The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-09-18
THE TIE MILL
IS PUNA's PRIDE
(staa correspondence.)

-~--~~ft
PAHoA, Puma, Hawaii. September s.
The only one of its kind in the world,
the people OF Pahoa in particular and
those of the whole island of Hawaii
in general are proud of the Pahoa tie
mill, which stands at the terminus of
the Puma railroad, complete and ready
to begin work next week. This mill
is unique, inasmuch as it is not only
a big and complete sawmill but the
only such mill in the world fitted up
exclusively for turning out railroad
ties.
In the fat country of Puma the new
mill lisa landmark serving great stretch
of country. To it's towering smokestack
it is the avowed intention of the sur
veyors to "tie" their work in future
and this intention is an evidence of the
faith for success that the ones who
know the country best and most inti-
mately have for the future of the Ha-
waiian Mahogany Company. Hereto
fore the surveyors have been s'tying"
their work to prominent hill in the
district, the hill being something that
would last. The new company, which
is doing things on such large scale
is thought to be, evidently, quite as
lasting AT any rate, the tie mill is
built as solidly as good construction
work could do with the best materials
and if it does not last it will not be
the faults of the ones who planned the
mill or the experts who set it up.
Everything about the building itself
and the machinery with which it is
equipped is solid. The great saws
which first square up the ohia logs,
driven towards them by an immense
endless chain, are set to handle ma
terial up to four feet in diameter and
the framework that holds them and
sive and capable of withstanding a
tremendous strain. There are four of
these saws, set at the top of convex
lumber pathway, up which the logs will
travel to first enter the mill. Two sets
of carriers, each operated by its own
engine, seize the logs as they come and
hold them firmly while the saws, in
pairs, one pair on each side of the
mill, slice off the slabs, trim off a board
or two, if necessary. to reduce the log
to convenient size for tie work, then
slice the remainder of the log into six
inch fitches.
These pass on to a conveyor and are
carried along to the center of the mill
where another set of saws is waiting
This takes the six-inch slices of log
and finishes the tie saving. There are
six circular saws in this machine, Sc,
in sets of three, each set working by
itself. Thus four ties at once can be
run out and on the steadily travelling
conveyors, which never permit the log
and its segments to remain still For one
moment after its journey into the mill
is commenced. The conveyors carry
the ties, complete alk but the saving
into eight foot lengths, to three more
saws, set at the rear of the mill, just
above the last set of moving carriers,
which go to the railroad cars.
Then there are paws for converting
the slabs into firewood lengths and CON
veyors to carry these lengths off for
shipment; other eonveyors for placing
the ohia boards in the drying yards
and still others to carry off the saw
dust and the waste to the burning pile.
Everything is complete, everything is
labor-saving, everything is solid and
put up in a way that impresses the
casual observer with the idea that the
Mahogany company is in earnest and
is getting ready in the right way to
fill the biggest tie contract that has
ever crossed the Pacific.
The motive power for the machinery
is generated in the boilers of $780,
horse power engine, built, as is every
thing else about the mill, to stand the
strain that will certainly come when
two thousand FIVE hundred ties day
have to be turned cut, when nearly a
thousand ohia logs each twenty-fouI
hours have to be handled, logs of 9
wood SO heavy that it sinks in water
like ironwood. A thirteen.ton fywheel
is the impressive part of the engine tc
the layman, but to an engineer the
ease with which the great engine car
be reversed and the solidity with which
! it is put together would be the inter
esting features.
| The boilers for the engine have also
some features that must interest engi
neers, inasmueh as these are the first
in the Territory to be fitted with the
hollow blast CRATE bar, squared iron
tubes with blast holes that are fitted