pRflNKLiN Institute Library FHIL^bELFHI/l Class...6.."]...4'. Bookli.2.^..W.. Accession... G..O.J.5 Article V.— The Library shall be divided into two'classes; the first comprising such work as, from their rarity of value, should not be lent out, all unbound periodicals, and such text books as ought to be found in a library of reference except when required by Committees of the Institute, or by members or holders of second class stock, who have ob- tained the sanction of the Committee. The second class shall include those books intended for circulation. Article VI.— The Secretary shall have authority to loan to members and to holders of second class stock, any work belonging to the second <'LASS, subject to the following regulations. Section 7.— No individual shall be permitted to have more than two books out at one time, without a written permission, signed by at least two members of the Library Committee, nor shall a book be kept out more than two weeks; but if no one has applied for it, the former bor- rower may renew the loan. Should any person have applied for it the latter shall have the preference. Seetion 2.— A fine often cents pee week shall be exacted for the detention of a book beyond the limited time; and if a book be not re- turned within three months it shall be deemed lost, and the borrower shall, in addition to his lines, forfeit its value. Section 5.— Should any book be returned injured, the borrower shall pay for the injury, or replace the book, as the Library Committee may direct ; and if one or more books, belonging to a set or sets, be lost, the borrower shall replace them or make full restitution. Article VII.— Any person removing from the hall, without permis- sion from the proper authorities, any book, newspaper or other property in charge of the Library Committee, shall be reported to the Committee, who may inflict any fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars. Article VIII.— No member or holder of second class stock, whose annual contribution for the current year shall be unpaid or who is in arrears for fines, shall be entitled to the privileges of the Library or Reading Room. Article IX.— If any member or holder of. second class stock, shall refuse or neglect to comply with the foregoing rules, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to report him to the Committee on the Library. Article X.— Any member or holder of second class stock, detected in mutilating the newspapers, pamphlets or books belonging to the Insti- tute shall be deprived of his right of membership, and the name of the offender shall be made public. WOOD-WOKKING MACHINEEY AND THE AEPiANaEMENT OE EACTOEIES. WOOD-WORKING MAC A. AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF FACTORIES: A MANUAL FOR PEACTICAL WOEKMEK J. EIOHARDS. E. & F. N. SPON, 125, STRAND, LONDON. \«r^EW YOKE: 35, MUREAY STREET. ' 1885. NOTE. The present work is a revised edition of ' The Operator's Handbook,' published in London 1873. The sale of the first edition was mainly in Europe. The revision includes considerable new matter. J. E. PKEFACE TO THE FIKST EDITION. In the 'Treatise on the Construction and Operation of Wood-working Machines ' it was necessary to introduce a large number of expensive engravings, and treat of many things not directly connected with the processes of wood conversion, but relating only to the construction of machines. This, while it added to the value of the work for engineers and machinists, at the same time increased its cost, and placed it beyond the means of wood-working mechanics generally; besides, the plan of the work did not include the practical operation and care of machines. In view of this fact, it has been considered expedient to supplement the ' Treatise on the Construction and Opera- tion of Wood-working Machines ' with a shorter one, vi PKEFACE. directed to their care and management, including the plans of arranging and equipping factories for wood work, and particularly the details with which the practical workman has to deal. The work is mainly based upon American practice, which can hardly detract from its usefulness in other countries. The wood interest is more extended in America than elsewhere, and we have every reason to assume, that with the present facilities of intercourse, wood conversion, like other manufacturing processes, will become more uniform in all countries, as it progresses and improves. J. E. IND EX. A. Accidents from bands, 67. flying cutters, 70. sawing, 63. set screws, 69. shaping machines, 66. winding the clothing, 69. wood machines, 62. Angle of cutters, 85. Arrangement of factories, 1. machines, 4. shafting, 22. Automatic lathes, 134. B. Band saws, 103. , blades, 103. , edge strain on, 106. , for resawing, 107. -, joining, 104. , operating, 106. , scarfing, 105. , selecting, 104. Bands, accidents from, 67. for wood machinery, 32. Bearings, care of, 81. , choice of material for, 77. , examining, 82. • , fitting, 76. for low speed, 77. , heating, 74. , highest speed, 81. lubricating, 79. , metal for, 76. . , moulding, 74. of wood maciiines, 80. , renewing, 74. , tallow for, 81. Beltd, cost of, 36. Belts, for wood machinery, 32. , hooks for, 34. , joining, 33. , leather, 33. , main, 33. , rubber, 83. , throwing on, 68. , treatment, 36. , webbing, 36. , weight, 36. , width, 35. Bench planes, 147. , using, 149. tools for wood work, 1 46. Benches for wood work, 143. Bevel of cutters, 87. Bits for mortising machines, 128. Blades of band saws, 103. Boilers, firing, 18, 19. for steam raising, 14.3 Boring machines, speed, 53. , principles, 83. Brake pulleys, 60. Brazing saws, 105. C. Caps in cutters, 86. Carriage planing. 111. saws, 102. Carriages for tenoning machines 129. Chair mortising machines, 128. Chip breakers, 86. Chisels, 147. Chuck turning, 137. ends of mortising mucliines 128. Circular saws, aims of, 102. , gauges for, 65. — , guiding, 97. , packing, 97. Vlll INDEX. Circular saws, speed, 53. Clearing -wood shops, 42. Conducting pipes for refuse, 44. Constructing mills, 1. Cost of bands, 36. Countershafting, 26. Couplings, 23. Cross-cutting wood, principles, 88. Cutters, angle of, 85. , bevel of, 87. , caps in, 86. , determining angle of, 86. , grinding, 89. , holding, 70. , making, 123. , matcher, 89. , sharpening, 90. , solid steel, 123. , tenoning, 130. , thin flexible, 93. Cutting wood , principles, 82. off saws, 102. D. Dampeb regulators, 18. Daniel's planing machine, 112. Dimensions of machinery, 5. saw benches, lUO. sawing machines, 142. shafting, 23. Dressing up stuff, 149. Drilling, 73. E. Eccentric lathe, 136. Edge strain on saws, 106. Emery wheels for sharpening, 90. End tools, 85. Engines for wood mills, 13. Examining bearings, 82. F. Factories, arrangement of, 1. Fans for moving sawdust, 43. Fust planing, 112. pidleys, 58. Feed by hand and power contrasted, 119. Files for sharpening cutters, 94. Fire, precautions against, 48. Firing boilers, 18, 19. Fitting bearings, 76. Fixing machines, 32. Flexible cutters, 93. Floors, 11. Flying cutters, accidents from, 70. Forge for brazing saws, 105. repairs, 72. Four-side machine, 114. Frame for setting circular saws, 100. of lathe, 132. Freezing, prevention of, 19. Fuel for steam, 14. Furnaces for steam boilers, 16. G. Gauge lathe, 135. tool for lathes, 138. Gauges for circular saws, 65. General wood-working mill, 8. Glass oil-feeders, 79. Grinding cutters, 89. machines, 92. Grindstone, 94. Guiding circular saws, 97. H. Hammering saws, 54. Hand-feeding machines, 118. labour superseded, xi. lathe, 131. tools, 148. Handle lathes, 137. Handling material, 37. Hanger plates, 9. Hangers for shafting, 24. Heating of bearings, 74. Highest speed, bearings for, 81. Hoists, 40. Holding cutters, 70. Hooks for joining bands, 34. Hubs of pulleys, 59. J. Jig saws, 108. , situation for, 108. , workmen for, 109, Jobbing machine, 121. Joining band saws, 104. bands, 33. INDEX. ix L. Latthe, 71, 73. , automatic, 134. , eccentric, 136. frame, 132. , gauge, 135. , tool for, 138. , hand, 131. , handle, 137. , polishing in, 134. , shear, 132. , tools for repairs, 71- , with rotary tools, 136. Line shafting, 20. Liu.ing-up a shaft, 24. List of hand tools, 148. Loftkers for tools, 95. Loose pulleys, 58. Low speed, bearings for, 77. Lubricants, 78. Lubricating bearings, 79. wood machinery, 78. M. Machine lathe, 134. Machinery, repairs, 71. Machines, arrangement of, 4. , fixing, 32. , operating, xii. , setting, 31. , shaping, 122. , starting, 57. , stopping, 57. Magazines for refuse, 45. Matcher cutters, 89. Material for bearings, 77. , supplying, 140. Metal for bearings, 76. MilJs, constructing, 1. Mortising machines, 125. , bits for, 128. , chair, 128. , chuck-ends, 128. spindles, 128. Moulding bearings, 74. irons, sharpening, 92. machine, 121. O. Oil feeders, 79. Operating band saws, 106. machines, xii. Overhead shafting, 9. P. Packing circular saws, 97. Parallel planers, 113. Patents on wood machines, 139. Planers, parallel, 113. Planes, 147. Planing, 149. , carriage, 111. , fast, 112. knives, sharpening, 91. machinery, 110, 121. mill, 6. veneers, 86. Pneumatic conductors, 42. Polishing in lathe, 134. Power to drive machines, 51. Principles of boring, 83. cross-cutting, 83. cutting, 82. Pulleys, 23, 58, 67. Purchase of wood, 140. R. EiciPROCATiNG V. rotary machines, 126. Eefuse conducting pipes, 44. Eenewing bearings, 74. Repairs to machinery, 71. Resawing machines, 107. Ei23ping saws, 84. Room lor iron repairs, 72. Rotary v. reciprocating machines, 126. Round timber, sawing, 141. Rubber bands, 33. S. Safety shields for machines, 66. Sand-papering machines, 116. Saw benches, 96. , designs, 98. , dimensions, 100. Sawing, accidents from, 63. machinery, 96. round timber, 141. Saws, 96. , band, 103. , brazing, 105. , carriage, 102. , cutting off, 102. for scroll work, 109. X INDEX. Saws, hammering, 5-4. , jig, 108. , ripping, 84. , setting, 100. , sharpening, 90. v Scarfing band saws, 105 Scroll work, saws for, 109, Selecting band-saws, 104. Self-oiling bearings, 79, Set-screws, 69, Setting boilers, 16. machines, 31, saws, 100, Shafting, 4, 9, 20. , arrangement of, 22, , lining up, 24. Shaping machines, 122. , accidents from, 66. , speed, 124. Sharpening by emery wheels, 90. files, 94. cutters, 90. moulding irons, 92. planing-knives, 91. saws, 90, small tools, 94. , stones for, 91, Shavings room, 45. Shear for lathes, 132. Soft metal bearings, 74. Soldering band saws, 104. Solid steel cutters, 123. Speed of boring machines, 53. circular saws, 53. line shafting, 51. planing machines, 53. reciprocating machines, 53. shaping machines, 124, wood machines, 50. Spindles, 73. of mortising machines, 128, Splitting wood, principles, 83, Starting machines, 57, Steam damper regulators, 18. power for wood mills, 12. Steel cutters, 123. spindles, 73. Step bearings for shaping machines, 125. Stones for sharpening, 91. Stopping machines, 57. Supplying material, 140. Surfacing machines, 115. T. Tallow cups, 80. for bearings, 81. Temper of band saws, 103. Tempering tools, 73. Tenoning cutters, 130, machines, 129. Text books, xiii. Thin flexible cutters, 93. Throwing on bands, 68. Tools, end, 85, for repairs, 71. wood work, 146. , hand, 148. , lathe, 71. , tempering, 73. , wood-turning, 133, Tramway in mill, 41. Trucks for machine rooms, 38. Truss rods, 8, Turning, chuck, 137. wood, 130. V. Veneers, planing, 86. W. Water for steam, 14. Webbing bands, 36. Wet-stone for grinding moulding irons, 93, Wicks for oil-feeders, 79, 80. Wood cutting, principles, 82. factory, diagram, 3. machines, arrangement, 4, , lubricating, 78. , patents, 139, , purchase of, 140. turning, 130, tools, 133. I working, process, 1. INTRODUCTION. At the present day it may be fairly claimed that machines have supplanted hand labour in working wood. Year by year improvements have gone on, until bench work and hand skill have become comparatively unim- portant elements in wood manufacture ; and, as Professor Willis remarked before the Society of Arts, 1852, " No- thing remains to be done by hand, but to put the com- ponent parts together." None, except those who have learned the business when machines were not used, can realise this change. You may tell the workman of to-day of going out through the snow to a board pile, selecting stuff, carrying it in, and after scraping off the snow in winter, or sweeping off the dust in summer, laying out the stuff with a chalk-line, and straight-edge, ripping out the job by hand, then dressing it up with a jack plane. You may tell him of mortising by hand, cutting tenons and shoulders with a hacksaw, and he will look at you with an incredulous stare. No wonder ; this sort of thing has passed away, and with it, we are happy to say, some of the hardest labour that ever was dignified with the name of mechanical. It was mechanical nevertheless, and called for the continual exercise of judgment and skill; from the cutting out to the cleaning off, it was a kind of race between brains and muscle. But now machines do Xll INTRODUCTION. the work, and the main business of workmen is to take care of, guide, and direct them. The muscular work is gone ; the brain work remains. We cannot quite say that wood workmen's occupation is, like Othello's, gone, but it is greatly changed. Machine operating is a trade— not an ordinary trade, but one of great intricacy, one that cannot be completely learnt even in a lifetime. A man endowed with a strong natural capacity may, during a long and diversified experience, become a pro- ficient and successful operator of wood machines, but the incessant changes and improvements that are going on in both machines and processes, together with the arduous nature of his work, are more than enough to take up his time and his abilities. He is not a mechanic with a trade in the usual sense; but is a mechanic of many trades. The duties discharged by a machine operator in America, would be and are in Europe divided up into half-a-dozen different callings: there are, for instance, the sawyer, the filer, the planer, the jig sawyer, finisher, and others, involving a division of labour which would be very far from producing the results attained in wood-working establishments in America, where the machine operator must be a bench workman, understand all wood-machine processes, must be a machinist, not only one that can chip and file, but must know the theory of constructing and repairing machines ; he must be a millwright, not an old time " whittler " who could pare for a week on half-a- dozen wooden cogs of a crown wheel, but a millwright who can lay out shafting, calculate speeds, build wooden drums and supports, and do it in a rapid and thorough manner ; in short, be proficient in the most difficult kind of mill- wright work. Thus the wood workman, in escaping the INTBODUCTION. Xlll muscular part of his calling, has only added to the mental part ; but he has at the same time the assurance that the change dignifies his business, and leads to better pay, which has at all times and in all places corresponded more to the mental than the physical part of man's labour. Text Books. Nearly every mechanical trade has its " Handbook," "Manual," or "Guide," based upon the practice of skilled men, and containing rules founded on experience, which have been of great use in giving information to workmen. To argue the merit of such books is super- fluous. In every country the advancement of mechanic art has been largely if not mainly indebted to the dis- semination of technical literature of this kind. A book relating to any branch of industry is, or ought to be, but the experience of some person, given with opinions and rules deduced from that experience, and is more valuable than oral instruction because more carefully given, can be often referred to, and used by a greater number of people. There has been in time past, and there is still, too much of a feeling that books cannot deal directly with practice, and relate to theory only ; and further, that theory and practice are not only different elements in mechanics, but in a measure antagonistic and opposed to each other. The further we go back, the more we find of this spirit, which has grown out of a variety of reasons, among which we will name the imperfection or im- practicable character of certain books prepared by those who were only versed in theory, and did not understand practice as well. These things are mentioned as operating against the good that class-text books may do ; but still xiv INTRODUCTION. the fact remains, that to such books we have been in the past indebted, and to them we must in the future look as a principal means of disseminating technical knowledge. We have said that nearly all mechanical trades have been developed by, and have, their text-books. Can anyone tell why wood manufactures have had no such text-books ? or rather, why wood working by machinery has had no books of any kind? This is the more remarkable in America, where the wood-working interest is so extensive, and where at least half a million of people are con- cerned in wood manufactures. So long as the fact is assured, the reason is not important, except as it may tend to mend the matter in future. We may say, that as changes and improvements in machines have been so rapid, text- books could not do much good ; that the art had no scientific base admitting rules that could be of general application ; and that the operations were too diversified in different branches to be treated under a general head, with other excuses ; but the fact still remains, without a sufficient reason, that wood manufactures have been greatly neglected, and that much that might have been done has not been done. In future, if the art is to keep up and maintain its place as one of the most important among American manufactures, it must, like metal work, textile fabrics, engineering, and other interests, have a literature con- sisting of text-books for operators and manufacturers, and a general system to guide, in the arrangement of factories, the operation and care of machines and like matters. As to how far a text-book, or rather a handbook, may be of general application in wood work is confessedly a question of difficulty, and this should be considered in any INTKODUCTION. XV estimate placed upon what is written upon the subject ; but there is still this argument in favour of having it relate to wood work in general, that the whole tendency of shop manipulation is to a uniformity of processes and machines, and the more of the work there is performed by machines, the stronger the analogy between different branches ; and also, as machines approach nearer and nearer to a standard form of construction for the general purposes of planing, sawing, mortising, and so on, the more uniform will be these processes. In short, the machines used for such pur- poses as joinery, cabinet making, carriage making, are becoming similar, except as to strength and capacity, which is not to be wondered at when we reflect that the one general principle throughout is cutting with sharp edges. Hoping to contribute something to such a desirable end, this little treatise has been prepared. It is based directly upon American practice, which is peculiar, and could not be aided by text-books arranged for, and with reference to practice, in older countries, where labour is cheaper and the skill less; where hand labour maintains a more important place and will no doubt for a long time to come. We conclude this Introduction by further reminding the reader that in most mechanical trades a handbook would relate to processes alone ; but for reasons already given, a book for machine operators in wood manufactures must be more than this, or else fail to be of much use. It must to some extent treat of the construction of machines, the arrangement of wood manufactories, the power to drive them, the handling of material, of all that the machine hand has to deal with. As his calling is a combination of trades, so must this book relate to a diversity of subjects. xvi INTRODUCTION. There is but little fear of going outside of what an ope- rator has to do and know, for it comprises nearly all that is carried on in wood-working shops except the accounts, and often includes a liberal share in that department. With this fact in view, we have but little fear of getting wide of the subject, and are quite confident that although we may discuss things that the Title would hardly reach, we shall not go beyond what either belongs to his business or is of interest to the operator of wood-working machinery. WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEEY. AEEANGEMENT OP WOOD- WORKING FACTORIES. WooD-woEKiNG establishments in America are divided mainly into those directed to the preparation of builders' material, the manufacture of furniture, and carriage work. The first comprehend planing mills, door, sash, and blind factories, and moulding mills. The second, all classes of furniture making, including chairs and turned work generally, with musical instrument cases. The third, carriage work for railways and road traffic, with agricultural implements, a class of work that is analogous and, as a rule, performed on the same kind of machines. Outside these three general divisions there are turning shops, bending works, handle factories, tool factories, and similar establishments, in which the processes and machines are more or less special. Wood manufacture, as a process unlike most others for the conversion of material, is confined to a single operation, that of cutting, the nature of which will be treated of under another head. The principles being nearly alike in the action of all the different wood machines, it follows that the shops are, or can be, very much on the same general plan for the several divisions of work which we have named. The machines and the B 2 WOOD-WORKINa MACHINERY. * 'material are nearly the same for general woodwork ; and if we except the sawing of rough timber, of which it is not proposed to say anything in the present work, rules that will apply to a planing mill, or furniture factory, will not be far wrong for a carriage shop or a car shop. An ordinary wood-working factory may be a plain rectangular building, not less than 48 feet wide inside; long enough and high enough to accommodate the require- ments of the business. The writer in his experience has found 50 feet an advantageous width, and would recom- mend it never exceeding 60 feet; for beyond this the added width will not afford facilities in the same ratio, and will increase the proportionate cost of a building. A width of 50 feet to 60 feet will allow for what we will term four lines of machine work, two on each side, and a tram or waggon road in the centre. The diagram given. Fig. 1, will serve as an example of Eefekences to Fig, 1. 1. — Office, 14 X 16 feet. 2. — Counting room, 16 X 16 feet. 3. — Storeroom for oil, tools, and supplies, 10 X 16 feet. 4. — Eepairing and tool-dressing room. 5. — Boiler-shed. 6. — Firing room. 7. — Magazine for shavings. 8. — Steam chimney. 9. — Engine-room. 10. — Steam furnace. 11. — Stairway. 12. — Hoisting platform. 13. — Cutting-off and jobbing saw- bench. 14. — Jointing saw. 15. — Jobbing saw. 16. — Large flooring machine. 17. — Matching planers for jobbing. 18. — Large moulding machine. 19. — Small moulding machine. 20. — Slitting saw-bench. 21. — General surfacing planer. 22. — Splitting saw for siding. 23. — Re-sawing machine. 24. — Waggon passage or tramway. 25. — Grindstones for planer-knives and tools. 26. — Engine lathe for repairing. 27. — Forge fire. 28. — Vice bench for machine fitting. 29. — Saw-filing bench. 30. — Pumps. 31. — Main driving pulley. 32. — Engine. a a. — Shafting. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. this arrangement for a jobbing mill. The pis assumed as presenting anything new, but is recommended rather for the opposite reason, because it is not new or ingenious. 4 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. The most important matter to be guarded against in making plans for a new mill, is that of intricate and original designs, seemingly presenting great advantages on paper, and apparently quite correct to an architect or builder, but really quite wrong to a foreman or manager after a building is completed. Fig. 1 is on a scale approximately as 1 to 200. The plan here suggested is for a country jobbing mill 60 X 120 feet outside dimensions, having two cross lines of shafting, and equipped with machines requiring about 40-horse power. The lower story should be 13 to 15 feet high in the clear, and the countershafts as far as possible overhead. . The arrangement of machines upon the floor is a matter that may be varied at pleasure, or to suit special kinds of work ; it cannot well be predicated upon an ideal plan, and can be remedied by changing, if wrong. The arrange- ment of the machines also depends upon their number and capacity. If in founding a mill the equipment is not complete, as is generally the case, there is no necessity for crowding and hampering machines to suit some general plan which may be carried out in future, when the mill is fully equipped ; it is often more advantageous to set machines temporarily, moving them as occasion may require, and thus obtaining more room, and greater convenience for the time being. The shafting is shown arranged in two lines, but three are often better and more convenient. If three lines are used they will cost but little more than a single one running the other way of the building, and can have the advantage of being arranged to run at different speeds if required. The last shaft, or the one farthest from the engine, can WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 5 be driven at a higher speed than the others to suit joiners' machines on an upper floor, an arrangement that is common in such mills ; joiners' machines if driven from below will not require a line of shafting above, and a self-supporting roof can be used ; the upper room may then be clear of posts, adding greatly to both the appearance and con- venience of the room. The position of the posts in the lower story is not marked in Fig. 1, but they can be arranged on each side of the central passage at a distance apart that will best accommodate the handling of long stuff, which is an important thing to be considered. In connection with the plan Fig. 1, the following list of dimensions for machinery will be of use in making plans for mills, even when they may vary in capacity from the one assumed : — Steam engine, 12 inches diameter, 20 to 24 inches stroke, with a speed of 75 revolutions a minute. Boiler if double flued, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long ; if multiflued, one-fourth less capacity surface will do. Grate surface, equal to 16 square feet. Steam chimney, 60 feet high ; area of flue, 500 square inches, fitted with air-tight slide damper. Engine driving pulley, 10 feet diameter, 18 inches space. Line shafting, 3 inches diameter throughout, to make 250 revolutions a minute. Line-shaft pulleys, with average diameter of 36 inches and 12 inches face. Average speed of countershafting, 750 revolutions a minute. Hoisting platform, 10 x 6 feet. As various dimensions will be hereafter considered under 6 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. separate heads, these are only given to render the diagram more complete. For furniture and carriage manufacture, and in any case where the pieces are short, or reduced to short lengths, in working, the arrangement of machines must have refer- ence rather to the course of the material through the shop as it is sawed, planed, bored, and mortised, than to providing room to handle it in. In the case of a planing mill, a large share of the material worked is only dressed, or jointed and matched, and then again sent out ; the trouble is to find room for it among the machines, and to handle it ; in other words, to get it into and out of the mill without interfering with other work. If flooring is regularly or continually made, or if surfacing is continually going on, it is useless to provide room within the main building for storing either the rough or finished stuff ; it should be fed in through the walls, and passed out of them as fast as worked, in such a manner as will not interfere with other operations going on at the same time. A planing mill, where nothing but planing is done, requires a totally different arrangement from a mill where joiners' stuff and mouldings are made, or jobbing done. The main building should be in such cases only 24 to 30 feet wide, with the machines placed side by side across the building, and have large doors opening opposite the feed end of each machine, as in Fig. 2. The Figure is arranged on a scale of 1 to 200. This plan in substance has been adopted in some of the larger mills in Chicago, and has many advantages to recommend it for a mill that is devoted to timber dressing alone. It affords a mill of great capacity with but a limited WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. 7 investment in the building, and the most economical arrangement of shafting and belts ; besides, the plan is as safe from fire as it is possible to arrange one. The material is handled mainly out of doors, which gives Fig. 2. \10 u Eefeeences. 1. — The main planing room. 2. — The engine-room. 3. — Storeroom for oil, tools and stores. 4. — Magazine for shavings. 5. — Boiler furnace. 6. — Storing shed for worked tim- ber. 7. — Steam chimney. 8. — Engine. 9. — Main driving pulley. 10. — Planing and matching ma- chines. 11. — Surfacing machine. 12. — Line shaft. 13. — Large doors hinged at the top to open inward. 14. — Portholes for planed stutf to pass through. 15. — Ash-pit to the steam furnace. unlimited room for storing, loading, and unloading it from wagons or railway trains. The main mill-room and the engine-room should be thoroughly fireproof, with iron roof, and roof supports. 8 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. The walls should be 18 inches thick, and the overhead cross-beams not less than 15 feet above the floor, with the line shafting placed in pedestals, resting on top of the beams. The line shafting should be 3 inches diameter, and make 250 revolutions a minute. A mill of this capacity should manufacture at least 25,000 feet of matched stuff in a day, besides doing an equal amount of rough surfacing. For general wood manufacture other than timber dress- ing or car building, the plain rectangular form of building represented in Fig. 1 is as nearly correct as any that can be devised. The material and the machines are short, and a given amount of floor room, with convenient ingress and egress, is all that is required. Upper floors are, with good hoisting apparatus, nearly as good as ground floors for most purposes, and the most economical buildings for furniture manufacturing are from four to six stories high. To secure good lighting, cheap timber framing, and to avoid posts, wood-working buildings should be narrow and long ; or rather the width should be constant, and additional room secured by length. A building for wood manufacturing can be made 48 feet wide in the clear, with a single row of posts in the middle, if the girders are deep enough, 16 x 12 inches for example, or if smaller they may be trussed, as shown in Fig. 3. The truss rods are generally in the way of the bands, especially when the line shafting is placed, as it should be, across the building ; and in nearly all cases it is both better and cheaper to provide strength in the girders without trussing them. •WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 9 In the common plan of resting joists on the top, the girders are themselves in the way of the bands, and often cause great inconvenience. But few ever consider in building shops that this method of mounting joists adds their depth to the height of the walls ; so that it is not only an inconvenient but a very Fig. 3. ■ m m m m ^ — \ J :l ^ w expensive one. A building with three floors will require to be some three feet higher at least, to give the same clearance between the floors as when the joists are let in flush. For factories where there is overhead shafting, the joist should be gained into the girders, and rest on string pieces also, as in Fig. 4. With bearing strips to help support the joists, the latter need not be gained into the girder deep enough to weaken it. The bottom of a beam is its weakest part, in resisting transverse strain ; and a gain or notch say 1\ inches long and 6 inches deep in a girder 16 X 12 inches, does not affect its strength. The top receives only compressive strain, and after notching is generally stronger than the bottom side. In Fig. 4, 5 5 are hanger-plates, which are thick enough 10 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. to come flush with the bottom of the girders, as shown by the dotted lines. This arrangement of having the girders project below the joist to a depth equal to a 3 or 4-inch hanger-plate, is one that will find favour with any mechanic who has had experience in erecting shafting beneath a floor, where the joist was laid on the top of the girders, Fig. 4. Eefekences. 1 . — Section across the girder. 2. — Joists. 3. — Post. 4. — Iron post cap, wide enough to receive the pisces 6, 6, which are bolted or spiked to the sides of the girder 1, to receive part of the strain and support the joists. and where all the plans for bands, and even the position of machines, had to be governed by the position of the girders. As here arranged, the whole ceiling is in effect a plane; a shaft or other overhead work can be set anywhere. If a hanger comes on the girders, it is evident that no hanger-plate is required, so that there is really no inconvenience, but a decided advantage, in having the girders project below the joist, to the difi'erence of their depth, say from 3 to 4 inches. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 11 Joist floors are the best floors for wood-manufacturing establishments of all kinds. A plank floor, resting on girder beams, is very strong in the sense of supporting a great load, and will do very well for machine shops, but is totally unfit to resist the jar and vibration of high-speed machines. A floor of this kind is elastic and springy, no matter how thick it may be, while a joist floor, well bridged, is stiff and unyielding ; although it might be broken through in spots with heavy weights, or might yield more in supporting heavy weights. To put the same planking upon joists, that is usually laid on beams, would make a stronger floor in nine cases out of ten. But the custom is to put a thin floor, generally a single one, on joists, and a double one, consisting of heavy plank for the first course with l|-inch matched boards, upon beams. Without questioning the necessity of the double floor in the case of beams, and admitting that a joist floor is strong enough without it, it is certainly but fair to assume a floor of equal strength in the two cases, when making comparisons between the two methods. A double floor is always best. One of 1^-inch thick- ness laid across the joist, and an inch matched floor lengthwise of the building, making 2^ inches in all, is strong enough for ordinary upper floors that have finishing machines to support. Ground floors on which the heavy traffic comes cannot be made too strong. The weight of heavy machines requires good foundation supports to keep them level and to prevent vibration, but the piling of timber, which is quite as heavy, and falls first in one place and then another, is the main thing to provide against. The weight of machines is constant at one place, and when 12 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. once levelled up would remain so ; but if two to five thousand feet of hard wood timber is piled near, unless the floor is very strong, the machines will be listed over or twisted by depression of the floor. When there is no basement room, and nothing to hinder building piers beneath a floor, there is no excuse for having it weak enough to yield, and it only requires proper precautions at the time of erecting the building. STEAM POWER FOE WOOD-WORKING ESTABLISHMENTS. Among other subjects which a foreman or wood-machine operator is expected to understand is that of steam power. The steam power is an integral part of the machinery of such an establishment, and should not be conducted as a kind of separate department from the rest. If it is, as a natural consequence delays and derangements will be of frequent occurrence. To keep an engine always running requires quick judgment and a fertility of expedients not often found with the class of engine-men commonly employed in wood-working mills. In the United States foremen and operators are, as a rule, well acquainted with steam power, and it often becomes a part of their duty to give suggestions and make plans for furnaces, boilers, engines, and other details of the power department. It is therefore considered quite in place to devote a short chapter to the subject, directed to some of the peculiar points to be observed in making plans for steam power in wood-working establishments. WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. 13 A wood-working factory, unlike a machine shop, has not tlie same facilities for repairing, and keeping fancy steami engines in order. The dust renders it almost im- possible to keep them clean or bright, and the work is so irregmlar, and so heavy, that the expense of finishing is much better expended in more careful fitting. Th(e duty of a steam engine is not only more severe, but isi more irregular than in almost any other business. As a irule, steam engines in wood-working establishments will be found working up to their full capacity, and require the packing and joints to be carefully kept in order. The duty is irregular in consequence of the sudden strain of starting planing machines, saws, and similar machines. The average duty is regular enough to dispense with independent cut-off valves on the engine, which must always add to the complication, and liability to derangement and wear. A strong plain engine is what is required, without bright finish or ornament, but with well-fiitted joints and large bearing surfaces made of the best material. Thie piston, cross -head, connecting rod, and main healings are the vital parts to be looked after. The cross-iead slides are continually deprived of their oil by fine dust that will find its way to the engine-room, no matter what precautions are taken; these should have either fibrous packing, oil feeders, or be made of wood. Strips of lignum vitae will be found to wear well and be safe from cutting the slides ; besides, they can be replaced at any time without detention. An engine to drive wood machines requires a heavy balan ce wheel to ensure steady motion, it should have not less than 500 pounds of weight to each inch of diameter of the cylinder, and be as large in diameter as practicable. 14 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. The piston speed should for the same object be from 300 feet to 400 feet a minute. The boiler and steam furnaces are matters of greater importance than the engine. They generate the power, the engine merely transmits it to the work, a thing not always thought of. In determining which type of boiler to use, there are two leading conditions to be taken into account — the kind of water, and the kind of fuel to be used. Wood refuse alone is not a strong fuel, but when mixed with bituminous coal it makes a very hot fire, which from its intensity and irregularity may be considered destruc- tive to a boiler ; to obviate this the boiler must be kept clean, and should be made of simple form, admitting of easy access to every part. With hard lime water, which is commonly found throughout the middle States, this last-named condition becomes a necessity ; no complicated multiflued or fire- box boiler can last long when there is much lime in the- feed water. The advantage gained by the thinner metal in the tubes or by the fire-box is soon lost through incrus- tation, while the original cost, subsequent repairs, cost of cleaning, care, management, and risk, are all in favour of the plain cylinder boiler without flues, or with flues that can be reached for the purpose of cleaning, both inter- nally and externally. The irregularity of firing with wood fuel, especially when a regulating damper is not used, makes steam room desir- able ; this is seldom obtained in a multiflued boiler, where the contracted heating surface generally leads to a pro- portionately contracted steam space, and this, with the ordinary mode of firing, has the steam " up " and " down " continually, causing a derangement of the work, and WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 15 having a most destructive effect upon the boiler itself from intermittent strain. The heating surface and steam room, or in other words the capacity of a boiler, should be one-third more for a wood manufactory where the cuttings and shavings are burned, than where coal is exclusively used for fuel. Although in opposition to popular opinion, a plain cylinder boiler without flues of any kind, carefully set in a first-class furnace, and made long enough to gain the full effect of the fire, is quite as good as any other. There is, however, not much use in recommending a thing which it is known will not be applied. There is a prejudice against cylinder boilers throughout most parts of the country that prevents their use in a great many cases where they would give as good a result as those with flues, and have other advantages which all must admit. Following the general practice of the middle and western States, we present some views respecting the construction of furnaces for double-flued cylinder boilers. The plans set forth in the Diagrams which follow have, for general objects, a tight furnace, a cool place to fire, and a saving in first cost, with greater safety from fire. Such a furnace as is here represented requires better mason-work than ordinary furnaces, and should have a thorough lining of fire-brick about the fire-bed. The whole amount of brickwork is greater than when an iron fire-front is used. As a modification of steam furnaces it may be considered adapted to wood-manufacturing establishments, because of its safety from fire and the avoidance of heat by the fireman ; the latter, considering the attention and time that is needed to fire with shavings, is no small object. Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section through a furnace 16 WOOD-WORKING MA.CHINERY. Fig. 5. built with its end opposite to and combined with the chimney, so that no breeching is needed. The firing is effected from the side, as seen in the side elevation, Fig. 6, without exposure to the heat, and with more safety from danger of fire. The ash-pit opens on the opposite side of the furnace generally, outside the building, where there is no danger of the shavings catching fire while feeding the furnace or when the attendant is absent. A slide damper and the lever to work it are shown on the front of the chimney, Fig. 6. A cross-section through the furnace at the bridge wall is shown at Fig. 7, with the covering over the boiler to retain the heat and to guard against danger from sparks. The filling, or covering, should be of sand, earth, or ashes, instead of mortar and brick, which is liable to crack and allow sparks to escape when the damper is shut ; this is one of the most common sources of fire about wood fac- tories where steam power is employed. i4 The following dimensions are for a furnace of this kind, WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 17 arranged for about 40 horse-power, and sufficient to drive a mill such as shown in Fig. 1. Boiler, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long. Two flues, 16 inches diameter. Height of steam chimney, 60 to 75 feet. Area of flue in the chimney, 500 inches. Area of boiler flues, 400 inches. Area of throat at the bridge wall, 400 to 450 inches. Area of grate surface, 16 square feet. Area of the flue behind the bridge wall, 7 to 10 feet. Clearance on the sides of the boiler, 4| inches. Clearance at back end of the boiler, 14 inches. Size of fire-door, 15 x 30 inches. Depth of ash-pit, 24 inches. Width of ash-pit, 42 inclies. Ash-door (air inlet), 700 to 800 inches. Thickness of furnace walls, single, 13 inches. Thickness of furnace walls, if double, 17 inches. Depth from boiler to grate, 18 to 22 inches. Clearance between boiler and chimney, 24 inches. The fire-room floor to be level with the grates. A covering of loose earth or sand, as shown in Fig. 7, has other advantages besides the safety which it ensures from fire; it is cheap, easy to remove and renew, and a good non-conductor of heat. With a tight furnace covered in this Fig. 6. manner, it is comparatively safe to erect drying rooms 0 18 WOOD- WORKING MACHINERY. over a boiler, if the wood is kept at some distance — 5 feet or more — above the furnace. The usual method of firing with wood shavings is wrong ; there are seldom any means employed to regulate the fire or the quantity of steam generated, Fig. 7. except by the amount of fuel that is fed to the furnace ; a custom not only wrong, because of the waste of fuel it occasions, but because of the irregularity it causes in the pressure of the steam and the increased amount of labour in firino^. Without some means of con- trolling the fire there is, at intervals, an intense heat which generates more steam than is needed ; the fuel is soon burnt out, and the cold air allowed to pass through the bare grates, until the heating effect of the fire is in part counteracted. When fresh fuel is added it at once burns up, or, as is often the case with a strong draught, nearly all the lighter shavings are drawn over the bridge wall before they are burned. An experiment for a single day in the use of a regulating damper will be sufficient to convince any one of its advantages. The furnace should be kept full of fuel, no matter what its character, and the steam regulated by the draught, either with a slide damper operated by the fireman, or what is much better, with a steam damper that regulates the draught without any attention. There are perhaps no simple contrivances that save so much labour and money, so uniformly perform their functions satisfactorily, are so much neglected and so little known, as steam damper regulators. No one who uses them would think of doing without them, and but few who do not have them know of their importance. WOOD-WOBKING MACHINERY, 19 There is no case where steam dampers are not needed, but nowhere else are they so important as to regulate the fire in the steam furnaces of wood-working establishments, where the fuel is of a mixed and inflammable character and cannot be fed with sufficient regularity to keep the steam at a uniform pressure. In arranging steam plant for wood manufactories pro- vision should be made to guard against freezing in the winter. Carrying out and bringing in such bulky material as timber always makes a shop cold, especially in the lower story where the steam power is placed. Nothing is more annoying than to be " froze up." A little oversight in this way often leads to expensive delay, when a small out- lay would have saved all if it had been expended in time. Another very important matter in the arrangement of steam furnaces for wood mills is to have them convenient to fire. It is possible to provide against heat by neither using a smoke breeching, nor an iron fire front, but if the fireman has to stand and shovel shavings through a small door breast high, only half has been done that can be accomplished to render firing easy. The fire-doors should be level with the fire-room floor, so the shavings and sawdust may be shoved into the furnace with a large scraper. Fire-doors should be not less than 30 inches wide, doors well lined to keep them cool, and the whole floor in front of the furnace made of iron plates, so that the fuel may lie about the floor without danger of catching fire, and thus avoid the trouble of continually sweeping up, which would otherwise be necessary. There is not the least objection to arranging a furnace in this manner, in fact there is a decided gain in convenience of access to every part, except to the ash-pit, which is but a small matter. c 2 20 WOOD-WORKING MA.OHINERY. SHAFTING FOE WOOD SHOPS. If any macliine operator of long experience, or, for that matter, of short experience, were asked what occasioned the greater number of accidents in wood shops and what caused most delays, he would be sure to reply, " The line shafting." For a shaft to break by crystallization frona bending — to be torn loose by winding bands— to have pulleys or couplings come loose, is a common cause of detention and expense. The couplings are mentioned last, although if ranked as to the amount of detention and trouble they cause, they should have been named first ; but whether it be couplings, pulleys, hangers, or shafting, the trouble is generally with the " main line." If we go to a machinist who makes shafting, and inquire whether there is any special difficulty in the way of having it safe from derangement or accident, he will answer, " Certainly not." Granting this, we have either a paradox, or very bad practice, and as a paradox is rare in mechanics, the latter is the safer conclusion. Shafts for transmitting motion and power are the oldest of mechanical appliances, and should, as we would suppose, for this reason, be among the most perfect, but this is a claim to which they can by no means pretend. The great diversity of the plans for couplings, hangers, and bearings by different makers attests the fact that the manufacture of shafting is by no means a perfected art.* There are but few places where line shafting is so severely * It will be fair to say that a few leading makers have so improved fittings that their shafting is almost free from the defects pointed out, yet a large share is still made on the old method. WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. / tried as in wood shops ; the usually small diameter, wit high speed, wide bands, and the heavy duty that it gene- rally has to perform, are conditions more or less avoided in other manufacturing establishments. Machines when suddenly started, offer a resistance in proportion to the power employed in driving them, and measured by this rule, there are but few machines in common use so heavy to start and causing so great a strain upon the shafting, as planing machines and circular saws. There are of course many that require as much power, but to include all conditions, such as the speed of the bands and the usual means of shifting them, with the sudden stopping which often occurs, there is hardly a parallel among manufacturing machinery. A large planing machine or saw that consumes eight to ten horse- power to drive it, will have the bands shifted instantly from the loose to the fast pulley, and the only reason the shafting does not give way is that such machines are generally but weakly driven, and the bands slip until the machine gets into motion ; the same thing in effect occurs in over-feeding saws, so that the shafting is con- tinually subjected to a succession of torsional strains, that will soon search out bad jobs in fitting couplings or other parts. In preparing plans for a wood-working mill, the shaft- ing should, for reasons already given, go across the build- ing whenever practicable. By connecting from one line to the other at one side of the room the whole power is not transmitted through couplings, as in the case of one continuous shaft to drive all the machinery. The work is also divided more evenly throughout the several lines, and this does away with the supposed necessity of having the line shafting in sections of various diameters, which 22 "WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. prevents the iuterchange of pulleys from one shaft to another, and often leads to expense and trouble. The first section of shafting carrying the main driving pulley should have a diameter equal to one-fifth the width of the main driving band, and be supported at each side of the main pulley ; to make a rule, this section should not be more than twenty diameters long between bearings. Fig. 8 shows a good arrangement of line shafting for a mill 50 by 150 feet, with three cross lines of shafting. Fig. 8. Kefebences. 1. — The main driving pulley. 2. — Band to the engine. 3 and 4. — Second driving pulleys. 5 and 6.— Third driving pulleys. Having the first or driving sections 6 feet long, and four additional sections in each line 10 feet long, is a good arrangement for a mill of the dimensions given. The advantages gained by this plan over that of having a continuous line, or a single line running the other way of the building, are : — First. — Only a part of the power is transmitted through the couplings. Second. — The speed of the different lines can be varied WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. 23 and to some extent accommodate machines of different classes, which can be arranged with this view. Third.— A part of the shafting can be stopped for re- pairs, or to put on bands or pulleys without stopping the whole ; in other words, about two-thirds of the works may be kept going in such cases. Fourth. — With this arrangement the shafting can be of a uniform diameter throughout, except the first or driving sections. Fifth. — The machines stand lengthwise the building, and the course of the stuff is in this direction, as it should be, and as it must be, for it is no uncommon thing to find planing and other machines driven with twist bands to accomplish this, when shafting is placed the other way. For wood shops, 2^-inch and 3-inch shafting are the best sizes; 2^-inch shafts are as small as any should be, and they should not, without some important reason, exceed 3 inches in diameter. A line of 2i-inch shafting will run safely and well at 300 revolutions a minute, or a 3-inch line will run 250 revolutions a minute, if the bearings are properly made and it is kept in line. Pulleys should be turned true and balanced perfectly, no matter what their speed ; it is never known where pulleys may have to be used, and the only safe rule is to have every pulley carefully balanced, no matter what the speed may be at which they run. As to couplings, they should be adjustable or com- pressive, not keyed on, or " wedged " on as it may be called. Adjustable couplings are now very generally used for line shafting, and there is certainly no place where they are more required than in wood shops, where there is such a continual changing and adding of 24 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. machines and pulleys, and the shafts constantly to be disconnected for the purpose. Hangers to support the line shafting in wood shops should always have their bearings pivoted, and adjustable vertically. The heavy loads of lumber that are piled on upper floors depress them between the posts, and a line shaft requires to be often levelled up. If the bearings have a vertical adjustment in the hanger frames, and are moved by screws, as they should be, it is a small matter to go along the line and level it. A hundred feet of shafting may be adjusted in this manner in an hour^ if the larger bands are thrown off to relieve it from strain, and the shafting is straight and true. The operation is so simple and so generally understood that it need not be explained here. Shafting is not liable to get out of line horizontally, unless from the strain of bands ; it is, however, well to line up as often as twice a year, to be sure that all is right. It has been in times past a common thing to allow it to run as long as it would go, without adjusting, and then stop the works for a day or two to " line up " ; which is unnecessary and only a loss of time. A shaft may be levelled by almost any one when the hangers are properly made, and may be done at noon, or after stopping in the evening, without interfering with working time. To line a shaft horizontally is but little more trouble if the bearings or hangers can be moved in that direction. Suspended hangers should have the bolt-holes slotted for an inch or more of movement, and pst hangers should have movable bearings that permit side adjustment. Assuming that there is some meaa§ of ffiovlfig the shaft horizontally, a good plan of adjusting it is by sus- pending a number of plumb-lines that will bear against WOOD-WORKINa MACHINERY. 25 one side of the shaft, and reach down low enough to be sighted from the floor, as shown in Figs. 9, 10 ; or for o References. Fig. 10. 6. — The ceiling, to which the hangers are bolted. a a a. — The line shaft. c c c. — Plumb-lines resting against the shaft, near to the bearings. d d. — A horizontal line stretched below the shaft. greater accuracy a strong line may be stretched about 5 feet from the floor, as at d d, to gauge the plumb-lines from. This lower line can at the beginning be set within about one -eighth of an inch of the two plumb-lines at the ends, and the rest _ can then be adjusted to the same position by moving the bearings ; or the end bearings can be also ad- justed, as the case may require. A ball of strong packing thread, and half a dozen or more old screw nuts for the plumb-lines, make an outfit, and the job can be executed with but little expense or time, if the hangers are properly made. This kind of work must be to a great extent a matter 26 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. of judgment ; any one who depends wholly upon what he may have seen done and been instructed in will not be so successful in millwrighting as if he proceeds boldly, using his own judgment as to plans, and considering thoroughly the work before beginning it. There are many ways of adjusting line shafting ; some of them tedious and expensive. The one suggested is the most simple that can be given, and is accurate enough for all practical purposes. EEEOTING COUNTEKSHArTING. If a machine operator or even a regular millwright were to be set at a job to test his judgment and abilities, there is perhaps none that could be selected better than erecting a countershaft. The ways of erecting, all of which may in the end produce the same result, are so various as to render it difficult to give rules that will be generally applicable. The advantages of the different plans can only be tested by the time required to do the work, assuming, of course, that it is to be properly done in all cases. It may require two, and often requires three, men a whole day to put up a countershaft, which in another case will be put up in two hours by one man, assisted only in holding and lifting. In erecting a countershaft, first to be determined is the position of the machine to be driven, and whether the bands will be clear. When a line shaft is crowded with pulleys, it often requires great care to plac§ the counter- shafts so that bands will not interfere with each other ; it is no uncommon thing for a shaft to be put up, and then WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 27 the discovery made that they interfere with others on the opposite side of a line shaft. Care in starting is the main point, not only in putting up shafts, but in most other mechanical operations that involve calculations or accurate measurements. Beginning with the hanger-plates, these should be of hard wood, long enough to reach from two to four joists, as the weight of the shaft and banding may require ; their width should be from one and one-half to twice the width of the hanger base, and their thickness, as an approximate rule, one-fifth the drop of the hanger. When the joists are of hemlock, or harder wood, and three inches or more thick, almost any kind of shafting can be hung with safety on wood screws, or lag screws, as they are sometimes called, passing through the hanger-plate, and screwed directly into the joist. These screws should be of good size, not less than f inch diameter in any case, and long enough to pass into the joist a distance at least equal to the thickness of the hanger-plate. A plate 3 inches thick requires, with cast-iron washers, screws that are 7 inches long ; if one in each joist, | inch diameter ; if two in each joist, | inch ; or | inch will do for ordinary countershafts. Having the hanger-plates ready, next mount the shaft in the hangers and invert them on the floor, Fig. 11, and after settling the shaft to see that the bearings are not cramped, and that the hangers stand fair on their base, measure between the bolt holes accurately, or what is better, cut a short strip of wood to the length between the centres, marked c in the figure. If the shaft is to be placed to suit some pulley on the line shaft, measure from the centre of the hanger next the loose pulley the distance to the centre between the 28 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY, tight and loose pulleys ; this should also be marked on the stick, as the hase for the position of the shaft : we will term it the driving belt line, marked a, Fig. 11. This band line must then be determined and scribed on the joist ; it is easily found from a pulley, or by measuring from a wall or girder that crosses the line shaft at right angles. Placing the measuring stick, next set out at each end for the wood screws or bolts that are to hold the hanger-plates, bore the hanger-plates and screw them up at one end, but not hard against the joist, leave a half-inch or more for packing, when levelling up; then set the plates at right angles across the joist, and mark the position of the joists so as to bore through the plates for the other screws, which can be done by swinging the plates around, and without taking them down. Again set the plates across the joist as accurately as possible by means of a carpenter's square, and mark the place for holes in the joist for the remaining wood screws. In screwing up the plates they can be brought level by furrowing down on their top, with pieces of wood split in two or notched to accommodate the wood screws. WOOD-WORKING MA.CHINERY. 29 To mount the hangers, if they have pivot bearings, as all ought to have, bore through the hanger-plate for one bolt by measurement ; no great accuracy is required unless the shaft has to come laterally to a particular line, which is seldom the case. Screw up one hanger with a through Fig. 12. tr ^ i 1 I W 1 I II a\ bolt, then remove the pulleys from the shaft, put it in the hangers, and propping the loose one, with a brace restiug on the floor or a stage, as shown at Fig. 12, For the next operation, procure a pole or strip of wood c. Fig. 13, Pig. 13. < — ^ long enough to reach from the countershaft to the line shaft, cut a notch in the end, or drive a strong spike in the side, and let it rest on the line shaft, at a, and extend to the countershaft at d. By moving alternately from 30 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. one end of the countershaft to the other, and driving the loose hanger to adjust it, a parallel is obtained, much truer than by lines and measurement, and in a tenth part of the time. The pole can be marked at the centres of the countershaft at each trial until the ends correspond. Then bore the remaining holes for the hanger-bolts, put the pulleys on the shaft, and mount the whole in place. Level the shaft by means of a spirit level or by a plumb- line alongside the pulleys, which, if they are at all true, will be found accurate enough. The work is now finished, and there is a question as to which is the greater labour, to erect a shaft or to describe the operation. With a good pair of trestles at hand, wood screws and hanger-plates ready, an ordinary countershaft for bands three to six inches wide should be put up in from one to two hours' time, by one man and an assistant. The time of erecting, and the accuracy with which a shaft can be set, as well as the facility with which it can be kept in line, depend greatly upon how the hangers are made. All bearings in wood-working establishments should be pivoted ; the depression of floors which takes place is continually alter- ing the bearings in a greater or less degree, and if rigid, they are spoiled by the least change. Such nicety is not required at low speeds, but when shafts carrying heavy strained bands have a speed of 750 or more revolutions a minute, every precaution must be observed to have them run without heating. If the bearings are pivoted, and arranged to be adjusted vertically, it is but little trouble to keep shafts level. The bolt holes in the hanger-plate if slotted to allow for horizontal adjustment, will answer for pendent hangers without having the bearings movable laterally in the brackets. The transverse strength of the brackets should be sufiS- WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY, 31 cient to break the bands, if not, there is always danger of the whole being torn down by winding bands ; and as these are generally much stronger than are used in other shops the hangers should be made accordingly. SETTING MACHINES. Setting machines belongs to the same class of work as erecting shafting, and is much the same thing and a matter of judgment rather than one of acquired skill. The only general rule that can be given is to set them level, with their shafts and spindles parallel to the line shaft. There are, however, many plans of doing this and a word on the subject will not be amiss. When a new shop is built, each floor should be scribed with what we will term a machine line, that is, a base from which the engine, the line shaft, countershafts, and machines may be set, independent of each other, and yet with accuracy. To do this, a centre line should be made through the building both ways, and scribed on the floors, not with an awl alone, but with a wagon maker's scribing hook, that will cut a deep groove. After striking with a chalk line, a straight edge should be fastened down and the lines scored so that they will remain as long as the floor lasts, or at least as long as machines are to be added. If there are ground floors, the lines can be made on the walls, or ceiling ; they should be somewhere, in each story, and in each room. When these lines are once made, the setting of machines becomes a simple matter, lines parallel or at right angles are easy to lay out ; and shafts or spindles can be set true by measurement as in Fig. 13, if they are first levelled. 32 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. A common practice when a shaft or machine is to be erected is to square it from something which has pre- viously been set by something else, on the principle of measuring by succession, a practice no mechanic would think of in other cases. If machines have iron frames and stand on masonry, they can be fixed by running melted lead or brimstone under the feet after setting and levelling them. On earth floors, however, it is not necessary to build masonry for any except reciprocating machines. Stakes of locust, cedar, or mulberry wood, set in the earth from three feet to four feet deep, and then sawn oif level on top, make almost as good a foundation for any machine as masonry. It is, however, exceptional to find machines set on the ground, a plan that has nothing to recommend it, there has in any case to be a floor over a great part of the room, that usually costs as much as a complete floor would, if it had been laid down at the beginning. BANDS FOE WOOD MACHINERY. Most rules that apply to bands in general are applicable to those used in wood-working establishments, yet there are some conditions to be taken into account that are peculiar and exceptional. They dry in all cases, and often have shavings or sawdust passing under the sur- faces, preventing contact on the pulleys, and so reducing the tractive power; besides, the bands move at such a high speed that it prevents contact on the pulleys, especially when they are of small diameter. For these reasons, bands should be much wider than WOOD -WORKING MACHINERY. 33 would be required to transmit an equal amount of power in other establishments. Bands to drive wood-cutting machines require to be at least one-third wider than for metal-cutting or other machines where the bands can be kept soft or moist. Even twice the width will not be too much in some cases. For main bands, india-rubber is preferable to leather. It has advantages in driving capacity, in running true, and, if well made, it is more durable ; its merits are, as a rule, not understood, although it has been in use for many years. The ordinary rubber bands of commerce may not be as durable as leather ; both the webbing and the rubber may be of poor quality ; but if an order is sent to a tirst-class firm for a good rubber band, heavy enough for its work, there is no leather band that will equal it. The driving power in a wood shop, where the surfaces must run dry, is at least one-third greater than that of leather, and the tension can be proportionately less, or the band proportionately narrower to do the same work. The best plan, however, is to keep the width and avoid tension, which, if too great, is apt to break the joints and heat the bearings of shafts. For joining rubber bands there is no better plan than with malleable iron hooks. Clamps, with plates on the back, and other contrivances of a similar kind, make the joint too rigid, and also make a disagreeable noise in passing over iron pulleys. Cement joints that are gene- rally recommended by the manufacturers cannot well be made by those unskilled in the matter, and are not necessary except for heavy driving bands. What is wanted is a smooth joint, quickly and cheaply made, and one that will not pull out ; such a joint can be made with hooks. A band 12 inches wide can in this D 34 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. way be put together in a good workmanlike manner in ten minutes, and the joint will stand for a long time under any strain that a band ought to bear, whether it be of gum or leather. To make the joint, cut the band square ; then lay out Fig. 14. / 0 ■ o Q o O o 0 o the lines for the holes, so that when the ends of the band are placed together the distance between them will be a little more than the length at a, Fig. 14. Punch the Fig. 15. Fig. 15a. holes, then lap the ends, as in Fig. 15, and drive the hooks by keeping a bar of iron, a hammer, or some other weighty piece beneath the band. After the points of the hooks are through at both ends, the join can be butted WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. 35 together by bending the band backward from the joint until the ends will pass, and then straightening it. To clinch the hooks use an anvil bar, Fig. 15a, closing first one end and then the other with a light hammer, so that the band will be firmly clamped, hut not cut, with the hooks. In this last operation lies the secret of making these hook joints successfully; if the hooks are closed properly they will not tear out the holes like lacing, but will pull the band asunder at the holes, proving the joint to be as strong as any other portion of the band, less the weakening effect of the holes. If the hooks are hammered down too hard they cut into the band and weaken it. After the joint is closed the hooks may be bent to conform to the curvature of the pulleys they run over. If one is large and the other small, the hooks should be bent to fit a curve between them in size, or to fit the small pulley. That such hooks have not become more popular is owing to the careless manner in which they have been used. A band may be fastened in almost any manner with lacing, and hold for a time ; but it is not so with hooks ; they must be put in carefully. Properly done, they make one of the best joints, and if improperly done, perhaps the worst. The size of the hooks must be adapted to the thickness and width of the bands ; the distance from the joint to the holes should be at least equal to three thicknesses of the band. The width of driving bands and their length should be such, that when at angles lower than 30 degrees they will do their work without tension on the slack side. By no tension, is meant that the band should be loose enough to hang in a curve. Main driving belts are here alluded to, and particular stress is laid on this matter, for no good D 2 36 ■WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. result can be attained with a heavy band that is not capable of doing its work mainly by its weight. Speaking of weight, it may be remarked that in making comparisons of cost between leather and india-rubber, weight should be taken into account. As a rule, single leather bands wider than 6 to 8 inches are not to be com- pared in weight to rubber ones of two and three ply, which with heavy cotton webbing, correspond to double leather bands, which are usually double the price. A leather band wider than 8 inches should always be double, no matter what its purpose, unless it is to run at a very high speed on small pulleys, which need never occur if machinery is properly arranged. For the extreme high speeds sometimes necessary in wood machines, bands of cotton webbing can be used with advantage. Heavy saddlers' webbing coated with beeswax makes a band that is very light, and has a high tractive power. When used the pulleys must be true and smooth, and the bands kept clear of flanges, or anything that will produce a rubbing action, as this soon destroys them. In the change from round bands, once almost exclu- sively used, to flat ones, we have no doubt gone too far ; round ones are in many cases much cheaper and better. They are extensively used in England and on the Conti- nent, but are rarely seen on American machines. For the first movers to drive the feed works of planing and other machines, they are better than flat bands, especially when cones are used for graduating the speed, and when they are exposed to shavings or sawdust. In the treatment of bands for wood machines nearly all that can be done is to keep them soft ; a coat of warm castor-oil now and then laid on with a brush or sponge is a good way to soften them. Tallow is as good, but more WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 37 difficult to apply. For rubber belts no surface coating can be so good as the india-rubber itself, which is soluble in and infused by animal oils ; as such bands do not need softening they should be left alone, as the safest plan. HANDLING MATEEIAL. A large share of the labour of a wood-working esta- blishment is directed to moving and handling material. It is one of those things which cannot be done to any extent by power; and in machine operations constitutes more than half the labour. There can be little informa- tion given about handling long timber, but the following suggestions in regard to short stuff or work in process will enable an operator to get along without so much handling and carrying as is common. In arranging machines, they should always be set so as to leave truck-room between and around them ; no matter how crowded a room may be ; the floor-room saved by piling stuff on trucks will more than make up for that lost in passages. In furniture and chair shops, carriage shops, turning shops, door, sash and blind shops, and in nearly all wood- working factories, the material can be kept on trucks instead of on the floor, and two important advantages gained; it may at any time be moved from place to place, and can readily be reached without stooping to the floor. "We may also mention the system, order, saving from bruises, and the facility for counting pieces, as further objects gained by the truck system suggested. 38 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. The trucks for machine rooms should be made of uni- form size for each story ; there is no use in depending upon a particular truck being kept for a special use ; the © CD Fig. 16. ® rule is, to take the first one at hand, and there is but little use in having different sizes. They can be made as shown in Figs. 16, 17, for stuff cut out and in process, and Fig. 17. lirn for anything except heavy loads of timber, which require a truck that is lower and much stronger. The main frames should be of hard wood, about 4x4 inches, the cross rails set in 3^ inches from the end, with tenons to WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. 89 keep them in place. Two through bolts | in. diameter along the inside of the cross rails hold the frame firmly together, and yet allow it to yield in passing over blocks or uneven floors. The common mistake in making such trucks is in having them too rigid ; they will not last long or work well, unless made to yield at the corners. The planking across the top can be nailed to the side rails ; it should be 1^ or 1^ inch thick, of white wood, sycamore, or some other tough wood, that will stand bruising, and not split ; even pine is better than ash or oak. The standards should be arranged to go either at the ends or on the sides, as shown Fig. 18. Fig. 19. s r V ly 1/ in the plan, Fig. 17. Figs. 18 and 19 show a complete set of irons for a truck 4 feet to 5 feet long and 2 feet to 3 feet wide, consisting of four cast-iron brackets with a flange at the top to be fastened with wood screws ; the swivel piece may be cast of malleable iron; the small screw is to keep the swivel from falling out when the truck is lifted ; the roller can be of cast iron ; the staples are for the sides and ends of the truck, as in Fig. 17; these staples should be forged from iron about 1^ X f inch, and large enough to receive a tenon 2^ x 1^ inch. 40 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEKY, With from six to twelve of these trucks on a floor, or at least one for each machine, half the handling and nearly all the carrying is saved. In working stuff two are needed at each machine, so that the pieces can be taken from one and placed on another as they are operated upon. When material is to be moved from story to story, the trucks can be run upon the platform of a hoist, and with their loads raised or lowered to where they are wanted. A boy with one of these trucks will move a thousand pounds the length or width of the shop, and up or down through several stories, at the same cost that a single load can be carried by a porter, to say nothing of the damage by having the stuff thrown down upon the floor, and the loss of time required to gather it up again. This system of roller trucks is to some extent in use ; but it is excep- tional, and rarely ever carried out so as to realize the greatest advantage from it. A system half carried out is as no system at all, and one or two trucks in a large shop are only an annoyance ; the men lose more time during a year in searching or waiting for them and in disputing about them than a dozen addi- tional new ones would cost. To say that a wood-working establishment which has more than one story should have a power hoist, is to state what everyone knows, but not a thing which everyone has estimated the advantages of. A wood platform or cage, with a wire rope and winding drum driven by bauds and a tangent wheel, is a cheap and simple plan for such hoists ; the gearing is now furnished by different makers, like any other machines, self-contained and ready to erect, including the cage and guides if wanted. There should be a reliable safety catch to prevent falling ; all ingenious WOOD- WORKING MACHINERY. 41 triggers and self-acting apparatus can be dispensed with. A caution notice with directions for operating the machinery should be placed at each hatch, and the rest left to the judgment and good sense of workmen. There is no machinery so dangerous as that which pretends to dispense with care and caution on the part of attendants ; and the greater number of accidents with hoists come from that class known as the " absolute safety." Accidents rarely happen with the old outside chain hoist, although it is without question very dangerous ; the reason is that people watch it and run no risks. In connection with the arrangement of a mill at Fig. 1, a tramway through the centre of the building is mentioned. This plan is a good one in a large mill or car shop, but in furniture factories, chair factories, door and sash shops, and jobbing mills, trucks such as those just described for machine rooms, only stronger, are more convenient than the tramway. The general means of moving material may be said to consist in tramways for horizontal movement in straight lines, hoists for vertical movement, and caster trucks for distributing in irregular lines ; however, in any but the largest mills, and for any but long and heavy timber, the horizontal movement and the distributing can be combined, and the fixed tramway dispensed with. In such cases the trucks to be used in connection with cutting out saws, planing machines, and for first floor purposes generally, should be framed of stuff about 5x5 inches, and be correspondingly heavy in all their parts ; they should be from 6 to 8 feet long, with three wheels instead of four, the two forward wheels on a fixed axis, and the rear one swivelled. Such trucks should be strong enough to carry at least 2^ tons, and their wheels 42 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 8 to 12 inches diameter, with from 2^ to 3^ inches face. There is nothing peculiar about the construction that calls for diagrams to explain. By laying a cheap plank floor from the mill room to, or through, a yard, such trucks can be run out and loaded at any distance from the shop, and men will prefer to push in a thousand feet of stuff in this way to carrying one or two boards. This simple matter of trucks is dwelt upon because it is perhaps the most neglected of all things about wood shops. We exhaust our ingenuity in devising machines to work timber at a rapid rate, but make no provi- sion to bring it to or from the machines ; and with the exception of the large timber mills along the north- western Lake coast, and the very largest mills in cities, it is unusual to find any means of handling material that at all compares with the completeness in other details. CLEARING WOOD SHOPS. Clearing shops of cuttings, shavings and sawdust belongs to a certain extent to the same branch as moving and handling material, and the same rules will apply in many respects. There is, however, this difference, that from recent improvements it is probable that the driving power will in future be used to clear shops, while we can hardly hope to have it handle material. Pneumatic conductors are now so well known that it will be unnecessary to go into a description of their general arrangeffi§flt, which most readers are presumed to be familiar with. The writer having made pneumatic apparatus, which has been WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. 43 in constant operation since 1862, has no fears 'in recom- mending the system as practical and economical in most cases. Apart from its convenience, its sanitary advan- tages in getting rid of the fine dust is an important matter. The fans should be plain, strong machines, large enough to perform their work easily ; the vanes strong enough to break up sticks that may be drawn in. The bearings should be outside the casing and pipes. A common plan is to have one bearing inside the induction pipe, where the oil is at once absorbed, and there is a continual danger of fire from the bearing heating. Fans made for ordinary blowing purposes are not suitable for conductors. At Figs. 20 and 21 are shown side and front elevations of the fans designed by the writer for use in England. The casing is in one piece ^ inch thick ; the vanes are of forged or malleable iron ; the shaft is If inch diameter of steel running in brass bearings outside the casing. The size of the fans for clearing wood shops must de- pend upon the number of inlets, openings, or, as we will call them, leaks into the induction pipes. An exhaust fan 20 inches diameter and 5-inch vanes, would clear the largest mill, so far as conducting the shavings and dust, but could not maintain a current strong enough, after supplying the inlets to lift shavings. For this reason it is easy to see the importance of having the collecting hoods fit well, and avoiding all possible leaks into the pipes. It is almost impossible to give any rule for the size of pipes without assuming some special premises to base such dimensions on. We will, however, say that starting with 5 inches diameter for the smallest size for a main pipe there should be added at least 10 inches of sectional area for each machine that is connected, except surfacing or 44 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. dimension planing machines, which will leed twice as much. Galvanized or zinc-coated sheet iron, from 18 to 24 gauge, is a good material for conducting-pips. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 45 The elbows should be made or more on the short side, and arrangement of the pipes that will endanger their choking. When machines are not in use, it is well to close off' the in- duction pipes with a ball of paper or waste ; dampers or valves can be made in the pipes for this purpose, but if constructed so that they will not obstruct the pipe when it is in use, they are expensive, and unnecessary, except for floor pipes, noticed farther on. It is often desirable to have the fine dust separated from the shavings and sawdust; even if they are only to be used for fuel, and the magazine or shavings room should be ar- ranged to allow the dust to pass off" at the top, as in Fig. 22. The magazines should be fireproof throughout, and ex- tend above the building to such a height that the dust will not be carried through the windows after it has es- caped at the top. As it is often expensive to carry the brick- work high enough to effect this object, a sheet-iron flue or up- vith a radius of 10 inches everything avoided in the Fig. 22. 46 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. take can be used, as shown in Fig. 22. The sectional area of this flue when used should be ten times as large as the pipe leading into the magazine, otherwise the current will be strong enough to not only carry off the fine dust but the lighter shavings. There should be a swing trap-door at the bottom of the uptake, or at the top of the brickwork if an iron flue is not used, that can be instantly closed from the out- side if the shavings in the magazine should catch fire. This trap can be pivoted on a shaft to extend out through the brickwork, and be operated by a lever on the outside. The discharging door below should be closed by means of a sliding iron plate, counter-weighted and working in grooves, so that it will rest on the shavings when the magazine is full, or partially full, prevent the dust from escaping, and at the same time prevent any circulation of air in the case of fire. Inlets or openings, to take off sweepings, should be provided at suitable places for clearing the floors. If opening downward the orifices should be at least as small as the pipe, and never made in a hopper form, as they will soon be clogged with blocks or sticks. A better plan for these floor openings for sweepings, is to bring down a pipe from the main overhead, cutting it away at one side, Fig. 23, and closing the aperture with a slide door when not in use ; this plan is much better for many reasons than inlets cut through floors. Such pipes can come down alongside a post or the wall and not interfere with the room ; arranged in this way there is but little danger of choking, or having lost tools, nails, or blocks, drawn in. For conducting sawdust alone, small tin pipes, 2 to 3 inches diameter, will do. WOOD-WOKKING MACHINEKr. \\ ^ 47 The danger of fire from such apparatus, onc^ ipu^ti ■ apprehended, is owing to the use of wooden conducting pipes, having pockets and corners where fine dust would accumulate, and then explode by a spark communicated from a hot bearing, lucifer matches being dropped among the shavings, or by sparks from the fan striking grit or nails. The inflammable and explosive nature of wood Fig. 23. dust is but little known; few are aware that it will ex- plode like gunpowder. Any dust of combustible mate- rial, even that of cast iron, explodes or burns up with great force. To prove this, let anyone hold a candle beneath a girder or beam in a wood shop and sweep off the fine dust from its top so as to fall on the Floor, light, and they will be con- vinced of its explosive nature. Such explosions are no doubt the origin of nearly all the fires that have been attributed to pneumatic apparatus ; as soon as caught, the fire was by means of the wooden pipes immediately carried throughout the whole building, or as far as the air currents extended. So that a whole mill would be fired at once and its destruction certain. 48 ■WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. PEECAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE. Besides what has been said upon the danger of wood dust in the last article, a word may be added in respect to other sources of fire, an evil that wood manufacturers have particularly to contend with. Insurance rates for wood-working shops are commonly from three to five times as much as for machine shops and other places, where, if the former were carefully managed, the risk would be no greater. Everyone who has charge of a wood-working shop should continually study the possible sources of fire. As accidents do not often happen when they are expected, so fires do not come from sources that are foreseen. Fires are generally mysterious, we rarely know just how they occur, yet there is no want of sources, and considering the little care exercised in most works to guard against fire, the only wonder is they do not all burn down. There is no desire to exaggerate this matter, but to state it in a positive way. The sources of fire about wood-working shops are generally, bearings, smoking, matches, stoves, sparks from the furnace, lightning, and incendiarism, and also the want of means to put out in- cipient fires, for such want is certainly to be set down among the causes of destructive fires. To consider these several sources: — bearings need not be made so as to take fire ; there should be no wood about them, no accumula- tion of shavings, or of oil and sawdust ; smoking, we need hardly say, should not be allowed on the premises ; matches are not very dangerous and can be carefully used ; stoves are not often required in works where there is steam power, and when they are used, can be made comparatively safe by setting them on an elevated iron platform j sparks from the furnace can only be a source of danger when WOOD -WORKING MACHINERY. 49 there is great negligence in the plan of its construction or in its care ; and finally, there is but little danger from any or all of these sources in a clean orderly shop. Disposing of the matter in this way, it may be said that it is quite easy to avoid danger from fire. There are none of the things enumerated but what are easily guarded against if taken in time and fully considered. To understand sources of fire is quite another thing, however, from merely thinking of them and being aware of their existence ; they must be attended to thoroughly, promptly, and persistently. It is not an easy thing to fire a shop when there is do accumulation of shavings, and a hard thing to guard against fire when there is such accumulation. The floors should be kept clean, no matter what it costs to keep them so, and if the business will not otherwise afford it, the insurance policy had better be paid to a porter to sweep up and watch for fire. The chances are that more will be saved than by insuring. On every floor and in each room there should be kept in some convenient place a number of wooden pails filled with water, not to be used to fill up the grindstone troughs, nor to wash up with, but marked " Fire," and to be let alone unless required for that purpose. It is but little trouble to keep them filled, and a few drops of carbolic acid will keep the water pure in the summer during hot weather. Fifty pails of this kind, that will cost fifteen dollars, are worth more in a wood shop than a dozen chemical annihilators, steam pumps, or other con- trivances which men cannot use when excited. A watch- man, no matter how stupid he may be, understands a pail of water and will not fail to use it, but would not under excitement be able even to turn a stop-cock, or sound an alarm signal if a fire should occur. The E 50 WOOD-WORKING MACHINEET. responsibility of these precautions against fiie rests mainly with the managers and operators, proprietors do not always understand them, and if they did, cannot watch them. We would therefore urge a caisfulness about fires, a thorough study of all that may originate them, and the surest means of arresting them, as one of the first and highest qualifications of a competent matager. SPEED OF WOOD MACHINES. The speed at which machines should run to give the best result, is a problem that operators should understand. To prove that it is an intricate, or at least an indeter- mined matter, we need only refer to the diversity of opinion among mechanics, and the want of any opinion at all with a great many. If the speed of a machine could be calculated from that required for the cutting edges alone, we should have a general rule to apply, but the limit of speed is more frequently taken from the conditions of the spiniles and bearings, than from the cutting action. Cuttsr-heads more than 4 inches diameter can generally be moved as fast as the edges require to run to give a good result, say within 5000 revolutions a minute, or 5000 feet of move- ment with the edges ; but when the cutter-heads are smaller, the spindles are not diminished in the same ratio, and the speed must be slower. The cutter movement should as far as possible be a basis for estimating speed, instead of the number of revolutions made by a spindle. A cutter on a 3-inch head, making 4000 revolutions a minute, is only moving as fast as one on a 6-inch head at 2000 revolutions; yet it is quite common, and a habit •WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 51 hard to avoid, to consider all spindles as wanting a common speed of from 3000 to 5000 revolutions a minute, without considering the movement of edges. Perhaps as good a rule as can be used is to assume a 4-inch cutter-head to make 4000 revolutions a minute, as a base or unit of speed ; this makes approximately 4000 feet a minute of cutting movement ; then to increase 500 feet a minute for each inch of diameter added to the cutter-head ; this makes, at 10 inches diameter, a speed of 7000 feet a minute, and for 16 inches diameter 10,000 feet a minute, which could then become a constant for all larger diameters. This, it must be remembered, is assumed for strong cutter-heads of forged or malleable iron, steel, or brass, and not cast iron, which should not be used for high speeds. Eeversing this rule, from 4 inches diameter, with 4000 feet of cutting movement ; deduct 750 feet of the move- ment for each inch of diameter the heads are reduced ; this at one inch, brings the cutting speed to 1750 feet a minute with 7000 revolutions of the spindle, a practical limit. From this we have the Table, page 52, which can be used for reference. The speed of line shafting should in all cases be as great as the bearings will stand with safety ; 200 to 250 revolu- tions for 3-inch shafts, and 250 to 300 revolutions a minute for 2i-inch shafts, make a good rule, to be modified of course by the kind of bearings used. Countershafts can run three times as fast. 36-inch pulleys, on a line shaft, with 12-inch fast and loose pulleys on the countershafts, is a good arrangement for such shafts as drive cutter spindles. Machines should, as far as possible, be arranged to start from line-shaft pulleys of a uniform diameter so that they E 2 52 •WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. Speed op Wood Machines. Diameter of Cutter-head. Feet of Cutting Movement a minute. inches. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 n 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 30 36 40 1,750 2,500 8,250 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500 8,000 8,500 9,000 9,500 io,ono 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 Approximate Number of Revolutions a minute. 7000 5000 433B 4000 3600 3333 3142 3000 2880 2880 2706 2666 2615 2576 2533 2500 2352 2222 2105 2000 1666 1333 1111 1000 Speed of Surfaces a minute, in feet. 875 937 1083 1125 1125 1145 1277 1406 1444 1445 1450 1465 1525 1541 1551 1512 1470 1417 1382 1370 1250 1083 987 1000 Ratio of Movement in the Bearings. 9 10 11 11 11 13 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 13 11 10 10 ^sfoTE. — These figures, except the size of the cutter-heads, are approxi- mate only, to give whole numbers. can be changed, or moved from one place to another, without taking down the line shaft each time to put on a new pulley. There is something strange in the fact that machine makers pay no attention to this matter; even machine tools that have nearly a constant velocity, and require nearly a constant amount of power, are arranged to be driven with pulleys varying from 6 to 24 inches diameter. Most makers, however, are willing to modify their countershafts to suit speeds and pulleys, if a special WOOD-WOBKING MACHINERY. 53 order is given, so that the fault rests mainly with those who purchase machines. The cylinders of planing machines being strong and safe, and the rate of feed required as much as possible, they can be run at a speed one-fourth more than that given in the Table. Boring machines to operate screw-bits should run from 1000 to 2000 revolutions a minute, according to the kind of wood or the size of the bits used. For all reciprocating machines there is a general rule that applies, which is to run them as fast as they will stand ; or, in other words, their work always requires more speed than it is possible to have. This is certainly not a very comprehensive rule, but another rule, infinitely better, is to " use them only when they cannot be avoided," no matter to what purpose they are directed. For ordi- nary reciprocating machines the following list of speeds is given, for which we trust the reader will not require any special data, but accept it on faith and as a matter of experience : — Revolutions a minute. Ee-sawing machines with one saw . . , , 250 to 300 Scroll saw with sash 300 „ 400 Jig saws with spring tension 500 „ 800 „ unstrained saws 800 „ 1500 Mortising machines with movable table 300,, 450 „ „ chisel feed ,. ,. 250 „ 350 „ heavy, for car work . . 200 „ 300 Circular saws can be driven at a speed of 7000 to 10,000 feet a minute. The manner in which they are hammered has much to do with the speed at which they may run^ and often when a saw becomes limber and deviates it is a fault of the hammering instead of the speed. When slack on the periphery they will not stand speed, and 54 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. become weaker and bend more readily when in motion than when still ; on the contrary, if properly hammered a little " tight," as it is termed, on the periphery, they become more rigid when in motion up to a certain limit. The cause of this is that steel is elastic, and is stretched by the centrifugal strain in proportion to the speed, which is greatest at the teeth and diminishes to the centre. If saws have a tendency to spring and a want of rigidity, it can be remedied in most cases by hammering. Cutting wood is like cutting iron ; hard wood cannot be cut at so high a speed as soft wood. Any one who has had ex- perience in working boxwood, cocoa, rosewood, or lignum vit£e, will have noticed that a high speed soon destroys edges by overheating, especially with boring tools, or turning tools that act continuously. The use of these hard varieties of wood is, however, so exceptional that the matter need not be discussed here, further than to say that a moulding or a planing machine that is to run mainly upon \^alnut, ash, oak, or other hard wood, will give a better result if run a fourth slower than for soft wood. POWEE TO DRIVE MACHINES. Assuming rules for bands is much the same thing as establishing estimates for the power required to drive machines, and it would be the same in most cases, but not for wood machines. The high speed diminishes pulley contact, and the dust and shavings keep the bands dry, diminishing their tractive force; besides, they must be loose, to prevent the bearings from heating. Experience has demonstrated certain widths as sufificient, and appended WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. 55 is a list of machines with an estimate of the power required to drive them. To determine the size of an engine to drive wood machines, 3 inches of piston area to each horse-power will be found sufficient. Power needed to Drive Machines. No. ofH.p. 30-irich surfacing planing machine, one side 8 .30 „ „ „ two sides 10 24 „ „ „ one side 6 24 „ „ „ two sides 8 14 „ planing and matching machine 6 14 „ „ ,, with bottom cylinder 7 8 „ moulding machine, four sides 6 6 J, „ ), 3 4 „ sash moulding machine, three sides 2 Circular saws for each inch of diameter aliove the table .. 1 Mortising machine for light work to f inch 1 J „ „ heavy work to 2 inches 3 Rotary mortising machine, for chair work 1 „ „ „ framing 3 Tenoning machine for joiner and cabinet work 2 „ ,, framing 4 Jig saw for fret work 1 Band saw to 1 -inch blades .. .. .. 1 Shaping machine, two spindles 2 Wood-turning lathe 1 Boring machines 1 to 2 For grindstones, emery wheels, buffing wheels, hoisting machines, and other details, add one horse-power for each ten men employed; the resistance of shafting, when of unusual length, must also be taken into account. The power required to operate machines is generally as the amount of material passed through them, so the aggregate must be based upon the length of time, or the constancy with which the machines are run. There must, of course, be enough power provided to drive all the machines at one time, and to their fullest capacity, but in making estimates for rented power where it is employed 56 "WOOD -WORKING MACHINERY. at intervals, or when but a part of the machines run at one time, the amount used is quite different from what the Table would indicate. The power required and the power consumed in wood shops are two quite different things. The old saying that time is money, is equally and more obviously true if rendered, power is money. It is an element of cost, just like wages, tools, or material. Power is, however, a less tangible thing, and because it is not seen and handled, is too often allowed to waste and escape under the notice of those who are rigidly careful in other matters. It is common in going into a shop to hear bands screeching on the pulleys, or running half on fast pulleys not in motion, or sometimes a machine is blocked to keep it from starting, with the bands dragging on the pulleys. All this means waste of power and waste of money, not by loss of power alone, but by the destruction of bands. If a band is allowed to rub on a fast pulley, or any other fixed object, it is at once heated and stretched, and, as it stretches on one side, the tendency is to draw it more on the obstruction ; if on the edges of tight pulleys, which is most common, its driving power is impaired to the extent that it is rubbed or stretched on its edges. "When- ever a heated bearing is suspected, the rule is to hunt it up at once and correct it ; the same thing should be done with the screeching of bands. A band always runs to the nearest end of a shaft, towards the line a, Fig. 24, which is the opposite way from what is generally supposed. The old theory that a band always runs to the highest part may be true, and is undoubtedly true with respect to the convexity of the face of pulleys, but does not apply to pulleys set diagonally to the line of the band. In Fig. 24 it is easy to see that the pulley 1, standing in the WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 57 position shown, will wind the band spirally, like the thread of a screw, whose pitch is equal to the space seen at 2, Fig. 24. X - - - between the dotted line and the edge of the pulley, or, in other words, as the pulley is out of line. STOPPING AND STARTING MACHINES. The resistance offered by a machine in starting, is as the inertia of the parts before they are in motion, or as their momentum after they are in motion. Momentum is as weight multiplied into velocity, hence wood machines, by reason of their great speed, are heavy to start ; espe- cially planing and moulding machines with heavy cutter- heads. Shifting pulleys, or fast and loose pulleys as they are generally called, are used almost exclusively, and are no doubt the best means for stopping and starting, except idle tension pulleys, which can be used only in particular cases. We should perhaps also except the plan of using an independent shaft, shown Fig. 25, in which 1 is a 58 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. countershaft, and 2 an idle shaft carrying the stopping pulley. This, although a good device, is difficult to erect and keep in line, besides being too expensive to come into general use. Its merits, aside from these objections, will at once be conceded. In a large mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, the shifting pulleys are all arranged on this plan, and it is claimed that the extra expense of first cost is more than made up by avoiding the detention incident to having the pulleys loose. Fast and loose pulleys do very well at low speeds when the shafts are not larger than 2 inches in diameter, and the motion is not more than 500 revolutions a minute, but at the high speeds which are necessary with wood machines, they are often a source of trouble and annoyance. They should be made with great care, and carefully watched for a time when first started. The holes should be bored and reamed to standard sizes, so that a pulley may be exchanged from one shaft to another, or replaced at any time without the trouble of making a special fit. The fit should be loose, not too loose, but so as to be felt in shaking the pulley ; the hole will show on its sides, from the rubbing of the mandril used in turning, whether it is true or not. A little time spent in looking after these things before starting, often saves detention and WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 59 accident afterwards, and as the operator has the care, and generally the responsibility of loose pulleys cutting, it is important that he should understand the cause of the difficulty and how to correct it. At the risk of recommending a plan that seems to be theoretically incorrect, it is suggested that for high-speed Fig. 2(5. Fig. 27. loose pulleys, there should be an oil groove cut, as shown in Fig. 26 — a deep narrow groove parallel to the shaft, and tapering from the ends to the middle, as shown in the sections, Figs. 26, 27. Such grooves would be sup- posed to cause an unequal wear in the hole because of the surface cut away at one side, but it will not be found so in practice. A better, although more expensive plan, is to have grooves cut through the hub, as in Fig. 28 ; these can be filled with antifriction metal, or wood. The grooves break what is termed the continuity of the bearing, a principle generally recognised as a safeguard against abrasion or cutting. The proportion of the hubs has much to do with the performance of loose pulleys. A common custom is to 60 WOOD-WOBKING MACHINERY. make the hubs of fast and loose pulleys, of equal length, losing thereby a large amount of bearing surface that may with advantage be added to the loose pulley, and is not required for the fast one. Fig. 29 is the proper plan of arranging such pulleys, especially for wood ma- chinery, where high speed and wood dust are to be contended with. Loose pulleys running on studs or fixed shafts cannot be oiled by means of oil holes drilled in the hub; when a shaft is in motion and the pulley is stopped the oil is drawn in rapidly, but when both are still the case is quite different ; in such cases the oil-ways should be made in the shaft or stud instead of in the pulley. This applies in all cases where gear wheels or pulleys run loose on a fixed axis. Idle pulleys, or more properly brake pulleys, are perhaps the best means of stopping and starting machines or shafts in any case when position allows their use. Any band running at an angle higher than 45 degrees can, as a rule, be operated by a brake pulley ; which is not only a very effectual means of stopping and starting, but has the important advantage of regulating the tension of the band to suit the work, and also increases its lap and power. Wood shops are especially instanced, because a band 'at any other than a very high angle cannot be operated in this way unless the surfaces are sufficiently dry and Fig. 29. ■WOOD-WOKKING MAOHINEEY. 61 smooth to allow them to slip on the still pulley. As the bands of a wood shop are usually in this condition because of the dust, brake pulleys can be used with advantage in a great many cases, particularly on the larger bands, and when the driving pulley is below. This latter case allows the band to stop with the top pulley ; but if the angle is as much as 60 degrees. Figs. 31 and 32, the driving pulley Ftg. 30. Fig. 31. can be above, and the belt will run loosely around the bottom pulley without injury if it is not too heavy and there are flanges or guides to keep it on. In Fig. 30, 1 is the driving pulley, 2 the brake pulley, and 3 the driven pulley. The brake pulley must always be placed on the slack side when the bottom pulley is the driver, or as in Fig. 31, where the upper pulley is the driving one. Besides the advantages of regulating the tension and increasing contact, brake pulleys can be used to guide 62 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. a band by changing their axes, a very important matter in the case of large driving bands; they also require but one-half the room and width required for shifting pulleys. ACCIDENTS FROM WOOD MACHINES. A machine attendant who has not carefully studied the many sources of danger and accident to which he is con- tinually exposed, has neglected something which may cost him a limb or his life at any time. There is always more or less danger from sources that cannot be foreseen, and therefore cannot be provided against, without running risks from dangers that are understood. Accidents in wood shops occur generally from careless- ness, and a failure to correct some irregularity or risk that was well known, such as cuts by saws or other tools in motion, winding bands, bolts or cutters flying off, winding the clothing, and so on. It is rare to find a man who has been engaged for any length of time in operating wood- cutting machines who has not lost fingers, or met with other accidents of a more or less serious nature. There is perhaps less real risk with wood-cutting machinery than many other kinds, if people were equally careful in working with it. One is not apt to go near a train of wheels, or a large band in motion, without a feeling of dread ; such things convey a sense of danger ; but a small circular saw looks harmless when running, almost as though it could be handled without injury. Unless a high-speed machine makes a great noise it does not seem to convey an impression of danger. With one exception, circular saws are perhaps the most WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 63 dangerous of all. The hands in many varieties of work must of necessity be exposed to injury, and nothing but continual attention and care will prevent accidents. The mind must be kept on the work, and never for a single instant wander away to other matters. The writer, during an experience where a number of sawyers were under his charge, noticed that a man who was absent-minded was sure to be cut, and that by carefully observing the disposition and peculiarities of the workmen, men could be selected for the saws who ran but little risk. Whenever a man was detected day-dreaming, or engrossed in thouglit, he was removed from the saws and given work with less risk; the result was, that accidents became rare, although the work was of a dangerous character, consisting mainly of what is termed blocking and cropping, where twelve or more saws were at work. Accidents in sawing are generally from the hands being jerked to the saw, and from pieces coming over the saw from behind. In the first case the accident generally occurs from a piece suddenly parting in the line of the kerf, either from a split or a hidden cut on the under side that allows the piece to spring forward so quickly that the hands cannot be checked ; sometimes by a piece suddenly rolling over towards the saw when a cut is being made on one side. These are cases when a careful sawyer may be cut; but there are a hundred other ways in which accidents may occur, even by people deliberately placing their hands upon a saw without knowing it to be in motion, a circumstance which has often happened. In cutting short stuff, a sawyer should use a stick for pushing the pieces, placing his left hand to keep them against the fence, and keeping the stick in his right to 64 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. push them through. A little practice soon makes this a convenient plan, and one that would be generally followed if it were not that in most American saw benches one has not only to push the stuff through but at the same time hold it down to keep it from rising behind the saw, a matter to be noticed farther on. If the stuff has no ten- dency to rise behind, there is no excuse for placing the hands near enough to a saw to be in danger, no matter what the character of the work. In sawing from the side of a piece that is liable to roll over, no other precaution can be taken except close attention and an estimate of the danger beforehand. The best rule is to be ready to let go if anything happens, and it may be remarked that in this as in all other cases where accidents may or do happen, people are seldom hurt from a cause that has been previously considered. Pieces coming over the saw is a danger that is more apparent, gives some warning, and is generally dreaded and watched for by a sawyer, especially if he has seen or experienced such accidents. Many who have worked about saws for years do not know the force with which a piece will be thrown from a saw. If a piece of stuff 10 feet long is taken behind a ripping saw, and the end dropped on the top, so that its whole length will pass over the top, it will attain a velocity equal to that of the periphery of the saw, a fact that is easily proved by examining the marks of the teeth toward the last end, the pitch of which will equal that of the teeth on the saw. An accident of this kind will sometimes happen from a green or wet piece closing on the saw, but in nineteen cases out of twenty the fault is in the gauge or fence, which for some unaccountable reason seems often to be arranged with a special view to causing accidents, j WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 65 Fig. 32 shows the correct method of arranging gauges for circular saws. We often see saw benches from 8 to 10 feet long with a saw in the middle, where no one can reach it from the end, and the work being done with the greatest inconvenience ; the gauges not only extend past the saw, but are often longer behind than in front. ' It is evident that if a gauge extends beyond a saw it cannot be set parallel, but must, in order to free the stuff Fig. 32. behind, stand at an angle ; and the result is that the pieces are lifted behind and thrown over. Many fatal accidents occur from flying pieces, which from saws of average diameter, usually strike a person in the breast or waist, often causing instant death — sometimes scarcely leaving a scar. Three fatal accidents of this kind happened within as many years to men personally known to the writer. A thick plank hinged so as to hang directly above the saw, heavy enough to stop any piece coming over, makes a safeguard against such accidents, but it hides the rear of the saw from view, and is not needed if other precautions are attended to. Circular saws were mentioned as second among the F 66 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. dangerous machines of a wood shop. Irregular moulding or shaping machines should be placed first. Safety shields of various kinds have been devised, most of which protect the hands, but are in the way, and can generally be found hanging on a wall somewhere in the vicinity of the machines. No safety device that impedes or increases labour will ever be used in this or any other case, and the best plan is to carefully consider how acci- dents may happen and what precautions will prevent them without interfering with the work. In shaping machines, the danger is from having pieces snatched by the cutters, either by a splinter raising or when the angle of the cutters is such as to cause them to catch, both of which can be in a measure guarded against by having the angle of the edges very obtuse, which generally suits the nature of the work besides promoting safety. A great share of the work performed on sliaping machines, especially such as is extensively duplicated, can be held on forms fitted with clamps as in Fig. 33. This arrangement fully protects the hands, besides making better and faster work. Fig. 33. The form shown at Fig. 33 is adapted to shaping chair- stuff, hames, billet frames, or other work, when there are a number of pieces of the same pattern to be operated upon ; 5 is the pattern and main frame on which the clamping jaws are mounted, 6 is the piece to be moulded. The WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 67 jaws 1, 1 are operated by the tension rod 3 and the handle 2, which locks the jaws when thrown down in the position shown by the dotted lines, making a toggle-joint, which is the only safe fastening when there is jar and concussion. The amount of force used in clamping is regulated by the swivel screw at 4, which can also to a limited degree be used to adjust the jaws for pieces of varying thickness. The edges of the form 5 are shaped to form a pattern and guide. Some pins set in the table top to form ful- crums adds to the convenience and safety of these forms. The kind of clamps shown are the only ones safe to use. Screws, spurs, or wedges — in fact, anything except a toggle-joint — may give way at any time and lead to accident. The safety of operating shaping machines depends much upon the form of the cutters ; if they have an obtuse angle and stand in a radial position, there is but little tendency to snatch pieces, and the cutting will be effected as easily and much smoother than with cutters standing in an acute position ; the angle of cutters will be noticed under another head. Accidents often occur from winding bands, generally caused by bands becoming fast between pulleys set too near together. Pulleys on a line shaft, that are separated only an inch or two, are danger traps that may at any time cost a life or lead to destructive accidents. There should always be a space between at least one-third more than the width of the bands, and as much wider as practicable. Bands running too near together are also a source of danger ; if one breaks it is apt to be overrun by the other, and both of them wound about the shaft, and as the supports for shafting are often not strong enough to break the bands, the whole is torn down. F 2 68 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINEEY. There is always danger in throwing on bands when the pulleys are in motion. It would be of little use to argue against the practice when it will have no influence to prevent it ; what is better will be to give such instruction as is possible to lessen danger. One should not attempt to throw on large bands until practised with small ones at low speeds. There is nothing in a shop learned so blindly as this ; no one can, as a rule, tell how to put on a band, or even offer a suggestion, except it be to keep your hands out, or to get on the right side of the pulley. It is learned by accident, as we may say ; and yet there is one thing which if understood will save nearly all the experiment, and at the same time the danger, for the danger does not come from throwing on bands so much as the failure to do so. The hand must move as fast as the puUetj ; that is the whole art. By observation it will be seen that the only difference be- tween the skilled and the unskilled rests in this matter of moving the hand with the pulley. One person will throw on a band instantly, apparently without effort, and without a thought of failure; another will try several times, and then, from desperation, attempt to force it on, and burn his hands by friction, or do something worse in the way of accident. As before said, the difference consists in the fact that in successful attempts the hand was moved as fast as the pulley, and in the other case it was not. There are of course other conditions to be observed, but this is the main one. If the band is long and horizontal, the centre, or bight, as the sailors call it, should be held up, and the slack should be mainly on the " taking-on " side ; this provides in a measure for overcoming the inertia. Large belts, unless very long, should never be thrown WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. 69 on when pulleys are in motion, but drawn together with clamps and joined. If they have to be thrown on, the pulleys should be stopped and the band lashed to the face of the pulley, the shafts then turned slowly by hand until the pulley has made a half turn, and the belt is on, when the lashing can be removed. Accidents from winding the clothing are of great fre- quency in wood shops, but unless from the line shafting, are less serious than in other places. The high speed is a safeguard in such cases. The body cannot be drawn in and revolved about a spindle or shaft that is running at a high speed ; the greatest danger is from slow shafts, making from one to two hundred revolutions a minute. Set screws are generally the cause of such accidents. There should be entered a general protest against all ex- posed set screws. Many machinists avoid them wherever they can, and in some shops they are not permitted on machines about which men work, and where there is danger ; but this is exceptional, and it is common in wood machinery of the present time to find them not only to hold augers and other tools, but in collars on the ends of shafts to keep loose pulleys on. This is unmechanical, and most dangerous as a plan of retaining loose work on a shaft, at a place where bands have to be thrown on and off and oiling done. A nut on the end of the shaft is neater and safer. Machine attendants often have under their charge un- skilled hands, boys who have had no previous experience, and there is great responsibility resting on them in this matter of accidents ; a novice uninstructed and uncau- tioned is liable to meet with accidents that will cost him a finger, a limb, or his life. The dangers of ma- chinery are to him secret traps set for his destruction. 70 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. It is not necessary to appeal to the sympathy of skilled men in this matter, for, as a class, wood woi kmen have but little of that foolish jealousy that in some other trades leaves the young apprentice to learn of danger as he best can. Accidents from flying cutters, or bolts thrown from cutter-heads in motion, are of rare occurrence. To one who knows nothing of the thing practically, the chances would seem equal, for cutters to fly off or to stay on, when their weight, work, and speed are taken into account. Accidents rarely happen from this cause, however ; there is an instinct of danger from cutters that always keeps an attendant on his guard, and anything that flies from a re- volving cutter-head always moves in the plane of rotation, which it is easy to avoid ; this fact is realized, and atten- dants keep out of this plane when in the vicinity of high- speed spindles. Cutters are generally held by screws that clamp them to a head or block. These screws have two purposes to serve : to clamp the cutter on the head so firmly that the friction will keep it from being driven endwise; and to hold it against the centrifugal strain. Making due allow- ance for the tenacity of good bolts, and the strength they are supposed to have in such cases, there is a point of strain at which a screw is ready to break, without adding the further strain of the centrifugal and cutting forces ; so the danger is rather in overstraining than in under- straining. The inexperienced, generally with a feeling of greater security, will screw down cutters as firmly as they can, and the amount of this strain is usually governed by the length of the screw key. Cutter-screws and bolts should be made of the very best charcoal iron. Steel is not as safe for such bolts. "wooD-woRKma machinery. 71 unless perfectly annealed and soft. It is of course stronger than iron, but it is doubtful if it will stand blows and rough usage so well. EEPAIRS OF MACHINERY. A woodwork shop employing twenty or more men should have an engine lathe and forge for performing repairs. The engineer generally has time to work these tools, and will find many things to do on them that would otherwise remain undone or have to be sent to a machine shop. An engine lathe suitable for general purposes in a wood shop of 16 inches to 20 inches swing, to turn 6 to 8 feet in length, with a gap to receive work to 30 inches diameter, can with the necessary equipment of tools be procured for from 400 dollars to 500 dollars. The tools and appliances required will be as follows : — Centre and following rests, furnished with lathe. One 12" to 16" independent jaw chuck. One set of chuck drills, J" to 1" by eighths, to 2" by fourths. One set of twist drills, i" to f" by -^s^ha, f" to 1}" by eighths. A set of V thread taps from |" by -Jg^ths to |", and by eighths from ■|" to li", with wrenches to turn them. Two chucks for drills fitted to the lathe. Six each, 4", 6", and 8", clamp bolts, |" diameter. Lathe drivers from -i" to 2" by fourths, from 2" to 4" by i inch. Lathe tools as follows : — • Four diamond tools, right and left. Two side tools, right and left. Four square tools, i", ^", i", and f" wide. Two V tools for threads, one bent and one straight. One inside thread tool 3" long. Three boring tools, 3", 5", and 7" long. One round end tool, 72 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. making 17 in all. These tools should be ordered with the lathe, so they will fit the tool post ; and besides have the advantage of being properly made and tempered. A portable forge from 30 to 36 inches diameter, with a sufficient outfit of tongs, and a cast-iron anvil, will cost from 50 to 60 dollars. If the whole machine shop invest- ment, including the shafting, is valued at 750 dollars, the interest of this at 10 per cent, a year would be 75 dollars. As an investment, this sum will generally be saved in making countershafts, to say nothing of repairing. With such an outfit, spindles and shafts of all kinds that go on wooden frames can be made ; cutters, when of solid steel, can be cut off from the bar, bevelled, drilled, slotted, and tempered. Pulleys within the swing of the lathe can be bored and turned. Nearly all the small items that appear in the expense account for repairs will be saved. This plan of doing their own machine work is not recommended for small shops ; or, rather, it is not recom- mended as a paying investment, unless the tools can be kept at work a reasonable portion of the time. A separate room is required for this iron work. To put iron tools into the same room with wood tools is to make a failure of the experiment ; small tools are mislaid, the whole covered with dust. Such a room need not add much to the expense, because a place of the kind is required, whether there are iron tools or not, and the little space required for a lathe and forge does not much in- crease its size. Grindstones, saw-filing vices, oil, and stores, can all be kept in the machine room, and in most cases one man can do the repairing, file saws, grind cutters, and give out stores, besides doing such new machine work as is wanted and the tools will perlorm. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 73 An engine lathe will perform nearly all the operations of machine fitting, except planing, and even this can be done to some extent on a lathe that has a strong screw and gearing. p For drilling there should be a stem pad, like Fig. 34, to fit the sliding ~| head-stock spindle, and a number of J wood blocks, of different dimensions, to build up under the work ; these blocks should be at hand, to avoid a search for new ones each time they are wanted. In making steel spindles, it is best not to try to anneal them, but cut them off in the lathe by removing the sliding head-stock if the bar is too long, using the chuck and centre rest, which is a better plan than to heat the bars, and will, if we count the squaring up of the ends, be less work than to cut off at the forge. The same rule applies to shafting generally ; a bar of any length can be put in a lathe in this manner and cut into pieces as long as the same lathe will turn. Tempering tools that are not liable to spring is easily learned, and as a wood workman has the advantage of experimenting with edges he may harden, the chances are that with a little practice he can do it better than a smith. Tempering should be learned by every one who uses tools, no matter of what kind. As a process it has little more to do with forging than with any other branch of work, and is a question of judgment rather than skill. Slow regular heating, both before hardening and in drawing or tem- pering, is the main thing to ensure success. As to the proper shades and degrees of temper, they must be seen to be understood. If a piece of steel is hardened and then polished and reheated on a piece of hot iron, these 74 WOOD -WORKING MACHINERY. shades of colour can be learned iu one or two experi- ments. The first shade, pale-straw colour, is right for most wood tools. RENEWING SOFT METAL BEAEINGS. Renewing soft metal bearings constitutes a branch of repairing in most all American shops, and while almost any one can make a bearing of some kind, it requires experience and judgment to do it correctly, so the shaft will not be sprung by heat on one side, and the bearing be of proper diameter, with the metal solid and smooth. To this we may add the difficulty of pouring without spilling tlie metal, burning the hands, or having what is understood as a blow up. In fitting new machines that have moulded bearings, they should be made on mandrils prepared lor the purpose, and not on the shafts them- selves ; but in remoulding them in a wood shop, it is olten impossible to have templates for the purpose, because of the various diameters and lengths of the spindles. In such cases the bearings have to be moulded on the shafts or spindles that are to run in them. This operation requires the greatest care to prevent springing the spindles, which will sometimes happen, no matter what precautions may be taken to prevent it. With short bearings, or those that run at a speed of less than 1000 revolutions a minute, there is little difficulty ; but in the case of saw mandrils, planing and moulding spindles, shaping spindles, and so on, the bearings will sometimes heat in the most myste- rious manner after being renewed. Whenever it is practicable, both sides of a bearing should be poured at one time and not at two operations as ■WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 75 is commonly the case ; it requires no more risk or trouble, is sooner done, and with much less risk of springing a shaft. To make them in this manner the shaft or spindle should be first levelled up by placing pieces of brass or wood beneath; the packing should then be fitted, as shown in Fig. 35, with openings to allow the melted metal to run from the top to the bottom, also some vent holes toward the ends to allow the gas and air to escape. This packing can be of paste- board, wood, or of several layers of paper. Soft wood is perhaps the best kind of packing, and is alw^ays at hand. After the packing is fitted, the cap can be screwed down firmly and the ends if necessary be luted with clay. If the weather is cold, it is best to heat the cap before putting it on ; it will soon communicate its heat to the rest of the bearing and the shaft, which should be turned round so as to be warmed evenly. In luting the ends with clay they should not be made air-tight ; this mistake olten leads to a failure. The clay or putty can come to the top of the cap, leaving a free opening or gate for the gas to escape. Bearings that are to be remoulded will, unless burnt out, always contain grease enough to create a quantity of gas when the hot metal is poured in, and unless this gas has free means of escape, the bearing will be blown, and imper- fectly filled. After the bearing has been moulded the gates can be 76 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEKY. broken off and the cap loosened by driving it endwise, or by wedging it up with a chisel : the harder kinds of metal are easily separated in this manner, and the softer should not be used for high speeds. In melting the metal, care should be taken not to over- heat it, and to have it at the proper temperature when poured. If it is too hot the shrinkage will be in propor- tion ; it should be poured at as low a heat as it will run freely. A good plan is to thrust a pinestick into the metal after it melts, and as soon as it will burn the stick or cause it to smoke it is hot enough ; when there are free gates to pour through this test indicates a higher tempera- ture than is required. After a bearing has been poured and trimmed, the next thing is to fit it. We are well aware that this propo- sition will be a new one to many, because such bearings are generally moulded and then started without fitting ; yet there is no risk in asserting that without fitting three out of four will heat at the beginning. It is evident that if the metal shrinks, as it must do, the bearing will be too small, unless the metal is so firmly fastened in its seat as to prevent it from closing on the shaft. Even if it did not shrink, the bearing would be too close a fit to run cool, so that it must of necessity be fitted. To do this, a round-ended scraper should be used ; this can be made by grinding a half-round file into shape. Those not accustomed to scraping can do better by using the sides instead of the end. The sides of the bearing, which are always too close, should be scraped first; then by put- ting the spindle in its place, and turning it round, it will mark the spots where it touches ; these can be scraped off until there is a full bearing throughout. The cap can then be fitted in the same manner, and unless a WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 77 shaft is sprung or otherwise imperfect there will be no heating. No bearing about wood machines that runs at a high speed, whether it be brass, composition, or iron, can be well fitted without scraping. It would seem that when they are moulded directly on the shaft this would ensure a fit, but a little observation and a practical experiment will prove the contrary. Bearings that do not run at high speed, for countershafts or line shafting, can be made by winding a layer of paper about the shaft before casting them ; it not only provides for the shrinkage and brings the size right, but being a good non-conductor of heat, it prevents the metal from being chilled on the shaft, and will always ensure a sound smooth surface. A sheet of writing paper can be wound around the shaft and tied with a string outside the bear- ing, or a long strip of paper that is cut parallel and straight can be wound spirally on the bearing and held by the lips at the ends or tied with a cord. There is no fear of having the bearings too large by this plan ; it is the opposite that is to be guarded against. As to the material for moulded bearings, there is no plan so good as to send to a responsible house which pre- pares alloys and purchase the metal, explaining its purpose and leaving its composition to the manufacturer. In attempting to mix the metal there is generally more lost by oxidation and other waste than the profit of the regular smelter amounts to ; besides the composition is rarely right, and seldom well mixed. For bearings that run at high speed the best metal is none too good. We may add on the general subject of the material for bearings in wood machines, in which every wood manufac- 78 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. turer is interested, that moulded bearings made from the best alloys, the metal hammered in and. then bored, are no doubt the best of all ; what is required is large surfaces, a good fit, and round turning for the spindles. LUBRICATING WOOD MACHINERY. Considering the quantity of oil used in wood-working establishments, its cost and the great difference between its careless and economical use make the subject one worth attention. There can only be a certain quantity of oil utilized, no matter how much is poured on or wasted, and there is little risk in the assertion, that where a pint is required, four pints are wasted. This waste leads to the use of cheap oil to reduce the expense. Lubricating is, with most kinds of machinery, a question of economy, rather than of efficiency. At slow speeds, except when there is great pressure, almost any kind of oil will do for lubrication ; but in the case of high speed, as in wood-cutting machines, their successful operation depends upon efficient lubrication. It is not proposed to consider the character of lubricants : they are all grease, or ought to be, and their lubricating power, or endurance, is directly as the amount of grease they contain, sometimes as the amount of other matter they do not contain. It is to be regretted that, among the many exhaustive researches that have been made in scientific matters, but little, if anything, has been done to explain and fix standards for lubricating oils. Every manufacturer is annoyed by the persistent visits of the agents of parafifine oil dealers, who have some Latin, WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 79 Greek, or Choctaiw name for their compounds, which are represented as having some peculiar power of lubricating. The fact is, as b^efore stated, that their worth is as the amount of grease they contain ; and as the market value of grease is near! y always constant, the different grades of oil can be considered as representing it in various states of dilution. Next to the quality of the oil the most important matter is how to apply it economically to bearings. Constant lubricating is divided into the two methods — circulating the oil in bearings, using it over and over again ; and feeding it to the bearing as it is worn out and then allowing it to run o£f. The first method includes what are termed self-oiling bearings, constructed with cells or oil-chambers beneath the shaft, from which the oil is fed up with wicks, or in some cases through small holes by capillary attraction, and after circulating through the bearing runs back into the oil-cell to be again fed up until worn out. To pour oil on a bearing at intervals, from a can, is to waste three-fourths of all that is used, even if done with ordinary care, and this plan is not to be con- sidered except in cases where no other can be applied ; so the choice rests between circulating oil-cells, and oil- feeders. In the case of self-oiling bearings the wicks are generally inaccessible and out of sight : the arrangement cannot be applied to bearings at pleasure, but must be specially constructed when they are made; and more important than all, the workmen, as a rule, have but little confidence in what they cannot see, and apply oil as often as though there were no oil-cells. With the glass oil-feeders now used, the oil is fed to the bearing as it is needed ; the supply of oil can at all times 80 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEEY. be seen ; and such feeders can be applied to almost any bearing, no matter what its construction. There is, however, this objection to the last plan, that the oil will be fed and wasted when the machine, or bear- ing, is not running, a difficulty not likely to be avoided without adding complication. This waste is, however, more than compensated in the fact that the workmen have confidence in such feeders, and will take care of and rely upon them, which is not the case with concealed oil-cells. A prominent engineering firm has by careful experiments determined that a given quantity of oil will last a longer time and give a better result if fed to the bearing from the top and allowed to run off when worn out. The wicks should be of wire wound round with textile material, ordinary wicking for instance; which can by closing it together or stretching it on the wire be made to feed more or less as required. All the bearings of wood machines that run at a high speed should have tallow-cups, no matter what other means are employed to lubricate them ; these cost nothing, and are equivalent to placing a sentinel to avoid accident in case the ordinary means of oiling should fail. Fig. 36. Fig. 36 shows a common box-cap with a tallow«cup a§ they should be arranged whenever there is room. Oiling is effected tlirougli a centre hole while the cavity around it WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 81 is to be packed with tallow. If a bearing heat, the tallow is melted, and runs through the holes at each end. These holes should be as large as the size of the shaft will admit, so that the tallow can remain at all times in contact. Tallow alone is too hard, it requires too much heat to melt it except in warm weather, and should be mixed with lard, when necessary, to give a proper consistency. For bearings that run at the highest speed a good plan is to cut a narrow groove along the top and bottom, which, if filled with felt, or soft wood, retains and distributes the oil over the surface, and forms a lodging-place for dust or grit that may get into the bearing. THE CAEE OF BEAKINGS. When a bearing becomes hot, a machine stops; if on the engine or. line shafts, all the machines stop; so that it is an important matter to know how to treat such cases. To remove the cause is of course the first thing to be done ; but the cause is sometimes not easy to determine. Aside from becoming dry for want of lubrication, the cause of heating may be want of truth in the shaft, either from not being round or from being sprung ; it may be for the want of a fit, and lack of surface, from being too tight, or from too much pressure for the amount of surface. When a bearing heats, if the shaft is small and can be freed from gearing and bands, the first thing is to see if it is loose enough ; if so, the cap should be screwed down until it binds a little, and the shaft turned by hand, watch- ing carefully whether it binds at one place more than another; the least irregularity can be discerned in this way, and indicates that the journal is not round, and re- G 82 wooD-woRKma machinery. quires turning. If the shaft is crooked, it is detected by- holding a point against it while running — a matter that any one understands. If none of these things appear, the shaft should be taken out to examine the bearing, and see where the shaft bears, whether at one end only, or on a line through the bottom, or on the sides. This want of sur- face is a common cause of heating with the bearings of new machinery, and perhaps the most common when bear- ings have been remoulded. The remedy is to scrape off the points where the shaft bears until it touches through- out, as explained previously. Good oil should be used in starting, and if necessary the bearing kept cool for a time with water. No faith is to be placed in compounds of plumbago, salt, soap, or anything of the kind ; they may have claims as lubricants, but it is generally a waste of time to try to conquer a hot bearing by any other plan than to correct the mechanical defect, whatever it may be. THE PRINCIPLES OF WOOD CUTTING. It was intended to confine this treatise as much as possible to practical shop matters, and not to include the principles of machine construction or of machine action ; but it is evident that a mechanic qualified to take care of, to set, arrange, and adjust, or to advise ways and means of working with cutters, should proceed upon general prin- ciples and understand the theory of their action. There- fore the following brief article on the subject, from the ' Treatise on the Construction and Operation of Wood- cutting Machines,' is inserted. WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEEY. 83 " Cutting wood consists of two distinct operations ; cross cutting the fibre, and splitting it off parallel to its lamina- tion or grain. " The two operations are in all cases combined ; for to remove the wood both must be performed, and to proceed intelligently about the construction of machines and cutters, this principle must never be lost sight of. The greatest amount of power and the best edges are required to cross cut the fibre. To illustrate by a familiar example : — To cross cut a block 12 inches square requires a considerable amount of effort and time, but a single blow will serve to split it in two, parallel to the fibre, " This principle exists throughout the whole range of wood cutting with the same general conditions in all cases ; a boring auger furnishes another example, different from the one given as an operation, but the same in principle. " In boring the main power is required to cross cut the fibre with the ' spurs' or 'jaws,' while the wood is split off and raised from the bottom of the hole without much effort ; the spurs require frequent sharpening, must have thin edges, and are soon worn away ; while the opposite is true of the radial or splitting edges, which may be blunt or dull, and yet work well enough and without much power. "Another principle to be observed is that the cross cutting or cross severing of the fibre must precede the splitting process; the cross-cutting edges must act fii'st and project beyond the splitting edges. There are no exceptions to this rule, which is from necessity carried out in most cases ; yet it is not unfrequent to find tools working on the contrary principle, tearing instead of cutting away the wood. " In some cases the wood is cross cut at such short intervals or lengths, that no splitting edges are needed, G 2 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. yet the operation is the same. A ripping saw is an example of this kind ; eaoh tooth cuts away its shaving, transverse to, or across the fibre, which is split off in the act of cross cutting without requiring separate edges. The cross-cut saw is an example of the same kind, although apparently diffej-ent : the different shaped teeth that are required arise from the manner in which they are applied. With the ripping or slitting saw the plate is parallel to the fibre, and with the cross-cut saw it is transverse to the fibre; the cutting edges in both cases have nearly the same relation to, and act in the same manner on the fibres or grain of the wood ; in short, the difference between cross cutting and ripping saw teeth comes from the rotation being with or across the grain, and not from a difference in the operation of cutting. " The line of the edge is parallel to the plate in cross cutting, and transverse to the plate in slitting. As before remarked, all operations in v\ood cutting are the same in principle, and can be resolved into some such simple propositions as follow : — "First. — Wood cutting consists in two operations or processes ; cross cutting and splitting. " Second. — Tools for wood cutting must have indepen- dent edges directed to these two operations, unless the wood is cross cut into short lengths, as in the case of saws. " Third.— The cross-cutting edges must project beyond those for splitting, and act first, as in grooving and tenoning heads. " Fourth.^ — Cross-cutting edges will, if applied at ' an angle to the fibre,' act with less power and be more durable. " Fifth. — Splitting-edges act best when parallel to the fibre, but ' at an angle to the direction of their movement.' AVOOD-WOEKING MACHINEEY. " Sixth. — Cutters for perforating, or ' end tools,*^ we may call them, should be arranged to have their action balanced across the centre whenever practicable, to pre- vent jar and vibration." These propositions comprehend the whole system of cutter action, and as all wood manufacture is by cutting, they may also be said to comprehend all that is done in working wood. We shall not attempt to show their application to planing, moulding, rabbeting, sawing, grooving, shaping and other cutters ; the reader can observe this himself, and thus will acquire, if he has not already done so, a general idea of principles, that will guide him in making, setting, and arranging cutters for all kinds of work, without fear of making mistakes and without having to try whether this or that plan will work. It will also furnish a clue to the proper form of saw teeth, shearing knives, and other details, about which there is a great diversity of opinion. THE ANGLE OF CUTTERS. The views given on the subject and the examples shown are not based upon theoretical inference so much as upon practical experiment. There are some very ob- scure conditions connected with the action of wood cutters ; if they moved as slowly as metal-cutting tools, we could observe and note the process of their action, but when in motion they are practically invisible, and nothing can be determined except by comparative experiments. A general object among wood workmen seems to be to get as low or acute an angle for cutters as possible, regardless of the particular uses to which they are applied. 86 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINEEY. and then to prevent slivering, or pulling out the wood, by- means of caps. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, especially with small cutter-heads, as in the case of shaping machines, but exceptions are generally necessary from the form of constructing the cutter-head rather than the result of any plans that have reference to the work. It is generally best not to employ caps on the knives of power machines ; they are expensive, inefficient to perform the intended purpose, and are unnecessary if proper attention is paid to the angle of the knives. Any kind of wood, including boxwood, rosewood, soft wood or green wood of all descriptions can be worked without caps, or chip breakers, as they are sometimes called, by giving the edges a proper angle, and attending to other conditions to be noted. In planing veneers by hand it has long been demon- strated that the plane iron requires a much higher angle than for other work. It is also known that scraping tools with blunt edges are the only tools that can be used in turning hard woods or ivory ; in fact with all hand tools the principle of varying angles adapted to the work seems to be well known and generally applied, but when we come to power tools, planing and moulding machines are made with their knives at a constant angle, usually as acute as possible. In determining the angle of cutters the following pro- positions are laid down : — 1st, In cutting clean pine for surfacing, matching, or moulding, the angle of the cutters can be as low as prac- ticable to clear the holding bolts. 2nd. An acute angle requires a thin edge, and a thin edge cannot at the same time be a hard one, nor, for that reason, a sharp one, except in working soft clean timber. WOOD-WORKING MACHINEEY. 87 3rd. An edge may be hard, and kept sharp, as the angle is obtuse and the bevel short. 4th. In cutting thin shavings the operation is altogether cross cutting, and a sharp edge is more important than a thin one. 5th. As the angle of cutters becomes more obtuse, the shape of the edge approaches nearer to having the same profile as the work, and the cutters for moulded forms are cheaper and more easily made and kept in order. Fig. 37. From these propositions we can deduce the following rules, which are recommended to those who have occa- sion to determine the angle and bevel of wood cutters : — For planing soft wood, the angle of Fig. 37, of 40 degrees, is suitable. For mixed work, partly soft and partly hard wood, the angle at Fig. 38 is preferable ; it is a mean to comprehend the two kinds of wood. For working hard wood alone, such as oak, ash, walnut, 88 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. cherry, or mahogany, the angle Fig. 39 is best, while for the very hardest varieties, such as boxwood, rosewood. Fig. 38. banyan, cocoa, and ebony, working crotch or cross-grained wood, or at an angle against the grain, the cutters should be set as in Fig. 40. Fig. 39. It is becoming of late years a common thing to grind a short bevel on the under side of knives for working hard or cross-grained timber, which is substantially the same thing as changing the angle of the cutters and making the WfOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. 89 bevel shorter. It is an excellent plan, as it would be impossible to change the cylinders when the machine has a variety of work to do, but by having some extra knives ground at different bevels it becomes an easy matter to change them, one that will pay well for the trouble, especially if the knives are tempered harder as the bevel becomes more obtuse. It will be found in practice that a set of knives, hardened to a very pale-straw colour, and with a bevel ground on the face side, just enough to keep the edge from breaking out, will run twice as long, and do smoother work on walnut, ash, or oak wood, and will not pull out the stuff where it is knotty or cross-grained. It has also become a common practice in some parts of the country to turn the matcher cutters of flooring machines upside down, that is, to turn the grinding bevel to the wood ; this is an effort in the same direction ; a slow change from the necessities of practice, instead of from inference, as it might be. This way of getting an obtuse angle is going a little farther than is recommended Fig. 40. 90 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. here, but to halve the matter by grinding on both sides will be found an advantage in matching hard wood, including yellow pine. The plan is an old one. The Knowles matching heads, introduced about 1850, had this feature fully carried out by having the bevel on the inside of the cutters; they were always considered as being capable of working any kind of timber without tearing, and without clips or pressure pads, yet for some strange reason the plan was not carried out in common practice, probably from being too expensive. We will notice one more fact bearing on this matter, that of machines for making wave mouldings. Such mouldings are cut smooth, and in part at an acute angle against the grain ; yet are not torn or spoiled in working ; the whole secret of their manufacture, often a matter of curiosity, is nothing more than to set the cutters at right angles to the face of the moulding. The feed movement is given to the wood, and the reciprocating motion to the cutters, which act as scrapers. SHAEPENING CUTTEKS AND SAWS. Corundum or emery wheels are now generally used for sharpening both saws and cutters. The saving of both time and files, and the more accurate grinding done on cutters, amounts to a great saving when these wheels are properly and fully applied. Saws, when they can be removed from their mandrils, are now sharpened with wheels, and no doubt could be sharpened with a portable grinding apparatus that could be adjusted to the teeth in such a manner as to sharpen them without removing the saws. WOOD-WORKINQ MACHINERY. 91 Fd. Arbey, a prominent builder of wood machines, in France, fits his planing machines with grinding wheels that are traversed parallel to the cylinder, and produces with the arrangement, edges that can in no other way be made so true and straight. Two-thirds at least of the wear of flat or straight cutters come from careless grinding, or over grinding. To grind a cutter up to its edge causes waste. The ground edge is not fit to work with, and it is necessary to whet a new bevel for a working edge. The cutter is then just in the condition it would have been in if the grinding had been stopped short of the edge, leaving a whetting bevel. This is especially true of moulding cutters with an irregular profile, which should, from the nature of their work, if there were no other reasons, have a compound bevel. Fig. 41 shows a cutter with a compound or double bevel, and Fig. 42 one with a single bevel. Fig. 41. Fig. 42. The cutter shown at Fig. 41 is as stifi" and strong as the one at Fig. 42, and is more easily whet and ground. The art of taking care of cutters consists in whetting the edges as the wear requires it, and never grinding quite to the edge, or near enough to weaken it, unless to remove flaws or notches. For planing-knives, a coarse grain soft stone of the kind known as machine stones is best. It should be not 92 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. less than 40 inches in diameter, when new, fitted with a tight water box and hood. The stone should be strongly driven, and instead of rubbing for an hour to make an edge on a fine hard stone one may in ten minutes finish the knife and have fifty minutes saved to devote to some more agreeable work. For moulding irons, emery wheels are best. There should, however, for this purpose be not less than five wheels on a spindle, arranged so they can be shifted to different positions, or taken off and put on instantly, as may be required. The machines manu- factured and sold for ordinary grinding pur- poses are not suited for use in wood shops, and it is better to have them specially made, as in Fig. 43. The wheels can be moulded on the flanges, as seen in the section, the emery being from WOOD-WOKKING MACHINEEY. 93 2 to 3 inches deep, which is as much as will be worn out in any case ; mamufacturers of wheels will furnish the disks, or they can be prepared and sent to have the rims renewed on them. In preparing the disks, or centre plates, tliere should be two sets, so that one can be sent to have the rims renewed while the others are iu use. Fig. 44 represents a wet-stone machine for grinding moulding irons, used in the large mills in England. It is Fig. 44. well adapted to the purpose, and with the proper kind of stones they will last a long time and preserve their shape on the periphery. There is no doubt, however, of emery wheels being best, after the men have learned to use them. For some kinds of planing, thin flexible cutters made from the best sheet cast steel, from 14 to 12 gauge in thickness, will be found a cheap and effective kind of knives ; they are now regularly made to any pattern by saw makers and tempered to a hard filing temper, so they can be sharpened without taking them off. To hold them there should be used a stiff steel cap, t% to | inch thick, slightly concave on its under side, and made without having the bolt holes slotted. In many cases thin knives of this kind are used by placing old cutters on the back, 94 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINERY. instead of having proper caps made, a plan that is apt to lead to a bad result. The successful working of these thin cutters depends upon their being held firmly, and in any case where they have failed to work satisfactorily, it will generally be found that the fanlt was in the caps, or the bad quality of the steel. Sheet cast steel from the best makers is by no means an inferior article for such cutters, if carefully worked and not overheated in tempering. What will answer for a saw will not do for cutters that have sharp edges, not that a saw is not better if made from fine steel, but the edges are more obtuse and not so liable to break. These thin knives were patented first by Godeau in France, subsequently by Gedge in England, and perhaps several times in America, so the plan is well patented, if that js to be regarded as a recommendation. In sharpening these cutters, fine mill saw files of good quality can be used. As a rule it is an expensive plan to sharpen tempered steel tools with files, but in this case the material is so thin, and so little to file away, that when the time ot taking off and resetting is considered, there is a great saving of cost by sharpening with files. The edge must of course be finished with a stone to make it smooth. As remarked in the case of grinding planing knives, much time is lost in most shops by using fine grit stones. The grindstone should be considered an implement for cutting away metal, not making edges, and unless viewed in that light there will be a waste of time and a waste of tools. For large cutters a coarse stone 4 feet in diameter, driven by a band 6 to 8 inches wide, on a pulley 2 feet in diameter is not too much. For sharpening small tools, such as auger bits, mortise chisels, or others that have angular corners, a dozen good WO'OD-WORKING MACHINERY. 95 files with various sections, triangular, square, round, half- round, knife edge, flat, and so on, should be provided. Each to have its own handle and the whole fitted into a neat case ; in the same case should be kept several slips of Washita stone, ground to various forms to finish with. Wood workmen having every facility to prepare lockers and cases generally verify the old proverb by being with- out them. In machine shops there are, as a rule, places to keep tools and stores, but in wood shops the tools generally lie around loose, and are found when wanted after a good hunt, provided they are not gone out in the shavings and into the furnace. In the matter of files alluded to, how much neater and more economical it is to have a case to keep them in, than to have them lying on the benches, to be used for purposes not intended, and spoiled ; one half the number will, do if taken care of, and the whole time of hunting for them saved, to say nothing of doing without them when they are most needed. To go into a wood shop and find a repairing bench con- taining three or four files with the tips broken off, one handle to be used between them, a monkey wrench without a handle, or without a screw, a lot of nails, old bolts, paint- pots, and other junk piled upon it, at once indicates the character of the establishment. What the manager does generally determines what the men do, and he can be set down as responsible for the whole. We cannot therefore too earnestly recommend order and system in all things, especially in such appliances as relate to tool dressing, an important one if measured by its expenses, all of which go to the wrong side of accounts. 96 wdoD-WOBKING MACHINERY. SAWS AND SAWING MACHINEKY. Saw benches, which constitute so important a part of the machinery in all wood-working establishments in Europe, are in America comparatively unimportant machines, so much so that they have never been brought to much per- fection, and contrast strangely with other machines around them. The reason for this is that in Europe the material at wood-working establishments is used in the form of logs or deals ; the hard wood in logs, and the soft wood in deals. The latter being a technical name for pieces 3x9 inches, 3 X 12 inches, and so on, so that all stuff of whatever kind is sawn out to order, and usually finished green. There are, of course, exceptions, stocks of dry wood being kept on hand in some places, but not on the same scale as in America ; a " board yard " contains timbers of nearly every form, sawn in the forest mills ready for use, except seasoning and planing. This difference in the method of providing timber does not wholly account for the greater one between saw benches there and here. In Europe, a saw bench is employed for uses never thought of at this day in America, and is in fact looked upon as a different kind of a machine, and for different purposes ; logs 20 feet long and 18 inches square will be sawn on a common saw bench, not a large one, as that necessitates trucks being provided to carry the ends of the log, and a drag rope for feeding. The saws are thin, and are kept up by ' packing,' a thing quite unknown, or at least not practised, in America. Fig. 45 will show the usual method of arranging this packing. There are two chambers, or recesses, one at each side of the saw, into which is passed a lath or strip of wood, and bound with WOOD-WORKINa MACHINERY. 97 packing of cotton or hemp, and saturated with oil. This keeps the saws cool, oils and supports them. Sometimes the packing is done by winding thin flat Fig. 45. laths of wood, and pressing them in alongside the saws, without having a recess as shown. The saws are besides kept true by this packing ; if there is a tendency to run to either side, the packing is pressed in more close on this side, and the saw forced over into line. Fig. 46 shows a Fig. 46. kind of guides that may be employed with much advan- tage to longer saws, when no better method of guiding and holding is adopted. The following engravings are made true from elevations H 98 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. of saw benches designed by tbe writer, in 1879, for the English market. They will no doubt be of interest to American readers. Fig. 47. Rear View of 30-inch Saw BsDch, with cross-cutting carriage. Fig. 48. Rear Side of 30-iiioh Saw Bench, with rising and falling spindle. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 99 Fig. 49. ifliiijiiiiTiliiiiniiniiiiiiiii Front View of a 48-inch Saw Bench, with continuous feed. Fig. 50. Front Side View of a 48-inch Saw Bench, with drag-feed gearing. The leading proportions of these benches are give a on the lollowing page. H 2 100 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. No. of Saw Bench. Length of Table. Width of - Table. Diameter of Largest Saw. Diameter of Driving Pulleys. Width of Driving Band. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. 1 48 24 24 10 4 2 60 30 30 12 3 80 36 40 14 5 4 96 42 48 16 5J The gauges or fences are made to adjust forward or back, but never to much pass the teeth of the saw. This matter has been noticed in a previous chapter. In setting saws the custom is to bend the teeth ; some set differently, but bending is the most common practice, so common, indeed, that it is a bold assertion to say that it is wrong, and another plan better. To bend a saw tooth, is not to set it, in a technical sense, and hardly in any other sense, for such set soon comes out in working. A tooth in being set over must have a sharp blow on the inside to stretch the steel, and hold it in position. Saws of any kind can be set with a hammer, quite as fast and much better than by bending the teeth with keys. For setting circular saws, a frame, as shown in Fig. 52, is convenient. It consists of a rail, 5x8 inches, of hard wood, with a sliding block on the top, fitted with wood studs of various sizes to suit the holes in the saws ; on one end is placed a steel laid anvil, to weigh from 10 lbs. to 20 lbs., with its face bevelled off to ten degrees each way from the centre. The saw, being placed on the stud, is moved out or in upon the anvil until the teeth come over the centre ; the anvil is turned until its corner or apex comes across the tooth, in the position shown by the dotted lines, side view, Fig. 51, with the tooth standing over from to WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 101 J- inch as the amount of set needed and the size of the tooth may require. The tooth is then struck a quick sharp blow with a light hammer, at an angle as shown by the lines a, or several blows, if necessary, until the bottom of the tooth is set over as shown in the edge view, Fig. 51. Fig. 51. Fig. 52. i m I l°la I This forms a kind of curved scraper edge on the outside, which keeps the side of the tooth clear of the wood, scrapes the surfaces smooth, and will stay there until filed away in sharpening. The teeth will be a little bruised after setting, but this bruising does no harm, and is removed in a single filing. Fig. 52 is a top view of the setting-frame. All kinds of circular saws and all sizes can be set on the same device. It is cheap to make, always in order, and easily understood. The teeth of cross-cutting saws 102 WOOD-WOEKINa MACHINEEY. require setting at a different angle, but can be set in the same manner. Circular saws are too often regarded as a kind of blocking-out machine, to divide stuff into pieces that are afterwards to be brought to dimensions. This, in America, comes from the fact that the great object has hitherto been to save labour, and not, as in Europe, to save material. If a man in sawing has, from the im- perfection of his machine, to allow an eighth of an inch on each piece for bad sawing, and his saw cuts out one-third more kerf than is necessary, he wastes his wages, especially with the more valuable kinds of wood. A saw bench should be carefully and accurately con- structed in all respects. Timber can and should be cut to size, leaving only enough to dress it smooth. The frames and tops, more than any other machine, require to be made of iron, so as to withstand rough use, dampness, and wear. Cutting-off saws are divided into two kinds, those in which the saw is fed to the timber, and those with carriages for moving the stuff, the first for timber that is long and unwieldy, and the second for shorter and lighter work. Carriage cut-off saws are best whenever the material is easier to move than the saw, and the swing or travelling saws are best in the opposite case, a rule easy to remember and easily understood. Carriage saws have an advantage in their greater simplicity, and consequent durability. The plans of con- struction are endless, and no suggestions of use can be given here, except that the carriages should be kept square by means of a rack on each end, gearing into pinions on a shaft extending along under the carriage; this admits of its being mounted on rollers, which could not well be used without a squaring shaft. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 103 BAND SAWS. What the future of the band saw may be is hard to foretell ; but jmdged upon general principles, such as are common to all saws, there is a probability of its sup- planting every other method. Consisting of a thinner blade than can otherwise be used, capable of any degree of tension, and moving at a higher speed than it is possible to run other saws, its advantages are too obvious to warrant any other concllusion. Besides, it cuts square through the wood, and, as a very important advantage, is operated by rotary shafts amd wheels running at a moderate speed. The fear of breaking blades, or the inability to manu- facture them, sieems to have been for forty years or more what deterred people from using band saws. This trouble has been overcome, and band saws of good quality will do as much cutting as other saws, measured by their value or cost. Joining the blades, from being regarded as the next thing to impossible, has become so simple a matter as to be perfo»rmed in every shop, and almost by any person. To first speak of the blades, they should have a high spring temper ; if harder, they become more liable to fracture, are difficult to sharpen, and will be broken in setting. A saw that has not a good lively temper is comparatively worthless. It is quite impossible after a saw is finished to tell whether it is properly tempered throughout; if an inch even of its length has not been tempered, or is drawn by polishing or grinding, it is as bad as though the whole saw was wrong, for such spots cannot be found, and, if they were found, there would be no remedy but to cut them out. People have to trust mainly to the skill and 104 WOOD-WOKKING MACHINERY. good faith of the saw makers, and should patronise those of known skill. In selecting saws, a good plan to test the temper, if the saw is not joined, is to roll up the ends, and see if it will spring back straight or remain bent. If it spring back nearly to its first shape, the temper is good. The texture or grain of the steel, which is the only clue to quality, can be determined by breaking a short piece from the end of a blade. By unrolling the blade on the floor, it can be tested as to straightness. The ends, if laid to- gether, will show if it is parallel and of the same width throughout. The processes of joining now in use can be divided into brazing and soldering, the distinction relating mainly to how the joining is done rather than to any difference in the processes. In what is termed soldering, the melting or heating is effected with hot irons, and in brazing the saw itself is put into the fire. Brass, spelter, German silver, and other alloys can be used for joining, any of which make a joint which, if well made, will be as strong as other parts of the blade, that is, will stand an equal tension, for the tendency to fracture is greatest alongside the joints, where the union takes place between the tempered steel and the portion that is annealed in making the joint. For solder joints the silver solder of jewellers is con- venient ; it is strong, and melts at a low heat. The most convenient form is to have it rolled in thin strips, so that pieces the size of the lap can be cut off and laid between. To make joints of this kind, there is required a strong heavy pair of wrought-iron tongs and some kind of a frame to hold the saw straight, leaving the joint free at the ends to be clasped with the tongs. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 105 Fig. 53 shows a pair of tongs and scarfing frame for soldering the smaller blades. The saw should be scarfed or tapered at the ends for a Fig. 53. length corresponding to one or two teeth, as the pitch may determine. This scarfing must be done true and level, or the joint will nofc be a close one. The joint shoiuld be cleansed with acid, to nemove grease ; the solder placed between, and the saw clasped with the tongs, which should kave a full red heat. As soon as the solder runs, the tongs should be re- moved, and a wet sponge or cloth applied to restore the temper in part. The joint can then be filed parallel by using a wire gauge or pair of calipers to determine the thickness, being careful to file the proper amount from each side. This last is the most difficult part, and requires great care to have the saw parallel and straight, without making it thinner at the joint than at other places. Fig. 54 shows a forge for brazing band saws, which. 106 WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. aside from the original cost of the outfit, is the cheapest process, and certainly the best plan of joining narrow blades. The fire is of charcoal, about 2^ inches square ; the degree of heat is accurately regulated by the treadle, which is operated by the foot. The saw is first scarfed, as in the other case, the joint then wound with brass wire, fluxed with borax, and placed in the fire until the brass melts and runs into the joint ; the saw is then to be quickly removed from the fire, and placed upon a kind of anvil, and the joint pressed together while the brass is in a melted state. One of the main points in operating band saws is to avoid bending the blades edgewise, which is more easily and frequently done than would be imagined. The wheels require to be so adjusted that the saw will only touch, and not bear against the back guides when not at work ; and as different saws, and different positions of the guides as to height will vary this back thrust, it requires constant attention. The amount of back pressure is easily determined by placing a piece of wood behind the saw while it is running and pressing it forward, and noting the amount of force required, and then setting the wheels until it bears lightly on the back. This edge strain, as we call it, is generally provided for by an adjustment of the axis of the top wheel, which every machine should have. Different forms of teeth, the pitch, angle, and manner of setting, are questions of much importance with large saws that run with power feed ; but for scroll sawing, with narrow blades generally, the matter of teeth has not such importance — a fact that is sufficiently proved by the great diversion of both opinion and practice met with. WOOD-WOBKING MACHINERY. i07 The perfection! of manufacture and the truth of the blades is apt to be as their width, and beyond 2^ inches wide the steel is not, as a rule, so good, or the saws so true and straight ; besides, the tension required for 2^- inch blades is as much as an ordinary machine with shalts 2^ inches diameter will stand. In respect to sawing logs with band saws, the present limits will not admit of going into the subject. It is a wide one, which (does not admit of compendious treatment. KESAWING MACHINES. Eesawing, which constitutes a leading branch in the wood shops of other countries, is but a small afiair in American mills. Most planing mills have a resawing machine of some kind, but it is omly used for boards too thin to be sawn in the forest mills and safely transported. Timber is nearly all forest sawn, and comes to the manufacturer cut to size, as nearly as can be, allowing for warping, shrinking, and irregularity ; not cut first into deals or flitches for transportation, and then sawn again into sizes, as in Europe. Thin saws and slow feed is the rule for English machines ; instead of crowding and forcing one saw to do three times as much as it should, several saws are employed. In America it is common to force a single blade through from 2000 to 3000 feet of boards in a day,— a thing incredible to people who have not seen it, and the result is, as might be expected, bad sawing, and a great waste of both timber and power. A band saw for resawing American timber should never 108 "WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. exceed 3 J inches wide, nor be less than 40 feet long, the wheels 6 feet or more in diameter ; the speed of the saw from 5000 to 8000 feet a minute. The teeth require a coarse pitch, with a deep throat, but of some form to ensure great stiffness, otherwise set cannot be kept in them. For general resawing purposes, there is no saw better than a compact iron-framed reciprocating machine, to carry from one to ten saws. What may be lost in speed while working but one saw, will be gained when a gang can be used ; which would soon be a great share of the time when this system of resawing was once commenced. The blades for such machines need not exceed 14 gauge, and in most cases be thinner. JIG SAWS. What may be said of jig-sawing need not consume much space here. For ordinary wood work a spring- strained fret saw to do the inside, or perforated work, is all that is required. To set up a jig saw, the strongest place in a building should be selected, over a girder, if on an upper floor ; if on a ground floor, there should be masonry or piles set in the earth from three to four feet deep. If the saw is on an upper floor, a counter-balance equal to three-fourths the weight of the reciprocating parts will be best; this throws the vibration on a horizontal plane, in which direction a floor is the strongest of all foundations. If set on an earth foun- dation no counter-balance should be employed, leaving the vibration to fall vertically, and be resisted by the foundation. WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY. 109 In selecting men to work jig saws, or any saw for irre- gular lines, tw(0 things must be considered — ingenuity and skill to take ciare of the machine, and the faculty of fol- lowing lines. Without practical experience, and reason- ing from inference alone, one would conclude that almost any person conild work a jig saw ; but that it requires a peculiar facult y is a well-known fact. A ship caulker, a chipper, or a carpenter, in striking a chisel or in driving nails, cannot tiell, or hardly knows, how the blows of the mallet or ham mer are directed to the head of the chisels or the nails : in chipping and caulking, the blows are con- tinually yaryiing from one angle to another, apparently without effort or care. The same faculty that guides the hammer and mallet, whatever it may be, is required in jig sawing. The sawyer who has this faculty scarcely knows how he follows the lines; he appears to do so without effort, and depends, in a large degree, upon natural instead of aciquired skill. Occasionally men who have great trouble in learning other work make good sawyers ; some men cannot learn to turn, others learn with great facility, and a manager who would get the largest amount of work done in the best manner, and in a way most con- genial to the men themselves, must watch these pecu- liarities, as they will be sure to appear among workmen. Saws for scroll work cut at all angles of the grain, and should Itiave what the nature of the work would suggest, an intermediate form of teeth ; not pointed, as for cross cutting, or square, as for slitting, but a mean between, and always in the" hook form. A narrow blade is not capable of withstanding back thrust, and should, conseiis modes of performing work which he sees around him, and estimate their advai|tag^^ I Tl?e fdet ;t^at,' J^dnch _>Vork is mainly done by the jiiecB 'iii' wood' shops would' be, as one would think, a sufficient incentive for workmen to study it carefully, with a view to increase their earn- ings, but strange to say the facts do not permit such a conclusion. In using bench planes it is a good plan to learn to plane with one hand as much as possible, especially with jack planes. To keep both hands on a plane makes one of two things necessary, either to walk along and carry the body with the plane at each stroke ; or else to plane by short strokes, making a kind of chipping operation. A man can stand in one position and plane the length of a piece 4 feet long with one hand, and propel the plane with just as much force, and when he has learned it, with more force than if he used both hands. If a brace pin is used in the side of the bench, he can, in roughing out with a jack plane, do twice as much in a given time as he could by grasping the plane in both hands and moving his body with it. Granting this proposition, which will be fully proved by an experiment, and following it until learned, is it not strange that we rarely see planes used in one hand ? Another thing connected with dressing up stuff which may save time and labour, is the use of the try-square. Supposing that a piece is being jointed or squared in the vice, the custom in trying is to remove the plane, put the square on the piece with the blade on the top, and then stoop down to look under the blade, generally low 150 WOOD-WOEKING MACHINEKY. eiioiigli to < brin^* ;tK§ Q^etlesof '?^4t3i*tt,e*pie(fe. This can be done with half the trouble and^.with more accuracy pl^tpjn^ .the hjbhA 'oj the square on the t6p'6f-*th*e ^'ieCfe'; 'aS in Fig. 64, and looking down along the blade at the side. To do this the plane need not be removed from the piece, the body is kept erect, and in the case of a thin board instead of having but its thickness to gauge from, there is the whole length of the square blade. London : printed by william clowks and sons, limited, stamfoud btkeet and cuaking cross. iSSs. BOOKS RELATING TO APPLIED SCIENCE PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON, LONDON: 125, STRAND. NliW YORK : 35, MURRAY STREET. 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C.E., Consulting Engineer to the Government of India for State Railways. With mmteroiis illustrations, 744 pp. Twenty-first edition, revised and enlarged, 32mo, roan, 6^. Synopsis of Contents: Surveying, Levelling etc.— Strength and Weight of Materials— Earthwork, Brickwork. Masonry, Arches, etc -Struts, Columns, Beams, and Trusses-FJooring, Roofing, and Roof Trusses— Girders, Lndges, etc.— Railways and Roads-Hydraulic Formulae-Canals. Sewers, Waterworks, Docks-Irrigation and Breakwaters-Gas, Ventilation, and Warming-Heat Light Colour, and Sound— Gravity : Centres, Forces, and Powers-MiUwork, Teeth of Wheels, Shafting, etc —Workshop Recipes-Sundry Machinery-Animal Power-Steam and the Ste^ Engme-Water-power, Water-wheels, Turbines, etc.-Wind and Windmills- Steam Navigation, Ship Building, Tonnage, etc.-Gunnery, Projectiles, etc.— Weights, Measures and Money-Trigono.netry. Conic Sections, and Curves-Telegraphy-Mensura! r " w l^"" D Ai^^as and Circumference, and Arcs of Circles-Logarithms, Square and Cuoe Roots, Powers-Reciproca s,etc.-Useful Numbers-Differential and Integral Calcu- lu:>— Algebraic Signs— Telegraphic Construction and Formula. Spons Tables and Memoraitda for Engineers; selected and arranged by J. T. Hurst, C.E., Author of 'Architectural Surveyors' Handbook,' ' Hurst's Tredgold's Carpenti-y,'^tc. Fifth edition, 64mo, roan, gilt edges, \s. ; or in cloth case, is. 6d. ■i iJ^th;r''fVt .P"""^V" ^ ^^""'^ type, and is so small, measuring only 2^ in. by if in. by i in. thick, that it may be easily carried in the waistcoat pocket. ^ ' ^ * ^ r.pJl^Wno-Tl'''"'^ extremely rare thing for a reviewer to be called upon to notice a volume Stie hoof ^xf 1^^' these dimensions faithfully represent the size of the handy f -^''^ volume— which contains 118 printed pages, besides a few blank coft BocLet'TT"'^^."''' ^T' ^ PO'^ket-book, adapted for being carried in the waist- wn^^IH^?,;, ■ containing a far greater amount and variety of information than most people ™iled w ^° ^P'^P'-^ssed into so small a space The little volume has been reaTrslr LrnrfM'^^ ^'^'"''^ ^""^ judgment, and we can cordially recommend it to our readers as a useful little pocket companion."— A Practical Treatise on Natural aiid Artificial Concrete, its Varieties and Constructive Adaptations. By Henry Reid, Author of the ' Science and Art of the Manufacture of Portland Cement.' JNew Edition, with 59 woodcuts and 5 plates, 8vo, cloth, it^s. Hydrodynamics : Treatise relative to the Testing- of Water- Wheels and Machinery, with various other matters pertaining to Hydrodynamics. By James Emerson. With numerous illustrations, 300 pp. Third edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 4^. dd. Electricity as a Motive Power. By Count Th. Du MONCEL, Membre de I'lnstitutde France, and Frank Geraldy, Incre- nieur des Fonts et Chaussees. Translated and Edited, with Additions, by C. J. Wharton, Assoc. Soc. Tgl. Eng. and Elec. With 113 en^ravin^s and diagrams, crown 8vo, cloth, jj. dd. Hints on Architecttiral Di^aughtsmanship. By G. W. TUXFORD Hallatt. Fcap. Svo, cloth, is. 6d. ^ CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Treatise on Valve-Gears, with special consideration of the Link-Motions of Locomotive Engines. By Dr. Gustav Zeuner, Professor of Applied Mechanics at the Confederated rolytechnikum of Zurich. Translated from the Fourth German Edition, by Professor J. F. Klein, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, 12s. 6d. The French- Polisher s Manual. By a French- Polisher; containing Timber Staining, Washing, Matching, Improving, Painting, Imitations, Directions for Staining, Sizing, Embodying, Smoothing, Spirit Varnishing, French-Polishing, Directions for Re- polishing. Third edition, royal 32mo, sewed, i)d. Hops, their Cultivation, Commerce, and Uses ijt various Countries. By P. L. SiMMONDS. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4^. 6fl'. A Practical Treatise on the Manufactttre and Distri- bictio7i of Coal Gas. By William Richards. Demy 4to, with nuvieroiis wood engravings and 29 plates, cloth, 28^. Synopsis of Contents : Introduction — History of Gas Lighting— Chemistry of Gas Manufacture, by Lewis Thompson, Esq., M.R.C.S.— Coal, with Analyses, by J. Paterson, Lewis Thompson, and G. R. Hislop, Esqrs.— Retorts, Iron and Clay— Retort Setting— Hydraulic Main— Con- densers — Exhausters— Washers and Scrubbers — Purifiers — Purification — History of Gas Holder — Tanks, Brick and Stone, Composite, Concrete, Cast-iron, Compound Annular Wrought-iron — Specifications — Gas Holders — Station Meter — Governor — Distribution— Mains— Gas Mathematics, or Formulas for the Distribution of Gas, by Lewis Thompson, Esq.— Services— Consumers' Meters— Regulators— Burners— Fittings— Photometer— Carburization of Gas— Air Gas and Water Gas— Composition of Coal Gas, by Lewis Thompson, Esq.— Analyses of Gas — Influence of Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature on Gas— Residual Products— Appendix— Description of Retort Settings, Buildings, etc., etc. Practical Geometry, Perspective^ and Engineering Drawing; a Course of Descriptive Geometry adapted to the Require- jnents of the Engineering Draughtsman, including the determination of cast shadows and Isometric Projection, each chapter being followed by numerous examples ; to which are added rules for Shading, Shade-lining, etc., together with practicq^l instructions as to the Lining, Colouring, Printing, and general treatment of Engineering Drawings, with a chapter on drawing Instruments. By George S. Clarke, Capt. R.E. Second edition, with 21 plates. 2 vols., cloth, lo^. 6d. The Elements of Graphic Statics. By Professor Karl Von Ott, translated from the German by G. S. Clarke, Capt. R.E., Instructor in Mechanical Drawing, Royal Inditwi Engineering College. With 93 illicstrations, crown 8vo, cloth, ^s. The Principles of Graphic Statics. By George Sydenham Clarke, Capt. Royal Engineers. With ri2 illustrations. 4to, doth, 12^. 6a'. Dynamo-Electric Machinery : A Manual for Students of Electro-technics. By Silvanus P. Thompson, B.A., D.Sc, Professor of Experimental Physics in University College, Bristol, etc., etc. Illus- trated, 8vo, cloth, I2J. 6d. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 9 The New Formula for Mean Velocity of Discharge of Rivers and Canals. By W. R. Kutter. Translated from articles in the ' Cultur-Ingenieur,' by Lowis D'A. Jackson, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 8vo, cloth, I2J. dd. Practical Hydraulics ; a Series of Rules and Tables for the use of Engineers, etc., etc. By Thomas Box. Fifth edition, numerous plales, post 8vo, cloth, 5j. A Practical Treatise on the Constrtiction of Hori- zontal and Vertical Waterwheels , specially designed for the use of opera- tive mechanics. By William Cullen, Millwright and Engineer. VViili II plates. Second edition, revised and enlarged, small 4to, cloth, lis. 6d. Tin: Describing the Chief Methods of Mining, Dressing and Smelting it abroad ; with Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and Wolfram. By Arthur G. Charleton, Mem. American Inst, of Mining Engineers. With plates, 8vo, cloth, \zs. 6d. Perspective^ Explained and Illustrated. By G. S. Clarke, Capt. R.E. With illustrations, 8vo, cloth, 3^. 6d. The Essential Elements of Practical Mechanics ; based on the Principle of Work, designed for Engineering Students. By Oliver Byrne, formerly Professor of Mathematics, College for Civil Engineers. Third edition, inith 148 wood engravings, post 8vo, cloth, Ts. 6d. Contents : Chap. I. How Work is Measui-cd by a Unit, both with and without reference to a Unit of Time — Chap. 2. The Work of Living Agents, the Influence of Friction, and introduces one of the most beautiful Laws of Motion — Chap. i. The principles expounded in the first and second chapters are applied to the Motion of Bodies — Chap. 4. The Transmission of Work by simple Machines — Chap. 5. Useful Propositions and Rules. The Practical Millwright and Engineer s Ready Reckoner; or Tables for finding the diameter and power of cog-wheels, diameter, weight, and power of shafts, diameter and strength of bolts, etc. By Thomas Dixon. Fourth edition, i2mo, cloth, 3^. Breweries and Mattings : their Arrangement, Con- struction, Machinery, and Plant. By G. Scamell, F.R.I.B.A. Second edition, revised, enlarged, and partly rewritten. By F. CoLYER, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E. With 20 plates, 8vo, cloth, iSj-. A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Starch, Glucose, Starch-Sugar, and Dextrine, based on the German of L. Von Wagner, Professor in the Royal Technical School, Buda Pesth, and other authorities. By Julius Frankel ; edited by Robert Hutter, proprietor of the Philadelphia Starch Works. With 58 illustrations, 344 pp., 8vo, cloth, l8.f. CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS A Practical Treatise on Mill- gearing, Wheels, Shafts, Riggers, etc. ; for the use of Engineers. By Thomas Box, Third edition, wi'tA 1 1 plates. Crown 8vo, cloth, ']s. 6d. Mining Machinery: a Descriptive Treatise on the Machinery, Tools, and other Appliances used in Mining. By G. G. Andre, F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E., Mem. of the Society of Engineers. Royal 4to, uniform with the Author's Treatise on Coal Mining, con- taining 182 plates, accurately drawn to scale, with descriptive text, in 2 vols., cloth, 3/. \2S. Contents : Machinery for Prospecting, Excavating, Hauling, and Hoisting— Ventilation— Pumping — Treatment of Mineral Products, including Gold and Silver, Copper, Tin, and Lead, Iron, Coal, Sulphur, China Clay, Brick Earth, etc. Tables for Setting out Ctirves for Railways, Canals, Roads, etc., varying from a radius of five chains to three miles. By A. Kennedy and R. W. Hackwood. Illustrated, 32mo, cloth, zs. 6d. The Science and A rt of the Mafiufacture of Portland Cement, with observations on some of its constructive applications. With 66 illustrations. By Henry Reid, C.E., Author of 'A Practical Treatise on Concrete,' etc., etc. Svo, cloth, i8j. T/'ie Drauglitsman s Handbook of Plan and Map Drawing; including instructions for the preparation of Engineering, Architectural, and Mechanical Drawings. With numerous illustratiojis in the text, and 33 plates (15 printed in colours). By G. G. Andre, F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. 4to, cloth, gj. Contents : The Drawing Office and its Furnishings— Geometrical Problems— Lines, Dots, and their Combinations— Colours, Shading, Lettering, Bordering, and North Points— Scales— Plotting —Civil Engineers' and Surveyors' Plans— Map Drawing— Mechanical and Architectural Drawing — Copying and Reducing Trigonometrical Formulas, etc., etc. The Boiler-maker s andiron Ship-builder s Companion, comprising a series of original and carefully calculated tables, of the utmost utility to persons interested in the iron trades. By James Foden, author of ' Mechanical Tables,' etc. Second edition revised, with illustra- tions, crown Svo, cloth, 5^. Rock Blasting: a Practical Treatise on the means employed in Blasting Rocks for Industrial Purposes. By G. G. Andre, F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. With 56 illustrations and 12 plates, Svo, cloth. lOj-. dd. Painting and Painters Manual: a Book of I'acts for Painters and those who Use or Deal in Paint Materials.- By C. E. CONDIT and J. Scheller. Illustrated, Svo, cloth, \os. 6d. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. A Treatise cm Ropemaking as practised in p^iblic and private Rope-yards, with a Description of the Manufacture, Rules, Tables of Weights, etc., adapted to the Trade, Shipping, Mining, Railways, Builders, etc. By R. Chapman, formerly foreman to Messrs. Huddart and Co., Cimehouse, and late Master Ropemaker to H.M. Dockyard, Deptford. Second edition, i2mo, cloth, 3^-. Laxtons Builders and Contractors Tables ; for the use of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, Builders, Land Agents, and others. Bricklayer, containing 22 tables, with nearly 30,000 calculations. 4to, cloth, 5^. Laxtons Builders and Contractors' Tables. Ex- cavator, Earth, Land, Water, and Gas, containing 53 tables, with nearly 24,000 calculations. 4to, cloth, ^s. Sanitary Engineering : a Guide to the Construction of Works of Sewerage and House Drainage, with Tables for facilitating the calculations of the Engineer. By Baldwin Latham, C.E., M. Inst. C.E., F.G.S., F.M.S., Past-President of the Society of Engineers. Second edition, wilk numerous plates and zvoodczits, 8vo, cloth, l/. lO^. Screw Ctitting Tables for Engi7ieers and Machinists, giving the values of the different trains of Wheels required to pi'oduce Screws of any pitch, calculated by Lord Lindsa}% M.P., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., e:c. Cloth, oblong, 2s. Screw Cutting Tables, for the use of Mechanical Engineers, showing the proper arrangement of Wheels for cutting the Threads of Screws of any required pitch, with a Table for making the Universal Gas-pipe Threads and Taps. By W. A. Martin, Engineer. Second edition, oblong, cloth, is., or sewed, 6d. A Treatise on a Practical Method of Designing Slide- Valve Gears by Sif/iple Geometrical Construction, based upon the principles enunciated in Euclid's Elements, and comprising the various forms of Plain Slide- Valve and Expansion Gearing ; together with Stephenson's, Gooch's, and Allan's Link-Motions, as applied either to reversing or to variable expansion combinations. By Edward J. Cowling Welch, Memb. Inst. Mechanical Engineers. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. Cleaning and Sco7iring : a Manual for Dyers, Laun- dresses, and for Domestic Use. By S. Christopher. i8mo, sewed, 6d. A Handbook of House Sanitation ; for the use of all persons seeking a Healthy Home. A reprint of those portions of Mr. Bailey-Denton's Lectures on Sanitary Engineering, given before the School of Military Engineering, which related to the "Dwelling,'" enlarged and revised by his Son, E. F. Bailey-Denton, C.E., B,A. With 140 illu7i"-at!ons, 8vo, cloth. Sr. 61?'. 12 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS A Glossary of Terms used in Coal Mining. By William Stukeley Gresley, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., F.G.S., Member of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers. Jllustrated U'jth numerous -woodcuts attd diagrams, crown 8vo, cloth, 5^. A Pocket- Book for Boiler Makers and Steam Users, comprisino- a variety of useful information for Employer and Workman, Governmelit Inspectors, Board of Trade Surveyors, Engineers in charge of Works and Slips, Foremen of Manufactories, and the general Steam- using Public. By Maurice John Sexton. Second edition, roya! 32mo, roan, gilt edges, 5^. The Strains upon Bridge Girders and Roof Trusses, including the Warren, Lattice, Trellis, Bowstring, and other Forms of Girders the Curved Roof, and Simple and Compound Trusses. By Thos. Cargill, C.E.B.A.T., CD., Assoc. Inst. C.E., Member of the Society of Engineers. With 64 illustrations, drawn and worked out to scale, 8vo, cloth, 1 2 J. (>d. A Practical Treatise on the Steam Engine, con- taining Plans and Arrangements of Details for Fixed Steam Engines, with Essays on the Principles involved in Design and Construction. By \RTHUR RiGG, Engineer, Member of the Society of Engineers and of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Demy 4to, copiously illustrated with woodcuts and 96 plates, in one Volume, half-bound morocco, il 2s. ; or cheaper edition, cloth, 25^. This work is not, in any sense, an elementary treatise, or history of the steam engine, but IS intended to describe examples of Fixed Steam Engines without entering mto tlie wide domain of locomot ve or marine practice. To this end illustrations w.l be given of the most recent arrangements of Horizontal, Vertical, Beam Pumpmg, Wmdmg, Portable Serni- lioriable Corks Allen, Compound, and other similar Engines, by the most eminent I- irms m &eat Britain and America. The laws relating to the action and precautions to be observed iVi the construction of the various details, such as Cylinders, Pistons, Piston-rods Connecting- rods Cross-heads, Motion-blocks, Eccentrics, Simple, Expansion Balanced, and Eqinlibnum Shde-valves a„d Valve-gearing will be minutely dealt with. In this^ connection wil be found aiticles pon he Velocifv of Reciprocating Parts and the Mode of Applying the Indicator, Hea Ld Expansion of 'Steam Governors, and the like. It is the writer's desire to draw il ustratious from every possible source, and give only those rules that present practice deems correct. Barlows Tables of Squares, Cubes, Sqtiare Roots, CuBe Roots, Reciprocals of all Integer Numbers up to 10,000. Post Svo, cloth, 6^-. Ca^nus (AI.) Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels, demon- strating the best forms which can be given to them for the purposes of Machinery such as Mill-work and Clock-work, and the art of finding their numbers. Translated from the French, with details of the present practice of Millwrights, Engine Makers, and other Machinists, by Isvic Hawkins. Third edition, -with iZ plates, Svo, cloth, 5^. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. A Practical Treatise on the Science of Land and Enginetring Surveying, Levelling, Estimating Quantities, etc., with a general description of the several Instruments required for Surveying, Levelling, Plotting, etc. By H. S. Merrett. Third edition, 4I plate; -djilh illustrations and tables, royal 8vo, cloth, \2s. 6d. Principal Contents : Part I. Introduction and the Principles of Geometry. Part 2. Land Surveying ; com- prising General Observations — The Chain — Offsets Surveying by the Chain only — Surveying Hilly Ground— To Survey an Estate or Parish by the Chain only — Surveying with the Theodolite — Mining and Town Surveying — Railroad Surveying — Mapping — Division and Laying out of Land — Observations on Enclosures — Plane Trigonometry. Part 3. Levelling — Simple and Compound Levelling — The Level Book — Parliamentary Plan and Section- Levelling with a Theodolite — Gradients — Wooden Curves — To Lay out a Railway Curve- Setting out Widths. Part 4. Calculating Quantities generally for Estimates — Cuttings and Embankments — Tunnels— Brickwork — Ironwork — Timber Measuring. Part 5. Description and Use of Instruments in Surveying and Plotting— The Improved Dumpy Level — Troughton's Level — The Prismatic Compass — Proportional Compass — Box Sextant — Vernier — Panta- graph— Merrett's Improved Quadrant — Improved Computation Scale — The Diagonal Scale — Straight Edge and Sector. Part 6. Logarithms of Numbers — Logarithmic Sines and Co-Sines, Tangents and Co-Tangents— Natural Sines and Co-Sines — Tables for Earthwork, for Setting out Curves, and for various Calculations, etc., etc., etc. Saws: the History, Development, Action, Classifica- tion, and Comparison of Saws of all kinds. By Robert Grimshaw. With 220 illustrations, 410, cloth, 12s. 6d. A Stipplement to the above ; containing additional practical matter, more especially relating to the forms of Saw Teeth for special material and conditions, and to the behaviour of Saws under particular conditions. With 120 illustrations, cloth, 9^. A Guide for the Electric Testing of Telegraph Cables. By Capt. V. Hoskicer, Royal Danish Engineers. With illustrations, second edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 4^. dd. Laying and Repairing Electric Telegraph Cables. By Capt. V. HosKKER, Royal Danish Engineers. Crown Svo, cloth, A Pocket-Book of Practical Rules for the Prop>&r lions oj Modern Engines and Boilers for Land and Marine purposes. By N. P, Burgh. Seventh edition, royal 32mo, roan, 4^. dd. The Assayers Manual: an Abridged Treatise on the Docimastic Examination of Ores and Furnace and other Artificial Products. By Bruno Kerl. Translated by W. T. Brannt. With 63 iluisirations, Svo, cloth, \2s. 6d. The Steam Engine considered as a Heat Engine : a Treatise on the Theory of the Steam Engine, illustrated by Diagrams, Tables, and Examples from Practice. By Jas. H. Cotterii.l, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Applied Mechanics in the Royal Naval College. Svo, cloth, 12^. 6d. 14 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. Electricity: its Theory, Sources, and Applications. By J. T. SrRAGUE, M.S.T.E. Second edition, revised and enlarged, ivith miineroiis illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, 15^. The Practice of Hand Tttrning in Wood, Ivory, Shell, etc., with Instructions for Turning such Work in Metal as may be required in the Practice of Turning in Wood, Ivory, etc. ; also an Appendix on Ornamental Turning. (A book for beginners.) By Francis Campin. Third edition, -with ivood engravings, crown 8vo, cloth, ds. Contents : On Lathes — Turning Tools — Turning Wood — Drilling — Screw Cutting — Miscellaneous Apparatus and Processes — Turning Particular Forms — Staining — Polishing — Spinning Metals — Materials — Ornamental Turning, etc. Health and Comfort in House Building, or Ve^ttila- tion luith Warm Air by Self-Acting Suction Power, with Review of the mode of Calculating the Draught in Hot- Air Flues, and with some actual Experiments. By J. Drysdale, M.D., and J. W. Hayward, M.D. Second edition, with Supplement, with plates, demy 8vo, cloth, "js. 6d. Treatise on Watchwork, Past and Present. By the Rev. H. L. Nelthropp, M.A., F.S.A. With 32 illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, 6j. 6d. Contexts : Definitions of Words and Terms used in Watchwork — Tools— Time — Historical Sum- mary — On Calculations of the Numbers for Wheels and Pinions ; their Proportional Sizes, Trains, etc. — Of Dial Wheels, or Motion Work — Length of Time of Going without Winding up — The Verge— The Horizontal — The Duplex — The Lever— The Chronometer — Repeating Watches— Keyless Watches — The Pendulum, or Spiral Spring — Compensation— Jewelling of Pivot Holes — Clerkenwell — Fallacies of the Trade— Incapacity of Workmen — How to Choose and Use a Watch, etc. Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Compiled prin- cipally for the use of the Students attending the Classes on this subject at the City of London College. By Henry Adams, Mem. Inst. M.E., Mem. Inst. C.E., Mem. Soc, of Engineers. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. Algebra Self-Taught. By W. P. Higgs, M.A., D.Sc, LL.D., Assoc. Inst. C.E., Author of ' A Handbook of the Differ- ential Calculus,' etc. Second edition, crown 8vo, cloth, zs. 6d. Contents : Symbols and the Signs of Operation — The Equation and the Unknown Quantity — Positive and Negative Quantities — Multiplication — Involution — Exponents — Negative Expo- nents — Roots, and the Use of Exponents as Logarithms — Logarithms — Tables of Logarithms and Proportionate Parts — Transformation of System of Logarithms — Common Uses of Common Logarithms — Compound Multiplication and the Binomial Theorem — Division, Fractions, and Ratio — Continued Proportion — The Series and the Summation of the Series — Limit of Series — Square and Cube Roots — Equations — List of Formulae, etc. Spons Dictionary of Engineering, Civil, Mechanical, Military, and Naval; with technical terms in French, German, Italian, and Spanish, 3100 pp., and nearly %ooo engravings, in super-royal 8vo, in 8 divisions, 5/. 8^. Complete in 3 vols., cloth, 5/. 5^. Bound in a superior manner, half-morocco, top edge gilt, 3 vols., 6/. 12s. In super-royal 8vo, 1168 pp., 2400 illustrations, in 3 Divisions, cloth, price 13^. id. each ; or 1 vol., cloth, 2/. ; or half-morocco, il. Zs. A SUPPLEMENT TO SPONS' DICTIONARY OF ENGINEERING. Edited by ERNEST SPON, Memb. Soc. Engineers. Abacus, Counters, Speed Indicators, and Slide Rule. Agricultural Implements and Machinery. Air Compressors. Animal Charcoal Ma- chinery. , Antimony. j Axles and Axle-boxes. Barn Machinery. Belts and Belting. Blasting. Boilers. Brakes. Brick Machinery. Bridges. Cages for Mines. Calculus, Differential and Integral. £!anals. Carpentry. Cast Iron. Cement, Concrete, ! Limes, and Mortar. ' Chimney Shafts. I Coal Cleansing and Washing. | Coal Mining. Coal Cutting Machines. Coke Ovens. Copper. Docks. Drainage. Dredging Machinery. j Dynamo - Electric and Magneto-Electric Ma- chines. Dynamometers. Electrical Engineering, Telegraphy, Electric Lighting and its prac- ticaldetails,Telephones Erigines, V arieties of. Explosives. Fans. Founding, Moulding and the practical work of the Foundry. Gas, Manufacture of. Hammers, Steam an4 other Power. Heat. Horse Power. Hydraulics. Hydro-geology. Indicators. Iron. Lifts, Hoists, and Eleva- tors. Lighthouses, Buoys, and Beacons. Machine Tools. Materials of Construc- tion. Meters. Ores, Machinery and Processes employed to Dress. Piers. Pile Driving. Pneumatic Transmis sion. Pumps. Pyrometers. Road Locomotives. Rock Drills. Rolling Stock. Sanitary Engineering. Shafting. Steel. Steam Navvy. Stone Machinery. Tramways. Well Sinking. London : E. & F. N. SPON, 135, Strand. New York: 35, Murray Street. Divi; NOW COMPLETE. iik nearly 1500 illustrations, in super-royal 8vo, in 5 Divisions, cloth, ivisions 1 to 4, 13;-. 6d. each ; Division 5, i^s. 6d. ; or 2 vols., cloth, ^3 los. SPONS' ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. Edited by C. G. WARNFORD LOCK, F.L.S. Among the following : — Acids, 207 pp. 220 figs. Alcohol, 23 pp. 16 figs. Alcoholic Liquors, 13 pp. Alkalies, 89 pp. 78 figs. jVlloys. Alum. y\.sphalt. Assaying. Beverages, 89 pp. 29 figs. Blacks. Bleaching Powder, 1 5 pp. Bleaching, 5 1 pp. 48 figs. Candles, 18 pp. 9 figs. Carbon Bisulphide. Celluloid, 9 pp. Cements. Clay. Coal-tar Products, 44 pp. 14 figs. Cocoa, 8 pp. Coffee, 32 pp. 13 figs. Cork, 8 pp. 17 figs. Cotton Manufactures, 62 pp. 57 figs. Drugs, 38 pp. Dyeing and Calico Printing, 28 pp. 9 figs. Dyestuffsj 16 pp. Electro-Metallurgy, 13 pp. Explosives, 22 pp. 33 ngs. Feathers. Fibrous Substanc&s, 92 pp. 79 figs. Floor-cloth, 16 pp. 21 figs. Food Preservation, 8 pp. Fruit, 8 pp, more important of the subjects treated of, are the Fur, 5 pp. Gas, Coal, 8 pp. Gems. Glass, 45 pp. 77 figs. Graphite, 7 pp. Hair, 7 pp. Hair Manufactures. Hats, 26 pp. 26 figs. Honey. Hops. Horn. Ice, 10 pp. 14 figs. Indiarubber Manufac- tures, 23 pp. 17 figs. Ink, 17 pp. Ivory. Jute Manufactures, 1 1 pp., II figs. Knitted Fabrics — Hosiery, 15 pp. 13 figs. Lace, 13 pp. 9 figs. Leather, 28 pp. 31 figs. Linen Manufactures, 16 pp. 6 figs. Manures, 21 pp. 30 figs. Matches, 17 pp. 38 figs. Mordants, 13 pp. Narcotics, 47 pp. Nuts, 10 pp. Oils and Fatty Sub- stances, 125 pp. Paint. Paper, 26 pp. 23 figs. Paraffin, 8 pp. 6 figs. Pearl and Coral, 8 pp. Perfumes, 10 pp. Photography, 13 pp. 20 figs. Pigments, 9 pp. 6 figs. Pottery, 46 pp. 57 figs. Pi-inting and Engraving, 20 pp. 8 figs. Rags. Resinous and Gummy Substances, 75 pp. 16 figs. Rope, 16 pp. 17 figs. Salt, 31 pp. 23 figs. Silk, 8 pp. Silk Manufactures, 9 pp. II figs. .Skins, 5 pp. Small Wares, 4 pp. Soap and Glycerine pp. 45 figs. Spices, 16 pp. Sponge, 5 pp. Starch, 9 pp. 10 figs, Sugar, 155 pp. figs- Sulphur. Tannin, 18 pp. Tea, 12 pp. Timber, 13 pp. Varnish, 15 pp. Vinegar, 5 pp. Wax, 5 pp. Wool, 2 pp. Woollen Manufacture 58 pp. 39 figs. 39 134 liondon: E. & F. N. SPON", 1S5, Strand. New York : 35, Murray Street. Crown Svo, cloth, with illustrations, 5^, WORKSHOP RECEIPTS, FIRST SERIES. By ERNEST SPON. , Synopsis of Contents. Freezing. I Fulminates. 1 Furniture Creams, Oils, Polishes, Lacquers, ! and Pastes. Gilding. I Glass Cutting, Cleaning, ; Frosting, Drilling, | Darkening, Bending, 1 Staining, and Paint- ing. _ j Glass Making. Glues. Gold. I Graining. Gums. Gun Cotton. Gunpowder. Horn Working. Indiarubber. Japans, Japanning, and kindred processes. Lacquers. Lathing. Lubricants. Marble Working. Matches. Mortars. Nitro-Glycerine. Oils. Bookbinding. Bronzes and Bronzing. Candles. Cement. Cleaning. Colourwashing. Concretes. Dipping Acids. Drawing Office Details. Drying Oils. Dynamite. Electro - Metallurgy — (Cleaning, Dipping, Scratch-brushing, Bat- teries, Baths, and Deposits of every description). Enamels. Engraving on W'ood, Copper, Gold, Silver, Steel, and Stone. ICtching and Aqua Tint. Firework Making — (Rockets, Stars, Rains, Gerbes, Jets, Tour- billons, Candles, Fires, LanceSjLights, Wheels, Fire-balloons, and minor Fireworks). Fluxes. Foundry Mixtures. Besides Receipts relating to the lesser Technological matters and processes, such as the manufacture and use of Stencil Plates, Blacking, Crayons, Paste, Putty, Wax, Size, Alloys, Catgut, Tunbridge Ware, Picture Frame and Architectural !\Iouldings, Compos, Cameos, and others too numerous to )iiention. Paper. Paper Hanging. Painting in Oils, in Water Colours, as well as Fresco, House, Trans- parency, Sign, and Carriage Painting. Photography. Plastering. Polishes. Pottery — (Clays, Bodies, Glazes, Colours, Oils, Stains, Fluxes, Ena- mels, and Lustres). Scouring. Silvering. Soap. Solders. Tanning. Taxidermy. Tempering Metals. Treating Horn, Mother- o'-Pearl, and like sub- stances. Varnishes, Manufacture and Use of. Veneering. Washing. Waterprofing. Welding. London : E. & F. N. SPON, 126, Strand. New York: 35, Murray Street. Crown 8vo, cloth, 485 pages, with illustrations, 5j. WORKSHOP RECEIPTS, SECOND SERIES. By ROBERT HALDANE. Acidimetry and Alkali- metry. Albumen. Alcohol. Alkaloids. Baking-powders. Bitters. Bleaching. Boiler Incrustations. Cements and Lutes. Cleansing. Confectionery. Copying. Synopsis of Contents. Disinfectants. Dyeing, Staining, and Colouring. Essences. Extracts. Fireproofing. j Gelatine, Glue, and Size. ' Glycerine. Gut. Hydrogen peroxide. Ink. Iodine. Iodoform. Isinglass. Ivory substitutes. Leather. Luminous bodies. Magnesia. I Matches. Paper. Parchment. Perchloric acid. Potassium oxalate. Preserving. Pigments, Paint, and Painting- : embracing the preparation o' Figments, including alumina lakes, blacks (animal, bone, Frankfort, ivory, lamp, sight, soot), blues (antimony, Antwerp, cobalt, cceruleum, Egyptian' manganate, Paris, Peligot, Prussian, smalt, ultramarine), browns (bistre^ hmau, sepia, sienna, umber, Vandyke), greens (baryta, Brighton, Brunswick, chrome, cobalt, Douglas, emerald, manganese, mitis, mountain, Prussian, sap, Scheele's, Schweinfurth, titanium, verdigris, zinc), reds (Brazilwood lake, carminated lake, carmine, Cassius purple, cobalt pink, cochineal lake, colco- thar, Indian red, madder lake, red chalk, red lead, vermilion), whites (alum, baryta, Chinese, lead sulphate, white lead — by American, Dutch, French, German, Kremnitz, and Pattinson processes, precautions in making, and composition of commercial samples— whiting, Wilkinson's white, zinc white), yellows (chrome, gamboge, Naples, orpiment, realgar, yellow lakes) ; Paint (vehicles, testing oils, driers, grinding, storing, applying, priming, drying, fillmg, coats, brushes, surface, water-colours, removing smell, discoloration ; miscellaneous paints— cement paint for carton-pierre, copper paint, gold paint, iron paint, lime paints, silicated paints, steatite paint, transparent naints. tungsten paints, window paint, zinc paints) ; Painting (general instruction?, proportions of ingredients, measuring paint work ; carriage painting— primini? paint, best putty, finishing colour, cause of cracking, mixing the paints, oilst driers, and colours, varnishing, importance of washing vehicles, re-varnishine. how to dry paint ; woodwork painting). London : E. & F. N. SPQN, 125, Strand. New York : 35, Murray Street. JUST FXJBLISHEE). Crown 8vo, cloth, 480 pages, with 183 illustrations, 5^. WORKSHOP EECEIPTS, THIRD SERIES. By C. G. WARNFORD LOCK. Uniform with the First and Second Series. Synopsis of Contents. Alloys. Indium. Rubidium. Aluminium. Iridium. Ruthenium. Antimony. Iron and Steel. Selenium. Barium. Lacquers and Lacquering, Silver. Beryllium. Lanthanum. Slag. Bismuth. Lead. Sodium. Cadmium. Lithium. Strontium. Caesium, Lubricants. Tantalum. Calcium. Magnesium. Terbium. Cerium. Manganese. Thallium, Chromium. Mercury, Thorium. Cobalt. Mica. Tin. Copper. Molybdenum. Titanium. Didymium. Nickel. Tungsten. Electrics. Niobium. Uranium. Enamels and Glazes. Osmium. Vanadium. Erbium. Palladium. Yttrium. Gallium. Platinum. Zinc. Glass. Potassium. Zirconium. Gold. Rhodium. Aluminium. liondon : E. & F. BFON, 126, Strand. New York : 35, Murray Street. JUST r»TJ13LIStlEI>. In demy 8vo, cloth, 600 pages, and 1420 Illustrations, 6s. SPONS' MECHANIC'S OWN BOOK; A MANUAL FOR HANDICRAFTSMEN AND AMATEURS. Contents. Mechanical Drawing — Casting and Founding in Iron, Brass, Bronze, and other Alloys — Forging and Finishing Iron — Sheetmetal Working — Soldering, Brazing, and Burning — Carpentry and Joinery, embracing descriptions of some 400 Woods, over 200 Illustrations of Tools and their uses, Explanations (with Diagrams) of 116 joints and hinges, and Details of Construction of Workshop appliances, rough furniture. Garden and Yard Erections, and House Building — Cabinet-Making and Veneering — Carving and Fretcutting — Upholstery — Painting, Graining, and Marbling— Staining Furniture, Woods, Floors, and Fittings — Gilding, dead and bright, on various grounds — Polishing Marble, ]\Ietals, and Wood — Varnishing — Mechanical movements, illustrating contrivances for transmitting motion — Turning in Wood and Metals — Masonry, embracing Stonework, Brickwork, Terracotta, and Concrete — Roofing with Thatch, Tiles, Slates, Felt, Zinc, Sec. — Glazing with and without putty, and, lead glazing — Plastering and Whitewashing — Paper-hanging— Gas-fitting — Bell-hanging, ordinary and electric Systems — Lighting — Warming — Ventilating — Roads, Pavements, and Bridges — Hedges, Ditches, and Drains — Water Supply and Sanitation— Hints on House Construction suited to new countries. Xiondon: E. & F. N. SPON, 125, Strand. New York : 35, Murray Street.-