Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-22


work. The niger is almost human in its
powers and herculean in it's strength. 1t il
| q jagged-toothed upright which rises from
the floor at the edge of the carriage, and It
| is capable of twisting that log into any
position that the sawyer desires. 1t will
simply set the timber firmly into position
as 1t lies, at motion from the sawyer
will toss the log completely over and pre-
sent the other side for the saw to start
work upon.
When the Niger has adjusted the log to
suit the sawyer, the two men on the car
riage snap the dogs into place and the out
| fit is ready to spin up the track to meet the
shining strip of steel which is running al
most noiselessly over the big pulleys that
keep it taut. When the saw meets the wood
there is no slackening of speed either In
saw or carriage.
Both keep on in the even tenor of their
way, and the log finds itself minus strip
on one side.
Back goes the carriage for another try
The niger gets in its work again and the
log is tossed over so that it rests with its
freshly sawn face against the dog at the
back This time another strip is cut away,
and then the remainder of the log is sawed
into two-inch stuff or into boards, as the
case may be.
Behind the saw is the ''butter'-the man
who separates the sheep from the goats.
As the slabs and sawed lumber come from
the saw they are dropped onto live rolls
Which start them toward the rear of the
mill. The butter let's them start off with
out n word, but before the boards have
gone very far he pulls a lever. This raises
a barrier in front OF the lumber, stops its
progress and throws up a system of live
catch bats running at right angles.
Remove the BARK.
These carry the board down into a space
in the middle of the mill. Here the edgers
stand waiting for just such material, and
when the boards and timber come along
they seize them and thrust the ends of the
lumber into the gang edgers. This removes
the "wane, or bark edge, and if desired
cuts q two-inch plank into scantling.
From here the lumber goes on to more of
those live catch belts and is whirled back
to the set Of rolls on which it was travelling
when the butter stopped It. 1t is now under
the eye Of the checker, who decides whether
it shall go to the planners. If it does he
stops it in the same way that the butter
did. but if not the lumber goes out to the
dumping rolls. AS it passes the end of the
mill proper and comes to tho big sorting
platform the "sorter' has his turn at it.
The sorter is enabled by improved ma
chfnery to do work that formerly en-
ployed five men. In front of him is q rack
of levers resembling the switch tower OF a
railroad. Each of those levers controls a
stop, out on the sorting platform, and to
pull one of them toward you and fasten 1t
means to stop the next piece of timber at
the butter controlled by that lever
Sorting the Lumber.
No sooner does stick Of timber come to
a stop than it is worked over to the edge OF
the platform by set of spiral rolls and so
slid down to the platform, beside which the
car is in waiting. This sorting platform is
so long that six cars can be loaded at the
same time. The sorter has the schedules
III front of him, and when he sees STICK
of timber coming along that is what GER
tain order calls for he pulls that lever ana
J. Inns or
to the car which mas been set in for that
order.
The planers which are two in number, sit
in the middle of the MILL just at the edge OF
the sorting platform. The planners, like the
edgers are in pairs-one for each saw.
You may have observed that only finished
lumber comes out at the tail OF the mill
ard YOU may wondeHWhat has become of
all the refuse Thrown away? Not bit of
It; it is all utilized. The slabs as they left
the saw passed the butter unheeded and Kept
on till they were abreast of the edgers, anu
then they dropped from sight Where did
they go? Down into the story below where
they met big saws that cut them into four
foot lengths. and dumped them on to more
live betting i'll the bottom of trough This
trough passes the lath sawyers and from
the refuse as it passes they Gull all that is
large enough to be available for laths.
There is enough waste to keep two gang
iath machines going at top speed all the
time Beyond the iath machines the refuse
goes to the boiler room and feeds the fur
naces. The sawdust is also saved, and this
goes to the furnaces or into cars for use in
other mills farther down the river.
Everything Utilized.
So, from start to finish, there Is nothing
that is not utilized for some purpose or
other. It is the most economical mill in
every sense of the word that there is in
this part of the country.
1t is a comparatively new mill, having
been built to replace the mill that was
burned in July, 90 1t was started up In
February, 81, and has been running stead
lily ever since. The old mill had six saw
bands, but it could not begin to turn out
the amount of work that the present mill
can
In addition to the departments that have
been mentioned. there are a clapboard ma
chine and a shingle machine in the fase-
ment, and a saw gang which saws pulp
stock and delivers it to a mill on the other
side of the river by means of an endless
chain. These last three named depart
meffts keep just as hard at work as the
main mill, and from the file room in the
upper story to the big turbines in the
wheel pits there is nothing about the big
mill which is 1T doing it's utmost to swell
the grand total. And yet SO fine is the
machinery-so almost human in its work
u'g-that no man labors so hard as he used
to in the old-time days of the circular saw
and the cantdog.