THE USES OF WOOD 



WOODEN ARTIFICIAL LIMBS 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note. This is the ninth story in a series of important and very valuable articles by Mr. Maxwell on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



THOSE who compile statistics of the artificial limb 

 industry usually include crutches; and occasionally 

 canes and surgeons' splints are likewise included. A 

 similarity of purpose exists in all articles of this class, but 

 there are several differences in the processes of manu- 

 facturing as well as in the materials used. Wood is 

 common to all, but the different articles require woods of 

 different kinds. There is less reason for including canes 

 than crutches ; for most canes are not employed by per- 

 sons as an assistance in walking, but rather for the sake 

 of fad or fashion ; but crutches and artificial limbs are 

 used by disabled persons exclusively. In consideration of 



demand for crutches and limbs will continue long after 

 peace shall again be restored. 



The limbs wear out and crutches break and must be 

 frequently renewed. The export of artificial limbs from 

 this country is not large, neither are the imports. Shortly 

 after the beginning of the present war, when it became 

 apparent that many maimed men would return from the 

 battlefields, limb manufacturers in the United States 

 established branch houses in some of the European coun- 

 tries, ready to serve the unfortunates who might lose 

 legs or arms. It is preferable but not absolutely necessary 

 that the manufacturer of a limb shall make personal 



TYPICAL WHITE WILLOW TREES 



Nearly all of the white or English willow wood that furnishes wood material for artificial limbs grows in city parks and on road sides where 

 the trees were planted for shade and ornament. The trunks are usually thick and short, and the larger they are the better the wood is. The 

 photograph from which the above cut was made was taken in a Chicago park. 



that fact, the present article will class crutches and false 

 limbs in the same industry but will exclude canes. That 

 is the treatment accorded the subject by the United States 

 Forest Service. 



The total bill of woods consumed annually for limbs, 

 crutches, and splints in this country, according to gov- 

 ernment statistics, is 687,980 feet, board measure. That 

 compilation was made prior to the beginning of the pres- 

 ent war and represents an average consumption in normal 

 times. Without doubt, the industry has grown much 

 since, and many years must pass before it again falls as 

 low as it was in recent times of peace; because the 



measurements and supervise the fitting and adjustment. 

 Several leading American manufacturers have established 

 finishing factories in the allied countries. These factories 

 are supplied with artificial limbs in quantities from head- 

 quarters in the United States. The fitting and finishing 

 work on these limbs is done at the finishing factories, 

 where each limb is adapted to the individual require- 

 ments of the wearer. The finished article has never 

 been exported in quantities, nor is it practical to do so. 

 Some of the warring governments supply cheap legs 

 for their crippled soldiers, but they are of iron, and 

 little or no wood enters into their use. Possibly after 



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