Lumber conveyor in Arnprior, 1921
Title: Canadian forest industries January-June 1921 Identifier: canadianforjanjun1921donm Year: 1921 (1920s) Authors: Subjects: Lumbering; Forests and forestry; Forest products; Wood-pulp industry; Wood-using industries Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : Southam Business Publications Contributing Library: Fisher - University of Toronto Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: April 1, 1931 CANADA LUMBERMAN 33 Many New Economic Features in Busy Sawmill How McLachlin Bros,, of Arnprior, Have Increased Quantity of Marketable Material Obtained from Logs—Electrically Driven Conveyors and Labor-Saving Devices By "Progress" A critical analysis of all saw mills in the Dominion of Canada would, I believe, prove that most of the existing mills are in a con- dition to be either scrapped or re- designed to meet the new condi- tions. In comparison with the practises of the European and the Scandinavian, the Canadian has little to be proud of, and the only point on which he excels is that of output; this being secured at the expense of economy and good manufacture. It was decided in 1919 that the plant of McLachl'n Brothers, Limited, Arn jriur. Ont., which had been in operation for some fifty years, required to be rebuilt. In common with most old plants, the output was quite satisfactory, but the amount of labour required to operate to capacity was too high and it was found that the quantity of marketable material secured from the round logs could be increased. It was, therefore, decided by Mr. Dan McLachlin, who by the way is President of the Canadian Lumbermen's Association, not only to repair the existing plant and buildings, but to enlarge and modernize the whole plant and bring about a better economic condition throughout; at the same time decreasing the amount of labour required to manufacture the same, or a slightly increased quantity of marketable material. The power plant had been rebuilt before the war. new boilers and Dutch ovens erected in a modern fireproof brick and steel boiler house and a 48"x60" Corliss engine installed to drive the mill. We therefore started with the power plant of the No. 3 mill in first class condition and capable of further extension. A 500 h.p. 3 phase a.c. generator, driven by a cross compound Corliss engine, was added in an annex to the main engine room, this outfit supplying all the electric energy required for the dif¥erent motors throughout tlie plant. Combination Mechanical and Electrical Drives It was decided by Mr. McLachlin to use a combination of mechanical and electrical drives; that is, shafting to be used wherever it was best suited, and individual motors wherever advisable. In laying down the design of the new plant, the principal question to be dealt with was the geography of the location. No. 3 and No. 4 mills are located on rocky points extending into good water, the whole forming two ideal mill sites. The problem was to connect these with the yard which is situ- ated on a rolling sandy plateau draining in several directions, fitted with some twenty miles of track, and making an ideal piling ground. The previous arrangement was to manufacture the lumber at the mills, pile it into bundles and draw it to the sortinsf table by horses where the lumber was sorted down into the dififerent grades and taken to the yard for piling. The yard being at fifty feet higher elevation than the mills, brought into being a de- cided grade between mills proper and the piling ground. As it would have been expensive to ex- Text Appearing After Image: View of No. 3 mill of McLachlin Bros., Arnprior, looking down the lumber conveyor from the sorting table. The seven cabins house the electric motors that drive the conveyor. Each motor drives 29 rolls. Lumber moving at the rate of zy^ feet a second, takes nearly five minuXies to reach the sorting table. tend the track system and take standard gauge cars to the mills on the loyver level, it was decided to build two electrically driven conveyors. Xo data could be found covering the carrying of manufactured lumber this dis- tance. A combination roller- chain-electric motor unit was de- veloped which has proved jjecu- liarly satisfactory in service. Xo failure or interruption of any kind was experienced with this transniisison scheme during the summer of 1920; the cost of maintenance being practically nil. It is felt that there would be no difficulty in extending this system of lumber conveyors for any reasonable distance, as this Avould only entail a multiplica- tion of the present developed unit. The delivery of lumber from the trimmers to the electric transfer was entirely automatic, as was also the deliver}- of lum- ber to the sorting tables, mill is 391 feet long, divided into This table has proved The sorting table for the No. 3 four drives, each drive being an electric motor. peculiarly successful, being cool, quiet, well lighted and entirely satis factory in every way. Double track railroad was laid on each side of the sorting tables, and the sorted lumber loaded on to the steel yard lorries in bundles by gravity rollers. The sorting table for the No. 4 mill is 300 feet long, in three units, electrically driven. Only seven men are required on the No. 4 table for 100,000 feet per nine hours' run. About twenty men are required for the No. 3 table for an output of 250,000 feet per nine hours' run, the extra men on the No. 3 table being necessitated by the large quantity of shorts and resawn material that require handling. Extensive Slab Transfer System The outstanding feature of the No. 3 mill was the arrangement for the disposal of slabs. It is generally admitted that the trouble maker in most Canadian saw mills is the slab. It was therefore de- cided to use the whole of the main No. 3 mill floor for the manufacture of lumber and that no slabs of any kind would be handled or re-manu- factured on the main mill floor. Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.