The times., 1899-08-09
WOOD THAT is FIREPROOF
Nen- Inflammable Material for Amer
lean Warships.
Pores Filled With Ammonia suIph-
ates-Heat That Would Melt Iron
Withstood - How Solutions Are
Forced Into the Wood Extended
Use in Foreign Naval Construction

New York, Aug. S.-All the wood which
has been used in the construction of United
States battleships, cruisers, and torpedo
boats for the last four years has come from
a 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 subjected to fire. proofing pro-
cess by which all pitch and resin are driven
out of the pores of the wood and certain
sulphates 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 proofng works,
by way of illustrating the efficacy of his
| methods, Will take a piece of the wood
and toss it into one of the big furnaces, on
a bed of white-hot Goals that would easily
melt iron Taking it out ten minutes af-
terward, one finds it to be eharred to a
depth of one-sixteenth of an inch, or so,
| but it does not carry the ghost of flame
| or spark. nor a thread of smoke. Split
| open, it shows clean white wood from sur
! face to core, not a fibre 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 eylin-
ders seven feet in diameter and one hun
dred and six feet long. Little railroad
| tracks, thirty inches wide run along the
| bottoms OF these. connecting with the
| tracks that reach all parts of the yard
| Low, fiat cars. with hoops like those OF a
| prairie schooner" run on 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 owed a compli-
Gated system of pulleys and hooked to the
| last car, the donkey -engine reels in the
cable, and the cars slide into the long tun-
mel. The door is closed and made firm
against pressure by radiating lever bolts.
| Then the cylinder is filled with steam at
| comparatively low pressure until the wood
| is thoroughly softened. The steam is then
| drawn out and the air exhausted in the
| cylinder, drawing the moisture out of the
wood, and with it anything else which is in
| the pores, leaving them empty and ready
for the next process. A compressor sends
| into the cylinder solution of phosphates
| and sulphates of ammonia under high pres
sure, which forces it into the fibres of the
wood and thoroughly impregnates every
plank with the solution.
Though conducted on 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 ears
is necessary TO make good the boast of tn,
company, that their process is the only one
which does not impair the strength of ths
wood or render it unfit for shelacking OF
polishing. few degrees too much heat, Oh
few pounds TOO much pressure, would de-
stroy the fibre of the wood. Too low
heat or pressure and the process would no
be thorough. The amount of pressure neces.
sary varies from so to 120 pounds TO tbs
square inch, according to the kind of Woo
which is being treated. A close grained
wood like mahogany, not only can stanC
more pressure than pine, but requires i
in order TO force the solution to the corr
of the thick planks. The manager mus
know just what pressure each wood re
quires, and what is more, he must see tha
it gets it My engineer is a good me
chanie, he says, but i don't trust him il
this case. Where a mistake means tht
running of thousands of feet of yaluabl,
lumber. 1 prefer to keep an eye on things
myself
So he watches the pressure gauges wher
he is at the works, and ienquires hourly b.
telephone when he is away When the lit
tie cars of steaming planks are drawn on
of the cylinders, he stands by, slicing of
a chip here and there with his knife, exam
ining 1t with knowing eye, tasting it
and pulling it into shreds. Then he goe
to pair of scales and has the workmeI
bring him sample planks from the yariou
cars Many of the planks are weighed be
fore they are treated, and their weight i
stamped on them. These are weighet
again and measured. and the manager cal
cuates whether, when they are dry, the,
will contain six ounces of the fire. -proofini
solution to the foot When the planks frs
come out of the cylinders they weigh near
ly twice as much as when they went in
One or two planks are sawed completel
across to see that the solution has per
meated the entire fibre.
Government and private orders MAX
more work than these two cylinders. bi
as they are, can handle, and plans are bein
made for six new plants, which viii great
iy increase the output. The compan,
which has the British rights on the inven
| tion supplies wood for the navies of Grea
? Britain, France, Denmark, Japan. and Nor
{ way and is at work now filing orders 70
the woodwork of the new yacht for Quee
3 Victoria One or two of the new down
town Office buildings are furnished wit
wood thus treated. and many privat
. houses are being built Of it. as it increase
the cost of construction by only or