Nebraska advertiser., 1859-09-22
Miscellaneous.
Early History Of SaW.NLilIs.

In early periods, the trunks or tree
were split with wedges into as many anC
as thin pieces as possible, and if it wa.
necessary TO have them still thinner, they
were hewn on both sides to the proper
size. This simple and wasteful manner
of making boards has still been continued
In Russia to the present time. Peter the
Great tried to put stop to it by forbid
ding hewn boards to be transported on the
river Neva. TIE sew, however, though
so convenient and beneficial, has not beer
able to Danish entirely the practice Of
splitting timber used in roofing, or IL
making furniture and utensils; and, In
deed. it must be allowed that this method
is attended with peculiar advantages
which that Of saving never can possess.
The wood-spIitters perform their work
more expeditiously than sawyers, and
split timber is much stronger than that
which has been sawn; for the fssure
follows the grain of the wood, and leaves
it whole whereas, the saw proceeding in
the line Chalked out for it, it divides the
fbers, and by these means lessons its CO.
hesion and solidity. Split timber, indeed,
often turns out crooked and warped but
in many purposes to which it is applied,
this is not preiudicial, and such faults may
sometimes be amended. As the fberS,
however, retain their natural strength and
direction, thin boards particularly can be
bent much better. This is a great ad-
vantage in making pipe-staves, or sieve
frames, which require still more art, and
in forming various implements of the like
kind.
Our common saw, which needs only to
be guided by the hand of the workman,
however simple it may be, was not known
to the inhabitants of America when they
were subdued by the Europeans.
The saws of the Grecian carpenters
had the same form, and were made in
the like ingenious manner as ours are at
present. This is fully shown by paint
ing still preserved among the antiquities
of HerCulanum. Two genii are repres-
ented at the end of bench, which con-
sists of long table that rests upon two
tour-footed stools. The piece of wood
which has to be sawr through is secured
by cramps. The saw with which the genli
are at work has perfect resemblance to
our frame saw. 1t consists of a square
frame, having in the middle blade, the
teeth of which stand perpendicular to the
plane of the frame. The piece of wood
which is to be sawn extends beyond the
end of the bench, and one of the work
men appears standing, and the other sit
ting on the ground. The arms, in which
the blade is fastened, have the same form
as that given to them at present. In the
bench are seen holes, in which the cramps
that hold the timber are stuck. They are
shaped like the figure z, and the ends of
them reach below the boards that form
the top of it. The French call a cramp
of this kind un Ualet.
The most beneficial and ingenious i'm
provement of this instrument was, with
out doubt, the invention of saw-mills,
which are driven either by water, wind
or by steam. Mills of the first kind were
erected as early as the fourth century, in
Germany, on the small river Roer, or
Ruer; for though Ausonius speaks pro-
perly of water-mills for cutting stone, and
not timber, it cannot be doubted that
these were invented later than mills for
manufacturing boards, or that both kinds
were erected at the same time. The art,
however, Of cutting marble with saw is
very old. Pliny conjectures that it was
invented in Cara; at least, he knew no
building incrusted with marble of greater
antiquity than the palace of King MausO-
lus, at HarliCarnassus. The edifice is Gel
ebrated by VitruviuS for the beauty of its
marble, and Pliny gives an account of the
different kinds of sand used for cutting IT.;
for it is the sand properly, says he, and
not the saw, which produces this effect
The latter presses down the former, and
rubs 1t against the marble, and the COars-
er the sand is, the longer will be the time
required to polish the marble which has
been cut by it. Stones of the soap-rock
kind, which are indeed softer than marble
and which would require less force than
wood, were sawn at that period; but 1t
appears that the far harder CLASSY kinds
of stone were sawn then also, for we are
told of the discovery of a building which
was enCrusted with cut agate, Cornelian,
lapislazuli, and amethysts. There Is,
found no account in any of the Greek or
Roman writers of mill for saving wood ,
and as the writer's of modern times speak
of saw-mills as new and uncommon, it
would seem that the oldest construction of
them has been forgotten, or that some
improvement has made them appear enti-
rely new.
When the Infant Henry sent settlers
to the island of Madeira, which was dis
covered IN 1920, and caused European
fruits of every kind to be carried thither,
he ordered saw-mills to be erected also,
for the purpose of saving into boards. the
various species of excellent timber with
which the island abounded, and which
were afterwards transported to Portugal.
About the year 1922 The city of Breslau
had saw-mill, which produced yearly
rent of three marks, and in 149O the
magistrates of Erfurt purchased forest,
in which they caused a saw-mhi to be
erected, and they rented another mill IN
the peighborhood besides. Norway,
which is covered with forests, had the
first saw-mil about the year 1880. This
,ooJo of vDoDufa cturino timber was called