The age-herald., 1899-08-12
FIRE>PROOF WOOD FOR
 AMERICAN wARSEITPS


 cruisers, and torpedo boats for the last four years has come from single little yard on the East river. filled with great piles of boards that look as if they had been washed ashore from some wreck after floating for months, until they were soaked with brine. Their weathered appearance is due to the fact that they have been sub jected to a fire-proofng process by which all pitch and rosin are driven out of the pores of the wood, and certain suphates and phosphates of ammonia forced in. As seen in the yard they are stacked up for several months air-drying. After that no heat or flame can destroy them.
 The manager of the fire-proofing works, by way of illustrating the efficacy of his methods. will take piece of the wood and toss it into of the big furnaces on a bed of white-hot coals that would easily melt iron. Taking it out ten minutes after ward, one finds it to be charred to a depth of one-sixteenth of an inch or so, but it does not carry the ghost of a flame or spark. nor thread of smoke. Split open, it shows clean white wood from surface to core, not fiber injured by the heat to which it has been subjected
 The main part of the works in which this is accomplished consists of two huge cylin- derS seven feet in diameter and one hun dred and six feet long. Little railroad tracks, thirty inches wide, along the bottoms of these, connecting with the tracks that reach all parts of the yard. Low, flat cars, with hoops like those of a prairie schooner" run the tracks, and on these the bright new lumber is piled in cylindrical loads, under the hoops. When a string of cars is ready to run into the cylinder wire cable is run over com- plicated system of pulleys and hooked 10 the last car, the donkey-engine reels in the cable, and the cars slide into the long tun- nel The door is closed and made firm against pressure by radiatfng lever bots Then the cylinder is filled with steam at comparatively low pressure, and the wood is thoroughly softened The steam is then drawn out and the air exhausted in the cylinder, dcawing the moisture out of the wood, and with it anything else which is i'll the pores leaving them empty and ready for the next process. compressor sends sinto the cylinder a solution of phos- phates and sulphates of ammonia under high pressure, which forces it into the flores of the wood and thoroughly impreg- mates every plank with the solution.
 Though conducted on a wholesale scale, the process is delicate one, and is watch ed at every stage by the manager, who is also the inventor and perfecter of the pro- cess, with as jealous care as a housewife watches her preserving-kettles. This care is necessary to make good the boast of the company, that their process is the only one which does not impair the strength of the wood, render it unfit for shellacking or polishing. few degrees too much heat, or few pounds too much pressure would destroy the fiber of the wood. Too low a heat CT pressure and the process would not be thorough The amount of pressure necessary varies from 80 to 120 pounds to the square inch, according to the kind of wood which is being treated. A close grained wood like mahogany not only can stand more pressure than pine, but re- quires 1t in order to force the solution to the core of the thick blanks. The manager must know Just what pressure each wood requires, and, what is more, he must see that it gets it. My engineer is a good mechanic.' he says, "but don't trust him in this case. Where a mistake means the ruining of thousands of feet of valuable lumber, l prefer to keep an eye on things myself"
 So he watches the pressure-gauges when he is at the works, and inquiries hourly by telephone when he is away. When the lit- tie cars of steaming blanks are drawn out of the cylinders, he stands by, slieing off a chip here and there with his knife. exam ming 1t with a knowing eye, tasting 1t, and pulling 1t into shreds. Then he goes to a pair of scales and has the workmen bring him sample blanks from the various cars Many of the blanks are weighed before they are treated, and their weight is stamped on them. These are weighed again and measured. and the manager ca1- culates whether, when they are dry they will contain six ounces of the fire-proofing solution to the foot. When the blanks first come out of the cylinders they weigh nearly twice as much as when they went 'in One or two blanks are sawed com pietely across, to see that the solution has permeated the entire fber
 Government and private orders make more work than these two cylinders big as they are, can handle, and plans are being made for six new plants, which will greatly increase the output The company which has the British rights on the invention suI,. plies wood for the navies of Great Britain. France, Denmark, Japan, and Norway, and is at work now filling orders for the wood- work of the new yacht for Queen y.Sor.a One or two of the new-town office -bufidinSs are furnished with wood thus treated. and many private houses are being built of rs. as It increases the cost of construction by only or per cent
 MAY THE BEST MAN WIN
 ErAna the St CI,h..-