The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-06-11
From the Toledo Commercial
CARBOLIzING WOOD.
Some Facts about Treating WOOd.--A
New Industry for Toledo.

burgh and other Cities to investigate
the subject of wood and other pave
ments. In their report they speak in
favor of method in use for preserving
wood from decay, as follows:
"While it is not deemed to be within
the province of this Committee to give
an elaborate description, either of the
method of construction ofanypavement,
or of the chemical processes adopted in
its preparation, yet it may be well to
give general description of the method
of preparing wood for pavements used
by the Miller Block Company, as upon
the success of their process in preserv-
ing wood from decay rests their chief
claim to consideration.
"The blocks, cut into the shape of a
trunoated wedge by an ingenious ar
rangement of saws, are placed in a cyl
indrical tank in. shape and appearance
similar to an ordinary iron boiler, the
dimensions of which are: diameter, 8
feet; length, about 80 feet. One end of
this tank, OF boiler, can be removed at
will, being fastened with bolts and nut s.
The tank having been filed with blocks
and the end having having been firmly
bolted on, oil is poured in from. the top
until all the space between and
around the blocks is filed. Upon the
bottom of the tank is a network of iron
pipes into which steam at a very high
temperature of from $50 to 260 degrees
By the heat thus created the sap is ex-
PEELED from the blocks and in the form
of steam passes off through a vent in the
top of the boiler into condenser.
after the sap has ceased to thus pass
off, the heated oil is drawn off and re-
placed by cold oil. Into the cells of the
wood from out which the sap has thus
been forced, the creosote and other ele-
ments composing the dead oil, as it is
called, pass, thoroughly permeating the
wood. The blocks are left in the oil for
period of about eight hours.
cit is claimed for this process that by
the crystalizing of the various elements
which are absorbed by the wood in the
process of treatment, the fiber of the
wood is preserved intact from decay, and
that pavement made from blocks thus
treated can suffer only from the wear re-
ceived from the traffic passing over it. 1t
is well settled that the chief objection to
wood pavements is their liability to wear
out from the traffic passing over them,
but the short space of time for which
they remain free from decay"
The method described above is that
known as the Seeley-Pelton process, and
so far as it relates to treating wood fol
pavement, nothing more can be said; but
that is but an incident in the business
there is now fair prospect of establish
ing in your City. The preservation Of
wood by the use of dead oil is no new
thing in the world. In England and OIL
the Continent it has been in use for more
than 20 years. The only meaning to the
phrase "Seeley-Pelton process" is that
by it the infusion is more effectively and
speedily done. Timber has been SC
cheap in America that it is only of late
years that the question of preserving il
from decay has attracted serious atten-
hon.
VIII this Seeley-Pelton process do
what is promised forit9 Col. j. U. CRAM,
United States Engineer, an officer well
known in this City, made report to the
Chief Engineer of the Uuited States
Army, upon the decay and Preserva-
ton of Timber" from which we learn
that in the South Durham Colliery, in
England, wood in use in that mine had
to be replaced each nine months. Wood
treated by this process was then substi-
tuted, and it has now been in use 10
years and it still perfectly sound. In
another mine where wood lasted from
four to six years, treated wood has been
in use IA years and is still peafectly
sound. In India railway ties treated by
this process are still sound at the end of
20 years. In Belgium, where untreated
ties had an average life of but four
years treated ties are still sound at the
end of 10 years. 1t preserves wood
from the attack of sea worms. Treated
wood used in Ostend Harbor is sound at
the end of seven years. Wood not
treated, when used in the same place,
lasted but two years. These cases can
be multiplied without end. Indeed
while it appears from government re-
ports that wood treated 80 years ago is
still in existence and perfectly sound,
"there is no evidence of any timber
which has been creosoted or carbolized
yet decayed."
The Ohief Engineer of the Army hay
directed Gen. Q. A. GILMORE to exam
inc the various methods in use for pre-
serving timber and report the one best
adapted to use for the platforms of the
15-inchguns in our seacoast Notifications
says in conclusion:
"My reply to that portion of the De-