The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-11-12
Progress in wood Preservation.


During the past few years greater
advances have been made In methods
OF wood preservation than many
people realize LuElber users have
become convinced that In the cheuai<
cal treatment OF timber and the con-
Recrent lenEthening Of the woods
life that they can save both the great
cost of materials and the labor In re-
s IIt walls.
Just a few years ago a prominent
man. In a paper read before the Pa
cihc Coast Railway Club, called at
tenton to the pressing need of a
thorough invetigatiOn Of all processes
used in the preservation of wood. AT
that time he deplored the fact that
neither the government nor corpOr-
atoms would offer inducements to
men competent to carry out such in
lem which he had In mind was the
treatment of piling to make it resist
ant to attacks OF marine wood borers.
such as teredo and llmnorfa- This
probably no more 50 than that of pre-
serving ties. poles, and mine timbers.
against decay.
About the same time that this pa
per was presented before the Pacific
Coast Railway Club. the United
8 ''~s Forest Service established an
once. the duties of which would be
and processes and to devise means, II
possible, whereby the present meth
DDS could be improved or cheapened,
or new methods developed to take
the place of those already In use.
Since its Inception, the office of wood
preservation has made rapid strides.
Up to the present time experiments
have been carried on In cooperation
with corporations, educational in
stu ions, and individuals. to try
out various theories In actual prac-
tice. and the results have proved of
to a large number OF people having
Inte-"S-s similar to those which the
particular experiment applied.
Preservative treatment is recog-
nized as a paying proposition wher-
ever construction timber IS exposed
to soil or atmospheric influences caus-
ing decay. This statement is fully
attested by the rapid Increase In the
use of treated timber In recent years.
The increase has been most notable
in the case of railway ties All of
the larger companies in the west now
use OF treated timber in recent years.
tent, and many of them operate their
own treating plants.
1t Is also notable that the use Of
treated timber is confined principally
to corporations requiring very large
Quantities of construction material
This is largely accounted for by the
fact that the pressure system of i'm
preEnation in common use requires
expensive retorts and machinery, and
is not adapted to n plant of small ca
pacity. thus m'CSlng It impracticable
for a concern using a small or moder-
ate amount OF timber to undertake
treating.
Besides the plants operated by cor
porations for the treatment OF their
own construction timber: there- are a
number of plants which do COM
meroIal business, but these being To-
Gated at centers of distrib utIon, where
a permanent business Is more readily
assured, are not accessible to timber
which goes direct from forest to con- !
sumner without passing thrcugh such
cetral distribution point. For econ
omy. the treating should be conduct
ed at point where additional trans
portation charges on account OF the
treating Will he reduced to a mini /
mum. The rnnchman drawing his
timber from the adjoining forest.
shouldhave on the ranch the means
for treating his fence posts and isml-'
lar materials. The mining concern
should have at the mine n plant with
capacity adapted to their need. An
electric company whose lines ex-
which draws its timber from various
sources, may find a small portable .
pln0. best for treating poles.
For several years the Forest Ser
vice has been experimenting with n
method of ImpregnatlnE wood. which
Is sinple in operation, and Is a1aptcd
to a plant of any desired capacity. 1t
Ia now known that all Of the more
rc~o,s woods can he treated success
fully by this method. The method
Is Called an "open tank" or hot and
cold hath" process. The impreEna-
ton Is accomplished by thoroughly
heating the timber in tank con-
tanning l'ould substance. then rum
nlnR- or the hot LIQUID and filling tho
tank with cold or transferring the
timber from a tank containing hot to
q to1ty r01faInJupr coII IFoftld mr. al