E

LECTRICAL energy has been used so extensively in wood-working plants that its advantages and disadvantages are quite well known, but there are some points in its favor that are sometimes overlooked. There have been many misapplications of electric motors for driving machinery and this has led to false impressions in a great many cases.

In the average sash and door or furniture factory the friction load due to line shaft, countershafts, etc., varies from 40 to 60 per cent. of the average amount of power used, this friction load increasing with the number of machines which are in operation.

All users of wood-working machines are familiar with the mechanical troubles and losses of power due to belt drive, but few, however, realize the magnitude of these losses. A very interesting test is to take a tachometer and take the speed of the cutting head of a planer or other machine taking considerable power before taking a cut, then load the machine up to its normal capacity and watch the drop in speed. In many cases, as is well known, there will be from three to six different belt drives between the cutting head and the engine.

In a great many cases where motors have been applied to wood-working machines the easiest makeshift for driving the machinery through a motor has been used and the results consequently have not been as satisfactory as they should have been. The principal objection that has been raised to motor drive in wood-working plants has been the first cost. This objection, however, in a new plant which is being installed is not worthy of very much consideration if proper credit will be given to the electrical equipment for advantages gained in a proper layout of the machinery.

Things To Be Considered

In considering electrical drive for wood-working plants one must forget a lot of old-fashioned ideas and go at the matter systematically and with the intention of getting all of the advantages which are to be gained.

In making a direct comparison of mechanical drive with a motor drive, the losses will be as follows:

The above tests showing 40 per cent. friction loss were taken with no machines running and it is therefore impossible to tell just what the friction loss would be with the average load on. It would seem to us, however, to be fair to assume in a well-laid-out plant that the friction load would increase from 40 per cent. when the line shafts were running light, to 60 per cent. with the average load on. Further, it can be readily seen that it is necessary in a line shaft driven plant to drive all the line shafts for ten hours a day, while the load factor is only 25 per cent.

With the electrical drive starting at the engine shaft, as we did with the mechanical drive, we had first the efficiency of the generator of approximately 90 per cent. on an average load of 75 per cent. on the generator. This loss in the electric wiring can practically be forgotten, as the underwriter's requirements make the wire so heavy that there is practically no loss and on an average not to exceed 1 or 2 per cent. We then have the efficiency of the motors at an average of 85 per cent. We take

this higher efficiency for the motors for the reason that they are only supposed to be operated when they are actually doing work, assuming, of course, individual motor drive for each machine, this therefore shows a loss from the engine to the machine of 22.5 per cent. This loss, however, only goes on while the machines are actually working, and is cut out entirely as soon as the motors stop.

It will probably surprise a great many manufacturers to know how small a load factor they have on some of their machines, and we give the following example:

Proved Results

In a very busy sash and door factory there are 2,400 horse power in motors driving machines, with a motor for each machine, and from actual tests we know that not one of the motors was any too large for the work it had to do. While working, the average load on the generator for driving these motors was only 400 kilowatts, or approximately 600 horse power at the engine shaft; this shows that the machines were working at their full capacity 25 per cent. of the time. This plant was a manufacturing plant and did no jobbing work at all. The load factor was, therefore, 25 per cent.

In the earlier days the cost of power was not considered as a serious matter, but today, especially in cities where the by-product, such as shavings, sawdust, and kindling wood can be disposed of, a great many companies find it profitable to sell this by-product and buy coal, consequently the saving in power is a real saving of money-that is, to a certain point. It does not pay to economize in power beyond a point where you can utilize all of the exhaust steam, and the best balanced plant would be one wherein the power used furnished enough exhaust steam for the dry kiln and other heating purposes around the plant during the summer months, using live steam for heating purposes in the winter months, and such conditions can be obtained in a plant of reasonable size.

As to the question of purchasing electrical power from a central station, can say that this depends entirely upon the rates which can be obtained and as the cost of making power with one's own plant balanced, as stated above, is merely the fixed charge on the engine, generator, switchboard and power house.

Some Established Requirements

With a properly installed generating unit, comparatively little attention is required. A false idea is had by many as to the amount of attention and repairs required by an electrical equipment.

The following is the amount of help required in a plant which we have installed and which has been in operation for a number of years. The power equipment consists of:

Two 150 horse power boilers.

One 125 K. W. generator, direct connected to Corliss engine.

One 35 K. W. generator belted to the high speed engine. Switchboard and 60 motors varying in size from 1 to 25 horse power.

In the boiler room there is one fireman and a helper.

The engine room and all motors are taken care of by the chief engineer, the engine having a self-oiling system and requiring very little attention. In the factory they have one millwright who attends to the machines and oiling of the motors. This plant is properly balanced and there is no exhaust steam wasted.

A new company starting out and using less than 75 horse power can show some advantages in favor of purchasing their power until they have grown to a reasonable size.

As to the kind of electrical energy to be used, the alternating current is the only practical one for woodworking plants, as the alternating current motor is the simplest piece of machinery that can be purchased for this class of work. The direct current motor, with its brushes and commutators, furnishes too much of a fire hazard. There are two voltages to be considered, namely, 220 volts and 440 volts, and the voltage to be selected depends upon the size of the plant and the location of the various departments.

Advantages in general for the electrical drive are, therefore: First, a saving in power; second, a higher average cutting speed; third, saving in floor space; fourth, a much better lighted plant due to the freedom from overhead belts and line shafts; fifth, a saving in the cost of building.

In general the motors should be applied so as to drive directly to the cutting heads of the machines or as near as possible, in some cases it being practical to actually direct connect the motors to the heads of the machines. As an example of the floor space saving we will take an ordinary 2-head shaper with its counter shaft. This machine occupies a space of approximately 6 x 15 feet, and most of the motor-driven shapers which we see today simply have a motor either direct connected or belted to the counter shaft.

By using two vertical motors, one for each head, and allowing but three feet for centers, the floor space is cut down to approximately 6 x 7 feet. This method of drive we have used for a great many years and have found absolutely practical, though the short centers may look funny to people who are not used to them. We have, however, this identical arrangement in operation on shapers and other machinery requiring even greater power. The same advantages apply to slashers and cut-off saws, but there, of course, the vertical motor is avoided.

The question of how much credit to give to the electrical drive for floor space saved is a difficult one to put into dollars and cents. In one case that we can mention, a saving of at least 33 1/3 per cent. has been made, which if counted out in the cost of the building, would go a long way toward paying for the motors.

The artificial lighting of factories equipped with motor drive will be more uniform and result in better working conditions and at a smaller expense than to light a factory with only that amount of light which is absolutely necessary. The natural lighting will also be better because the machines, being independent of line shafts, can be so arranged as to receive this light advantageously, and the machines in the center of the floor will receive more light, which would not be obstructed by belts and line shafts and the churning of the dust-laden air resulting from these.

in search of cheap substitute for wood. If it proves practical, it may have an influence on cheaper grades of American furniture.

Metal Beds for Smyrna

HE American consul at Smyrna writes that persistent effort has been made with considerable success to introduce metal beds made in the United States into that country. He is very positive that a field of distribution awaits the American manufacturers. A dealer through whom the consul is working makes this statement of what needs to be done to establish permanently a market:

"One of the obstacles to the free importation of American bedsteads is that American makers do not seem disposed to make such alterations as would make the bedsteads suitable for oriental use. Before the formation of the English Bedstead Manufacturers Federation in the spring of 1912, American prices were considerably higher and any attempt at importation was doomed to failure; but since the Federation has decreed an advance in the price of the English bedstead, American prices permit successful competition if only American manufacturers can be induced to consider seriously the matters of packing, slightly altering, quoting prices, and making terms. of payment to suit the requirements of the oriental trade. The writer is doing all in his power to bring this about, and in just so far as such efforts are successful, will it be possible to supplant the English makes.

"So far one shipment of bedsteads has been received from a Wisconsin manufacturer, and a second one is shortly to follow. In quality American goods compare favorably with English, especially the all-brass article because of its lighter weight than the all-iron bed. "The attempt to substitute the American for the English bedstead is still an experiment, and the question of its assuming much larger proportions in the near future will depend in a great measure upon the encouragement held out to the buyer by the American manufacturer.

"There is the further obstacle of the American manufacturers seemingly being unwilling to comply with the requirements of the Oriental market as regards mode of packing, quoting prices, and conditions of payment.

"European manufacturers quote c. i. f. Smyrna, allow credit to reliable commercial houses, and are packing six to twelve beds in a case (with absolutely no lost space) according to size of pillars, weighing from onehalf to three-fourths of a ton. American makers are not willing to furnish quotations c. i. f. Smyrna, but are quoting f. o. b. New York Harbor, are packing in cases which require much more space owing to the peculiar system they have adopted in constructing and delivering bedsteads for export (head and foot ends in one piece with the pillars and a spring in place of the ordinary slats), and leave it to the carriers to charge freight per ton of weight or measurement, as it best suits the interests of the latter. The result is that the buyer may have to pay a much larger amount of freight and is never sure of what the goods will cost exactly, or how the cost will compare with that of the goods supplied to him by the English maker, who is using a more compact way of packing whereby there is absolutely no lost space and is paying freight on the goods by weight, not measurement.

"As regards payments, the best terms an importer may hope to obtain from the American manufacturer under the present system, no matter how good his commercial standing may be, is cash against delivery of the shipping documents sent by the shipper to one of the local banks."

R

OD making is beginning to take a place in the manual training courses of our high schools, and as an educational factor it may well be encouraged. It is commonly understood that the time allowed to cabinet-making is so short that the student in this subject cannot construct enough different kinds of articles to present a sufficient number of problems in furniture making. In fact, he is usually limited to one or two pieces. To overcome this deficiency, rod making can be used to great advantage.

Rod making, with the attending stock billing, emphasizes the constructive features of a design in a manner little short of the actual making of the object. It is a thorough check on the detail drawing. Mechanical drawing is commonly called "the language of the shop." In the same terms rods are a different language and rod making is translating from one of these languages to the other. Translating from one of two inter-dependent languages to the other must lead to a better understanding of both. Telling how to make things, as in detailing, and repeating this in a different language, as in rod making, leads to an understanding of construction which can only be surpassed by unlimited shop work.

A rod can be made to overcome practically all of these objections. By the use of a board with all measurements running with the grain of the wood, the errors due to changing humidity are eliminated. The board is

That system of furniture drawing in which the detail is transferred full size onto a board which is used for measuring and constructing purposes, is called "rod making." The rod, therefore, is a board on which is "layed out" the length, width and thickness of all parts used in the construction of a piece of furniture.

Measurements From the Drawing

The full size detail drawing as used in furniture making, as a rule, contains no written measurements. In this it differs from machine drawings. It is, therefore, necessary to take all measurements direct from the drawing. The disadvantages connected with this practice have led to the extended use of rods. It can easily be seen that a large detail is clumsy to handle and that with ordinary usage its life is short. However, a greater disadvantage is found in the shrinking and swelling of the paper with the differences in humidity. Suppose the lengths of some rails were measured and the rails cut on a very dry day, and another lot for the same piece was measured and cut the next day, which happened to be damp and rainy. There would be an appreciable difference in these rails due to the difference in the paper which would be swelled on the rainy day. Anyone who has tacked drawing paper to a board and let it remain through changes of weather will realize this fact.

easily handled, easily filed in racks, will not wear and when coated with shellac can be kept clean. The confusion of superimposed drawings is also overcome as will be explained later.

Rods are layed out on white wood or basswood boards, usually one-fourth inch to one-half inch thick, five to eight feet long, or longer if the work requires, and six to twelve inches wide. (Dimensions for linear rods differ from the above to some extent.) Both edges are jointed perfectly true. All lines drawn with the grain on the rod are made with a pencil. All cross lines are knife lines, though sometimes these are gone over with a pencil. There are two systems of rods in general use: the linear and the detail systems. The linear system rod is practically an individual measuring stick and when it is used must be accompanied with the detail drawing. The detail rod is a combination of measuring stick and detail drawing and generally contains all the information needed for the construction of the article. In some cases, however, reference to the detail drawing will be needed. Besides the two systems there are rods in use which are a combination of both methods. The detail rod is, without doubt, harder to lay out, but is at the same time by far the more complete and easily read, and for this reason is fast replacing the purely linear rod. This chapter will be devoted to the detail system.

Making Full Size Drawings

In designing a piece of furniture the approximate sizes and shapes of parts having been settled, the full size drawing is made. It is not necessary to tell how we are able to present a three-dimension object on a paper or plane surface having only two dimensions by orthographic projection or mechanical drawing. To reduce this drawing to a form which can be placed on a comparatively narrow board with the measurements for each item running with the grain, is the work of the rod maker.

In the detail drawing, as has been stated, there are usually three views. These are half the front view, half of the plan, and a view showing all or half of a sectional end elevation taken on the center line. Reference to the detail of the simple typewriter table will illustrate these views, which are separated instead of superimposed. Figures 1 and 2 represent two sides of a detail rod of the same table, and for purposes of explanation, contain more information than would be placed on a rod of so simple an object in ordinary factory procedure. By a comparison of these two figures a general idea of the process of rod making may be obtained. It is, however, practically impossible to secure a thorough understanding of any system of drawing by merely reading about

Another disadvantage in the use of full size details is found in the fact that the views are superimposed, the plan is drawn over the front view and the cross section view partly over both plan and front view. These views are distinguished by coloring the plan red and the section blue. However, to many workmen this superimposing brings a certain amount of confusion.

are not taken across the grain of the rod in any of the views, as, owing to the shrinkage of the wood and inaccuracy of the pencil lines, such measurements would not always be absolutely true.

Width of TOP

Front Rail

Back

Leg

Length of Stretchers Length of End Rail

square to pencil-gauge all lines with the grain and also to square lines across grain. All cross grain lines should be knife lines. A 6-foot basswood board, 10 inches wide and 8 inch thick, will be ample for this rod. Where it is impossible to use a board, of course, detail paper of sufficient size may be substi

tuted for practice work. In this case pencil lines are used throughout.

Start with the left side of Figure 1. This is the plan of the table. To obtain this view, the top appears to have been removed and set on edge back of the table and yet

Figure 2.

Frent Leg.

The view to the right in Figure 1 is a combination of parts of two views as given in the detail. Suppose the bottom part of the table were cut off at G-H in the sectional view, leaving only the top and the upper part of the rails and legs. These remaining parts are shown above the letters G-II on the rod. Under this is placed another plan. The part shown is the lower part of the plan which would be obtained if such a view were made over the end section on the detail. In other words, it is the lower part of the plan turned up endwise. As drawing in the stretcher would perhaps be confusing,

a single line represents this member and this is labeled in order to distinguish it.

The reverse side of the rod is shown in Figure 2. On the left is placed a rough sketch of the table. This sketch aids materially in interpreting any doubtful parts of the rod. On the right is another combination of views, being part of a front view and part of a side view. On the lower part is given as much of the front view as is shown on the detail to the left of a line drawn from A to B. The remainder of the front view is broken away. On the upper part of this end of the rod is given an end view of the table, which is obtained from the end sectional view on the detail. All parts on the detail between the letters C, D, E and F are broken away in this view.

To bring out the principal parts of the object as represented on the rod, these parts are colored with yellow pencil lines just inside of the black pencil lines and knife lines. This coloring, together with other minor details, may be left until the technical parts of rod making are mastered.

That the system above described is not the only system of making rods should be understood by every student. It is, however, the system used by some of the best factories today. Individual peculiarities will be found by comparing the work of rod makers using practically the same system. This may be noticed in such matters as changing the positions of the views and of the parts in the views. It is not uncommon to hear one workman declared wrong simply because he does not agree to the peculiarities of another. However, even in the machine design rooms heated arguments are often heard on such questions as whether a center line should be a dash and two dots or a dash and one dot or some other form. By the observer such arguments in either rod making or machine designing could be answered by saying that it makes no material difference as long as it is the form used throughout the factory and is adhered to in all rods or drawings, as the case might be.

More advanced work in the detail system of rod making and some work in one of the combination systems will be given in the next articles on this subject.

B

EING in a somewhat retrospective mood today, we find it hard to get down to work. You see it is one of those early June days when the air is full of something that makes it easier to dream than to work. We are up on the top floor of a hotel in the furniture town of Rockford, in the state of Illinois, when we would much rather be fishing, or lying on our back in some shady green spot gazing at the slowly moving clouds with our mind in a state of a dreamy haze. Now and again a motor boat goes spitting down the river, and we think how fine it would be if we could be taking a ride on Massachusetts Bay in the roomy boat that our brother-in-law owns. Of course,

we would let him do all the navigation work. Yes, we are even that sentimental that we can think of nothing that would give us more pleasure tonight than to sit up on the high bank about a mile from Crescent Beach, watching the myriads of electric lights along the boulevard, and the play of the searchlights across the water, listening to the music of the band in the distance, while we held our wife's waist and she told us that we didn't love her as much as we used to just to have us say we did.

Well, you don't have to criticize us for writing this because we are due to get a personal remonstrance from that same wife for bringing our family into this page, and that will be sufficient without any remarks from you. Anyway we met our wife on just such a day as this and we were married on such another day, and it is getting very close to the anniversary, so we feel that we have some slight excuse for our lightheadedness.

as a

Shifting from the editorial "We." What I started out to try to write about was a sort of a rehash of some of my observances during the past six months. It is six months to the date of this writing since I started in as a regular representative of this periodical. During this time it has been my pleasure to meet all kinds of men, for there are all kinds in the furniture industry as well as in any other phase of effort. Besides the meeting of all kinds of men, I have visited all kinds of factories, and you can take it from me that there are all kinds of them. Every factory is somewhat different from every other one. Each has its individuality the same person. There are those that have reached the highest state of development because of the alertness of the management in adopting, and even in bringing out, new ideas. There are those that are growing for the same reason. There are those that are sort of moving along in the same old way that has characterized them for many years. They neither go forward nor backward. Then, I am sorry to state, there are those that are dying of dry rot, because the whole works need shaking up. Business has been slipping away from them because they do not keep up with the times, either in the installation of modern machinery or in the bringing out of new designs.

Of course, it is well known that the past six months have been trying ones to the furniture manufacturer, but the same thing must also be said of most other industries. Those who claim to know say that the furniture man is the first to feel the period of depression, because

furniture is more or less of a luxury anyway, and we can sit on a box or eat off the sidewalk if we find it necessary. We want the eats and naturally cut on other things if it looks as though we were in any danger of having to do without nourishment.

Whenever there is a period of depression there is consolation in the fact that it cannot always last, and the man or body of men who pull out the best are the ones who do the least worrying and the most hustling. If a man sits around and mopes and whines at the times he works himself into that state of mind where he is firmly convinced that the whole business is going to the rocks, and further, he creates the same feeling in others. Then it is no surprise to learn that that factory has suspended operations for the time being. But the man who is right in the fight, who says to his whole organization, "Come on boys, things are a little quiet, but let's get what we can, and we will be right there when conditions take a turn," is the man who believes in letting the other fellow do the worrying, and he is a constructive rather than a destructive force in the industrial world.

The worst, however, is now over for this time. There is a better tone to the inquiries that the manufacturers are receiving and while it is very improbable that the furniture world in general will be flooded with immediate orders, I venture the forecast that by fall the wheels will all be turning in good shape, and that many of the manufacturers will wish that they had placed a little more faith in the future, and had put a few more goods in their storehouses.

It has seemed somewhat strange to me to find the smallest concerns having a good business and often behind in orders, while the factory of large operations has to curtail production from 10 to 40 per cent. Mention that to one of the men interested in the larger plant and he will immediately tell you that the "little fellow" is making a price concession, and that he can do that because he has not such a burden to carry as is carried in the large plant. Ask the little fellow if he is making such concessions and he denies it, but says he is getting the business at a little greater cost because he has had to branch out more in his territory, and he has been able to do this because the "big fellow" has pulled several of his men in while business is dull. There you are, take your choice. The fact remains that the relatively small concern has, for the most part, been just as busy as he could be.

In general, however, no man can claim that he is the only one who has suffered, and since you have all had the disease at the same time, the chances are even that you all will be convalescent at the same time, and a year from now, when you are buying a new automobile, or pushing out your cash in some other fool way to boost the cost of high living, you will wonder why you spent such a lot of time in worry when you might have taken a few days off and gone fishing.

Maybe it will be well to keep up my record of the past few months and tell you a story before quitting. I read