Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-08-24

in converting standing trees into
useful boards, and will be an i'm
portant factor in supplying a valu-
able fuel to take the place Of coal
in time of shortage.
Robert b. Allen of Seattle, secre-
tary Of the West Coast Lumberman's
Association, has been in Washington
explaining the process TO officials.
What this will mean in the lum-
Der industry and to others also can
be gagged by the statement of lum-
Der manufacturers that in the best
standing timber, the waste in feeling
and milling amounts to 60 to 20 per
cent. By the time the logs are cut to
plank and then. to standard building
sizes sometimes only about 10 per
cent of the entire tree has been put
to use. The rest-stump, limbs,
chips and sawdust-is either burned
to be got rid of or left on the ground
to remainNa as a menace to the stand
ing forest. Very little of this valu-
able material is used for fuel. either
in lumber mills nearby power houses
or in domestic consumption.
THE new process. it is under
stood, carboniZes the material. press
es the resulting charcoal into brio
quotes that will have various uses,
, anu bSSfuSS SlNeS NY pIOuuCtS
as tar oil. fuel gas and acetone alco-
hol. In this way. it is said COM
paratively cheap fuel will be made
available to metallurgical and other
industries as we'll as in homes where
coal is not abundant or is actually
scarce.
THE methods, besides returning
an enormous saving to the lumber
| industry in any section, it is claimed
will develop iron and steel indus
tries on the Pacific coast where coal
is not found, but where ores have
been located; will produce the valu-
able by-products, afford cheaper fuel
, locally: facilitate the clearing Of cut
over land for agricultural purposes:
give the farmer a return, If not q
direct profit, on the material that
ordinarily hampers preparing of the
soil and make this process much
cheaper; will reduce the cost of re-
forestation where lands are not suit
able for agriculture; and finally will
reduce the losses through the forest
fires by elimination Of the dangerous
piles of waste left by the timber cut
| tiers.
"While the process has been sue
ccssfully applied to the salvage OF
sawdust and other mill wastes, the
engineers backing the movement arc
still working on the process of using
the trash left over where the tree
was cut. Forest is further reduced
| by half. For of the waste amounts
! to at least so per cent. of the stand
ing tree: but when the other 40 per
cent. arrives at the sawniill it aver
age log received at the mill, the cut
Of the saw exacts toll of about 1875
per cent. bark waste runs from 10 to
20 per cent; edging and trimming
| take another 81 per cent; slabs the
same; careless saving about SIS per
! cent. A fair sized mill producing
10000 board feet of lumber daily will
have 200 cords of waste material to
dispose Of"
Maine also has quite an abundance
of peat that could lbe used if a cheap
method might be devised for pre-
pairing it. Soft coal, too, would seem
suitable for briquetting. Present
conditions ought to be very stimulat-
ing to fertile .inventiveness. The
greedy manipulators VI anthracite
may yet kill the goose that laid the
golden egg.-Editor.