Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-09-03

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are a great many buildings in a perfect
state OF preservation, built long before
Benjamin Franklin tested the lightning
in the clouds and prophesied the power
of electricity The heavy frames OF these
ancient buildings were hewn from the
logs by hand, and the marks of the car
penters broad-ax can still be seen on
the time stained timhers
The earliest method Of obtaining
boards was by whirsawing them from
was squared with the broad-ax, the
edges of the timber were marked for the
thickness Of the board desired and two
mon at opposite ends OF large ripsaw
stripped off the board. This very
slow. costly and tedious process. During
the thirteenth century an effort was
made 10 drive sawnlils by windpower
but 1t resulted In a total failure for
want Of sufficient energy.
t. FIRST sawmill erected in the United
States was constructed In 1884 at the
Piscata1ue Falls In the State Of Maine
This mill was very crude, but It did the
work of half dozen men. A large rip
saw moved up and down at the rate Of
100 times minute driven by water
power and the logs were carried end
frst against the saw on a simple car
/ rage. The saw was kept In line by
sliding blocks In a solid frame. The mill
was very crude. only producing about
800 feet of lumber day, but It was far
better than saving boards by hand. Du-
plicates of this mill sprang up all over
the colonies and soon the noise of the
sawmil was heard throughout the land,
For the most part they We're all con-
structed like the first until some in
genious Yankee discovered that he could
combine two rip-saws IN the same frame
about an inch apart and saw off two
boards at once With this Improvement
the "gang-saws' same into being and
doubled the product Of the mills which,
because they produced so little lumber
in a days work. were always taxed to
the utmost OF their capacity
Little. If any. further improvements
were inaugurated in sawmill work until
the middle of the nineteenth century
when the circular saw was invented
Immediately the lumber business was
revoutonizcd and the cost OF producing
lumber dropped off fully one-haf, The
circular saws ripped up the logs with as
tonshing speed, doubling and quadru-
ping the output of the mills.
Up to 1895 water-power was almost ex-
clusively used in sawmill work That
year the first steam mill was equipped
and as the forests disappeared before
the sawmills and the water-power be-
came less and less the mills began to
adopt steam power until nearly every
one Of them was running by steam.
Only about score of years ago the
band-saw was applied to sawmll work.
| ,lr
cular saw. but 1t was difficult to manu-
| facture these saws large enough and
with enough stability to withstand the
severe strains Of sawmill work. Just as
the circular saw had relegated the up
| and-down aw to the scrap heap so the
band-saw replaced the buzz-saw. With
the thin band-saws moving with light
ming rapidly the saving Of A log was
| n matter OF n very few minutes and the
output OF the mills was again doubled.
The next noteworthy Improvement was
the adoption OF electric drive. There is
| probably no industry in which the power
demands are more exact!ng. for the
| power required in sawmills varies not
only with the kind Of timber handled
but also upon It's condition when passing
| through the mill.
Steam engines with their boiler fur
| naces are extremely dangerous around
sawmills where everything Is covered
with splnters sawdust and wood-du
SO dry II iEnites almost as easily as gun
we're also dangerous. because as soon as
| they began to take on a hit OF overload
| they began TO sputter and spark, But
within the past few years tho induction
| or alternating current motor has been
| perfected which Ia now extensively used
to drive sawmill machinery. This new
| motor Is so simple II consists OF prac-
| tically three pieces, like n shaft suspend
ed between two hangers, and II will not
spark
The number OF sawmils equipped with
| electricity In this country and Canada
almost equal those equipped with steam
power At Bougalusa, La, the largest
sawmill IN the world has Just been
completed which was entirely equipped
with electricity by The General Elec-
trio company Tho machinery In this
modern mill Ii all driven by direct
connected Induction motors. doing away
with all belts and shafting; the mil ana
Yards are lighted with electricity 80 the
work can continue night and day In
the Northwest several portable electric
sawmills are In operation. The electricity
is ecrured from water-power and cabled
70 the mill by overhead transmission
As the timber Ia cut the mill Is moved