The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-24
TO GATHER GUN By STEAM.
4 New Invention in the Naval Stores
Industry,

the Flow From the Trees-5oO, 900
Barrels of Rosin and 100, 900 Barrels
of Spirits Utterly Wasted Every
Year. The Waste Foots up 81, 5oo,-
600 for Georgia and SO, 100000 for
the South.
There is no country on the face of the
globe, which has been so bountifully
blessed as the southern states, and one of
their. greatest blessings is the great
abundance Of the prolific yellow pine
Under careless and ignorant management,
this beautiful forest is fast passing away,
and in another score Of years the virgin
yellow pine timber will have gone out of
existence
The turpentine industry has made
hardly any improvement in its operation
since the war, beyond improvement in
tools and mode of distilling. Each farm
wastes. thousands Ofdollars every year by
neglect and ignorance, and hence the
profit of the business hardly gives the
Operat tors a living. and it is with trouble
that they can make buckle and tongue
meet. If the different wastes were
stopped they ought to make a handsome
living.
l have already demonstrated the utter
for lampblack.
While erecting the lampblack plant at
Lyons / was astOnished TO observe the
large amount of gum which is left on the
trees after the boxes have been scraped
in the fall The gum is mostly left in
the burrows CEASED by chipping, on the
edges of the bark and on the lower pOr-
tiOn of the face of the box and on the box
itself.
Upon inquiring from a number of
turpentine experts | found that they all
agreed that the amount of gum left was
considerable, even if the scraping were
well done They placed the amount left
on the trees as sufficient to fill the box
at least twice for three and four-year-old
boxes, and once, and once and half for
one and two-year-old boxes.
BIG LOSS.
A crop of boxes consists of 10, 500 boxes,
and if the boxes are full of gum a crop
will dip from thirty to thirty-five barrels
weighing 500 pounds each. A turpentine
farm having one still has usually from
ten to twenty crops. There are generally
ten crops of and 4-year-old boxes, five
crops of 2-year-old boYes and five crops of
yearling or virgin boxes.
With the above data it is an easy mat
ter to ascertain the probable amount of
crude gum left on the trees each year.
Ten crops of and 4-year-old boxes have
from 600 TO 700 barrels. Five crops of 2 and
4-Year-Old boxes have from 225 to 1862 bar
rels. Five crops of l and 4-year-old boxes
have from $50 to 175 barrels, or in all
from 975 to l l37 barrels. In round num-
bers there is a waste of 1000 barrels of
gum annually on each farm.
One thousand dip barrels of crude gum,
if distilled would yield at least 125 barrels
of spirits of turpentine worth $3.50 per
barrel or 81 1862. so. Besides this, the yield
of rOsin would amount to $50 barrels
worth $3.50 each or 81, 1875. In all the
money loss amounts to 81, 6S7.50 for each
farm; if the fact is taken into considera-
tiOn that Georgia has 800 turpentine
stills, the loss in this state alone amounts
to over one million and half dollars an
nually. For the whole south the loss
amounts to about three million dollars.
AN INCREASE OF 3715 PER CENT.
A turpentine still produces annually
about 1000 barrels of rosin and 500 bar
rels of spirits. If this wasted gum could
be recovered it would increase the pro-
duction of rosin 3755 per cent. and the
production of spirits of turpentine 25 per
cent without any additional labor, as this
gum is made any way and wasted. With
view to recover this large amount of
crude gum, now utterly wasted, I have
devised and invented a simple process
which will do the work quickly, cheaply
and well.
Instead of scraping the gum by hand,
as is customary, now, l propose to use
steam, with an apparatus which l intend
to have patented, as well as the pro-
cess.
| intend to employ steel boiler, mount
ed on wheels, OF about eight-horse power,
easily drawn by two mules. This boiler
will be equipped with ten peculiarly CON
struCted reels; five on each side of the
boiler. Each reel will have forty yards
of flexible steam hose, which can be
wound up or unwound at will. To each
hose there is a light frame attached and
so constructed that it will fit any box,
from nine inches to twenty-one inches
wide. This frame practically incases the
whole box, and it can be quickly fast
ened or loosened by four iron hooks,
driven into the tree. Thus the hose will
make any part of an acre accessible,
without moving the boiler.
When the frame is in its place practi-
cally incasing the whole box a small
steam jet is let in from the boiler into the
hose and into thelincased space This will
cause the gum to melt rapidly and to
run off into a suitable receptacle
USE OF THE STEAM.
After the gum has all melted, which
will be done in about one minute, the
full force of steam is let on for q few
seconds, which will perfectly clean and
scour the whole face of the box aud re-
move the last vestige of gum or impuri-
ties. To such turnout there will be four
hands employed, with ten attachments.
They can easily average 10 boxes in three
minutes, or 200 boxes per hour or 1000
boxes per day.
The cost of running this turnout, for
mule feed and labor, will be about a per
day or $40 per crop of 10,500 boxes The
cost of scraping by hand now is about Sl5
or SIG per crop, so that an additional out
lay of only 81 or s. per crop, the large
amount of gum mentioned above could be
recovered and utilized. complete outfit
of this kind, l think, can be manufactured
for about $500 or 5000, and will pay for
itself several times over during each
season.
THE ADVANTAGES IN IT.
There are several advantages to be OBJ
tanned besides recovering the lost gum
by this process. Boxes cleaned by steam
would not be nearly as indammable as if
they were covered with half gallon of
crude gum; hence the loss by fire would
be much lessened, if not eliminated If
scrape gum could be had clear of chips
and straw, which is impossible by the
hand-scraping method, the rosin would
be two or three grades better in quality
and the yield would be larger, as each
chip is impregnated with rosin and
causes some loss. The scrape gum recov-
l.. Il !