ON 
 
 THE ARRANGEMENT, CARE, AND OPERATION 
 
 OF 
 
 WOOD-WOKKING FACTORIES 
 AND MACHINERY; 
 
 FORMING 
 
 A COMPLETE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 By J; RICHARDS, 
 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEER, AUTHOR OF 'A TREATISE ON WOOD- WORKING MACHINES.' 
 
 
 NEW YOEK: , : ; 
 E. & F. N. SPON, 446, BEOOME STEEET. 
 
 LONDON : 
 48, CHAEING CEOSS. 
 
 1873. 
 
8* 
 
 ^¥ 
 
 [Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, by John Richards, in 
 the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.^ 
 
 w 
 
 vfi 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the * Treatise on the Construction and Operation of 
 Wood-working Machines,' it was necessary to introduce 
 a large number of expensive engravings, and to treat of 
 many things not directly connected with the processes of 
 wood conversion, but relating entirely to the construction 
 of machines. This, while it added to the value of the 
 work for engineers and machinists, at the same time 
 extended its cost, and placed it beyond the means of 
 machine operators and wood mechanics generally; be- 
 sides, the plan of the work did not include the practical 
 details of shop manipulation. 
 
 In view of this fact, and further to promote the de- 
 velopment of wood manufacture, it has been considered 
 expedient to supplement the * Treatise on the Construc- 
 tion and Operation of Wood-working Machines,' with a 
 shorter one, directed to their care and management, in- 
 cluding the plans of arranging and equipping factories 
 for wood work, and particularly the details with which 
 the practical workman has to deal. 
 
 The work is mainly based, upon American practice, 
 which can hardly detract from its usefulness in other 
 
 a2 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 countries. The wood interest is more extended in America 
 than elsewhere, and we have every reason to assume, that 
 with our present facilities of intercourse, wood conversion, 
 like other manufacturing processes, will become analogous 
 and uniform, as it progresses and improves. 
 
 J. RICHARDS. 
 
 10, John Street, Adelphi, London, 
 Jan., 1873. 
 
XNTKODUCTIOK 
 
 At the present day it may be fairly claimed that machines 
 have supplanted hand labour in working wood. 
 
 Year by year improvements have gone on, until bench 
 work and hand skill have become comparatively unim- 
 portant elements in wood manufacture ; and, as Professor 
 Willis remarked before the Society of Arts, 1852, " no- 
 thing remains to be done by hand, but to put the com- 
 ponent parts together." None, except those who have 
 learned their trades when and where machines were 
 not used, can realize this change. You may tell the 
 apprentice of to-day about going out through the snow 
 to a board-pile, selecting your stuff, carrying it in, and 
 after scraping off the snow in winter, or sweeping off 
 the dust in summer, laying out the stuff with a chalk- 
 line, and straight-edge, ripping out the job by hand, 
 setting it about the stove to dry, and then dressing it 
 up with a jack plane. You may tell him of mortising 
 by hand, cutting tenons and shoulders, with a back- 
 saw, and he will look at you with an incredulous stare. 
 No wonder; for this sort of thing has passed away, 
 and with it, we are happy to say, some of the hardest 
 labour that ever was dignified with the name of me- 
 chanical. It was mechanical, nevertheless, and called 
 for the continual exercise of judgment and skill ; from 
 the cutting out to the cleaning off, it was a kind of 
 race between brains and muscle, in which brains some- 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 times conquered. Many a time, as older hand workmen 
 will remember, would a small man, without that muscular 
 strength that seemed to be the main element in his work, 
 have earned his dollar or two dollars more at the end of 
 the week than his stronger competitor, simply by his 
 superior hand skill, superior judgment, and superior tools. 
 But now machines do the work, and the main business of 
 the operative is to take care of, guide, and direct them. 
 The muscular work is gone; the brain work remains. 
 We cannot quite say that our occupation is, like Othello's, 
 gone, but it is greatly changed — from hand operation, 
 it has become machine operation, and hence the need for 
 this little work. 
 
 Machine operating is a trade — not an ordinary trade, but 
 one of great intricacy, and unlike almost any other ; it is 
 one that cannot be completely learned even in a lifetime. 
 
 A man endowed with a strong natural capacity may, 
 during a long and diversified experience, become a pro- 
 ficient and successful operator of wood machines, but the 
 incessant changes and improvements that are going on 
 in machines and processes, together with the arduous 
 nature of his work, are more than enough to take up his 
 time and his abilities. Month after month, and year after 
 year, he sees that which he has to learn, grow and expand 
 until he almost despairs of mastering it. He is not 
 a mechanic with a trade in the usual sense; but is a 
 mechanic of many trades. The duties discharged by a 
 machine operator in America would be and are in Europe 
 divided up into half-a-dozen different callings ; there are 
 for instance the sawyer, the filer, the planer, the jig sawyer, 
 finisher, and others, involving a division of labour which 
 would be very far from producing the results we have 
 in our wood-working establishments in America, where 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 the machine operator must be a bench workman, under- 
 stand all wood-machine operation, must be a machinist, 
 not only one that can chip and file, but must know the 
 theory of constructing and repairing machines ; he must 
 be a millwright, not an old time " whittler " who could 
 pare for a week on half-a-dozen wooden cogs of a crown 
 wheel, but a millwright who can lay out shafting, calcu- 
 late speeds, build wooden drums and supports, and do it 
 in a rapid and thorough manner; in short, be proficient 
 in the most difficult of millwright work. Thus the wood 
 workman, in escaping the muscular part of his calling, has 
 only added to the mental part; but he has at the same 
 time the assurance that the change dignifies his business, 
 and leads to better pay, which has in all times and all 
 places corresponded more to the mental than the physical 
 part of man's labour. 
 
 Nearly every mechanical trade has its "Handbook," 
 " Manual," or " Guide," based upon the practice of 
 skilled men, and containing rules founded on experience, 
 which have been of great use in giving information to 
 workmen. To argue the merit of such books is super- 
 fluous. In every country the advancement of mechanic 
 art has been largely if not mainly indebted to the dis- 
 semination of technical literature of this kind. A book 
 relating to any branch of industry is, or ought to be, but 
 the experience of some person, given with opinions and 
 rules deduced from that experience, and is more valuable 
 than oral instruction because more carefully given, can 
 be often referred to, and used by a greater number of 
 people. There has been in time past, and there is still, 
 too much of a feeling that books cannot deal directly with 
 practice, and relate to theory only ; and further, that 
 theory and practice are not only different elements in 
 
Ylll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mechanics, but in a measure antagonistic and opposed to 
 each other. The further we go back, the more we find 
 of this spirit, which has grown out of a variety of reasons, 
 among which we will name the imperfection or im- 
 practicable character of certain books prepared by those 
 who were only versed in theory, and did not understand 
 practice as well. Again, want of knowledge and ap- 
 preciation of the true relations between theory and 
 practice ; and the general want of both a knowledge of, 
 and attention to principles, has led to the same result. 
 We therefore, without fear of error, may claim that the 
 popular estimate of text-books is in a degree wrong. We 
 take up a book devoted to some art with which we are 
 familiar, and find the author has made a blunder on some 
 particular point which we understand better than he does, 
 and at once conclude that the book is of no use ; but 
 read on, the author may make ten successive mistakes 
 and then give some useful idea, that is new to the reader, 
 and worth twenty times the cost of the book. Besides, 
 the too common idea, especially with young mechanics, is 
 to regard as wrong all that differs from their own opinions 
 and practice. These things are mentioned as operating 
 against the good that class text-books may do ; but still 
 the fact remains, that to such books we have been in the 
 past indebted, and to them we must in the future look as 
 a principal means of disseminating technical knowledge. 
 
 We have said that nearly all mechanical trades have 
 been developed by, and have, their text-books. Can anyone 
 tell why wood manufactures have had no such text-books ? 
 or rather, why wood working by machinery has had no 
 books of any kind? This is the more remarkable in 
 America, where the wood-working interest is so extensive, 
 and where at least a quarter of a million of people are 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 concerned in wood manufactures. So long as the fact is 
 assured, the reason is not important, except as it may tend 
 to mend the matter in future. 
 
 We may say, that as changes and improvements in 
 machines have been so rapid text-books could not do 
 much good ; that the art had no scientific base admitting 
 rules that could be of general application ; and that the 
 operations were too diversified in different branches to 
 be treated under a general head, with other excuses ; but 
 the fact still remains, without a sufficient reason, that 
 wood manufactures have been greatly neglected, and that 
 much that might have been done has not been done. 
 In future, if the art is to keep up and maintain its 
 place as one of the most important among American 
 manufactures, it must, like metal work, textile fabrics, 
 engineering, and other interests, have a literature con- 
 sisting of text-books for operators and manufacturers, rules 
 and formulas for constructors, and a general system to 
 guide, in the arrangement of factories, the operation and 
 care of machines and like matters. 
 
 As to how far a text-book, or rather a handbook, may 
 be of general application in wood work is confessedly a 
 question of difficulty, and this should be considered in any 
 estimate placed upon what is written upon the subject ; but 
 there is still this argument in favour of having it relate to 
 wood work in general, that the whole tendency of shop 
 manipulation is to a uniformity of processes and machines, 
 and the more of the work there is performed by machines, 
 the stronger the analogy between different branches ; and 
 also, as machines approach nearer and nearer to a standard 
 form of construction for the general purposes of planing, 
 sawing, mortising, and so on, the more uniform will be 
 these processes. In short, the machines used for such pur- 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 poses as joinery, cabinet making, carriage making, are 
 becoming similar, except as to strength and capacity, 
 which is not to be wondered at when we reflect that the 
 one general principle throughout is cutting with sharp 
 edges. 
 
 Hoping to contribute something to such a desirable end, 
 this little treatise has been prepared. It is based directly 
 upon American practice, which is peculiar, and could not 
 be aided by text-books arranged for, and with reference to 
 practice in, older countries, where labour is cheaper and 
 the skill less ; where hand labour yet maintains an 
 important place, and will no doubt for a long time to 
 come. 
 
 It must be remembered that " Handbooks," " Manuals," 
 and text-books generally, are compilations to a great 
 extent from more elaborate and scientific treatises relating 
 to the same subject, and that authors have but little to do 
 beyond condense, simplify, and arrange them. In the 
 present case, however, it is different. One might look 
 in vain to find anything to assist in the preparation 
 of a treatise on wood manufacturing, if we except the 
 writer's own Treatise on the Construction and Operation 
 of Wood-working Machines. 
 
 The writer therefore sets out on this job with the 
 expectation of having to furnish the material as well 
 as to do the work. It will consist mainly of, and be 
 founded on, his own experience, which he trusts has been 
 extensive and successful enough, to afford much that will 
 be useful to the reader. 
 
 We conclude this Introduction by further reminding the 
 reader that in most mechanical trades a handbook would 
 relate to processes alone ; but for reasons already given, a 
 book for machine operators in wood manufactures must be 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 more than this, or else fail to be of much use. It must to 
 some extent treat of the construction of machines, the 
 arrangement of wood manufactories, the power to drive 
 them, the handling of material, of all that the machine 
 hand has to deal with. As his calling is a combination of 
 trades, so must this book relate to a diversity of subjects. 
 There is but little fear of going outside of what an ope- 
 rator has to do and know, for it comprises nearly all that 
 is carried on in wood-working shops except the accounts, 
 and often includes a liberal share in that department. 
 With this fact in view, we have but little fear of getting 
 wide of the subject, and are quite confident that although 
 we may discuss things which the Title would hardly 
 reach, we shall not go beyond what either belongs to his 
 business or is of interest to the operator of wood-working 
 machinery. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF WOOD-WORKING FACTORIES. 
 
 Wood-working establishments in America are divided 
 mainly into those directed to the preparation of builders' 
 material, the manufacture of furniture, and carriage work. 
 
 The first comprehend planing mills, door, sash, and 
 blind factories, and moulding mills. 
 
 The second, all classes of furniture making, including 
 chairs and turned work generally, with musical instrument 
 cases. 
 
 The third, carriage work for railways and road traffic, 
 with framing for agricultural implements, a class of work 
 that is analogous and, as a rule, performed on the same 
 kind of machines. 
 
 Outside these three general divisions there are turn- 
 ing shops, bending works, handle factories, tool factories, 
 and similar establishments, in which the processes and 
 machines are more or less special. 
 
 Wood manufacture, as a process unlike most others 
 for the conversion of material, is confined to a single 
 operation, that of cutting, which will be treated of under 
 another head. The principles being nearly alike in the 
 action of all the different wood machines, it follows that 
 the shops are, or can be, very much on. the same general 
 plan for the several divisions of work which we have 
 named. The machines and the material are nearly 
 
 B 
 
2 THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 the same for general woodwork ; and if we leave out 
 timber cutting, of which it is not proposed to say any- 
 thing in the present work, rules that will apply to a 
 planing mill, or furniture factory, will not be far wrong 
 for a carriage shop, or a car shop. 
 
 An ordinary wood-working factory may be a plain 
 rectangular building, not less than 48 feet wide inside ; 
 long enough and high enough to accommodate the require- 
 ments of the business. The writer in his experience has 
 found 48 feet an advantageous width, and would recom- 
 mend it never exceeding 60 feet; for beyond this the 
 added width will not afford facilities in the same ratio, 
 and will increase the proportionate cost of a building. A 
 width of 50 feet to 60 feet will allow for what we will 
 term four lines of machine work, two on each side, and 
 a tramway or a wagon road in the centre. 
 
 The diagram given, Fig. 1, will serve as an example of 
 this arrangement for a jobbing mill. The plan is not 
 assumed as presenting anything new, but given rather for 
 the opposite reason, because it is not new or ingenious. 
 
 The most important matter to be guarded against in 
 making plans for a new mill, is that of intricate and 
 original designs, seemingly presenting great advantages 
 on paper, and apparently quite correct to an architect 
 before building, but really quite wrong to a foreman or 
 manager after the building is completed. 
 
 Fig. 1 is on a scale approximately as 1 to 400. 
 
 The plan here suggested is for a country jobbing mill 
 60 x 120 feet outside dimensions, having two cross lines 
 of shafting, and equipped with machines requiring about 
 40-horse power. 
 
 The lower story should be 13 to 15 feet high in the 
 clear, and the countershafts as far as possible overhead. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 The arrangement of machines upon the floor is a matter 
 that may be varied at pleasure, or to suit special kinds of 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 12V feet 
 
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 Eeferences. 
 
 1.— Office, 14 x 16 feet. 
 
 2.— Counting room, 16 x 16 feet. 
 
 3. — Storeroom for oil, tools, and 
 supplies, 10 x 16 feet. 
 
 4.— Eepairing and tool-dressing 
 room. 
 
 5. — Boiler-shed. 
 
 6. — Firing room. 
 
 7. — Magazine for shavings. 
 
 8.— Steam chimney. 
 
 9. — Engine-room. 
 10. — Steam furnace. 
 11. — Stairway. 
 12.— Hoisting platform. 
 13.— Cutting-off and jobbing saw- 
 bench. 
 14. — Jointing saw. 
 15. — Jobbing saw. 
 16. — Large flooring machine. 
 
 17. — Matching planers for jobbing. 
 
 18. — Large moulding machine. 
 
 19. — Small moulding machine. 
 
 20. — Slitting saw bench. 
 
 21. — General surfacing planer. 
 
 22. — Splitting saw for siding. 
 
 23. — Kesawing machine. 
 
 24. — Wagon passage, or tramway. 
 
 25. — Grindstones for planer-knives 
 
 and tools. 
 26. — Engine lathe for repairing. 
 27.— Forge fire. 
 
 28. — Vice bench for machine fitting . 
 29. — Saw-filing bench. 
 30. — Pumps. 
 
 31. — Main driving pulley. 
 32. — Engine. 
 a a. — Shafting. 
 
4 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 work; it cannot well be predicated upon an ideal plan, 
 and can be remedied by changing, if wrong. The arrange- 
 ment of the machines also depends upon their number and 
 capacity. If in founding a mill the equipment is not 
 complete, as is generally the case, there is no necessity 
 for crowding and hampering machines to suit some 
 general plan which may be carried out in future, when 
 the mill is fully equipped ; it is often more advantageous 
 to set machines temporarily, moving them as occasion may 
 require, and thus obtaining more room, and greater con- 
 venience for the time being. 
 
 The shafting is shown arranged in two lines, three are 
 often better and more convenient. If three lines are used 
 they will cost but little more than a single one running 
 the other way of the building, and can have the advantage 
 of being arranged to run at different speeds if required. 
 
 The last shaft, or the one farthest from the engine, can 
 be driven at a higher speed than the other shafts to suit 
 joiners' machines on an upper floor, an arrangement that 
 is common in our mills ; joiners' machines if belted from 
 below will not require a line of shafting above, and a self- 
 supporting roof can be used, so that the upper room will 
 be clear of posts, adding greatly to both the appearance 
 and convenience of the room. 
 
 The position of the posts in the lower story is not 
 marked in Fig. 1, but they can be arranged on each side 
 of the central passage at a distance apart that will best 
 accommodate the handling of long stuff, which is an 
 important thing to be considered about a mill floor. 
 
 In connection with the plan, Fig. 1, the following list 
 of dimensions for machinery will be of use in making 
 plans for mills, even when they may vary in capacity 
 from the one assumed : — 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. O 
 
 Steam engine, 12 inches diameter, 20 to 24 inches 
 stroke, with a speed of 75 revolutions a minute. 
 
 Boiler, if double flued, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long ; 
 if multiflued, one-fourth less heating surface will do. 
 
 Grate surface, equal to 16 square feet. 
 
 Steam chimney, 60 feet high ; area of flue, 500 square 
 inches, fitted with air-tight slide damper. 
 
 Engine-driving pulley, 10 feet diameter, 18 inches space. 
 
 Line shafting, 3 inches diameter throughout, to make 
 250 revolutions a minute. 
 
 Line-shaft pulleys, with average diameter of 36 inches 
 and 12 inches face. 
 
 Average speed of countershafting 750 revolutions a 
 minute. 
 
 Hoisting platform, 10 x 6 feet. 
 
 As various dimensions will be hereafter considered under 
 separate heads, these are only given to render the diagram 
 more complete. 
 
 For furniture and carriage manufacture, and in any case 
 where the lumber is short, or is reduced to short lengths, 
 in working, the arrangement of machines must have refer- 
 ence rather to the course of the material through the 
 shop as it is sawed, planed, bored, and mortised, than to 
 providing room to handle it in. 
 
 In the case of a planing mill, a large share of the lumber 
 worked is only dressed, or jointed and matched, and then 
 again sent out ; the trouble is to find room for the lumber 
 among the machines, and to handle it ; in other words, to 
 get it into and out of the mill without interfering with 
 other work. If flooring is regularly or continually made, 
 or if surfacing is continually going on, it is useless to 
 provide room within the main building for storing either 
 the rough or finished stuff ; it should be fed in through the 
 
THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 walls, and passed out of them as fast as worked, in such a 
 manner as will not interfere with other operations going 
 on at the same time. 
 
 A lumber-planing mill, where nothing but planing is 
 done, requires a totally different arrangement from a mill 
 where joiners' stuff and mouldings are made, or jobbing done. 
 
 The main building should be in such cases about 24 feet 
 wide, with the machines placed side by side across the 
 building, and have large doors opening opposite the feed 
 end of each machine, as in Fig. 2. 
 
 The Figure is arranged on a scale of 1 to 200. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
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 75 
 
 [References. 
 
 1.— Is the main planing room. 
 
 2. — The engine-room. 
 
 3. — Storeroom for oil, tools, and 
 stores. 
 
 4. — Magazine for shavings. 
 
 5. — Boiler furnace. 
 
 6. — Storing shed for worked lum- 
 ber. 
 
 7. — Steam chimney. 
 
 8. — Engine. 
 
 9. — Main driving pulley. 
 
 10. — Planing and matching ma- 
 chines. 
 
 11. — Surfacing machine. 
 
 12. — Line shaft. 
 
 13. — Large doors hinged at the top 
 to open inward. 
 
 14. — Portholes for planed stuff to 
 pass through. 
 
 15. — Ash-pit to the steam furnace. 
 
THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 7 
 
 This plan in substance has been adopted in some of the 
 larger mills about Chicago, and has many advantages to 
 recommend it for a mill that is devoted to lumber dressing 
 alone. 
 
 It affords a mill of great capacity with but a limited 
 investment in the building, and the most economical 
 arrangement of shafting and belts ; besides, the plan is as 
 safe from fire as it is possible to arrange one. The lumber 
 is mainly handled out of doors, which gives unlimited 
 room for storing, loading, and unloading it from wagons 
 or railway trains. 
 
 The main mill-room and the engine-room should be 
 thoroughly fireproof, with iron roof, and roof supports. 
 
 The walls should be 17 inches thick, and the overhead 
 cross-beams not less than 15 feet above the floor, with the 
 line shafting placed in pedestals, resting on top of the 
 beams. 
 
 The line shafting should be 3 inches diameter, and make 
 250 revolutions a minute. 
 
 A mill of this capacity should manufacture at least 
 25,000 feet of matched stuff in a day, besides doing an 
 equal amount of rough surfacing. 
 
 For general wood manufacture other than lumber dress- 
 ing or car building, the plain rectangular form of building 
 represented in Fig. 1 is as nearly correct as any that can 
 be devised. The material and the machines are short, and 
 a given amount of floor room, with convenient ingress and 
 egress, is all that is required. 
 
 Upper floors are, with good hoisting apparatus, nearly 
 as good as ground floors for most purposes, and the most 
 economical buildings for furniture manufacturing are from 
 four to six stories high. 
 
 To secure good lighting, cheap timber framing, and to 
 avoid posts, wood- working buildings should be narrow and 
 
b THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 long ; or rather the width should be constant, and addi- 
 tional room secured by length. 
 
 A building for wood manufacturing can be 48 feet wide 
 in the clear, with a single row of posts in the middle, if 
 the girders are deep enough, say 16 x 12 inches, or if 
 smaller they may be trussed, as shown in Fig. 3. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 The truss rods are generally in the way of the belts, 
 especially when the line shafting is placed, as it should be, 
 across the building; and in nearly all cases it is both 
 better and cheaper to provide strength in the girders 
 without trussing them. 
 
 In the common plan of resting the joist on the top, the 
 girders are themselves in the way of the belts, and often 
 cause great inconvenience. 
 
 But few ever consider in building shops that this method 
 of mounting joists adds their depth to the height of the 
 walls ; so that it is not only an inconvenient but a very 
 expensive one. A building with three floors will re- 
 quire to be some three feet higher at least, to give the 
 same clearance between the floors as when the joists are 
 let in flush. 
 
 For factories, where there is overhead shafting, the joist 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 9 
 
 should be gained into the girders, and rest on string 
 pieces also, as in Fig. 4. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 References. 
 
 1. — Section across the girder. 
 
 2. — Joists. 
 
 3.— Post. 
 
 4. — Iron post cap, wide enough to receive the pieces 6, 6, which 
 
 are bolted or spiked to the sides of the girder 1, to receive 
 
 part of the strain and support the joists. 
 
 With bearing strips to help support the joists, the latter 
 need not be gained into the girder far enough, nor deep 
 enough, to weaken it. The bottom of a beam is its 
 weakest part, in resisting transverse strain ; and the gain, 
 say 2J inches long and 6 inches deep in a girder 16 x 12 
 inches, does not affect its strength. The top receives only 
 compressive strain, and is after notching generally stronger 
 than the bottom side. 
 
 In Fig. 4, 5 5 are hanger-plates, which are thick enough 
 to come flush with the bottom of the girders, as shown by 
 the dotted lines. This arrangement of having the girders 
 project below the joist to a depth equal to a 3 or 4 inch 
 hanger-plate, is one that will find favour with any mechanic 
 
10 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 who lias had experience in erecting shafting beneath a floor, 
 where the joist was laid on the top of the girders, and where 
 all the plans for belts, and even the position of machines, 
 had to be governed by the position of the girders. As 
 here arranged, the whole ceiling is in effect a plane ; a 
 shaft or other overhead work can be set anywhere. If a 
 hanger comes on the girders, it is evident that no hanger- 
 plate is needed, so that there is really no inconvenience, 
 but a decided advantage in having the girders project 
 below the joist, to the difference of their depth, say from 
 3 to 4 inches. 
 
 Joist floors are the best floors for wood-manufacturing 
 establishments of all kinds. A plank floor, resting on girder 
 beams, is very strong in the sense of supporting a great load, 
 and will do very well for machine shops, but is totally unfit 
 to resist the jar and vibration of high-speed machines. A 
 floor of this kind is elastic and springy, no matter how 
 thick it may be, while a joist floor, well bridged, is stiff 
 and unyielding ; although it might be broken through in 
 spots with heavy weights, or might yield more in supporting 
 great loads. 
 
 To put the same planking upon joists, that is usually 
 laid on beams, would give a floor that is stronger in nine 
 cases out of ten. But the custom is to put a thin floor, 
 generally a single one, on joists, and a double one consisting 
 of heavy plank for the first course with 1^-inch matched 
 boards, upon beams. Without questioning the necessity 
 of the double floor in the case of beams, and admitting that 
 a joist floor is strong enough without it, it is certainly but 
 fair to assume a floor of equal strength in the two cases, 
 when making comparisons between the plans. 
 
 A double floor is always best, a jointed one, say of 
 li-inch thick lumber laid across the joist, and an inch 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 11 
 
 matched floor lengthwise the building, making 2J- inches in 
 all, is strong enough for ordinary upper floors that have 
 only finishing machines to support. 
 
 Ground floors on which the heavy traffic comes cannot 
 be made too strong. The weight of heavy machines 
 requires good foundation supports to keep them level and 
 to prevent vibration, but the piling of lumber which is 
 quite as heavy, and falls first in one place and then 
 another, is the main thing to provide against. The weight 
 of a machine is constant at one place, and when it is once 
 levelled up would remain so ; but if two to five thousand 
 feet of hard wood lumber is piled near it, unless the floor 
 is very strong, the machine is listed over or twisted by 
 depression of the floor. 
 
 When there is no basement room, and nothing to hinder 
 the building of piers beneath a floor, there is no excuse for 
 having it weak enough to yield, and it only requires 
 proper consideration at the time of erecting the building. 
 
 STEAM POWEK FOR WOOD-WOKKING ESTABLISHMENTS. 
 
 Among other subjects which a foreman or wood-machine 
 operator is expected to understand is that of steam power. 
 The steam power is an integral part of the machinery of the 
 establishment, and should not be conducted as a kind of 
 separate department from the rest. If it is, as a natural 
 consequence delays and derangements will be of frequent 
 occurrence. 
 
 To keep an engine always running requires quick 
 judgment and a fertility of expedients not often found 
 with the class of engineers it is common to employ in 
 wood-working mills. 
 
12 the" operator's handbook. 
 
 In the United States the foremen and operators are, as 
 a rule, well acquainted with steam power, and it often 
 becomes a part of their duty to give suggestions and to 
 make plans for furnaces, boilers, engines, and other details 
 of the power department for wood shops. 
 
 It is therefore considered here quite in place to devote a 
 short chapter to the subject directed to some of the peculiar 
 points to be observed in making plans for steam power in 
 wood- manufacturing establishments. 
 
 A wood-working factory, unlike a machine shop, has 
 not the same facilities for repairing, and keeping fancy 
 steam engines in order. The dust renders it almost im- 
 possible to keep them clean or bright, and the work is so 
 irregular, and so heavy, that the expense of finishing is 
 much better expended in more careful fitting. 
 
 The duty of a steam engine is not only more severe, but is 
 more irregular than in almost any other business. As a 
 rule, steam engines in wood-working establishments will 
 be found working up to their full capacity, and require the 
 packing and joints to be carefully kept in order. The duty 
 is irregular in consequence of the sudden strain of starting 
 planing machines, saws, and similar machines. The average 
 duty is regular enough, so as to dispense with independent 
 cut-off valves on the engine, which must always add to the 
 complication, and liability to derangement and wear. A 
 strong plain engine is what is required, without bright finish 
 or ornament, but with well-fitted joints and large bearing 
 surfaces made of the best material. 
 
 The piston, cross-head connecting rod, and main 
 bearings, are the vital parts to be looked after. The 
 cross-head bearings are continually deprived of their oil 
 by the fine dust that will find its way to the engine-room, 
 no matter what precautions are taken to prevent it ; they 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK, 13 
 
 should have either fibrous packing, oil feeders, or be made 
 of wood. Gibs of lignum vita? will be found to wear well 
 and be safe from danger of cutting the slides ; besides, 
 they can be replaced at any time without detention for 
 repairs, or a trip to the machine shop. 
 
 An engine to drive wood machines requires a heavy 
 balance wheel to ensure steady motion, it should have not 
 less than 500 pounds of weight to each inch of diameter of 
 the cylinder, and be as large in diameter as practicable. 
 
 The piston speed should for the same object be from 
 300 feet to 400 feet a minute. 
 
 The boiler and steam furnace are matters of greater 
 importance than the engine. They generate the power, 
 the engine merely transmits it to the work, a thing not 
 always thought of. 
 
 In determining what variety of boiler to use, there are 
 two leading conditions to be taken into account — the kind 
 of water, and the kind of fuel to be used. 
 
 Wood refuse alone is not a severe fuel, but when mixed 
 with bituminous coal it makes a very hot fire, which from 
 its intensity and its irregularity may be considered destruc- 
 tive to a boiler ; to obviate this the boiler must be kept 
 clean and should be made of simple form, admitting of 
 easy access to every part. 
 
 With hard lime water, which is commonly found through- 
 out the middle States, this last-named condition becomes 
 a necessity ; no complicated multiflued or fire-box boiler 
 can last long when there is much lime in the feed water ; 
 the advantage gained by the thinner metal in the tubes 
 or by the fire-box is soon lost through incrustation, while 
 the original cost, subsequent repairs, cost of cleaning, 
 care, management, and risk, are all in favour of the plain 
 cvlinder boiler without flues, or with flues that can be 
 
14 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 reached for the purpose of cleaning both internally and 
 externally. 
 
 The irregularity of firing with wood fuel when a regu- 
 lating damper is not used makes steam room desirable ; 
 this is seldom obtained in a multirlued boiler, where the 
 contracted heating surface generally leads to a propor- 
 tionately contracted steam space, and this, with the ordi- 
 nary mode of firing, has the steam " up " and " down " 
 continually, causing a derangement of the work, and having 
 a most destructive effect upon the boiler itself from the 
 intermittent strain upon the metal. The heating surface 
 and steam room, or in other words the capacity of a boiler, 
 should be one-third more for a wood manufactory where 
 the cuttings and shavings are burned, than where coal is 
 exclusively used for fuel. 
 
 Although in opposition to a popular prejudice, the 
 writer recommends for most cases a plain cylinder boiler 
 without flues of any kind, carefully set in a first-class 
 furnace, and made long enough to gain the full effect of 
 the fire. There is, however, not much use in recommend- 
 ing a thing which it is known will not be applied. There 
 is a prejudice against cylinder boilers throughout most 
 parts of the United States that prevents their use in a 
 great many cases where they would give nearly as good a 
 result as those with flues, and have other advantages 
 which all must admit. 
 
 Following the general practice of the middle and western 
 States we present some views respecting the construction 
 of furnaces for double-flued cylinder boilers. 
 
 The plans set forth in the Figures which follow, have 
 for general objects, a tight furnace, a cool place to fire, and 
 a saving in first cost, with greater safety from fire. Such 
 a furnace as is here represented requires better mason- work 
 than ordinary furnaces, and should have a thorough 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 
 
 15 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 lining of fire-brick about the fire-bed. The whole amount 
 of brickwork is greater than when an iron fire-front 
 is used. As a modification of steam fur- 
 naces it may be considered adapted to wood- 
 manufacturing establishments, because of 
 its safety from fire and the avoidance of 
 heat by the fireman; the latter, considering 
 the attention and time that is needed to fire 
 with shavings, is no small object. 
 
 Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section 
 through a furnace built with its end oppo- 
 site to, and combined with, the stack, so that 
 no breeching is needed, and the firing is 
 effected from the side, as seen in the side 
 elevation, Fig. 6, without exposure to the 
 heat, and with more safety from danger of 
 fire. The ash-pit opens on the opposite side 
 of the furnace generally, outside the build- 
 ing, where there is no danger of the shavings 
 catching fire while feeding the furnace or 
 when the attendant is absent. A slide 
 damper and the lever to work it are shown 
 on the front of the stack, Fig. 6. 
 
 A cross-section through the furnace at 
 
 3 
 
 
 the bridge wall is shown at Fig. 7, with the covering 
 over the boiler to retain the heat and to guard against 
 danger from sparks. The filling, or covering, is of sand, 
 
16 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 Boiler, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long. 
 
 Two flues, 1G inches diameter. 
 
 Height of steam chimney, 60 to 75 feet. 
 
 Area of flue in the chimney, 500 inches. 
 
 Area of boiler flues, 400 inches. 
 
 Area of throat at the bridge wall, 400 to 450 inches. 
 
 Area of grate surface, 16 square feet. 
 
 Area of the flue behind the bridge wall, 7 to 10 feet. 
 
 Clearance on the sides of the boiler, 4£ inches. 
 
 Clearance at back end of the boiler, 14 inches. 
 
 Size of fire-door, 15 X 30 inches. 
 
 Depth of ash-pit, 24 inches. 
 
 Width of ash-pit, 42 inches. 
 
 Ash-door (air inlet), 700 to 800 inches. 
 
 Thickness of furnace wall:?, single, 13 inches. 
 
 Thickness of furnace walls, if double, 17 inches. 
 
 Depth from boiler to grate, 18 to 22 inches. 
 
 Clearance between boiler and chimney, 24 inches. 
 
 The fire-room floor to be level with the grates. 
 
 earth, or ashes, instead of mortar and brick, which is liable 
 to crack, and allow sparks to escape, when the damper 
 is shut, which is one of the most common 
 sources of fire about wood factories where 
 steam power is employed. 
 
 The following dimensions are for a furnace 
 of this kind, arranged for about 40-horse 
 power, and sufficient to drive a mill such as 
 shown in Fisr. 7. 
 
 Fig. 6 
 
 A covering of loose earth or sand, as shown in Fig. 7, 
 has other advantages besides the safety which it ensures 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 17 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 from fire ; it is cheap, easy to remove and renew, and a 
 good non-conductor of heat. With a tight furnace covered 
 in this manner, it is comparatively safe 
 to erect drying rooms over a boiler, if 
 the wood is kept at some distance above 
 the furnace — say, 5 feet, or more. 
 
 The usual method of firing with wood 
 shavings is wrong ; there are seldom any 
 means employed to regulate the fire or 
 the quantity of steam generated, except 
 by the amount of fuel that is fed to 
 the furnace ; a custom not only wrong, because of the 
 waste of fuel it occasions, but because of the irregularity 
 it causes in the pressure of the steam and the increased 
 amount of labour required for firing. Without some means 
 of controlling the fire there is, at intervals, an intense heat 
 which generates more steam than is needed; the fuel is 
 soon burnt out, and the cold air allowed to pass through 
 the bare grates, until the heating effect of the fire is in 
 part counteracted. When fresh fuel is added it at once 
 burns up, or, as is often the case with a strong draught, 
 nearly all the lighter shavings are drawn over the 
 bridge wall before they are burned. An experiment for 
 a single day in the use of a regulating damper will be 
 sufficient to convince anyone of its advantages. The 
 furnace should be kept full of fuel, no matter what its 
 character, and the steam regulated by the draught, either 
 with a slide damper operated by the fireman, or what is 
 much better, with a steam damper that regulates the 
 draught without any attention. 
 
 There are perhaps no simple contrivances that save 
 so much labour and money, so uniformly perform their 
 functions satisfactorily, are so much neglected and so 
 
 c 
 
18 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 little known, as steam-damper regulators. No one who 
 uses them would think of doing without them, and but 
 few who do not have them ever think of their importance. 
 
 There is no case where steam dampers are not needed, 
 but nowhere else are they so important as to regulate the 
 fire in the steam furnaces of wood-working establishments, 
 where the fuel is of a mixed and inflammable character 
 and cannot be fed with sufficient regularity to keep the 
 steam at a uniform pressure. The original patent on these 
 damper regulators has expired, and they are now sold at a 
 low price by various makers. 
 
 In arranging steam plant for wood manufactories pro- 
 vision should be made to guard against freezing in the 
 winter. Carrying out and bringing in such bulky material 
 as lumber always makes a shop cold, especially in the 
 lower story where the steam power is placed, and nothing 
 is more annoying than to be froze up. A little over- 
 sight in this way often leads to expensive delay, when a 
 few dollars would have saved all if it had been considered 
 in time. 
 
 Another very important matter in the arrangement of 
 steam furnaces about wood mills is to have them con- 
 venient to fire. We may provide against heat by neither 
 using a smoke breeching nor an iron fire front, but if the 
 fireman has to stand and shovel in shavings through a 
 small door breast high, only half has been done that can 
 be accomplished to render the firing easy. The fire-doors 
 should be level with the fire-room floor, so that the 
 shavings and sawdust may be shoved into the furnace 
 with a large scraper ; the doorway should be not less than 
 30 inches wide, the doors well lined to keep them cool, 
 and the whole floor in front of the furnace made of iron 
 plates, so that the fuel may lie about the door without 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 19 
 
 danger of catching fire, and avoid the trouble of con- 
 tinually sweeping up, which would otherwise be neces- 
 sary. There is not the least objection to arranging a 
 furnace in this manner, in fact there is a decided gain 
 in convenience of access to every part, except to the 
 ash-pit, which is but a small matter. 
 
 SHAFTING FOR WOOD SHOPS. 
 
 If any machine operator of long experience, or, for that 
 matter, of short experience, were asked what occasioned 
 the greater number of accidents about wood shops and 
 what caused most delays, he would be sure to reply, 
 " The line shafting." 
 
 For a shaft to break by crystallization from bending — 
 to be torn loose by winding belts — to have pulleys or 
 couplings come loose, is a common cause of detention and 
 expense. The couplings are mentioned last, although if 
 ranked as to the amount of detention and trouble they 
 cause, they should have been named first ; but whether it 
 be coupling, pulleys, hangers, or shafting, the trouble is 
 generally with the main line. 
 
 If we go to a machinist who manufactures shafting, 
 and inquire whether there is any special difficulty in the 
 way of making it safe from derangement or accident, he 
 will answer, " Certainly not." 
 
 Granting this, we have either a paradox, or very bad 
 practice, and as a paradox is rare in mechanics, the latter 
 is the safer conclusion. 
 
 Shafts for transmitting motion and power are the oldest 
 of mechanical appliances, and should, as we would suppose, 
 for this reason, be among the most perfect, but this is a 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 claim to which they can by no means pretend ; and the 
 great diversity of the plans for couplings, hangers, and 
 bearings by different makers attests the fact that the 
 manufacture of shafting is by no means a perfected art. 
 
 There are but few places where line shafting is so severely 
 used as in wood shops; the usually small diameter, with 
 the high speed, the wide belts, and the heavy duty that 
 it generally has to perform, are all conditions that are 
 more or less avoided in other manufacturing establish- 
 ments. 
 
 Machines when suddenly started offer a resistance in 
 proportion to the power employed in driving them, and 
 measured by this rule there are but few machines in 
 common use so heavy to start and causing so great a 
 strain upon the shafting, as planing machines and circular 
 saws. There are of course many that require as much 
 power, but to include all conditions, such as the speed of 
 the belts and the usual means of shifting them, with the 
 sudden stopping which often occurs, there is hardly a 
 parallel among manufacturing machinery. A planing 
 machine or saw that consumes eight to ten horse power 
 to drive it will have the belts shifted instantly from the 
 loose to the tight pulley, and the only reason the shafting 
 does not give way is that such machines are generally 
 but weakly belted, and the belts slip until the machine 
 gets into motion. The same thing in effect occurs in over- 
 feeding saws, so that the shafting is continually subjected 
 to a succession of torsional strains, that will soon search 
 out the bad jobs in fitting couplings and pulleys. 
 
 In preparing plans for a wood-working mill, the shafting 
 should, for reasons already given, go across the building 
 whenever practicable. By belting from one line to the 
 other at one side of the room the whole power is not trans- 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 21 
 
 mitted through the couplings, as in the case of one con- 
 tinuous shaft to drive all the machinery. The work is 
 also divided more evenly throughout the several lines, and 
 this does away with the supposed necessity of having the 
 line shafting in sections of various diameters, which pre- 
 vents the interchange of pulleys from one shaft to another, 
 and often leads to expense and trouble. 
 
 The first section of shafting carrying the main driving 
 pulley should have a diameter equal to one-fifth the width 
 of the main driving belt, and be supported at each side 
 of the main pulley ; to make a rule, this section should 
 not be more than twenty diameters long between bearings. 
 
 Fig. 8 shows a good arrangement of line shafting for 
 a mill about 50 feet by 150 feet, with three cross lines of 
 shafting. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 ^References. 
 1. — The main driving pulley. 
 2. — Belt to the engine. 
 3 and 4. — Second driving pulleys. 
 5 and 6. — Third driving pulleys. 
 
 Having the first or driving sections 6 feet long, and four 
 additional sections in each line 10 feet long, is a good 
 arrangement for a mill of the dimensions given. 
 
 The advantages gained by this plan over that of having 
 
22 the operator's handbook. 
 
 a continuous line or a single line running the other way 
 of the building are :< — 
 
 First. — Only a part of the power is transmitted through 
 the couplings. 
 
 Second. — The speed of the different lines can be varied 
 and to some extent accommodate machines of different 
 classes, which can be arranged with this view. 
 
 Third. — A part of the shafting can be stopped for 
 repairs, or to put on belts or pulleys without stopping the 
 whole ; in other words, about two-thirds of the works may 
 be kept going in such cases. 
 
 Fourth. — With this arrangement the shafting can be of 
 a uniform diameter throughout, except the first or driving 
 sections. 
 
 Fifth. — The machines stand lengthwise the building, 
 and the course of the stuff is in this direction, as it should 
 be, and as it must be, for it is no uncommon thing to find 
 planing and other machines driven with quarter turn 
 belting to accomplish this, when the shafting is placed the 
 other way. 
 
 For wood shops, 2J-inch and 3-inch shafting are the best 
 sizes; 2J-inch shafts are as small as any should be, and 
 they should not, without some important reason, exceed 3 
 inches in diameter. 
 
 A line of 2|~inch shafting will run safely and well at 
 250 revolutions a minute, or a 3-inch line will run 200 
 revolutions a minute, if the bearings are properly made 
 and it is kept in line. 
 
 Pulleys should be turned true and balanced — balanced 
 perfectly, no matter what their speed. 
 
 The effect of an unbalanced pulley is as its speed, but 
 it is never known where pulleys may have to be used in 
 changing, and the only safe rule is to have every pulley 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 23 
 
 carefully balanced, no matter what the speed may be at 
 which they run. 
 
 Pulleys should be as light as possible, both as a matter 
 of economy and convenience. Our best makers are, how- 
 ever, making them light enough, so that a specification 
 as to weight need hardly be given with an order for pulleys. 
 
 As to couplings, they should be adjustable or com- 
 pressive, not keyed on, or wedged on, for only such a key 
 should be used as will not keep a solid coupling on. 
 Adjustable couplings are now very generally used for line 
 shafting in America, and certainly there is no place where 
 they are more needed than in our wood shops, where there 
 is such a continual changing and adding of machines and 
 pulleys, that the shaft has constantly to be disconnected 
 for the purpose. 
 
 Hangers to support the line shafting in wood shops 
 should always have their bearings pivoted, and adjustable 
 vertically. The heavy loads of lumber that are piled on 
 upper floors depress them between the posts, and a line 
 shaft requires to be often levelled up. If the bearings 
 have a vertical adjustment in the hanger frames, and are 
 moved by screws, as they should be, it is a small matter to 
 take a ladder, a level, and a wrench, and go along the 
 line to level it. A hundred feet of shafting may be 
 adjusted in this manner in an hour, if the larger belts 
 are thrown off to relieve it from strain, and the shafting 
 is straight and true. The operation is so simple and so 
 generally understood that it need not be explained here. 
 
 Shafting is not liable to get out of line horizontally, 
 unless from the strain of belts ; it is, however, well to line 
 up as often as twice a year, to be sure that all is right. It 
 has been in times past a common thing to allow shafting 
 to run as long as it would go, without adjusting, and 
 
24 
 
 THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 then stop the works for a day or two to line up ; which 
 is unnecessary and only a loss of time. A shaft may be 
 levelled by almost anyone when the hangers are properly 
 made, and can be done at noon, or after stopping in the 
 evening, without interfering with the business at all. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 References. 
 D. — The ceiling, to which the hangers are bolted. 
 a a a. — The line shaft. 
 
 ccc. — Plumb-lines resting against the shaft, near to the bearings. 
 dd. — A horizontal line stretched below the shaft. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 To line a shaft horizontally is 
 but little more trouble if the bear- 
 ings or hangers can be moved in 
 that direction. 
 
 Suspended hangers should have 
 the bolt-holes slotted for an inch 
 or more of movement, and post 
 hangers should have movable bear- 
 ings that permit side adjustment. 
 
 Assuming that there is some 
 means of moving the shaft hori- 
 zontally, a good plan of adjusting it is by suspending a 
 number of plumb-lines that will bear against one side of 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 25 
 
 the shaft, and reach down low enough to be sighted from 
 the floor, as shown in Figs. 9, 10; or for greater accuracy 
 a strong line may be stretched about 5 feet from the floor, 
 as at d d, to gauge the plumb-lines from. 
 
 This lower line can at the beginning be set within about 
 one-eighth of an inch of the two plumb-lines at the ends, 
 and the rest can then be adjusted to the same position by 
 moving the bearings ; or the end bearings can be also 
 adjusted, as the case may require. 
 
 A ball of strong packing thread, and half-a-dozen or 
 more old screw nuts for the plumb-lines, make the outfit, 
 and the job can be well executed, at but little expense 
 and time, if the hangers are properly made, and erected 
 so as to be adjusted without trouble. 
 
 This kind of work must be to a great extent a matter 
 of judgment ; anyone who depends upon special know- 
 ledge, or what he may have seen done and been instructed 
 in, will not be so successful in millwrighting as he would 
 be if he proceeds boldly, using his own judgment as to 
 plans, and reasoning thoroughly about the work before 
 beginning it. 
 
 There are many ways of adjusting line shafting ; some 
 of them tedious and expensive, and some useless. The 
 one suggested is the most simple that can be given, and 
 is accurate enough for all practical purposes. 
 
 EKECTING COUNTEESHAFTING. 
 
 If a machine operator or even a regular millwright 
 were to be set at a job to test his judgment and abilities, 
 there is perhaps no other that could be selected better 
 than erecting a countershaft. 
 
26 the operator's handbook. 
 
 The ways of erecting, all of which may in the end 
 produce the same result, are so various as to render it 
 difficult to give rules that will be generally approved of. 
 The advantages of the different plans can only be tested 
 by the time required to do the work, assuming, of course, 
 that it is to be properly done in all cases. It may require 
 two, and often requires three, men a whole day to put up 
 a countershaft ; which in another case will be put up in 
 two hours by one man, assisted only in holding and 
 lifting. 
 
 In erecting a countershaft, what have first to be deter- 
 mined are the position of the machine it is to drive, and 
 whether the belting is clear. When a line shaft is crowded 
 with pulleys, it often requires great care to place the 
 countershafts so that belts will not interfere with each 
 other ; it is no uncommon thing for a shaft to be put up, 
 and then the discovery made that belts interfere with 
 others on the opposite side of the line shaft. 
 
 Be careful in starting, that is the great point, not only 
 in putting up shafts, but in all other mechanical opera- 
 tions that involve calculations and accurate measurements. 
 
 For example, let us suppose that a countershaft is to be 
 erected, and go through the various operations, one at a 
 time. Beginning with the hanger-plates, these should be 
 of hard wood, long enough to reach from two to four 
 joists, as the weight of the shaft and belting may re- 
 quire ; their width should be from one and one-half to 
 twice the width of the hanger base, and their thickness, as 
 an approximate rule, one-fifth the drop of the hanger. 
 When the joists are of hemlock, or harder wood, and 
 three inches or more thick, almost any kind of shafting 
 can be hung with safety on wood screws, or lag screws, as 
 they are sometimes called, passing through the hanger- 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 27 
 
 plate, and screwed directly into the joist. These screws 
 should be of good size, not less than § inch diameter in 
 any case, and long enough to pass into the joist a distance 
 at least equal to the thickness of the hanger-plate. A 
 plate three inches thick requires, with cast-iron washers, 
 screws that are seven inches long; if one in each joist, 
 f- inch diameter, if two in each joist, f- inch or f inch will 
 do for ordinary countershafts. 
 
 Having the hanger-plates ready, next mount the shaft 
 in the hangers and invert them, to stand on a level floor, 
 Fig. 11, and after settling the shaft to see that the 
 bearings are not cramped, and that the hangers stand 
 fair on their base, measure between the bolt holes accu- 
 rately, or what is better, cut a short strip of wood to the 
 length between the centres, marked c in the Figure. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 Floor. 
 
 If the shaft is to be placed to suit some pulley on the 
 line shaft, measure from the centre of the hanger next 
 the loose pulley the distance to the centre between the 
 tight and loose pulleys ; this should also be marked on 
 the stick, as the base for the position of the shaft, we 
 will term it the driving belt line, it is the distance 
 marked a, Fig. 11. 
 
 This belt line must then be determined and scribed on 
 
28 THE operator's handbook. 
 
 the joist ; it is easily found from a pulley, or by measuring 
 from a wall or girder that crosses the line shaft at right 
 angles. 
 
 Placing the measuring stick with this base mark, the 
 centre between the pulleys, upon the belt line, next set 
 out at each end for the wood screws or bolts that are to 
 hold the hanger-plates, bore the hanger-plates and screw 
 them up at one end, but not hard against the joist, leave a 
 half-inch or more for packing, when levelling up ; then 
 set the plates at right angles across the joist, and mark 
 the position of the joists so as to bore through the plates 
 for the other screws, which can be done by swinging the 
 plates around, and without taking them down. Again 
 set the plates across the joist as accurately as possible by 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 means of a carpenter's square, and mark the holes on the 
 joist for the remaining wood screws. In screwing up the 
 plates they can be brought level by furrowing down on 
 their top, with pieces of wood split in two or notched to 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 29 
 
 accommodate the wood screws, placed between the plates 
 and the joist. To mount the hangers, if they have pivot 
 bearings, as all ought to have, bore through the hanger- 
 plate for one bolt by measurement; no great accuracy 
 is needed in this, unless the shaft has to come laterally to 
 a particular line, which is seldom the case. Screw up 
 one hanger with a through bolt, then remove the pulleys 
 from the shaft, put it in the hangers, then prop the loose 
 one, or both, if needed, with a brace resting on the floor 
 or a stage, as shown at Fig. 12. For the next operation, 
 procure a pole or strip of wood c, Fig. 13, long enough to 
 
 . -¥* 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 C 
 
 
 ; uyi 
 
 1* 
 
 
 
 
 reach from the countershaft to the line shaft, cut a notch 
 in the end, or drive a strong spike in the side, and let 
 it rest on the line shaft, at a, and extend to the counter- 
 shaft at d. By moving alternately from one end of the 
 countershaft to the other, and driving the loose hanger to 
 adjust it, a parallel is obtained, much truer than by lines 
 and measurement, and in a tenth part of the time. The 
 pole can be marked at the centres of the countershaft 
 at each trial until the ends correspond. Then bore the 
 three remaining holes for the hanger-bolts, put the pul- 
 leys on the shaft, and mount the whole in place. Level 
 the shaft by using a plumb line alongside the pulleys, 
 which, if they are at all true, will be found a more accurate 
 plan than to use a spirit level on the shaft itself. The 
 job is now finished, and there is a question as to which 
 is the greater labour, to erect a shaft or to describe the 
 operation. With a good pair of trestles at hand, and 
 wood screws and hanger-plates ready, an ordinary counter- 
 
30 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 shaft for belts from three to six inches wide should be put 
 up in from one and one-half to three hours' time, by one 
 man and an assistant. The time of erecting, and the 
 accuracy with which a shaft can be set, as well as the 
 facility with which it can be kept in line, depend greatly 
 upon how the hangers are made. All bearings in wood- 
 working establishments should be pivoted ; the depression 
 of floors, which must take place from piling stuff, is 
 continually altering the bearings in a greater or less 
 degree, and if they are rigid, the bearing is spoiled by 
 the least change. Such nicety is not required at low 
 speeds, but when shafts carrying heavy strained belts have 
 a speed of 750 or more revolutions a minute, every pre- 
 caution must be observed to have them run without 
 heating. If the bearings are pivoted, and arranged to be 
 adjusted vertically on the hanger, it is but little trouble to 
 keep shafts level. The bolt holes in the hanger-plate if 
 slotted to allow for horizontal adjustment, will answer for 
 pendent hangers without having the bearings movable in 
 the brackets. 
 
 The transverse strength of the brackets should be suffi- 
 cient to break the belting, if not, there is always danger 
 of the whole being torn down by the winding of belts ; and 
 as the belts are generally twice as strong as those used in 
 other shops, the hangers should be the same. 
 
 SETTING MACHINES. 
 
 Setting machines belongs to the same class of work as 
 erecting shafting, and is much the same thing — a matter 
 of judgment, rather than one of acquired skill. 
 
 The only general rule that can be given, is to set them 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 31 
 
 level, with their shafts and spindles parallel to the line 
 shaft. There are, however, many plans of doing this, and 
 a word on the subject will not be amiss. 
 
 When a new shop is built, and the line shaft erected, 
 or when its position is determined, and before it is 
 erected, each floor of the building should be scribed with 
 what we will term a machine line, that is, a base from 
 which the engine, the line shaft, countershafts, and 
 machines may be set, independent of each other, and yet 
 with accuracy. To do this, take the centre line through 
 the building both ways, and scribe it on the floors, not with 
 a scribe awl alone, but with a wagon maker's scribing 
 hook, that will cut a deep groove. After striking with 
 a chalk line, tack down a straight edge, and score the 
 lines with the scribing hook, so that they will remain 
 as long as the floor lasts, or at least as long as machines 
 are to be added. Plumb up or down, as the case may be, 
 and scribe each floor in this way ; whether machines are 
 to be set on floors or not, there will sure to be some use 
 for these base lines. If there are ground floors, scribe 
 the lines on the walls, drive stakes, or put them on the 
 ceiling ; have them somewhere, in each story, and in each 
 room. When these lines are once made, the setting of 
 machines becomes a simple matter, for lines parallel to, 
 or at right angles to, them are easy to lay out ; and shafts 
 or spindles can be set true by measurement as in Fig. 13, 
 if they are first levelled. 
 
 The common practice when a shaft or machine is to be 
 erected is to square it from something which has pre- 
 viously been set by something else, on the principle of 
 measuring by succession, a practice no mechanic would 
 think of in other cases. 
 
 If machines have iron frames and stand on masonry, 
 
32 the operator's handbook. 
 
 they can be fixed by running melted lead or brimstone 
 under the feet after setting and levelling them. On earth 
 floors, however, it is not necessary to build masonry for 
 any except reciprocating machines. Stakes of locust, 
 cedar, or mulberry wood, set in the earth from three 
 feet to four feet deep, and then sawn off level on top, 
 make almost as good a foundation for any machine as 
 masonry. It is, however, exceptional to find machines 
 set on the ground, a plan that has nothing to recom- 
 mend it, for when attempted there has to be a floor over 
 a great part of the room, that usually costs as much as a 
 complete floor would, if it had been laid down at the 
 beo-innin^. 
 
 BELTING FOE WOOD MACHINES Y. 
 
 Eules that apply to belts in general are applicable 
 to those used in wood-working establishments, yet there 
 are some conditions to be taken into account that are 
 peculiar and exceptional. The belting is dry in all cases, 
 and often has shavings or sawdust passing under the sur- 
 faces, preventing contact on the pullej T s, and so reducing 
 the tractile power. Besides, the belting moves at such 
 high speeds that it prevents contact on the pulleys, espe- 
 cially when of small diameter. 
 
 For these reasons, the belting should be much wider 
 than would be needed to transmit an equal amount of 
 power in other establishments. 
 
 Belts to drive wood machines require to be at least one- 
 third wider than for metal -cutting or other machines 
 where the belts can be kept soft or moist. Even twice 
 the width will not be too much in some cases. 
 
 For main belts, india-rubbre is preferable to leather. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 It lias advantages in driving capacity, in runnr 
 and, if well made, it is more durable ; its merits 
 a rule, not understood, although it has been in u& 
 the last twenty years. The ordinary gum belting of c 
 merce may not be as durable as leather ; both the webbn 
 and the gum may be of poor quality ; but if an order * 
 sent to a first-class house for a good gum belt, heavy enough 
 for its work, there is no leather belt that will equal it. The 
 tractile power in a wood shop, where the surfaces must run 
 dry, is at least one-third greater than that of leather belts, 
 and the tension can be proportionately less, or the belt so 
 niuch narrower to do the same work. The best plan, how- 
 ever, is to keep the width and avoid tension, which, if too 
 great, is apt to break the belt joints and heat the bear- 
 ings of the shafts. 
 
 For joining gum belting there is no better plan than 
 with malleable iron hooks. Clamps, with plates on the 
 back, and other contrivances of a similar kind, make the 
 joint too rigid, and also make a disagreeable noise in 
 passing over metal pulleys. Cement joints that are gene- 
 rally recommended by the manufacturers of this belting 
 cannot well be made by those unskilled in the matter, and 
 are not necessary except for heavy driving belts. 
 
 What is wanted is a smooth joint, quickly and cheaply 
 made, and one that will not pull out ; such a joint can be 
 made with hooks. A belt, 12 inches wide, can in this way 
 be put together in a good workmanlike manner in ten 
 minutes, and the joint will stand for a long time under any 
 strain that a belt ought to bear, whether it be of gum or 
 leather. 
 
 To make the joint, first cut the belt square ; then lay out 
 the lines for the holes, so that when the ends of the belt 
 are placed together the distance between them will be a 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 re than the length at a, Fig. 14. Punch the holes, 
 
 p the ends, as in Fig. 15, and drive the hooks by 
 
 ig a bar of iron, a hammer, or some other weighty 
 
 3 beneath the belt. After the points of the hooks are 
 
 ough the belt at both ends, the joint can be butted 
 
 gether by bending the belt backward from the joint 
 
 antil the ends will pass, and then straightening it. To 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 (T^D 
 
 ] * 
 
 / 
 
 / # 
 
 • 
 
 J • 
 
 / 
 
 ( • 
 
 • 
 
 / • 
 
 J 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 =& 
 
 Fig. 15a. 
 
 clinch the hooks use an anvil bar, Fig. 15a, closing first 
 one end and then the other with a light hammer, so that 
 the belt will be firmly clamped, hut not cut, with the hooks. 
 In this last operation lies the secret of making these 
 hook joints successfully ; if the hooks are closed properly 
 they will not tear out the holes like lacing, but will 
 pull the belt asunder at the holes, proving the joint to be 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 35 
 
 as strong as any other portion of the belt, less the 
 weakening effect of the holes. If the hooks are hammered 
 down too hard they cut into the belt and weaken it. 
 After the joint is closed the hooks may be bent to conform 
 to the curvature of the pulleys they run over. If one 
 is large and the other small, the hooks should be bent 
 to fit a curve between them in size, or, if different, to fit 
 the smaller pulley. 
 
 That belt hooks have not become more popular is owing 
 to the careless manner in which they have been used. A 
 belt may be fastened in almost any manner with lacing, and 
 hold for a time ; but it is not so with hooks ; they must 
 be put in carefully to stand. Properly done, they make 
 one of the best joints, and if improperly done, perhaps the 
 very worst. 
 
 The size of the hooks must be adapted to the thickness 
 and width of the belting ; the distance from the joint to the 
 holes should be at least equal to three thicknesses of 
 the belt. 
 
 The width of driving belts and their length should be 
 such, that when at angles lower than 30 degrees they will 
 do their work without tension on the slack side. By no 
 tension, is meant that the belt should be loose enough to 
 run in a curve. Main driving belts are here alluded to, 
 and particular stress is laid on this matter, for no good 
 result can be attained with a heavy belt that is not 
 capable of doing its work mainly by its weight. 
 
 Speaking of weight, it may be remarked that in making 
 comparisons of cost between leather and india-rubber belt- 
 ing, the weight should be taken into account. As a rule, 
 single leather belts wider than 6 to 8 inches are not to be 
 compared in weight to gum belts, and gum belts of two and 
 three ply, with heavy cotton webbing, correspond to double 
 
 d 2 
 
36 the operator's handbook. 
 
 leather belts, which are usually double the price. A leather 
 belt wider than 8 inches should always be double, no matter 
 what its purpose, unless it is to run at a very high speed 
 on small pulleys, which need never occur if machinery is 
 properly arranged. A single leather belt will not keep 
 straight; and speaking of the ordinary belting of com- 
 merce, the wider it is, the greater the tendency to become 
 crooked and irregular. 
 
 For the extreme high speeds sometimes necessary in 
 wood machines, belts of cotton webbing can be used with 
 advantage. Heavy saddler's webbing coated with beeswax 
 makes a belt that is very light, and has a high tractile 
 power. When used the pulleys must be true and smooth, 
 and the belts kept clear of flanges, or anything that will 
 produce a rubbing action, as this soon destroys them. 
 
 In the change from round belts, once almost exclusively 
 used, to flat ones, we have no doubt gone too far ; a round 
 belt is in many cases much cheaper and better. Such belts 
 are extensively used in England and on the Continent, 
 but are rarely seen on American machines. For the first 
 movers to drive the feed works of planers and other ma- 
 chines, they are better than flat belts, especially when 
 cones are used for graduating the speed, and when they 
 have to run through shavings or sawdust. 
 
 In the treatment of belts for wood machines nearly all 
 that can be done is to keep them soft; a coat of castor- 
 oil now and then laid on with a brash is a good plan for 
 softening them. Tallow is as good, but more difficult to 
 apply. For gum belts no surface coating can be so good 
 as the india-rubber itself, w r hich is soluble in, and infused 
 by animal oils ; as they do not need softening they should 
 be left alone, as the safest plan. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 37 
 
 HANDLING MATEKIAL. 
 
 What proportion of the labour of a wood-working esta- 
 blishment is directed to moving and handling material, 
 cannot be stated, but that it is a fair share of the whole 
 anyone must admit. Handling material is one of those 
 things which cannot be done to any extent by power ; and in 
 machine operations, the greater part of the labour is usually 
 handling the stuff. There can be little information given 
 about handling long lumber, but the following suggestions 
 in regard to short stuff or work in process will enable the 
 operator to get along without so much handling, and car- 
 rying the stuff from place to place. 
 
 In arranging machines, always set them so as to leave 
 truck-room between and around them ; no matter how 
 crowded the room, this should be done; the floor-room 
 that will be saved by piling stuff on trucks will more than 
 make up for room lost in the passages. 
 
 In furniture and chair shops, carriage shops, turning 
 shops, door, sash and blind shops, and in nearly all of our 
 wood-working factories, the material can be kept on trucks 
 instead of on the floor, with two important advantages 
 gained; it may at any time be moved from place to 
 place, and can readily be reached without stooping to the 
 floor. 
 
 We may also mention the system, order, saving from 
 bruises, and the facility for counting pieces, as objects 
 gained by the truck system, which is suggested. 
 
 The trucks for machine rooms should be made of uniform 
 size for each, story ; there is no use in depending upon a 
 particular truck being kept for a special use ; the rule is, 
 to take the first one at hand, and there is but little use in 
 having different sizes. These trucks can be built as shown 
 
38 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 in Figs. 16, 17, for upper floors, where the stuff is cut out 
 and in process, and for anything except heavy loads of 
 lumber, which require a truck that is lower in height and 
 
 much stronger. 
 
 The main frame should be of hard wood, 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 ! 1 i r 
 
 i i i i 11 
 
 © 
 
 CD 
 
 © 
 
 
 J^L 
 
 r?=n 
 
 
 Fig. 
 
 17. 
 
 
 ft=i 
 
 1 A-W 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;■ 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t^r 
 
 JJJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ly 
 
 J V 
 
 
 about 4x4 inches, the cross rails set in 3J- inches from 
 the end, with tenons to keep them in place. Two through- 
 bolts | in. diameter along the inside of the cross rails 
 hold the frame firmly together, and yet allow it to spring 
 in passing over blocks or uneven floors. 
 
 The common mistake in making trucks is in having 
 them too rigid ; they will not last long or work well, unless 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 39 
 
 made to yield at the corners. The planking across the top 
 can be nailed to the side rails; it should be 1J or 1^ in. 
 thick, of white wood — sycamore, or some other tongh wood, 
 that will stand bruising, and will not split ; even pine is 
 better than ash or oak. The standards should be ar- 
 ranged to go either at the ends or on the sides, as shown in 
 the plan, Fig. 17. Figs. 18 and 19 show a complete set of 
 irons for a truck 4 feet to 5 feet long and 2 feet to 3 feet 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 r 
 
 \1 
 
 wide, consisting of four cast-iron brackets with a flange at 
 the top to be fastened with wood screws ; the swivel piece 
 may be cast of malleable iron ; the small screw is to keep 
 the swivel from falling out when the truck is lifted ; the 
 roller can be of cast iron; the staples are for the sides 
 and ends of the truck, as in Fig. 17 ; these staples should 
 be forged from iron about 1 J x f in., and large enough to 
 receive a tenon 2\ x 1J in. 
 
 With from six to twelve of these trucks on a floor, or 
 at least one for each machine, half the handling, and 
 nearly all the carrying, is saved. In working stuff, two 
 are needed at each machine, so that the pieces can be 
 taken from one and placed on another as they are 
 worked. 
 
40 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 When material is to be moved from story to story, the 
 trucks can be run upon the platform of the hoist, and 
 with their loads raised or lowered to where they are 
 wanted. A boy with one of these trucks will move a 
 thousand pounds the length or width of the shop, and up 
 or down through several stories, at the same cost that a 
 single load can be carried by a porter, to say nothing of the 
 damage by having the stuff thrown down upon the floor, 
 and the loss of time required to gather it up again. This 
 system of roller trucks is to some extent in use ; but it is 
 exceptional, and rarely ever carried out so as to realize 
 the greatest advantage from it. 
 
 A system half carried out is as no system at all, one 
 or two trucks in a large shop are only an annoyance ; the 
 men lose more time during a year in searching or wait- 
 ing for them, and in disputing about them, than a dozen 
 additional new ones would cost. 
 
 To say that a wood-working establishment which has 
 more than one story should have a power hoist, is to state 
 what everyone knows, but not a thing which everyone has 
 estimated the advantages of. The question of saving and 
 earnings will be considered farther on, and here we will 
 only say, have a hoist whenever there is work for it to do. 
 A wood platform or cage, with a wire rope and winding drum 
 driven by belts and a tangent wheel, is a cheap and simple 
 plan for such hoists ; the gearing is now furnished by dif- 
 ferent makers like any other machines, self-contained and 
 ready to erect, including the cage and guides if wanted. 
 Be sure to have a reliable safety catch to prevent falling, 
 and avoid all ingenious triggers and self-acting apparatus 
 that can be dispensed with. Put up a caution notice with 
 directions for operating the machinery at each hatch, and 
 leave the rest to the judgment and good sense of the work- 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 41 
 
 men. There is no machinery so dangerous as that which 
 pretends to dispense with care and caution on the part of 
 the operator ; and the greater number of accidents with 
 hoists come from that class known as the absolute safety. 
 Accidents rarely happen with the old outside chain hoist, 
 although it is without question very dangerous ; the reason 
 is that we watch it and run no risks. 
 
 In connection with the arrangement of a mill at Fig. 1, 
 a tramway through the centre of the building is men- 
 tioned. This plan is a good one, and the best and 
 cheapest in a large mill or car shop; but in furniture 
 factories, chair factories, door and sash shops, and jobbing 
 mills, caster trucks such as those just described for 
 machine rooms, only stronger, are even more convenient 
 than the tramway. 
 
 The general means of moving material may be said to 
 consist in tramways for horizontal movement in straight 
 lines, hoists for vertical movement, and caster trucks for 
 distributing in irregular lines ; however, in any but the 
 largest mills, and for any but long and heavy, lumber, 
 the horizontal movement and the distributing can be 
 combined, and the fixed tramway dispensed with. In 
 such cases the trucks to be used in connection with 
 cutting out saws, planing machines, and for first floor 
 purposes generally, should be framed of stuff about 5x5 
 inches, and be correspondingly heavy in all their parts; 
 they should be from six to eight feet long, with three 
 wheels instead of four, the two forward wheels on a fixed 
 axis, and the rear one swivelled. Such trucks should be 
 strong enough to carry at least 2J tons, and their wheels 
 six to eight inches diameter, with from 2J to 3± inches 
 face. There is nothing peculiar about their construction 
 that calls for diagrams to explain. 
 
42 the operator's handbook. 
 
 By laying a cheap plank floor from the mill room to, 
 or through, the board yard, such trucks can be rim out 
 and loaded at any distance from the shop, and men will 
 prefer to push in a thousand feet of stuff in this way to 
 carrying two boards that will not weigh 50 lbs. each. 
 
 This simple matter of trucks is dwelt upon because it is 
 perhaps the most neglected of all things about wood 
 shops. We exhaust our ingenuity in devising machines to 
 work stuff at a rapid rate, but make no provision to bring 
 the stuff to or from the machines ; and with the exception 
 of the large lumber mills along the north-western Lake 
 coast, and the very largest mills in cities, it is unusual to 
 find any means of handling material that at all com- 
 pares with the completeness in other details. 
 
 Of tramways little need be said ; all know what they 
 are for, and how they are made. The difference from 
 trucks is that they can be used in one line only, and that 
 the cars require less power to move them than trucks 
 with casters. In many cases it may be expedient to 
 have both, a tramway and trucks, but whether both, or 
 even additional means of handling, are required, be sure 
 and provide whatever will save carrying stuff or throwing 
 it upon the floors. 
 
 CLEARING WOOD SHOPS. 
 
 Clearing shops of cuttings, shavings, and sawdust to a 
 certain extent belongs to the same branch as moving and 
 handling material, and the same rules will apply in many 
 respects. 
 
 There is, however, this difference, that from recent 
 improvements it is probable that the driving power will 
 in future be used to clear shops, while we can hardly 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 4d 
 
 hope to have it handle the lumber. There is at this time, 
 in fact, no need of saying anything about plans for clearing- 
 shops except by pneumatic fans, for they are in general 
 use, and we may safely say, where they are not in use 
 they should be or will be. These pneumatic conductors 
 are now so well known that it will not be necessary to 
 go into a description of their general arrangement, which 
 the reader is presumed to be familiar with. The writer 
 having been personally concerned in the introduction of 
 this system in England and the continent of Europe, 
 and having built pneumatic apparatus, that have been 
 in constant operation since 1862, has no fears in recom- 
 mending the system as practical and economical, apart 
 from its convenience and its sanitary advantages in getting 
 rid of the fine dust so prejudicial to health, and one of the 
 most objectionable features of operating wood machines. 
 
 The fans must be plain, strong machines, large enough 
 to perform their work easily ; the vanes strong enough to 
 break up sticks that may pass into the fan. The bearings 
 should be outside the casing and pipes ; a common plan 
 is to have one bearing inside the induction pipe, where 
 the oil is at once absorbed, and there is a continual 
 danger of fire from the bearing heating. Fans made for 
 ordinary blowing purposes are not fitted for this use. We 
 give at Figs. 20 and 21, side and front elevations of the 
 fans used in England. 
 
 The casing is cast in one piece \ in. thick ; the vanes 
 are of forged or malleable iron ; the shaft is If in. diameter 
 of steel running in brass bearings outside the casing. 
 
 The size of the fans for clearing wood shops must 
 depend upon the number of inlets, openings, or, as we 
 will call them, leaks into the induction pipes. A blower 
 20 in. diameter and 5-inch vanes, would clear the largest 
 mill, so far as conducting the shavings and dust, but could 
 
44 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 not maintain a current strong enough, after supplying the 
 inlets, to lift the shavings. For this reason, it is easy to 
 see the importance of having the collecting hoods fit 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 45 
 
 well, and avoiding all possible leaks into the pipes. The 
 writer is at the present time engaged in experiments 
 to test the practicability of exhausting the air from 
 the magazine by fans so as to induce currents in the 
 collecting pipes and avoid the necessity of passing the 
 shavings through the fan. It is almost impossible to give 
 any rule for the size of pipes without assuming some 
 special premises to base such dimensions on. We will, 
 however, say that starting with 5 inches diameter for the 
 smallest size for a main pipe, there should be added at 
 least 10 inches of sectional area for each machine that is 
 connected, except surfacing or dimension planing ma- 
 chines, which will need twice as much. 
 
 Galvanized or zinc-coated sheet iron from 18 to 24 
 gauge, is a good material for conducting-pipes. 
 
 The elbows should be made with a radius of 10 inches 
 or more on the short side, and everything avoided in the 
 arrangement of the pipes that will endanger their choking. 
 When machines are not in use, it is well to close off the 
 induction pipes with a ball of paper or waste ; dampers 
 or valves can be made in the pipes for this purpose, but if 
 constructed so that they will not obstruct the pipe when it 
 is in use, they are expensive, and unnecessary except for 
 floor pipes, noticed farther on. 
 
 It is often desirable to have the fine dust separated 
 from the shavings and sawdust; even if they are only 
 to be used for fuel, and the magazine or shavings room 
 should be arranged to allow the dust to pass off at the 
 top, as in Fig. 22. 
 
 The magazines should be fireproof throughout, and 
 extend above the building to such a height that the 
 dust will not be carried through the windows after it 
 has escaped at the top. As it is often expensive to 
 carry the brickwork high enough to effect this object, a 
 
46 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 sheet-iron flue or uptake 
 The sectional area of 
 
 Fig. 22. 
 
 can be used, as shown in Fig. 22. 
 this flue when used should be 
 from ten to fifteen times as 
 large as the pipe leading into 
 the magazine, otherwise the 
 current will be strong enough 
 to not only carry off the fine 
 dust but the lighter shavings 
 from the benches. 
 
 There should be a swing 
 trap-door at the bottom of the 
 uptake, or at the top of the 
 brickwork if an iron flue is not 
 used, that can be instantly 
 closed from the outside if the 
 shavings in the magazine should 
 catch fire. This trap can be 
 pivoted on a shaft to extend 
 out through the brickwork, and 
 be operated by a lever on the 
 outside. 
 
 The discharging door below 
 should be closed by means of 
 a sliding iron plate, counter- 
 weighted and working in 
 grooves, so that it will rest 
 on the shavings when the 
 magazine is full, or partially 
 full, prevent the dust from 
 escaping, and at the same time 
 prevent any circulation of air 
 in the case of fire. 
 
 Inlets or openings, to take 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 47 
 
 off sweepings, should be provided at suitable places for 
 
 clearing the floors. If opening downward the orifices 
 
 should be at least as small as the pipe, and never made in 
 
 a hopper form, as they will soon be clogged with blocks or 
 
 sticks. 
 
 Fig. 23. 
 
 Floor, 
 
 A better plan for these floor openings for sweepings, is 
 to bring down a pipe from the main overhead, cutting 
 it away at one side, Fig. 23, and closing the aperture 
 with a slide door when not in use; this plan is much 
 
48 the operator's handbook. 
 
 better for many reasons than inlets cut vertically through 
 the floors. The pipe can come down alongside a post or 
 the wall, not interfering with the room ; arranged in this 
 way there is but little danger of its choking, or having 
 lost tools, nails, or blocks, get into it. For conducting saw- 
 dust alone small tin pipes, 2 to 3 inches diameter, will do. 
 
 In erecting a set of pipes and apparatus of this kind 
 to clear a shop, the person in charge should avail himself 
 of any examples that may be in the vicinity, if they are 
 good and have been successful ; it is quite a new thing, 
 although extensively applied, and there is a great deal yet 
 to be learned by experience. 
 
 The danger of fire from this apparatus, once much 
 apprehended, was owing to the use of wooden conducting 
 pipes, pockets and corners, where fine dust would accumu- 
 late, and then explode by a spark communicated from a 
 hot bearing, lucifer matches being dropped among the 
 shavings, or by sparks from the fan striking grit or 
 nails. The inflammable and explosive nature of wood 
 dust is but little understood and not generally known, 
 but few are aware that it is a fulminate like gun- 
 powder. Any dust of combustible material, or even that 
 of cast iron, when floating in, and thickly distributed in 
 the air, explodes or burns up with great force. To prove 
 this, let anyone hold a candle beneath a girder or beam 
 in a wood shop and sweep off the fine dust from its top 
 so as to fall on the light, and they will be convinced of 
 its explosive nature. This is no doubt the origin of nearly 
 all the fires that have been attributed to pneumatic ap- 
 paratus ; as soon as caught, the fire was by means of the 
 wooden pipes immediately carried throughout the whole 
 building, or as far as the air currents extended. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 49 
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE. 
 
 Besides what has been said upon the danger of wood dust 
 in the last article, we will add a word about other sources 
 of fire, one of the evils that wood manufacturers have 
 particularly to contend with. Insurance rates for wood 
 shops are, in America, from three to five times as high as 
 in machine shops and other places, where, if the wood 
 shops were carefully managed, the risk would be equally 
 great. Everyone who has any charge in a wood shop 
 should continually study the possible sources of fire. As 
 accidents do not often happen when they are expected, 
 so fires do not come from sources that are foreseen. Fires 
 are generally mysterious, we rarely know just how they 
 occur, yet there is no want of sources for them, and con- 
 sidering the little care that is exercised in most shops to 
 guard against fires, the only wonder is they do not all 
 burn down as fast as built. There is no desire to exag- 
 gerate this matter, but to state it in a positive way. 
 The sources of fire about wood shops are generally bear- 
 ings, smoking, matches, stoves, sparks from the furnace, 
 lightning, and incendiarism, and also the want of means 
 to put out incipient fires, for such want is certainly 
 to be set down among the causes of destructive fires. 
 To consider these several sources ; — bearings need not be 
 made so as to take fire ; there should be no wood about 
 them, no accumulation of shavings, or of oil and sawdust ; 
 smoking, we need hardly say, should not be allowed on the 
 premises ; matches are not very dangerous and can be 
 carefully used; stoves are not often needed in shops 
 where there is steam power, and when they are used, can 
 be made comparatively safe by setting them on an elevated 
 iron platform; sparks from the furnace can only be a 
 
 E 
 
50 THE OPEEATOK'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 source of danger when there is great negligence in the 
 plan of its construction or in its care ; and finally, there 
 is but little danger from any or all of these sources in a 
 clean orderly shop. Disposing of the matter in this way, 
 it may be said that it is quite easy to avoid danger from 
 fire. There are none of the things enumerated but what 
 are easily guarded against if taken in time and fully 
 considered. To understand sources of fire is quite another 
 thing, however, from merely thinking of them and being 
 aware of their existence; they must be considered on 
 scientific principles, like everything else connected with 
 technical matters, and when understood must be attended 
 to thoroughly, promptly, and persistently. It is not an 
 easy thing to fire a shop when there is no accumulation 
 of shavings, and a hard thing to guard against fire when 
 there is such accumulation. The floors should be kept 
 clean, no matter what it costs to keep them so, and 
 if the business will not otherwise afford it, pay the in- 
 surance policy to a porter to sweep up and watch for fire. 
 The chances are that you will save more in ten years than 
 by insuring. On every floor and in each room there 
 should be kept in some convenient place a number of 
 wooden pails filled with water, not to be used to fill 
 up the grindstone troughs, nor to wash up with, but' 
 marked " fire," and to be let alone unless needed for that 
 purpose. It is but little trouble to keep them filled, and 
 some cheap chemicals, say a few drops of carbolic acid, 
 will keep the water pure in the summer during hot 
 weather. Fifty pails of this kind, that will cost fifteen 
 dollars, are worth more in a wood shop than a dozen 
 chemical annihilators, steam pumps, or other contrivances 
 which men cannot use when excited. A watchman, no 
 matter how stupid he may be, understands a water pail, 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 51 
 
 and will not fail to use it if he can get it, but would 
 not under excitement be able even to turn a stop-cock, 
 or sound an alarm signal if a fire should occur. The 
 responsibility of these precautions against fire rests mainly 
 with the managers and operators, proprietors do not always 
 understand them, and if they did, cannot watch them. We 
 would therefore urge a carefulness about fires, a thorough 
 study of all that may originate them, and the surest 
 means of arresting them, as one of the first and highest 
 qualifications of a competent machine operator and wood 
 workman. 
 
 Dirty shops and want of system are the common sources 
 of fires ; the opposite, clean shops and perfect system, are 
 the great safeguards against them. A clean shop guards 
 against exposure, and system detects and anticipates the 
 various ways in which fire may be kindled. 
 
 The pneumatic fan arrangement for clearing, alluded to 
 before, will no doubt add much to the safety from fire, by 
 keeping out the shavings and generally encouraging order 
 and cleanliness. 
 
 SPEED OF WOOD MACHINES. 
 
 The speed at which machines should run to give the 
 best result, is a question that operators should understand. 
 It is a matter which they are expected as a rule to control, 
 even when they do not direct the original arrangement 
 for speeds. To prove that the proper speed of machines is 
 an intricate, or at least an undetermined matter, we need 
 only refer to the diversity of opinion among mechanics, 
 and the want of any opinion at all with a great many 
 who have not studied the matter. This is not stated in 
 
 e 2 
 
52 the operator's handbook. 
 
 a fault-finding spirit, but to show that it is no easy matter 
 to tell how fast saws, cutter spindles, boring and mortising 
 or other tools, should run. 
 
 If the speed of a machine could be premised from that 
 needed for the cutting edges alone, we should have a general 
 rule to apply, but the limit of speed is more frequently 
 taken from the conditions of the spindles and bearings, 
 than from the cutting action. Cutter-heads more than 
 4 inches diameter can generally be moved as fast as the 
 edges need to run to give a good result, say within 5000 
 revolutions a minute, or 5000 feet of movement with the 
 edges ; but when the cutter-heads are smaller, the spindles 
 are not diminished in the same ratio, and the speed must 
 be slower. Always consider the cutter movement as 
 the base in estimating speeds, instead of the number of 
 revolutions made by the spindle. A cutter on a 3-inch 
 head, making 4000 revolutions a minute, is only moving 
 as fast as one on a 6-inch head at 2000 revolutions ; yet 
 it is quite common, and a habit hard to avoid, to consider 
 all spindles as wantiug a common speed of from 3000 to 
 5000 revolutions a minute, without considering the move- 
 ment of the edges. 
 
 Perhaps as good a rule as can be used is to assume a 
 4-inch cutter-head to make 4000 revolutions a minute, as a 
 base or unit of speed ; this makes approximately 4000 feet 
 a minute of cutting movement ; then add 500 feet a 
 minute for each inch of diameter that is added to the 
 cutter-head; this makes, with 10 inches diameter, a 
 speed of 7000 feet a minute, and for 16 inches diameter 
 10,000 feet a minute, which could then become a con- 
 stant as a maximum speed for all larger diameters. 
 This, it must be remembered, is assumed for strong 
 cutter-heads of forged or malleable iron, steel, or brass, 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 53 
 
 and not cast iron, which should never be used for high 
 speeds. 
 
 Eeversing the rule, from 4 inches diameter, with 4000 
 feet of cutting movement ; deduct 750 feet of the movement 
 for each inch of diameter that the heads are reduced ; 
 this, at one inch, brings the cutting speed to 1750 feet 
 a minute with 7000 revolutions of the spindle, about a 
 practical limit. From this we have the following Table, 
 which can be used for reference : — 
 
 Speed of Wood Machines. 
 
 Diameter of 
 Cutter-head. 
 
 Feet of Cutting 
 
 Movement a" 
 
 minute. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 Number of 
 
 Revolutions 
 
 a minute. 
 
 Average Speed of 
 
 Bearing Surfaces 
 
 a minute 
 
 in feet. 
 
 Ratio of 
 Movement in 
 the Bearings. 
 
 inches. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1,750 
 
 7000 
 
 875 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2,500 
 
 5000 
 
 937 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 3,250 
 
 4333 
 
 1083 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 4,000 
 
 4000 
 
 1125 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 4,500 
 
 3600 
 
 1125 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 5,000 
 
 3333 
 
 1145 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 5,500 
 
 3142 
 
 1277 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 6,000 
 
 3000 
 
 1406 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 6,500 
 
 2880 
 
 1444 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 7,000 
 
 2880 
 
 1445 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 7,500 
 
 2706 
 
 1450 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 8,000 
 
 2666 
 
 1465 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 8,500 
 
 2615 
 
 1525 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 9,000 
 
 2576 
 
 1541 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 9,500 
 
 2533 
 
 1551 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 10,000 
 
 2500 
 
 1512 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 10,000 
 
 2352 
 
 1470 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 10,000 
 
 2222 
 
 1417 
 
 14 
 
 19 
 
 10,000 
 
 2105 
 
 1382 
 
 14 
 
 20 
 
 10,000 
 
 2000 
 
 1370 
 
 14 
 
 24 
 
 10,000 
 
 1666 
 
 1250 
 
 13 
 
 30 
 
 10,000 
 
 1333 
 
 1083 
 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 10,000 
 
 1111 
 
 987 
 
 10 
 
 40 
 
 10, coo 
 
 1000 
 
 1000 
 
 10 
 
 Note. — These estimates, except the size of the cutter-heads, are approxi- 
 mate only, to give round numbers. 
 
51 the operator's handbook. 
 
 The speed of the line shafting should in all cases be as 
 great as the bearings will stand with safety ; 200 to 250 
 revolutions for 3-inch shafts, and 250 to 300 revolutions 
 a minute for 2^-inch shafts, make a good rule, to be 
 modified of course by the kind of bearings used. Coun- 
 tershafts, as a rule, can run three times as fast. 36-inch 
 pulleys, on the line shaft, with 12-inch tight and loose 
 pulleys on the countershafts, is a good arrangement for such 
 shafts as drive cutter spindles. 
 
 Speeds should, as far as possible, be arranged to start 
 from line-shaft pulleys of a uniform diameter, so that 
 machines can be exchanged, or moved from one place to 
 another, without taking down the line shaft each time to 
 put on a new pulley. There is something strange in the 
 fact that machine builders pay no attention to this matter ; 
 even machine tools that have nearly a constant velocity, 
 and require nearly a constant amount of power, are 
 arranged to be driven with pulleys varying from 6 to 24 
 inches diameter. Most builders, however, are willing to 
 modify their countershafts to suit speeds and pulleys, if a 
 special order is given, so that the fault rests mainly with 
 those who purchase the machines. 
 
 The cylinders of planing machines being strong and 
 safe, and the rate of feed needed as great as possible, they 
 can be run at a speed one-fourth greater than that given 
 in the Table. 
 
 Boring machines to operate screw-bits should run from 
 1000 to 2000 revolutions a minute, according to the kind 
 of wood or the size of the bits used. 
 
 For all reciprocating machines there is a general rule 
 that applies, which is to run them as fast as they will 
 stand; or, in other words, their work always requires 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 55 
 
 more speed than it is possible to give them. This is 
 certainly not a very comprehensive rule, but another 
 rule, infinitely better, is to " use them only when they 
 cannot be avoided," no matter to what purpose they are 
 directed. For ordinary reciprocating machines the follow- 
 ing list of speeds is given, for which we trust the reader 
 will not require any special data, but accept it on faith 
 and as a matter of experience : — 
 
 Revolutions a minute. 
 
 Resawing machines with one saw . . . . 250 to 300 
 
 Scroll saw with sash 300 „ 400 
 
 Jig saws with spring tension 500 „ 800 
 
 „ unstrained saws 800 ,,1500 
 
 Mortising machines with movable table .. 300 „ 450 
 
 „ „ chisel-feed .. .. 250 „ 350 
 
 „ heavy, for car work . . 200 „ 300 
 
 Circular saws can be run at least a fourth faster than 
 other cutting tools, which can, for ordinary cases, be added 
 to the estimates in the Table for rotary motion. The 
 manner in which a circular saw is hammered has much to 
 do with the speed at which it can be run, and often when 
 a saw becomes limber and " runs," it is the fault of the 
 hammering instead of the speed. When slack on the 
 periphery it will not stand speed, and becomes weaker and 
 bends more readily when in motion than when it is still ; 
 on the contrary, if it is properly hammered a little tight, 
 as it is termed, on the periphery, it becomes more rigid 
 when in motion up to a certain limit. The theory of this 
 is that the steel is elastic, and is stretched by the 
 centrifugal strain in proportion to the speed, which is 
 greatest at the teeth and diminishes to the centre. 
 
 If saws indicate a tendency to spring and a want of 
 rigidity, have them re-hammered by an experienced smith, 
 
56 the operator's handbook. 
 
 before changing the speed to remedy it. Cutting wood 
 is a little like cutting iron ; hard wood cannot be cut 
 at so high a speed as soft wood. Anyone who has had 
 experience in working boxwood, cocoa, rosewood, or lig- 
 num vitae, will have noticed that a high speed soon de- 
 stroys the edges by overheating, especially with boring 
 tools, or turning tools that act continuously. The use of 
 these hard varieties of wood is, however, so exceptional 
 in America, that the matter need not be discussed here, 
 further than to say that a moulding or a planing machine 
 that is to run mainly upon walnut, ash, oak, or any of 
 the native hard woods, will give a better result if speeded 
 one-fourth slower than for pine or other soft woods. 
 
 POWER NEEDED TO DRIVE MACHINES. 
 
 The article on speeds for machines was commenced 
 by informing the reader that no positive rules could be 
 given. The present one, for stronger reasons, should 
 perhaps be commenced in the same way. The power is 
 something, however, which some one must understand, 
 and which all must be more or less conversant with. It 
 is one of the first considerations in making plans for a 
 mill, or for wood manufacture of any kind. It may 
 seem arbitrary, in dealing with a new subject like the 
 operation of wood machines, to make a list of and set 
 down the power needed to drive each machine. It is, 
 however, all that can be done in the absence of those 
 careful experiments that have fixed the measure of power 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 57 
 
 for other duties almost as diversified and irregular. In 
 our American shops from two to four times as much 
 wood is planed off as in Europe. The lumber is cut to 
 size whilst green, and then seasoned, so that it takes about 
 an eighth of an inch to dress boards, to say nothing of 
 irregular sawing. Foreign planing machines are driven 
 with belts one-fourth the width of the cutters, while 
 American machines have, or ought to have, twice as 
 much width of belt ; and, of course, consume power in 
 proportion. As a general rule, for ordinary planing, 
 with flat cutters the belts should be one-half the width 
 of the cutters, running on pulleys whose diameter equals 
 the cutter-heads, or is in the same proportion ; that is, if 
 the pulleys are half the diameter of the cutter-head, the 
 belt should be as wide as the cutter, and so on. This is for 
 top cutters that bring the stuff parallel ; for bottom cutters, 
 and for all other flat cutters that work on gauged stuff, 
 one-third less will do. 
 
 Assuming a rule for belts would seem to be the same thing 
 as establishing an estimate for the power required to run 
 machines, and it would be in most cases, but not for wood 
 machines. The high speed diminishes pulley contact, and 
 the dust and shavings keep the belts dry, diminishing 
 their tractile force ; besides, they must be loose, to prevent 
 the bearings from heating, so that if we were to reckon up 
 the amount of power to drive a 24-inch double surfacing 
 planer, according to the accepted standard for measuring 
 the power of belts, it would in most mills leave nothing 
 for the rest of the machines. Experience has, however, 
 demonstrated certain widths as sufficient, and appended is 
 a list of machines with an estimate in horse power as a 
 unit. To determine the size of an engine to drive wood 
 
58 the operator's handbook. 
 
 machine?, 3 in. of piston area to each horse power will be 
 found sufficient, if other conditions are correct. 
 
 Power needed to Drive Machines. 
 
 30-inch surfacing planer, one tide 8 
 
 30 „ „ two sides 10 
 
 24 „ „ one side 6 
 
 24 „ „ two sides 8 
 
 14 „ planing and matching machine 6 
 
 14 „ „ „ with bottom cylinder 7 
 
 8 „ moulding machine, four sides 5 
 
 6 „ „ „ 3 
 
 4 „ sash moulding machine, three sides 2 
 
 Circular saws for each inch of diameter above the table .. 1 
 
 Murtising machine for light work to | inch It 
 
 „ „ heavy work to 2 inches 3 
 
 Rotary mortising machine for chair work 1 
 
 i, „ framing 3 
 
 Tenoning machine for joiner and cabinet work 2 
 
 „ „ framing 4 
 
 Jig saw for fret work 1 
 
 Band saw to 1-inch blades 3 
 
 Shaping machine, two spindles 2 
 
 Wood-turning lathe 1 
 
 Blower for clearing shavings, &c 1 to 2 
 
 Boring machines 1 to 2 
 
 For grindstones, emery wheels, buffing wheels, hoisting 
 machines, and other details, add one horse power for each 
 ten men employed ; the resistance of shafting, when of 
 unusual length, must also be taken into account. 
 
 In all estimates of the power needed to operate machines, 
 it must be remembered that the power used is generally 
 as the amount of material that is passed through the 
 machines, so that the aggregate must be based upon the 
 length of time, or the constancy with which the machines 
 are run. There must, of course, be enough provided to 
 drive all the machines at one time, and to their fullest 
 capacity, but in making estimates for rented power where 
 it is employed at intervals, or when but a part of the 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 59 
 
 machines run at one time, the amount used is quite 
 different from what the Table would indicate. 
 
 The power needed and the power consumed in wood 
 shops are two quite different things. The old saying 
 that time is money, is equally and more obviously true 
 if rendered, power is money. It is an element of cost, 
 just like oil, tools, or lumber. Power is, however, a less 
 tangible thing, and because it is not seen and handled, 
 is too often allowed to waste and escape under the 
 notice of those who are rigidly careful in other matters. 
 How common it is in going into a shop to hear the 
 belts screeching on the pulleys, belts running half on 
 the tight pulley when it is standing, or sometimes a 
 machine blocked to keep it from starting, with the 
 belts dragging on the pulleys. All this means waste of 
 coal and waste of money, not by loss of power alone, 
 but by the destruction of belts. If a belt is allowed to 
 rub on a tight pulley, or any other fixed object, it is at 
 once heated and stretched, and, as it stretches on one side, 
 the tendency is to draw it more on to this object; if 
 on the edges of tight pulleys, which is most common, 
 its driving power is impaired to the extent that it is 
 rubbed or stretched on its edges ; as no contact takes 
 place when it is shifted. Whenever a heated bearing is 
 suspected, the rule is to hunt it up at once and correct 
 it ; the same thing should be done with the screeching of 
 belts ; whenever heard, look it out, and change the 
 shafting until it runs true. A belt always runs to the 
 nearest end of a shaft, as towards the line a, Fig. 24, 
 which is just the opposite way from what is generally 
 supposed. The old theory that a belt always runs to the 
 highest part may be true, and is undoubtedly true with 
 reference to the convexity of the face of pulleys, but does 
 
60 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 not apply to pulleys that are set diagonally to the line 
 of the belt. In Fig. 24 it is easy to see that the pulley 1, 
 
 Fig. 24. 
 ...Co-- 
 
 I 
 
 standing in the position shown, will wind the belt spirally, 
 like the thread of a screw, whose pitch is equal to the 
 space seen at 2, between the dotted line and the edge of 
 the pulley, or, in oilier w r ords, the amount that the pulley 
 is out of truth. 
 
 The other edge, which may be called the high one, has 
 its influence on the belt, but it is trifling when compared 
 to the spiral winding action whicli carries the belt to one 
 side just as positively as a shifter would. 
 
 STOPPING AND STAETING MACHINES. 
 
 The resistance offered by a machine in starting, is as 
 the inertia of the parts before they are in motion, or as 
 their momentum after they are in motion, and as mo- 
 mentum is as the weight multiplied into the velocity, 
 wood machines, by reason of their great speed, are heavy 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 61 
 
 to start ; especially planing and moulding machines that 
 have heavy cutter-heads. Shifting pulleys, or tight and 
 loose pulleys as they are generally called, are used almost 
 exclusively in our wood shops, and are no doubt the best 
 means there are of stopping and starting, except the idle 
 tension pulley, which can be used only in particular cases. 
 We should perhaps also except the plan of using an 
 independent shaft, shown Fig. 25, in which 1 is the 
 
 Fig. 25. 
 
 countershaft, and 2 an idle shaft carrying the stopping- 
 pulley. This, although a good device, is difficult to erect 
 and keep in line, besides being too expensive to come 
 into general use. Its merits, however, aside from these 
 objections, will at once be conceded. 
 
 In a large mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, the shifting pulleys 
 are all arranged on this plan, and it is claimed that the 
 extra expense of first cost is more than made up by avoid- 
 ing the detention incident to having the pulleys run loose 
 on the shaft. 
 
 It is to be hoped that some modification of the friction 
 clutch will be made that has the needed qualities of 
 endurance and power, to take the place of shifting pulleys, 
 fur high speeds ; it however lacks now much of the sim- 
 plicity and capacity for wear, that would fit it for the 
 purpose about wood-working establishments. 
 
 Shifting pulleys do very well at low speeds when the 
 
62 the operator's handbook. 
 
 shafts are not larger than 2 inches in diameter, and the 
 motion is not more than 500 revolutions a minute, but 
 at the high speeds which are necessary with wood 
 machines, they are a great source of trouble and annoy*- 
 ance, and should be made with great care, and carefully 
 looked after for a time when first started. 
 
 In making plans for, or in giving orders for wood 
 machines, the loose pulleys should have special attention. 
 The holes should be bored and reamed to standard sizes, 
 so that a pulley may be exchanged from one shaft to 
 another, or replaced at any time without the trouble of 
 making a special fit. 
 
 Before erecting a countershaft or starting a machine 
 that has loose pulleys, always see to the fit, the character 
 of the hole, and that they are clean and well oiled at the 
 start. 
 
 The fit should be loose, not too loose, but so as to 
 be felt in shaking the pulley ; the hole will show on its 
 sides, from the rubbing of the mandril used in turning, 
 whether it is true or not. A little time spent in looking 
 after these things before starting, often saves detention 
 and accident afterwards, and as the operator has the care, 
 and generally the responsibility of loose pulleys sticking, 
 or cutting, it is important that he should understand the 
 cause of the difficulty and how to correct it. It is true the 
 machinist who builds wood machines should assume the 
 responsibility and always fit the work properly, but if 
 he does not, it is the operator's business to shift the 
 responsibility to whom it belongs. 
 
 Loose pulleys will give trouble now and then, no 
 matter how well they are fitted, and in erecting new 
 works, or in purchasing new machines, they should be 
 carefully looked after. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 63 
 
 At the risk of recommending a plan that seems to be 
 theoretically incorrect, it is suggested that for high-speed 
 loose pulleys, there should be an oil groove cut in the 
 hub, as shown in Fig. 26 — a deep narrow groove parallel 
 to the shaft, and tapering from the ends to the middle, as 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 Fig. 2] 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 shown in the sections, Figs. 26, 27. Such grooves would 
 be supposed to cause an unequal wear in the hole because 
 of the surface cut away at one side, but it will not be 
 found so in practice. 
 
 A batter, although more expensive plan, is to have 
 grooves cut through the hub, as in Fig. 28 ; these can be 
 filled with brass antifriction metal, or 
 what is equally good, pear wood. The 
 grooves break what is termed the con- 
 tinuity of the bearing, a principle gene- 
 rally recognized as a safeguard against 
 abrasion or cutting. 
 
 The proportion of the hubs has much 
 to do with the performance of loose 
 pulleys. A too common custom is to make the hubs on 
 the light and loose pulleys, of equal length, losing a 
 large amount of bearing surface that might with ad van- 
 
64 
 
 THE OPERATOR S HANBDOOK. 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 tage be added to the loose pulley, and is not needed on 
 the fast. Fig. 29 is the proper plan of arranging the 
 hubs of shifting pulleys, especially for wood machinery, 
 
 where high speed and 
 wood dust are to be con- 
 tended with. The hubs of 
 loose pulleys to 3 inches 
 face should project J in. 
 on each side of the rim, 
 and for faces of greater 
 width, 1 inch on each 
 side. 
 
 Loose pulleys running 
 on studs or fixed shafts 
 cannot be oiled by means 
 of oil holes drilled in the hub ; when a shaft is in motion 
 and the pulley is stopped the oil is drawn in rapidly, but 
 when both are still the case is quite different, and the oil- 
 ways should be made through the shaft or stud instead of 
 through the hub. This applies to the gearing about 
 planing machines, and in all cases where gear wheels or 
 pulleys run loose on a fixed axis. In ordering new 
 machines, or in case of trouble with those in use, have the 
 oil- ways changed to this plan, which is the only way to 
 ensure thorough lubrication and prevent trouble. 
 
 While discussing mechanism for stopping, starting, and 
 shifting belts, we will add some remarks about shifters. 
 
 A man may be tastefully dressed throughout in a suit of 
 the best, but bis whole appearance is spoiled by a bad hat. 
 A machine may be properly constructed, in good propor- 
 tion, and set up in the best manner, and still present a bad 
 appearance from the effect of an awkward belt shifter. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 65 
 
 The rods and fingers or studs are now generally furnished 
 with hangers for the smaller shafts ; but there are always 
 more or less of them to be made of wood ; the custom 
 seems to be to pick up any pieces found lying about 
 the floor to make them from, without reference to size 
 or proportion. This is especially true of wood shops, 
 where there is every facility for making them in a proper 
 manner. 
 
 Of course no special arrangement or dimensions need 
 be followed in making shifter frames, yet there are propor- 
 tions which should be observed within reason. 
 
 Fig. 30 shows a wooden shifter frame, constructed of hard 
 wood ; the pendants 2, 2 should be from 2J to 2} inches 
 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 d: 
 
 t=V 
 
 c ^ 
 
 square ; the shifter rail 3, £ by 2\ inches ; the friction 
 rail 4, | by 2 inches ; and the lever f in. thick by 2-J inches 
 wide at the extreme, tapering to \\ in. wide at the lower 
 end, and to 1^ in. wide at the top end. Tho rail 4 is to 
 connect and stiffen the pendants 2, 2, and to hold the 
 shifter when it is set over, by the friction against the 
 
66 the operator's handbook. 
 
 lever ; this can be regulated by a piece of leather between 
 them, or by Laving the rail sprung so as to bear against 
 the lever. 
 
 The eye that the belt runs through at 5 can be made 
 of round iron J- in. or f in. diameter, flattened at the 
 ends, and drilled to receive two wood screws in each 
 side. 
 
 In building a new place, or wdien machines are being 
 added, a good plan is to prepare a number of pieces for 
 shifter rails and pendants, which can be shaped and 
 mortised ready for use when wanted, and cost much less 
 than if improvised each time they are needed. 
 
 Idle or tension pulleys, or more properly brake pulleys, 
 are perhaps the best means of stopping and starting 
 machines or shafts in any case when the belts are in a 
 position that allows their use. In wood shops any belt 
 that runs at an angle higher than 45 degrees can, as a 
 rule, be operated by a brake pulley ; which is not only a 
 very effectual means of stopping and starting, but has 
 the important advantage of regulating the tension of the 
 belt to suit the character of the work, and also increases 
 its lap and tractile power. 
 
 Wood shops are especially instanced because a belt at 
 any other than a very high angle cannot be operated 
 in this way unless the surfaces are sufficiently dry and 
 smooth to allow them to slip on the still pulley. As the 
 belts of a wood shop are usually in this condition because 
 of the dust, brake pulleys can be used with advantage in 
 a great many cases, particularly on the larger belts, and 
 when the driving pulley is below. This latter case allows 
 the belt to stop with the top pulley ; but if the angle is as 
 high as 60 degrees, Figs. 31 and 32, the driving pulley 
 can be above, and the belt will run loosely around the 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 67 
 
 bottom pulley without injury if it is not too heavy and 
 there are flanges or guides to keep it on when running 
 loose. In Fig. 31, 1 is the driving pulley, 2 the brake 
 pulley, and 3 the driven pulley. The brake pulley must 
 always be placed on the slack side of the belt, where the 
 bottom pulley is the driver, or as in Fig. 32, where the top 
 pulley is the driving one. 
 
 Fig. 31. 
 
 Fig. 32. 
 
 Besides the advantages of regulating the tension and 
 increasing contact, brake pulleys can be used to guide 
 the belt by changing their axes, a very important matter 
 in the case of large driving belts ; they also require but 
 one-half the room and width needed for shifting pulleys. 
 
 Brake pulleys for small belts should be made as in 
 Fig. 33, the centre laid up out of wood, with a flange 
 of cast iron at each end, fitted on the spindle, and fastened 
 to the wood by means of wood screws. The shaft can be 
 square when it is fitted through the wood, which prevents 
 
68 
 
 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 it from turning in the pulley, and obviates the necessity 
 of keys in the end flanges ; as there is no end thrust on 
 
 Fig. 33. 
 
 the shaft it can have point bearings. The bearing is 
 arranged for antifriction metal, with a tallow cup on the 
 top, which is the only lubrication needed. If the bearings 
 have to be oiled in the usual manner, the belt is sure 
 to become greased by the waste oil thrown from the 
 flanges. 
 
 By letting these bearings into the brake frame, Fig. 33, 
 and having the bolt holes slotted, they are easily moved 
 for adjustment; and if keys are placed on each side of« 
 them, they can be set to change the axis of the pulley so 
 as to guide the belt. 
 
 Positive clutches are not fit for wood machines, there 
 are no motions that need be so positive as to require them ; 
 besides, if made as they should be, they are much more 
 expensive than either shifting belts or brake pulleys. 
 
 A great trouble with wood machines is the abrupt 
 manner in which they are started ; a belt to drive a 
 planing machine 8 inches wide, moving at 2000 feet a 
 minute, is usually shifted at once to the fast pulley, 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 69 
 
 causing a shock to the pulleys and shafting, which if 
 it were not for the slipping of the belt would soon destroy 
 the whole arrangement. 
 
 This can be guarded against by shifting the belts 
 gradually, but cannot be left to the judgment of those 
 who work on the machines unless they are specially 
 instructed, and even then will generally be forgotten or 
 disregarded. Many machine builders in England arrange 
 shifters to work with screws, so that they cannot be used 
 abruptly, a plan that pays well for the trouble, when 
 there are shifting pulleys which run at a high speed and 
 when the shifter can be attached directly to the machine. 
 
 ACCIDENTS FROM WOOD MACHINES. 
 
 A machine operator who has not carefully studied the 
 many sources of danger and accident to which he is con- 
 tinually exposed, has neglected a study, the neglect of 
 which may cost him a limb or his life at any time. There 
 is always more or less danger from sources that cannot 
 be foreseen, and therefore cannot be provided against, 
 without running risks from dangers that are under- 
 stood. 
 
 Accidents in wood shops occur generally from care- 
 lessness, and a failure to correct some irregularity or 
 risk that was well known, such as cuts by saws or other 
 tools in motion — winding belts, bolts or cutters flying 
 off, or winding the clothing — none of which seem to offer 
 much risk, and yet are dangerous enough, if estimated 
 from the number of accidents from these causes. It is 
 rare to find a man who has been engaged for any length 
 of time in operating wood-cutting machines who has not 
 
70 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 lost fingers, or does not bear scars that attest the danger 
 of his calling. 
 
 There is perhaps less real risk with wood-cutting 
 machinery than many other kinds, if people were equally 
 careful in working with it. One is not apt to go near a 
 train of wheels, or a large belt that is in motion, with- 
 out a feeling of dread ; they convey a sense of danger ; 
 but a circular saw looks harmless when running, almost 
 as though it could be handled without injury, and unless 
 a high-speed machine makes a great noise, it does not seem 
 to convey any sense of peril. 
 
 With one exception, circular saws are perhaps the most 
 dangerous among wood tools. The hands in many varieties 
 of work must of necessity be exposed to injury, and nothing 
 but continual attention and care will prevent accidents. 
 The mind must be kept on the work, and never for a single 
 instant wander away to other matters. 
 
 The writer, during a long experience with a large 
 number of sawyers under his charge, noticed that a man 
 who was absent-minded was sure to be cut, and that by 
 carefully observing the disposition and peculiarities of the 
 workmen, there could be men selected for the saws who 
 ran but little risk. Whenever a man was detected day 
 dreaming, or engrossed in thought, he was removed from 
 the saws and given a job with less risk ; the result was, 
 that accidents became rare, although the work was of a 
 dangerous character, consisting mainly of what is termed 
 blocking and cropping, where some twelve saws were at 
 work. 
 
 Accidents in sawing are generally from cuts where the 
 hands are jerked into the saw, and from pieces coming 
 over the saw from behind. In the first case the accident 
 generally occurs from the piece suddenly parting in the 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 71 
 
 line of the kerf, either through a split or a hidden cut on 
 the under side that allows the piece to spring forward so 
 quickly that the hands cannot be checked, or by the 
 piece unexpectedly rolling over towards the saw when 
 the cut is being made on one side. These are cases when 
 a careful sawyer may be cut; but there are a hundred 
 other ways in which accidents may occur, even by people 
 deliberately placing their hands upon a saw without 
 knowing it to be in motion, a circumstance which has 
 often happened. 
 
 In block sawing, cutting short stuff, the sawyer should 
 use a stick for pushing the pieces, placing his left hand to 
 keep them against the fence, and keeping the stick in his 
 right to push them through. A little practice soon makes 
 this a convenient plan, and one that would be generally 
 followed if it were not that in most American saw benches 
 we have not only to push the stuff through but at the same 
 time hold it down to keep it from rising behind the saw, 
 a matter to be noticed farther on. If the stuff has no 
 tendency to rise behind, there is no excuse for placing 
 the hands near enough to/ the saw to be in danger, no 
 matter what the character of the work. 
 
 In sawing from the side of a piece that is liable to roll 
 over, no other precaution can be taken except close atten- 
 tion and an estimate of the danger beforehand. The best 
 rule is to be ready to let go if anything happens, and it 
 may be remarked that in this as in all other cases where 
 accidents may or do happen, people are seldom hurt from 
 a cause that has been previously considered and is watched 
 for. Pieces coming over the saw is a danger that is more 
 apparent, gives some warning, and is generally dreaded 
 and watched for by the sawyer, especially if he has seen 
 or experienced such accidents. Many who have worked 
 
72 the operator's handbook. 
 
 about saws for years do not know the force with which a 
 piece will be thrown from a sharp saw that has hooked 
 teeth. 
 
 If a piece of stuff — say, 10 feet long — is taken behind a 
 ripping saw, and the end dropped on the top, so that its 
 whole length will pass over the top, it will attain a velocity 
 equal to that of the periphery of the saw, a fact that is 
 easily proved by examining the marks of the teeth toward 
 the last end, the pitch of which will equal that of the teeth 
 on the saw. An accident of this kind will sometimes 
 happen from a green or wet piece closing on the saw be- 
 hind ; but it is quite rare, and with this exception there is 
 no need of such a thing ever happening. In nineteen cases 
 out of twenty the fault is in the gauge or fence, which 
 for some unaccountable reason seems in America to be 
 arranged with a special view to throwing the stuff over the 
 saw; and considering the ingenuity and the intelligence 
 which mark shop manipulation in other matters, there is 
 no parallel for it. 
 
 Fig. 34 shows the usual plan of arranging saw gauges in 
 England and most other countries. 
 
 Fig. 34. 
 
 W 
 
 We often see saw benches from 8 to 10 feet long with a 
 mandril in the centre, w r here no one can reach the saw 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 73 
 
 from the end, and the work is done with the greatest incon- 
 venience; the gauges not only extend past the saw, but 
 are often longer behind than they are in front, an arrange- 
 ment that is never heard or thought of in any other 
 country. 
 
 It is evident that if a gauge extends behind the saw it 
 cannot be set parallel to the plate, but must, in order to 
 free the stuff, stand at an angle ; and as the constant ten- 
 dency is to keep it parallel, the result is that the pieces are 
 lifted behind and thrown over. This matter will be further 
 considered under its proper head, and is alluded to here 
 only in connection with the danger it occasions. 
 
 Many fatal accidents occur from flying pieces, which, 
 from saws of average diameter, usually strike the sawyer 
 in the breast or about the waist, often causing instant 
 death — sometimes scarcely leaving a scar. Three fatal 
 accidents of this kind happened within as many years with 
 men personally known to the writer, which is mentioned 
 to explain the emphatic disapproval of long saw gauges. 
 A thick plank hinged so as to hang directly above the 
 saw, heavy enough to stop any piece coming over, makes 
 a safeguard against such accidents, but it hides the rear of 
 the saw from view, and is not needed if other precautions 
 are attended to. 
 
 Circular saws were mentioned as second among the dan- 
 gerous machines of a wood shop. The irregular moulding 
 or shaping machine should be placed first. 
 
 Safety shields of various kinds have been devised, most 
 of which protect the hands, but are in the way, and can 
 generally be found hanging on the wall somewhere in the 
 vicinity of the machines. No safety device that impedes 
 or increases the labour will ever be used in this or any 
 other case, and the safest plan is to carefully consider how 
 
74 the operator's handbook. 
 
 accidents may happen and what precautions will hinder 
 them without interfering with the work. 
 
 In shaping, the danger is from having the piece snatched 
 by the cutters, either by a splinter raising or when the 
 angle of the cutters is such as to cause them to catch, both 
 of which can be in a measure guarded against by having 
 the angle of the edges very obtuse, which suits the nature 
 of the work besides promoting safety. 
 
 A great share of the work performed on shaping 
 machines, especially such as is extensively duplicated, can 
 be moulded on formers fitted with clamps to hold the 
 piece as in Fig. 35. This arrangement fully protects the 
 hands, besides making better and faster work. 
 
 Fig. 35. 
 
 The holder shown at Fig. 35 is adapted to milling or 
 shaping chair-stuff, hames, billet frames, or other work, 
 when there are a number of pieces of the same pattern to 
 be moulded ; 5 is the pattern and main frame on which the 
 clamping jaws are mounted, 6 is the piece to be moulded. 
 The jaws 1, 1 are operated by the tension rod 3 and the 
 handle 2, which locks the jaws when thrown down in the 
 position shown by the dotted lines, making a toggle-joint, 
 which is the only safe fastening when there is jar and 
 concussion. The amount of force used in clamping is 
 regulated by the swivel screw at 4, which can also to a 
 limited degree be used to adjust the jaws for pieces of 
 varying thickness. 
 
THE OPERATOR^ HANDBOOK. 75 
 
 This form of clamp is the only one that is safe to use 
 on a shaping machine. Screws, spurs, or wedges — in fact, 
 anything except the toggle-joint — may give way at any 
 time, and lead to accident. The tension rod on the top 
 equalizes the strain on the bar 5, which would be bent by 
 any clamping device that acted independently at each end. 
 There is also the advantage of clamping both ends instantly 
 at the same time and with equal force. 
 
 The safety of operating shaping machines depends much 
 upon the form of the cutters ; if they have an obtuse 
 angle and stand in a radial position, there is but little ten- 
 dency to snatch the piece, and the cutting will be effected 
 as easily and much smoother than when standing in an 
 acute position ; the angle of cutters will, however, be 
 noticed under another head. 
 
 Accidents often occur from winding belts, and are always 
 dangerous, either from the chances of being drawn in by 
 the belt or from pulling down the shafting. Three cases 
 out of every four are caused by the belts becoming fast 
 between pulleys set too near together, an easy thing to 
 guard against, and yet a most common fault. 
 
 Pulleys on a line shaft, that are separated only an inch 
 or two, are danger traps, that may at any time cost a life 
 or lead to destructive accidents. There should always be 
 a space between, at least one-third more than the width of 
 the belts, and as much wider as practicable. Belts running 
 too near together are also a source of danger; if one belt 
 breaks it is apt to be overrun by the other, and both of 
 them wound about the shaft; and as the supports for 
 shafting are often not strong enough to part the belts, 
 the whole is likely to be thrown down if the heavier belts 
 are wound. 
 
 There is always danger in throwing on belts when the 
 
76 the operator's handbook. 
 
 pulleys are in motion. It would be of little use arguing 
 against the practice when it will have no influence to 
 prevent it ; what is better will be to give such instruction 
 as is possible to lessen danger. 
 
 Do not attempt to throw on large belts until practised 
 with small belts, at low speeds, and experiment until 
 these can be thrown on without failure and without danger. 
 There is nothing about a shop that is learned so blindly as 
 this; no one can, as a rule, tell how to put on a belt, 
 or even offer a suggestion, except it be to keep your 
 hands out, or to get on the right side of the pulley. It is 
 learned by accident, as we may say; and yet there is 
 one little thing which, if understood, will save nearly all 
 the experiment, and at the same time the danger, for the 
 danger does not come from the throwing on of a belt so 
 much as the failure in doing so. Move the hand as fast as 
 the pulley goes ; that is the whole art. Watch persons 
 trying to throw on a belt, and it will be seen that the only 
 difference between the skilled and the unskilled rests in 
 this thing, of moving the hand with the pulley. The one 
 will throw it on instantly, apparently without effort, and 
 without a thought of failure ; the other will try several 
 times, and then, from desperation, attempt to force it 
 on, and burn the hand from friction, or do something 
 worse in the way of accident. Now the difference, if noted, 
 will be found to consist in the fact, that in the successful 
 attempts the hand was moved as fast as the pulley, and 
 in the others it was not. There are of course other con- 
 ditions to be observed, but this is the essential one. 
 
 If the belt is long and horizontal, the centre, or bight, 
 as the sailors call it, should be held up, and the slack 
 should be mainly on the taking-on side ; this provides in 
 a measure for overcoming the inertia of the belt, and the 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 77 
 
 machinery to be started, the chief difficulty where there 
 is much speed. 
 
 Large belts, unless very long, should never be thrown on 
 while the pulleys are in motion, but drawn together with 
 clamps and joined. If they have to be thrown on, stop the 
 pulleys, lash the belt to the face of the pulley, and turn 
 by hand or slowly with the power until the pulley has made 
 a half turn, and the belt is on, when the lashing can be 
 removed. 
 
 Accidents from winding the clothing are of great fre- 
 quency in wood shops, but unless from the line shafting, are 
 less serious than in other places. The high speed is a safe- 
 guard in such accidents, as the body cannot be drawn in 
 and revolved about a spindle or shaft that is running at a 
 high speed ; the greater danger is from slow shafts, making 
 from one to three hundred revolutions a minute. Set 
 screws are generally at the bottom of the matter, and 
 boring spindles the most common source of accidents. 
 
 It was remarked before that there is no use in recom- 
 mending a thing when you know the advice will not be 
 followed. If it was not for this, we should feel like enter- 
 ing a general protest against all exposed set screws. Many 
 of our best machinists avoid them wherever they can, and 
 in some shops they are not allowed on the machines about 
 which the men work, and where there is danger ; but this 
 is exceptional, and the rule in wood machinery of the 
 present time is to find them not only in chucks to hold 
 bits, but even in collars on the ends of shafts to keep 
 the loose pulleys on. This last is nothing but a relic of old 
 times, an unmechanicai and most dangerous plan of keep- 
 ing loose work on a shaft, at a place where belts are to be 
 thrown on and off or oiling done. A nut on the end of the 
 shaft is neater, more mechanical, and certainly safer. 
 
78 the operator's handbook. 
 
 Machine operators have usually under their charge 
 unskilled hands, often boys, who have had no previous 
 experience, and there is great responsibility resting on 
 them in this matter of accidents; the novice is at their 
 mercy, uninstructed and uncautioned, he is liable to 
 meet with accidents that will cost him a finger, a limb, 
 or his life. The dangers of machinery are to him just 
 like secret traps set for his destruction, and the old or 
 master operator is to be considered his guardian to take 
 him safely through by warning him of the danger. We 
 feel it quite unnecessary to appeal to the sympathy of 
 the operators in this matter. Such accidents as we have 
 alluded to rarely happen from any cause but oversight 
 and want of caution ; and wood workmen, as a class, have 
 but little of that foolish jealousy that in some other trades 
 leaves the young apprentice to learn of danger as he best 
 can. 
 
 Operators and managers in any place where the work 
 is under their charge, should go along the line shafting 
 and look for projecting screws, keys, or bolt-heads, see that 
 there are no belt traps between pulleys, and that there is 
 free access to oil bearings without going into dangerous 
 places. If such things are found, have them corrected ; 
 if proprietors will not do it, quit them, and seek employ- 
 ment with those of more humanity, system, and good 
 sense ; the change will be an advantage in the end. If 
 exposed set screws are found on machines, have them 
 countersunk, or if on the ends of spindles or shafts, have 
 them replaced with nuts. Examine saw gauges and all 
 machines for sources of danger, caution apprentices, and 
 explain clearly the nature of possible accidents, and but 
 little danger need be apprehended. Some foremen are 
 continually having accidents with their machinery, and 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 79 
 
 others rarely ever have; the difference is mainly from 
 things that have been pointed out, and mill owners in 
 placing their machinery in charge of anyone should 
 inquire what accidents he has had, just as much as how 
 much experience he has had in his business. 
 
 Accidents from flying cutters, or bolts thrown from 
 cutter-heads in motion, are of rare occurrence. To one 
 who knows nothing of the thing practically, the chances 
 would seem equal, for cutters to fly off or to stay on, when 
 their weight, work, and speed are taken into account. 
 They do not come off very often, however, and when they 
 do there are rarely any accidents from them. This is for 
 two reasons; there is an instinct of danger from cutters 
 that always keeps the operator on his guard ; and any- 
 thing that flies from a revolving cutter-head always goes 
 precisely in {he plane of rotation, which it is easy to avoid, 
 and if the fact is realized, the operator keeps out of this 
 plane when in the vicinity of high-speed spindles. As 
 this statement comprehends nearly all that can be said as 
 a caution, we will next notice the fastening of the cutters, 
 where the danger generally has its origin. 
 
 Cutters are generally held by screws that pass through 
 and clamp them to the head or block. These screws have 
 two purposes to serve ; to clamp the cutter on the head 
 so firmly that the friction will keep it from sliding end- 
 wise ; and to hold it against the centrifugal strain and 
 the strain of cutting, which is tranverse to the face 
 of the cutter, and from the centre of the head. Now 
 making due allowance for the tenacity of good bolts, and 
 the strength they are supposed to have in such cases, there 
 is a point of straining where the screw is ready to break, 
 without adding the further strain of the centrifugal and the 
 cutting forces, and the great danger is rather in over- 
 
80 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 straining than in unclerstraining them. The inexperienced 
 generally, with a feeling of greater security in having the 
 cutters tight, will screw them down as firmly as they can, 
 and as the amount of this strain is usually governed by the 
 length of the wrench, it is easy to see the importance of 
 watching the matter especially with moulding machines, 
 where the cutters are too often held by bolts, not only 
 too small, but of low grade iron. 
 
 Cutter-screws and bolts should be made of the very best 
 refined iron, not from Swedish, Norwegian, or any of the 
 fine imported iron which is too soft, but from the best 
 rivet rods. It is not amiss to keep a few rods of this 
 iron of J in., § in., and J in. diameter, which can be 
 sent out to have cutter-bolts made from ; it will ensure 
 their quality and add but a trifle to their cost. Steel is 
 not safe for such bolts, and should never be used ; if it is 
 perfectly annealed and soft, it is of course stronger than 
 iron, but there can never be any assurance of this, besides 
 it will not stand blows and rough usage so well as iron. 
 
 EEPAIES OF MACHINERY. 
 
 The repairing about a wood-manufacturing establishment, 
 including the renewal of cutters, tools, belts, or saws, that 
 are regularly worn out, and the breakages from accident, 
 if footed up at the end of each year, would in most cases 
 equal, and in not a few exceed, the clear earnings. To 
 lose a contract for a thousand dollars' worth of work on 
 which there is a probable profit of ten per cent., is to lose 
 the chances of one hundred dollars of earnings, but to lose 
 by accident one hundred dollars for repairs is that much 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 81 
 
 money taken from the actual earnings already made. 
 Its loss is a matter of certainty, and if we could only 
 realize on all occasions, as we should, that one dollar of 
 this kind of expense represents ten dollars' worth of work 
 done in the shop, the repair bills would be materially 
 reduced. 
 
 It was remarked at the beginning that an operator of 
 wood machinery should be a machinist. Good operators 
 are generally able to do ordinary repairs, and prefer doing 
 them without sending them out to be bungled in a second- 
 class machine shop. 
 
 There is no intention here of suggesting radical 
 changes in existing practice and customs that are not 
 wise and expedient, but it is confidently recommended 
 that any woodwork shop employing fifty or more men 
 should have an engine lathe and a portable forge for 
 doing their own repairs. The engineer as a rule has 
 time to work these tools, and will find many things to 
 do on them in the course of a year, that would otherwise 
 either remain undone or have to be sent out, and appear 
 in a long bill for repairs. 
 
 An engine lathe suitable for general purposes in a wood 
 shop of 16" to 20" swing, to turn 6 to 8 feet in length, 
 can with the necessary equipment of tools be procured for 
 from 450 dollars to 600 dollars. 
 
 The tools and appliances wanted will be as follows ; — 
 
 Centre and following rests, furnished with lathe. 
 
 One 12" to 16" independent jaw chuck. 
 
 One set of chuck drills, \" to 1" by eighths, to 2" by fourths. 
 
 One set of twist drills, \" to f " by ^ths, f" to \\" by eighths. 
 
 A set of V thread taps from f " by -^ths to £", and by eighths from 
 
 f" to li", with wrenches to turn them. 
 Two chucks for drills fitted to the lathe. 
 Six each, 4", 6", and 8", clamp bolts, -*" diameter. 
 Lathe dogs from a to 2" by ^ths, from 2" to 4" by | inch. 
 
 G 
 
82 the operator's handbook. 
 
 Lathe tools as follows ; — 
 
 Four diamond tools, right and left. 
 
 Two side tools, right and left. 
 
 Four square tools, \", ■^ E ", ±", and |" wide. 
 
 Two V tools for threads, one hent and one straight. 
 
 One inside thread tool 3" long. 
 
 Three boring tools, 3", 5", and 7" long. 
 
 One round nose tool, 
 
 making in all 17 pieces. These tools should be ordered with 
 and come with the lathe, so that they will fit the tool post ; 
 and besides have the advantage of being properly made and 
 tempered by the lathe manufacturer, who is presumed to 
 understand just how they ought to be after their purpose 
 has been explained. 
 
 A portable forge from 30 to 36 inches diameter, with a 
 sufficient outfit of tongs, and a cast-iron anvil, will cost 
 from 60 to 80 dollars. If the whole machine shop in- 
 vestment is valued, at 750 dollars including the shafting, 
 the interest of this would at ten per cent, a year be 75 
 dollars, as an investment, a sum that will generally be 
 saved in making countershafts, pulleys, or other fittings, 
 to say nothing of repairing. The lathe and tools, if taken 
 care of, will be worth nearly what they cost at any time. 
 We will next consider what may be gained by this auxiliary 
 machine shop in repairs, and doing such fitting as comes 
 within its capacity. 
 
 First — There is the savins: in cost, notwithstanding the 
 argument of machinists to the contrary. The labour, 
 which is the expensive element in machine fitting, is often 
 performed by the engineer, or some one else, in conjunc- 
 tion with other duties. 
 
 Second — The work is done when it is needed, or, what 
 is better, and in most cases practicable, before it is needed ; 
 one job done at the right time is as good as two jobs done 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 83 
 
 at the wrong time ; this may be among " Franklin's 
 maxims ; " if not, it ought to be. 
 
 Third — The work is done in the manner required, and 
 this is the main point of all. In regular machine fitting 
 there are drawings to work from, and there is no trouble in 
 conveying to the workmen a knowledge of what is wanted ; 
 besides, the work is of a regular nature, and suggests its 
 requirements ; but the repairs of a wood-working establish- 
 ment are very different. We have only to ask a machinist 
 who has such repairs to do, to learn the reputation they 
 have as a branch of work. 
 
 Fourth — The time otherwise lost running after the 
 repairs when done outside. This item is placed last, at 
 the risk of having fault found with the arrangement, 
 for there is no one who has had to look after the repairs 
 of a wood-working establishment, especially when they are 
 at a distance, who would not name this item first. It 
 is unreasonable to expect a machinist to do a thing at 
 once, or even at a definite time, when he has no oppor- 
 tunity of making plans in 'advance ; or to expect him to 
 serve several at the same time ; and it often costs more 
 trouble and time to attend to repairs than they are worth. 
 
 A wood workman generally, from the nature of his 
 business, knows something about metal fitting and machine 
 work ; on the contrary, it is rare that a machinist knows 
 anything of wood cutting ; hence, without drawings, it is 
 almost impossible to convey an idea of what is wanted, 
 except by immediately directing the workman, which is 
 generally an equal and more distasteful duty than doing 
 the work oneself. 
 
 With an outfit for repairing such as has been described, 
 a wood-working factory may, by purchasing castings for 
 hangers, pulleys, and bearings, when wanted, fit all shafts 
 
 G 2 
 
84 the operator's handbook. 
 
 except the main line, which, for reasons already given, 
 should be bought from a first-class house that is regularly 
 in the business. 
 
 Spindles, and shafts of all kinds that go on wooden 
 frames, can be made ; cutters, when of solid steel, can be 
 cut off from the bar, bevelled, drilled, slotted, and tempered. 
 Pulleys of all kinds within the swing of the lathe can be 
 bored and turned. In short, nearly all operations that 
 appear in the expense account of machine-shop bills will 
 be saved. It leads also to a kind of self-sustaining spirit 
 in the works, and this to a community of interest, that is 
 always a characteristic of successful business. 
 
 It must however be remembered that this plan of 
 doing their own machine work is not recommended for 
 small shops ; or, rather, it is not recommended as a paying 
 investment, unless the tools can be kept at work a reason- 
 able portion of the time. 
 
 A separate room, where the wood-dust cannot get in, 
 is needed for this iron work. To put iron tools into the 
 same room with wood tools is to make a failure of the 
 experiment; the small tools are mislaid, the whole covered 
 with dust, and the spirit of the thing lost. A room need 
 not add much to the expense, because such a place is 
 needed, whether there are iron tools or not, and the little 
 space required for a lathe and forge does not much increase 
 its size. Grindstones, saw filing vices, oil, and stores, can 
 all be kept in the machine room, and in most cases one man 
 can repair, file saws, grind cutters, and give out stores be- 
 sides doing such new machine work as is needed and the 
 tools will perform. 
 
 For the assistance of those who are not practically 
 skilled in the use of an engine lathe, it is thought best to 
 append some instructions and hints, which may be of use. 
 
THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 85 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
 An engine lathe will perform nearly all the operations of 
 machine fitting, except planing, and even this can be done 
 to some extent on a lathe that has 
 a strong screw and gearing. For 
 drilling, have a stem pad, like 
 Fig. 36, to go into the poppet 
 spindle, and a number of wood 
 blocks, of different dimensions, to 
 build up under the work when 
 
 drilling. Keep these blocks at hand, and do not have to 
 go into the shop to search for new ones each time they 
 are wanted. 
 
 When two or more holes have to be drilled exactly 
 parallel, take out the tool post, and bolt the piece to the 
 tool block, as in Fig. 37 ; it can then be moved across 
 the lathe by the tool screw to bore any number of holes 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 (Do 
 
 «swswss\> 
 
 L 
 
 ^ 
 
 -9 
 
 in a true line, or the piece can be turned on the bolt to 
 bring different points to the drill. Do not use the turning 
 feed in drilling, but move the carriage by means of the 
 tail screw. 
 
 If a key way is to be cut in a pulley or wheel, first bore 
 it, and then lock the lathe with the back gearing ; put a 
 thin slotting tool in the post, and by operating the slide by 
 hand it can be planed out perfectly true, and in less time 
 than it could be chipped. The tools for this purpose should 
 
CO THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 be narrow, not over an eighth of an inch wide, and the 
 work done at several operations, Fig. 38. If the key is 
 Fig. 38. wide the pieces between can be cut out with 
 a chisel at a few blows, or cut out on the 
 lathe by using a stiffer tool. To cut key 
 ways in shafting, drill a hole at the end 
 where the key way stops, mount the shaft 
 between the centres, lock the lathe, dog the 
 piece to keep it from turning, and proceed by hand move- 
 ment, as in the other case, using a narrow stiff tool. 
 Never use the turning or screw-feed in any of these opera- 
 tions, or it may be found necessary to go out for repairs, 
 notwithstanding your own machine shop. 
 
 In making steel spindles, do not try to anneal them ; cut 
 them off in the lathe by removing the tail stock if the bar 
 is too long, catching the end in the chuck and running it in 
 the centre rest, which is a better plan than to heat it, and 
 will, if we count the squaring up of the ends, be less work 
 than to do it at the forge, which requires two men instead 
 of one. The same rule applies to shafting generally, a bar 
 of any length can be put in a lathe in this manner and cut 
 into pieces as long as the same lathe will turn. Have a 
 breast drill for the purpose, and drill all the centres ; never 
 depend upon a punched centre for work of any kind. The 
 breast drill will be found handy for many other purposes, 
 such as drilling oil holes about machines without taking 
 the work down, and for small holes generally. 
 
 Bolts and screws are now articles of merchandise, like 
 nails, and can be bought of any diameter or length from 
 several firms who make a specialty of their manufacture ; 
 odd screws can be made in the lathe. Left-hand nuts for 
 saw mandrils, and cases where but a special nut is used, 
 can be chased on the lathe. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 87 
 
 Tempering tools that are not liable to spring is easily 
 learned, and as the wood workman has the advantage 
 of experimenting with the edges which he hardens, the 
 chances are that with a little practice he can do it better 
 than a smith. Tempering should be learned by everyone 
 who uses tools, no matter of what kind. As a process it has 
 but little more to do with forging than with any other 
 branch of work, and is a question of judgment rather than 
 skill. Slow regular heating, both before hardening and in 
 drawing or tempering, is the main thing to ensure success. 
 As to the proper shades and degrees of temper, they must 
 be seen to be understood. If a piece of steel is hardened 
 and then polished and reheated on a piece of hot iron, 
 these shades of colour can be learned in one or two experi- 
 ments. The first shade, pale -straw colour, is right for 
 nearly all wood tools. 
 
 MOULDING BEARINGS. 
 
 Another kind of repair about our American woodwork 
 shops is moulding bearings of alloy — making Babbitt metal 
 bearings as it is generally termed, though for what reason 
 it would be hard to say. The patent of Babbitt related to 
 a mode of constructing bearings, and not to an alloy from 
 which they were formed. We have to use some general 
 name for the bearings and metal, however, and Babbitt is 
 perhaps as good as any other ; but when we make a verb 
 of it, and to speak of Babbiting bearings, the matter has 
 gone too far, and it is better certainly to call it moulding 
 them. 
 
 Moulding bearings is one of the regular repair jobs 
 about wood shops in America; and while almost anyone 
 
88 THE operator's handbook. 
 
 can run a bearing of some kind, it requires both experience 
 and judgment to do it correctly ; that is to say, that 
 the shaft shall not be sprung by the heat on one side, 
 and that the bearing will be of the proper diameter when 
 moulded, with the metal solid and smooth. To this we 
 may add, pouring without spilling the metal, burning the 
 hands, or having what is too well understood as a blow- 
 up. In fitting new machines that have moulded bearings, 
 the metal should always be poured on mandrils prepared 
 for the purpose, and not on the shafts themselves ; but in 
 re-moulding them for a wood shop it is impossible to have 
 templates for this purpose, because of the various diameters 
 and lengths of the spindles, and the bearings have to be 
 moulded on the shafts that are to run in them. This 
 operation requires the greatest care to prevent springing 
 the spindles, which will sometimes happen, no matter what 
 precautions may be taken to prevent it. With short bear- 
 ings, or those that run at a speed of less than 1000 revolu- 
 tions a minute, there is little difficulty ; but in the case 
 of saw mandrils, planmg and moulding spindles, shaping 
 spindles, and so on, the bearings will sometimes heat in 
 the most mysterious manner after being recast, and just 
 when they are expected to perform well. 
 
 Whenever it is practicable, both sides of the bearings 
 should be poured or moulded at one time, and not at two 
 operations, as is commonly the case ; it requires no more 
 risk or trouble, and is sooner done, with much less risk of 
 springing the shaft. To mould them in this manner the 
 shaft or spindle should be first levelled up and set square 
 or parallel with the planed surfaces on the frame or top of 
 the machine by placing pieces of brass or wood beneath 
 it, the packing then fitted, as shown in Fig. 39, with open- 
 ings to allow the melted metal to run from the top to the 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 
 
 89 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 bottom, also some vent holes towards the ends to allow 
 the gas and air to escape. This packing can be of paste- 
 board, wood, or of several 
 layers of paper, to be 
 removed for adjustment ; 
 soft pine is perhaps the 
 best kind of packing, and 
 is always at hand. After 
 the packing is fitted the 
 cap can be screwed down 
 firmly and the ends luted 
 w r ith clay, if there are 
 
 apertures large enough for the metal to escape. If the 
 weather is cold, or in any case, it is best to heat the cap 
 before putting it on ; it will soon communicate its heat to 
 the rest of the bearing and the shaft, which should be 
 turned round so as to be warmed evenly. 
 
 In luting the ends with clay, do not paste them air-tight ; 
 it is a mistake that often leads to a failure. Carry the clay 
 up to the top of the cap, leaving a free opening or gate 
 for the gas to escape. Bearings that are to be remoulded 
 will, unless burnt out, always contain grease enough to 
 create a quantity of gas when the hot metal is poured in, 
 and unless it has free means of escaping, the bearing will 
 be blown, and imperfectly filled. 
 
 After the bearing has been moulded the gates can be 
 broken off and the cap loosened by driving it endwise, or 
 by wedging it up with a chisel : the harder kinds of metal 
 are easily separated in this manner, and the softer should 
 not be used for high speeds. 
 
 In melting the metal, be careful not to overheat it, and 
 to have it at the proper temperature when poured. If it is 
 too hot the shrinkage is in proportion, and as this is the 
 
90 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 great trouble about moulding such bearings, the metal 
 should be poured at as low a heat as it will run freely. A 
 good plan is to thrust a pine stick into the metal after it 
 melts, and as soon as it will burn the stick or cause it to 
 smoke, it is hot enough, in fact, hotter than it need be, and 
 should, when there are free gates to pour through, be 
 allowed to stand to cool for a time after this test. Pour 
 quickly and carefully, but without hurrying, and be sure 
 that there is not something forgotten that may interrupt. 
 
 After the bearing has been poured and trimmed, the 
 next thing is to fit it. We are well aware that this propo- 
 sition will be a new one to most wood-machine operators, for 
 bearings are generally moulded and then started without 
 fitting; yet there is no risk in asserting that without 
 fitting three out of every four will heat at the beginning. 
 
 It is evident that if the metal shrinks, as it must do, the 
 bearing will be too small, unless the metal is so firmly 
 fastened in the box as to prevent it from closing on the 
 shaft. Even if it did not shrink, the bearing would be too 
 close a fit to run cool, so that it must of necessity be fitted. 
 To do this use a round-ended scraper, made by grinding a 
 half-round file into shape, or by a scraper, specially pre- 
 pared. A half-round file with its edges ground sharp is 
 as good for the purpose as any tool that can be made ; 
 those not accustomed to scraping can do better by using 
 the sides instead of the end. First scrape the sides of the 
 bearing, which are always too close ; then put the mandril 
 in its place, and by turning it round it will mark the spots 
 where it touches, which can be scraped off until it has a 
 full bearing throughout. The cap can then be fitted in 
 the same manner, and unless the shaft is sprung or other- 
 wise imperfect there will be no heating. 
 
 No bearing about wood machines that runs at a high 
 speed, whether it be brass, composition, or iron, can run 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 91 
 
 well without being fitted by scraping. It would seem that 
 when they are moulded directly on the shaft it would en- 
 sure a fit, but a little observation and a practical experi- 
 ment will prove the contrary. 
 
 Bearings that do not run at high speed, for countershafts 
 or line shafting, can be made by winding a layer of paper 
 about the shaft before casting them ; it not only provides 
 for the shrinkage and brings the size right, but being a 
 good non-conductor of heat, it prevents the metal from 
 being chilled on the shaft, and will always ensure a sound 
 smooth surface. A sheet of writing paper can be wound 
 around the shaft and tied with a string outside the bear- 
 ing, or a long strip of paper that is cut parallel and straight 
 can be wound spirally on the bearing and held by the lips 
 at the ends or tied with a cord as before. There is no fear 
 of having the bearings too large by this plan ; it is the 
 opposite fault that is to be guarded against. The fit will 
 not be so good as one that is scraped, but will do very well, 
 except for high speeds. 
 
 As to the material for moulded bearings, there is no plan 
 so good as to send to a responsible house which prepares 
 these alloys and purchase the metal, explaining its purpose 
 and leaving its composition to the manufacturer. 
 
 In attempting to mix the metal there is generally more 
 lost by oxidation and other waste than the profit of the 
 regular smelter amounts to ; besides, the composition is 
 rarely right, and seldom well mixed. 
 
 For slow bearings, pure zinc or worn-out printer's type 
 does well, but with all that run at high speeds the best 
 metal is none too good. 
 
 We may add on the general subject of the material for 
 bearings in wood machines, in which every wood manufac- 
 turer is interested, that moulded bearings made from 
 alloys are only to be considered as an expedient for cheap 
 
92 THE operator's handbook. 
 
 fitting, good enough in many places where there is no 
 considerable pressure, but if there was wanting any proof 
 to show that they are not best for wood machines, it would 
 be found in the fact that they have to be continually 
 renewed. The dust from wood machines which cannot 
 be avoided gets into the bearings and clings with great 
 tenacity to the soft metal, and the spindles are continually 
 going out of line from the wear that must of necessity take 
 place. Brass bearings about 6 parts copper to 1 of tin, 
 or harder, are the best for high-speed spindles, and if 
 properly fitted and taken care of, will last as long as the 
 machine itself. After the most careful experiments with 
 moulded bearings by some of the European builders of 
 wood machines, they were discarded for brass bearings. 
 
 These opinions on moulded bearings are given with a 
 full knowledge of their extended use in many branches 
 of machine manufacture, and the good results obtained in 
 locomotive building and in marine engine work, but the 
 conditions of high-speed wood machines require some- 
 thing else, unless operated by the highest skill and by 
 those who understand how to renew them in a proper 
 manner. We have moulded bearings, however, on nearly 
 all wood machines, and shall no doubt always have them 
 for the cheaper class of machines, so that whether right or 
 wrong, they must be taken care of. 
 
 LUBRICATING WOOD MACHINERY. 
 
 Considering the quantity of oil that is used in wood- 
 working establishments, its cost, and the great difference 
 between its careless and its economical use makes it a 
 subject worth marked attention. There can only be* a 
 certain quantity of oil utilized, no matter how much is 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 93 
 
 poured on or wasted, and there is little risk in the assertion, 
 that where a pint is needed, four pints are wasted. This 
 waste leads to the use of cheap oil to reduce the expense, 
 and the general result is that if the cheap oil used care- 
 lessly was represented in good oil used carefully, it would 
 be equal to the difference between sperm oil of the finest 
 grade, compared with the poorest paraffine oils. 
 
 Lubricating is, with most kinds of machinery, a question 
 of economy, rather than of efficiency. At slow speeds, 
 except when there is great pressure, almost any kind of 
 oil will do for lubrication ; but in the case of high speed, 
 as in wood-cutting machines, the very practicability of 
 their operation depends upon efficient lubrication. 
 
 It is not proposed to consider the character of lubricants 
 here : they are all grease, or ought to be, and their lubri- 
 cating power, or endurance, is directly as the amount of 
 grease they contain, and as the amount of other matter 
 they do not contain. It is to be regretted that, among 
 the many exhaustive researches that have been made in 
 scientific matters, but little, if anything, has been done 
 to explain and fix standards for lubricating oils. Every 
 manufacturer is annoyed by the persistent visits of the 
 agents of paraffine oil dealers, who have some Latin, 
 Greek, or Choctaw name for their compounds, which are 
 represented as having some peculiar power of lubricating 
 from their chemical nature. The fact is, in plain terms, 
 that their worth is as the amount of grease they contain ; 
 and as the market value of grease is nearly always 
 constant, the different grades of oil can be considered as 
 representing it in various states of dilution. 
 
 Next to the quality of the oil the most important matter 
 is how to apply it economically to the bearings. 
 
 Constant lubricating can be considered as divided into 
 
94 the operator's handbook. 
 
 the two general plans ; — circulating the oil in bearings, 
 using it over and over again, and feeding it to the bearing 
 as it is worn out or used up and then allowing it to run 
 off. The first plan includes what are generally termed 
 self-oiling bearings, constructed with cells or oil-chambers, 
 beneath the shaft from which the oil is fed up with wicks, or 
 in some cases through small holes, by capillary attraction, 
 and after circulating through the bearing runs off into 
 the oil-cell to be again fed up, until it is worn out. We 
 have just passed through a mania for self-oiling bearings, 
 which have been applied on all parts of wood machines, 
 and we are now settling down to a more common-sense 
 view of the matter, by looking for the best means of sup- 
 plying oil to the bearings as it is required, or as it is worn 
 out. To pour it on a bearing at intervals from a can, is 
 simply to waste three-fourths of all that is used, even if 
 done with ordinary care, and this plan is not to be con- 
 sidered except in cases where no other can be applied ; so 
 that the choice rests between circulating oil-cells, and the 
 oil -feeders placed on the top of the bearing. 
 
 The difference between the two plans may be stated as 
 follows ; — with oil-cells the oil is circulated, or used over 
 repeatedly ; the cells and the wicks are generally inac- 
 cessible and out of sight ; the arrangement cannot be 
 applied to bearings at pleasure, but must be specially 
 constructed when they are made ; and more important 
 than all, the workmen, as a rule, have but little confidence 
 in a thing they cannot see, and oil bearings as often with 
 their cans as though there were no oil-cells. 
 
 With the glass oil-feeders that are now used, the oil is 
 fed to the bearing as it is needed ; the supply of oil can at 
 all times be seen ; the feeders can be applied to almost 
 any bearing, no matter what its construction. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 95 
 
 There is, however, this objection to the last plan, that 
 the oil will be fed and wasted when the machine, or bear- 
 ing, is not running — a difficulty that we are not likely to 
 get over without adding complication. 
 
 This waste is, however, more than compensated in the 
 fact that the workmen have confidence in these feeders, 
 and will take care of and rely upon them to oil the bear- 
 ings, which is not the case with the concealed oil-cells. 
 One of the most prominent of engineering firms has by 
 careful experiments determined that a given quantity of 
 oil will last a longer time and give a better result, if fed 
 to the bearing from the top and when worn out allowed 
 to run off; and considering the facility with which these 
 oilers can be applied with the certainty of their action, we 
 have no fear in recommending them for wood machines. 
 
 The wicks should be of wire wound round with textile 
 material, ordinary wicking for instance, which can, by 
 closing it together or stretching it on the wire, be made 
 to feed more or less as required. 
 
 All the bearings of wood machines that run at a high 
 speed should have tallow-cups, no matter what other 
 means are used to lubricate them ; they cost nothing, 
 and are equivalent to placing a sentinel, or safeguard, 
 over the bearing to protect it from accident in case the 
 ordinary means of oiling should fail. 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
 Fig. 40 shows a common box-cap with a tallow-cup as 
 they should be arranged whenever there is room above 
 
96 the operator's handbook. 
 
 the bearing. The oiling is effected through the centre hole 
 in the boss, while the cavity around it is to be packed with 
 tallow. If the bearing heats, the tallow is melted, and 
 runs through the holes seen at each end. These holes 
 should be as large as the size of the shaft will admit, so 
 that the tallow can remain at all times in contact with the 
 shaft. 
 
 Tallow alone is too hard, it requires too much heat to 
 melt it, except in warm weather, and should be mixed 
 
 with lard, when necessary, to give 
 FlG - 41 - the proper consistency. 
 
 For bearings that run at the 
 highest speed a good plan is to 
 cut a narrow groove along the top 
 and bottom, as seen in Fig. 41, 
 which, if filled with felt, or soft 
 wood, retains and distributes the 
 oil over the surface, and forms a lodging place for dust or 
 grit that may get into the bearing. 
 
 THE CARE OF BEARINGS. 
 
 The care of bearings can hardlv be considered as be- 
 longing to repairing machinery, and it is thought best to 
 notice it as a separate matter. 
 
 To take care of the bearings of a high-speed wood 
 machine, is one of the most intricate and difficult things 
 which the operator has to do, and even after years of ex- 
 perience he can seldom tell at once, or with any cer- 
 tainty, the cause of a bearing heating. 
 
 When a bearing becomes hot, a machine stops ; if on 
 the engine or line shafts, all the machines stop; so that 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 97 
 
 it is an important matter to know how to treat it. To 
 remove the cause is of course the best plan, and the first 
 thing to be done ; but the cause is sometimes not so easy 
 to determine. Aside from becoming dry for the want of 
 lubrication, the cause of heating may be want of truth in 
 the shaft, either from not being round or from being 
 sprung. It may be for the want of a fit, and lack of 
 surface, from being too tight, or from over-pressure — that 
 is, too much pressure for the amount of surface. 
 
 Among all these the question is first to tell with which 
 the trouble lies ; and next, how to apply a remedy in the 
 soonest and surest manner. When a bearing heats, if the 
 shaft is small, and can be freed from gearing and belts, 
 first try to shake it with a lever, or otherwise, to see if it is 
 loose enough ; if so, next screw down the cap until it binds 
 a little, and then turn the shaft by hand, watching carefully 
 whether it binds at one place more than another ; the least 
 irregularity can be discerned in this way, and indicates that 
 the bearing is not round, and needs turning. If the 
 shaft is crooked, it is detected by holding a point against 
 it while running — a matter that anyone understands. 
 
 If none of these things appear, next take the shaft out 
 and examine the bearing ; see where the shaft bears, 
 whether at one end only, or on a line through the bottom, 
 or on the sides. Examine the cap to see whether it shifts, 
 so as to bind on the sides. This want of surface is the 
 most common cause of heating w T ith the bearings of new 
 machinery, and, perhaps, the most common in bearings 
 that have been remoulded ; if out of truth, scrape off the 
 points where the shaft bears until it touches throughout, 
 as explained previously. Use good oil in starting, and if 
 necessary cool the bearing for a time with water. 
 
 Never place any faith in compounds of plumbago, salt, 
 
 H 
 
98 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 soap, or anything of the kind ; they may have claims as 
 lubricants, but it is generally a waste of time to try to 
 conquer a hot bearing by any other plan than to correct 
 the mechanical defect, which lies at the bottom. 
 
 THE PEINCIPLES OF WOOD CUTTING. 
 
 It was intended to confine this treatise as much as 
 possible to practical shop matters, and not to include the 
 principles of machine construction or of machine action ; 
 but it is evident that a mechanic qualified to take care 
 of, to set, arrange, and adjust, or to devise ways and 
 means of working with cutters, should proceed upon 
 general principles and understand the theory of their 
 action. Therefore the following brief article on the 
 subject, from the writer's ' Treatise on the Construction 
 and Operation of Wood-cutting Machines,' may be read 
 with advantage. 
 
 " Cutting wood consists of two distinct operations ; cross 
 cutting the fibre, and splitting it off parallel to its lamina- 
 tion or grain. 
 
 " The two operations are in all cases combined ; for to 
 remove the wood both must be performed, and to go in- 
 telligently about the construction of machines and cutters, 
 this principle must never be lost sight of. The greatest 
 amount of power and the best edges are required to cross 
 cut the fibre. To illustrate by a familiar example ; — To 
 cross cut a block 12 inches square requires a considerable 
 amount of effort and time, but a single blow will serve to 
 split it in two, parallel to the fibre. 
 
 "This principle exists throughout the whole range of 
 wood cutting with the same general conditions in all cases ; 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 99 
 
 a boring auger furnishes another example, different from 
 the one given as an operation, but the same in principle. 
 
 "In boring, the main power is needed to cross cut the 
 fibre with the ' spurs ' or 'jaws ' while the wood is split off 
 and raised from the bottom of the hole without much 
 effort ; the spurs require frequent sharping, must have 
 thin edges, and are soon worn away ; while the opposite is 
 true of the radial or splitting edges, which may be blunt or 
 dull, and yet work well enough and without much power. 
 
 " Another principle to be observed is that the cross 
 cutting or cross severing of the fibre must precede the 
 splitting process ; the cross-cutting edges must act first and 
 project beyond the splitting edges. There are no exceptions 
 to this rule, which is from necessity carried out in most cases ; 
 yet it is not unfrequent to find tools working on the contrary 
 principle, tearing instead of cutting away the wood. 
 
 "In some cases the wood is cross cut at such short 
 intervals or lengths, that no splitting edges are needed, 
 yet the operation is the same. A splitting saw is an 
 example of this kind; each tooth cuts away its shaving, 
 transverse to, or across the fibre, which is split off in the 
 act of cross cutting without requiring separate edges. The 
 cross-cut saw is an example of the same kind, although 
 apparently different ; the different shaped teeth that are 
 required arise from the manner in whicn they are applied. 
 With the ripping or slitting saw the plate is parallel to 
 the fibre, and with the cross-cut saw it is transverse to the 
 fibre; the cutting edges in both cases have nearly the 
 same relation to and act in the same manner on the fibres 
 or grain of the wood; in short, the difference between 
 cross cutting and ripping saw teeth comes from the 
 rotation being with or across the grain, and not from a 
 difference in the operation of cutting. 
 
 h 2 
 
100 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 " The line of the edge is parallel to the plate in cross 
 cutting, and transverse to the plate in slitting. As before 
 remarked all operations in wood cutting are the same 
 in principle, and can be resolved into some such simple 
 propositions as follow ; — 
 
 "First. — Wood cutting consists in two operations or 
 processes ; cross cutting and splitting. 
 
 " Second. — Tools for wood cutting must have indepen- 
 dent edges directed to these two operations, unless the 
 wood is cross cut into short lengths, as in the case of saws. 
 
 " Third. — The cross-cutting edges must project beyond 
 those for splitting, and act first, as in grooving and 
 tenonino: heads. 
 
 " Fourth. — Cross-cutting edges will, if applied at ' an 
 angle to the fibre,' act with less power and be more 
 durable. 
 
 " Fifth. — Splitting-edges act best when parallel to the 
 fibre, but * at an angle to the direction of their movement.' 
 
 " Sixth. — Cutters for perforating, or end tools, as we 
 will call them, should be arranged to have their action 
 balanced across the centre whenever practicable, to pre- 
 vent jar and vibration." 
 
 These propositions comprehend the whole system of 
 cutter action, and as all wood manufacture is by cutting, 
 they may also be said to comprehend all that is done in 
 working wood. 
 
 We shall not attempt to show their application to 
 planing, moulding, rabbeting, sawing, grooving, shaping 
 and other cutters, the reader can observe this himself, and 
 thus will acquire, if he has not already done so, a general 
 idea of principles, that will guide him in making, setting, 
 and arranging cutters for all kinds of work, without fear 
 of making mistakes and without having to try whether 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 101 
 
 this plan or that plan will work. It will also furnish a 
 clue to the proper form of saw teeth, shearing knives, and 
 other details, about which there is a great diversity of 
 opinion. 
 
 THE ANGLE OF WOOD CUTTERS. 
 
 While the operators of wood machines are not expected 
 to construct their own cutter-heads, it is expected that they 
 will furnish plans and instructions to others as to how 
 they should be made, and as the angles at which the cutters 
 act is an important matter in the making of machines, it 
 deserves some notice here. 
 
 The views given on the subject and the examples 
 shown are not based upon theoretical inference so much 
 as upon practical experiment. There are some very ob- 
 scure conditions connected with the action of wood cutters ; 
 if they moved as slowly as metal-cutting tools we could 
 observe and note the process of their action, but when 
 in motion they are practically invisible, and nothing can 
 be determined except by comparative experiments. 
 
 A general object among wood workmen seems to be to 
 get as low or acute an angle for cutters as possible, 
 regardless of the particular uses to which they are applied, 
 and then to prevent slivering, or pulling out the wood, by 
 means of caps. There are, of course, exceptions to this 
 rule, especially with small cutter-heads, as in the case of 
 shaping machines, but exceptions are generally necessary 
 from the form of constructing the cutter-head rather 
 than the result of any plans that have reference to the 
 work. Never trouble with nor attempt to use caps on the 
 cutters of power machines; they are expensive, inefficient 
 to perform the intended purpose, and besides unnecessary. 
 
102 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 Any kind of wood, including boxwood, rosewood, soft 
 wood or green wood of all descriptions can be worked 
 without caps, or chip breakers, as they are sometimes 
 called, simply by giving the edges a proper angle, and 
 attending to other conditions to be noted. 
 
 In planing veneers by hand it has long been demon- 
 strated that the plane iron requires a much higher angle 
 than for other work. It is also known that scraping tools 
 with blunt edges are the only tools that can be used in 
 turning hard woods or ivory ; in fact with all hand tools 
 the principle of varying angles adapted to the work seems 
 to be well known and generally applied, but when we 
 come to power tools w r e find planers and moulding 
 machines made with their cutters at a constant angle, 
 usually as acute as possible. 
 
 In determining the angle of cutters the following pro- 
 positions are laid down ; — 
 
 1st. In cutting clean pine for surfacing, matching, or 
 moulding, the angle of the cutters can be as low as prac- 
 ticable to clear a good washer and holding bolt with a 
 standard head. 
 
 2nd. An acute angle requires a thin edge, and a thin 
 edge cannot at the same time be a hard one, nor, for that 
 reason, a sharp one, except in working soft clean lumber. 
 
 3rd. An edge may be hard, and kept sharp, as the angle 
 is obtuse and the bevel short. 
 
 4th. In cutting thin shavings the operation is altogether 
 cross cutting, and a sharp edge is more important than a 
 thin one. 
 
 5th. As the angle of cutters becomes more obtuse, or 
 higher, the shape of the edge approaches nearer to having 
 the same profile as the work, and the cutters for moulded 
 forms are cheaper and more easily made and kept in order 
 than if at a low angle. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 103 
 
 From these propositions we can deduce the following 
 rules, which are recommended to operators when they 
 have occasion to determine the angle and bevel of wood 
 cutters ; — 
 
 For planing soft wood the angle at Fig. 42, of 40 degrees, 
 is suitable. 
 
 Fig. 42. 
 
 Fig. 43. 
 
 For mixed work, partly soft and partly hard wood, the 
 angle at Fig. 43 is preferable ; it is a mean to comprehend 
 the two kinds of wood. 
 
104 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 For working hard wood alone, such as oak, ash, walnut, 
 cherry, or mahogany, the angle Fig. 44 is best, while 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 for the very hardest varieties, such as boxwood, rosewood, 
 banyan, cocoa, and ebony, working crotch or cross-grained 
 wood, or at an angle against the grain, the cutters should 
 be set as in Fig. 45. 
 
 Fig. 45. 
 
 It is becoming of late years a common thing for planer 
 men to grind a short bevel on the under side of the knives 
 for working hard or cross-grained lumber, which is sub- 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 105 
 
 stantially the same thing as changing the angle of the 
 cutters and making the bevel shorter. It is an excellent 
 plan, as it would be impossible to change the cylinders 
 when a machine has a variety of work to do, but by having 
 some extra knives ground at different bevels it becomes 
 an easy matter to change them, and one that will pay 
 well for the trouble, especially if the knives are tempered 
 harder as the bevel becomes more obtuse. 
 
 It will be found in practice that a set of knives that are 
 hardened to a very pale straw colour, and with a bevel 
 ground on the face side, just enough to keep the edge from 
 breaking out, will run twice as long and do smoother work 
 on walnut, ash, or oak wood, and will not pull out the 
 stuff where it is knotty or cross-grained. 
 
 It has also become a common practice in some parts of 
 the country to turn the matcher cutters of flooring 
 machines upside down, that is, to turn the grinding bevel 
 to the lumber ; this is an effort in the same direction ; a 
 slow change from the necessities of practice, instead of 
 from inference, as it might be. This way of getting an 
 obtuse angle is going a little farther than is recommended 
 here, but to halve the matter by grinding on both sides will 
 be found an advantage in matching hard wood, including 
 yellow pine. The plan is an old one. The Knowles 
 matching heads, introduced about 1850, had this idea 
 fully carried out by having the bevel on the inside of the 
 cutters ; they were always considered as being capable of 
 working any kind of lumber without tearing, and without 
 clips or pressure pads, yet for some strange reason the 
 plan was not carried out in the common matcher heads, 
 probably from their being too expensive. We will notice 
 one more fact bearing on this matter, that of machines for 
 making wave mouldings ; such mouldings are cut smooth, 
 
106 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 and in part at an acute angle against the grain. These 
 mouldings are not as a rule torn or spoiled in working, 
 yet the whole secret of their manufacture, often a matter 
 of curiosity, is nothing more than to set the cutters at 
 right angles to the face of the moulding. The feed move- 
 ment is given to the wood, and the reciprocating motion to 
 the cutters, which act as scrapers. 
 
 SHARPENING CUTTERS AND SAWS. 
 
 If the cost of sharpening cutters and saws in a wood- 
 working factory were added to the profits, it would make 
 a great difference in the earnings. We have no idea of 
 the cost until we keep an account of the time — the 
 detention of machines, wear of files, and grinding ma- 
 chinery, and the wear of the cutters themselves due to 
 grinding and sharpening. 
 
 Corundum or emery wheels are now generally used for 
 dressing both saws and cutters, and their introduction 
 during the last five years has been one of the principal 
 improvements that has taken place in wood manufac- 
 ture. The saving of both time and files, and the more 
 accurate grinding that can be done on cutters, amounts 
 to a saving of onetwentieth of the whole labour* account 
 for machine work, when these wheels are properly and 
 fully applied. 
 
 Saws are now sharpened with such wheels, in cases 
 when they can be removed from their mandrils ; and there 
 is no doubt that lumber mills could be fitted with a port- 
 able grinding apparatus, that could be adjusted to the 
 teeth in such a manner as to sharpen the saws sooner and 
 better than with files. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 107 
 
 Fd. Arbey, a prominent builder of wood machines in 
 France, fits his planing machines with grinding wheels 
 that are traversed parallel to the cylinder, and produces 
 with the arrangement edges that can in no other way be 
 made so true and straight; they are absolutely perfect. 
 We may grind planer knives tolerably straight with a 
 common slide and a stone, using a straight-edge ; but when 
 they are set, the chances are that they cannot be got true 
 on the cylinder ; but with this self-contained grinding 
 apparatus the edges are ground precisely parallel to the 
 axis of the cylinder, besides avoiding the inaccuracy and 
 loss of time needed to remove and reset them. Often the 
 machines have to be stopped during the time of grinding, 
 and the chances are that the detention will be less than 
 what would be required to remove and reset the knives 
 without grinding them. The attention of wood manufac- 
 turers is invited to this thing as one that may effect a 
 great saving and convenience. 
 
 It was remarked at the beginning that the main wear 
 upon cutters was from grinding. This should have read by 
 improper grinding. 
 
 Two-thirds at least of the wear of flat or straight 
 cutters come from careless grinding, or over-grinding. 
 To grind a cutter up to its edge makes a waste of from 
 e¥ to ^V of an inch of its length in all cases. The ground 
 edge is not fit to work with, and after grinding it is neces- 
 sary to whet a new 7 bevel for a working edge before using 
 it, and the cutter is then just in the condition it would 
 have been if the grinding had been stopped short of the 
 edge, leaving what we will term a whetting bevel. This is 
 especially true of moulding cutters with an irregular profile 
 at their edges, which should from the nature of their work, 
 if there were no other reasons, have a compound bevel. 
 
108 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 Fig. 46 shows a cutter with a compound or double bevel 
 and Fig. 47 one with a single bevel. 
 
 Fig. 46. Fig. 47. 
 
 Now that the cutter shown at Fig. 46 is as stiff and 
 strong as the one at Fig. 47 no one will dispute, and that 
 the first is more easily whet and ground is obvious. 
 
 The art of taking care of cutters consists in whetting 
 the edges as the wear requires it, and never grinding to 
 the edge, or near enough to weaken it. If a cutter is not 
 straight, joint it the first thing, then grind the whetting 
 bevel very carefully, and afterwards the grinding bevel, 
 which should never come nearer than Jg of an inch from 
 the cutting edge. 
 
 For planer-knives, have a coarse grain, soft stone, of the 
 kind known as machine stone, not less than 40 inches in 
 diameter when new ; have a tight water box and hood, 
 and in grinding use a heavy stream of water; the stone 
 should be strongly belted, and instead of rubbing for an 
 hour to make an edge on a fine hard stone, you will in ten 
 minutes finish the knife, and have fifty minutes saved to 
 devote to some more agreeable work. Grinding flat cutters 
 is not — or at least should not be — making an edge ; it is 
 removing the surplus material used to support the edge. 
 
 For moulding irons, emery wheels are best. They 
 should, however, for this purpose be specially arranged by 
 having not less than five wheels on a spindle, arranged so 
 
THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 
 
 109 
 
 that they can be shifted 
 and put on instantly, as 
 
 The machines manu- 
 factured and sold in 
 the market for ordinary 
 grinding purposes are 
 not fitted for use in 
 wood shops, and it is 
 better to have them 
 specially made, as in 
 Fig. 48, than to pur- 
 chase the ordinary ma- 
 chines used for general 
 grinding. There will, 
 no doubt, in time be 
 modifications for mould- 
 ing cutters ; but there 
 are none now in general 
 use that are convenient. 
 
 The wheels can be 
 moulded on the flanges, 
 as seen in the section 
 at the centre, the emery 
 being from 2 to 3 inches 
 deep, which is as much 
 as can be worn out in 
 any case ; manufac- 
 turers of wheels will 
 furnish the disks, or they 
 can be prepared and 
 sent to their works to 
 have the rims moulded 
 on them. 
 
 to different positions, or taken off 
 may be required. 
 
110 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 In preparing the disks, or centre plates, have at least 
 two sets, so that one can be sent to have the rims renewed 
 while the others are in use. 
 
 Fig. 49 represents a wet-stone machine for grinding 
 moulding irons, used in the large mills in England. It is 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 well adapted to the purpose, and with the proper kind 
 of stones will last a long time, and preserve the shape 
 on the periphery. There is no doubt, however, of the 
 emery wheels being best, after the men have learned to 
 use them. At first, the stones will have the preference, as 
 the use of the wheels requires some special knowledge 
 and skill, while grinding with stones is well and generally 
 understood. 
 
 For working flooring and other kinds of planing, thin 
 flexible cutters made from the best sheet cast steel, from 
 14 to 12 gauge in thickness, will be found a cheap and 
 effective kind of knife ; they are now regularly made 
 to any pattern by saw makers and tempered to a hard 
 filing temper, so that they can be sharpened on the 
 cylinder without taking them off. To hold them there 
 should be used a stiff steel cap, T % to | in. thick, slightly 
 concave on its under side, and made without having the 
 bolt holes slotted. In many cases thin knives of this kind 
 are used by placing old cutters on the back, instead of 
 having proper caps made, a plan that is apt to lead to a 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. Ill 
 
 bad result. Their use is no experiment, and when adopted, 
 if at all, it should be done, like everything else, under fair 
 conditions and not with a view to experiment only. The 
 successful working of these thin cutters depends upon their 
 being held firmly, and in any case where they have failed 
 to work satisfactorily, it will generally be found that the 
 fault was in the caps, unless it was from the bad quality 
 of the steel. Sheet cast steel from the best makers is by 
 no means an inferior article for such cutters if carefully 
 worked and not overheated in tempering. What will 
 answer for a saw will not do for cutters that have sharp 
 edges, not that a saw is not better if made from fine steel, 
 but the ed^es are more obtuse and not so liable to break. 
 
 These flexible cutters were patented first by Godeau in 
 France, subsequently by Gredge in England, and perhaps 
 several times in America, so that the plan is well patented, 
 if that is to be regarded as a recommendation. In 
 sharping these cutters, fine float mill saw files of the 
 best quality should be used. As a rule it is an expensive 
 plan to sharpen tempered steel tools with files, but in 
 this case the cutter is so thin, and there is so little to file 
 away, that when the time of taking off and resetting solid 
 cutters is considered, there is a great saving of cost by the 
 use of these thin ones, although sharpened with files. The 
 edge must of course be finished with a stone to make it 
 smooth. 
 
 A good rule, or we may say a good improvement, 
 about wood shops, can be effected by abandoning hard fine 
 stones for grinding tools of any kind, except moulding bits. 
 They are used under the false impression that they are 
 to make edges, but are really a machine to remove and 
 cut away metal, like a lathe or planing machine, with 
 the difference that they will cut hardened steel, which 
 
112 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 the others will not; and until the grindstone comes to 
 be considered in this light, it must be expected that a 
 great waste of time and a great waste of tools will take 
 place. In grinding, get a large stone of the kind before 
 described, arrange so as to use plenty of water, without 
 making a slop about the stone; have the belts strong 
 enough to overcome any amount of pressure in grinding, 
 and the result will be that from being a slow, tedious job, 
 grinding will be but a trifle, and be done to a great deal 
 more satisfaction by the workmen. 
 
 For sharpening small tools, such as auger bits, mortise 
 chisels, or others that have angular corners, have a neat 
 case, containing about a dozen of good files with various 
 sections, triangular, square, round, half-round, knife edge, 
 flat, and so on, set in not to rub together, each one to 
 have its own handle ; in the same case should be kept 
 several slips of Washita stone, ground to various forms 
 on their edges, to finish with. 
 
 Wood workmen having every facility to prepare lockers 
 and cases, generally verify the old proverb in being 
 without them. In a machine shop there are, as a rule, 
 places to keep tools and stores ; the planers, lathes, and 
 drills have their lockers ; but in our wood shops the tools 
 generally lie around loose, and are only found, when 
 wanted, after a good hunt, provided the article has not 
 gone out in the shavings and into the furnace. In the 
 matter of files alluded to, how much neater and more 
 economical it is to have a case to keep them in, than to 
 have them lying on the benches, to be used for purposes 
 not intended, and spoiled ; one-half the number will do 
 if taken care of, and the whole time of hunting for them 
 be saved, to say nothing of doing without them just when 
 they are most needed. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 113 
 
 To go into a wood shop and find a job bench containing 
 three or four files with the tips broken off, a cob handle to 
 be used between them, a monkey wrench without a handle, 
 or without a screw, a lot of nails, old bolts, paint pots, and 
 other junk piled upon it, at once indicates the character 
 of the establishment; and as what the manager does 
 generally determines what the men do, he can be set down 
 as responsible for the whole. We cannot therefore too 
 earnestly recommend order and system in all things, espe- 
 cially in such appliances as relate to tool dressing, which 
 is the odd department in a wood shop, and an important 
 one if measured by its expenses, all of which go to the 
 wrong side of the accounts. 
 
 SAWS AND SAWING MACHINERY. 
 CIRCULAR SAWS. 
 
 Circular sawing machines, or saw benches as they are 
 generally called, are in America for the most part made 
 by the wood manufacturers themselves, with wooden frames 
 and wooden tops, both for slitting and for cross cutting. 
 
 In speaking of saws, therefore, we shall consider the 
 manner of constructing the machines as well as how to 
 run them, because they are generally of home manu- 
 facture, but more especially because the matter is one 
 that deserves more consideration than it has heretofore 
 received. They are, as a class of machines, less perfectly 
 made than almost any other in use, which is only to be 
 accounted for in the fact that we regard them as a kind of 
 rough blocking-out machine, and perhaps because they are 
 so familiar that we do not trouble to investigate them. 
 
 Considering the great number of saws that are used, and 
 that they are the principal and first machines in most 
 
 I 
 
114 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 kinds of wood manufacture, it is strange that we do not 
 make as much progress in their improvement as in other 
 machines, or as their relative importance would seem to 
 claim. Nothing is more common in wood shops than 
 to find slitting benches six to eight feet long, with a 
 mandril in the centre, and a guard extending nearly the 
 whole length of the top. Even prominent makers are con- 
 tinually building machines arranged in this way. A bench 
 of this length with a guard extending past the plate cannot 
 work properly or do true work ; and if it would, no one 
 could reach it to operate with any convenience. The rear 
 end of a bench is needed to support the timber after it has 
 passed out of reach, but the front end next the sawyer 
 should never be so long but that the saw can be easily 
 reached, say from 20 to 24 inches beyond the teeth of the 
 smallest saws used. 
 
 The gauges should never extend much, if any, beyond 
 the front teeth, as shown in Fig. 34, and described before ; 
 there is no need of framing an argument in this matter, it 
 is too plain to need discussion. 
 
 With carriage saws, such as are used for jointing floor 
 boards or slitting very long stuff, when the operator has 
 to walk along the side of the bench, the saw may, of course, 
 stand at any part of the bench; the centre of the slide 
 would be the proper place, and a guard behind the saw 
 may be needed, but not an extension of the one in front ; 
 it should be a separate one, that can be set on a different 
 line to prevent crowding the piece on the saw, and so that 
 both gauges may be set parallel to the saw plate. The 
 rear guard should only be used when indispensable, which 
 means almost the same thin^ as not at all. 
 
 Circular saws in America, except for timber cutting, 
 are generally without guides to support them, and without 
 packing boxes to keep the saw oiled and clear of gum. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 115 
 
 Fig. 50. 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 The result is that the saws have to be at least one-third 
 thicker in order to be rigid enough for their work, con- 
 suming power, and wasting kerf in proportion. This needs 
 thorough reform, 
 and all benches 
 where the top is 
 not arranged to 
 adjust for grooving 
 should have guides 
 and packing boxes. 
 Fig. 50 is a section 
 through a set of 
 guides for the 
 front, and Fig. 51, 
 a section through 
 a packing box for 
 the rear, adapted 
 to an ordinary rip- 
 ping saw bench. 
 
 The front half 
 of the table a 
 should be loose on 
 
 the frame, and arranged to slide back to remove the saw. 
 If made of wood it can be held flush with hard wood dowels 
 or cross cleats on the bottom, and when together be held 
 by iron dowels or screws passing clown through from the 
 top. The front guides, Fig. 50, should be of hard wood, 
 with the end to the saw, the bolt-holes slotted so as to set 
 them up for wear. The packing or oiling boxes at Fig. 5,1 
 are arranged the same way, so that the lower bars can 
 be kept up against the plate. The chambers are filled by 
 winding packing of hemp or cotton about a square strip of 
 wood, until it will fill the cavity, and then soaking in oil 
 before putting it in. Holes can be made to oil the pack- 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 ing regularly, and the effect will be found quite different 
 from throwing oil on the plate — a most wasteful and yet 
 common custom. 
 
 The advantages derived from supporting the saw both 
 at the back and front are obvious, and the experiment will 
 satisfy anyone of its utility. In England all ripping saws 
 are arranged for a packing, consisting generally of nothing 
 more than a groove along the side of the plate, into which 
 a bar of wood wound with packing can be pressed. This, 
 of course, does for the front of the saw, but not so well 
 behind, and is inconvenient in taking out the hand plates 
 with which benches in that country are usually fitted. 
 
 In addition to what has already been said about saw 
 gauges, it is as well to observe that the greater their 
 ingenuity and complication, the less their utility ; a rule 
 that holds good in most other things. The guides and 
 packing boxes beneath the top are out of the way, out of 
 danger, and require no special attention ; but the gauges, 
 with everything about the top of a bench, must be strong 
 and simple. 
 
 As it will often be necessary to make, or to have made, 
 saw mandrils for different purposes, we give the following 
 Table of dimensions, which can be referred to for pro- 
 portions ; — 
 
 For 
 Saws to 
 
 Diam. of 
 
 Length 
 over 
 
 Diam. of 
 
 Face of 
 
 Length 
 
 Diam. of 
 
 Diam. of 
 
 Hole in 
 
 Saw. 
 
 Number 
 of Revo- 
 
 Size of 
 
 the 
 diam. of 
 
 Mandril. 
 
 Bear- 
 ings. 
 
 Pulley. 
 
 Pulley. 
 
 Bearing. 
 
 Cullars. 
 
 lutions 
 a Minute. 
 
 Nut. 
 
 10 
 
 
 18 
 
 5 
 
 ii 
 4 
 
 ii 
 
 n 
 2i 
 
 1 
 
 3000 
 
 7. 
 
 15 
 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 2700 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 3 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 5i 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 2400 
 
 H 
 
 25 
 
 
 27 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 n 
 
 2100 
 
 ii 
 
 30 
 
 1^ 
 
 31 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 4i 
 
 if 
 
 1800 
 
 13- 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 36 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 i 7 
 
 1500 
 
 H 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 117 
 
 These proportions exceed those of common practice, 
 especially in belt power, but are none too large to give 
 a good result. Saw mandrils, instead of being as light 
 as they can be to do their work, should be as strong as 
 possible, to stand the speed, and there can be no reason 
 for making them less, except a trifling saving in first 
 cost, which in this, as in many other cases, turns out 
 losing in the second cost. 
 
 The saw collars should be of wrought iron, welded on ; 
 the pulleys, when on the end, put on with a nut and a 
 taper fit, without keys, which are not necessary. 
 
 The form of teeth for ripping saws, would require 
 lengthy notice to comprehend all the various plans in 
 practice, and would be of but little use ; most operators, 
 although they may not keep the teeth of saws to a proper 
 shape, know what that shape should be. The proper 
 form is easily determined, from the principles already 
 laid down, as well as from the nature of the work, and 
 the whole can be summed up in a sentence — have the 
 points as thin, and at an angle as acute, as they will 
 stand. 
 
 In setting saws the custom is to bend the teeth : a great 
 many set differently, but bending is the most common 
 practice, so common indeed, that it is a bold assertion to 
 say that it is wrong, or that another plan is better. Yet 
 to bend a saw tooth, is not to set it, in a technical sense, 
 and hardly in any other sense, for it soon comes out in 
 working. A tooth in being set over must have a sharp 
 blow on the inside to stretch the steel, and hold it in 
 position, and as it is the easiest and truest plan to set saws 
 of any kind with a hammer, there is no reason why it 
 should not be practised. 
 
118 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 For setting circular saws, a frame, as shown in Fig. 52, 
 is convenient. It consists of a rail, say 8x5 inches, of 
 
 Fig. 52. 
 
 CU 
 
 (JL. 
 
 r3! 
 
 ^ 
 
 TOP. 
 
 Mi l Ida 
 
 hard wood, with a sliding block on top, fitted with wood 
 studs of various sizes to fit the holes in the saws ; on one 
 end is placed a steel laid anvil, to weigh from 15 lbs. to 
 30 lbs., with its face bevelled off to, say, ten degrees each 
 way from the centre. The saw being placed on the stud, 
 is moved out or in upon the anvil until the teeth come 
 over the centre ; the anvil is turned until its corner or 
 apex comes across the tooth, in the position shown by the 
 dotted lines, with the tooth standing over from ^ to J 
 inch as the amount of set needed and the size of the 
 tooth may require. The tooth is then struck a quick 
 sharp blow with a light hammer, at an angle as shown 
 by the line a, or several blows, until the bottom of 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 119 
 
 the tooth is set over as shown. This forms a kind of 
 curved scraper edge on the outside, which keeps the side 
 of the tooth clea r of the wood, scrapes the surfaces smooth, 
 and will stay there until filed away in sharpening. The 
 teeth will be a little bruised after setting, but this bruising 
 does no harm and is removed in a single filing. 
 
 All kinds of circular saws can be set on the same device. 
 It is cheap to make, always in order, and easily under- 
 stood. The teeth of cross-cutting saws require setting at 
 a different angle, but can be set in the same manner. 
 Finally, on the subject of circular saws, they are too 
 much regarded as a kind of blocking-out machine, to 
 divide stuff into pieces that are afterwards to be brought 
 to dimensions. This comes from the fact that the great 
 object in the United States has hitherto been to save 
 labour, and not, as in Europe, to save material. If a man 
 in sawing has, from the imperfection of his machine, to 
 allow an eighth of an inch on each piece for bad sawing, 
 and his saw cuts out one-third more kerf than is necessary, 
 he soon saws up his wages in waste, especially with the 
 more valuable kinds of lumber. 
 
 A sawing machine for slitting should be the most care- 
 fully and accurately constructed in all regards; the 
 lumber should and can be cut down to the size, leaving 
 just enough to dress it smooth. The frames and tops, 
 more than any other machine, need to be made of iron, 
 so as to withstand rough use, dampness, and wear. These 
 are not theoretical propositions, but deductions from the 
 practice in countries where lumber is saved, a distinction 
 that cannot long exist at the prices that lumber has now 
 reached in the States. 
 
 Cut-off saws, like ripping saws, are often built in the 
 shops, with wooden framing, which is much better than in 
 
120 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 the case of slitting benches. They are divided into two 
 kinds, those in which the saw is fed through the lumber, 
 and those that have carriages for moving the stuff, the 
 first for lumber that is long and unwieldy, and the second 
 for shorter and lighter work. The carriage cut-off saw is 
 best whenever the lumber is easier to move than the 
 saw, and the swing or travelling saw in the opposite case, 
 a rule easy to remember and easily understood. 
 
 The carriage saw has an advantage in its greater sim- 
 plicity, and the consequent durability, of its mechanism. 
 The plans of construction are endless, and no suggestions 
 of use can be given here, except that the carriages should 
 be kept square by means of a rack on each end, gearing 
 into pinions on a shaft extending along under the carriage ; 
 this admits of its being mounted on rollers, which could 
 not well be used without the squaring shaft. 
 
 BAND SAWS. 
 
 Among the improvements in wood-working machinery 
 none have been so rapidly and generally adopted in 
 America as band saws. From having, as we may say, 
 none in use nine years ago (1864), we now find them in 
 nearly every shop of any size, and in some cases not only 
 doing scroll cutting, but used for straight lines. In at 
 least one large establishment in New York city no cir- 
 cular saws are used except for cross cutting — all other 
 sawing, coarse and fine, being done on the band saws. 
 As a matter of interest to the reader rather than to 
 convey any useful information, we will mention that 
 although it has so rapidly gone into use in the nine 
 years past, the machine was invented in 1808 by William 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK, 121 
 
 Newberry, of London, England, — not only invented, 
 but built in a good practical working form, as drawings 
 and descriptions yet in existence fully attest. Con- 
 sidering its present importance and extended use, it is 
 hard to realize or believe that a machine of the kind 
 should lie dormant for more than sixty years after its 
 invention. 
 
 What the future of the band saw may be is hard to fore- 
 tell ; but judged upon general principles that govern the 
 operation of all sawing, there is a probability of its sup- 
 planting every other method. Consisting of a thinner 
 blade than can otherwise be used, capable of any degree 
 of tension, and moving at a higher speed than it is pos- 
 sible to run other saws, its advantages are too obvious to 
 warrant any other conclusion. Besides, it cuts square 
 through the lumber, and, as a very important advantage, 
 is operated by rotary shafts and wheels running at a 
 moderate speed. There is, in fact, nothing to prevent 
 its use for every kind of sawing, unless it be from diffi- 
 cult conditions of operation, which have not thus far 
 arisen. 
 
 The fear of breaking blades, or the inability to manu- 
 facture them, seems to have been for forty years or more 
 what deterred people from using the machines. This 
 trouble has been overcome, and band saws of good quality 
 will do as much cutting as other saws, measured by their 
 value or cost. Joining the blades, from being regarded as 
 the next thing to impossible, has become so simple a 
 matter as to be performed in every shop, and almost by 
 any person. 
 
 To first speak of the blades, they should have a high 
 spring temper ; if harder, they become more liable to 
 fracture, are difficult to sharpen, and will be broken in 
 
122 the operator's handbook. 
 
 setting. A saw that has not a good lively temper is 
 comparatively worthless. 
 
 It is quite impossible after a saw is finished to tell 
 whether it is properly tempered throughout; if an inch 
 even of its length has not been tempered, or is drawn by 
 polishing or grinding, it is as bad as though the whole 
 saw was wrong, for such spots cannot be found, and if they 
 were found, there would be no remedy but to cut them 
 out. We must therefore trust mainly to the skill and 
 good faith of the saw makers, and should patronize those 
 who have been longest and most successfully engaged in 
 their manufacture. 
 
 In selecting saws, a good plan to test the temper, if the 
 saw is not joined, is to roll up the ends, and see if it will 
 spring back straight or remain bent. If it spring back 
 nearly to its first shape, the temper is good. The texture 
 or grain of the steel, which is the only clue to quality, 
 can be determined by breaking a short piece from the 
 end of the blade. By unrolling the blade on the floor, it 
 can be tested as to straightness. The ends, if laid to- 
 gether, will show if it is parallel and of the same width 
 throughout. 
 
 The processes of joining now in use can be divided into 
 brazing and soldering, the distinction relating mainly to 
 how the joining is done rather than to any difference in 
 its nature. In what is termed soldering, the melting or 
 heating is effected with hot irons, and in brazing the saw 
 itself is put into the fire. 
 
 Brass, spelter, German silver, and other alloys can be 
 used, for joining, any of which make a joint that, if well 
 made, will be as strong as other parts of the blade, that 
 is, will stand an equal tension, for the tendency to fracture 
 is greatest alongside the joints, where the union takes 
 
the operator's handbooe. 123 
 
 place between the tempered steel and the portion that is 
 annealed in making the joint. 
 
 For solder joints the silver solder of jewellers is con- 
 venient ; it is strong and melts at a low heat. The most 
 convenient form is to have it rolled in thin strips, so that 
 pieces the size of the lap can be cut off and laid between. 
 To make joints of this kind there is required a strong 
 heavy pair of wrought-iron tongs and some kind of a frame 
 to hold the saw straight, leaving the joint free at the ends 
 to be clasped with the tongs. 
 
 Fig. 53. 
 
 Fig. 53 shows a pair of tongs and scarfing frame for 
 soldering, adapted for blades to 2 inches wide. 
 
 The saw should be scarfed or tapered at the ends for 
 a length corresponding to one or two teeth, as the pitch 
 may determine. This scarfing must be done true and 
 level, or the joint will not be a close one. 
 
 Next cleanse the joint with acid, to remove grease ; 
 put the solder between, and clasp the saw with the tongs, 
 which should have a full red heat. As soon as the solder 
 runs, remove the tongs and apply a wet sponge or cloth to 
 restore the temper in part. The joint can then be filed 
 parallel by using a wire gauge or pair of calipers to 
 determine the thickness, being careful to file the proper 
 amount from each side. 
 
 This last is in fact the most difficult part of the opera- 
 tion, and requires great care to have the saw parallel and 
 straight, without making it thinner at the joint than at 
 other places. 
 
124 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 Fm. 54. 
 
 Fig. 54 shows a forge for brazing band saws, which, 
 aside from the original cost of the outfit, is the cheapest 
 
 process, and certainly the 
 best plan of joining nar- 
 row blades. The fire is of 
 charcoal, about 2\ inches 
 square; the degree of 
 heat is accurately regu- 
 lated by the treadle, 
 which is operated by the 
 foot. 
 
 The saw is first scarfed, 
 as in the other case, the 
 joint then wound with 
 brass wire, fluxed with 
 borax, and placed in the 
 fire until the brass melts 
 and runs into the joint ; 
 the saw is then to be 
 quickly removed from the 
 fire and placed upon a kind of anvil, and the joint quickly 
 pressed together while the brass is in a melted state. The 
 detached pieces shown below are details of the forge, for 
 concentrating the fire, holding the saw, and other pur- 
 poses. 
 
 One of the main points in operating band saws is to 
 avoid bending the blades edgewise, which is more easily 
 and frequently done than would be imagined. The wheels 
 require to be so adjusted that the saw will only touch, 
 and not bear against the back guides when not cutting ; 
 and as different saws and different positions of the guides 
 as to height will vary this back thrust, it requires constant 
 attention from the sawyer. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 125 
 
 The amount of back pressure is easily determined by- 
 placing a piece of wood behind the saw while it is running 
 and pressing it forward, noting the amount of force it 
 requires, and then setting the wheels until it bears lightly 
 on the back. 
 
 This edge strain, as we will call it, is generally provided 
 for by an adjustment of the axis of the top wheel, which 
 every machine should have. 
 
 Different forms of teeth, the pitch, angle, and manner 
 of setting, are questions of much importance with large 
 saws that run with power feed; but for scroll cutting, 
 slitting, and with narrow blades generally, the matter of 
 teeth has not such importance — a fact that is sufficiently 
 proved by the great diversity of both opinion and practice 
 met with. 
 
 For hand slitting saws from 2 to 2J inches are better 
 than if wider. The perfection of manufacture and the 
 truth of the blades is apt to be as their width, and beyond 
 2\ inches wide the steel is not, as a rule, so good, or 
 the saws so true and straight ; besides, the tension needed 
 for 2^-inch blades is as much as an ordinary machine 
 with shafts 2 \ inches diameter will stand. There is a 
 general tendency to use wide saws for straight lines, but 
 the experience of the oldest and best makers, such as 
 Perin, of Paris, leads them to recommend narrow blades. 
 
 The firm mentioned rarely make blades exceeding 3 
 inches in width, unless to special order, and as we can 
 hardly hope to wear out more than an inch or two of 
 width in filing, it is difficult to imagine any use for the 
 width beyond what will allow of this wear. For slitting, 
 the bench and gauge can be of the common form, the 
 bottom guide attached to the table and the top one carried 
 on an adjustable bracket ; the speed can be from 5000 to 
 
126 the operator's handbook. 
 
 8000 feet a minute, the wheels not less than 4 feet in 
 diameter, either of wrought iron or of cast iron, bound 
 with wrought-iron bands, to prevent danger. Plain cast- 
 iron wheels are not suitable for any machine, even to run 
 at a low speed ; for if strong enough to be safe, they must 
 at the same time be heavy, which, for top wheels, throws 
 a great strain upon the blades in starting the machine, 
 and also in sawing causes the top wheel to overrun the 
 bottom one when the saw first enters the wood. 
 
 KESAWING MACHINES. 
 
 Resawing lumber, the main business in the wood shops 
 of other countries, is but a small affair in American mills. 
 
 Most planing mills have a resawing machine of some 
 kind, but it is only used to split thin boards and cut 
 lumber that is too thin to be sawed in the forest mills 
 and safely transported. In America lumber is nearly all 
 forest sawn, and comes to the manufacturer cut to size, as 
 near as can be, allowing for warping, shrinking, and irre- 
 gularity; not cut first into deals or flitches for trans- 
 portation, and then sawed again to sizes, as in Europe. 
 For this reason resawing machines are not so important, 
 nor so well understood in America. 
 
 If we were to argue the merits of the two plans of 
 lumber traffic, it would be a difficult matter to defend our 
 own, or to show any reason for so great a waste as it occa- 
 sions. No doubt one of the strongest reasons for the 
 present system is the prejudice against resawing ma- 
 chinery. In considering resawing, it must be remem- 
 bered that a single blade splitting lumber of one to two 
 inches thick, is a different thing from a gang mill with 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 127 
 
 from six to twelve saws cutting flitches or deals, and to 
 manufacture thin boards cheaply, the gang saw must be 
 used. 
 
 Thin saws and slow feed are the rule for English ma- 
 chines ; the amount cut must be increased by the number 
 of blades, instead of crowding and forcing one saw to 
 do three times as much as it should ; our American 
 system is the reverse of all this ; we try to, and do, force 
 a- single blade through from 2000 to 3000 feet of lumber 
 in a day, — a thing incredible to people who have not 
 seen it, and the result is, as might be expected, bad 
 sawing, and a great v/aste of both lumber and power. 
 
 It is not expected to give any useful information about 
 resawing mills such as we have in use ; they must soon 
 pass away under a new lumber system, which enhanced 
 prices are bringing about, and gang saws will no doubt be 
 used for general resawing, and the band saw or circular 
 saw for single lines. 
 
 Resawing deep stuff that is crooked, seasoned and dry, 
 when fed by rollers, is the most difficult of all sawing, 
 and will be the hardest kind to do with band saws, as it 
 is with all other saws; yet experiments thus far go to 
 confirm its future success, and when it is considered that 
 in cases where resawing has been done successfully with 
 band saws, the machines have in most cases been small 
 and poorly made, it assures the practicability of the thing 
 under more favourable conditions. 
 
 A band saw for resawing American lumber should never 
 exceed 3J inches wide, nor be less than 40 feet long, the 
 wheels 6 feet or more in diameter ; the speed of the saw 
 from 5000 to 8000 feet a minute. The teeth require a 
 coarse pitch, with a deep throat, but of some form to ensure 
 great stiffness, otherwise set cannot be kept in them. 
 
128 the operator's handbook. 
 
 For general resawing purposes, there is no saw better 
 than a compact iron-framed reciprocating machine, to 
 carry' from one to ten saws. What may be lost in speed 
 while working but one saw, will be gained when a gang 
 can be used; which would soon be a great share of the 
 time when the system of resawing was once begun. The 
 blades for such machines need not exceed 14 gauge, and 
 in most cases be thinner. 
 
 Looking, as we may, to a change in our. resawing ma- 
 chinery, which is at this time open to that fatal objection 
 of being too slow, there is no need for devoting any space 
 here to the care and operation of the ordinary resawing 
 mill, nor to gang machines before we have them. 
 
 JIG SAWS. 
 
 With respect to jig saws, the band saw and duplicating 
 machines have driven the most of them out of use, and it 
 is to be sincerely hoped that further improvements will 
 do so entirely. What may be said of jig sawing need 
 not consume much space here. For ordinary wood work 
 a spring-strained fret saw to do the inside, or perforated 
 work, is all that is needed. 
 
 To set up a jig saw, select the strongest place in the 
 building, over a girder, if on an upper floor; if on a 
 ground floor, set it either on masonry or piles set in the 
 earth from three to four feet deep. If the saw is on an 
 upper floor, use a counter-balance equal to three-fourths 
 the weight of the reciprocating parts; this throws the 
 vibration on a horizontal plane, in which direction a floor 
 is the strongest of all foundations. If set on an earth 
 foundation, use no counter-balance, leaving the vibration 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 129 
 
 to fall vertically, and be resisted by the foundation. Never 
 drive jig saws at the highest possible speed ; the wear and 
 tear of the machinery will more than balance what is 
 gained in the speed of sawing. 
 
 In selecting men to run jig saws, or any saw for irre- 
 gular lines, two things must be considered — ingenuity and 
 skill to take care of the machine, and the faculty of fol- 
 lowing lines. Without practical experience, and reason- 
 ing from inference alone, we should conclude that almost 
 anyone could run a jig saw ; but that it requires a 
 peculiar faculty is to the experienced a well-known fact. 
 A ship caulker, a chipper, or a carpenter, in striking a 
 chisel or in driving nails, cannot tell, or hardly knows, 
 how the blows of the mallet or hammer are directed to the 
 head of the chisels or the nails: in chipping and caulking, 
 the blows are continually varying from one angle to an- 
 other, apparently without effort or care. The same faculty 
 that guides the hammer and mallet, whatever it may be 
 called, is needed in jig sawing. The sawyer who has this 
 faculty scarcely knows how he follows the lines ; he ap- 
 pears to do so without effort, and depends, in a large 
 degree, upon natural instead of acquired skill. Occa- 
 sionally men, who have great trouble in learning other 
 work, make good sawyers; some men cannot learn to 
 turn, others learn with great facility, and a manager who 
 would get the largest amount of w 7 ork done in the best 
 manner, and in a way most congenial to the men them- 
 selves, must watch these peculiarities, as they will be 
 sure to appear among workmen. 
 
 Saws for scroll work cut at all angles of the grain, 
 and should have what the nature of the work would 
 suggest, an intermediate form of teeth ; not pointed, as 
 for cross cutting, or square, as for slitting ; but a mean 
 
130 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 between, and always in the hook form. A narrow 
 blade is not capable of withstanding back thrust, and 
 should, consequently, be so filed that the tendency will 
 be to lead into the wood instead of crowding back. A 
 triangular file gives a good shape for the teeth of web 
 saws, if they are not too deep, and the pitch not less than 
 one-fourth of an inch. Float files are not so good for 
 filing web saws as the double cut, known as Stubbs' files, 
 these, although they cost nearly twice as much, are the 
 cheapest in the end, because of the longer time they 
 will last. In selecting web saws, always examine how 
 they have been ground by the saw makers ; if they have 
 been hand scotched, as it is termed, by the grinders, and 
 the bevel is irregular, they will work badly ; machine 
 grinding is the only plan for producing a true blade, when 
 it is narrow, and bevelled back from the teeth. 
 
 PLANING MACHINERY. 
 
 After sawing comes planing, and as sawing, except 
 cutting out, is in America mainly done at the forest mills, 
 planing is the leading operation in most varieties of 
 wood manufacture. 
 
 To operate planing machines intelligently and with 
 the best result, one must understand the general principles 
 of their operation, to which we will first call attention. 
 
 Under the general name of planers are classed, first, 
 carriage machines, in which the lumber is moved in true 
 lines throughout its length by guides, known as dimension 
 planers, traversing planers, Daniel's planers. 
 
 Second, machines that reduce lumber to a uniform 
 thickness, or thickness and width at the same time, the 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 131 
 
 stuff being fed by rolls and moved continuously between 
 stationary guides and the cutters, such machines known 
 as surfacing machines, matching machines, and moulding 
 machines. 
 
 Third, surface planers, that cut away a constant amount 
 of wood, gauged from the surface that is planed ; in other 
 words, machines that have fixed pressure bars, both in 
 front and behind the cylinders. The under cylinder of a 
 double surfacing machine, or bottom cylinders generally, 
 are examples of surface planing. 
 
 These three classes of machines and their operations 
 are different in principle, and give totally different 
 results, yet the distinction hardly is recognized or 
 understood. Everyone knows the difference in the ma- 
 chines, and can tell what kind of machine is best for 
 a certain class of work ; but generally, from facts gathered 
 by experience, instead of a comprehensive knowledge of 
 the principles of wood planing. There is, to be sure, 
 nothing intricate in this difference between carriage, 
 parallel, and surface planing, yet it is no uncommon 
 thing to meet operators who have not studied the matter. 
 
 CARRIAGE PLANING. 
 
 All planing in straight lines has to be performed by 
 means of carriages on which the lumber is moved, unless 
 the pieces to be planed have two straight sides to guide 
 them. A carriage is nothing more than a means of 
 supplying for the time these two straight sides ; for when 
 the piece to be planed is fastened to the carriage, the two 
 are to be considered as one body, guided in two direc- 
 tions, vertically and horizontally, by the track beneath, 
 
132 the operator's handbook. 
 
 which supplies the straight sides the lumber itself lacks. 
 To make it more plain we can say that the lumber is not 
 gauged from and by the side opposite to the one being 
 planed, as in matching or moulding machines, but from 
 an artificial face, which has been attached to the piece 
 to guide it, consisting of the platen or table and the 
 guides on which the table moves. This is the only 
 means of planing true, and we can hardly hope to see 
 any great change from the present plans for planing out 
 of wind. The fault is, it is so slow that continual expe- 
 riments are being made to do work on roller feeding 
 machines, only to be done on carriage machines. 
 
 This want of speed must be met in some way, and is 
 best remedied by using cross cylinders instead of travers- 
 ing heads. The Daniels' planing machine, as it is called 
 in America, was invented in 1802, by Bramah, and has 
 ever since held its place as the standard machine for 
 planing out of wind. It is no doubt best for some 
 special kinds of work, but is too frequently used ; three- 
 fourths of the planing performed on this machine 
 can be as well or better accomplished, and from two 
 to three times as fast, with a cross cylinder. The 
 Daniels' planer, from the nature of things, must be slow 
 in its action ; the length of cutting edge that can be 
 brought to act in a given time is the exponent of a 
 planer's capacity, and when we consider that in machines 
 where the plane of rotation is parallel to the face of the 
 wood the length of edge that can be used is no more 
 than the depth, of the cut, the wonder is that they per- 
 form so much. 
 
 A Daniels' planer with two cutters will, in ordinary 
 work, use only a half inch of edge when taking a cut of 
 one-fourth inch deep ; a cross cylinder will, if it has 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 133 
 
 three cutters 20 inches long, represent five feet of edge, 
 or 120 times as much as the other machine. The work 
 performed of course is not in this ratio, but the actual 
 cutting capacity is. 
 
 The result in working is, that while a 24-inch cylinder 
 may plane 1000 feet of surface without sharpening the 
 cutters, a traverse head will not plane ten feet without 
 the edges being equally dull, but as they cut across the 
 wood it can be bruised off with edges that would not cut 
 at all if working parallel to the grain. 
 
 The secret of faster planing, we can safely conclude, 
 is not in continuous feed with rollers, which can never 
 make true work, but in increasing the capacity of car- 
 riage machines. With a traversing cutter-head the feed 
 is only from 10 to 15 feet a minute ; with a cylinder it can 
 be from 40 to 60 feet a minute on a good strong ma- 
 chine. By cutting two sides at once, which is entirely 
 practical on most kinds of lumber, and presuming that 
 the same time is required in running back, the relative 
 capacity is as one to five in favour of the cylinder, which 
 ought certainly to be satisfactory. 
 
 In the arrangement of a wood-working establishment 
 for purposes which require that a part of the planing be 
 true, and out of wind, there is seldom any absolute need 
 of a traverse planing machine, and unless there is such a 
 need for one, it is best to do without it. 
 
 The beating down action of the cylinder, often pre- 
 sented as an argument against the use of dimension 
 planers on thin lumber, is in practice not so serious 
 matter as it is generally thought to be. A cylinder that 
 has its cutters sharp, and set at a proper angle, will 
 plane almost any kind of stuff without springing it or 
 beating it down. 
 
134 the operator's handbook. 
 
 Both in EDgland and France they manage very well to 
 do all kinds of planing on dimension planers, not only 
 framing, bnt flexible stuff, which in America is always 
 planed on roller machines. 
 
 There is no question that in the United States too 
 great a share of the planing is on roller machines ; the 
 little time saved in planing, is generally lost in putting 
 the work together, especially in cabinet work, and similar 
 branches; and this tendency to roller feeding machines 
 is only because of their more speedy performance, 
 
 PARALLEL PLANERS. 
 
 This class includes nine-tenths of all the planers in use 
 in this country, including moulding machines, which do 
 not differ at all in principle from what we term planers, 
 except in capacity, and the arrangements required for 
 profile planing. We use the term parallel, because it 
 describes the function of the machines, which is to reduce 
 stuff to a uniform thickness, straightening it in some 
 degree to be sure, but not effectually. Such machines 
 are adapted to but one class of work, stuff that can be bent 
 or sprung into a straight line, as it passes through the 
 machine, and keeping this in view, it is easy to determine 
 what work should be done by parallel planing machines. 
 The presumption is that any kind of stuff that will bend 
 in passing through the machine can be afterwards sprung 
 straight in putting it together. Flooring, ceiling, mould- 
 ings, — in fact, every kind of stuff that is flexible enough, 
 can, and should be, planed on parallel planing machines, 
 which will plane two to four sides at the same time. 
 
 A four-side machine, as it is called, although it planes 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 135 
 
 all the sides of a piece, does not do so under the same 
 conditions on each side. Two of the sides are surface 
 planed, — that is, gauged from the surface that runs 
 against the gauges and the bed ; the other two are 
 planed parallel, gauged from the opposite side to the one 
 being cut. 
 
 The lumber is guided by its rough surface before 
 coming in contact with the cutters, and will change the 
 position of its irregularities as it passes through the ma- 
 chine, but will retain them all. By this is meant that a 
 bend in a piece too stiff to be straightened by the rolls 
 and pressure bars, will not be in the same place after 
 planing as before, but advanced to a distance equal to 
 that between the rolls or pressure-bar and the cutters. 
 For this reason, among others, we cannot plane lumber 
 either square or straight on a parallel planer. The top 
 and bottom cylinder will work parallel, and the vertical 
 spindles may work parallel ; but as they cannot cut at 
 opposite points at the same time, the piece may change 
 its position between the horizontal and vertical cutters, 
 and be correspondingly out of square. Everyone knows 
 this in practice, and the discussion of it here is not 
 expected to impart any special information as to how 
 the operation may be changed or improved, but to assist 
 in explaining the general principles, which must be un- 
 derstood in order to dictate or suggest the construction 
 of machines, and also to determine proper plans of doing 
 work. 
 
 When a piece has two straight sides, and is to be 
 dressed all over, or one straight side, and be dressed 
 on two, the work can, of course, be sooner and better done 
 on a parallel machine ; so that when machines of both 
 kinds are at hand, as is usually the case, the lumber can, 
 
136 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 after planing two sides on the carriage machines, go to 
 the parallel machines to be finished, effecting a saving of 
 time, and increasing the general capacity of the ma- 
 chinery. In furniture making, for instance, if there is a 
 lot of table-tops to plane, the best side can first be planed 
 on the traverse or carriage machine, and the stuff be 
 then run through the parallel machines, which saves time, 
 and produces true work. 
 
 Surfacing machines, as they are called, with an endless 
 chain bed, are commonly used for rough surfacing in 
 America, and if properly built in a durable manner, they 
 do very well for the rougher class of work. Two changes 
 are needed in them, which wood workmen ought to 
 demand, and when ordering such machines make it a 
 specification. The bed and the lumber line should be 
 fixed, and the cylinder adjusted instead ; there is nothing 
 more annoying than to have the line of the stuff changing, 
 especially in surfacing, when the stuff should be run out 
 of the way by the feed; besides, it is a most unmecha- 
 nical arrangement to move three-fourths of the working 
 parts of a machine in order to have the other fourth fixed. 
 
 The other point alluded to is the chains, which should 
 be stronger and better made. The running slats should 
 be chilled on the bottom side, and the fixed bars, or bed, 
 covered w 7 ith tempered steel — not soft steel, but hard 
 steel. Without this there is no safety in operating these 
 machines, especially on heavy stuff that requires a strong 
 pressure to feed. Surfacing pine-boards gives no test of 
 one of these machines; stiff timber framing, such as car 
 timber, put through one for a few hours is better. 
 
 In starting a new machine of this kind, great care is 
 needed for a day or two at the beginning ; the chain and 
 bearing bars have not then come to a fit, and are not 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 137 
 
 smooth and polished. The chain — or rather, the bed — 
 should be frequently oiled, or plumbago used with the oil, 
 which can be dropped between the slats while the chain 
 is in motion. Another fault that is often met with in 
 these machines, is for the chain bed to be narrower than 
 the cylinder and the rated capacity of the machine. This 
 is merely one of those subterfuges too often adopted to 
 convey an erroneous impression of the capacity of ma- 
 chines ; the Daniels' planer is, for instance, generally rated 
 as planing to the whole diameter of the cutter-head, 
 whereas, as anyone knows, such machines should have 
 their cutter-heads at least one-fourth larger in diameter 
 than their rated width. 
 
 Of what we have termed surface planers there need be 
 nothing said. With the exception of the scraping planer 
 of B. D. Whitney, there are no machines of this class in 
 general use. They relate, as the name indicates, to pre- 
 paring surfaces ; and with the progress that is at this time 
 being made in polishing machines for wood, we are not 
 likely to see a more extended use of planers of this kind, 
 that have rotary cutters. 
 
 ABRASIVE, OR POLISHING MACHINES. 
 
 Sand-paper is almost as old as the art of wood work- 
 ing and wood cutting ; yet while we have called in the 
 natural forces and employ machines to effect the cutting, 
 the polishing is mainly by hand. Power-polishing ma- 
 chines are, it is true, in common use for some purposes, 
 such as finishing spokes for wheels, and oval turned work 
 generally. Buffing wheels for chair stuff are also in 
 common use ; but the question is, why stop here ? espe- 
 
138 the operator's handbook. 
 
 cially as the application of these power-polishing appli- 
 ances has been mainly to cylindrical or irregular sur- 
 faces, and is successful ; why not to plane surfaces as well ? 
 The truth is, power-polishing has not been looked into 
 so closely or so carefully as it might have been, or 
 this hand-rubbing process would be exceptional. Abra- 
 sive cutting, we will term it, need not be confined 
 to smoothing merely; it is unquestionably cheaper to 
 reduce wood with cutters when there is any consider- 
 able amount to be cut away ; but in smoothing off doors, 
 blinds, and other work that is framed with the stuff 
 at angles, this grinding process is the cheapest one for 
 flushing the shoulders, and finishing work after it is put 
 together. It combines the two operations of planing off 
 and sand-papering in one, and is at this time applied with 
 great success in many of the largest mills in various parts 
 of the country. It is regretted that the state of the art 
 just at this time is such that there is nothing to warrant 
 any more than a brief notice of it, to call attention to its 
 importance, and to the probable saving which it will effect. 
 There is no use in writing about undeveloped machinery in 
 America. It may do in Europe to give plans, drawings 
 or dissertations on a machine one or two years old ; but in 
 America the whole thing may pass away and be supplanted 
 with something else while the description is in the press. 
 
 The pneumatic fans now in general use remove the 
 dust, which has no doubt been one of the main causes why 
 polishing machines have not been more used. 
 
 Experiments thus far have given the best result by 
 moving the grinding surfaces in a plane parallel to the 
 surface of the wood, like a traversing planer. 
 
 Barker's machine, working on this plan, is at present 
 extensively and successfully used for cleaning off doors 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 139 
 
 and other joiner work, and in the preparation of plane 
 surfaces generally, either for painting or varnishing. The 
 endurance of the sand-paper, measured by the amount of 
 surface gone over, is about as five to one contrasted with 
 hand work, and when estimated by the wood cut away, 
 not less than as ten to one ; that is, a superficial foot of 
 paper will cut away ten times as much wood, if properly 
 used in a machine, as it would in ordinary hand use on 
 the same class of work. It is not assumed that the paper 
 will do this much more cutting under the same conditions, 
 and with equal care in both cases, but including the waste 
 of paper in hand use, which generally exceeds what is 
 utilized. 
 
 Every wood workshop, no matter what the business 
 may be, if the work is to be painted or varnished, can use 
 a set of buffing wheels to advantage. They do not cost 
 much, occupy but little room, and can be run by the 
 helpers at odd times when there is nothing else to do. It 
 will not cost one cent 
 a foot to buff lumber, 
 and even fence pickets 
 will look well enough 
 to pay for the expense. 
 
 To build a buffing 
 machine, construct a 
 frame about 4x6 feet 
 outside dimensions, of 
 framing from 4 to 5 
 inches square, as shown 
 in Figs. 55 and 56. 
 Three wheels are 
 
 better than two even if but two kinds of paper are re- 
 quired ; the two wheels, with the same grade, if laid with 
 
140 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 the kind of paper used for general purposes, will be worn, 
 as soon as the other, and it will save a large share 
 of the time needed to renew the paper. The wheels 
 should be from 30 to 40 inches in diameter, with a face 
 of 8 to 10 inches ; they may be made entirely of wood, 
 but an iron pulley with lagging is not only best but 
 cheapest. The frame should be open on the front, Fig. 56, 
 so as to allow of free access with crooked pieces, and be 
 convenient for the operator. The shaft should be not less 
 than 2 inches diameter, mounted as shown, to protect the 
 bearings and loose pulleys, as much as possible, from the 
 sand. 
 
 Fig. 56. 
 
 To prepare the wheels, procure pulleys of 30 to 36 
 inches diameter with 8 inches face, the rims heavy and 
 turned true inside and out, with two rows of screw-holes, 
 drilled J inch from the edge, 2 inches apart, to receive 
 1^-inch No. 16 wood screws ; the holes well countersunk 
 on the inside. First put on a layer of lag pieces, either 
 2 or 4 inches wide, to match the screw-holes, making the 
 joints carefully, gluing and screwing each one as it is put 
 on ; turn the wheel off true in its place on the machine, 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 141 
 
 and put on a layer or two of felt or heavy cloth, to make 
 a cushion for the paper ; next prepare a strip of strong 
 canvas two inches wider than the face of the wheel, and 
 long enough to go around it, or half around it, as the case 
 may be, notch the edges, as at Fig, 57, so that they will 
 lap over the ends of the pulley, 
 to be fastened with tacks. After 
 putting on the canvas, a good plan 
 is to add a layer of plain manilla 
 paper without sand, and after it 
 dries, lay the sand-paper on the 
 outside, using thick strong glue ; 
 
 let the wheels dry thoroughly before using them, and 
 when worn smooth, put a new layer on top of the former 
 one, and continue until the wheel becomes uneven and 
 irregular, then by drawing the tacks that hold the canvas, 
 and cutting the paper across opposite the joint, the whole 
 covering is stripped off, leaving the felt or cloth cushions 
 intact. The canvas can then be placed in water until the 
 sand-paper is soaked off, and again put on the wheel to 
 begin another set of coverings. 
 
 It should have been mentioned that the felt coverincr 
 can be nailed on with small copper tacks, and that in 
 applying the canvas, a strip of paper rubbed with beeswax 
 laid under the joints in the canvas will prevent adhesion 
 from any glue that may go through. 
 
 The whole body of the machine frame may be encased 
 to confine the dust, and exhausted by the induction fan, 
 hoods being placed at the back of the wheels to gather 
 the dust, as seen in Fig. 56. 
 
 In building a machine of this kind it is well to add a 
 common pulley at the end opposite the driving pulleys, to 
 operate sand or wax belts, for polishing perforated work or 
 
142 the operator's handbook. 
 
 such pieces as cannot be applied on the wheels ; this extra 
 pulley and an idle pulley set on the floor, with a few 
 canvas belts, comprises the arrangement, which is often 
 of great convenience, especially in chair and cabinet work. 
 
 JOBBING AND SHAPING MACHINES. 
 
 The term shaping, as applied in wood manufacture, 
 comprehends all work in irregular lines ; a better dis- 
 tinction would be to call all operations shaping, when the 
 stuff is fed by hand. This would include the many impro- 
 vised plans of doing special work, that cost so little, and 
 save so much, nearly all of which are performed by hand 
 feed. 
 
 Speaking of hand feed, it is apparent that in the great 
 race for automatic machinery, wood manufacturers have 
 gone far beyond the true limit in the use of power 
 feed, and have applied power feed in many cases when 
 the work could be fed to the cutters by hand, and 
 advantages gained both in the quality and cost of the 
 work. 
 
 To feed lumber to cutters at a uniform speed, regard- 
 less of the state of the edges, the grain of the wood, or 
 knots, is a most unnatural plan, and can only be con- 
 sidered as adapted to the coarser kinds of work ; besides, 
 to secure the smoothest and best work, the wood should 
 pass over the top of the cutter-heads, as in hand-feeding 
 machines, and not beneath them. This last proposition 
 would seem to be but a question of relative position 
 between the cutter-head and the wood, but it is some- 
 thing quite different. When material is passed over the 
 cutters, the amount cut away is usually gauged from the 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 143 
 
 side acted upon, and the machine becomes a surface 
 planer instead of a parallel planer, as explained in an- 
 other place. 
 
 Hand feed, contrasted with power feed, must not there- 
 fore be regarded as meaning two ways of performing the 
 same thing, but as two classes of planing, involving 
 different principles. This distinction is, however, not the 
 most important one between a power-feeding and a hand- 
 feeding machine. The main difference practically is that 
 when arranged with feeding mechanism, a machine is 
 adapted only to some standard kind of work, such as 
 parallel planing, moulding, or grooving, will receive stuff 
 only within certain dimensions, and must be set and ad- 
 justed every time the dimensions of the lumber are 
 changed. Besides, in such machines the feed is uniform, 
 regardless of the varying amount that is cut away, the 
 nature of the wood, or the starting, which should be done 
 slowly. 
 
 A machine that is arranged to be fed by hand is the 
 opposite of all this ; it will receive stuff of any size, will 
 cut away any amount of wood, because the feed can be 
 graduated to suit, and is convertible into a general shaping 
 and jobbing machine, applicable to almost anything within 
 the whole range of wood cutting. 
 
 There is nothing about wood manufacture that needs 
 to be more carefully studied than this matter of machine 
 adaptation ; a successful business is always marked by 
 more or less original practice and an adaptation of means 
 to ends, that we may class under a general head of ways 
 and means of doing odd jobs. 
 
 Ten years ago it was most unusual to find, a hand- 
 feeding machine in an American wood shop; whenever 
 the power-feeding machines failed to do what was re- 
 
144 the operator's handbook. 
 
 quired, the next resort was hand labour; but of late 
 years, from experience and necessity, there has been a 
 return to first principles, by the use of hand-feeding 
 machines for jobbing, and they are to be found at this 
 time in most large establishments. 
 
 A singular thing about their use, and one that argues 
 how little the principles of wood cutting are studied, is 
 that such machines have been sold mainly upon trial, and 
 only bought after they had demonstrated their utility. 
 Manufacturers had no confidence in a machine, the merit 
 of which was predicated upon theoretical grounds, and 
 appeared like a discarded thing of the past. 
 
 One reason of this is to be found in the common im- 
 pression that a hand-feeding machine requires a man's 
 time to run it, and that a power-feeding machine does 
 not, a mistake which is easily seen when considered ; in 
 fact, in many cases, hand feed requires no more attention, 
 and is the faster plan of the two, as bench sawing will 
 serve to illustrate. 
 
 Hand-feed machines have been mainly introduced under 
 the name of universal machines, and a common impression 
 exists that their value is due to a combination of several 
 functions, such as planing, boring, and sawing; but a 
 careful investigation of their use will prove their value to 
 be in the adaptability gained by dispensing with the 
 power-feeding mechanism. 
 
 A planing, moulding, and general jobbing machine, 
 arranged as in Fig. 58, with an overhung spindle to 
 receive various cutter-heads, having a compound table in 
 two parts with independent adjustment, is one of the 
 most useful of hand-feed machines. The tables a, a are 
 mounted on movable brackets, c, c, which are raised or 
 lowered to suit the diameter of the cutter-heads, and the 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 145 
 
 amount of wood to be cut away. The rear table is ad- 
 justed to meet the face after it is planed, and varies from 
 
 Fig. 58. 
 
 the line of the front one, as the depth of the cut. The 
 figure merely conveys an idea of the general functions 
 of a machine which can be applied to a hundred uses, 
 and will generally have something to do in the way of 
 shaping, moulding, grooving, matching, raising panels, 
 rebating, or other work. 
 
 Such a machine corresponds very nearly to the original 
 plans for wood-planing machines ; a machine for moulding 
 and planing very nearly in this form was introduced in 
 America in 1835, but soon gave way to power-feeding 
 improvements, which were capable of performing all that 
 was needed at that day, and when modern work demands 
 hand-feed machines, it is hard to realize that we must go 
 back to the discarded machines of forty years ago. 
 
 Shaping machines, with two vertical spindles, have now 
 become standard machines in American shops ; and we 
 often hear the true remark that they " will do almost 
 anything." When we come to consider why they have 
 
146 the operator's handbook. 
 
 such a range of adaptation, it will be found substantially 
 in the principles that have been already pointed out — 
 hand fed, surface and gauging. 
 
 This machine, although comprehended in the British 
 patent of Bentham, 1793, and that of Boyd, 1822, was, 
 like many others, a long time in being developed, which 
 only proves that wood-machine improvement is not a ques- 
 tion of ingenuity in machine making but a sequence of 
 improvements in wood conversion. 
 
 Whenever a process is invented by the wood-machine 
 operators, we soon have machines to perform it, and there 
 is no greater mistake than to ascribe the progress of wood 
 manufacture to machine improvement ; it is just the oppo- 
 site, machine progress comes almost entirely from im- 
 provements in shop manipulation, and from the wood 
 workmen themselves. This matter is mentioned with a 
 view to directing the attention of operators to processes 
 instead of machines ; they must invent plans of perform- 
 ing work, after which it is easy to adapt machines to the 
 purpose. In the case of the jobbing machine alluded to, 
 for instance, if we have the premises or principles to begin 
 with, and know what kind of work can be done in a special 
 manner by a machine, it is then an easy matter to gene- 
 rate the necessary mechanism. To illustrate this matter 
 of processes further : if there is a set of lagging to make * 
 for a drum or pulley ; in some shops it will be worked out 
 by hand with cove planes, involving no little time and 
 cost, besides making a poor job. In another shop, the 
 lags or staves will be run across the top of a circular saw, 
 and cut out true in a few minutes' time. This last is what 
 is meant by expedients to facilitate and perfect machine 
 work. A machine like the one shown at Fig. 58 is of 
 very simple construction ; but an ingenious workman who 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 147 
 
 understands its operation will soon prepare a set of guides, 
 gauges, and stops to do all kinds of jobs, even to working 
 curved lines ; and this outfit requires more ingenuity to 
 invent than the machine proper. 
 
 Since the introduction of emery wheels for grinding 
 cutters, the objections to those of solid steel are overcome, 
 and a solid steel cutter, hardened throughout, is sooner 
 ground in this way, than an iron one steel laid ; and when 
 it is considered that those of solid steel may be one-third 
 thinner and yet as rigid, it becomes an argument in their 
 favour. It is not recommended, however, that the extra 
 thickness be omitted when they are made of solid steel, 
 because shaping cutters are nearly always made too thin. 
 When there is the least spring in them they are liable 
 to break, snatch the piece from the workman, or, what 
 is worse, take his hand into the cutters with it. 
 
 When a number of these cutters are needed for shaping 
 machines, and when they are held by angular grooves at 
 the ends in the usual manner, it will be found a good plan 
 to procure several bars of the best cast steel, {xl in., 
 I X l|in., T 5 6- x l^in., y 5 e x If in.,f x 2 in., and | x 2^ in., 
 in such proportion as the nature of the work may require ; 
 cut these bars up into lengths of about 2 feet each, and 
 send them to a machine shop to have their edges jointed 
 and bevelled by a planing machine. This will cost but a 
 trifle, and ensure the uniform width of the cutters, without 
 which no machine can work well, as the spindle is bent to 
 meet any variation of width between the cutters forming- 
 pairs. 
 
 The cutters can be cut from the bars, shaped and 
 tempered as needed. If there is a very irregular outline 
 to make, it saves time to drill holes, and break out a part 
 of the steel in the deepest places, or it can be cut out 
 
 l 2 
 
148 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 Fig. 59. 
 
 1 
 
 at a forge fire without deranging the shape of the cutter, 
 if care is used. When there is much grinding and 
 it is to be done on emery wheels, harden the cutter 
 before it is ground ; but do not draw the temper until 
 after it is shaped, it will then be clean and bright, to 
 show the shades of temper. If solid steel cutters of any 
 depth, say more than 3J inches, are used, it is best to 
 slot them in the centre, and put a block between with 
 clamping screws, as in Fig. 59. It may not be needed 
 with ordinary work, but always where there 
 is danger of splinters raising, or pieces pull- 
 ing out, that may break solid steel cutters. 
 It is safest in shaping to keep the 
 material as much as possible between your 
 person and the cutters. This is the natural 
 position; but when fulcrum pins are em- 
 ployed to hold the forms against the cutter- 
 heads, the operator can in many cases be 
 shielded behind the piece, or stand exposed 
 
 UM iW| as he may choose. 
 
 In arranging shaping machines, always 
 drive them at as high a speed as the 
 spindles and bearings will stand. The 
 small diameter of the heads requires this to attain any- 
 thing like a standard speed w T ith the cutting edges, 
 besides, it ensures greater safety to the operator ; the 
 weight and inertia of a piece will often prevent it from 
 catching at a high speed, when it would be drawn in at 
 a slow one. A set of spindles properly fitted should run 
 at least 4500 revolutions a minute, which with heads 2J 
 inches diameter gives a cutting movement of less than 
 3000 feet a minute, much slower than with most other 
 machines. 
 
 K 
 
 E 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 149 
 
 The step-bearings for these machines should be as long 
 and nearly as large in diameter as the top bearings, and 
 arranged to be flooded with oil. Small tempered steel 
 points will always give trouble, and have long ago, for all 
 kinds of machinery, been abandoned by the best makers. 
 
 Have no balance wheels on the spindles, they only add 
 useless weight on the steps, which have enough to carry 
 without them. The need for them on the spindles ot 
 shaping machines is about the same as on the grindstone 
 shaft, and they can be as well dispensed with in one case 
 as the other. 
 
 Set the countershaft 10 feet from the spindles when 
 there is room, or if nearer have the pulleys on it smaller 
 in proportion ; they should not in any case exceed five 
 times the diameters of those on the spindles, unless set 
 10 feet or more distant. 
 
 MOKTISING. 
 
 It was remarked of jig saws that they should only be 
 used when no other machine could be employed for the 
 work. It will not be far wrong, and for similar reasons, 
 to say the same in reference to reciprocating mortising 
 machines. 
 
 In no other country except America have reciprocating 
 machines been applied to all kinds of mortising, and there 
 is nothing strange in the reaction we now see going on by 
 the return to rotary machines for car building and other 
 heavy work. It is hard to tell which deserves the greater 
 credit, the ingenuity and care that has kept the recipro- 
 cating machines in working order, or the forbearance that 
 suffers their jar, rattle, and derangement. All recipro- 
 
150 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 eating machines, no matter what their character, if run at 
 a high speed are open to serious objections — from wear, 
 breaking, jar, and vibration — but when we add a kind 
 of duty that consists in heavy blows, like mortising, it 
 amounts to a culmination of these troubles, and explains 
 why the mortiser in a wood shop is generally out of 
 order and requires more repairs than all the rest of the 
 machines. 
 
 As before remarked, it is not our intention to treat of 
 the principles of machine construction further than to give 
 useful hints as to the care and operation of machines, 
 but there is nothing that will teach the care and opera- 
 tion of machines so well as to understand the principles 
 and the general theory of their action. It must also 
 be admitted that as engineers and machinists as a rule 
 know but little of wood-working machines, improvements 
 and changes must be suggested mainly by wood workmen 
 themselves. 
 
 We therefore suggest a thorough investigation of this 
 mortising question to see whether the reciprocating mor- 
 tising machine has not been applied to many kinds of 
 w r ork which could have been as well or better done by 
 rotary machines. All the mortising in France, and the 
 greater part in England, is performed by rotary machines, 
 that cut clean true mortises without vibration or noise, 
 the question arises, suppose it takes a little longer to cut 
 a mortise, it is but a small part of the operation in making 
 up w 7 ork, there are no breakdowns to hinder and derange 
 other things, the work is better done, the tools are not half 
 so expensive, and finally is it not worth a great deal to get 
 rid of the clashing and banging of a reciprocating machine, 
 as a matter of order and comfort about the works ? But 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 151 
 
 even this argument need not be used alone, for some car 
 builders from careful statistics prove that rotary mortising 
 machines effect a saving of time in the end, from the better 
 facilities they afford in presenting and handling long or 
 heavy lumber. 
 
 There is perhaps no question about the claims of recipro- 
 cating machines for light work, and for chisels to } in. 
 wide, or for pieces that are not too heavy to be fed to the 
 chisel. In these machines there is none of the very 
 objectional mechanism needed for a chisel bar feed, and 
 the machines are quite simple throughout. The recipro- 
 cating parts can be light and the crank shaft can be 
 placed in the base of the machine, to avoid overhead 
 connections and prevent jar upon a building. 
 
 Machines of this kind are suitable for joiner work, 
 cabinet work, and the lighter kinds of mortising generally, 
 except for chairs; all other mortising should be done on 
 rotary machines. 
 
 In making comparisons between reciprocating and 
 rotary mortising machines we have to consider — first, the 
 time required to perform the work ; second, the character 
 of the work when clone ; third, the skill needed to perform 
 it ; fourth, cost of tools and repairs of machinery, including 
 detention by its derangement; or, briefly, time, quality, 
 skill, and repairs. 
 
 To first consider time, it must in the case of recipro- 
 cating machines include the cleaning out of mortises after 
 they are beat down, as it is termed, and unless the ope- 
 rator is specially skilled in the proper form of chisels, 
 this cleaning out often equals the mortising. With rotary 
 machines the mortises are clear, but require in most cases 
 squaring at the ends, a work hardly fair to balance against 
 
152 the operator's handbook. 
 
 the cleaning out in the other case, for it requires less 
 time and no more skill. If a mortise is made in soft wood 
 and without boring, it will be made in less time on a high 
 speed reciprocating machine, but if there has to be a hole 
 bored for starting, the mortise will be soonest made by a 
 rotary machine, which amounts practically to the former 
 proposition, that small mortises in light work are soonest 
 made by the reciprocating machines, and heavy work by 
 rotary machines. Presuming that rotary machines had 
 been as long and generally used in America as those with 
 reciprocal motion, the test of time would perhaps be in 
 their favour, taking the general range of work to judge 
 from. 
 
 The question of quality need hardly be considered, mor- 
 tises made by either plan are good enough. 
 
 In the matter of skill all is in favour of the rotary 
 machine ; those with reciprocating motion need not only 
 as much care and skill to keep up the cutting tools, but a 
 great deal more to keep up the machines, which are with 
 the best care usually out of order. They are besides 
 laborious to work, not only in the exertion needed to 
 feed, but the jarring communicated to the foot is dis- 
 agreeable, and often injurious in heavy work. 
 
 Of repairs, breakage, and detention, they are as the 
 difference between reciprocating and rotary motion which 
 expresses all that could be said. 
 
 In the selection of machines and the arrangement of 
 shops let this matter be carefully canvassed, and whenever 
 there are any doubts as to the plan of mortising to be 
 adopted decide in favour of rotary machines, for heavy 
 work at least. They will not only perform the work, but 
 do it well, and when not needed for mortising can be used 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 153 
 
 for boring, recessing, gaining, or other work at times when 
 a reciprocating machine would be idle. For the lighter 
 class of work when a movable table machine can be used, 
 the reciprocating machine is best, and will probably remain 
 so, but whenever the work requires a machine with chisel 
 bar feed, the case is different. Eotary machines are not 
 used in America at this time, except a large size for car 
 builders, but soon would be, if introduced, and many 
 improvements be added in adapting them to general 
 purposes. The length and position of the mortises being 
 gauged by stops in the rotary mortising machine, it is 
 possible that with some convenient system of gauges, no 
 laying out would be needed on any kind of work. This 
 is one of the advantages that has called the attention of 
 car builders to these machines, and which is no small 
 matter when we consider both the time and the mistakes 
 saved ; a stop system is necessarily a check system at the 
 same time, and prevents mistakes. Speaking of there 
 being but few rotary mortising machines in use in this 
 country, we must except what are generally called chair 
 mortisers, a kind of rotary machine that deserves a more 
 extended use than it has at this time. The rule has been 
 to use these machines on round or crooked stuff which 
 could not be held firm enough to withstand the blows of 
 reciprocating machines ; they never fail to do all that is 
 required, and do it well, without much repairing or at- 
 tention. These machines are made in Ohio, and other 
 places in the West, in a simple, compact form, and at a 
 low price ; those made in New England for chair work are 
 more complicated and slow to operate, having generally 
 vertical spindles, cutting downward, so that the chips 
 remain in the mortise, and in some cases the vibratory 
 
154 the operator's handbook. 
 
 motion has to be stopped when pieces are put into the 
 machine. The spindles of these machines should stand 
 either horizontally or vertically beneath the work, and 
 run at a speed of 6000 to 7500 revolutions a minute, 
 the vibratory motion may be from 200 to 400 a minute ; 
 the cutters or bits should be made from Stubbs' steel, 
 drawn polished rods of the finest grade and used without 
 tempering. The spindles should be bored deep enough 
 to receive from 8 to 12 inches of the rods, so that there 
 will be no waste except the wear, and that the cutter may 
 be set out more or less, as the depth of the mortises may 
 require. 
 
 The bits should be held by a conical split thimble fitting 
 into the end of the spindle; set screws are unfit for the 
 purpose; they are often in the way when mortising on 
 angles, and are liable to catch in the clothing. 
 
 The chuck-end of a spindle is shown in section, Fig. 60, 
 
 Fig. 60. 
 
 a good device for any kind of rotary tools, where the 
 torsional strain is not too great to be sustained by friction 
 alone. 
 
 The chisels for reciprocating mortise machines have 
 much to do with their performance ; a chisel that is true 
 and of a form that loosens the chips and throws the greater 
 part of them out of the mortise, works easy, does not lift 
 the piece on the up-stroke, or jar the machine. 
 
 Chisels should be tapered slightly on their sides and 
 backs, and the only plan to get them true is to plane or 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 155 
 
 mill tliem from the shank after it is turned ; this is easily 
 done, and is the cheapest plan after the chuck or holder 
 has been prepared. 
 
 Fig. 61 is a chuck for planing or milling these chisels, 
 consisting of a revolving shell or holder, a, with a socket 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 to receive the chisel shank, and four stops, c. The base of 
 the chuck is planed to the taper needed on the sides and 
 back of the chisels, and arranged to fit on a planing or 
 milling machine. To set the chisel the clamp-piece e is 
 loosed, the chuck revolved one-fourth, and then again 
 fastened. 
 
 Mortising chisels should have a filing temper deep blue 
 or tinged with violet colour, and be made of the best steel 
 only. To sharpen them a thin emery wheel can be used 
 for the throat instead of files, in which case, however, the 
 temper should be no harder than described, or they will be 
 liable to break. The jaws or ribs at the sides of the chisels 
 are generally made too thin ; it is as well for all chisels 
 more than § in. wide to have lips one-fourth the width 
 of the chisel. Their purpose is to divide the chip into 
 three parts and loosen it in the mortise, and the central 
 part, or throat, aside from inconvenience of sharpening, 
 need be no wider than the jaws themselves. 
 
156 THE operator's handbook. 
 
 TENONING. 
 
 Machines for cutting tenons are so well understood, and 
 have been so little changed in a long time, that they are 
 perhaps the most successfully built and operated of all 
 wood machines. Those with a fixed table and the cutting 
 movement given to the spindles are slowly coming into 
 use for the heavier class of work, especially when the 
 tenons are double. With this exception, the American 
 tenoning machines have remained about the same for 
 twenty years past. Improvements have been made in the 
 cutters, the machines have been improved in strength and 
 workmanship, and by the change from wood to iron fram- 
 ing, the manner of adjusting the heads has also been im- 
 proved and simplified ; but for light work an old machine 
 is as good as a new one, which can be said of but few other 
 machines. There are some things, notwithstanding these 
 facts, that need improvement, which any experienced wood 
 workman will appreciate when pointed out. The shoulders 
 of the tenon, for instance, are squared from opposite sides 
 of the piece by reversing it, when it is tenoned at both 
 ends, and it must be both parallel and straight to bring 
 true work ; it amounts to the same thing as using the try 
 square on two different sides of a piece in scribing shoulders, 
 which would not be thought of by a bench workman. For 
 this we have the remedy of tenoning both ends at the same 
 time, which not only evades this trouble of squaring the 
 shoulders, but saves a great share of the time and labour. 
 It also ensures accurate and uniform lengths between 
 shoulders, a matter of no small importance in tenoning. 
 This plan of tenoning both ends at one operation has gone 
 into practice in Chicago, where it has met with great sue- 
 
157 
 
 cess, and deserves to be generally adopted in door and 
 sash work. 
 
 Some of the joiners' shops in Sweden and Norway employ 
 the same plan, and machines of this kind have been made 
 in England. 
 
 Another improvement is needed in the carriages. They 
 are made to run on slides, and to move them backward 
 and forward is the main labour in operating a tenoning 
 machine ; it is not only hard work, but consumes time, and 
 hinders the operator from holding the stuff, which is nearly 
 all he can perform with his hands. The carriages should 
 in all cases move on rollers, no matter how small the ma- 
 chine ; it is of course more important for heavy work, and 
 on the larger machines, but in any case it allows the 
 operator to feel the action of the cutters more sensitively, 
 and saves time. The argument has been in this matter, 
 that a carriage, if mounted on rollers, could not be kept 
 true and square. Without discussing the subject from a 
 mechanical point of view, it is suggested that a maker who 
 cannot produce a tenoning carriage to move true and 
 square on rollers had better leave the work to be done by 
 those who can. The old wooden carriages are so light, 
 and slide so easily in doing light work, that they do very 
 well without roller bearings ; but, as now made of iron, a 
 carriage strong enough to stand the rough use to which 
 it is subjected, is too heavy to move on slides. Carriages 
 when mounted in this way start heavy and bring the wood 
 in contact with the cutters in an abrupt manner that 
 shivers the corners in starting. The pressure needed to 
 move the carriage is so great that the cutting is not felt, 
 and, as remarked before, the main work in operating is to 
 move the carriage backward and forward. 
 
158 the operator's handbook. 
 
 Tenoning cutters, with all others that act transversely to 
 the grain, should be as thin, and stand at an angle as acute 
 as possible. The tenons depend for accuracy upon the 
 edges being straight and true, which requires precision 
 in grinding and sharpening them, or rather in jointing 
 them, which should be done when on the head at first, and 
 then a gauge prepared that will indicate the true angle 
 for the edges : most makers send out such gauges with 
 their machines, but they nearly always need a readjust- 
 ment by the operator, who can test them by careful 
 experiments which the machinist has not facilities to do. 
 
 WOOD TURNING. 
 
 The ' Turners' Companion,' with other treatises on the 
 subject, generally relate to fancy engine turning for orna- 
 mentation, and are intended mainly for amateurs, or at 
 least do not apply to what is needed in a wood- working 
 establishment. 
 
 What is said here will therefore be directed to other 
 matters that are of more interest to the practical workman, 
 and while there may not be much said that is new, it will 
 it is hoped contain suggestions that will be of use. 
 
 Turning is an extensive and important branch of wood 
 work, one that has to be performed in nearly all wood 
 shops, and, more or less, on all kinds of work. Every 
 wood workman should learn plain hand turning ; not 
 elaborate pieces, but such things as are met with in gene- 
 ral wood work. In joinery, circular work such as circle 
 top frames, round corners, and columns, have to be turned. 
 In cabinet work, although turning is not so great a share 
 as in former times, it is yet a large part of the whole. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 159 
 
 Pattern makers learn to turn from necessity, and the 
 time spent in this way is more than compensated in the 
 aid it gives in learning bench work. 
 
 The art of turning in wood and ivory has always been 
 considered an amusement, and there is nothing in the whole 
 range of industrial processes more fascinating than to shape 
 pieces in a lathe ; some of the pleasure is to be ascribed to 
 the fact that turning is performed without much exertion, 
 and consists rather in directing the tools than propelling 
 them ; yet the rapid change of form that is made at will, 
 and the nice skill needed in some of the finer varieties of 
 work, makes it a most agreeable labour, even to those 
 who are continually engaged at it. The hand lathe is 
 chief among turning machines ; for centuries it was ap- 
 plied to all manner of turning in both wood and iron, with- 
 out any attempt to guide or direct the cutting tools by 
 mechanism, but of late years, from a turning lathe we have 
 changed to turning " machinery," and so many auxiliaries 
 have been added, that the lathe can now be considered but 
 little more than a device to rotate the piece. In wood 
 turning, all the coarser kinds, and even fine work when 
 there are many pieces of one kind to be made, are machine 
 turned. Nothing connected with wood cutting has been 
 followed more persistently than automatic turniug, and 
 nothing has met with more failure. A strange fact run- 
 ning through all experiments made thus far, is that they 
 have been successful or unsuccessful as they have cor- 
 responded to the action of hand tools. Except in America 
 but little has been attempted in automatic turning machi- 
 nery ; in the older countries labour is too cheap, and less 
 turning in wood is done. 
 
 Hand lathes for wood turning require to be made with 
 more care in some respects than any machine used in 
 
160 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 wood work ; they should run true and steady, as a matter 
 of convenience, and of necessity as well, for no turner 
 can do good work on a bad lathe, or one that is not 
 in order. The cones should be of cherry or mahogany, 
 the wood thoroughly seasoned, and laid up so that the 
 joints will run true. Nothing looks worse, nor more un- 
 workmanlike, than to have the joints in a set of lathe cones 
 to run in a zigzag course ; besides, it is just as easy to 
 have them true, by planing up and sawing out the different 
 layers, and then gluing them up on the spindle, using the 
 small cone, which should be of iron, and screwed on the 
 spindle, to clamp them. The cones should be for a com- 
 mon hand lathe five in number, rising from 4 to 12 inches 
 diameter. The spindle should have long bearings of hard 
 brass at each end. There is something strange in the fact 
 that while bearings for other spindles are made from three 
 to four diameters in length, lathe bearings are as a rule 
 but half as long ; and still more strange that lathe spindles 
 should have a small point bearing at the end any more 
 than the spindles of other machines. The end thrust is 
 great, it is true, and must be resisted, but in other cases 
 a little point would not be thought of ; a series of shallow 
 collars has been determined in engineering practice gene- 
 rally, as the best means of resisting end thrusts, and why 
 not in a lathe ? 
 
 Without going into construction of lathes any further 
 than to offer suggestions to those who purchase and use 
 them, we will say, that if turners would note the weak 
 points and faults in hand lathes, and dictate their con- 
 struction in such particulars as need improvement, we 
 should soon have them more perfect. 
 
 The shear, or lathe frame, which is seldom furnished 
 with the lathe, can be made of wood, and is for some pur- 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 161 
 
 poses better than if made of iron. An iron shear is cold 
 in winter, generally too narrow on top, and injures the 
 tools, which are sure to come in contact with it. For 
 pattern work, and the heaviest kind of wood turning, an 
 iron shear is for some reasons best, because of keeping the 
 heads in line, and the weight preventing vibration from 
 pieces that are out of balance. 
 
 A wooden shear should be made of dry pine, the sides 
 not less than 5 x 10 inches — 6 x 12 is better — the top 
 covered with an inch board of ash or oak, fastened with 
 wood screws, so that it can be taken off and replaced when 
 worn ; this preserves the shear frame, and makes a hard 
 surface for the heads to slide upon. Lathe shears should 
 in setting be braced, or blocked and bolted, to a wall 
 whenever practicable, especially when there is more than 
 one lathe to stand on a single frame, otherwise one lathe 
 will disturb another in starting rough stuff that is out of 
 balance. 
 
 A wood turner needs a good and complete set of tools. 
 It is not pretended that there is anything new in the sug- 
 gestion, but there never was one more needed ; there is 
 no accounting for the want and the imperfection of tools 
 that can be seen with nine out of every ten wood lathes 
 in use. A. man may at bench work manage to get along 
 without tools of the best temper, or those properly ground, 
 but no one can turn with satisfaction, or with success, 
 without both, because turning depends upon a sharp keen 
 edge, and in most cases a true bevel, which forms a rest 
 for the edge of the tools. The finest steel only will hold an 
 edge, and even then not on all kinds of wood, so that scrap- 
 ing tools have to be resorted to. Except for light work, the 
 scraping tools — cutting off, or square tools — and nearly all 
 except flat chisels and gouges, can be made from bars of 
 
 M 
 
162 the operator's handbook. 
 
 steel, and used without wooden handles ; if made from J-in. 
 or f-in. square bar, and the sharp corners ground off, they 
 are convenient for pattern turning at least, and much 
 safer than with detachable handles. Tools made in this 
 way should be longer than handled tools ; for pattern 
 turning they may be from 16 to 20 inches long without 
 inconvenience. For all kinds of light turning, those with 
 handles are of course more convenient. 
 
 Tool handles and other fancy articles should be polished 
 in the lathe before taking them out, by first putting on a 
 light coat of linseed oil with a brush, and then using 
 shellac varnish, applied with a woollen rubber, made by 
 doubling heavy cloth to make two to four thicknesses, 
 and, when doubled, about 3 inches square. Apply the 
 varnish to the cloth, then hold it on the work, pressing 
 hard enough to heat and dry it ; the varnish must be thick, 
 and the operation, to be successful, done rapidly. 
 
 It may be said that polished work, tool handles, for 
 instance, cannot be performed by automatic lathes ; such 
 work cannot be made smooth enough to receive the polish, 
 and the polishing if required would have to be at any rate 
 a second and independent process. 
 
 No rules of much value can be given to aid a beginner 
 in learning to turn, for turning is an operation consisting 
 almost entirely in hand skill. One thing, however, may 
 be suggested — cut, instead of scrape, with the tools. The 
 beginner at once discovers that his tools will not catch 
 when scraping or dragging on the wood and adopts scraping 
 from a sense of danger ; he may at the same time discover 
 that if used in this way the edges of the tools are at once 
 destroyed, but little is accomplished, and the surfaces 
 produced are very rough. 
 
 Machine or automatic lathes, as they may be called. 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 163 
 
 consist of four classes ; — First, gauge lathes, with a slide 
 rest and tool carriage, after the manner of an engine lathe, 
 for metal working. Second, lathes with rotary cutting 
 tools, that have a compound motion of the wood and the 
 cutters, both revolving. Third, excentric lathes for turn- 
 ing elliptical or other irregular forms. Fourth, chuck 
 lathes, hollow mandrils, or rod machines. 
 
 The gauge lathe was invented by Bentham, described 
 in his patent of 1793, and has possibly, under some 
 modification, been in use ever since. What is known 
 as the Alcott slide, to be used in connection with an ordi- 
 nary hand lathe, is but a modification of this machine. 
 The principle of operation consists in a following rest, in 
 front of which is a roughing gouge, to reduce the piece so 
 that it will fit the rest ; behind this rest other tools follow, 
 one to three in- number, as the work may require, the 
 rest supporting the piece. The following or finishing tools 
 are generally mounted upon pivoted falls, which slide on 
 patterns, that raise and lower the cutters to give the 
 required shape to the piece. This produces duplicate 
 pieces very rapidly, but if the profile is in any degree 
 irregular the work is too rough for any but the rougher 
 uses. By tumbling the pieces in a cylinder with leather 
 scrap, after they are thoroughly dried they can be made 
 smooth enough for painted work, but not to varnish or 
 polish. Gauge lathes have been helped out of this diffi- 
 culty of making rough work by shearing knives, that 
 come down diagonally behind, and follow the rest, cutting 
 off a light shaving with a thin tangental edge, correspond- 
 ing to the action of a hand chisel that leaves the piece 
 true and smooth. This device has been extensively and 
 successfully used, and manufacturers need have no fear in 
 adopting it for any work to which it can be applied. 
 
 m 2 
 
164 the operator's handbook. 
 
 If a gauge lathe is to be used, have a good one. It was 
 a long time being discovered that a gauge lathe for wood 
 turning required to be as accurately, and even more care- 
 fully made, than an engine lathe for machine fitting. Such 
 lathes require to be made in the most thorough manner, 
 and will cost a large price from any responsible maker. 
 If the amount and character of the work does not justify 
 the outlay for a first-class gauge lathe, it is better to do 
 the work by hand, or with an Alcott slide, than to buy a 
 cheap one. 
 
 The spindle bearings of gauge lathes should be made of 
 the hardest brass, set into accurately planed seats, so that 
 they may be adjusted or renewed without trouble. Centres 
 project 6 to 10 inches from the ends of the spindles, have 
 sharp points, and the head and tail points must come 
 together precisely, and keep there, that is, the lathe must 
 keep in line ; this must be the test of a gauge lathe, and 
 is one that would condemn nine-tenths of all the engine 
 lathes in use. 
 
 Of second class, of lathes w r ith rotary tools are but 
 little used ; the cutters and the wood both running in 
 circles, and cutting intermittently, make rough work ; it 
 is difficult enough to produce smooth surfaces with either 
 the wood tangental to the cutters, or the cutters tangental 
 to the w r ood, without having two circles to meet. There 
 has been a limited use of these lathes for turning hubs 
 and other coarse work, but nothing to merit a further 
 notice here. We suggest to wood manufacturers that 
 whenever they find this compound rotary motion of both 
 the tools and the piece in a machine to do cylindrical 
 turning, to buy some other ; it is a subversion of the true 
 principles of wood cutting, and as such should be em- 
 ployed only when it is unavoidable. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 165 
 
 Excentric lathes for oval turning are among those 
 machines which require special knowledge to manage. 
 The Blanchard lathe, if driven at its utmost speed, may- 
 turn from five to seven hundred, small spokes a day, the 
 surface so rough that the grinding and polishing becomes 
 a more important matter than the turning. We do not 
 want to find fault with a machine so long and so success- 
 fully used as the Blanchard lathe, but will suggest that 
 if instead of turning six hundred spokes on one machine, 
 the same man were to turn three hundred each, on two 
 machines, and turn them smooth, a great gain would be 
 made. The investment in machinery would be something 
 more, but this is a small matter, to be rated as the interest 
 on the money, and is balanced by a small daily gain in 
 either the quantity or quality of the work performed. 
 What we contend for is, that these excentric lathes should 
 be better made, do their work more smoothly, and if neces- 
 sary keep up the quantity turned by increasing the number 
 of machines. In excentric turning the rough character of 
 the work is due in a great measure to the cutting being 
 done across the grain, and to the very inferior quality of 
 the cutters used; these are, as a rule, made from saw- 
 plate steel, tempered to a blue only, so as to be filed, and 
 the edges break or bend as soon as they touch any bark 
 or grit. The plan of filing answers for rough work, and 
 plate-steel is good enough for cutters, but it should be of 
 the finest quality, carefully tempered, and the inside 
 which forms the edge polished. 
 
 The best lathes for excentric turning are those which 
 have the reciprocating movement in the cutter-head, a 
 principle which is followed in all cases except for spoke 
 turning, and in what is called the Handle Lathe. The 
 fact is that no durable and substantial machine can be 
 
166 the operator's handbook. 
 
 made that has its spindles and driving gearing vibrating 
 on a swing frame. The lathes used for turning gun 
 stocks in the armories are the best in use, and are in all 
 cases made with the spindles to run in fixed supports. 
 Spoke-turning machines that have their cutters arranged 
 to act lengthwise the piece, parallel to the fibre, do 
 smoother work, and admit of several pieces being worked 
 at the same time. This plan is one employed in machines 
 of foreign manufacture, and has certainly been successful 
 enough to prevent the introduction of the Blanchard lathe 
 in Europe. It is therefore suggested to manufacturers 
 that in fitting up new works, or in increasing old ones, 
 that this subject of elliptical turning be more carefully 
 considered, and investigations made as to the relative cost 
 of grinding and polishing, compared with the turning, also 
 the cost of turning by different machines. 
 
 The cost of turning is the wages paid for operating the 
 machine, with its wear and repairs added ; for polishing, 
 it is the cost of the labour, the wear of belts, cost of glue, 
 sand, and the time of laying the belts. A little gained by 
 fast turning may be easily lost in finishing, and it is quite 
 unfair to rate the capacity of a machine by the number of 
 pieces that may be turned out, regardless of the manner 
 in which it is done. 
 
 With handle lathes the cutting is generally done in 
 saws, which stand the bark better than cutters, and do 
 not spring the piece so much. A cutter-head with six or 
 eight cutters to do the same amount of work as a saw that 
 has from 24 to 32 teeth, must displace four times as much 
 wood at each cut, and the shock and strain upon the piece 
 is nearly in the same proportion. The straighter kinds 
 of handles, such as sledge, pick, hammer, and hatchet 
 handles, can be turned much faster with cutters than with 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 167 
 
 saws, because of the edges being broader, and the feed 
 proportionately faster; but axe handles, or any handle 
 that has short turns or angles, can be best turned with 
 saws. The true plan is to have each lathe supplied with 
 both saws and cutter-heads, so that they can be changed 
 to suit the kind of work being done. 
 
 Chuck turning relates to parallel rods like dowel pins, 
 chair braces,, or fence pickets. As machines, chuck lathes 
 are simple, efficient and labour-saving, cost but little, and 
 should be used whenever there is anything for them to 
 do. The principle of their operation is the same as the 
 hand gauging tool shown at Fig. 62, a little device that 
 should be among the tools on every hand lathe. 
 
 Fig. 62. 
 
 This gauge tool is used in turning any kind of parallel 
 stuff, dowel pins, wooden screws, gauge stems, in fact any- 
 thing that is in whole or in part straight. Cabinet turning, 
 such as nulling, cottage spindles, or other pieces that are 
 turned straight before being moulded, can be sized much 
 quicker and more accurately with a gauge tool than with 
 chisels. 
 
168 the operator's handbook. 
 
 The tools are made of cast iron, are inexpensive, and 
 easy to operate. One stirrup and cutter will do for several 
 sizes by exchanging. The only fitting in making gauge 
 tools is to bore them to the size wanted and cut away 
 the throat. In usiug them the handle runs on the rest, 
 and should be held down firmly ; some of the first experi- 
 ments may be failures, until there is some skill acquired 
 in setting the cutter. The tool will either go perfectly 
 straight, which is its natural and most easy course, or it 
 will not go at all. Although but little known they have 
 been in successful use for years, and are especially needed 
 in turning the stems of wooden screws, and other pieces 
 that have to be accurate. 
 
 PATENTS ON WOOD MACHINES. 
 
 It is thought that, among other things, a short article 
 on the subject of inventions and patents would not only 
 be of interest, but probably of use. All engaged in wood 
 manufacture — proprietors, managers, and workmen — are 
 at some time either afflicted with a patent mania them- 
 selves, or brought in contact with it in others, and the 
 little that has been written or is known of the history of 
 wood machinery, together with its recent rapid develop- 
 ment, has been not only favourable to invention, but also 
 to deception and mistakes. If anyone before investing 
 in, or becoming interested in, inventions, or in applying 
 for patents on wood- working machinery, would look over 
 the statistics of the past, and see how little has been 
 derived from invention, or even from the monopoly of 
 manufacture, by patents on wood machines, he would need 
 no other caution to deter him from what will, in nine cases 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 169 
 
 out of ten, result in a loss of time and money. Even in 
 the case of the few master patents, on principles, we use 
 the word advisedly, such as Woodworth's patent on planers, 
 or Blanchard's patent on excentric lathes, but little, if any- 
 thing, has been gained to the patentees. The greater 
 share of the revenue was consumed in litigation, to defend 
 against infringement, a consequence that is natural, and 
 will always occur in any attempt to monopolize the 
 manufacture of a machine after it becomes popular. There 
 is something about public sentiment in the United States 
 that rebels against patent monopoly and favours attempts 
 to evade patents, which renders it difficult to introduce 
 patents, and still more difficult to defend them against 
 infringement if they are really useful. 
 
 Leaving out the considerations already named, which 
 ought to be quite enough to save at least the greater 
 share of what is each year lost in wood machinery 
 patents, there is one other too often lost sight of, the 
 difficulty and expense of ascertaining the novelty of im- 
 provements. Foreign patents or foreign practice become 
 legal evidence against the novelty of inventions in our 
 courts, and it is only in late years that we have had facili- 
 ties for acquiring and using such evidence or acquainting 
 ourselves with what exists and what has been done abroad. 
 Our Patent Office, with all the good features of its system, 
 and the examination it gives to cases, does not dare to 
 give any validity to a patent, or to confer a single right 
 that is indefeasible or not conditional ; it simply gives 
 the inventor power to prosecute others for infringement, 
 and actual damages on condition of being the true and 
 original inventor, as against his opponent and everyone 
 else. The writer has spent no little time and money in 
 securing patents on wood-cutting machines, most of which 
 
170 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
 
 he has found to be anticipated by other and older in- 
 ventors, and without having in any case realized as much 
 as the same amount of effort would have earned if it had 
 been applied to other business. 
 
 What it is intended to notice here, is not so much the 
 policy of patenting improvements, as the founding of busi- 
 ness schemes with patent monopoly as a base, or con- 
 stituting a part of the capital. Any failure of a manu- 
 facturing business is felt far and wide, both as a loss 
 of capital and an injury to the reputation of the branch of 
 work to which it belongs ; and in establishing a business, 
 as in building a house, there is required a good founda- 
 tion, which in manufacturing should be a demand and 
 market for the product, skill to produce it at as low or a 
 lower cost than others, and capital to do the business upon. 
 
 The estimates of a market should be based upon a care- 
 ful review of existing facts and probable future changes, 
 how far the articles to be made are a luxury or a staple of 
 necessity, and how others have or are succeeding in the 
 same line. 
 
 In the matter of skill, depend upon mechanical ability, 
 experience, shop system, and good manipulation ; if patents 
 are to be a consideration, balance them against some other 
 intangible consideration, but not against money, credit, 
 machines, or material. If a patent earns anything, it is 
 easy to set it off to a separate account, but never safe to 
 use the money until it is earned, which is done when a 
 patent represents manufacturing capital. 
 
 In the matter of capital, no matter what the amount, 
 let it consist in cash or actual assets ; there was a time in 
 wood manufacturing when it was comparatively safe to 
 borrow money for one or two years and invest it in lumber 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 171 
 
 aud machines, but that time has gone by ; competition is 
 now so great, and our establishments have grown so large, 
 that the manufacturer with a small or a borrowed capital 
 has but little chance against the one who has a large 
 capital and owns it. In making special and new articles 
 of manufacture, or in districts not connected with our 
 great cities by rail or water communication, or when the 
 business is carried on to meet a local demand, these rules 
 may not apply : they are safe premises, however, to reason 
 from in starting a new business. 
 
 PUKCHASING MACHINEKY. 
 
 There is no knowledge more important to a wood 
 manufacturer than what kind of machines he should 
 purchase to be used in his business. 
 
 Operators generally understand the subject better than 
 proprietors, and machines are usually bought upon their 
 judgment and advice ; only so far, however, as a choice 
 between the machines of different makers, for it is very 
 seldom that they can get just what is wanted, no matter 
 how well they may understand what is needed for the 
 work. 
 
 Wood machines are made in America at this time 
 like boots and shoes, or shovels and hatchets. You do 
 not, as in most other countries, prepare a specification of 
 what you want, as to capacity, belt power, adjustments, 
 and so on, but must take what is made for the general 
 market. That this is not right need not be argued, and 
 that it is as much the fault of the purchaser as it is of 
 the maker is also true. 
 
172 THE operator's handbook. 
 
 Purchasers are too apt to barter and beat down the 
 price to the lowest point, and then go to another maker to 
 see if he will furnish machines for less, just as though it 
 was a circular saw, a roll of belting, or a barrel of oil that 
 was wanted. This not only degrades the business of 
 machine manufacturing, and provokes competition and 
 bad work, but it leads to a state of affairs that allows 
 almost anyone to engage in machine making without the 
 engineering knowledge and skill that is needed. 
 
 This is not the way to construct and sell machines that 
 will earn the most money. They should, whenever prac- 
 ticable, be specially adapted to the work to be performed, 
 by makers who not only understand the nature of the work, 
 and the principles of machines, but have proper facilities 
 for designing and modifying them, without enhancing their 
 cost. In most cases a man who is to run a machine upon 
 some special work knows how it should be made and 
 arranged for that work, and he should have it arranged 
 accordingly. If a machinist applied to has not the skill 
 or the engineering knowledge to modify the machine, go 
 to one who has such knowledge, and the chances are that 
 what is saved at such a shop by skill and system will fully 
 make up for the extra cost of the changes needed. This 
 commercial system of machine manufacture has, among 
 other troubles, led to a kind of conditional sale system ; 
 machines are bought, and what is stranger, furnished, 
 on trial. The purchaser is afraid to trust his own judg- 
 ment, the maker is not to be depended upon, the manager 
 or the operators have no choice except between the stereo- 
 type machines in the market, and the builder is allowed 
 to send a machine on trial, or rather, to send one with 
 a guarantee of its working. 
 
 The way to reform this, which all must admit as a 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 173 
 
 wrong system, is for the machine operators to educate 
 themselves in the principles of constructing as well as 
 operating wood machinery ; to study the theory of the 
 action of cutting edges, the proportion and composition 
 of bearings, the diameter and length of spindles, the 
 size of pulleys and width of belts, speeds, and everything 
 pertaining to wood manufacture. 
 
 They must not depend upon machinists, who as a rule 
 know nothing of wood work, to do this. It is altogether 
 a different thing from making lathes and planer drills 
 for metal work; tools which machinists understand and 
 continually use in their own business. Wood machines 
 are not only peculiar and difficult to build, but are also 
 peculiar to operate. A machinist is expected to run a 
 lathe or planer, to drill, or do vice work, but on the con- 
 trary it is only a few wood workmen who can run the 
 different machines found in a wood shop, so that it is 
 unreasonable to expect a machinist, without specifications, 
 to fill an order satisfactorily for a machine which even the 
 operator may not understand. 
 
 In ordering machines, therefore, take time to investigate 
 their adaptation to what you want to do ; if the work is 
 of a regular character the public reputation of a machine 
 may be trusted, but it is due to the dignity of any shop to 
 at least attempt to improve their manipulation by modi- 
 fying machines whenever useful improvement suggests 
 itself. In the matter of shafting, belts, and steam power, 
 we have already offered suggestions to aid in their selec- 
 tion. 
 
174 the operator's handbook. 
 
 SUPPLYING MATEKIAL. 
 
 "A penny saved is a penny earned," is a maxim as 
 old as it is true; applied to the purchase of lumber and 
 wood supply for an establishment it means that a dollar 
 saved in the maimer of supplying material, can be added 
 to the profits account. 
 
 As to purchasing sawed lumber, it is only a commercial 
 question of quality and value, but other plans of procuring 
 material, without its passing through what is called the 
 lumber market, are open to some suggestions for those 
 who are within reach of timber. 
 
 A great many, in manufacturing articles from wood, 
 never think of anything but to purchase sawed lumber 
 and recut it, often into small pieces, when they had just 
 as well cut their stuff from round timber, saving thereby 
 a great share of the cost, and at the same time securing 
 better material. As a rule, 200 feet of lumber will cost 
 as much as one cord of timber; a cord of timber, 128 
 cubic feet, is as a solid equal to something over 1500 
 feet of sawed stuff board measure ; allowing one-half for 
 saw-kerf and waste, it would make when sawed 766 feet 
 of lumber. A good sawyer, with an efficient machine, will 
 cut up four cords of logs 8 feet long into framing pieces or 
 turning stuff in a day ; the waste, after furnishing fuel to 
 drive the saw, is generally worth enough to pay for the 
 sawing, and something over; as one-half is allowed for 
 waste it should certainly make a cord of firewood, worth 
 as much as a cord of round timber. 
 
 This would give 766 feet of prepared stuff at the same 
 price that would have been paid for 200 feet of lumber, 
 with the difference that what has been cut from timber 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 175 
 
 is cut to dimensions, while the other would be in planks 
 or boards^ and subject to a much greater waste in re- 
 working than the stuff sawed by hand. 
 
 Leaving all nice calculations out, we may safely assume 
 that when a cord of round or split timber costs as much 
 as 200 feet of lumber, the stuff saved from the timber 
 will, when cut out, not cost more than one-half as much 
 as an equal quantity of merchantable lumber, and that if 
 any considerable part of the lumber used in a manufac- 
 turing establishment could be produced in this way, it 
 alone would make a large profit. 
 
 As to the question of quality, or worth, which is the 
 same thing ; timber that is cut to be sold by the cord 
 is usually of smaller size and a younger growth than what 
 is taken for saw-mill logs, and is for that reason sounder 
 and brighter than the older growth. If it is split before 
 sawing it must be reasonably straight grained, and is 
 sawed nearly with the grain ; being in short lengths of 
 8 feet or less, the lumber in any case is much straighter 
 in grain than if it had been cut at a regular lumber mill, 
 where the logs would have been twice as long. In other 
 words, the lumber from a crooked tree is straight or cross 
 grained as the lengths into which it is cross-cut before 
 slitting. 
 
 It might be said in reference to this system, that round 
 timber cannot be obtained; however, there are but few 
 places in the United States, except in large cities, or the 
 prairie countries, where such timber cannot be procured, 
 by simply letting its want be known. The farmers during 
 the winter are glad to haul in, or deliver such stuff on the 
 railways, canals, or rivers, and only too glad to avoid the 
 saw-log business, which is by no means a favourite one. 
 Many of the largest wood manufacturing establishments 
 
176 
 
 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 
 
 have already adopted this system, so far as they can, and 
 have continued it successfully for years ; it is not expected, 
 of course, that we are giving them information, but a 
 great many never think of it. 
 
 Fig. 64. 
 
 For this kind of sawing there 
 is needed a saw framed and 
 arranged as in Figs. 63 and 
 64, the general dimensions as 
 follows ; — 
 
 Length of main frame, 14 feet. 
 Height of main frame, 24 inches. 
 Length of running board or table, 
 
 13 feet. 
 Length of bearing rails, 16 feet. 
 Diameter of saw, 36 to 40 inches. 
 Diameter of mandril, 2| inches. 
 Length of mandril, 42 inches. 
 Size of pulley, 12 inches diameter, 
 
 8 inches face. 
 Speed of the saw, 1200 revolutions per 
 
 minute. 
 Power required from 10 H.P. 
 
 The table is merely a hard 
 wood board, interposed between 
 the timber and the rollers, split 
 throughout its length, but held 
 together by the cross cleats on 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 177 
 
 the ends; the angle irons seen on the end view, at a, are used 
 to gauge the stuff; other plans can be used, which may be 
 more convenient; one is to have swinging gauges fixed 
 to the main frame outside the moving table, so that they 
 will swing round out of the way when the timber is moved ; 
 another is to have lines scored on the table, indicating 
 inches or smaller divisions if needed. In sizing stuff that 
 is to be squared after it is cut into deals, a number of 
 pieces can be piled on top of each other and cut at one 
 time to save time and walking. Six cords of timber have 
 been cut into pieces for hoe handles, rake handles, and 
 general turning lumber, in a day, on one of these saws. 
 
 Table legs, bedstead and chair stuff, with the greater 
 share of the lumber used in furniture manufacture, can be 
 prepared in this way, either to size, or in deals to be recut 
 after seasoning. 
 
 HINTS ON BENCH WORK. 
 
 It requires some temerity to write about bench opera- 
 tions in wood work ; a hand art almost as old as the world, 
 or at least as old as civilization, ought by this time to be 
 perfect, and it would, no doubt, have been perfected long 
 ago, so far as hand skill is concerned, if it were not con- 
 tinually modified by the influence of machines, so that 
 bench work, like other things, must progress and improve. 
 
 If a reason was wanting, there is another which would 
 serve for the introduction of this article — it will instruct 
 apprentices. In most trades there are inferior branches 
 with which an apprentice may begin, and then become 
 gradually skilled in his art by changing to those more 
 difficult as he learns, but this is hardly true of bench work 
 
178 the operator's handbook. 
 
 in wood manufacture. An apprentice may clean the 
 shop, rip out stuff, sand-paper, and knock about at the 
 beginning, but as soon as he goes to the bench he has at 
 once to begin some of the most difficult things that he will 
 ever have to perform, which are to dress up stuff, make 
 joints, and keep a set of planes in order. It is therefore 
 expected that this part of the book will not be without 
 its use, although somewhat disconnected from the general 
 subject of wood-machine operation. 
 
 BENCHES FOE WOOD WOEK. 
 
 Long custom has established certain forms of benches 
 for different kinds of wood work, and while almost any kind 
 of wood work may be done on almost any kind of bench, 
 there are in this, as in most old customs, some good reasons 
 at the bottom. The cabinet maker wants a tail-screw, 
 the carriage maker a standing or high vice, and the pattern 
 maker the back tray, while the carpenter does not care 
 much what his bench may be, so long as it is long and 
 wide. 
 
 Since the general introduction of machinery to do the 
 planing, benches have been made higher than when work 
 was done by hand, an improvement that prevents stooping. 
 Thirty-two inches high was once a limit, but now benches 
 36 inches high are often more convenient than if lower. 
 In any case they should be as high as possible. 
 
 The main part of a bench is the top, and next the vice. 
 For carriage work the vice is the main part; there is, 
 however, no harm in having both as good as can be. The 
 tops should never be made of a whole plank ; they are 
 much better if made of scantling, bored at intervals of 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 179 
 
 1 2 inches for dowels, and the whole drawn together with 
 f-inch bolts. One of the bolts can pass through the 
 standing leg of the vice, which should always be gained 
 into and come flush with the top of the bench, and not 
 mortised into the under side, in this way it generally 
 splits the top ; besides, the top will not stand the wear 
 opposite the vice jaw. When a tail-screw is to be used 
 the top cannot well be made throughout of scantling ; a 
 wider piece will be needed on the front side, to frame the 
 tail-vice in, but it should be as narrow as possible, and 
 the rest of the top in pieces. Always make benches large 
 enough, the constant tendency is to have them too small, 
 especially with cabinet makers, who often own their 
 benches, and move them like a tool chest to wherever 
 they are engaged ; this has no doubt been a reason for 
 the small size that cabinet makers' benches are generally 
 made. A tray at the back is the common plan, and at 
 the risk of violating the maxim laid down at the beginning 
 about old custom, we must say it is wrong. No one wants 
 to hunt small tools out of a tray ; it is never deep 
 enough for the stuff on the bench to clear plane 
 handles, is always full of dirt and shavings', and at best 
 can be considered as nothing more than a plan to save 
 width. If the stuff being worked is wide enough to cover 
 a tray, the tray is of no use ; if it is not, there is still 
 no need of the tray, six inches more of width added to 
 the top will be found more convenient for any kind of 
 work, from carving to wagon making. A flush top is 
 easier kept clean and clear, but if it must be divided into 
 a working top and a tool compartment, raise the tool plat- 
 form above the bench, either by laying on a pine board 
 8 inches wide, or, if the bench is less than 30 inches wide, 
 raise this board up 6 inches from the bench, like a shelf, 
 
 n 2 
 
180 THE OPERATOR'S HAND300K. 
 
 leaving room so that planes will go under it, or, what is 
 better, leave a place clear at the front for planes. This 
 will be found more convenient for small tools, and more 
 orderly than a tray. A cabinet bench, to be convenient, 
 should not be less than 30 inches wide, and 8 feet long, 
 the centre of the main vice 20 inches from the end, the 
 top 3 J to 4 inches thick for the whole of its width, for it 
 nearly always costs more to fit up a backboard than the 
 extra lumber is worth, if the tops are made of uniform 
 thickness throughout: these sizes are nearly twice as 
 large as such benches are usually made. The amount 
 that a man may earn on a bench does not often lead to 
 affluence, even when all conditions are favourable, and 
 to render this amount as large as possible, after •skill, 
 the next most important thing is order and good tools, 
 neither of which can be had without bench room. 
 
 A vice jaw for wood work, except wagon and carriage 
 making, should be from 8 to 10 inches wide, 3 to 3 J inches 
 thick, of seasoned hard wood, set at a sufficient angle to 
 prevent it from twisting when long pieces are set in verti- 
 cally. The standing leg should be the same size, and, as 
 before said, gained into the top depth, not full depth, but 
 from 1J to 2 in. 
 
 Benches for pattern making require to be wider, longer, 
 and higher. A good plan for pattern benches is to make 
 them continuous along one or more sides of the building. 
 The tops need not be more than 3 inches thick : if covered 
 with pine, it prevents bruising the work, and is easier to 
 true up. Such benches should be 32 to 34 inches high, 34 
 inches wide, and if in sections, at least 10 feet long. The 
 vice should be strong, of the same proportions before given. 
 The screw will be more convenient if of a coarse pitch, so 
 as to act quickly. The square thread screws, coming into 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 181 
 
 use, are well adapted to pattern makers, vices, or for any 
 work that requires much use of the vice. Always have 
 the screw and slide bar arranged so that the vice can be 
 drawn out or closed up to any distance, without helping 
 the bottom along with the hands; this can be done by 
 putting a bearing over the top of the screw inside the nut 
 behind the standing leg, and by having a well-fitting collar 
 key, and also a good running bar at the bottom. It is 
 better to spend a little time in fitting a vice properly, 
 than to stoop or sit down to pull out the vice jaw at the 
 bottom each time it is changed for different sizes of stuff. 
 
 Wagon and carriage makers mainly use parallel iron 
 vices, which are so much better for the purpose that there 
 is no need of describing how wooden vices should be made. 
 
 BENCH TOOLS FOR WOOD WORK. 
 
 It was remarked in the Introduction that we sometimes 
 see a man without much physical strength, and apparently 
 without exertion, do more work than a strong one who 
 labours harder. No fact is better known to wood work- 
 men than this, but the lesson it teaches is generally 
 neglected, and the matter regarded as a kind of mysterious 
 dispensation, over which there is no control. There is no 
 greater mistake ; workmen may have peculiar faculties 
 mentally that enable them to succeed better than others 
 when their work is very diversified and intricate, but so 
 far as bench work is concerned, nearly all the difference 
 can be traced to the tools used ; a fast workman generally 
 has plenty of them, kept in order, and in the right place. 
 Hand skill is of course requisite, but hand skill is a 
 result of good tools, and the same spirit that promotes 
 
182 the operator's handbook. 
 
 order ensures speed. A man may do good work witn 
 poor tools, and if well skilled may do a day's work with 
 poor tools, but such a man takes no pride in his business, 
 and could do proportionally more, and with greater ease, 
 if he had better tools. 
 
 It is almost impossible to speak intelligently or specifi- 
 cally about tools without assuming some special kind of 
 work to govern the matter, but as this would exceed the 
 brief limits assigned to the subject here, we will endeavour 
 to treat it in a general way. 
 
 The first and leading tools are bench planes, a set of 
 which should consist of one 26-inch jointer 2|-inch iron, 
 one 24-inch jointer 2|-inch iron, one 22-inch fore-plane 
 2J-inch iron, one jack plane 2^-inch iron, all double irons ; 
 one jack plane 2-inch single iron, one handle smooth plane 
 2^-inch iron, one common smooth plane 2-inch iron, one 
 block plane 2-inch single iron — nine planes in all, as a 
 set of bench planes. To these standard planes may be 
 added a panel, plough, and right and left rebate planes. 
 Other planes, such as hollows and rounds, match and 
 moulding planes, are usually shop tools, to be used in 
 common. 
 
 For chisels an outfit should consist of a set of firmer- 
 chisels, from |th to 2 in. ; two long firmer - chisels for 
 paring, 1 J and If in. ; two socket chisels for heavy work, 
 f- and 1J in. ; bench gouges, from ^ to 2 in. ; and a 1-in. 
 blunt scraping chisel. All should be in order, handled, 
 and kept in racks at the back of the bench, within easy 
 reach. For saws there will be needed one rip and one 
 cross-cut hand saw, one panel saw, one each 12 and 8 inch 
 back saws, with others of a special character, such as a 
 ramp saw, bow saw, and dovetail saw. 
 
 Planes, chisels, and saws, are the main tools in bench 
 work, and should be of the best quality. 
 
THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 
 
 183 
 
 For the convenience of apprentices who desire to select 
 a set of tools, the following list is appended ; it may 
 contain many more than are needed, but will be none the 
 less useful for reference : — 
 
 Planes, as before. 
 
 Chisels and gouges, as before. 
 
 Hand, back, and other saws, 
 
 before. 
 3, 5, and 7 inch try-squares. 
 One carpenter's steel square. 
 Bench and tack hammers. 
 One wood mallet. 
 One 5-inch hand-axe. 
 
 One 24-inch single fold slide-rule. 
 Oil-stone, slip, and oil-can. 
 One pair 4-inch spring dividers. 
 One pair 8-inch steel compasses. 
 One wooden brace, with full set 
 
 of bits. 
 One set auger-bits, from £ to 1 
 
 inch. 
 Two spoke-shaves, 2\ and 3 inch. 
 
 To these may be added a number of little things which, 
 although hardly to be included in a list of bench tools, 
 will often be wanted, such as a chalk-line and spool, bench 
 brush, strap block, sand-paper block, wood straight-edges, 
 plumb-line, spirit level, or bench hooks, which can be 
 supplied as needed, but should be owned by the workman, 
 and kept at the bench, each in its proper place. 
 
 When a man learns bench work, he should do so 
 thoroughly. He should study and observe the various 
 modes of performing work which he sees around him, and 
 estimate their advantages. The fact that bench work is 
 mainly done by the piece in wood shops would be, as 
 one would think, a sufficient incentive for workmen to 
 study it carefully, with a view to increase their earn- 
 ings, but strange to say the facts do not permit such a 
 conclusion. 
 
 Twenty-five cents a day saved or made by having a 
 good bench and a complete set of tools, amount to 75 
 dollars a year, almost enough to pay for an outfit of tools, 
 to say nothing of the greater satisfaction with which the 
 work can be executed. 
 
 In using bench planes it is a good plan to learn to 
 
184 the operator's handbook. 
 
 plane with one hand as much as possible, especially with 
 jack planes. 
 
 To keep both hands on a plane makes one of two things 
 necessary, either to walk along and carry the body with 
 the plane at each stroke ; or else to plane by short strokes, 
 making a kind of chipping operation. A man can stand 
 in one position and plane the length of a piece 4 feet long, 
 with one hand, and propel the plane with just as much 
 force, and when he has learned it, with more force than 
 if he used both hands. If a brace pin is used in the side 
 of the bench, he can, in roughing out with a jack plane, 
 do twice as much in a given time as he could by grasping 
 the plane in both hands and moving his body with it. 
 Granting this proposition, which will be fully proved by 
 an experiment and following it until learned, is it not 
 strange that we rarely see planes used in one hand ? 
 
 Another thing connected with dressing up stuff which 
 may save time and labour, is the use of the try square. 
 Supposing that a piece is being jointed or squared in the 
 vice, the custom in trying is to remove the 
 plane, put the square on the piece with the 
 blade on the top, and then stoop down to 
 look under the blade, generally low enough 
 to bring the eye level with the piece. This 
 can be done with half the trouble and with 
 more accuracy by placing the head of the 
 square on the top of the piece, as in Fig. 65, 
 and looking down along the blade at the side. 
 To do this the plane need not be removed from the piece, 
 the body is kept erect, and in the case of a thin board 
 instead of having but its thickness to gauge from, there is 
 the whole length of the square blade to be sighted. At 
 first it will seem awkward to use a square in this manner, 
 
THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 185 
 
 and difficult to have it balance on the top of the stuff, but 
 after a little practice it becomes natural and easy, even on 
 the thinnest pieces, and it would be equally awkward to 
 return to the old method. 
 
 These two examples are cited as preliminary to saying 
 that very old practice may be capable of improvement. 
 In fact the tendency is to move in a particular groove, to 
 hold to old habits, and the tenacity with which they are 
 retained is generally as the length of time they have been 
 practised ; so strong has this influence been in opposing 
 improvement and progress that we are justified in accept- 
 ing any old custom with a certain degree of distrust, not 
 of its being wrong in the main, for anything long practised 
 by intelligent people is generally right, but this statement 
 must be qualified by adding, so far as it goes. The very 
 confidence that causes us to cling to old usages is but a 
 recognition of the truth of the proposition. 
 
 In America this conservatism is but weak compared to 
 older countries, and in this fact is found one of the strongest 
 reasons for the progress made in improving hand manipu- 
 lation and industry of all kinds. Kapid changes may 
 sometimes lead to errors which a greater respect for old 
 customs would have enabled us to avoid, but upon the 
 whole the gain is vastly greater than the loss. 
 
 It is therefore contended that because bench practice in 
 wood work is old, it is no reason why it cannot be improved, 
 especially as it has been greatly modified and changed 
 by the introduction of machinery. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Accidents, causes of, 69. 
 
 from winding clothing, 77. 
 
 from flying cutters, 79. 
 
 ■ from set screws, 77. 
 
 from saws, 71. 
 
 from winding belts, 75. 
 
 from wood machines, 69. 
 
 in sawing, to guard against, 71. 
 
 precautions against, 78. 
 
 Arrangement of machines, 4. 
 of shafting, diagram of, 21. 
 
 Band saw blades, 121, 122. 
 
 saw blades, joining, 122, 123. 
 
 saws, brazing forge for, 124. 
 
 saws, edge strain of, 124, 125. 
 
 saws, for recutting, 127. 
 
 saws, for resawing, the con- 
 struction of, 127. 
 
 saws, on the use of, 121. 
 
 saws, the width of, 125. 
 
 saws, the teeth of, 125. 
 
 saws, the speed of, 125, 126. 
 
 Bearings, brass. 92. 
 
 how to fit, 90. 
 
 how to examine, 97. 
 
 metal for, 91. 
 
 moulded, S7. 
 
 to melt the metal for, 89. 
 
 to mould, 88. 
 
 ■ the cause of heating, 97. 
 
 the care of, 96. 
 
 Belt joints, diagrams of, 84. 
 
 Belts for wood machines, proportions 
 of, 32. 
 
 for cutters, width of, 57. 
 
 hook joints for, 84. 
 
 how to throw on, 76. 
 
 injury by rubbing, 59. 
 
 main, material for, 33. 
 
 of leather and india-rubber, 38. 
 
 of webbing for high speeds, 36. 
 
 plans of joining, 33. 
 
 round and flat, 36. 
 
 single and double, 86. 
 
 tractile power of, 32. 
 
 Belts, treatment of, 36. 
 
 tension of, 35. 
 
 to make run true, 59. 
 
 danger of throwing on, 76. 
 
 weight of, 35. 
 
 Belting for wood machinery, 32. 
 Benches for wood work, 178. 
 
 for cabinet work, 180. 
 
 for pattern making, 180. 
 
 tool racks for, 179. 
 
 Bench tools for wood work, 181. 
 
 tools, a list of, 182. 
 
 Bench work, 177. 
 
 work, how to save, 183, 184. 
 
 Boilers for wood manufactories, 13. 
 
 manner of covering, 16. 
 
 Boring bits, speed of, 54. 
 
 Ceilings, flush, convenience of, 10. 
 Circular saws, danger from, 71. 
 
 gauges for, 73. 
 
 pieces thrown from, 72. 
 
 rigidity of, 55. 
 
 speed of, 55. 
 
 Clearing wood shops, 42. 
 Countershaft, diagram of, 27. 
 Countershafts, bearings for, 30. 
 
 erecting, 25. 
 
 hanger-plates for, 26. 
 
 laying out the position of, 2S. 
 
 speed of, 54. 
 
 to set parallel, 29. 
 
 Couplings for shafting, 23. 
 Cutter-bolts, overstraining, 80. 
 
 material for, 80. 
 
 Cutter-heads, diagrams of, 103, 104. 
 Cutters, angle of, for hard wood, 103. 
 
 bevels for, 108. 
 
 bolts for, 79. 
 
 of scraping machines, 106. 
 
 of solid steel, 147. 
 
 of thin steel, 110, 111. 
 
 the angle of, 101. 
 
 the bevel of, 105. 
 
 Cutting parallel to and across the 
 fibre, 99. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 187 
 
 Cutting, propositions relating to, 100. 
 
 saws, as an example of, 99. 
 
 wood, the principle of, 98. 
 
 Damper regulators, steam, 17. 
 Difficulties of text-books, v. 
 Division of labour in Europe, iv. 
 
 Effect of machines on labour, v. 
 
 Factories, general arrangement of, 2. 
 Feeding furnaces, manner of, 18. 
 Fire, precautions against, 49. 
 
 rooms, arrangement of, 18. 
 
 sources of, 49. 
 
 to guard against, 50. 
 
 Firing, irregularity of, 14. 
 
 the manner of, 17. 
 
 Floors, supports for, 11. 
 
 sheathing for, 10. 
 
 with beams and joists, 10. 
 
 Furnace, cross section of, 17. 
 
 elevation of, 16. 
 
 longitudinal section of, 1 5. 
 
 Furnaces for wood factories, 15. 
 general dimensions for, 10. 
 
 Gauge lathes, character of, 1 64. 
 Girders for wood factories, 8. 
 
 supports for, 9. 
 
 Grinding cutters, the object of, 111. 
 
 hard stones for, 108. 
 
 Grindstones, arrangement of, 112. 
 for cutters, 1 08. 
 
 Handbooks, how prepared, viii. 
 Hand-feeding machines, 143, 144. 
 Hand labour supplanted by ma- 
 chines, iii. 
 Handling material, 37. 
 Hanger-plates, mode of fastening, 27. 
 Hangers for line shafts, 23. 
 
 strength of, 30. 
 
 Hard wood, speed of cutting, 56. 
 Height of factories, affected by the 
 
 floor framing, 8. 
 Hoisting machinery, 40. 
 
 machines, danger of, 41. 
 
 Hook-belt joints, manner of making, 
 
 34. 
 
 Jobbing mill, arrangement of, 3. 
 
 diagram of, 3. 
 
 Joiners' stuff, mill for, 6. 
 
 Lathes, excentric, cost of turning by. 
 
 167. 
 
 excentric, 165. 
 
 excentric, the arrangement of, 
 
 165. 
 
 for gauge turning, 163. 
 
 for rod turning, 167. 
 
 shears for, 161. 
 
 the construction of, 159, 100. 
 
 tools for, 161. 
 
 with finishing cutters, 163. 
 
 with rotary tools, 164. 
 
 Lime feed water for boilers, 13. 
 Line shafting, arrangement of, 4. 
 Lubricating compounds, 97. 
 
 tallow, cups for, 95. 
 
 wood machines, 92. 
 
 Lumber from round timber, 174, 175. 
 
 machine, dimensions of, 176. 
 
 machine to prepare, 176. 
 
 supplying, 174. 
 
 to procure, 175. 
 
 Machine lines in buildings, 31. 
 
 lines, manner of making, 31 . 
 
 '■ operating as a trade, iv. 
 
 Machines, foundations for, 32. 
 
 how manufactured, 171. 
 
 levelling and fixing, 32. 
 
 purchasing, 171. 
 
 resistance of in starting, 20, 60. 
 
 setting, 30. 
 
 stopping and starting, 60. 
 
 Magazines for shavings, 45. 
 
 Main driving pulleys, diameter of, 
 
 54. 
 Material, moving, means of, 41. 
 
 room for moving, 37. 
 
 trucks for moving, 37. 
 
 Measurements, by succession, 31. 
 Mortising, 149. 
 
 bits, chuck for, 154. 
 
 chisels, to prepare, 155. 
 
 machines for joiner work, 151. 
 
 machines, reciprocating, 149, 
 
 150. 
 machines, rotary, 150, 151. 
 
188 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mortising machines, rotary, for chair 
 
 work, 153. 
 plans for compared, 151, 152. 
 
 Oil, means of applying, 94. 
 
 feeders, wicks for, 95. 
 
 paramne, 93. 
 
 waste of, 93. 
 
 On hand-feeding, 143. 
 
 Patents, 1G8. 
 
 as capital, 170. 
 
 on thin cutters, 111. 
 
 the scope of, 169. 
 
 value of, 169. 
 
 Planers, carriage, 131. 
 
 Planer carriages, objects of, 131. 
 
 for surfacing, 136. 
 
 parallel, 134. 
 
 parallel, the principles of, 134, 
 
 135. 
 
 scraping, 137. 
 
 traversing, 132. 
 
 used in Europe, 134. 
 
 with chain feed, 136. 
 
 Planing and jobbing mill, difference 
 
 between, 5. 
 
 cylinders, speed of, 54. 
 
 machines, classification of, 130. 
 
 machines, starting, 136. 
 
 mill, arrangement of, 7. 
 
 mill, diagram of, 6. 
 
 mill, general dimensions for 
 
 details, 6. 
 
 the amount of edge used in, 132. 
 
 the speed of, 133. 
 
 to increase the speed of, 132, 
 
 133. 
 Pneumatic apparatus, danger of fire 
 
 from, 48. 
 
 conductors for wood shops, 43. 
 
 fans, construction of, 43. 
 
 fans, diagrams of, 44. 
 
 pipes for sweepings, 47. 
 
 pipes, hoods for, 45. 
 
 pipes, material for, 45. 
 
 Polishing, as a process, 138. 
 
 Barker's machine for, 139. 
 
 machine, drawings for, 142. 
 
 wheels, how to construct, 139. 
 
 Posts, position of, 4. 
 
 Power for grinding, and other details, 
 58. 
 
 needed for American wood ma- 
 chines, 57. 
 
 required, table for, 58. 
 
 to drive machines, 56. 
 
 value of, 59. 
 
 waste of, 59. 
 
 Processes, nature of, in wood work, 1. 
 
 Pulleys, arrangement of, on line 
 shafts, 75. 
 
 balancing, 22. 
 
 for line shafting, 22. 
 
 loose, fit of, 62. 
 
 loose, means of oiling, 64. 
 
 loose, oil ways for, 63. 
 
 loose, packing for, 63. 
 
 shifting, 61. 
 
 shifting, arrangement of, 64. 
 
 shifting, with idle shaft, 61. 
 
 Qualifications of an operator, v. 
 
 Repairing, an economical plan for, 82. 
 
 instructio 
 
 outfit for, 81. 
 
 room for, 84. 
 
 the difficulty of understanding, 
 
 83. 
 
 tools for, 81. 
 
 wood machinery, 80. 
 
 Repairs, cost of, 80. 
 
 Saw benches, arrangement of, 114. 
 
 benches, for jointing, 114. 
 
 mandrils, dimensions for, 116. 
 
 mandrils, manner of fitting, 117. 
 
 Saws, circular, 113. 
 
 circular, guides for, 114. 
 
 counter-balances for, 128. 
 
 cross-cutting carriages for, 120. 
 
 for cross-cutting, 120. 
 
 form of teeth for, 117. 
 
 for recutting, 128. 
 
 for scroll cutting, 128. 
 
 gauges for, 114. 
 
 guides, drawings of, 115. 
 
 how to set, 117. 
 
 jig, to set up, 128. 
 
 jig, foundations for, 128. 
 
 jig, men to operate, 129. 
 
 on the use of, 119. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 189 
 
 Saws, packing for, 115. 
 
 reciprocating, 128. 
 
 scroll, sharpening, 130. 
 
 scroll, the teeth of, 129. 
 
 setting machine for, 118. 
 
 Shafting, advantages of several cross 
 
 lines, 22. 
 
 arrangement of, 20. 
 
 : dimensions for, 21. 
 
 for wood shops, 19. 
 
 how to level, 23. 
 
 imperfection of, 19. 
 
 severe duty of, in wood shops, 
 
 20. 
 
 to line horizontally, 24. 
 
 Shaping cutters, how to prepare, 147. 
 
 deep cutters for, 148. 
 
 hand feed for, 1 42. 
 
 machines, cutters for, 75. 
 
 machines, danger of, 73. 
 
 machines, guards for, 73. 
 
 machines, holding clamp for, 74. 
 
 machines, origin of, 146. 
 
 machines, speed of, 148. 
 
 machines with two spindles, 145. 
 
 spindles, bearings of, 149. 
 
 the meaning of, 142. 
 
 Sharpening tools, 106. 
 
 moulding cutters, 109. 
 
 emery wheels for, 106-109. 
 
 - — planing knives, device for, 107. 
 
 tools for, 112. 
 
 bench tools for, 112. 
 
 Shavings magazine, diagram of, 46. 
 Shifters for belts, 65. 
 
 for belts, arrangement of, 65. 
 
 Shops, system in, 113. 
 Speed of line shafting, 54. 
 
 of reciprocating machines, 55. 
 
 of cutting edges, 52. 
 
 diversity of opinions of, 51. 
 
 rules for, 52, 
 
 tables for, 53. 
 
 of wood machines, 51. 
 
 Starting machines, shock of, 68. 
 Steam engines, details of, 13. 
 
 requirements of, 12. 
 
 power for wood factories, 11. 
 
 Tempering tools, 87. 
 Tenoning, 156. 
 
 machines, old and new, 156. 
 
 machines, the carriages of, 157. 
 
 Tension pulleys, GQ. 
 
 pulleys, advantages of, 67. 
 
 pulleys, construction of, 68. 
 
 pulleys, diagrams of, 68. 
 
 Text-books for wood-machine opera- 
 tors, ix. 
 
 how far useful, vii. 
 
 the reason they are wanting, 
 
 vii. 
 
 their importance, v. 
 
 Tools, taking care of, 112. 
 Tramways for wood shops, 41, 42. 
 Trucks, advantages of, 40. 
 
 construction of, 38. 
 
 details of, and dimensions for, 
 
 39. 
 
 diagrams for, 38. 
 
 Try square, how to use, 184. 
 Turned work, to polish, 162. 
 Turning, 158. 
 Turning, gauge tool for, 167. 
 
 hand lathes for, 159. 
 
 the importance of, 158. 
 
 Universal machines, 144, 145. 
 
 Water pipes, freezing of, 18. 
 Wood-dust, inflammable nature of, 48. 
 Wood machines, analogy between, vii. 
 
 machines, danger from, 70. 
 
 machines, how improved, 146. 
 
 machines, improvements iD, 146. 
 
 work, divisions of. 1. 
 
 work has no text-books, vi. 
 
 in America, extent of, vi. 
 
Just Published, in crown Mo, cloth, gilt, $6 or 25s. 
 
 A TKEATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 THE CONSTRUCTION AND OPEKATION 
 
 OF 
 
 WOOD-WORKING MACHINES: 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE 
 
 MANUFACTURE OF WOOD-CUTTING MACHINERY 
 
 SINCE THE YEAR 1790. 
 
 Illustrate bg mmwriras plates anb (f&ngrafrhrgs, 
 
 THE MODERN PEACTICE OF PROMINENT ENGINEERS IN 
 ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND AMERICA. 
 
 By J. KICHAKDS, 
 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEER. ( 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 E. & F. N. SPON, 446, BEOOME STREET, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 48, CHARING CROSS. 
 
 The attention of Engineers, Builders, and Wood Manu- 
 facturers, is called to this work as one that cannot fail to 
 be of advantage in their business. 
 
 Although wood conversion is an extended and impor- 
 
( ii ) 
 
 tant interest, both in Home and Foreign manufactures, and 
 although immediately connected with general engineering 
 matters, such as ship-building, bridge-building, and rail- 
 way equipment, it has thus far remained without such 
 text-books as have contributed so much to the develop- 
 ment of other branches of industry. 
 
 The application of machinery to wood conversion is 
 the subject of special interest at this time, because of 
 the increased cost of skilled labour, a condition that must 
 be mainly met by a more thorough and extended applica- 
 tion of machines in the various branches of wood work. 
 
 The Treatise is directed to this object, and contains 
 explanations of the principles that govern wood-cutting, 
 with full instructions as to the best manner of construct- 
 ing and operating wood-working machines, their care 
 and management, with other useful information that can- 
 not fail to be worth many times the cost of the book to 
 those engaged or connected with wood manufacture, the 
 equipment of railways, or supplying engineering plant. 
 
 The work includes an interesting history of the leading 
 facts connected with the origin and progress of machines 
 for wood conversion in Europe and America ; with dis- 
 sertations on the various operations of sawing, planing, 
 shaping, boring and turning wood, based upon the ex- 
 perience of a practical engineer who has for twenty years 
 been engaged in designing, constructing, and operating 
 standard and special machines for wood manufacture. 
 
 It contains twenty-five folding plates, and nearly one 
 hundred full-page illustrations of English, French, and 
 American Wood-working Machines in modern use, selected 
 from the designs of prominent engineers. The engravings 
 are finely executed, consisting mainly of true elevations. 
 
( ffi ) 
 
 Extracts from Notices of the Work by leading Scientific Journals, 
 
 " With the exception of a very few imperfect articles in 
 encyclopaedias, two or three papers read before scientific 
 societies, and the description of special machines contained 
 in patent specifications and in the pages of technical journals, 
 such as our own, the subject has been left untouched; and 
 until the appearance of the book now before us, there was, so 
 far as we are aware, none that could be referred to for inform- 
 ation as to how wood machines should be constructed and 
 managed. Under these circumstances, Mr. Richards' Treatise 
 is doubly welcome ; it is welcome in the first place, because it 
 supplies a want, and in the next place because it supplies it 
 well. . . . Mr. Richards devotes two sections of his work to 
 a consideration of wood-working machinery generally, and to 
 an explanation of the principles that govern wood-cutting; 
 these explanations being accompanied by data concerning hand- 
 power operations and the performance of the same work by 
 machines. ... It contains information that will be appre- 
 ciated by a large circle of readers besides those specially 
 interested in the construction of wood- working machinery." — 
 Engineering, Nov. 8, 1872. 
 
 " One of the few technical works of originality and merit 
 that have recently appeared. The plan adopted by the au- 
 thor is to notice in a general way the leading operations of 
 wood conversion, with the construction and operation of ma- 
 chines in modern use ; introducing such rules and treating of 
 such laws as have been fixed by practice and experience, and 
 have come within the knowledge of the writer within an ex- 
 tended experience in designing and constructing both standard 
 
 and special machines for wood work The illustrations 
 
 form an important feature of the work The descriptive 
 
 letter-press and the vast amount of information about the 
 various kinds of wood work will make this work indispensable 
 to all who are either makers or users of wood-working ma- 
 chines." — Mechanic's Magazine, Nov. 16, 1872. 
 
 " It is a full and intelligent account from the pen of a prac- 
 tical engineer, of the construction and operation of these useful 
 implements, which are every day becoming more of necessity 
 
( ir ) 
 
 where there is a strain on the ordinary powers of production. 
 A closing word is due to the illustrations, which are as copious 
 as they are well executed." — British Trade Journal, Nov. 1, 1872. 
 
 " Its publication supplies a want, and the execution of the 
 work is for the most part all that could be desired. The author 
 has his subject well in hand, and his practical experience is 
 well seconded by his literary ability. The book is carefully 
 printed, and the illustrations well engraved." — Building News, 
 Nov. 15, 1872. 
 
 " If Mr. Richards' work were one of many on the same subject, 
 it would possess an intrinsic value as an exposition of the opinions 
 of a man practically engaged in the construction of the machines 
 of which he treats ; as it is the only work of the kind yet pub- 
 lished, it cannot fail to be of very great interest to those engaged 
 in similar' pursuits, and to those who employ and superintend the 
 operation of wood-working machines The work con- 
 tains one hundred and sixteen excellent engravings, which are 
 mainly shaded elevations." — English Mechanic and World of 
 Science, Dec. 13, 1872. 
 
 " Mr. Eichaeds has written on a subject with which he has a 
 thoroughly practical acquaintance, and he has succeeded in pro- 
 ducing a treatise which should certainly be in the hands of all 
 users of wood- working machinery, and which, moreover, will be 
 of much interest to engineers generally. In conclusion we 
 should state that the work is illustrated by no less than one 
 hundred and seventeen well-engraved plates, showing examples 
 of every class of wood- working machinery by the leading makers 
 in this country, in America, and on the Continent, while it is 
 admirably printed, and its general get-up reflects credit on 
 all concerned in its production." — Engineering, Dec. 20, 1872. 
 Second notice. 
 
 " The work contains all the information which those who are 
 particularly interested in wood-working machines are likely 
 
 to require If it had not been for pressure on our 
 
 space, we had intended to give a detailed account of the book ; 
 but no abstract would do justice to the valuable information 
 which Mr. Richards furnishes All builders who pos- 
 sess machinery of this kind, or who intend to purchase some, 
 ought to study attentively this book." — The Architect,' Dec. 28, 
 1872. 
 
( v ) 
 
 LIST OF SUBJECTS TKEATED OF. 
 
 History of Wood- working Machines since 1790. 
 
 Engineering Progress in Machine Construction. 
 
 Invention as an Element in Engineering. 
 
 The Past and the Future of Machine making. 
 
 On Wood-cutting Machines in general. 
 
 The Kelation between Hand and Power Operations in Woodwork and 
 
 the Principles that govern them. 
 American and English Wood Machines. 
 French Wood Machines. 
 Machine Labour-saving. 
 Combination in Wood Machines. 
 Framing of Machines. 
 Patterns for Castings. 
 Bearings for Shafts and Spindles. 
 Sizes, Proportions, and manner of Constructing. 
 Shafting for Wood Manufactures. 
 Eotary Balancing. 
 Eesawing Machinery. 
 Band Saws and Band Sawing. 
 Band Sawing Machinery. 
 Jig Saws. 
 
 Slitting and Cross-cut Saws. 
 Cutting and Cutters. 
 Planing Machinery. 
 Mortising Machinery. 
 Turning Machinery. 
 Shaping Machinery. 
 Boring Machinery. 
 Dovetailing Machinery. 
 Cutting Machines with Direct Action. 
 Pneumatic Conductors for Clearing Wood Shops. 
 Belt Contact and other matters connected with High Speeds. 
 Machine Operating. 
 
Md 
 
 104. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
DOBBS BROS. 
 
 Lit . Mu. .JO 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE