A Decennial Record 175 



ments offered. I pay tribute to the proprietor of this business who 

 perfected this seemingly shght economy, for the obstacles were many.. 



There exists no mechanism that accomphshes this task to perfec- 

 tion, the common and principal fault being a lack of portability of such 

 machines as are now available, due to excess weight. The task that 

 confronts us is one of mere engineering — to establish rules covering 

 the creation of suitable mechanism. 



Who better can accomphsh this than an engineer cooperating with 

 the woodsmen? 



^ Funds in hmited quantities are available for the establishment of 

 a piece of mechanism to assist in the inquiry into the possibilities of 

 circular saws. This is being conducted by the National Lumber Man- 

 ufacturers' Association. The excessive saw kerf in the apparatus used 

 in certain required operations about the sawmill is well known. A 

 sawmill operation is a commercial institution and can poorly serve as 

 an experimental laboratory. It is common knowledge that certain re- 

 cently developed alloys in steel have solved many manufacturing prob- 

 lems in the metal tool trades— in our own industry in the planing mill. 

 The planing mill equipment of ten or twelve years ago is now obsolete. 

 The manufacturers of saws have been limited in their possible experi- 

 ment and development, for present sawmill equipment prohibited 

 experimenting. The factor of speeds of cutting points, an important 

 element in production, was defined ; the human element likewise is in- 

 volved, having to do with the care and sharpening (filing) of saws. 



The saw manufacturer is hedged in by the steel manufacturer, 

 the sawmill machinery builder, and the sawmill operator. Without 

 the cooperation of all of these, no progress can be made. 



It is proposed to install equipment for experimental purposes of 

 a type where speeds are available to a degree that does not now exist 

 in commercial mechanism. The saw manufacturer, the steel producer, 

 the metallurgist are invited to investigate and cooperate in these de- 

 velopments. They are responding with a will, and so the sawmill ma- 

 chinery builder and the lumber producer hope for progress. 



It is to be desired that the progress, for the present at least is to 

 be in the direction of reclaiming some of these losses attributed to saw- 

 dust, and not in increased capacities. This problem is merely one of 

 economics. It must be made a profitable one. Therefore, with this 

 in mind, a survey of such losses, their allocations, and whether they are 



