The Benson signal., 1918-07-20

wooden freighters each Of 400 tons deadweight
capacity.
A year ago we had in this, country only a hand
full of qualified shipwrights, and the yards en-
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 a program and to prom
ise deliveries within periods unprecedentedy
brief? The story is one to make every American
feel proud, for it is record Of Yankee ingenu-
1ty and native adaptability at their best.
1t was plain to the concerned in direct
ing the Emergency Fleet corporation that 1t
would be quite out Of the. question to recruit
shipwrights or to train new men in the art with
in the time available. The shipwright in his fin
ished form Is the evolution Of long years Of prac-
teal application, and this means acquired cum
ming in the use of very few hand tools.
Just the same launching timber
sells after very short building periods and these
undeniabe results are the consequence, of. skill
fully directed efforts following new lines. The
Emergency Fleet corporation first set About
recruiting labor from 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 vrtu-
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 90 not noSlCaCe 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 raw 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 sawmi. The sawmill in fact rep
resents today to the wooden ship what the steel
mill stands for in the of the fabricated
freighter.
By means of planers that 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
shipwright to shape and to bevel pieces of all
sizes and thicknesses and, besides, to do this In
a few minutes, where the ship carpenter re-
quired probably many hours.
The pneumatic drill commonly used In struc.
tural steel work has been modified so that II
will answer for the boring Of holes in the tim
bers Of a wooden ship; pneumatic hammers,
adaptations : Of steel riveters, are driving the
bolts, treenals, plugs, ETC., that bind timber
craft together; and portable planers and kindred
air electrically operated tools finish off 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 speed ut.
terly unattainable by the traditional ship car
penter and his fellows.
AS yet the concrete ship Is too much Of nov.
city for predictions to be made to the ultimate
maximum of practicable tonnage
yet sure that the big concrete freghter Of 4OOO
tons and more is going to prove enduring and
economical. However, concrete craft of more
modest proportions have already established
their durability, their technical correctness and
the feasibility Of constructing them rapidly.
The Emergency Fleet corporation bearing these
facts in mind, is going right ahead to supple
encouraging the building Of Of freight.
ers and other granOlithic boats.