The Dolores star. [volume] (Dolores, Montezuma County, Colo.) 1901-current, 1918-07-19

wooden freighters each of 400 tons lightweight
capacity.
year ago we had in this country only hand
full of qualified shpwrights and the yards
gagged In the building of wooden vessels were few
and far between. of modest equipment and any.
thing but up to date compared with their steel
competitors. How. then has 1t been possible to
undertake so imposing program and to prom
ise deliveries within periods unprecedentedly
brief? The story is one to make every American
feel proud. for 1t is record of Yankee ingenu-
lty and native adaptability at their best.
1t was plain to the men concerned in direct
Ing the Emergency Fleet corporation that 1t
would be quite out Of the question to recruit
shipwrights to train new men in the art with.
In the time available. The shipwrght In his I'm
ished form Is the evolution Of long years Of prac-
teal application. and this means an acquired cum
ming In the use Of very few hand tools.
Just the same are launching timber yes
sells after very short building periods. and these
undeniable results are the consequence Of skill
fully directed efforts following new lines. The
Emergency Fleet corporation first set about
recruiting labor from a wide range of wood work.
ing trades. and they showed how these men could
be employed by reason Of already existing me-
chanical aids and others developing. to do virtu-
ally what had previously been done only by the
expert ship carpenter.
We are turning out by the new method ocean
going timber cargo carriers to which the under
writer's do not hesitate to give AL rating This
achievement Is the outcome of studied effort to
cut out lost motion all the way from the forest
to the building plant and thence upon the finished
product.
Where the shipwright used to hew and cut and
patiently carve the various curiously formed
structural units out Of relatively material,
his less expert brothers, the house carpenter, the
Joiner the wooden bridge builder and the like
now accomplish astonishing things through the
agency Of the sawmill. The sawmill In fact rep
resents today to the wooden ship what the steel
mill stands for in the case of the fabricated
freighter.
BY means Of planners that can be set at any
angle and saws that will operate when tilted to
different degrees, it Is possible for the present
day substitutes Of the master wood worker, the
shipwrght. to shape and to bevel pieces Of all
sizes and thicknesses and. besides, to do this In
a few minutes, where the ship carpenter 70.
Quired probably as many hours.
The pneumatic drill commonly used in struc.
tural steel work has been modified SO that II
viii answer for the boring Of holes in the tim.
bers OF wooden ship; pneumatic hammers,
adaptations Of steel riveters, are driving the
bolts, treenails. plugs. ETC.. that bind timber
craft together; and portable planners and kindred
air or electrically operated tools finish of sur
faces and smooth joints so that the adze and the
other tools Of the shipwright are wellnigh dis
pensed with. Further. these portable power.
driven aids are doing their work at a speed ut
terly unattainable by the traditional ship car
penter and his fellows.
As yet the concrete ship il too much Of nov
city for predictions to be made as to the ultimate
maximum Of practicable tonnage. nor are We
yet sure that the big concrete freighter Of 4.OOo
tons and more Is going to prove enduring ano
economical However. concrete craft OF mos
modest proportions have already established
their durability, their technical correctness ana
the feasibility Of constructing them rapidly
The Emergency Fleet corporation. bearing tnese
facts in mind, Is going right ahead TO supple
ment our mercantile squadrons BY substantially
encouraging the building Of some scores OF neasnc'
ers and other granolithic boatA