TIMBER 



CHAPTER I 



TIMBER 



Timber being displaced by Steel New uses for Timber Street Paving, 

 Pulp Manufacture, Telegraph, and Telephone Poles Advantages 

 and Disadvantages of Timber compared with Iron and Steel The 

 artistic side of Timber Structures Wide-reaching Subject and 

 Difficulties of Explanation Plants from which Timber is pro- 

 duced Description of the Structure. of Wood Annual Kings, etc. 

 Causes of Shrinkage and Expansion of Timber. 



A NEW work on timber may by some be considered of 

 questionable value, for do we not live in the " steel age " ? 

 It is true that steel plays a much more important part in 

 constructional work than was formerly the case, and its 

 use will doubtless be increased ; the use of ferro-concrete 

 will tend to displace a great quantity of timber in building 

 and other work, chiefly owing to the smaller risk of fire. 

 In the huge " sky-scraper " of forty-seven stories now being 

 erected in New York by the Singer Sewing Machine Com- 

 pany not a cubic foot of timber enters into the permanent 

 construction.* Ferro-concrete is also much used for founda- 

 tion work where formerly timber was employed, yet as in 



* Since the above was written a fire has occurred on one of the 

 upper stories of this building. 



T. B 



