FOREST UTILIZATION 93 



XXVIII. MATCHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 



Wooden matches are either round or square. 



A. Round matches are made on a machine resembling the wooden 



wire machine described in Section XXVII. 



B. Square matches are made from blocks 16 inches to 24 inches 



long which, after steaming or boiling, are peeled on a rotary 

 veneer machine into layers having the thickness of a match. 

 I. The veneers are automatically clipped into sheets having 

 a length of 6 feet and width equaling 5 to 12 match 

 lengths. These sheets are heaped up in packs contain- 

 ing 50 to 60 tiers. 



II. A knife system, with vertical spur-knives, plays in a 

 vertical sash and cuts from each tier, at each stroke, 

 5 to 12 matches. The pack, after each stroke, is moved 

 forward the thickness of a match. The machine has 

 a daily capacity of 25,000,000 matches. 

 III. The matches are then dried and cleaned by sifting. 



C. The treatment thereafter is identical for round and square 



matches, consisting of the . following operations : 



I. Causing the match pegs to lie parallel, by rocking them 



in an oscillating drawer. 



II. Fixing about 2,250 matches at a time in a clasp or frame. 

 III. Dipping the clasp (for fine matches) wholly into paraffine 

 and the tips thereafter into a chemical compound 

 (mastic) which forms the inflammable head. The 

 mastic consists of one or more oxidizing substances 

 (chlorate or bichromate of potash), often mixed with 

 a particle of some explosive, so as to allow of ignition 

 by friction on any rough surface. 



D. The raw material for matches is derived from cottonwoods, 



linden, sapwood of yellow poplar, white pine, spruce. A 

 white, soft and long fibre is required. 



XXIX. SHOE PEGS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 



A. Wooden shoe pegs are used to fix the "uppers" to the shoe sole 



and to construct the heel. The pegs are automatically fed from 



a pegging machine. 



Pegs are J^ inch to % inch long, square with a prismatic head. 

 The raw material consists of birch and hard maple. 



B. Manufacture. 



I. The blocks are cut into discs, ^ to ^ inch thick, by a 



circular saw. 



II. The discs are pointed in a pointing machine, which plows 

 parallel grooves, lengthwise and crosswise, into the discs. 

 The distance between two furrows equals the width of the 

 peg- 



