Overview: Woodworking
Industries in
the Factory System
Judson Mansfield, the author of the 1952 article (reprinted below) was
an engineer (in the woodworking machinery component of the ASME).
Reprinting Mansfield's address below -- given originally before his
colleagues at the ASME meetings in 1952 -- gives me the
opportunity of capturing an authoritative voice outling
briefly the background on the development of power woodworking
machines that ultimately became the models developed in the 1920s for
the amateur market.
By the mid-1920s, J D Wallace, Boice-Crane, and other prominent figures
in the ASME were developing power tools suidtable for the home workshop
market. Before the home workshop market came into play for these
manufacturers, opportunites for sales of smaller-scaled power
woodworking machines existed in the home building industry. See more
here.
Initial Development of Powered Woodworking Machinery
Machinery, driven by water or steam power, appeared first in England,
in the late eighteenth century. [link to planer] In America, in the
first half of the ninenteenth century America, the registation of
patents for power woodworking machinery woodworking machinery were
registered at a frequenst pace.
By 1850, the American woodworking machinery industry was the envy of
the world. As evidence, I am reprinting fragments from published
hearings of investigations conducted by British Parliamentary
committees in the 1850s:
In 1852, Joseph Whitworth -- a noted nineteenth-century British machine
tool builder -- toured some American industrial areas. What impressed
him was America's shift toward labor saving machinery, especially
woodworking machinery.
...While it was evident that the British
technology of metalworking was superior to the American, the American
woodworking technology, in testimony before a British Parliamentary
Committee, in Whitworth's view, was superior. In those districts of the
United States of America that the Committee have visited the working of
wood by machinery in almost every branch of industry, is all but
universal...
Source: Joseph Whitworth, Special Report
(1853)
Two years later, in 1854, another British engineer, John Anderson, led
another group of people dispatched by another Parliamentary Committee,
also charged with investigating the American woodworking machinery
industry. The second group visited many of the same establishments
visited by Whitworth. Impressed, Anderson's report included
descriptions of woodworking machines and their operations.
...In no branch of the manufacture does the
application of labour-saving
machinery produce by simple means more important results than in the
working of wood....
Source: Report of the Committee on the
Machinery of the United States of America (1854)
This is classic account of the construction and operation of woodworking machines:
1872
John Richards A Treatise on the
construction ... of Wood-working Machines. London:
Spon,, 1872
Now, Fast Forward to the 1920s:
Writing in Mechanical Engineering in 1920, Thomas Perry,
manager of a Michigan veneer works, noted,
Woodworking, one of the oldest civilized trades, is now one of the largest industries in the United States. It is doubtful whether any group of modern manufactures gives evidence of less scientific knowledge of its products.3 |
Another mechanical engineer, B. A. Parks, echoed this sentiment a year
later:
The woodworking industry is one of the oldest industries extant, and yet it has shown the least development and has been the slowest to adopt modern principles of manufacturing of any industry of which the writer has knowledge. |
[Working on this part] Other engineers reiterated Perry's and Parks'
belief that American
wood-working was devoid of scientific engineering knowledge.
To rectify this problem, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
established in 1925 a Wood Industries Division, which served,
in an
attempt to bring woodworking up to par with other production
industries, to focus mechanical engineers' attention on all aspects of
woodworking technology.5 [5.Thomas D. Perry, "The Wood Industries,"
Mechanical Engineering, 52 (1930), p.434. Between 1919 and 1925, when
the Wood Industries Division was created, ASME published many papers
concerning woodworking under the name of the Forest Products Section.]
These sharply contrasting views of American woodworking technology,
expressed some seventy years apart, demand explanation. Were the
assessments of the British visitors of the 1850s accurate, and if so,
how can one explain the absolute or relative decline of American
woodworking after the 1850s? Could one argue that the British were too
sanguine or that the mechanical engineers of the 20th century were too
caught up in the rhetoric and ideology of efficiency and the movement
to eliminate waste?
Unfortunately, despite its importance in the history of American
technology, indeed in the history of American material culture, the
mechanized woodworking machine industry has received but scant
attention.
Accepting the Whitworth and Anderson reports at face value, Nathan
Rosenberg has left us with the notion that America's rich endowment of
timber helps to explain its "rise to woodworking leadership" in the
period 1800-1850.[left off here]
Document 17: Judson Mansfield's ASME Address, "Woodworking Machinery 1852-1952 -- History of Development from 1852 - 1952",
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fall Meeting of the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, September 8-11,JUDSON H. MANSFIELD was CHIEF ENGINEER, GREENLEE BROS. AND COMPANY, IL, MEMBER 1952.
Source: Mechanical Engineering: The Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Dec 1952, pp 983-995.
FOUR PIONEER
MACHINE MAKERS WHO ARE STILL ACTIVE
THREE companies, organized before 1852, and a
fourth founded in 1854, are still manufacturing woodworking machinery.
- The H. B. Smith Company of Smithville, N. J., was founded by H, B.
Smith who built his first wood-working machine in 1832 for use in his
cabinet-making shop because the machinery manufacturers would nor build
what he wanted.
These machines were found to be superior to those on the market and led to his forming the H. B. Smith Company, specializing in building woodworking machines with iron frames or bases cast in one piece. The company has been operated continuously by members of the Smith family. At present its president is Mr. Earl J. Smith. Part of the data used in compiling this paper are taken from a bound volume of the New Jersey Mechanic, a house organ published by them in 1870 and 1871, Baxter D. Whitney & Sons, Inc., of Winchendon, Mass., was founded in 1837 by Baxter D. Whitney. Mr. Whitney's father owned and operated a woolen mill. Young Baxter's first business venture was in the repair shop of the mill building machinery for manufacturers of wooden tubs and pails.
In 1893 the J. A. Fay &
Company, founded
in 1841, combined with the Egan Company, organized in 1874, to form
the present J. A. Fay & Egan Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The J. A. Fay & Company operated several plants, and while it has
been in continuous operation, the management has not remained in one
family group as has the H. B. Smith and Baxter D. Whitney companies. The S. A. Woods Machine
Company of Boston MA, founded in
1854, has continuously manufactured a line of planers, matchers,
flooring machines, and molders, later adding a variety of circular
saws, band resaws, saw-filing and gumming machines, tenoners, chain
mortisers, and automatic variety lathes. WOODWORKING MACHINES OF 1860 An 1860 catalog of the J.
A. Fay &
Company illustrates 73 woodworking machines, 6 metalworking machines, 6
portable steam plants, 8 stationary steam engines, noiseless fan
blowers, grist mills, and rubber and leather belting. Fifty of the 73 woodworking
machines used
frames built up of hardwood with metal brackets and the remaining 23
were of cast iron. Those listed are as follows: Planing and matching
machines, Fig. 2, cylinder planers, Daniels planers, molding machines
in several sizes, tenoners, blind slot tenoners, power mortisers,
scroll saws, vertical single-blade resaws, Fig. 3, circular resaws, saw
tables, railway cutoff saws, boring machines, multiple-spindle routing
and boring machines, spoke-forming lathe, dowel machines, turning
lathes, molding and shaping machines, and saw arbors. These early machines had
either built-up wood
frames with cast brackets, bearing yokes, and soon, single-piece cast
frames or several cast-iron pieces fastened together by screws or
bolts. All bearings were either of babbitt metal cast around arbors in
the bearing housings, or holes bored and reamed in the casting which
were sometimes brass-bushed for higher speeds, but frequently the shaft
ran directly in the reamed hole. Cutter spindles and
rotating parts were
driven by flat belts, limiting both the speed and power available,
Heavy surfacers and matchers usually were driven by pulleys mounted at
both ends of the cutterhead arbors. Gears and racks had cast teeth
which were smoothed by hand with a file or formed grinding wheels,
Bearings were lubricated by wicks or oil reservoirs filled with wool
waste. Designs of many of these machines were worked out in the pattern
shop without the aid of drawings other than a general layout.
Patternmakers in those days were a combination of machine designer and
pattern maker. These early machines went
into mills, mostly
powered by water wheels, belted or geared to line shafts, which
transmitted the power throughout the plant. The individual machines
were driven from these line shafts by tight and loose pulley
countershafts, either built as part of the machine, or located on the
floor or ceiling close by. One mill, in its advertising, stressed the
point that it had available 370 hp generated by a water wheel. The gearing used in
connecting the water
wheels to line shafting consisted frequently of a cast bevel gear
running with a mortised-type gear, in which hickory or maple teeth were
inserted in pockets cast in the rim of the wheel, the teeth being
formed to proper shape by hand, The men who kept these wheels in repair
were about "tops among the
mechanics of that day and their prestige was considerable. WAGONS FOR THE OVERLAND
TRAIL >The discovery of gold
in 1849 in California and
the west-ward movement of settlers created an enormous demand for
covered wagons, carriages, and carts, which was further stimulated by
the Civil War. This demand far exceeded the capacity of the local
wagon builders and blacksmiths, and many new factories were started.
Certain sections
of the country built up a reputation for types of wagons such as the
"Conestoga" covered wagon of western prairie fame, and one writer
claims that our present slang name of "stogie" for cigars had its birth
in one of these communities. The wagonmakers there smoked strong black
cigars and, because they worked on Conestoga wagons, were frequently
called "stogies," and the name has clung to this,, particular type of
cigar for nearly a century. The Studebaker Corporation
of During this peak demand for
vehicles,
machines were developed for special operations for the various units
making up the wagons such as wheels, axles, reaches,
neck yokes, and metiers. Ingenious machines were built for operations
such as boring, turning, and mortising the hubs; turning, tenoning, and
shaving spokes; also for truing. and finishing up the wheel assemblies.
Other machines were felloe-bending, boring, planing, sawing, and
sanding machines. Fig. 4 shows an automatic hub-turning machine. An
automatic double-spoke tenoning, mitering, and pointing machine, Fig.
5, is another typical example. Other manufacturers were
bringing out
machines suitable for the sash and door and furniture trade. The first
single-end tenoners were marketed about 1850, and were wood-frame
ma-chines with arbor-bearing yokes, slides, brackets, and table-wheel
.rails of cast iron, Fig. 6(a). The machine proved very valuable and
was soon replaced by machines which were entirely of metal, Fig: 6(b),
By 1866, the original double-end tenoner, shown in Fig. 7, was patented
and
exhibited at the Centennial Exposition of 1876. FIRST CYLINDER PLANER
IN 1860 Baxter D. Whitney built the
first practical
cylinder planing machine before 1850, and in 1866 introduced a new
type, displayed at the 1867 Paris Exposition, where it received a
silver medal and became known as the "Silver Medal Planer," Fig. 8.
This supplanted the company's first planer, Fig. 1. Designed into this
Silver Medal Planer were such features as the upper and lower wedges
for support and adjustment of the bed, still standard in all heavy
planers now in production, thus proving the soundness of the original
design. These cylinder planing
machines replaced the
earlier fixed-knife roll-feed machines and the Daniels planer, Fig, 9.
The fixed-knife planer was like a large hand plane except for the
addition of power-driven feed rolls moving the work past a stationary
knife or bit. On an improved Daniels planer, Fig. 10, the
cylinder cutter-head was set at an angle producing a shear cut
eliminating to some extent tearing of cross-grained wood. The
roll-outfeed return is shown swung out of the way of the platen to
which are dogged the planks to be surfaced. Fig. 11 shows an early
endless-bed double-surfacer patented July 19, 1881, A top and bottom
feed roll carries the stock clear of the machine, as the. endless bed
stops just ahead of the bottom cutterhead at the rear end of the
machine. Cutterhead speeds on these
early belt-driven
machines ran at about 4000 rpm which was the maximum that
could be obtained with belt drives. Spindle pulleys had to be held to
about 41/s to 5 in, so that the centrifugal force of the belt around
the pulley would not significantly reduce the grip between the belt
and pulley. HOLLOW CHISEL MORTISER
ABOUT 1870 In 1866, identical-twin
brothers, Robert and
Ralph Greenlee, formed the Greenlee Brothers & Company in Chicago.
William B. Greenlee, son of one of the original founders, is at
present chairman of the board of the plant which was moved from Chicago
to Rockford, IL,
in 1903 and 1904. One of their early
inventions was the hollow
chisel mortiser, Fig. 12, exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in
1876 where it created interest second only to the famous Corliss
engine. Other early machines developed by the brothers were spur-feed
self-feed ripsaws, sash and blind relishing and mortising machine, dash
and door clamp, and railway carshop machinery. PIT SAW EVOLVES INTO
GANG SAW
The earliest log saw on
record is the pit or
drag saw. A recent travelogue of Central Africa
showed two natives sawing a log by this method. The blade is of such length
as to accommodate
two men, the log being located over it pit. One man, the
top sawyer who is "boss man," stands on top of the log and guides the
saw while his assistant, the pit man, is beneath the log and helps run
the blade up and down, cutting the boards off at a rate of 100 to 20()
ft per clay. The expression "top sawyer," meaning the best nun or boss,
was derived from this pair of workers. The first recorded
improvement in this type
of saw was the addition of a stiffening frame, with members passing on
each side of the log in which it thin blade was fastened under
tension. The thin blade cut less kerf and pulled much easier. This
type of frame was soon provided with. vertical ways sliding up and down
on stationary uprights and reciprocated by power. The log or hoard was
advanced by power-driven rolls, or a ratchet feed, eliminating the
heavy physical work. The modern design of this
old saw, in which
several saw blades arc mounted, provides one of the fastest and least
wasteful methods of converting small and medium logs into lumber. CIRCULAR SAWS IN
GENERAL USE BY 1860 The first indication of
circular saws in this
country is the importation of a rather large blade from England in
1814, for use in a log mill. These circular saws Caine into general
use between then and 1860. Fig. 13 shows an early circular roll-feed
resaw, and Fig. 14 a hand-feed large railway saw for 'cutting large
timbers and wide built-up units such as car doors. Band saws were in
use but with considerable blade breakage until those of Swedish steel
were available in 1870. Rapid expansion of
railroads and the
completion of the first transcontinental road in 1869 required a large
number of cars. These cars were largely constructed of wood with steel
truss rods in the underframe. Many of the workmen who went to the
harvest fields of the West rode these
rods under freight cars as a means of cheap transportation, and the
expression "hitting the rods" is a slang phrase of many years' standing. To fill the demand for car
parts, heavy
machines of large capacity were designed, consisting of
multiple-spindle boring machines, gainers, mortisers, tenoners, and
saws. The multiple-spindle borer,
Fig. 15, was
built with three or four vertical and one or two adjustable spindles
which could be set at any angle up to 45 dcg, either side of vertical.
All spindle's adjusted in and out over the work table. The number of
spindles was largely determined by the number of different-sized holes
to be bored in the average work. These holes were located by templates
laid on each work face with projecting pointed metal pins. A hammer
blow on each pin marked the location of the hole, and it-was up to the
operator to remember the size of hole for each location. Often a car borer,
mortiser, and gainer, Fig.
16, were set up as a group to operate on one table so that all
operations on each member of a car-body frame could be completed in one
handling. These tables were power-driven and fitted with stops, which
could be set lengthwise of the table, for the location of various
mortises, tenons, and holes. The heavy double-end
tenoncr, Fig. 17, was
developed and built for car work with a capacity of 12-in. X 12-in.
timbers 12 ft long. This tenoner is the largest-capacity machine ever
built, and, of course, was belt-driven from a tight and loose pulley
countershaft. Since heavy timbers are no longer used in the frame
construction of cars, this machine has been off the market for many
years. SASH AND DOOR TECHNIQUES In sash and door plants the
replacement of
mortised and tenoned doors by those assembled with dowel pins created a
demand for special machinery developed for this construction. The
"three and one" rail borer, gluer, and dowel drive, Fig. 18, with
hopper feed, saves material and eliminates two handlings of the work.
Stile borers, panel raisers, clamps, sanders, and self-feed ripsaws
increased over-all plant efficiency. Self-feed ripsaws, feeding
400 !pm, are set
in gangs to cut out the planks to the widths used for various sash and
doorparts. Rollers hre incorporated in the machine for returning the
board to the feeding end of the machine for subsequent cuts, and for
delivering the dimensioned pieces to conveyers. From the ripsaws, these
long strips are conveyed to the cutoff departmeut where they are cut to
required lengths after re-moving knots and other defects. The short
pieces of waste are conveyed to a department where cores for door
stiles are assembled from pieces as small as 1 in. X 11/4 in. X 6 in.
These arc glued up between full-length scrips a/Id in. thick. This
method of manufacture is economical and uses a lower-grade material
without affecting the quality of the finished part. This technique has been
brought ro its
present state of perfection, largely, by plants located in the BAND SAWS DISPLACE
CIRCULAR SAWS FOR ENORMOUS WEST COAST LOGS ABOUT 1880 The stands of fir and pine
timber in the
[Mansfield's figure 20 image
was bad -- over-xeroxing -- so I substituted this, older, image, of the
Newberry 1808 bandsaw.] Double circular sawmills,
Fig. 19, were
developed to handle these large logs. Mills with 72-in lower and 36-in
upper blades are about the largest built and would remove a
substantial kerf, as the saw blades had to be thick enough to make a
heavy cut without vibration. The need of a more
efficient and less
wasteful method was apparent and, in 1869, the first large log band
mill was built. This was still running in 1923. Allis-Chalmers
Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee brought out its first large band
mill, Fig. 20, in 1885, which had 9-ft-diam by 8-in, face wheels, the
upper one being built of wood for lightness. Four years later mills
with 8 and 9-ft wheels were being made entirely of iron. In 1896
Allis-Chalmers' first electric-driven mill was set up including a 9-ft
band mill running a 14-in-wide saw which was driven through gears by a
100-hp electric motor. Sawmill carriages with rope or direct steam
feeds, Fig. 21, set works, edgers, slashers, Fig. 22, cutoff saws,
steam-feed jump saws, and complete log and lumber-conveying systems
were developed for mills handling as much as 150,000 ft per day. Fig, 23 shows a mill
containing one band mill
with 11-ftdiam wheels and two with 9-ft wheels. The efficiency and quality
of work produced
by either the circular or band mills depended on the skill and
knowledge of the plant "saw' filer." The term saw filer is probably a
misnomer, as most of these saws are and were sharpened on special
grinding machines and not filed at all. The tracking and smooth running
of the blades arc accomplished through proper tensioning by either
hammering or rolling. These so-called saw filers, usually one or two in
a plant, were very important men. The service of those with good
reputations was often obtained by outbidding the company in whose
employ they had been. The author was named after
one of these saw
filers who worked in the mills on the QUALITY CONTROL WITH
CUTTERHEADS Quality of finish of the
surface of lumber
produced by surfacers, molders, matchers, and machines, using
cylindrical heads, is controlled by a number of factors.
The type and diameter of cutterhead, speeds, knife cuts per inch,
cutting angle, and amount of joint on the knives are all important. About 1900, experiments in
grinding and
jointing of knives, mounted in the cutterheads while in the machine,
were tried out and proved superior to the previous method of grinding
the detached knives and clamping them in the heads as accurately as
possible. The improvement in the quality of work was so great that the
grinding and jointing method was adopted and is still standard
practice. The surfacer, Fig. 24, has a built-in grinder bar and slide,
to which a motor-driven grinder is mounted, for sharpening the knives.
Following the grinding, the motor is replaced by a jointing stone. The
cutterhead is run at its rated speed, and the knives arc jointed by
drawing the jointing stone, back and forth, over the full length of the
knives. The stone is adjusted to remove a very small amount of metal
from each knife, but to bring all cutting edges into a true circle. Jointing gives assurance
that each knife,
regardless of the number, will perform its share of shaving removal,
producing a well-finished and relatively smooth surface with uniform
depth and width for all knife marks. This, of course, is only true when
the head bearings are snug and in good shape. Jointing knives opened up
a new approach to good workmanship and greater output. Increased feeds
could be
obtained by increasing the number of knives in heads, and machines were
built and operated with as many as 20 knives mounted in heads on an
11-in. cutting circle. However, most of the machines now use heads with
4, 6, or 8 knives. FREIGHT CARS TURN TO
STEEL ABOUT 1901 New methods of
manufacturing steel increased
the output and reduced the cost of this material to a point where it
re-placed wood for structural purposes. In 1897 no freight cars were
built of steel. Of 137,000 freight cars built for freight service in
1901, 20,000 were either all steel or had steel structure. This trend
has continued and today no heavy wood-working machinery is built for
carshops, and practically all cars, both freight and passenger, are
metal throughout. In the late 1880's and
early 1890's,
far-reaching developments were under way, such as the use of
electricity for street lighting and operating streetcars. This was the
beginning of our present method of power distribution and has affected
life in general,' and machine design in particular, more than any
previous factor. By 1906, direct-current
motors running
720-900 or 1000 rpm were being used coupled direct to machine
countershafts.; A machine thus driven individually could be located in
the most desirable position in regard to work flow, as it no longer was
necessary to place it in relation to lineshafting which was often
inconvenient and clumsy. BALL BEARINGS BECOME
AVAILABLE IN 1908 Another development of this
time was our
early automobiles. Free-running high-capacity ball or roller bearings,
occupying small space and mounted in light dirtproof housings, were
necessary for the successful dperation of autos. These early
trouble-free and hardened-steel sealed bearings were brought to the
attention of wood-shop operators, resulting in their trial for
woodworking machinery. Long bearing life, less frequent lubrication,
cleanliness, and case of replacement were a few of the advantages which
brought about their rapid acceptance. Shorter, stiffer spindles and
bearing housings, occupying less space, were all made possible by the
use of ball bearings. Ball-bearing arbors were
first furnished as a
desirable feature on jointers, to special order, as early as 1908. ,By
1923 they were available as standard equipment on most
woodworking machines. THIN HIGH-SPEED CUTTER
KNIVES IN 1909 In 1909 thin high-speed
knives mounted in
circular cylinders, for jointers, surfacers, and molders began to
appear. The safety of these, when used in jointers, was aggressively
advertised and their use has saved many fingers and hands. The thin
knives were locked in the cylinders by various de-signs of gibe and
clamp screws, eliminating the danger of the broken knife bolts which
were required with the thick knives previously used on the old
square-type heads. AUTO BODIES OF WOOD Early auto bodies were
built up of wood
frames covered by light sheet-steel panels. The wood parts were of
curved con-tours built up with special glue joints. The car
manufacturers were constantly looking for more and better machines
demanding special types for many of the peculiar operations required
in standard body structure. The demand for machinery was further
increased when closed bodies became popular, and lasted until the late
1920's when all-steel bodies replaced the composite construction. ALTERNATING-CURRENT
MOTORS IN 1919 The alternating-current
electric motor, with
no sliding parts other than the bearings, came on the market about
1919, The first of these motors used on woodworking machines were
mounted direct on cutterhead arbors equipped with babbitt bearings.
Bearing wear required adjustment to maintain the proper air gap between
the rotor and stator and complicated the motor mounting. Ball bearings
eliminated the necessity of this adjustment and their long life and
other advantages were soon apparent. COMBINATION OF MOTORS
AND BALL BEARINGS PROVIDES IMPORTANT FLEXIBILITY, 1920-1930 Machines with cutter
spindles mounted on ball
bearings and driven by direct-mounted motors eliminated the use of
belts which previously controlled the amount of adjustability of
spindles. The self-contained motor-driven unit may be mounted for
adjustment in any direction and can be quite compact. The comparison of
the latest belted double-end termer and the motor-driven double-end
tenoner, Fig. 25, with that in Fig. 7 clearly shows the
advantages. Between 1920 and 1930 nearly all woodworking machinery was
redesigned for the incorporation of ball bearings and shaftless
motors. Early users of these machines had considerable to learn about
their operation and maintenance and, peculiarly, one of the hardest
things to teach them was not to over-lubricate the bearings. Some
manufacturers recommended. lubrication not oftener than once a month,
but usually if a bearing showed any heat the first thing tried was to
load it full of grease or oil, which only increased the temperature,
until the excess lubricant was forced out of the housing. Today "sealed
for life" ball bearings have eliminated this trouble. In the Most cutterheads when
belt-driven ran from
4200 to 5000 rpm. Experience has shown that satisfactory results
usually can be obtained at 3450. These results are made possible by the
better bearings, more rigid construction, jointed knives, and ample
power in the spindle. MULTI-KNIFE
CUTTERHEADS VERSUS HIGH SPEEDS Vertical spindle shapers
require high speeds
up to 10,000 and 12,000 rpm. The electrical manufacturers brought out a
frequency changer which. could be placed between the 60-cycle power
line and the driven motor, modifying the frequency of the current so
that motors could be run at any practical speed. Vertical-spindle
shapers are usually equipped with 7200-rpm motors, while surfacers and
molders were frequently run at 6000 rpm. The availability of any
desired speed, with
ample power, provided designers with a new device. Some advocated high
speeds with one or two knives in the head, not jointed. Others
maintained that slower speeds and multiple
knife heads, properly jointed, were the best. This controversy has
never been fully settled, but most of our current woodworking machines
are run with 60-cycle current at 3450 rpm. High speed, above 6000 rpm,
increases
mechanical difficulties such as proper balance, ball-bearing
lubrication, and cuts down bearing life. If the speed is pushed too
high, the advantages in quality or quantity of work do not justify the
added maintenance costs. ELECTRICAL CONTROLS Each motor, mounted on the
machine, required
its control for starting, stopping, or reversing. When the frameless
motors first came out they were smaller than their control cabinets.
For single-motor machines the size of the control was unimportant, but
when eight to a dozen motors were used, finding space in the machine
for the controls became a problem. On these early machines controls
frequently were mounted in cabinets hung on the wall or suspended from
the ceiling, Electrical manufacturers soon brought out new controls,
smaller in size, and arranged for group mounting so that cabinets may
now be incorporated in the machine bases providing dustproof-type
enclosures acceptable for maintenance and checking. SMALL-TYPE MACHINES FOR
HOBBIES AND BENCHWORK About 1923, the first
woodworking machines were built in small sizes for hobbyists by a
company in Today
these small-type machines are manufactured in several sizes in almost
unlimited quantities at prices such that many people equip basement
shops as a hobby. They have proved so valuable that many manufacturers
use them for making small parts. Following along this
development, portable
electric-motor-driven tools for many of the operations formerly
performed by hand in the building trades have been developed. All of
these are equipped with ball bearings, light in weight, and very
practical. ENDLESS V-BELTS A new-type belt drive made
its appearance
about 1930 in the rubber V-belts. These now can be had with cotton,
nylon, or steel cords, matched for length when used in multiples, rind
carefully balanced. This has permitted the designing of molders and
other machines requiring different spindle speeds, and has eliminated
the necessity of a frequency changer in the higher ranges. The
steel-cord belts operate without any stretch, and all three types are a
valuable contribution to our power-transmission systems. HIGH SPEEDS, HOPPER
FEEDS, AND CONVEYERS Electrification of machines
with high speed
and rigidly supported spindles has permitted greatly increased feeds
and produces excellent smooth surfaces, The planer and matcher, Fig.
26, is one of the later developments and will run up to 1000 ft
provided the feed and discharge facilities are adequate. Fig. 27 shows
the handling method at the infeed end of one of these matchers,
consisting of disk chains, automatic tilting and loading hoist,
transfer chains, and automatic feeding table. Where molders are used
running short lengths
of work, hopper feeds are provided and the use of conveyers
incorporated wherever possible. In every line of
manufacture, moving work
materials through the plant requires as high as 25 per cent of the
manpower employed; consequently, everything is being done to reduce
material handling by adopting mechanical conveyer systems. Rough-mill
rooms in furniture plants are set up with conveyers between the cutoff
saws, ripsaws, and surface
planers. In some casts the work is fed to the machine by the conveyer
without an operator. In many sash-and-door plants an observer will
note hopper feeds, by which the work is automatically returned to the
operator's position. EFFICIENT MACHINES OF
TODAY Automatic shapers with
large rotary tables
fitted with automatic air clamps, Fig. 28, will produce an amazing
amount of work. Ideas taken from the
metalworking field, such
as the V-ways of a lathe or metalworking planer, have been used for
straight-line motion in double-end tenoners and straight-line ripsaws,
improving the quality of work over the old style side-guided chains. In the ripsaw, joints are
produced suitable
for gluing, thus saving in handling and eliminating the unavoidable
losses of glue jointing. Fig. 29 (Hermance) shows the first chain-feed
straight-line ripper built in 1911 and still running. Fig. 30 is one of
the latest Mattison machines. The double-end tenoner is
probably the most
versatile ma-chine used in the woodworking industry. These machines can
be had with innumerable attachments such as the dado attachment, both
stationary and jump; relishing attachment; scoring-saw units;
cam-operated shaping attachment; window-frame and sill-horning
attachments; dovetailing attachments, and holdback chains for multiple
cutting. The exhaust system for handling shavings is
furnished as a regular part of the machine, saving considerable time in
setting up and starting production on the machine. In one instance,
only 3 hours were required to take a tenoner off a flatcar, connect It
up both electrically and to the blower system, and get it in operation. Carbide cutters have made a
place for
themselves and, when properly applied, run almost indefinitely without
sharpening. Their use in saws and knives will increase as their
qualities gain wider recognition. WHAT OF THE FUTURE? The many outstanding
qualities of wood: its
availability almost everywhere, its ready workability, its high
strength/-weight factors, its warmth and beauty, to mention only a few,
have established wood as the most universally valuable raw material in
the forward march of human progress. Our homes and our home furnishings
are mostly of wood; much of our music is derived from instruments of
wood, as is the major part of our sports equipment. Outside the home
wood is adaptable to a myriad of useful applications. This
appreciation of wood has grown over the years, and the best is yet to
come. Woodworking machinery has
kept abreast of
this amazing growth. The active and alert management of this industry
can be relied upon to maintain, and even to accelerate, the rate of
progress shown during the past century. Future wood-working machines
will be more economical and efficient than they have ever been before. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author sincerely
regrets that this survey
of 100 years has permitted the mention of only a few important types of
woodworking machines, among the many in use. He is equally regretful
that space prevents giving deserved credit to many of the members of
the Association of Manufacturers of Woodworking Machinery, as well as
to others whose accomplishments are equally worthy of mention. The author's appreciation
is extended to the
many manufacturers of woodworking machinery who have so generously
given of their time in preparing brief histories of their companies,
and in furnishing past catalogs and circulars from which many of the
data of this paper have been taken. 
In 1837 he built sixteen looms for weaving
cashmere, but Apparently the machines for tub, pail, and chair
manufacture attracted him to the woodworking-machinery business. Fig.
1 shows his first cylinder planing machine. Mr. William M. Whitney, a
direct descendant of the original Baxter D. Whitney, is now president
of that company.
