and oak in the construction of each truck, and there 

 are 300,000 goods-trucks on the German railway-lines alone, 

 of which 35 per cent, are roofed. 



SECTION X. COOPERS' WORK. 



The cooper makes all kinds of open or closed wooden vessels 

 to contain liquids and dry articles. A distinction may be 

 made between casks intended to hold spirituous liquors, to 

 hold other fluids, or for dry goods, such as butter, sugar, 

 herrings, etc. Nowadays casks are made chiefly in factories. 



1. Casks for Spirituous Liquors. 



The most important use for coopers' timber, and that 

 employs large quantities of the best kinds of wood, is the 

 manufacture of casks for spirituous liquors, such as wine, 



