Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-04
sewanee PInning mIIIs.

SeWanee Planning MfHAS.
Messrs. g. b. Wilson &1Co. have
added to their establishment an APP
paratus of great value and of special
importance at the present season,
when it is important to provide a
suppyl of building material at as rap
id arate as possible. This isan appa-
ratus for accelerating the process of
seasoning green lumber. This pro-
cess is effected by heat in the follow
ing manner: A frame building is
constructed with walls filled in with
nOn-condueting material, large
enough to accommodate six trucks,
each containing from 5000 to 5000
feet of lumber. (This quantity can
of course be increased indefinitely
by increasing the dimensions of the
chamber.) This chamber being
filed, the heat for seasoning it is
supplied by two agencies, that of
hot air and super-heated steam.
The hot air is introduced direct
through pipes which receive it from
a chamber attached to the furnace.
The steam is simply the waste steam
which has done its mechanical work
in the various operations of the
establishment. But this would be
of little use for the purpose if it
were introduced in the condition in
which it is received from the waste
pipe; it has lost too much of its
calOric by that time, but from the
waste pipe it is conveyed in cast
iron pipes right under the boiler, |
between it and the furnace, where
it gets heated to such intensity that |
the main pipe through which it is
conducted to the seasoning room is
sometimes heated by it to redness.
Both these sources of heat are made |
available at one end of the seasoning
room, which is therefore unequally
heated at different parts. Thus
when we were there, the heated
process not having been completed,
the heated end was at temperature
of 1862 Fahrenheit and that furthest
from the heating power only 1100.
The temperature at which they aim
to keep it is about 2120 at the hot
end and 1500 at the cooler part. The
lumber is introduced at the cooler
end, so as to pass through graduated
degrees; that which is in the last
stage of seasoning being always at
the hottest end and that just intro
duced at the coolest. AS the season.
ing process becomes complete, the
wood is removed and that
in earlier stages pushed up towards
the hot end. The whole process is
complete in from six to ten days,
according to the character of the
the lumber.
After inspecting this apparatus,
Mr.. Wilson showed us the working
which is far too varied
and complex for us to describe or,
in some cases, to understand. The
for cutting the mortices
in Venetian shutters is very beauti-
full, combining motion in three diff
ferent directions at the same time,
but the prettiest contrivance is one
for cutting perforated Gothic ira
Gerry in verge boards, canOpies, etc.
We noticed a pretty specimen Of
this tracery, and observed to Mr..
"There's something that
must be done by hand; machinery
can't come in there" He laughed
and said, "That's done by the
simplest machinery of ALL" and he
showed us a graduated centre bit
which, by a very simple process, is
capable of boring out a circular piece
Of plank of any diameter, from a
quarter of an inch to three inches
and a half. Now, all Gothic
tracery is constructed of arcs of cir
cles with various centres and radii,
so that you have only to determine
your radius and centre for each
curve, and rip away.
Any gentleman of mechanical
turn will find an inspection of this
Il very interesting re-
and, judging from our eX-
Derience, he will also find Mr.. Will
son patient and courteous cicerOne.
This establishment is destined to
play a most impol tant part in the
of GAINESVILLE from the
ashes of its confagration.