846 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



fully into the industry which makes wagons, particularly 

 as to the woods used in factories, though little attention 

 has been given to the woods employed and the work 

 done by individuals and in small shops which cannot be 

 classed as factories. A summary of the investigations 

 by the government shows that forty-two kinds of woods 

 are worked into vehicles by factories in the United States, 

 and that the total amount was approximately 740,000,000 

 feet a year in the period immediately preceding the 

 war. The total is now probably much more. Forty-two 

 woods are listed by name, but the actual number of 

 species is much larger; because in most cases the listing 

 is by genera, and different species are not mentioned by 



The names and amounts of the seven softwoods which 

 contribute to the vehicle supply follow : 



HOW WAGON AXLES ARE TESTED 



The above picture represents the type of machine employed by wagon 

 manufacturers and by the Government in testing axles to determine 

 their strength. Pressure by means of the powerful screws is applied 

 until the axle is forced to give way; but the applied pressure is 

 measured at the various stages and the information thus obtained is 

 of future value. 



name. For instance, all pines are classed as one, though 

 there are thirty odd pines ; all oaks as one, and there are 

 more than fifty oaks; all hickories as one, though there 

 are a dozen, all ash as if but one existed, but there are 

 several, and so on down the list. Instead of only forty- 

 two vehicle woods, as the list shows on its face, the 

 number doubtless exceeds 150 if each species is duly 

 credited with its share. 



But accepting the figures as they are given, the vehicle 

 makers use seven foreign woods, seven domestic soft- 

 woods, and twenty-eight domestic hardwoods. All the 

 foreign species enumerated are hardwoods ; so it turns 

 out that of the forty-two woods, thirty-five are hard- 

 woods. Measured in feet, the hardwoods total 702,264,- 

 693, the softwoods 36,878,444; expressed in percentages, 

 the hardwoods constitute 95 per cent, the softwoods 

 five per cent. The use of foreign woods in the vehicle 

 industry are here shown : 



FEET 



Mahogany 516,000 



Hucalyptus 40,000 



Circassian walnut 16,820 



Rosewood 1,000 



Padouk 



Doncello 



Spanish cedar. 



FEET 



1,000 

 330 

 250 



FEET 



Bine 33,077.055 



Cypress 1,320,951 



Fir 934,610 



Spruce 835,650 



Hemlock. 

 Redwood. 

 Cedar. . . . 



FEET 

 448,678 

 259,000 

 2,500 



Total 36,878,444 



The list below names the hardwoods used annually in 

 the American vehicle industry : 



FEET 



Hickory 239,483,910 



Oak 212,918,361 



Yellow poplar 48,665,960 



Ash 43,974,668 



Maple 35,863,267 



Cottonwood 33,278,658 



Kim 31,296,922 



Red gum 26,650,314 



Birch 14,267,125 



Basswood 6,418,308 



Beech 5,497,308 



Tupelo 1,067,600 



Chestnut 972,809 



Osage orange 439,026 



Black walnut 390,450 Total 701,687,940 



Though numerous woods are used in a small way in 

 vehicle making, comparatively few are employed in large 

 amounts. The two most important are oak and hickory. 

 All others combined do not equal the amounts of these 

 two. They contribute sixty per cent of the whole supply. 

 No other industry is so dependent upon one or two 

 woods, except shuttles and lead pencils, in each of which 



Hornbeam . 



Locust 



Hackberry. 

 Buckeye. . . . 

 Sycamore. . 



Cherry 



Butternut. . 

 Magnolia. . , 

 Blue beech. 

 Cucumber. . 

 Applewood. 

 Catalpa .... 

 China tree. 



FEET 



126,000 

 110.350 

 100,000 



63,419 



62,600 



39,650 



11,500 



9,500 



5,000 



3,8oo 



1,000 



500 



500 



Total 575,370 



METHOD OF TESTING BUGGY SPOKES 



The strain on a buggy ;.poke comes from endwise pressure, and if 

 the spoke is overloaded it bulges at the middle The machine repre- 

 sented in the above picture delivers and measures pressure of that 

 kind, and the behavior of the spoke is shown. Tough woods bend, 

 but brash woods break under that strain. 



