Wood-saw mills, driven by water, were erected as early as the fourth century in
Germany, on the river
Roer.
Stone, marble, and grain
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mills had been used many centuries previously in
Pontus,
Caria, and in
Rome.
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Sawing-table. |
Saw-mills were driven by water at
Augsburg in 1322.
Indeed, a saw-mill with a complete selfaction and driven by a water-wheel is found in a Ms. of the thirteenth century, now in
Paris.
Saw-mills were erected by the Spaniards in the island of
Madeira in 1420.
Erected in
Breslau, 1427; in
Norway, 1520; in
Rome, 1556.
Saw-mills driven by water afterward became common in
Europe.
In the year 1555, the
Bishop of
Ely, ambassador from
Mary Queen of
England to the court of
Rome, visited a saw-mill in the vicinity of
Lyons, which he thus describes: —
The saw-mill is driven with an upright wheel, and the water that maketh it go is gathered whole into a narrow trough, which delivereth the same water to the wheels.
This wheel bath a piece of timber put to the axle-tree end, like the handle of a broch, and fastened to the end of the saw, which, being turned with the force of the water, hoisteth up and down the saw, that it continually eateth in, and the handle of the same is kept in a rigall of wood from swerving.
Also the timber lieth, as it were, upon a ladder, which is brought by little and little to the saw with another vice.
In 1575, a mill having a gang of saws, capable of sawing several boards at once, was in operation on the
Danube, near
Ratisbon.
In 1596, the first, it is said, in
Holland was erected at Saardam.
In
England, one erected in 153 by a Dutchman was abandoned on account of the opposition of the populace; and more than a century later (1767), when
James Stansfield established a wind saw-mill at
Limehouse.
East London, it was destroyed by a mob. A similar mill had previously been in operation for some years at
Leith, Scotland.
In 1802.
Oliver Evans of
Philadelphia constructed a doubleacting high-pressure engine for a boat to run between New Orleans and
Natchez.
On reaching the
Mississippi, the boat was high and dry, and could not be floated till the periodical rise of the river occurred.
The engine was, therefore, set up in a saw-mill, and sawed at the rate of 3,000 feet of boards per dav. This mill, also, was burned by hand-sawyers, who thought their craft was in danger.
The illustration (
Fig. 4627) is taken from a tract published in
London in 1650, entitled “
Virginia's Discovery of Silk Worms, with their Benefit and the implanting of Mulberry Trees.
Also the dressing and keeping of Vines for the rich Trade of making Wines there.
Together with the making of the
Saw Mill, very useful in
Virginia for cutting of Timber and making Clapboards to build withall, and its Conversion to other as profitable Uses.”
In
Michigan and
Wisconsin,
Canada,
Maine, and
Pennsylvania, the lumber business is carried on upon a large scale.
An instance may be given.
Perley and
Pattee's saw-mill is one of nine situated at the
Chaudiere Falls of the
Ottawa River, just above the city of
Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion of
Canada.
Five of these mills are on the south side of the river and four on the north side.
One,
Wright and
Batson's, is driven by steam.
The united production of the nine mills is about 1,500,000 feet, board measure, is twenty-four hours, running day and night for six months in the year.
A general idea of the arrangement of one of these mills may be obtained by a description of that belonging to
Messrs. Perley and
Pattee, above referred to.
It is a composite stone and frame building, the main part of which is 84 × 112 feet, with an L 48 × 121 feet, and two wings, 20 × 122 and 20 × 40, respectively.
Beneath the main floor is the heavy sub-frame in which the water-wheels and their adjuncts are secured, and arranged upon the floor are two
sets of machines.
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Virginian saw-mill (1650). |
It may be here mentioned that each of these gangs is driven by a reaction water-wheel, known technically as the
Rowe reartion-wheel, the same being 5 feet in diameter and having an area of discharge of something over 400 square inches.
The head of water is 14 feet, and the quantity unlimited.
The power upon each wheel is computed to be equal to 70 horses.
The
edgers and
butters are driven by a direct-action centraldischarge wheel.
The volume of water passing to each wheel is graduated by a wicket in the chute.
The logs are obtained in the
Ottawa Country at various points as far as 200 miles above the falls.
At the various rapids logslides have been made.
toward which the logs are directed.
The saw-mill owners have combined to improve this water-way for logs, and have expended $130,000 in the slides, booms, piers, and other improvements.
Perley and
Pattee employ about 700 men in the
bush (as the forest is called in
Canada) and 300 spans of horses.
The logs are marked, floated down the river to a point about 30 miles above the city, are then sorted for the mills on the north and south sides of the river, respectively, and at a point above the
Chaudiere Falls are sorted to the separate owners and collected in the ponds, whence they pass by races to the respective mills.
The ponds are formed by booms or more permanent structures.
The water runs from the icy north, and never slacks except in winter.
The amount “running to waste” is immense, but there is no more land around the falls to set mills upon.
About 300 men are employed in the mill-yard and in shipping.
As a precaution against fire, a large “
Holley” pump is rigged in a fire-proof building in the vicinity.
It is driven by an 80-horse-power water-wheel, called into action should occasion require.
It delivers four 1 1/2-inch streams through four hose.
The capacity of the mill is from 250,000 to 300,000 feet, board measure, per 24 hours, running day and night for 6 months of the year.
The mill contains two
sets of machinery.
A set consists of a
slabbing-gang, stock-gang, and
Yankee-gang, succeeded by a
double-edger and
double-butter. The
slabbing-gang and
stock-gang act consecutively upon logs over 21 inches in diameter.
The
Yonkee-gang is similar to the two former, but the respective gangs are in more immediate proximity, for the sake of compactness and convenience.
The logs are drawn from the fore-bay by grapples attached to an endless chain.
Being placed on the ways, each is dogged between a head and tail block on an endless chain, which advances it to the slabbing-gang.
Thus they pass continuously, there being no
gigging-back. The saws are arranged to leave a central balk of a width equal to the width of the boards to be sawed therefrom in the succeeding operation (the stock-gang) The sides of the log are ripped into boards by the slab-saws, the result being a central balk and two sets of slab-boards with wany edges.
This is delivered behind the gang of saws, and another log advances to the saws.
The balk is then transferred to the
stock-gang, lying upon one of its flat sides, and is ripped into boards by the gang of saws.
The work on the
Yankee-gang is similar, but, the logs being lighter, the gangs and ways are placed nearer to each other.
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The slab boards or wany stuff from the sides of the log are then taken to the double-edging machine, which has two saws, one being permanent and the other adjustable on its mandrel by means of a lever, the saw moving on a spline in the usual manner.
This adjustability is for the purpose of edging boards of varying width.
The boards are then lifted on to a doublebutting machine, which squares the ends and brings them to a uniform length, 12, 14, 16, etc., as the case may be. Logs are cut 13 feet long for 12-feet lumber, and the mill works for a while on 16-feet and then on 12-feet stuff.
The double-butting machine has a pair of endless chains traveling in parallel planes, and having dogs at equal and coincident distances.
The board is advanced by them to the two saws, and the ends are butted simultaneously.
The slabbing-saws are of No. 9 gage, and 5, 6 1/2, or 7 feet long.
The stock-saws are No. 11 gage, and 4 1/2 feet long.
The gage is the
Stub's wire-gage.
Four hundred saws are used or in reserve, and eight men are employed in gumming, swaging the points, and filing.
The edges of the slabs are worked into sash, blind, and door stuff, and the refuse ground up in a machine to chips, which are passed with the sawdust into the river.
The authorities do not allow larger stuff to be thrown into the river, as it tends to obstruct navigation.
In some mills, the pieces obtained by butting the boards are sold to be worked into matches.
The Basin Mill at
Orono, Maine, is 440 feet long, 66 feet wide, has 4 gang-saws, 5 single saws, 2 circular saws, 5 lath-machines, 1 shingle and 1 clapboard machine.
It saws daily 200,000 feet of long lumber, 200,000 laths, 10,000 shingles, and 4,000 clapboards, and by requirement of law burns up about 120 cords of waste wood each day.
Plate LIV.
represents a European gang-saw mill.
For many centuries none but the reciprocating saws were used, and it was only during the latter half of the last century that the circular saw was used for its present purpose.
This guarded expression is adopted because circular saws or disks have been used for many centuries in lathes and lapidary work.
Miller's English patent of 1777 describes the circular saw, and such were made at the commencement of the century by
General Sir Samuel Bentham for the
British Admiralty.
At present the circular-saw mill is the favorite in the woods, where the location is to be occasionally changed to comport with the supply of logs.
Circular saws of very large diameter are also used in some of the great mills on the
Mississippi.
See also circular saw.
