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DESCRIPTION OF IMPROVED APPARATUS. 
 
 "A." — Represents the chamber for containing the wood. 
 
 " B. B." — Gauges showing amount of pressure in wood 
 chamber. 
 
 " F. F." — The boilers, in which coal tar, or other oleagi- 
 nous substances are placed. 
 
 " G."— Represents the furnaces which supply the heat to 
 the stills, or boilers, containing the coal tar. 
 
 " D. D." — Gauges showing the amount of pressure in the 
 stills, or boilers, " F. F." 
 
 " E. E." — Thermometers showing amount of heat em- 
 ployed in the evaporization of the oil. 
 
 "J." — Stop-cock, or vent, through which the condensed 
 vapors are discharged into a receptacle, marked "H," 
 from which the oil is again pumped into the boilers, or 
 stills, by a pump marked "I." 
 
 " C. C." — Represent the pipes connecting the stills, or 
 boilers, with the chamber containing the wood. 
 
 It will be perceived, from this cut, that the wood cham- 
 ber is square ; when, however } for the sake of dispatch 
 and thoroughness, it is desirable to make use of a greater 
 amount of pressure, it would be well to have the wood 
 chamber cylindrical in form. 
 
 The discharge pipe and receptacle for the condensed 
 vapors should properly be in the rear, and thus be re- 
 moved from the fire, and so located that the oil could be 
 run back into the stills without the use of a pump. There 
 is also in the rear of each boiler a man-hole that can be 
 used for putting in oil, or removing the residuum of dis- 
 tillation. 
 
f 
 
TEEATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 THE BOBBINS PROCESS 
 
 FOR SEASONING WOOD, 
 
 AND PEESEEYINO IT FEOM DECAY, MOULD, ATTACKS OF 
 LAND AND WATEE INSECTS, AND MOLLUSCS. 
 
 H^cV\o^\o\ pe^e.vf\Vwo0d ^e^TV^o cov^lp^u 
 
 " The action of carbolic acid differs in one respect from other well-known disinfectants, 
 in this : it destroys the causes of putrefaction without any destructive action on the organic substances. 
 
 The minute microscopic ferments are always in small quantities, compared to the substances 
 on which they act, consequently a very small quantity of carbolic acid is necessary to prevent the 
 decomposition of substances: rendering its employment efficacious and economical." — Pasteur. 
 
 CINCINNATI, O. 
 ROBERT CLARKE & CO., PRINTERS. 
 
 1869. 
 
Th£> 
 
 National Patent Wood Preserving Company 
 (Owning the Robbins Process). 
 
 OFFICES— 163 BKOADWAY, NEW YOEK. 
 
 HON. J. RICHARD BARRET, President. 
 
 HENRY STEERS, - - - Vice-President. 
 
 EUGENE KELLY, - Treasurer. 
 
 L. H. ROBBINS, - - - - - Secretary. 
 
 Board of Directors. 
 HON. J. RICHARD BARRET, 
 
 New York. 
 
 FRANCIS MORRIS, 
 
 Treasurer of the American Telegraph Company. 
 
 GEN. A. S. DIVEN, 
 
 Vice President of the Erie Railway Company. 
 
 SILAS SEYMOUR, 
 
 Consulting and Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Eailroad Co. 
 
 HENRY STEERS, 
 
 Shipbuilder, New York. 
 
 HON. WM. SPRAGUE, 
 
 Rhode Island — United States Senator. 
 
 WILLIAM OGDEN GILES, 
 
 Merchant, New York. 
 
 CHARLES WATROUS, 
 
 Lumber Merchant (firm Willson & Watrous), New York. 
 
 ROLLIN MATHEWSON, 
 
 New York — Counselor at Law. 
 
THE 
 
 BOBBINS PROCESS 
 
 The last report of the Agricultural Bureau contains an 
 earnest and vigorous appeal to the people of the United States, 
 to take measures to prevent the threatened distress, which must 
 inevitably come, if the destruction of wood is not prevented or 
 balanced by an immense production. Proving the absolute 
 necessity of timber in all the arts and the industrial depart- 
 ments of life, it presents voluminous statistics to show that the 
 United States are approaching a condition of actual "famine 
 for wood." It says : 
 
 " The older portions of our country are, even now, drawing 
 their supplies of lumber from the newer States. For black 
 walnut, and some other woods, used in cabinet manufactures 
 and in carriage building, the Eastern States are already sending 
 to Michigan and "Wisconsin, while tens of millions of dollars' 
 worth of pine are brought about two thousand miles from our 
 upper lakes and the head waters of the Mississippi to our Atlan- 
 tic and Gulf seaboard. Foreign nations, also, are consumers of 
 our forests. Oak and pine are exported by us to other coun- 
 tries for purposes of house and ship carpentry. A single gun 
 factory in Europe, during the first two years of the rebellion, 
 
 consumed 28,000 walnut trees to supply gun-stocks for the 
 
 (iii) 
 
4- The Robbins Process. 
 
 American market. This fact will give some indistinct idea of 
 the consumption of lumber in great factories of cabinet ware, 
 where the amount of wood required for the smallest article 
 exceeds that required for stocking a musket. 
 
 "In the State of ~New York alone, within the ten years from 
 1850 to 1860, there were brought under cultivation 1,967,433 
 acres of land hitherto unimproved. As there are scarcely any 
 lands in the State of New York naturally untimbered, it is 
 probable that during those two years more than 1,500,000 acres 
 of what had been (or was then) timbered land, was cleared for 
 purposes of lumber and agriculture. Thus, 500 acres of land 
 were changed from wood-bearing and timber-growing, each 
 day, for 300 days each year, through that period of ten years, 
 into farming lands. 
 
 " During the same ten years more than 50,000,000 of acres in 
 our whole country were brought under cultivation. But these 
 improvements were especially made in Iowa, Kansas, Minne- 
 sota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Texas. These 
 States, to a greater or less extent, are dotted with prairies, 
 or suffer from a scarcity of timber ; many prairie farms were, 
 therefore, taken up. But bear in mind that every man seek- 
 ing a prairie farm desires, in his selection, to secure small 
 streams and as much timber as possible upon his farm, or near 
 to it; so that, while the reckless waste which attends new 
 clearings in forest districts has not existed in the case of these 
 prairie farms, their owners have wonderfully diminished the 
 very scanty supply, even while they have dealt with it with 
 an economy almost penurious. We will allow, then, for un- 
 wooded country brought into cultivation, two-iifths of the 
 whole (which is probably more than twice as much as was the 
 fact) ; this will leave three-fifths of the 50,000,000 of acres 
 brought into cultivation, or thirty millions of acres, which 
 were lands either previously, or during those years, heavily 
 timbered. Assuming, as before, 300 working clays in each 
 
The Bobbins Process. 
 
 year, 3,000,000 of acres were thus, each year, lost to tree-grow- 
 ing, or 10,000 acres each day. 
 
 " Increasing population swells these evils. Between 1850 and 
 1860 our population increased 8,080,785. It is now advancing 
 at the probable rate of over one million souls per annum. The 
 consumption and exportation of lumber in the United States 
 in 1860 was $37,390,310 more than in 1850. The ratio in this 
 increase in population was but 35.59 per cent., while the increase 
 in lumber was 63.09 per cent. This shows that the demand 
 for wood for agricultural, mechanical and domestic purposes 
 (notwithstanding all the use of iron in manufacturing useful 
 implements, and the use of iron, stone and brick for bridge and 
 house building) increases each year with the advance of the 
 nation in age and wealth. 
 
 " If for twenty years to come the demand for lumber shall 
 advance in the same ratio to the population as in the past 
 twenty, more than two hundred millions of dollars' worth of 
 American sawed lumber will be needed each year, and the same 
 ratio in the increase of population, which has called the fifty 
 millions of acres iuto use in ten years, will then be calling it in 
 at the rate of more than 100,000,000 of acres each ten years. 
 Our native-born and foreign population will have farms, lots 
 and houses, fences, furniture, vehicles and agricultural imple- 
 ments; but every year they will impoverish the United States 
 more and more of her lumber, and all these things will demand 
 a higher price. 
 
 "The great State of Kew York still holds pre-eminence as 
 furnishing more lumber than any other State; but as long ago 
 as 1850 it reached the maximum of its ability to furnish lum- 
 ber. With the enhanced price of 1860, as compared with 
 1850, that State produced about one million of dollars less of 
 lumber in 1860 than 1850; while the State, during those ten 
 years, increased her population 783,341, she diminished her sup- 
 ply of lumber almost one million of dollars each year. Five 
 
6 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 other States in this Union also diminished their supplies of lum- 
 ber during those ten years. Some of the newer States are 
 developing their lumber interests ; but our whole country 
 (aided by foreign nations) is using up the products of their for- 
 ests very rapidly." 
 
 Since 1860, the consumption and destruction of timber has 
 been far greater than it was during the decade preceding, 
 and the ratio of increase of destruction is progressive. 
 Railroads are rapidly extending, and these call for enor- 
 mous quantities of wood for sleepers, bridges, rolling stock, 
 fences, depots, and other buildings. The demands of an in- 
 creasing population are imperative and undeniable for wood 
 for houses, for furniture, for pavements, for farm fences, and 
 for agricultural implements. Ship building consumes more 
 and more lumber as commerce increases. To-day, men who 
 are intelligent upon the subject of our fast-disappearing supply, 
 stand aghast at the near prospect of the sore distress for wood, 
 which has set men everywhere at work to inquire, how can 
 this waste be prevented ? how may this loss be compensated ? 
 
 The idea of replanting our forests, whatever may be its desi- 
 rability, will, it is safe to say, scarcely be adopted. Even if the 
 public could be aroused to suitable activity in this respect, it 
 would require from five to twenty generations to reproduce 
 such lumber as is continually cut down. 
 
 Close study has, consequently, been given to the subject of 
 preserving wood from decay, and many inventions have been 
 made with this object in view. More than fifty processes are 
 recorded which claim to accomplish, to a greater or less extent, 
 this end. Of these a few have obtained a measurable promi- 
 nence, and may be briefly described : 
 
 1. Kyan's Process, patented 1832. Consists in the saturation 
 of wood with corrosive sublimate, hj a solution of one pound of 
 chloride of mercury to four gallons of water, which solution 
 was forced into the pores of the wood by high pressure. 
 
The Bobbins Process. 
 
 {Objection: Cost of material, and difficulty and incomplete- 
 ness of saturation of the wood.) 
 
 2. Margary's, Boucherie's, and Hamar's Processes, each con- 
 sists in impregnating the wood with a solution of sulphate of 
 copper in water, by immersion of the wood, or by pressure end- 
 wise. 
 
 {Objection: Injures the fibre of the wood, and is too tedious 
 for practical use.) 
 
 3. Burnett's Process was invented in 1838, and consists in 
 introducing into the pores of the wood a solution of one pound 
 of chloride of zinc to ten gallons of water. 
 
 {Objection: Expense of material and brittleness of wood in- 
 duced by the treatment.) 
 
 4. Bethell's Process. This consists in the introduction, into 
 . the surface pores of the wood, of liquid coal tar. The wood, 
 
 after seasoning, is placed in a receiver, from which the air is 
 then exhausted by a pump, and the pores of the wood are then 
 filled with liquid coal tar, forced in by a pressure of from 150 
 to 200 pounds to the square inch. 
 
 Bethell's process was applied to wood to be used for railway 
 ties and bridge timber in 1839. After twenty-five years expos- 
 ure to weather the wood thus treated was found to be " as per- 
 fect as newly-sawed lumber," such being the verdict of the 
 judges at the Paris Exposition Universelle. 
 
 In further testimony to the value and efficacy of this method 
 of treatment we find the report of a commission appointed by 
 the French Government. This commission made trial of all 
 the known methods which claimed to preserve wood from de- 
 cay and from insect attacks and naval worm depredations. 
 Their experiments were on a vast scale, and extended over a 
 period of five years. The result announced was that creosot- 
 ing of wood is alone found effectual to preserve wood from 
 decay and from the attack of the destructive teredo. 
 
 Every test that human ingenuity has been able to devise has 
 
8 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 proved the process of Bethell absolutely protective against de- 
 cay. And .yet the process has not been very generally applied, 
 for several reasons, as follows : 
 
 1. The machinery required is expensive and delicate, and 
 requires the use of skilled labor. 
 
 2. The application is somewhat slow in its operation, only a 
 limited amount of wood being available for treatment at each 
 charge of the apparatus. 
 
 3. The treatment is applicable only to lumber designed! f° r 
 coarse purposes, such as railway sleepers, bridge timber, etc., as 
 he wood is always begrimed with tar. 
 
 4. The expense of the machinery, skilled labor, and slowness 
 of treatment, combine to make the whole operation too expens- 
 ive for general use. 
 
 But the principle underlying Bethell's treatment has been 
 proven rigorously correct. It has been ascertained that the 
 creosote of the coal tar is absolutely preservative of wood" 
 The moisture excluded from wood, its albumen coagulated, and 
 its pores filled with the great antiseptic, carbolic acid, decay of 
 the wood has been found impossible. 
 
 Appreciating the correctness of the principle involved in 
 Bethell's treatment, Louis S. Bobbins, an American, invented 
 a method of saturating wood with the vapors of coal tar. He 
 found that his method did all that Bethell's accomplished, and 
 more, and that it possessed the following advantages over the 
 Bethell process, viz : 
 
 1. Bobbins' process requires simple, inexpensive apparatus, 
 which can be operated by a common day-laborer. 
 
 2. It performs the treatment in from four to twelve hours, 
 and upon any desired size and quantity of wood, according to 
 he capacity of the apparatus. 
 
 3. It leaves the wood in a clean, smooth condition, in which 
 it is available for all purposes of use or manufacture. 
 
The Robbins Process. 9 
 
 4. Its cost is trifling, and it is therefore available for all 
 wood, and within the means of all who use timber. 
 
 The Robbins Process is conducted as follows : the wood for 
 treatment is placed in a tank, which has communication by a 
 goose neck, or otherwise, with a still, in which coal tar is placed, 
 and beneath which a fire is made. At 300° the tar gives forth 
 vapor of naphtha. This passes into the wood chamber, and, by 
 its heat, vaporizes the watery particles of the sap, at the same 
 time coagulating its albumen. At 400° the vapor of creosote 
 is evolved, which passes into the tank, attacks the wood, and 
 thoroughly permeates it, providing it with an unchangeable 
 antiseptic. The heat is increased until at 600° the heavier 
 oils of the coal tar vaporize and enter the pores of the wood, 
 where they condense so as to effectually protect the fibre. 
 
 All these vapors are in a high degree of attenuation and are 
 free from the minute portions of coke which form a part of 
 liquid tar, and therefore penetrate into the inmost recesses of 
 the wood, while the heavy liquid tar, charged with coke, 
 could not be forced in very far by mechanical pressure. 
 
 The Robbins rocess, therefore, accomplishes by the subtle 
 agency of vapor, in a perfect manner, what the Bethell Process, 
 by the gross material, imperfectly did. The Bethell Process, 
 however, established the efficacy of the coal-tar treatment to 
 preserve wood from decay, but how much more certainly will 
 decay be prevented by the Robbins treatment ! 
 
 The Robbins Process has been found to do more than pre- 
 serve from decay. 
 
 1st. It seasons wood, and such seasoning is permanent, inas- 
 much as the moisture has been effectually driven out, and the 
 wood put in a condition in which only capillary absorption of 
 moisture can occur. 
 
 2d. It adds from thirty-seven to fifty 'per cent, to the strength of 
 the wood, for it supports all the cells, and makes the wood a 
 compact mass, more elastic and more flexible than before 
 2 
 
10 The Robhins Process. 
 
 treatment. W<ood, being composed of hard fibres with liquid 
 sap and mucilagiinous matter between them, is called " hard " 
 or " soft," in: proportion as it contains more or less fibre as 
 compared to sap. Iron wood, mahogany, teak, lignum- vitse, 
 on the one hand, and white pine, cotton-wood, spruce, and 
 beech on the other, represent very distinctly these two classes. 
 Now, if it be possible by any plan to drive out the watery sap 
 from the pores of a soft wood, and replace it by some substance 
 more dense, the wood must necessarily be made harder, and 
 consequently more tough and durable. This is exactly what 
 the Robbins Process does^ and it is the only process known 
 that can do it. The heavy hydro-carbon oils, being driven by 
 heat into a state of vapor, pour into the inmost parts of the 
 wood, lubricating every fibre, "covering it," as Professor 
 Wayne says, in his letter to Mr. Shoenberger of Cincinnati, 
 " with a film of oil." More than this, a greater elasticity is 
 given to the wood, pine being made about as elastic as 
 hickory, and spruce as durable as oak. The Belgian, Dutch, 
 French, and English Governments having ascertained these 
 facts to be proven beyond question, have ordered that spruce, 
 treated with creosote oil, shall be used hereafter, instead of 
 oak, for dykes, flood-gates, piers, break-waters, floating-docks, 
 revetments, palisades, and public military and naval works 
 generally. Actual experiment has given the following results 
 of the weight necessary to break beams twenty feet long by six 
 inches wide and sixteen inches deep, the beams being placed 
 upon supports: 
 
 /White Pine in its natural state **..■--* 20,966 pounds. 
 
 " Eobbinsized 28,877 " 
 
 White Ash in its natural state - - - - - • 51,272 " 
 " " Eobbinsized 76,723 " 
 
 * This experiment was made by Alvan C. Stimers, Naval Engineer, late 
 Chief Engineer U. S. N., 45 William street, New York. 
 
The Bobbins Process. 11 
 
 That the crushing strength of wood thus treated is also in- 
 creased, is proved by an experiment made with two equal 
 sized cubes of the same kind of wood, one of which had been 
 treated, and the other not treated. A weight of fifteen tons 
 was placed on each. The untreated cube was wholly crushed, 
 its fibers being altogether broken, while the cube which had 
 been subjected to the Robbins treatment retained the integrity 
 of its fibers, the wood having been found compressed only 
 one sixty -fourth of an inch ! 
 
 The French Government made, from 1863 to 1868, in one 
 of the ports most infested with the naval worm, a costly series 
 of experiments, which resulted in proving to the entire satis- 
 faction of M. Crepin, Engineer in Chief, in the Bureau of Pub- 
 lic Works, who superintended them, that creosote oil was the 
 only perfectly efficacious, practical, and cheap substance to 
 protect timber from decay, as well as from the attacks of naval 
 worms and land insects. The results of his experiments, as 
 well as those of the engineers charged by the Dutch, Belgian, 
 and English Governments, with similar duties, are given in a 
 report which was printed recently in Paris, by order of the 
 Minister of the Interior. Among other facts of great interest, 
 the report contains a statement of the increased strength which 
 the saturation by creosote oil gives to wood; and statistical 
 tables are printed showing the relative resistance offered by 
 oak, elm, beech, sycamore, Northern red and white pine, mari- 
 time pine, Italian poplar, and the white-wood of Holland to 
 crushing and breaking weight. To test the transverse strength 
 sixty-three pieces of treated timber, each about seven feet long 
 between the supports, and eighteen inches square, were tried 
 in comparison with duplicate pieces untreated ; while for the 
 experiments, as to crushing weight, the pieces were about 
 thirty-one inches long by one inch square. The result was 
 that in every case the treated specimens proved to be stronger, 
 the actual difference as to crushing weight being as follows : 
 
12 The Robhins Process. 
 
 Oak ------- -70 pounds. 
 
 Elm ------ 10 " 
 
 Ash 100 " 
 
 Bed spruce, (Sweden) - . - - 27J " 
 
 do. (Norway) - - 35 " 
 
 do. (Prussia) - 33£ " 
 
 White spruce, (Norway) - - - - 20 " 
 
 Sycamore - - - - - - 10 " 
 
 It must be remembered, in considering this table, that these 
 woods were treated only by the Bethell Process ; that is to say, 
 with crude creosote oil applied to the wood by atmospheric 
 pressure; that the oil could not have been forced into the 
 inner fibres, for no process known to science can force it into 
 them, except the one patented by Robbins; and that only 
 a portion of the woody fibre, consequently, was lubricated or 
 strengthened by the oil, and yet in every case, and with every 
 kind of wood the creosoted experimental piece was found to 
 have greater strength than it had in its natural state. How 
 vastly greater an increase of strength is imparted to wood by 
 the Robbins Process, is shown in the foregoing table. 
 
 3. It primes the wood, a process which ordinarily is done 
 hand, requiring time and expensive oils, and is frequently 
 resorted to simply to preserve the wood from decay. Wood 
 treated by this process is already primed and ready for paint, 
 when needed for ornament, but the wood requires no paint for 
 preservation. 
 
 4. It renders wood a disinfectant. The creosote, or carbolic 
 acid, introduced into wood by this treatment, is slowly volatile, 
 retaining its disinfecting power interminably. Therefore, 
 where wood is to be used for floorings of hospitals and stables, 
 for piers and docks, and for pavements, it becomes a banisher 
 of vermin, and a great hygienic agent. 
 
 "We have then no less than five important ends attained in 
 the treatment of wood by the Robbins Process, ' viz : 1st. Its 
 
The Robbins Process. 13 
 
 preservation from decay and insect ravages ; 2d. Increase of 
 strength ; 3rd. Seasoning ; 4th. Priming ; and, 5th. It becomes 
 a disinfector. These numerous benefits are conferred by a 
 single treatment, in a few hours, and at trifling cost. 
 • It is impossible, with the meagre statistics recorded concern- 
 ing wood, to give an accurate statement of all that could be 
 saved to the United States were lumber uniformly treated by 
 this process. We may arrive, however, at a very valuable 
 conclusion by presenting some of the items which are known. 
 In the United States there are nearly 50,000 miles of railway 
 track. These are supported upon an average of 2,500 ties to 
 the mile. These ties cost, to purchase and place, one dollar 
 each, and their average life is but five years. We have, there- 
 fore, an annual loss by decay of railroad ties, computed as follows : 
 
 50,000x2,500=125,000,000-f-5=25,000,000 at $1 each, $25,000,000. 
 
 The railroad fences, incomplete though they are, quite equal 
 in extent, 30,000 miles. Their value is not less than $500 per 
 mile, and their average duration is but seven years. This 
 gives an annual loss as follows : 
 
 30,000x$500=$150,000,000--7=$21,428,571. 
 
 There are 60,000 miles of telegraph lines in the United States. 
 Each mile requires 40 telegraph poles, worth $5 each, and last- 
 ing not to exceed twelve years. The annual loss by their 
 decay is represented as follows : 
 
 60,000x40=2,400,000-r-12=200,000x85=»l,000 J 000. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Decay of railway ties, per annum $25,000,000 
 
 " " fences, " - 21,428,571 
 
 " telegraph poles, 1,000,000 
 
 Annual loss from decay of wood used for ties, railway fences, 
 
 and telegraph poles, $47,428,571 
 
1^. The Robbins Process. 
 
 The loss by decay of wooden railway bridges, platforms, 
 buildings, depots, etc., would more than double these figures. 
 Treated by the Robbins Process, all this money, (less the in- 
 considerable cost of treatment), might be saved. 
 
 But the seasoning characteristic of the Bobbins process is 
 scarcely less important than the preservation from decay. 
 Many forms of manufactured lumber, such as wheel hubs 
 (whose manufacture forms an enormous business), are com- 
 menced with green wood. In the process of natural seasoning 
 a large percentage of these is lost. But a wheel hub may be 
 entirely made of green lumber and be forthwith perfectly and 
 permanently seasoned by this method. This saving from decay, 
 checking, shrinkage, etc., and from interest on investments of 
 wood held in stock for seasoning, amounts to many millions of 
 dollars each year. 
 
The JRobhins Process. 15 
 
 FARM FENCES. 
 
 Passing from the consideration of the economy of this treat- 
 ment for railway purposes, we find that the value of farm fences 
 in the United States equals the cost of building all the towns and 
 cities! In Georgia there are not less than 500,000 miles of 
 fencing. Each mile requires 9,000 rails. Estimating their life 
 at seven years, the yearly loss by the decay of fences in Georgia 
 is found to be $25,000,000. What, then, must be the loss by 
 decay of fences throughout the United States? 
 
16 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 WOOD PAVEMENTS. 
 
 The advantages of wood pavements are numerous. Some of 
 these are 
 
 1. Certainty of foot-hold for animals. 
 
 2. Smoothness and elasticity, giving comfort to the rider. 
 
 3. Preservation of vehicles. 
 
 4. Noiselessness. 
 
 5. Cleanliness. 
 
 6. Economy. (This latter not even contingent upon dura- 
 bility, as they save cost, by preservation of vehicles and horses.) 
 
 But in wood pavements, as they are now customarily laid, all 
 these advantages are overbalanced by their serious detriment 
 to the public health. The blocks, whatever may be the struc- 
 tural device, will undergo rapid decay, and emit unwholesome 
 emanations. The greatest enemy to wood pavements is the 
 Health officer, for he discovers in their decay a fruitful source 
 of disease and death. 
 
 That wood pavements undergo rapid decomposition is proved 
 by abundant testimony. Any one may examine the blocks 
 which have been laid for over a year, and satisfy himself that 
 the coal-tar encasement of the blocks has, to say the least, been 
 of little benefit. In a recent case against a contractor, the claim 
 being insufficient fulfillment of his contract, a witness, and an 
 expert, testified that Nicolson blocks, as heretofore laid, could 
 not exclude water. (See Cincinnati Commercial of March 10, 
 1869.) 
 
 The Board of Health of the city of Cincinnati has given 
 much attention to this question of the relation of wood pave- 
 ments to the public health, and by its direction, Wm. Clendenin, 
 M. D., the Health Officer, has made it the subject of special in- 
 
The Rohhins Process. 17 
 
 vestigation. Dr. Clendenin's official duties have been so arduous 
 that up to the present writing (July 1, 1869), he has not found 
 time to make his report. He authorizes, however, the publica- 
 tion of the following results. He has made three chemical 
 analyses and microscopical examinations of the dirt scraped 
 from each of the different kinds of pavement in the city streets, 
 the three successive tests being for the purpose of verifying 
 the facts beyond question. He finds that the scrapings from 
 the Nicolson wood pavement contain a much greater propor- 
 tion of organic matter, nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous, than 
 either of the others, and that they are filled with vegetable 
 fungoids of a kind to seriously affect the public health. He 
 believes that the effect of laying many miles of the pavement 
 under the present conditions of paving, that is to say, without 
 providing against the decay of the wood, would be to cause a 
 great amount of sickness, in the form of typhoid and other low 
 fevers. He has investigated the Robbins Process in Boston 
 and New York, and compared notes with the Boards of Health 
 of those cities, and is convinced that wood treated in this way 
 is not liable to decay, that the carbolic acid with which it 
 becomes impregnated will exercise a disinfectant influence on 
 the organic matters which come in contact with it in any 
 shape, and that it disposes of the objection to wood pavements 
 which have been heretofore urged on the score of their influ- 
 ence on the public health. These conclusions, on the part of 
 so careful and responsible a scientist as the present Health 
 Officer of Cincinnati, will have great weight with scientific men 
 throughout the country, and must stimulate further inquiry in 
 the same direction. 
 
 In Boston the City Council passed an ordinance requiring the 
 application of the "Robbins Process" to all wood used for pave- 
 ments in that city. The City Council of Cincinnati argued 
 against sprinkling of wood pavements, inasmuch as thus its 
 decay was hastened. (See Cincinnati Gazette of April 16, 
 
18 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 1869.) A writer in the Cincinnati Commercial of April 24, 
 1869, treats this subject as follows: 
 
 " Decaying wood pavements not only cost much, but, more 
 importantly, they induce disease. The laying of the present char- 
 acter of Nicolson pavement generally throughout the city would 
 be an earnest invitation to summer to uncork her vials of stink- 
 ing odors, and fill the atmosphere with death-laden miasms. As 
 well close the sewers, and make the streets receptacles of garbage, 
 as plant a marsh of decomposing wood, to emanate its noxious 
 vapors, and to facilitate the decay of the filthy accumulations, 
 which daily find their way into our streets. 
 
 " The tests have already been sufficient to prove that the wood 
 pavements, of the character of those in vogue, can not remain long 
 on the ground without decay. The city council and the contrac- 
 tors even admit this, and seek to prevent this decay by the futile 
 prohibition of artificial sprinkling. The heavens are not amena- 
 ble to human laws, and their floods will continue to pour down 
 and soak and rot the wood. 
 
 " Invention has been alive to discover some method by which 
 to make wood impervious to moisture, and impossible of decay. 
 Mineral substances have been forced into the wood pores, but some 
 of them have washed out, and others have been found too expen- 
 sive for use. A mere coating of coal tar has been proved inef- 
 fectual to the end desired. The surface coating has soon worn off, 
 leaving the wood thirsty as before, while even during the efficacy 
 of such coating to preclude moisture from without, it has held 
 prisoner the moisture already in the wood, and. thus confined, it 
 has vigorously worked death to the fabric within. 
 
 "One effective method has been tried for the preservation of 
 wood from decay. I refer to the thorough permeation of coal 
 tar — not merely an external coating, but a complete saturation of 
 all the substance of the wood with the powerful antiseptics with 
 which coal tar abounds. Dr. William Read, city physician of 
 Boston, has thus testified to the efficacy of this treatment. He 
 says of the products of coal tar: 'They are disinfectants and 
 
The Robhins Process. 19 
 
 antiseptics.' * * * ' It is difficult to over-estimate the value 
 of these two properties. By the one the putrefactive process is 
 arrested at once ; by the other it is prevented from recommencing. 
 So that by the combined influence of the two, articles which have 
 been impregnated with carbolic acid, or creosote, become imper- 
 ishable, at least, in so far as decay of material is concerned. 
 
 " ' To the sanitarian, therefore, it commends itself in the strong- 
 est manner ; for, by means of this treatment of wood, he has at 
 his command a material which is not only durable, but which is 
 also constantly acting to counteract those processes by which 
 deleterious gases are set free to contaminate the atmosphere.' 
 
 " 'The city council of Cincinnati lately appointed a committee 
 to examine into this treatment of wood pavements. It is to be 
 hoped that such committee will carefully and promptly make 
 their investigations, for we certainly desire wooden pavements if 
 we may have them undecayable and enduring.' " 
 
 And the same view of the subject is expressed in the Cin- 
 cinnati Gazette of April 30, 1869, in the following language : 
 
 " The importance of the wood pavement question is shown in 
 the earnestness, and sometimes acrimony, with which it is dis- 
 cussed all over the country. In localities where stone is not 
 abundant, it is of special interest for municipal authorities to have 
 this matter of the durability and healthfulness of wooden pave- 
 ments satisfactorily settled. It is conceded that, so far as concerns 
 the public comfort and convenience, they offer several marked 
 advantages, such as noiselessness, sure foothold, ease of draft to 
 horses and moderateness of cost. The Nicolson, when first laid, 
 seems as near a perfect pavement as anything heretofore devised, 
 but the question is whether it will last. There are plenty of 
 people, and among them men of sound practical sense, who say 
 that in a few years— not more than six or eight — the whole invest- 
 ment will be considered a dead loss, and the pavement torn up. 
 It is urged that the peculiar treatment to which the blocks are 
 subjected hastens rather than retards the decay of the wood fibre, 
 
20 The Rohbins Process. 
 
 from the fact that the coating of coal tar confines, as it were in a 
 tight box, the sap which fills every pore, and thus keeps it in the 
 best possible state to putrefy and. breed the seeds of its own decay. 
 Again, the smear of coal tar being soon worn away from the top 
 of the block by the wear and tear of street travel, the perpen- 
 dicularly placed pores become so many little open pipes to carry 
 rain water to the interior ; hot in summer, to hasten fermentation, 
 and freezing in winter to split fibre from fibre, and destroy the 
 structure of the wood. What can the friends of wooden pave- 
 ments answer to these serious allegations? how overcome objec- 
 tions that are being urged every day with more and more force ? 
 There have been spent on this experiment vast sums already, and 
 in our larger cities more miles of pavement are under contract 
 this spring than ever before. In Cincinnati alone the contracts for 
 this year amount to $200,000. The question is, therefore, a very 
 serious one, and must be settled. 
 
 "But there is a matter of more than mere money involved in 
 this discussion — the public health. If wooden pavements are not 
 durable they are not only costly but unhealthy, for there can be 
 no swift decay of vegetable matter without a poisoning of the 
 atmosphere. The fever breeding malaria of swamps is noxious 
 only because it is composed of particles of putrid vegetable sub- 
 stance which act with deadly effect upon the human system. The 
 air becomes laden with the seeds of disease in the shape of 
 fungoids, or vegetable sporules. Every tyro in farming knows 
 that a marshy country is made healthful by deep tillage and 
 underdraining, because the one admits air to purify the soil, and 
 the other draws off the water which helped the decay of vegeta- 
 ble matter. Imagine the effect which the putrefaction of thous- 
 ands of tuns of wood, in the shape of pavement blocks, must have 
 upon the air of a city's streets, alleys, and confined by-courts ! It 
 is as if the city were built over a swamp. The New York Academy 
 of Medicine, perhaps our highest recognized hygienic authority, 
 has already taken this subject into serious consideration, and it 
 will not be long before the gradual decay of the wood pavements 
 in other cities will excite attention to the alarming prevalence of 
 
The Bobbins Process. 21 
 
 diseases of a certain type, such as typhoid and other low fevers. 
 "We do not wish to act the part of alarmists, but we think it a duty 
 which every paper owes to the public to ask that our men of sci- 
 ence should grapple a problem of such serious import." 
 
 Concerning the relative wear and tear of different pave- 
 ments we quote the following from Mr. Fisher, an engineer of 
 New York : 
 
 " Macneil weighed the shoes of horses and the tires of stages 
 and wagons, when new and after they were worn out on Macadam 
 roads. While the shoes of the horses of a stage lost 1,000 lbs., the 
 tires lost but 326.8 lbs., or less than a third as much ; and while 
 the tires of a wagon, in traveling 6,048 miles lost 309 lbs., the 
 shoes of its horses lost 360 lbs. He considered that the wear of 
 roads by the wheels and the feet, respectively, was about in pro- 
 portion to the wear of the iron ; and that stage-horses wear the 
 roads three times as much as the stages, and wagon-horses wear 
 the roads one and a quarter times as much as the wagons. On 
 pavements the proportions were different; while a cab, weighing 
 1,050 lbs., wore a certain weight of iron from its tires seven times 
 as much as was worn from its horses' shoes. 
 
 " Analyses were made of the sweepings of Macadam roads and 
 stone and wood pavements in London, by which it was proved 
 that on Macadam one-ninth of the dirt was manure ; on stone 
 pavements one-third was manure; and on wood pavements it was 
 considered all manure, and readily paid for as such by farmers. 
 The wear of shoes and tires on the wood was slight, but was not 
 accurately measured ; enough, however, was shown to prove that 
 wood pavements are much cleanlier than stone — probably the dirt 
 from them is about a third as much as that from granite pave- 
 ments, such as are used in London, and such as that now being 
 laid in Broadway, New York." 
 
 The Robbins treatment necessarily prevents decay, and, more- 
 over, makes the wood pavement a great disinfecting agent 
 
The Hobhins Process. 
 
 to neutralize the effect of continuous deposit of decomposing 
 substances upon pavements. " "Without such previous treat- 
 ment of the wood for its preservation, no wooden pavements 
 should be allowed in cities." 
 
The Bobbins Process. 
 
 FOR SHIP BUILDING, BREAK- WATERS, DYKES, 
 PIERS, AND WHARVES, 
 
 the treatment of wood by creosote is absolutely the only effective 
 treatment. The naval worm will destroy wood prepared in any 
 other way. It can not enter wood prepared sufficiently with 
 creosote, and for the reason that the body of the teredo (naval 
 worm) is of an albuminous nature, and, immediately upon his 
 attacking creosoted wood, the carbolic acid coagulates his 
 albumen, destroying first his muscular power, and then his 
 life. 
 
 The following extract from an article written for the Public 
 Ledger, of Philadelphia, by Professor Baird, of the Smith- 
 sonian Institute, Washington City, covers this subject entirely: 
 
 To a maritime nation there are few subjects of greater practical 
 importance than the prevention of the ravages of the teredo, or 
 borer in timber immersed in sea water, whether in the form of 
 boats and ships, or piles, wharves, etc. Many remedies have been 
 proposed, some of them beneficial for a time only, others entirely 
 worthless, and the encasing or covering the surfaces exposed to 
 the water with copper or other metal has hitherto been the only 
 permanent means of defence, and this only useful as long as the 
 shield remains unbroken. 
 
 Our attention has recently been called to a series of experi- 
 ments conducted in Holland, under the direction of the Academy 
 of Sciences of Amsterdam, and a report just made embodies so 
 many important conclusions, that we present some of them for 
 consideration here. It may be well to premise that the "borer" 
 in question is not a worm, as frequently supposed, but one of the 
 mollusca or shell family, which, floating freely in water when 
 young, and almost invisible, attaches itself to timber, and with its 
 
%J/. The Bobbins Process. 
 
 two extremely minute shells, working like an auger bit, bores 
 into the substance of the wood, and increasing in size with age, 
 excavates a long tubular gallery, lined with a shelly deposit. The 
 wood is not consumed for food, but only bored out to afford the 
 proper lodgment for the animal. Its tail is provided with two 
 small, wire-like siphons, which, serving to catch the minute ani- 
 malcules on which it is nourished, project beyond the surface of 
 the wood in the water, although readily retracted at will. 
 
 The experiments in question were prosecuted simultaneously in 
 different harbors, and with piles of oak, pine and fir, some of 
 which were prepared with the different remedies, and others left 
 in an exposed condition. Three classes of experiments were 
 made — one, the coating the external surface only with paint or 
 other substances ; another, the impregnating the surface and the 
 outer portion of the wood with different preparations, and another, 
 the use of timber different from that usually employed. 
 
 Under the first class, experiments were made with a mixture of 
 tallow, coal tar, resin, sulphur and powdered glass ; paraffine var- 
 nish obtained by the dry distillation of peat ; coal tar ; oil paint 
 of different bases ; by carbonizing the surface of the Wood; driving 
 it full of broad-headed nails ; coating it with zinc or galvanized 
 iron, and by applying a number of secret preparations presented 
 for the purpose. None of the remedies gave satisfactory results. 
 Some had absolutely no effect, and others diminished the evil only 
 in a trifling degree ; while even in the latter case, any abrasion of 
 the surface caused by floating ice or other means, or the cracking 
 of the wood, allowed the entrance of the teredo to an injurious 
 extent. 
 
 Under the second head, trial was made of sulphate of copper, 
 sulphate of iron, acetate of lead, corrosive sublimate, soluble glass 
 and chloride of calcium; tar oil, creosote oil, etc. Of these the 
 creosote oil experiment alone presented any positive indications 
 of beneficial result, and in it the committee found what they 
 sought for. After five years of exposure, while all the other piles, 
 whether prepared or not, were entirely eaten up, those impreg- 
 nated with this substance were perfectly sound and free from any 
 
The Bobbins Process. 25 
 
 trace of the worms. In experiments of the third class, various 
 woods were tried ; some of extreme hardness, and others reputed 
 to be poisonous, but all were more or less affected by the worm. 
 
 The report of the committee sums up with the following con- 
 clusions : 1. That mere external coating of the timber with paint 
 or other substance is of no avail; since it is impossible to main- 
 tain an unbroken surface, the young teredo will enter the slightest 
 crack or abrasion. The use of copper, zinc or galvanized iron 
 plates is too expensive for most occasions, and even these become 
 of no use when broken. 2. Impregnating the wood with soluble 
 inorganic salts which are poisonous to animal life, furnishes no 
 protection against the worm. This is due to the fact that the sea 
 water soon dissolves away their strength, and that the worm does 
 not devour or digest the wood bored out by means of the shelly 
 jaws. 3. The hardness of the wood and its poisonous character, 
 as far as known, furnishes no protection. 4. Creosote oil is so far 
 the only substance met with that constitutes a true protection 
 against the worm. Attention should therefore be directed to the 
 best and quickest methods of saturating the wood, either wholly 
 or in part, with this material, and to the kinds of wood most 
 
 absorbent of it. 
 
 4 
 
The Bobbins Process. 
 
 GENERAL APPLICATION" OF THE ROBBINS PRO- 
 CESS. 
 
 It would fill a volume to enumerate the different manufac- 
 tures to which this treatment of wood will prove serviceable. 
 A few may be named : 
 
 Furniture, 
 
 Trellises for Vineyards, 
 
 Shingles for Roofs, 
 
 Burial Cases, 
 
 Agricultural Implements, 
 
 Tables for Sewing Machines and Telegraph 
 
 Instruments, 
 Floorings for Stables and Hospitals, 
 Bowling Alleys, 
 Gun Stocks, 
 
 Blocks of Wood for Engravings, 
 Picture Frames, 
 Clock Cases, 
 Shoe Pegs, 
 
 And, comprehensively, in the words of Mr. John D. Stevens, 
 of New Jersey, "everything made of wood, from the cradle 
 to the coffin. " 
 
TESTIMONY TO THE VALUE OF 
 THE ROBBINS PROCESS. 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 29 
 
 OPINIONS OF EMINENT SCIENTIFIC MEN. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have made a careful examination of the specimens 
 of woods prepared by Bobbins' patented method, and have made 
 myself familiar with the principles involved in the process, and 
 have learned in what cases the application of this method is more 
 especially available. 
 
 Wood, whether green or seasoned, is easily impregnated with 
 gaseous matters, and with the vapors of oil of coal tar and other 
 volatilizable oils, the moisture and the air in the wood-cells being 
 expelled by heat, and by substitution of the oils, which condense 
 in the pores of the wood. By the action of the heat, the albumen 
 of the wood is also solidified, and thus is no longer liable to chem- 
 ical changes, especially on being so thoroughly impregnated with 
 antiseptic fluids, which also harden in the cells. 
 
 The products of coal tar are powerful antiseptics : carbolic acid, 
 or the creosote of coal, being one of the strongest known, capable 
 of preserving both animal and vegetable matters from putrefac- 
 tion, and also perfectly resisting the action of parasitic vegetation 
 and insect depredations ; for no spores can vegetate in the pres- 
 ence of this powerful substance, and insects of all kinds are at 
 once repelled. Even the teredo, which attacks ship -timber, 
 wharves, and wooden piers, can make no entrance into wood pre- 
 pared by Bobbins' Process. Moisture is also expelled by the oily 
 matter infused into the wood, so that it can not swell, and, the 
 pores being filled with bituminous matters, the wood can not 
 shrink. 
 
 The samples I have seen prove all these statements, and the 
 principles are well known to scientific men. 
 
 Coal tar has long been known to act as a preservative to wood ; 
 but it has heretofore been applied in a liquid state, either by lay- 
 
30 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 ing it on to the wood with a brush, or by submerging the wood in 
 the tar or tar oil. 
 
 So far as the coal-tar oil penetrated the wood it was found to act 
 efficiently; but the cells being filled with water or with air, pre- 
 vented the complete saturation of the wood with the oils ; hence 
 the process was imperfect. By Bobbins' method this difficulty 
 was overcome, and the oils were made to penetrate throughout 
 the whole substance of the timber. This is the essential feature of 
 his process ; that is, the expulsion of moisture and air from the 
 wood-cells, and the filling of them with bituminous or other oils, 
 while the heat also effects induration of albumen of the wood. 
 
 In case the smell of carbolic acid is offensive, as it might be for 
 furniture, resin oil and palm oil may be substituted, though we 
 can not suppose with so perfect an antiseptic effect as would be 
 produced by coal-tar oil. Still, this method will effectually serve 
 some of the main purposes proposed, namely, the removal of 
 moisture and substitution of oleaginous matters in its place. It 
 is probable that paraffine will prove one of the best substances 
 for this substitution. It is readily volatilized, and may be driven in 
 a state of vapor into the pores of the wood. This substance is one 
 of the most unchangeable known, and I would most earnestly rec- 
 ommend its trial on a practical scale. It may be obtained in any 
 desirable quantity from the manufacturers of coal oil. 
 
 The smell of carbolic acid, or creosote, may be avoided, when 
 necessary, by the substitution of materials which do not contain 
 or yield it. However, for railroad sleepers, and for all outside 
 work, exposed to the action of microscopic and other parasitic 
 plants, and the inroad of insects and worms, it is desirable to have 
 this matter so inimical to both vegetable and animal life, and so 
 powerfully antiseptic. 
 
 Eespectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 CHABLES T. JACKSON, M. D., 
 State Assayer to Massachusetts. 
 To J. F. Paul, Esq., 441 Tremont street, Boston. 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. SI 
 
 Dartmouth College, July 20, 1868. 
 Eobbins Wood-Preserving Company: 
 
 Gentlemen: The chemical nature of the material (coal tar) 
 employed in your "Process," allows me to say, that it will precip- 
 itate, or render insoluble, the albumen in the wood-cells ; that it 
 will not sensibly absorb moisture, consequently the prepared wood 
 will not swell nor shrink ; that it will exclude the air ; that it is 
 not rapidly removed by pure water, nor by that containing the 
 usual acids, alkalies and salts found in the air and soils. 
 
 I regard the process as superior to all others before the public. 
 
 L. B. HALL, 
 Professor of Chemistry, C. S. D. 
 
 Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H, July 21, 1868. 
 I have examined the method of preserving wood employed 
 under "'Eobbins' Patent," and I am satisfied on scientific grounds 
 that it is all it claims to be. I think there can be no doubt that 
 this treatment of wood will secure two important ends, durability 
 and freedom from shrinking and swelling, both of which are the 
 result of rendering the wood impervious to moisture. 
 
 E. T. QUIMBY, 
 Professor of Math, and Civ. Eng., Dart. College. 
 
 House of Representatives, Concord, N. H, June 30, 1868. 
 
 Having examined, with a good deal of care, the specimens of 
 wood preserved in accordance with methods of Eobbins Wood- 
 Preserving Company's Patents, as also the chemical principles 
 upon which the process is based, I am prepared to express my 
 entire conviction of its great utility in all the immense variety of 
 uses to which wood is put. 
 
 It is believed that the wood subjected to this process, if not ab- 
 
32 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 solutely rendered indestructible, has its durability increased many 
 fold. Its strength is also, as has been found by experiment, very 
 materially increased; and when we consider, in addition, that 
 green wood is, in a few hours, seasoned more perfectly than by 
 years by any of the old methods, thereby causing a great saving 
 in time, and a very large diminution of the capital required in the 
 prosecution of many of the manufactures into which wood largely 
 enters, we can not hesitate in pronouncing this one of the great 
 discoveries of the age. 
 
 Its utility to the farmer, and in fact to every man who has a rod 
 of fence or a ditch to maintain, must be obvious. In fact, it is 
 difficult to imagine a class in the community oramaterial interest 
 that will not be benefited by the general introduction of this wood- 
 preserving process. It commends itself by the ease and cheap- 
 ness of its practical application, as well as by the harmony of the 
 principles on which it rests with chemical science. 
 
 THOMAS E. OEOSBY, M. D., 
 Bvt. Lt.-Gol., late Surgeon N H. V.; Prof. G-en'l Surgery, 
 
 Nat. Med. Col., Washington, D. C. 
 
 College of New Jersey, Princeton, March 23, 1868. 
 My Dear Sir : Your note is at hand. I extremely regret to 
 believe that I shall be unable to leave my duties here on the day 
 appointed for the meeting of the delegates from the Eobbins 
 Wood-Preserving Company of several States, including New Jer- 
 sey. You know my views respecting this process, and its effect 
 upon wood. You heard what I felt called upon to say to our 
 Senior Class, when speaking to them of the great value and numer- 
 ous important applications of the coal-tar products. I then be- 
 lieved, and now still more fully believe, in the great value of these 
 compounds for preserving wood, as applied by the Eobbins Process. 
 When you have thoroughly permeated a stick with naphtha and 
 creosote — like vapors, and carbolic acid, and paraffine — and at the 
 same time expelled all moisture, no chemist will hesitate to pro- 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 33 
 
 nounce the stick preserved and protected from decay. And this 
 is the whole case. It needs but few words; a stick or aboard 
 may be split or pounded to pieces, or may be burned ; this you do 
 not propose to prevent. But to provide against the rotting and 
 decay of timber is a demand which I consider the Eobbins Process 
 competent to supply. And this is a great affair. When for 
 fencing, for timber and building materials, for railroad ties and 
 bridges, and rolling stock and wharves, an addition of five or ten 
 per cent, to the cost will increase the durability, and prolong the 
 lifetime two, three, or five hundred per cent., saving at the same 
 time the expense of paint, it is not difficult to appreciate, the value 
 to the world of this application of science to the increasingly im- 
 portant art of preserving wood. If 100,000 acres were stripped 
 of timber in the single State of Michigan, last year, it is time we 
 awoke to the imperative necessity that exists for some steps in the 
 direction of wood preservation. 
 
 This matter has its bearing on our shipping interests also . 
 Wherever timber, or plank, or canvas, or cordage, are liable to 
 decay, or dry-rot, or mould, or mildew, there the Eobbins Process 
 is the antidote. Let those interested see to this. 
 
 But I esteem this treatment of wood for its preservation scarcely 
 more important than for its prompt and perfect seasoning. To 
 completely season a green stick, or board, within a few hours, so 
 as not only to expel all its water, but leave it in a condition to 
 absorb no more and thus never swell again ; to convert green oak, 
 or hemlock, into the equivalent of seasoned locust — this is a great 
 desideratum. Builders, and wood-workers, and wood-users will 
 understand this. 
 
 The chemistry of this process is right. I believe the practice 
 of it will satisfy all reasonable expectations ; you may say this 
 for me to any who are interested in knowing my opinions. 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 J. S. SCHANCK, 
 Professor of Chemistry ', Princeton College, N. J. 
 5 
 
SJf. The Robhins Process. 
 
 Princeton, N J., May 6, 1868. 
 Dear Sir : Having read with care the letter written to you by 
 my friend and colleague, Dr. Schanck, on the Bobbins Wood- 
 Preserving Process, I beg to say that I fully concur in the opinion 
 expressed by him, on the correctness of the scientific principle on 
 which it rests, and on the extensive practical uses to which it 
 may be applied. 
 
 I trust that the country will soon appreciate its value, and reap 
 the full benefit which can be derived from it. 
 
 I remain respectfully yours, 
 
 A. GUYOT, 
 Professor of Geology and Physical Geography, 
 
 Princeton, N. J. 
 
 New Brunswick, N. J., March 24, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir : I regret that my duties are such as to prevent my 
 leaving home to-morrow. It would be an occasion of much inter- 
 est to me to meet the gentlemen who are to take the lead in intro- 
 ducing the Bobbins Wood-Preserving Process. 
 
 The chemistry of the process, both in the preservative and pro- 
 tecting substances used, and in the way of applying them, is so 
 complete as to scarcely leave anything further to be desired. The 
 article on "Carbolic Acid" in .a late number of the Chemical 
 News, you already have. The author of it is probably the best 
 authority in the world on the subject, and his testimony is entirely 
 in its favor. The short article on " Napthalin " in the same paper 
 gives a summary of what is known of that substance ; a solid, 
 impenetrable to water, insoluble in it ; melting at 175°, and boil- 
 ing at 428° ; its vapor follows that of the carbolic acid (which 
 goes off at about 360°), and forms a firm protecting coat in the 
 whole outer portions of the wood, and supplements admirably the 
 preservative properties of the carbolic acid. 
 
 In addition to the preservative properties so useful for wood, 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 85 
 
 the late investigations of Mulder show that coal tar contains the 
 best known materials for a protecting coat against the rusting of 
 iron. 
 
 An article in the London Engineer, of November 15, 1867, on 
 the Bethell method of creosoting, and its effect on the strength of 
 timber, is made from the report of M. Forestier, Engineer in 
 Chief of the French Fonts et Chaussees, to the Paris Exposition. 
 He proved that creosoted fir -wood presented a coherence of fibres, 
 and elasticity and hardness much superior to what it possessed 
 before. In trying the resistance to bending, it was found that 
 the flexibility of wood was increased by creosoting. A large 
 number of experiments were made, which uniformly showed that 
 creosoted wood was capable of resisting a much greater crushing 
 force than wood which had not been treated. 
 
 He also proved that such wood is completely proof against the 
 marine worm, teredo navalis. 
 
 With such facts in favor of the principles involved in the Eob- 
 bins Process, and such testimony in its favor, and so extensive a 
 field in which to apply it, there is, in my opinion, good reason for 
 sanguine expectations of business success. 
 
 Some of the details of the application may need study and 
 experiment — for example, the temperature best for developing the 
 properties of strength and elasticity ; that best for securing the 
 highest degree of hardness ; the time which may be most 
 advantageously consumed in permeating sticks of various sizes, 
 etc., etc. But these points the scientific and business talent of 
 those interested will soon settle in a practical and prudent way. 
 
 Trusting that the efforts making in this line will soon culminate 
 in a success, I remain yours truly, 
 
 GEOEGE H. COOK, 
 State Geologist and Prof, of Ghem., Mutgefs Col. 
 
 Cambridge, September 9, 1868. 
 The undersigned, while holding that the value of the Eobbins 
 Wood-Preserving Process can be demonstrated only by time and 
 
36 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 experience, nevertheless acknowledge their belief that it will 
 prove one of the most valuable methods yet made known for pre- 
 serving wood, hemp, linen, and cotton from insects, mildew, and 
 decay, under every exposure, and for actually strengthening the 
 fibre. 
 
 THOMAS HILL, 
 
 President of Harvard College. 
 JOSIAH P. COOKE, Jr., 
 Ewing Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Harvard College. 
 
 WOLCOTT GIBBS, 
 Rumford Professor of the application of Science to Art, Harvard Col- 
 lege, and head of Chemical Department in Lawrence Scientific 
 
 School. 
 
 H. L. EUSTIS, 
 
 Professor of Engineering in the Lawrence Scientific School, H C. 
 
 BENJAMIN PIEECE, 
 
 Perkins Prof, of Astronomy and Mathematics in Harvard College 
 
 and Sup't Coast Survey. 
 
 Office of the City Physician, 
 
 City Hall, Boston, November '16, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir: You letter of October 17th was duly received, in 
 which you call my attention, officially, to the value of carbolic 
 acid as a disinfectant, and request my opinion as to the sanitary 
 advantage to be derived from the use of wood treated by the so- 
 called "Bobbins Preservative Process," during which it becomes 
 saturated with' that agent. 
 
 With regard to the first point — its disinfectant and antiseptic 
 property — carbolic acid is one of the most powerful of its class, 
 in the present state of our knowledge. Dr. E. E. Squibb, of Brook- 
 lyn, N. Y., the well known chemist, in an article on disinfectants 
 recently published, when speaking of this substance, says : "Creo- 
 sote and carbolic acid partake somewhat of the character of gas- 
 eous disinfectants or deodorizers, or at least occupy the interme- 
 diate ground, partaking of the nature of both gaseous and solid 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 37 
 
 disinfectants, and are all available and effective for many special 
 purposes. Creosote and carbolic acid, as well as the coal tar from 
 which the latter is separated, are all powerfully antiseptic, and 
 possess the singular property, not only of arresting the putrefac- 
 tive process, but also of preventing its recurrence, and of destroy- 
 ing the lower order of living beings which belong to or result from 
 these fermentations." It is difficult to overestimate the value of 
 these two properties. By the one the putrefactive process is 
 arrested at once; by the other it is prevented from recommenc- 
 ing; so that by the combined influence of the two, articles which 
 have been impregnated with carbolic acid or creosote become im- 
 perishable, at least in so far as decay of material is concerned. 
 
 To the sanitarian, therefore, it commends itself in the strongest 
 manner, for, by means of this treatment of wood, he has at his 
 command a material which is not only durable, but which is also 
 constantly acting to counteract those processes by which delete- 
 rious gases are set free to contaminate the atmosphere. For 
 wooden pavements, for flooring of stables, the planking of alleys, 
 cellars, or places where dampness produces early decay, or filth 
 accumulates from the use of urinals or privies, for drains, in short 
 for every thing where a corrective agency united to permanence 
 and stability of structure is desirable, and wood must be the mate- 
 rial used, Carbolicized or Creosoted Wood is without a rival. So 
 impressed am I, on mature consideration, of its value in this 
 respect, that I shall avail myself of the earliest opportunity to 
 bring the subject before the Board of Health of this city, and urge 
 upon them the propriety of not only adopting it for the city's use 
 but of compelling individuals to use it in the connections already 
 mentioned, as far as they may have power to enforce such a pro- 
 vision. I can see no other way in which at so little cost so much 
 can be done to remedy long standing evils of this kind, and pre- 
 vent their recurrence in future. 
 
 I am, my dear sir, very respectfully yours, 
 
 WILLIAM BEAD, M.D., 
 
 City Physician. 
 
88 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 I, the undersigned, Nicolas Basset, chemist, residing in Paris, 
 No. 60 rue des Dames, 17th District, declare that I was present on 
 the 31st of October, 1868, at an experiment through which I was 
 enabled to ascertain the following facts : 
 
 Some pieces of pine and oak, placed in a reservoir, were sub- 
 jected to the vapors of coal tar for 30 minutes. The ligneous fibre, 
 especially in the oak, presented the appearance of having been 
 exposed to smoke. Upon splitting the wood, it was found to be 
 thoroughly penetrated ; and the sense of smell could easily deter- 
 mine the volatile materials which had thus saturated the ligneous 
 tissues. The oak was changed to a dark-brown color, while the 
 color of the pine was altered but little. It is impossible for me to 
 assert positively, how long the wood thus treated will be preserved, 
 for the simple reason that this can only be determined by the 
 lapse of time. But upon the reasonable supposition that the im- 
 pregnation by the vapors of coal tar will be enduring, it appears 
 to me certain that the volatile substances of coal tar are possessed 
 of powerful antiseptic properties, the effect of which will be pre- 
 eminently preservative. 
 
 On the other hand, those substances having penetrated the lig- 
 neous tissue itself in the shape of vapor, and at quite an elevated 
 temperature, have expelled the water and the sap, and will prevent 
 the further penetration of water into the wood, and that for a con- 
 siderable length of time. Now, it is known that fermentation can 
 not exist without water, and that the expulsion of this agent is one 
 of the most rational means of preservation. 
 
 This reason seems decisive, and I am convinced that this process 
 is destined to play an important part, and exercise a notable influ- 
 ence in the matter of preserving wood, more especially as it is so 
 inexpensive, the cost being little more than the price of fuel. 
 
 My advice, therefore, is, that this process should be applied upon 
 an extensive scale, in order to ascertain all its advantages in France 
 as well as they have been appreciated in America. 
 
 Paris, November 2d, 1868. BASSET. 
 
 For the authentication of the signature of M. Basset, above subscribed, 
 
 THE MAYOB, Blanche. 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 39 
 
 Cincinnati, April 22, 1869. 
 Edward S. Wayne, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : There has been presented to us for consideration a 
 process for preserving wood from decay, and from attacks of the 
 naval worm and insects. 
 
 The claims of the so-called " Eohbins Process " are certainly 
 
 very remarkable, and we would like to have your opinion of its 
 
 merits, scientific and practical, both absolutely and in comparison 
 
 with the Burnettizing treatment, and the method of boiling in 
 
 coal tar. 
 
 Kespectfully yours, 
 
 W. H. SHOENBEBGEB. 
 
 Cincinnati, April 26, 1869. 
 W. H. Shoenberger, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : In reply to your communication of the 22d I would 
 say, that having made the necessary tests, I am prepared to 
 answer your questions as to the Bobbins Process. 
 
 The idea of saturating wood with coal tar, or the products of its 
 distillation (commonly known as tar or creosote oils), is not new. 
 The preservative properties of these substances have long been 
 known, and fully established by practical tests ; but since no plan 
 has heretofore accomplished a perfect saturation of the wood with 
 them, the desired end has been only partially attained. Of all the 
 various patents and methods proposed, such as immersing and 
 dipping the wood in hot coal tar, injecting the oils by high pres- 
 sure, and the application of heat, none has been successful in 
 accomplishing more than a superficial or partial saturation. 
 
 The Bobbins Process differs from all others, in that it submits 
 the wood to the combined influence of highly rarified, and con- 
 sequently penetrative, oleaginous vapors, the result of which, as 
 proven by my anatysis, is a perfect saturation of the wood. 
 
 Specimens of both soft and hard woods, treated by this process, 
 I find to be saturated with creosote oil. 
 
40 The Rohbins Process. 
 
 I have also tested specimens of the same woods, in their treated 
 and original state, with the* view to ascertain their absorptive 
 capacity, and, after submerging them in water for twenty-four 
 hours, find that the treated had not sensibly expanded, while the 
 other had. The reason for this difference is that the spongy 
 absorption by the tissues which took place in the untreated speci- 
 mens was prevented by the oily saturation of the fibres of the 
 creosoted pieces. 
 
 The experiments of the Dutch government prove that wood, 
 properly creosoted, lasts longer than when treated by any other 
 process, and resists the attacks of the teredo, the worm, or mol- 
 lusc, so destructive not only of the wooden hulls of vessels in 
 almost every sea, but also of the wooden dykes of that country, 
 and this agent was the only one of the great number tried which 
 afforded immunity from the attack of the naval worm. The min- 
 eral substances used were slowly but completely dissolved out, 
 and the wood was left unprotected, while the creosote oils, not 
 being soluble in water, were retained by the wood. The action of 
 the creosote upon the worm may be understood from the fact that 
 its body being a gelatinous mass becomes coagulated by the creo- 
 sote with which it comes in contact. 
 
 The efficacy of coal tar oils for the preservation of wood has 
 thus been clearly demonstrated, and the most effectual method to 
 apply them is that of Bobbins' Patent. There is no question in 
 my mind on this point, and at the same time I would say, that it 
 is the most economical — more so than Burnett's, or any other pro- 
 cess involving the use of mineral salts. It is also free from the 
 deleterious effects which the poisonous salts have upon those 
 engaged in treating wood or handling it after treatment. 
 
 Compared with Burnettizing, or similar treatment with solu- 
 tions of mineral salts, such as sulphate of copper, chloride of zinc, 
 or corrosive sublimate, I consider this saturation of wood with 
 creosote oils superior in every respect. Long experience and 
 practical tests have fully demonstrated this to be so. The satura- 
 tion of wood with mineral solutions is never perfect, and the pro- 
 cess is expensive ; and I am of the opinion, from what I have 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. Jfl 
 
 seen, that even if perfect saturation could be attained it would be 
 of very questionable value, as the agents used must, in time, act 
 destructively upon the woody fibre. They have also a tendency 
 to cause the wood to absorb moisture more readily from the 
 atmosphere, or the soil, and thus to bring this destructive agency 
 to assist in the work of decay, whereas wood saturated with creo- 
 sote oils is free from the above mentioned causes of decay. It is 
 repellant of moisture, because every fibre is coated with a protect- 
 ing film of oil, and it will not absorb moisture unless absolutely 
 submerged, and even then only by capillary absorption. Moreover, 
 hot hydro-carbon oils unite with the natural resins in such woods 
 as fat pine, and hold them in such intimate combination that they 
 can not be dissolved out by water, to which, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, they are liable to a greater or less extent. 
 
 I would also say that I can not but recommend this process for 
 the saturation of wood to be used in the wood pavements now so 
 much in favor, as it would obviate most of the objections existing 
 against them. Wood, it is well-known, when exposed to the 
 destructive agencies of heat and moisture, will rapidly decay, and 
 the decomposition of the immense mass of vegetable fibre in a 
 street of wood pavement, together with the offal thrown upon it, 
 and the excreta of animals, is pernicious to the public health. 
 This is a matter which has already attracted the attention of 
 Boards of Health and City Councils, and should do so wherever the 
 JSTicolson or other wood pavements are adopted. The plan of 
 merely dipping the blocks in coal tar, or even of boiling them in 
 it, is of no practical use, but rather tends to hasten their decay, 
 by confining the putrescent sap of the wood, and bringing to bear 
 the very conditions most favorable to the decay of fibrous tissue. 
 But if, on the other hand, the pavement blocks were saturated by 
 the Bobbins Process with carbolic acid, it would be impossible, 
 under any natural circumstances, for the fibre to decay, while, at 
 the same time, each pavement block thus charged with the most 
 powerful disinfectant known to science, would exercise an influ- 
 ence upon the public health, the benefits of which would soon be 
 apparent. 
 
 6 
 
J/3 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 The vast consumption of coal tar, implied by a general intro- 
 duction of this process, might possibly raise the question of cost 
 and supply of the creosote oils. 1 would here say that the supply 
 can be unlimited, and equal to any future demand, as it can be 
 obtained at a very low cost, by the direct distillation of coal and 
 shales, which are to be found in almost every section of our coun- 
 try along the lines of railroads. 
 
 Eespectfully yours, &c, 
 
 E. S. WAYNE, 
 Analytic and Consulting Chemist. 
 
 Cincinnati, June 10, 1869. 
 Dear Sir : For the purpose of satisfying myself as to the effect 
 of the Bobbins Process in preventing the alternate swelling and 
 shrinking of wood, 1 have made the following experiment : Two 
 hubs, one of which had been treated by the process and the other 
 left in its natural state, were first soaked in water for thirty hours, 
 at the end of which time they were found to be completely satu- 
 rated. I then placed the two hubs side by side in a drying-room 
 which is heated by a steam coil to an average temperature of 190° 
 Fah., where they remained ten days. At the end of this time I 
 removed them and found that the treated hub had neither de- 
 creased in size, nor did it show any crack or other evidence of in- 
 jury by the extraordinary test to which it had been subjected. The 
 untreated specimen, on the other hand, was so badly cracked as to 
 be utterly worthless. There were two deep fissures which extend- 
 ed from end to end, and nearly split the hub in two. The diame- 
 ters of the several parts were also perceptibly smaller than before 
 the experiment, and in ratio to the increase of size which was 
 observable after the wood had been submerged. The result proves 
 to my mind: 1st, that the Eobbins Process effectually prevents the 
 shrinking and swelling of wood ; 2nd, that the absorption of water 
 by the treated wood is purely capillary and not spongy. 
 
 Eespectfully yours, E. S. WAYNE, 
 
 Analytic and Consulting Chemist. 
 
Opinions of Eminent Scientific Men. 4& 
 
 Office of the Board of Health, ) 
 
 Toledo, 0., June 25, 1869. j" 
 
 Dear Sir: The following is the report of a microscopical exami- 
 nation of several specimens of wood submitted to Dr. Henry A. 
 Root and myself for examination last evening. Pour specimens 
 were submitted : 
 
 No. 1. A piece of Nicolson paving block, which had been pre- 
 pared in the usual way, by dipping in liquid coal tar. 
 
 No. 2. A piece of Nicolson paving block taken from the pave- 
 ment in Sixth street, Cincinnati, having been in place two years. 
 
 No. 3. A piece of Nicolson paving block saturated with the 
 vapor of creosote oil by the "Robbins Process." 
 
 No. 4. A section of hemlock joist treated by the same process. 
 
 Specimen No. 1. Under a lens of 350 diameters exhibited nothing 
 unusual in appearance, the fibres being parallel, and the cells 
 clearly defined and arranged in regular order and distances. 
 
 No 2. Was completely decayed, the regular structure destroyed, 
 and only a faint outline here and there indicating the existence 
 of the cells. 
 
 No. 3. Exhibited the structure of the wood perfect, with large 
 deposits of oil globules in the sap tubes overlying the cells and 
 adjacent to the woody fibres. 
 
 No. 4. This specimen, although not showing such thorough cre- 
 osotage to the naked eye, yet exhibited under the microscope as 
 clear evidence of the presence of the oil globules as specimen No. 
 3. The wood being hemlock, there was a difference in the inter- 
 nal arrangement of the fibre and cells. 
 
 My opinion, based upon the above examination, is that the Rob- 
 bins Process is effectual for introducing oleaginous vapors into the 
 interior structure of wood and to remove the putrescible sap and 
 supply an antiseptic in the form of carbolic acid, and lubricate 
 and strengthen the woody structure. 
 
 My belief is, that this treatment of paving blocks will destroy 
 cryptogamous growths in and upon vegetable fibre, and remove 
 
£4 Th e Bobbins Process- 
 
 the objection which the Board of Health urged, in a late report, to 
 wooden pavements on the score of health. 
 
 I will take the earliest opportunity to lay the whole subject before 
 the Board of City Improvements, who have been charged with its 
 investigation by resolution of the City Council. 
 
 JOHN W. BOND, M. D., Health Officer. 
 
 I concur in the above -report of the microscopical examination. 
 
 H. A. BOOT, M. D. 
 H. S. Olcott, Esq., Toledo, O. 
 
Opinions of Practical Men. 45 
 
 OPINIONS OF PRACTICAL MEN. 
 
 Concord, N H., August 14, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir : You ask our opinion of the Bobbins Process for 
 treating wood. So well convinced are we of its value for preserv- 
 ing ties, bridge timber, fence material, and other woods used in the 
 construction and repairs of railroads, that, after a careful investi- 
 gation, we, as superintendents of the various roads centering here, 
 have concluded to erect works for the purpose of treating material. 
 
 The process is yet in its infancy, and may require some further 
 
 experiments in the time required for the treatment of the various 
 
 kinds and sizes of timber, but we have no doubt of its ultimate 
 
 success. 
 
 J. A. DODGE, Supt. B. 0. & M. B. B. 
 
 JAS. E. KENDBICK, Supt. Concord B. B. 
 
 GEO. E. TODD, Supt. Northern B. B. 
 
 A. M. SHAW, Eng. Northern B. R. 
 
 Manchester, August 14, 1868. 
 Dear Sir : I am so well satisfied of the preservative qualties 
 of the material used in the Bobbins Patent Process, and the man- 
 ner of applying it, that I shall, as early as convenient, convert the 
 sixty-foot tank, capacity of ten thousand feet, now used by the 
 Amoskeag Manufacturing Company for Burnettizing, into use 
 under the Bobbins patent. 
 
 Yery respectfully yours, 
 
 E. A. STB AW, Agent. 
 
 No. 246 Washington Street, Boston, August 6, 1868. 
 Dear Sir : You ask our ojrinion of the Bobbins Process for 
 treating wood. We have examined the subject with great care, 
 
Jf6 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 and believe it to be the readiest and most perfect process for sea- 
 soning wood known. The smell of coal tar is objectionable in the 
 manufacture of pianofortes, but experiments are being made by 
 scientific gentlemen to deodorize it, and we hope with success. 
 
 As soon as perfected we shall erect works at the factory, and use 
 it upon all wood material used by us, as it is a perfect guaranty 
 against expansion and contraction by the changes in the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 The effect of the treatment in rendering wood durable is so well 
 established by scientific men that it is useless for us to refer to it. 
 
 Yery respectfully, 
 
 CHICKEKING & SONS, 
 Pianoforte Manufacturers, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Concord, N. H., August 14, 1868. 
 Dear Sir : "We have carefully examined specimens of hubs, 
 felloes, and other material used in the manufacture of coaches, 
 treated by the Eobbins Patent Process. They seemed to be thor- 
 oughly seasoned, and from the fact that it is done with the hot 
 vapors of coal oil, it is not reasonable to suppose that they will 
 absorb moisture, and they are therefore nob liable to expand, con- 
 tract, or check. If wood can be seasoned within a few hours, its 
 value to the mechanic arts can scarcely be appreciated. 
 
 We have such faith in the process that we have already applied 
 it to the felloes of wheels on carriages sent to Louisiana and Texas, 
 and have no doubt of beneficial results. 
 
 Yery respectfully, 
 
 ABBOT, DOWNING & CO. 
 
 Boston, August 1, 1868. 
 Dear Sir: Our investigations into the Eobbins Process for 
 treating wood have induced us to become interested in the right 
 for the State of Massachusetts, with a view to its use in our own 
 
Opinions of Practical Men. J/.7 
 
 factories. Specimens of hubs and other carriage material that we 
 have examined, show no indication of checking, and we are satis- 
 fied had been better seasoned in a few hours than they could be in 
 a long time by any former process. Wood not being liable, under 
 this treatment, to expand or contract, makes it very desirable in 
 the manufacture of coaches and carriages for shipment to various 
 countries, as they will not be affected by change of climate. 
 
 We have no doubt of its preservative properties upon wood 
 exposed to dampness and liable to premature decay. 
 Yery respectfully yours, 
 
 KIMBALL BEOS. & CO. 
 
 Boston, August 7, 1868. 
 Dear Sir : In answer to your inquiries as to the practical tests 
 made by me, of wood treated under the Eobbins Patent Process, I 
 would respectfully state that works were erected under my direc- 
 tion in February last, in which I had numerous specimens of 
 various kinds of wood treated both in the rough and manufactured 
 state. In no instance have I had a failure. The effect upon black 
 walnut gives a striking illustration of the action of the process 
 upon wood. I have taken it in a perfectly green state, and in a 
 few hours seasoned it more thoroughly than I have been able to do 
 in any length of time under the ordinary process. Newel posts 
 and baluster railings taken in the rough, treated and worked after- 
 ward, have never checked nor warped, and when polished, present 
 a better finish than by the old method of filling in. The same will 
 apply to all other woods treated and manufactured at our works. I 
 am also satisfied that the strength of the wood is greatly increased. 
 As to its durability, all scientific and practical men, who have 
 investigated the subject, concur in the opinion that wood thus 
 treated is not affected by mould and decay. You are aware that I 
 am interested in the right for Massachusetts, and the works being 
 erected in this city. 
 
 Yery respectfully yours, 
 
 JOSEPH F. PAUL. 
 
48 The Rohbins Process. 
 
 Boston, August 7, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir : Having examined with care specimens of various 
 kinds of woods treated by the Bobbins Patent Process, I am fully 
 convinced that the preservative properties of coal tar can be 
 applied to timber of any length or size, and, when thoroughly 
 treated, will last for an indefinite period, and that the strength of 
 the wood is greatly increased. 
 
 The preservative properties of coal tar are so well understood 
 that I need scarcely refer to anything but the manner of its appli- 
 cation. 
 
 I can readily perceive that by the application of heat the oil is 
 easily separated, the lighter portion (naphtha) being carried through 
 the pores of the wood, removing all air and moisture, followed by 
 the well known powerful antiseptic, carbolic acid, then paraffine, 
 and the heavier oils, which, condensing in the pores, and not being 
 soluble in water, will, in my judgment, preserve the wood until it 
 wears out. 
 
 I am satisfied that ship plank treated by the Eobbins Process, 
 will be thoroughly protected from the destructive marine worm, 
 teredo navalis, which ought to be a sufficient guaranty of its early 
 introduction and general use in the marine service. 
 
 Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 W. L. HANSCOM, 
 Late U. S. Naval Contractor. 
 
 The following letter is from Mr. Henry G. Lewis, President 
 of the New Haven Hub and Wheel Company, the most exten- 
 sive establishment of the sort perhaps in the world : 
 
 New Haven, November 12, 1867. 
 Hon. J. Bichard Barret: 
 
 Dear Sir: Your letter of the seventh was duly received. 
 Should have answered earlier but for absence. 
 
Opinions of Practical Men. £9 
 
 In reply to your inquiries in regard to the experiment with 
 hubs, I would say that I caused two hubs to be turned from the 
 same stick of green timber — the greenest we had in our yard. 
 They were turned precisely alike, both in length and diameter. 
 They were cut from the same stick, so that ,the weight, grain and 
 liability to check might be the same in both. After having the 
 hubs morticed, I sent one of them to New York, and had it 
 treated by the "Bobbins Process; " the other one I retained, and 
 placed aside in its perfectly natural .state. 
 
 The hub sent to New York was returned in due course of time, 
 having been treated. 
 
 When it came back I happened to be absent, and one of our 
 workmen took it and placed on a steam pipe in the hottest room 
 we have got, and it remained there two days. Upon examining 
 it, to my surprise I found it perfectly sound, and heavier and larger 
 than the untreated hub. There were no checks nor cracks in it 
 while the untreated hub was full of checks, some of them extend- 
 ing from end to end. 
 
 As the hubs were turned from the same stick, and precisely 
 alike, I did not weigh nor measure them ; the experiment as to the 
 weight must have been very nearly the same. 
 
 The dimensions of the hubs were about 6 inches by 8 inches. 
 The treated hub to-day is 11 ounces the heavier ; its diameter in 
 centre, one-quarter inch the larger; its front band, 3-16th inch 
 the larger ; its back band, 3-16ths scant the larger, and is per- 
 fectly sound and unchecked; while the untreated hub is filled 
 with checks and cracks so as to render it utterly worthless. 
 
 As regards its gluing, the experiments we have made have been 
 successful, and the experiments we have seen by others have been 
 successful, and I feel almost certain that the glue holds stronger 
 in the treated wood. 
 
 I regret that I was absent when your letter came, and thus not 
 able to answer yours earlier. 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 HENBY Gc. LEWIS, 
 7 President New Haven Wheel Co. 
 
50 The Robhins Process. 
 
 . New Haven, November 13, 1867. 
 We most fully, and with pleasure, concur in the statements of 
 Mr. H. G-. Lewis, as we have been fully conversant with all the 
 facts in the case. 
 
 As to its holding glue, we have personally tested it in various 
 ways, and we believe it not only holds glue as well but even better 
 when the wood has been Bobbinsized than before, as it seems to 
 keep all dampness from the glue. 
 
 WM. H. BEADLE Y, 
 WI. P. PABDEE, 
 D. P. CALHOUN. 
 
 Boston, September 12, 1868. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your note asking my opinion of the different pro- 
 cesses now in use for preserving wood, and particularly of the so- 
 called " Eobbins Process," is at hand. In reply, I would say, that 
 I have been thoroughly conversant with the manner of treating 
 lumber for its better preservation from decay by the Burnettizing 
 and Kyanizing processes, from the time of their introduction to 
 the public in this city, by having millions of feet treated myself. 
 
 I have also thoroughly investigated the " Eobbins Process " of 
 treating wood by impregnation with carbolic acid, and other pro- 
 ducts of coal tar in a vaporized state. By the latter process the 
 wood being subjected to a heat above 212° E., the sap is converted 
 into steam, and this passing off, the pores become filled with the 
 products of coal tar, which not only preserve the wood from rot 
 and decay, but by actual experience add greatly to its strength : 
 thus making it of the utmost importance for all timber used for 
 bridges, railroads, wharves, and many other purposes for which 
 wood is used. 
 
 I shall recommend the " Eobbins Process " to all my customers 
 in preference to any other yet introduced. 
 
 Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 HIEAM EMEEY. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
Proceedings of JVeia York Convention. 53 
 
 ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW YORK 
 CONVENTION. 
 
 (Prepared by Dr. Gouverneur Emerson, of Philadelphia.) 
 
 On Thursday, the 14th of January, 1869, a convention of dele- 
 gates from different companies interested in the Robbins Process, 
 met at the Astor House, in New York. The following named 
 companies were represented : The National Patent Wood-Pre- 
 serving Company, and the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Con- 
 necticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Metropolitan, and Yermont 
 State companies. The meeting was organized by appointing Gen- 
 eral A. S. Diven, of New York, chairman, and W. E. C. Macrum 
 of Pittsburg, secretary. 
 
 Mr. Paul, of Boston, President of the Massachusetts Company, 
 read a report of the proceedings of his company, the works of 
 which are located in Boston. These had been one year in opera- 
 tion, during which the Robbins Process had fulfilled all that had 
 been claimed for the invention. 
 
 Mr J. S. Abbot, of Concord, New Hampshire, of the firm of 
 Abbot & Downing, carriage makers, stated that after experiments 
 made in treating wood for hubs, and other parts of carriages, and 
 witnessing the results of operations in the works established in 
 Concord, he was prepared to endorse the most favorable state- 
 ments made by others of the efficiency of the Robbins Process. 
 
 Mr. H. G. Lewis, of Connecticut, President of the Hub and 
 Wheel Company, of New Haven, gave an account of wagon hubs 
 cut from the same stick of green wood, some treated by the Rob- 
 bins Process, and the others not. When measured, nearly three 
 years afterward, the hubs treated were larger in circumference 
 than the untreated, and without the least sign of crack or check, 
 while the untreated hubs were diminished in size and badly 
 
5Jf. The Robbins Process. 
 
 warped and checked, some of the cracks being a fourth of an inch 
 in width. 
 
 Mr. Fielder, of Princeton "Works, N". J., gave an account of the 
 practical workings of that establishment, and stated that they had 
 treated all kinds of wood to their own and the perfect satisfaction 
 of their customers. 
 
 Professor George Cook, State Geologist of New Jersey, made an 
 interesting statement relative to the scientific applications and 
 bearings of the Bobbins invention, and acquiesced in the decision 
 come to by the ablest scientific authorities of the day, that carbolic 
 acid, which plays such an important part in the Bobbins Process, 
 whilst it is the greatest preserver of organic matter against de- 
 composition, is the greatest disinfector and preventive of disease 
 ever discovered. Colonel Swords, of Newark, 1ST. J., stated that 
 he had renewed the flooring of the basement of his dwelling with 
 boards treated by the Eobbins Process. Previously the flooring 
 had rotted out rapidly, and the cockroaches were innumerable. 
 These last had all disappeared ; the floor remained perfectly dry, 
 and the creosote odor from the wood has never given the slightest 
 inconvenience to the occupants of his dwelling. Stable floors laid 
 with Eobbinsized wood are not only preserved from rot, but the 
 carbolic acid in the wood effectually drives from the premises flies, 
 mosquitos, and all vermin. 
 
 A letter was read to the convention, written by Dr. ¥m. Eead, 
 city physician of Boston, upon the sanitary influence which might 
 be expected from the Eobbins Process. The carbolic acid, he said, 
 used for charging the wood, was the best disinfectant agent 
 known, and he had, for that reason, recommended to the city 
 authorities of Boston to have all the wood used in public works 
 subjected to the Eobbins treatment, with the view to its health- 
 preserving agency. 
 
 Colonel Barret, President of the National Wood -Preserving 
 Company, whose attention has been concentrated upon the sub- 
 ject under consideration for several years past, exhibited speci- 
 mens of wood treated, and gave a very lucid account of the 
 Eobbins Process, its effects, and benefits to be derived from it 
 
Proceedings of New TorJc Convention. 55 
 
 when it shall become more extensively known and applied to the 
 numerous and important purposes which it is inevitably destined 
 to subserve. "Various kinds of wood, now so perishable as to be 
 of comparatively little value, such as hemlock, cotton-wood, etc., 
 on receiving the Bobbins treatment become imperishable from 
 ordinary rot or decay. It requires but little reflection to show the 
 valuable results such a discovery must lead to in a country like 
 ours, where the wood interests, directly and indirectly, now pay 
 half the national revenue. 
 
 Monsieur Menard, of Bordeaux, who was present at this con- 
 vention, made a most important communication, being the results 
 of investigations made in Paris, at the request of the Emperor of 
 Erance, by the great French chemist, M. Basset. This dis- 
 tinguished savant, after a series of experiments in treating wood by 
 the Bobbins Process, reported that he was fully satisfied that the 
 claims of the American inventor were fully sustained, and recom- 
 mended the extensive employment of the process in France. 
 
56 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 OHIO MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The statistics of the various industrial interests of Ohio 
 have never been compiled in any satisfactory degree, and it is 
 therefore impossible to more than approximate to any idea of 
 the value of an effectual process for preventing the decay of 
 wood. Measures have, however, been recently inaugurated in 
 this direction by the Board of Trade of Cincinnati, and it is 
 probable that in. future editions of this pamphlet correct figures 
 may be given. 
 
 With a view to forming a computation of the extent of one 
 branch of trade, inquiry was made of the Mitchell & Ram- 
 melsburg Furniture Company of Cincinnati as to the capital 
 employed, number of workmen, stock of lumber carried, ground 
 occupied as drying yards, loss by shrinkage and cracking of 
 lumber, and accessibility of timber land from which supplies 
 are drawn. The following are the results : 
 
 This company occupies three buildings in the business por- 
 tion of the city 120x60 feet, 80x80, and 152x80, the first being 
 eight stories high, the second eight stories, and the third seven 
 stories, including basements. 
 
 An average of 550 men are in constant employ, the number 
 being larger in the busy season, and a trifle smaller in dull 
 times. 
 
 The quantity of lumber of all kinds of solid woods, that is 
 to say exclusive of veneers, annually used, is about 3,000,000 
 feet. Of veneers some 200,000 feet additional are required, 
 which figures represent a great surface, but not much bulk. 
 
 For drying the lumber kept in stock a space of 81,480 square 
 feet, or nearly two acres, of city lots are occupied, worth at 
 present market prices $162,960, cash. The city taxes are about 
 
Ohio Manufactures. 57 
 
 1 per cent, on the selling value of the land. The value of 
 stock on hand seasoning averages $100,000. 
 
 The company estimate that the loss from shrinkage and 
 cracking of hard lumber in the process of seasoning is ten per 
 cent. 
 
 Now let us see what instruction can be gained from a study 
 of the above data. The loss by shrinkage and cracking being 
 ten per cent., and three million feet being used, it follows that 
 this one concern loses 300,000 feet of costly hard lumber every 
 year, or, at a cost of about $33-§- per thousand, about $10,000. 
 
 Again : as the market value of the land embraced in the 
 drying yards is $162,960, and money brings readily in Cincin- 
 nati ten per cent, interest, the company is paying $16,296 more 
 than would be necessary if they used a process which would 
 change their lumber in a few hours from the green sappy state 
 to well seasoned stock, fit to be worked up the same day into 
 furniture. Again : as they are obliged to carry a stock of 
 $100,000 all the time, which would be unnecessary if the Rob- 
 bins Process were employed, there must be added to the calcu- 
 lation $10,000 of interest money uselessly paid out. Note 
 then, what this one mammoth concern is losing in these re- 
 spects : 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Loss of lumber, 300,000 feet $10,000 00 
 
 Interest on value of drying-yards 16,296 00 
 
 Interest on value of stock carried 10,000 00 
 
 City taxes on land 1,629 00 
 
 Total $37,925 00 
 
 Making no account of the wages of men required to pile and 
 handle the lumber in process of seasoning, nor of other inci- 
 dental expenses. 
 
 Now, this company estimates that it does about one-fifth of 
 the entire furniture business of Cincinnati, and that Cincinnati 
 
 does about one-half as much as the whole State, consequently 
 
 8 
 
58 The Rohbins Process. 
 
 if we multiply the above tabulated figures by 10, we get at 
 something of an idea of the annual loss to the State of Ohio 
 because of the want of a cheap, practical, and efficacious pro- 
 cess for seasoning the lumber used in the manufacture of 
 furniture. In round numbers it would be $379,250 in this 
 single State. Who can say how much it is Tor the whole 
 Union ? 
 
 Mr. Robert Mitchell, from whom the above figures were 
 obtained, is a merchant of more than thirty years' standing, 
 and enjoys an enviable reputation for integrity, prudence, and 
 veracity ; and his estimates are as near an approximation as 
 can be made with presently available data to the truth. He 
 states that the present price of lumber is about double what it 
 was before the war, the enhanced cost of labor being a chief 
 element in the calculation. During the thirty years which 
 preceded the war the price of lumber had not varied much one 
 year with another. The extension of the railroad system into 
 Indiana opened up extensive tracts of wood-land, especially 
 poplar and walnut, and thus the Cincinnati market was kept 
 in full supply. Some of the lumber comes to the city from 
 the portions of Kentucky and West Virginia bordering on the 
 Ohio river, most of it being rafted down in the shape of logs 
 and cut up in the saw-mills of the city. 
 
Our Pine Resources. 59 
 
 OUR PINE RESOURCES. 
 
 BY F. H. WILLIAMS. 
 
 In a previous paper, we adverted to the paramount importance, 
 and apparent necessity, of the presence of good lumber in our 
 buildings, and to the essential part it sustains in the practical 
 workings of architecture. At the same time, allusion was made 
 to the waste of that most important of all our woods, White Pine. 
 
 Now, it happens, that many persons regard those, who are fear- 
 ful of the extinction of the commodity, as, what they are pleased 
 term, " Croakers ;" and believe, that it is mere " Old Fogyism" to 
 entertain any such doubts and misgivings. 
 
 The silly term "inexhaustible" has been so often carelessly and 
 thoughtlessly applied that we have, in a measure, become accus- 
 tomed to its sound; and, as a consequence, have learned to regard 
 it, as we do any common-place adjective used to designate a 
 degree of quantity or quality, and one whose presence gives no 
 particular force to the sentence in which it occurs. 
 
 This bad habit of using superlative adjectives is a growing evil ; 
 and in no instance is its pernicious influence more prominently 
 demonstrated than in its application to the vastness of our natural 
 national resources. 
 
 On the lips of the majority of persons it is quite as natural to 
 speak of our " inexhaustible mines," or our "inexhaustible for- 
 ests," as it is to mention the most every-day circumstance, or 
 assert the most trite fact. 
 
 The term can certainly never be correctly applied to any thing 
 human or mundane. There is no one thing, or series of things, in 
 this world, that will never become exhausted ; nor is it right that 
 there should be. All-wise Providence has placed us here to work 
 out — not waste — the resources, which He has placed at our com- 
 mand ; and while He has shown us, by His own example, that we 
 
60 The Robhins Process. 
 
 are to let "nothing be lost," our own past experience has proved 
 that natural productions, which we had regarded as indispensable, 
 have given out ; and we have been compelled to apply other sub- 
 stances to those purposes, for which we thought nothing but the 
 exhausted production adapted. 
 
 Our timber, which is regarded as unlimited in supply, is so per- 
 ceptibly decreasing, and facts point so strongly toward its exhaus- 
 tion, that it is at last beginning to excite some attention ; and a 
 number of arguments pro and con have made their appearance. 
 
 We have no right to presume that Providence is going to raise 
 up a new commodity for us to take the place of timber, when our 
 own prodigality shall have rendered it extinct. It is our duty to 
 use our means economically, and to foster our resources ; and, to 
 that end, we should take active and immediate measures to insure 
 the preservation and replenishment of our forests. 
 
 It is true that the mere saying and advising will accomplish 
 nothing; but we think that a few figures and statistics, which tell 
 "the plain, unvarnished truth," and into which no spirit of hyper- 
 bole enters, may not be amiss. 
 
 The great West, with its millions of acres of forest lands, stretch- 
 ing its vast expanse from the coast of Lake Michigan, and the west- 
 ern bounds of Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, far out toward 
 the setting sun, presents quite as great a field for wonder and admi- 
 ration as do the more eastern portions of our country, with their 
 hundreds of thousands of factories and workshops, and their busy 
 millions of human beings. 
 
 Some years ago it was said by a writer of much discrimination : 
 " America is one vast forest, diversified occasionally by cultivated 
 intervals;" showing how, at that time, to one whose observation 
 was general, the cultivated and manufacturing portions of the 
 country appeared as the exception to the rule — the patches which 
 an increasing population had cut out of the main field, and not the 
 field itself. 
 
 But how greatly have circumstances, occurring since the utter- 
 ance of the above assertion, tended to modify it. It undoubtedly 
 applies with great force to a large proportion of our area ; but, if 
 
Our Pine Resources. 61 
 
 taken literally, as applied to our present condition, it is calculated 
 to mislead many with regard to the greatness of our timber lands. 
 
 It is true, moreover, that notwithstanding our enormous resources 
 in this respect, there is an absolute necessity that we should foster 
 and protect our timber. Without going into any calculation, it 
 may be safe to say that more lumber has been cut within the past 
 fifteen years than during the previous half century ; and that more 
 will be cut in the next five years than in the past fifteen. An 
 acceptance of these hypotheses forces the conviction upon our 
 minds that, though our resources were trebled, we could not afford 
 to be extravagant in the face of the rapidly augmenting number 
 of immigrants, who must find themselves homes in the great "West, 
 and of the large annual percentages of increase in our native pop- 
 ulation. 
 
 A writer upon this subject in 1862, endeavored to give his readers 
 an idea of the consumption of lumber by showing that " it requires 
 some thirty acres of good ship-timber to build a common-sized steam- 
 boat on our lakes." He makes further calculations, demonstrating 
 the fact that, at the present rates of increase, it would require but 
 thirty years for the Chicago market alone to exhaust all the pine 
 lands of Michigan, the greatest pine producing State in the Union. 
 
 Says that vigorous writer, James Parton, in his description of 
 Chicago : 
 
 " There is one commodity in which Chicago deals that makes 
 a show proportioned to its importance. Six hundred and fourteen 
 millions of feet of timber, equal to about fifty millions of ordinary 
 pine boards, which Chicago sold last year (1866), can not be hidden 
 in a corner. 
 
 " The prairies, to which nature has been so variously bountiful, 
 do lack this first necessity of the settler; and it is Chicago that 
 sends up the lake for it and supplies it to the prairies. 
 
 "Miles of timber yards extend along one of the forks of the 
 river, and the harbor is choked with arriving timber vessels; tim- 
 ber trains shoot over the prairies in every direction. To econo- 
 mise transportation they are now beginning to despatch timber in 
 the form of ready-made houses. There is a firm in Chicago which 
 
6% The Bobbins Process. 
 
 is happy to furnish cottages and villas, school-houses, stores, tav- 
 erns, churches, court-houses or towns — wholesale or retail— and to 
 forward them, securely packed, to any part of the country. 
 
 " No doubt we shall soon have the exhilaration of reading adver- 
 tisements of the town -makers to the effect that orders for the small- 
 est villages will be thankfully received ; country towns made to 
 order; a metropolis furnished with punctuality and despatch; any 
 town on our list sent, carriage paid, on receipt of price ; rows of 
 cottages always on hand ; churches in every style. 
 
 " N". B. — Clergymen and others are requested to call before pur- 
 chasing elsewhere." 
 
 This quotation is merely by the way, however, as it is rather a 
 laudation of Chicago enterprise than a proof of our assertions. 
 
 As has been already said, the State of Michigan is by far the 
 greatest pine-growing and lumber-manufacturing State in the 
 Union. 
 
 It contains 56,243 square miles, or 35,995,520 acres, which is 
 indeed a large area, although it must be borne in mind that it is 
 by no means all lumber-producing. The population is, as yet, 
 sparsely scattered over the country ; but that it is showing a con- 
 siderable annual percentage of increase may be seen by the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 Population in 1830 30,000 
 
 » " 1840 212,000 
 
 « « 1850..... 398.000 
 
 « " 1860 749,000 
 
 Taking the last ten years as a basis, we find the ratio to be 88 
 per cent., which would give us about 1,400,000 as the population of 
 the State in 1870. 
 
 Thus much for the population ; we may have occasion to refer 
 again to it ; but in the meanwhile will take a glance at the timber 
 product. 
 
 In the Saginaw Yalley, the great manufacturing district of the 
 State, during 1867, upwards of 420,000,000 feet were manufactured 
 by all the mills there situated, 82 in number. 
 
Our Pine Resources. 63 
 
 By reference to the trade of this flourishing region for that year, 
 we arrive at the following result : 
 
 .Number of mills, 82. 
 
 Saws, 183. 
 
 Capacity of mills, 826,209,099 feet. 
 
 Capital invested, $3,428,500. 
 
 Lumber manufactured, 423,963,190 feet. 
 
 Logs in boom, 17,304,605 feet. 
 
 Men employed, 2,402. 
 
 Lath manufactured, 63,870,875 pieces. 
 
 During the same year, 115,293,000 shingles were manufactured 
 in Saginaw Yalley and on the Bay Shore, of which 105,983,275 
 were shipped to various points, Bast and West, the balance being 
 held over till 1868. At the close of the season of 1866 there 
 remained, on the various docks upon the Saginaw river, upwards 
 of 44,000,000 feet. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that much less snow fell than usual 
 during the following winter, and that the facilities afforded the 
 lumbermen were, in consequence, much abridged, a large amount 
 of logs was lumbered, as may be seen by reference to the state- 
 ment already given. 
 
 In or about the year 1836, the first lumber was shipped from the 
 Saginaw district — : only two cargoes during the season. 
 
 By 1857 (21 years), the annual product had reached 125,000,000 
 feet. In 1867 (10 years more), it was fully four times that 
 amount, or 500,000,000 feet, being worth, at a low valuation, 
 $7,500,000. 
 
 Of Pine lumber there were cut on the river and tributaries : 
 
 In 1863 133,500,000 feet. 
 
 In 1864 215,000.000 " 
 
 In 1865 250,639,340 » 
 
 In 1866 349,767,884 » 
 
 In 1867 423,963,190 " 
 
 Thus it appears that the amount cut on the Saginaw has in- 
 creased 220 per cent, in five years, or an average of 44 per cent, 
 per annum. At the same ratio, this district will cut about two 
 billions of feet ten years hence. 
 
64 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 We might look further, and (taking it for granted that the 
 supply would not give out before that time) contemplate the 
 product by the beginning of the next century. If any reader is 
 sufficiently interested to make the calculation for himself, he can 
 easily do so ; he will then find himself encountered by such a 
 battalion of numerals as will puzzle him to give oral expression to. 
 
 We believe, however, that ten years are enough to prove our 
 position ; and that no thinking man can fail to recognize, in these 
 figures, the fact that we are rapidly using up our supply of Pine 
 without any proportionate replenishment. 
 
 It may be objected that these are but the statistics of a single 
 district. In answer to such suggestions, we append a table of the 
 estimated production of the entire State for 1867 : 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Saginaw 423,963,190 
 
 Bay Shore 84,995,772 
 
 Genesee County 68,000,000 
 
 Detroit 39,026,460 
 
 Tuscola County 5,800,000 
 
 Port Huron 30,000,000 
 
 Huron 33,850,500 
 
 Marine City 5,215,000 
 
 Lapeer County 16,500,000 
 
 Gratiot County 11,500,000 
 
 Sanilac County. 8,750,000 
 
 Muskegon 205,278,000 
 
 White Biver 80,000,000 
 
 Ministee 110,400,000 
 
 Grand Traverse 24,000,000 
 
 Pere Marquette 46,000,000 
 
 Western Slope 185,000,000 
 
 1,378,278,922 
 Which, at an average of f>15 per thousand feet, is worth $20,674,- 
 183.83. 
 
 The total amount of laths manufactured is 284,646,200 pieces ; 
 shingles, 368,420,000. 
 
 Here, then, we see over thirteen hundred millions of feet of 
 lumber, as the production of one State, for a single year ; being, 
 if we exclude Sundays, upward of four million, one hundred and 
 fifty thousand per day; or, allowing ten hours as a day's work, 
 over four hundred and fifteen thousand feet per hour. 
 
Our Pine Resources. 65 
 
 ISTow, there are 91 townships lying tributary to the Saginaw 
 river, which contain pine timber, and these 91 embrace pretty 
 much all the lumber that can be produced in the greatest pine 
 portions of the State. Ninety-one townships are divided into 
 3,276 sections, or 26,208 lots. Experience proves that you can not 
 calculate more than 200,000 feet on a lot, and this will allow for 
 all growths of timber, without any deductions made for fire, or 
 other causes. This calculation gives us five billions two hundred 
 and forty-one millions six hundred thousand feet, which it would 
 take seventeen years and a fraction to cut, at the rate of three 
 hundred millions per annum. 
 
 But we have already shown that in 1867 there were nearly four 
 hundred and twenty-four millions cut, which shows very clearly 
 that — even though we make no account of the usual percentage 
 of increase — all the pine resources must be exhausted before the 
 seventeen years shall have elapsed. 
 
 Probably the most abundantly supplied of all the districts 
 in the State is the Alpena district, including Devil river. The 
 estimated stock of timber, on the ground, is 2,880,000,000 feet, a 
 supply for over twenty-eight years, at the rate of 100,000,000 per 
 year. 
 
 Many other districts have not over five or six years' supply, at 
 the present rate of consumption. 
 
 There are, doubtless, many people who will say that Michigan 
 is not the United States; and that, therefore, our arguments prove 
 but little. 
 
 To such persons we would reply, that our pine resources with- 
 out Michigan would be very much like "the play of Hamlet with- 
 out the Prince." 
 
 Immense quantities of timber are growing in other States with- 
 out doubt, but their supply is used up in the same proportion. 
 Indiana, which not long ago was thought to contain an "inex- 
 haustible" supply of black walnut, will soon be obliged to import 
 it for her own use if she wants it. 
 
 So with adjoining States. Our prairies, certainly, are not 
 blessed with a soil so fertile as to give us much hope from them 
 9 
 
66 The Robbins Process. 
 
 and so we discover, after all, that notwithstanding our enormous 
 area, we are likely to be sorely puzzled, ere long, for a supply of 
 lumber. 
 
 Surely the statistics above given furnish food for serious re- 
 flection, inasmuch as they demonstrate certain facts of grave 
 importance, and induce some very pertinent suggestions. They 
 demonstrate : 
 
 1st. That the commodity of pine lumber is one of great com- 
 parative value, not only on account of its adaptation to uses so 
 innumerable, but as an article of commerce, by whose production, 
 shipment, and sale, so many thousands of our countrymen find an 
 honorable livelihood. 
 
 2d. That the demand is increasing in a greater degree than is 
 the population. 
 
 3d. That the acres of new growth are totally disproportioned to 
 those annually cleared of their timber. 
 
 They induce the following suggestive queries : 
 
 1st. If we wish to continue the manufacture and sale of lumber 
 does it not behoove us to give our attention to the increased pro- 
 duction of pine forests, and to endeavor to render them somewhat 
 adequate to the demand ? 
 
 2d. If the relative increase in demand and population continues 
 to differ more widely, how long will our present and prospective 
 stock of growing timber last ? 
 
 3d. If the time arrives when our timber is exhausted, where 
 shall we go to find a commodity to take its place? 
 
 These questions, often asked, still await a satisfactory response. 
 — The Architectural Review and American Builders' 1 Journal, Phila., 
 February, 1869. 
 
Wood Pavements. 67 
 
 WOOD PAVEMENTS. 
 
 The part borne by wood in the general uses of building must 
 become less and less with the solid growth of a city, while, as 
 regards its specific uses, they will, little by little, diminish, in the 
 utilization of other methods. The city of wood must become the 
 city of brick, whether or not it shall undergo the supreme transfor- 
 mation into one of marble. The utilization of wood in Chicago is 
 as much a part of the true history of the city as its commercial 
 situation among the building commonwealth, its unsurpassed sys- 
 tem of railroads, and its lake marine. "Without this cheap build- 
 ing material Chicago could not have been what she is; at once and 
 so soon the home of commerce and the city of homes. 
 
 The part played in metropolitan growth by streets is no mean 
 one; and certainly the general commercial growth of the city 
 would have been seriously impeded, if not in large jDart prevented, 
 had no adequate (if temporary) and abundant substitute for stone 
 and iron be found. But if wood has been indispensable here also, 
 equally certain is it that it must be here soonest dispensed with. 
 The supply of pine is limited to a calculable number of years, 
 which will doubtless be considerably diminished by the demands 
 of the prairie region, whose habitable bounds multiplying and 
 extending railroads are constantly enlarging. 
 
 In view of these facts, and of the still "fixed fact" that the city 
 is now no better off as regards a substitute for wood than at the 
 first, the question of wooden pavements reduces simply to the dis- 
 covery of such modes of laying and preservation as shall most 
 reduce the first cost, and longest postpone the date of relaying. 
 
 In the most important matter — the dictate of common prudence, 
 not to say common sense — our municipal government have been 
 especially at fault. So far as their action is concerned, it might 
 be supposed that but one kind of wooden pavement has been 
 
68 The Rohbins Process. 
 
 invented ; and even this they have rendered next to useless by a 
 change in the mode of laying, devised not to secure greater econ- 
 omy and durability, but to cheat the inventor and patentee out of 
 the royalty legally due him. 
 
 To those who derive their ideas of a wooden pavement from the 
 specimens of the city's Nicolson laid in our principal streets, it will 
 seem quite incredible that there are at least half a dozen other 
 devices. Moreover these do not ask patronage of the city. They 
 only ask the privilege of being tried alongside the Nicolson, or 
 under similar conditions. It is claimed for these that they cost no 
 more, while they are far more endurable, less likely to get out of 
 repair, and can more readily be taken up and replaced (and in 
 smaller portions) when it needs repairing, or the water and gas 
 pipes below demand attention. 
 
 And the city possesses every facility, as it present every occa- 
 sion for experiment. Late last fall, the common council confirmed 
 assessment rolls for the paving with "wooden block pavement," of 
 portions of more than twenty streets, for an aggregate length of 
 twenty-five miles, and at an expense of $2,000,000. The ordi- 
 nance did not, in effect or intent, bind the city to the ISTicolson. 
 At the same time the inventors urged the authorities, at no addi- 
 tional expense to the city, to grant a fair field to those asking no 
 favor. Are the members of 1 the council infallible, and is their 
 authority supreme and unquestioned, that their mode of expendi- 
 ture of millions is prima facie preferable to others (asking only to 
 be tried) which claim a saving of hundreds of thousands, and a 
 better result in the end ? 
 
 The question is in no sense one of opinion ; it simply involves 
 a matter of fact. Wooden pavements are needed. Here are 
 several wooden pavements asking to be tried. What is their rel- 
 ative cost? The field of experiment is open; all they ask is exper- 
 iment; the people, who are to foot the bills, are willing, and more 
 than willing, that the experiment be made. 
 
 Nay, they demand it ; for the Nicolson, or at least the city's 
 Nicolson, is indisputably a failure. The causes of the failure are 
 as palpable as is the fact notorious. 
 
Wood Pavements. 69 
 
 In the Nicolson proper, the blocks, six inches high, are laid in 
 rows on a foundation of inch boards ; a strip of board about two 
 inches wide is placed on edge between the rows ; and the space 
 is filled to the surface with gravel, tar poured in to fill the inter- 
 stices, and force employed to compact the filling to an impervious 
 mass. We see no reason — if the foundation being properly pre- 
 pared, and especially if the foundation boards and blocks them- 
 selves are subjected to some simple process of preservation — why 
 this mode should not be as efficient, and prove as economical, as 
 any other mode of wooden pavement. 
 
 But in the city's Nicolson, devised to cheat, or spite, the inventor, 
 the entire process is changed. The strips are omitted, and the space 
 between the blocks filled with gravel from the foundation board to 
 the surface. In some cases the foundation is "improved" by being 
 made of two thicknesses of boards, the upper laid at right angles 
 to the lower. Now, among new devices is one which discards 
 foundation boards altogether, the theory being that for pavements 
 — as experience has proved for permanent way of railroads — there 
 is no foundation so good as an earth foundation. You must come 
 to this at last; for, in any event, the board foundation must dete- 
 riorate more rapidly than the blocks which it supports. But, found- 
 ation boards being used, Mr. Nicolson's device is, as results here 
 teach, superior to the city's boasted improvement. Mr. Nicolson 
 always insisted on his mode of laying as imperative. He laid as 
 much stress on the earth bed as on the board foundation, the 
 strips, and the tar and gravel. His course is so far vindicated as 
 this : that if we have any block pavement which in any degree 
 exhibits the qualities of a good road-bed, it is the Nicolson. The 
 only departure from this process is in the city's Nicolson, so called ; 
 and, in this, the farther the original process has been departed 
 from, the nearer the pavement comes to being a failure. Indeed, 
 the recent specimens of it are more and more failures. Each has 
 been worse than its predecessor ; and now we are threatened with 
 twenty -five miles more, which will, there is every reason to antic- 
 ipate, prove the worst of all. There is not a street among those 
 recently laid which does not need relaying. The most glaring 
 instances of failure are found in North Clark and West Side 
 
70 The Robhins Process. 
 
 streets, particularly Eandolph and Madison. You can not go a 
 block without encountering a score of depressions, which render 
 decent driving impossible, and defeat the whole boasted Nicolson 
 theory of drainage. On North Clark, period a year and a half 
 ago, the defects were so numerous and so great as to necessitate 
 the relaying of large portions a year ago. In regard to the West 
 Side streets, the necessity of relaying is scarcely less imperative 
 than was that of laying some kind of good pavement originally. 
 The middle of the street is bad enough, but the sides are worse. 
 The surface on both sides is a continuous series of depressions in 
 which the water stands until it finds its way between the blocks. 
 This it readily does in the absence of Mr. JSTicolson's strips, and 
 by reason of the loose packing of the filling, the gravel of which 
 makes its way between the blocks and foundation boards; the 
 settling of the boards at one spot brings a leverage to bear on the 
 whole area, as is proved by the numerous fissures which surround 
 the depressions, the blocks being pried up with fissures between, 
 through which the water finds its way. In this way are produced 
 the shiftings and displacements which are so common. In the 
 case of the double board foundation these difficulties are only 
 aggravated. The water is arrested, thereby facilitating the 
 derangements of which we have spoken, and causing both board 
 and block to begin rotting in a very short time. 
 
 The theory of the Nieolson is, that the earth bed be made as 
 nearly as possible of homogeneous material, thoroughly com- 
 pacted, having a surface layer of sand; and that on this substan- 
 tial bed a pavement be made, impervious to suction, the use of 
 the strips nailed to block and foundation, making the whole a 
 compact floor, subject neither to depressions nor displacements, 
 wearing till the blocks are consumed by natural wear. 
 
 On any other theory than this the wooden pavement would 
 never have been introduced, and. should not be perpetuated. If 
 the JSTicolson is really capable of being thus perfected, there is no 
 necessity to go farther; if not, let any other be tried which offers 
 a reasonable chance of success. Should it not be in the nature of 
 wooden pavements to compass these indispensable ends, let them 
 be abandoned, and the sooner the better. — The American Builder 
 and Journal of Art, Chicago, May, 1869. 
 
Wood Pavements in Toledo, Ohio. 71 
 
 WOOD PAVEMENTS IN" TOLEDO, OHIO. 
 
 The following interesting report of the City Engineer of the 
 city of Toledo, Ohio, has been kindly furnished by that gentle- 
 man. The facts it supplies are of great importance in making 
 up an estimate of the economical value of wood pavements, as 
 laid down by Nicolson, without treating the wood by a pre- 
 servative process: 
 
 To the Honorable City Council of Toledo — 
 
 Gentlemen: The undersigned, to whom the examination of the 
 Nicolson pavement was referred, would respectfully report that 
 they have caused blocks to be taken up from the following streets, 
 viz : Madison, Bridge, Ottawa, Summit, St. Clair, Superior, and 
 Washington streets. 
 
 In Bridge street, which has been paved five years, we judge 
 about twenty per cent, of the blocks were more or less decayed, 
 and many of them quite rotten. From present indications, it will 
 require repaving during this or the coming season, at farthest. 
 Madison street was paved in 1864, between Summit and Superior 
 streets. In this street we estimate that in from ten to fifteen per 
 cent, of the central portion of the street, the blocks are in the con- 
 dition above described. 
 
 Ottawa street, it is believed, was paved in 1865, and shows about 
 the same percentage of decayed blocks in the central portion of 
 the street, as was found in Madison street. 
 
 St. Clair street, it is understood, was paved in 1865. We esti- 
 mate about ten per cent, of decayed, or partially decayed blocks, 
 were found. 
 
 Summit street was, it is believed, paved in 1866-67. It was not 
 difficult to find blocks that were quite rotten in this pavement, per- 
 haps not exceeding two and a half per cent., in a decayed condi- 
 
72 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 tion. Eotten or decayed blocks were also found, both in Superior 
 and Washington streets. From general observations of Nicolson 
 pavements, both in this city and Chicago, it is believed that during 
 the first four years service, the small portion of decayed blocks 
 will not materially affect the surface of the street or pavement. 
 The next two years it will become quite rough and uneven, from 
 the blocks that will have become rotten, and longer unable to sus- 
 tain the pressure of the traffic, and that unless a pretty thorough 
 system of repairs is adopted, it is believed that it will entirely fail 
 within the next three succeeding years, depending somewhat upon 
 the amount of traffic over the street ; the greater the traffic, the 
 sooner the pavement will fail. We regret that we are compelled 
 to make a report so unfavorable in regard to the durability of this 
 kind of pavement from unprepared blocks, and in this age of pro- 
 gress can not but hope there ia. or may hereafter be, some process 
 to which the blocks may be submitted, without materially increas- 
 ing the cost, that will make them far more durable and indestruc- 
 tible; but until such is the case, we can not urge the further use 
 of block pavement in our streets. 
 
 Eespectfully submitted. 
 
 CALYIN CEANE, 
 
 City Engineer. 
 JOHN P FEEEMAN, 
 
 Acting Commissioner. 
 
Wood Pavements in Philadelphia. 73 
 
 WOOD PAVEMENTS IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Extract from Report of Special Committee to the Select and Com- 
 mon Councils of the City of Philadelphia, on the Subject of Wood 
 Pavements and the Bobbins Process. 
 
 Committee Eoom, 
 
 December 14, 1868. 
 To the Select and Common Councils 
 
 of the City of Philadelphia. 
 
 Gentlemen: Your Special Committee appointed to examine the 
 Stafford Pavement, as requested by the patentee and others inter- 
 ested with him in its introduction, having attended to the duties 
 entrusted to them, now submit their report ; and would state, that 
 for the purpose of obtaining the assistance of practical experience, 
 they invited the Chief Engineer and Surveyor and the Chief Com- 
 missioner of Highways to accompany them upon their visit to 
 Boston, where it was stated this pavement had been laid, and was 
 in successful operation. * * * * * * 
 
 One point which attracted their especial attention was, that the 
 timber of which it was composed, had been subjected to a chemical 
 treatment known as the "Kobbins Process," by which it is said its 
 durability is greatly enhanced; and for the purpose of examining 
 that point, our visit was extended to Concord, N. H., where we 
 witnessed the operation of subjecting the timber to the oleaginous 
 vapors and other distillations of coal tar. 
 
 We found the apparatus consisted of a wrought-iron air-tight 
 chamber about seven feet high and wide, with a length of about 
 twenty -five or thirty feet, connected by iron pipes, with two retorts 
 placed upon a furnace in the rear. The timber to be treated is 
 placed in this chamber, which is hermetically closed, when the 
 retorts, being supplied with coal tar, are subjected to the furnace 
 10 
 
74 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 heat. The object then is to impregnate this timber with the 
 vapors and heavier oils which are driven off from the coal tar at 
 the different degrees of heat applied, and envelop the timber in 
 the chamber until it is capable of resisting the absorption of 
 moisture, or the action of the atmosphere; that such is the result 
 attained, was shown by many specimens of treated wood submit- 
 ted for our examination; and such being the result, there can be 
 no doubt as to the comparatively imperishable characteristic it 
 gives to the material treated. 
 
 The principal difference between this plan of increasing the 
 durability of wood, and others with which some of your Commit- 
 tee are familiar, is, that in this, the "Bobbins Process," the wood 
 is subjected to the vapors of coal tar; while in the others it is treat- 
 ed with the same substance in a liquid state. 
 
 As the action of vaporized coal tar upon wood, or rather upon its 
 albumen and sap, has been fully and scientifically discussed by some 
 of the leading chemists of the day, proving that this "Bobbins Pro- 
 cess" is in strict conformity with scientific and chemical princi- 
 ples, it is needless for us to extend our remarks, but will state that 
 the conclusion to which your Committee has arrived is, that the 
 value of this process, as applicable to wooden pavements, appears 
 to be such as to fully warrant a trial of its effect and durability, 
 and respectfully suggest that, as an experiment, it may be applied 
 to a portion of the first ISTicolson pavement that may be ordered. 
 
 >(c %. ^ % $z ^: 
 
 Sam'l W. Cattell, Ch'n, S. G-. King, 
 
 John J. Kersey, Daniel P. Bat, 
 
 A. M. Fox, Jabez Gates, 
 
 James F. Dillon. 
 
Preservation of Timber. 75 
 
 THE PRESERVATION OF TIMBER. 
 
 A very interesting paper on the above subject was read before 
 the Philosophical Society, Glasgow, February 1, by Mr. P. M. 
 Moir, which has been published in some of the English papers. 
 Mr. Moir said that for the preservation of wood by means of 
 chemical preparations, although many patents had been taken 
 out, not more than six had worked commercially. In all cases 
 these patents were obtained for the use of solutions of certain 
 chemical compounds as preservative agents. The names of the 
 patentees and the most valuable compounds employed were shown 
 in the following table : 
 
 Kyan 1832 Chloride of mercury. 
 
 Margary 1837 Sulphate of copper. 
 
 Bethell 18381 n . ., , ' ., 
 
 " 1 84R l Creosote or pitch oil. 
 
 Burnett 1838 ) „, , . , „ . 
 " 1840 f Chloride of zinc. 
 
 Boucherie 1839 Pyrolignite of iron. 
 
 " 1846 Sulphate of copper. 
 
 Payne 1841 Sulphate of iron. 
 
 " 1846 Carbonate of soda. 
 
 The methods employed practically in working these patents 
 were three in number, namely, steeping, vital suction, and press- 
 ing .in close vessels. Kyan and Margary employed the first men- 
 tioned method; Boucherie employed the second; and Payne, Bur- 
 nett and Bethell employed the third, which was also latterly 
 adopted by Boucherie. The first and third methods required that 
 the timber should be seasoned and free from sap. 
 
 The author described each patented process at some length, 
 mentioning how it is carried out, the advantages and disadvan- 
 tages in each case, and the conditions under which it has any 
 
76 The Robhins Process. 
 
 practical benefit. In no case did the evidence, regarding the value 
 of the process, seem to equal that in favor of the creosoting process 
 patented by Bethell ; at all events, if the timber is to be exposed 
 to the weather, or to be used in structural works which are sub- 
 jected to the action of fresh or salt water. 
 
 Kyanizing, or injecting corrosive sublimate (chloride of mer- 
 cury) into timber, is very expensive if properly done ; and 
 besides this, there is the fact that it is practically useless, inas- 
 much as it has been found that Kyanized piles, after three years 
 immersion in the sea, did not contain a trace of the preservative 
 compound. 
 
 Sulphate of copper, first suggested as a preservative agent by 
 Margary, and afterward employed largely by Boucherie, may be 
 used to prevent dry rot in timber ; but for piers, bridges, railway 
 sleepers and other structures which are exposed to the action of 
 water, it has no practical value, as the water dissolves out the 
 salt with great rapidity. Timber prepared with this salt, and 
 used for marine purposes, is as readily destroyed by the teredo 
 and the limnoria as unprepared timber. 
 
 In Payne's process a solution of sulphate of iron is first absorbed 
 into the wood, and afterward carbonate of soda. Double decom- 
 position ensues, and the practical result is the formation of oxide 
 of iron, the deposition of which renders wood brittle and does not 
 prevent the attacks of either of the animals just named. 
 
 Of Sir William Burnett's chloride of zinc process the author 
 could say nothing from personal experience. The essential part 
 of the chemical action of the compound is the formation of an 
 insoluble coagulum with the albumen of the wood. It is claimed 
 for the Burnett process that it renders wood proof against the 
 attacks of the white ants in India, and wood for in-door purposes 
 is permanently improved by it. 
 
 Bethell's patent process for preserving timber, by the use of 
 creosote or pitch oil, is the only one which really accomplishes 
 the object aimed at, although many patents for the use of oleagin- 
 ous substances had been secured prior to the year 1838, with the 
 same object in view. Creosote acts very powerfully in coagulat- 
 
Preservation of Timber. 77 
 
 ing the albumen contained in the cells of the wood, and besides 
 this it effectually preserves the fibre of the timber, and hence its 
 value over all other so-called preservative agents. 
 
 The apparatus required in the creosoting process consists of an 
 injecting cylinder, generally about 6 ft. in diameter, and varying 
 30 ft. to 70 ft. long, together with exhaust and pressure pumps, an 
 oil tank, and the requisite piping connections. It is not unusual 
 to have both ends of the cylinders open, so that the timber may 
 be entered at one end and removed at the other with the greatest 
 facility, and to have them fitted with air-tight iron doors, which 
 are removable at pleasure. When the cylinder is charged with 
 timber, and the door or doors properly secured, the air is extract- 
 ed by the air pump, both from the interior of the cylinder and 
 the pores in the wood. A vacuum being produced in the cylin- 
 der, the oil, which has been heated in the tank by steam pipes to 
 a temperature of about 120 deg. Fah., is allowed to rush in, and 
 when the cylinder is full the inlet pipe is shut, and the pressure 
 pumps are started to force the oil into the wood, the pressure 
 being maintained at from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. to the square inch, 
 until the wood has absorbed the required quantity of oil, which is 
 learned by reference to an index gauge. For land purposes the 
 amount of oil recommended is 8 lbs. to the cubic foot of wood, and 
 for marine purposes from 10 lbs. to 12 lbs. per cubic foot. In France, 
 Belgium and Holland, the quantity used varies from 16 lbs. to 26 lbs. 
 per cubic foot when the timber is intended for marine works. 
 Beech wood has absorbed as much as 31 lbs. of oil per cubic foot, 
 and when used for railway platforms or harbor works, it is 
 doubtless the cheapest and most endurable material that can be 
 used. 
 
 Creosote (or pitch oil, as it is more commonly called in Scot- 
 land) is obtained in the distillization of coal tar, the other ingredi- 
 ents being ammoniacal liquor, crude naphtha, and the residual 
 pitch. The coal tar of Scotch gasworks generally yields about 25 
 per cent, of oil, which distills over at temperatures ranging from 
 400 deg. to 700 deg. Fah.; in England, however, the amount is only 
 about 20 per cent. The author estimates the annual yield of pitch 
 
78 The Bobbins Process. 
 
 oil in Scotland at one million gallons, almost the whole of which 
 is used for creosoting purposes. It is probable that creosote owes 
 its valuable antiseptic property to the presence in it of from 5 to 
 14 per cent, of crude carbolic acid, but which could not be used by 
 itself for out-door purposes, as it is slightly soluble in water. — The 
 American Builder and Journal of Art, Chicago, May, 1866. 
 
Severe Tests hy a Boston Committee. 79 
 
 SEVERE TESTS BY A BOSTON" COMMITTEE. 
 
 At a meeting of the Stockholders of the Massachusetts 
 Wood Preserving Company, held in Boston on the 23d of 
 November last, a committee, consisting of J. F. Paul, Thomas 
 E. Chickering, and C. P. Kimball, was appointed to test the 
 Robbins Process of seasoning and preserving wood, with 
 instructions to select such samples as, in their judgment, 
 would, at a single trial, most thoroughly exhibit the exact 
 capabilities of the process. This committee, having attended 
 to the duty, beg leave to submit the results of their investiga- 
 tions in the following 
 
 BBPOET. 
 
 The committee invited stockholders and others to send in arti- 
 cles which would give the process a thorough trial and test its 
 value to the utmost. They gave their personal attention to the 
 preparation of the articles, which were as follows : A bucket made 
 from green wood, a keg, a wheel manufactured entirely from green 
 wood, which was completely finished and ironed; doors, hubs, 
 ovals, gun stocks, veneered stock, wood in various shapes, to ascer- 
 tain its shrinking qualities, and various kinds of plain wood, to 
 detect, if possible, the relative strength of wood subjected to this 
 process with unprepared wood of the same quality. Most of these 
 articles were of green stock, worked the same day it was cut. 
 * ^ >K ^ * *. % %. ^c^s 
 
 At 9.50 the chamber was opened to allow the committee to wit- 
 ness the effect produced upon the wood by being subjected to the 
 process only twenty minutes. The sight was a novel one, and 
 without precedent in the experience of your committee. The sap 
 was running from every grain of the wood, showing how rapidly 
 
80 The Rohhins Process. 
 
 this new method commences the process which not only seasons 
 the stock, but imparts to it both strength and durability, without 
 injury to the texture of the wood, or detriment to its adaptability 
 to any mechanical purpose. 
 
 At 11 o'clock, a piece of canvas and a piece of manilla rope were 
 taken out by Mr. Bobbins, who decided they had been in a suffi- 
 cient length of time. They were found to be perfectly saturated 
 with oil. The rope had the appearance of having been slightly 
 tarred. The sap of the wood at this hour had entirely ceased to 
 flow. At 11J o'clock, a piece of raw hide was placed in the cham- 
 ber, in order to test the effect of the process upon this description 
 of material. 
 
 On Friday, the 13th inst., they received the articles, which, hav- 
 ing been on the way four days, were in a frozen and frosty condi- 
 tion. They had been repacked in the same wet sawdust. Your 
 committee found everything apparently well treated ; they meas- 
 ured all pieces and found no perceptible change on account of 
 shrinkage, and only a slight deviation in weight, and that attrib- 
 utable to the difference between the sap and water ejected from 
 the wood and the oil which remained. They found all the articles 
 as free from checks or splits as when put into the chamber. Some 
 of the pieces which had been treated were cut in the center and 
 placed in a call-box for seasoning and remained over night. When 
 taken out the next morning, some slight checks were perceptible in 
 the newly-cut ends ; but upon placing the two ends together, not 
 the least shrinkage was discovered; a result which could not have 
 been obtained by the similar treatment of green wood. The two 
 wheel-hubs turned from one piece of green wood were compared. 
 One was hung up in the shop exposed to the atmosphere ; the 
 other was soaked in water till placed in the chamber. A week 
 after, the hub which had been treated remained the same as when 
 turned and entirely free from checks, while the other split and 
 shrank one-half an inch around it, and in size one-quarter of an 
 inch. 
 
 One piece of green wood, veneered on both sides, was furnished 
 by Messrs. Willard Everett & Co. This was placed in the cham- 
 
Severe Tests by a Boston Committee. 81 
 
 ber, with the expectation that the veneers would drop off; but it 
 came out perfect, the veneers tightly adhering to the wood which 
 had been seasoned, thus conclusively showing to the minds of your 
 committee that no perceptible shrinkage takes place by this pro- 
 cess of seasoning, or otherwise the veneers would have indicated 
 it. Pieces of plank two feet six inches long and twelve inches 
 wide, having two round holes eight inches in diameter sawed out' 
 showed no shrinkage ; for the holes were precisely round and no 
 checking could be seen, when cut directly across the grain. Three 
 doors made from green oak, walnut and pine, exhibited no shrink- 
 age, and came out as perfect as when first made. Two doors, one 
 of which had been treated by this new process, and one which had 
 not, were placed in a heater, which was heated to a temperature of 
 at least 140 degrees. The one which had been treated came out 
 covered with a thick coating of oil, while the other was nearly 
 destroyed, cracking and checking badly. The wheel made of 
 green stock came from the chamber in perfect condition, the iron 
 bands and tire remaining firm. Ovals which were treated from 
 green wood were placed in a dry box and turned. The wood 
 (walnut) worked much easier and turned much smoother, while 
 duplicates cut from the same plank checked so badly by being- 
 placed in the dry box, as to be perfectly useless. In fact, all the 
 articles could be spoken of in detail, showing equally satisfactory 
 results. 
 
 A fear was expressed by one member of your committee, in 
 which many participated, that wood treated with oil could not be 
 glued so as to hold. The severest test was applied to a piece of 
 pine seven-eighths inches square, which came from the chamber 
 and was thoroughly saturated. The piece was cut across the grain 
 (one of the most difficult ways to glue) and put together again in 
 the ordinary way. When the hand-screw was taken off, it was as 
 strong in that part as in any part of the stick. Your committee 
 are, therefore, satisfied that glue will hold as well upon wood 
 treated upon the Bobbins Process as wood seasoned in any other 
 manner. 
 
 **:*: H< >i< * * * * * 
 
 11 
 
The Rohoins Process. 
 
 Your committee, in closing this report, which, though lengthy, 
 by no means exhausts the subject, and but imperfectly, perhaps? 
 does justice to this new, and, as they think, important discovery, 
 feel confident that the Massachusetts Wood-Preserving Company 
 will fully develop them any features of Mr. Bobbins' Process, and 
 extend its application to many articles for which it is adapted. It 
 can not fail to enlist the inquiries of those interested in the pre- 
 servation of our forests, so rapidly disappearing, to meet the wants 
 of our progressive country and the demands of our sister nations, 
 and it promises to work important changes in many branches of 
 industry. 
 
 For the committee. 
 
 JOSEPH P. PAUL, Chairman. 
 
 THOMAS E. CHICKEEING-. 
 
 C. P. KIMBALL. 
 
Comparative Weight and Strength of Timber. 83 
 
 COMPARATIVE WEIGHT AND STRENGTH OF 
 TIMBER. 
 
 Scarcely any thing can be more important than definite and 
 reliable information concerning the comparative weight and 
 strength of the different kinds of timber ; but the ascertained 
 facts are few and widely scattered. The Government should take 
 up this matter and pursue it to an exhaustive conclusion. With 
 respect to Comparative Weight, we have collated quite a number 
 of authorities ; and where the data varied have equated the 
 various items, having finally had the advantage of revision by a 
 competent gentleman of this city thoroughly conversant with 
 timber. Upon this basis we venture to present the table on the 
 ensuing page. — Agricultural Review and American Builders' Journal, 
 Philadelphia, February, 1869. 
 
84 
 
 The Rabbins Process. 
 
 TABULAR STATEMENT OF WEIGHTS OF TIMBER. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 f Ash 
 
 Beech ... 
 Birch.... 
 
 Cedar ... 
 Cherry.. 
 Cypress. 
 Elm 
 
 Fir, Biga 
 
 " Yellow 
 
 " "White 
 
 " American 
 
 Live Oak 
 
 p i Mahogany 
 
 Maple 
 
 Mulberry 
 
 Oak, English 
 
 " Seasoned 
 
 " Amer. White. 
 Pine, Yellow 
 
 " White 
 
 " Pitch 
 
 Poplar 
 
 Walnut 
 
 LWillow 
 
 f Ash 
 
 Beech 
 
 Cherry 
 
 Hickory, Bed 
 
 | \ White Oak (Upland) 
 " James Biver 
 
 Pine, Yellow 
 
 " "White 
 
 Poplar 
 
 Specific 
 gravi- 
 ties. 
 
 .845 
 .852 
 .720 
 .561 
 .715 
 .644 
 .800 
 
 .657 
 .569 
 
 1.170 
 
 1.063 
 
 .750 
 
 .897 
 
 .972 
 
 .660 
 .554 
 
 .383 
 .671 
 .585 
 
 .722 
 .624 
 .606 
 .838 
 .687 
 .759 
 .541 
 .473 
 .587 
 
 Weight 
 of 1 cu- 
 bic inch 
 
 in lbs. 
 
 .031 
 .031 
 
 .026 
 
 .026 
 .023 
 .024 
 
 .023 
 
 .021 
 
 .040 
 .038 
 .027 
 .022 
 .033 
 
 .026 
 .024 
 .020 
 
 .014 
 .024 
 .021 
 
 .026 
 .023 
 .022 
 .030 
 .025 
 .027 
 .020 
 .017 
 .021 
 
 Comparative 
 
 weight of 1 cubic 
 
 foot 
 
 Weight 
 of 1 cu- 
 bic foot 
 
 in lbs. 
 
 52.81 
 53.25 
 45.00 
 
 44.68 
 40.00 
 42.00 
 
 41.00 
 35.56 
 
 70.00 
 66.44 
 66.87 
 56.01 
 58.25 
 
 45.02 
 41.25 
 34.62 
 
 24.25 
 42.00 
 36.56 
 
 45.12 
 39.00 
 38.00 
 52.37 
 43.00 
 47.44 
 34.00 
 30.00 
 36.70 
 
 Green, 
 lbs. oz. 
 
 Season- 
 ed, 
 lbs. oz. 
 
 58.00 
 58.00 
 
 66.08 
 48.12 
 
 44.12 
 
 71.10 
 
 50.00 
 50.00 
 
 37.05 
 35.08 
 
 30.11 
 
 43.08 
 
 
 14,130 
 12,225 
 15,000 
 11,400 
 
 6,000 
 
 9,500 
 
 12,000 
 
 12,800 
 
 8.800 
 11,880 
 21,000 
 10,500 
 
 10,000 
 13,600 
 11,500 
 
 10,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 7,000 
 
 7,800 
 
 13,000 
 
 39,050 
 38,940 
 
 40,500 
 
 32,900 
 
COMPANIES FORMED UNDER RIGHTS 
 PURCHASED FROM THE NATIONAL COMPANY. 
 
Wood- Preserving Companies. 
 
 87 
 
 THE MASSACHUSETTS WOOD-PRESERVING COM- 
 PANY. 
 
 Joseph F. Paul, President. 
 
 Col. John S. Dunlap, Vice-President. 
 
 Otis Shepard, Treasurer. 
 
 W. W. Blackmail, Secretary. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Joseph F. Paul, ___-_. Boston. 
 
 John S. Dunlap, ------- Boston. 
 
 Hiram Emery, - - - - - - - Boston. 
 
 Charles Blake, Boston. 
 
 N. S. Williams, ------ Taunton. 
 
 Joseph Ward, -_____- Boston. 
 
 L. W. Pickens, -_--.. Boston. 
 
 A. T. Stearns, - _-._-_ Boston. 
 
 James Wright, ___._. Boston. 
 
 William Washburne, Jr. Boston. 
 
 THE SUFFOLK WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY, 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Joseph F. Paul, President. 
 
 Joseph Ward, Treasurer. 
 
 Chas. C. Dunbar, Clerk and Sup't. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Joseph F. Paul, Boston. 
 
 Joseph Ward, Boston. 
 
 Hiram Emery, ------- Boston. 
 
 Daniel Davies, Boston. 
 
 J. J. McNutt, -_--..- Boston 
 
The Bobbins Trocess. 
 
 BOBBINS WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY 
 OF NEW HAMPSHIEE. 
 
 President. 
 Joseph Stephens Abbot, - Concord. 
 
 Treasurer and Secretary. 
 Samuel C. Eastman, Concord. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 J. S. Abbot, ------- Concord. 
 
 E. A. Straw, ------ Manchester. 
 
 John G. Sinclair, ------ Bethlehem. 
 
 Alfred W. Haven, Portsmouth. 
 
 A. M. Shaw, ------- Lebanon. 
 
 James R. Kendrick, - - - - - - Concord. 
 
 Stephen Kenrick, - Franklin. 
 
 Samuel C. Eastman, Concord. 
 
 Henry 0. Kent, ------ Lancaster. 
 
 CONNECTICUT WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY 
 
 Wm. H. Bradley, President. 
 George Hoadley, Treasurer. 
 D. P. Calhoun, Secretary. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 George Hoadley, - - - - New Haven. 
 
 Wm. H. Bradley, ------ New Haven. 
 
 S. D. Sperry, ------- Hartford. 
 
 Chester Adams, ------ Hartford. 
 
 Wm. S. White, - - Hartford. 
 
Wood- Preserving Companies. 
 
 89 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA WOOD-PRESERVING COM- 
 PANY. 
 
 Titus S. Emery, President. 
 John II. Diehl, Treasurer. 
 Wm. R. Allen, Secretary. 
 W. E. C. Macrum, Gen'l Sup't. 
 
 Directors. 
 Hon. John E. Parke, ----- Pittsburg. 
 
 Frank Rahm, ------- Pittsburg. 
 
 John Oliphant, - - - - - - Pittsburg. 
 
 Titus S. Emery, Philadelphia. 
 
 Aaron B. Burton, - Philadelphia. 
 
 John H. Diehl, ---..- Philadelphia. 
 Tatlow Jackson, - Philadelphia. 
 
 THE ROBBINS WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY 
 OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 Martin Voorhees, Princeton, President. 
 R. S. Swords, Newark, Secretary. 
 Imlah Moore, Trenton, Treasurer. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Martin Voorhees, Princeton. 
 
 Wm. F. Reeve, ------- Salem. 
 
 Imlah Moore, Trenton. 
 
 J. W. Fielder, Princeton. 
 
 Benjamin Acton, ------- Salem. 
 
 A. G. Richey, ------- Trenton. 
 
 G. R. Dunn, - - Newark. 
 
 S. B. Garrison, - - - - - ' - Camden. 
 
 J. S. Buckalew, ------ Jamesburg. 
 
 R. S. Swords, - Newark. 
 
 J. P. Kirkbride, ------ Woodbury. 
 
 G. W. N. Curtis, - - - - - - Camden. 
 
 Jonathan Ingham, - - Salem. 
 
90 The Robbins Process. 
 
 METROPOLITAN WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY, 
 
 Embracing the Cities of New York, Brooklyn, &c. 
 Office, 163 Broadway. 
 
 Hon. Wm. A. Darling, President. 
 Charles Watrous, Vice-President. 
 J. W. Simonton, Secretary. 
 George K. Otis, Treasurer. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Hon. Wm. A. Darling, Chas. Watrous, 
 
 Chas. H. Haswell, J. W. Simonton, 
 
 George K Otis, J. M. Bronson, 
 
 John A. Wilson, M. A. Wilder, 
 
 S. L. Merchant, H. D. Carlisle, 
 
 C. Ludman, J. W. Elwell, 
 
 Henry Steers. 
 
 ROBBINS WOOD-PAVING COMPANY, 
 
 Embracing the whole United States. 
 Office for the present, 168 Broadway. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 James W. Smith, President. 
 
 James Steers, Secretary and Treasurer. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Henry Steers, James W. Smith, 
 
 John Englis, Geo. W. Quintard, 
 
 W. F. Smith. 
 
Wood- Preserving Companies. 91 
 
 THE PACIFIC WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY, 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
 
 J. D. Pry, President. 
 Ed. Hall, Secretary. 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 J. D. Fry, Alvinza Hay ward, 
 
 R. E. Doyle, H. B. Tichenor, 
 
 A. J. Moulder, H. F. Williams, 
 
 Richard P. Hammond. 
 
 The Company 's works are on King street, near Third. 
 
PRESERVATION OF WOOD. 
 
 OBBINS' PROCESS. 
 
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