Indiana State University - Sycamore Yearbook (Terre Haute, IN)

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14 THE NORMAL ADVANCE W W: under high pressure. In the course of the creosoting process the sap should be thoroughly extracted, and the oil forced into the wood, for the wear of the rail may cut through the sur- face and leave the thus exposed interior of the tie to decay. The following account makes the creosoting process clear. The timber is placed on cars and run into the large iron cylinder. This is then hermetically sealed, and the air pumped out. Live steam is then forced in, destroying the vacuum and giving a temperature of 125 de- grees F . This requires about fifty minutes. The vacuum pump is then started, creating another vacuum. This is done to open the pores of the wood. This requires about fifteen or twenty minutes. Live steam is again forced into the cylinder and the pressure raised to thirty pounds per square inch. This pressure is main- tained from siX to eight hours, according to the condition of the wood. Then the vacuum pump is started again, creating the third vacuum. While this is in progress the tem- perature is raised to about 225 degrees F. The third vacuum is maintained for about five hours, and then the creosote is forced in at the . temperature of 170 degrees F. The pumps are again started and the pressure raised to about ninety pounds per square inch. This pressure is kept up for from one to two hours, after Which the cylinders are opened and the charge drawn out. The Whole process consumes from eighteen to twenty hours. The average amount of creosote is one and three-fourthsgallons per cubic foot of wood. The cost is from $12 to $14 per thousand feet. The average life of the hard wood ties is doubled7 and that of the softer woods trebled and even quadrupled. Some figures show that creosoted ties . in northern F rance lasted twenty-seven years. Cottonwood and maple ties without creosote last three or four years, while creosoted ones last from ten to fourteen years. Another process which has been thoroughly tried out is that of Burnettizing. The process is similar to that of creosoting, but instead of creosote zinc-chloride is used. Here, the time required is shorter, being only from ten to twelve hours. ' The zinc solution, unlike the creosote, is not heated. It has the property of hardenng the wood but makes it brittle. Ties treated in this way are liable to split if exposed to the hot sun, and they cannot be used in damp soil as the , moisture extracts the solution. The rules of the companies using the Burnettized ties are that they should be used only in dry cool regions. To overcome the objections to Burnettized wood When used in damp soil or atmosphere, there are several auxiliary processes. The best. i known of these is the Wellhouse or zinc-tannin process. This is the same as the Burnettizing, only about two pounds of glue is added .to every one hundred pounds of water. This is allowed to stand under one hundred pounds pressure for about two and one-half hours, after which the solution is drawn off and a tannin solution forced in. A pressure of one hundred pounds is maintained for an hour, during which the tannin combines with the glue, forming a leathery water-proof coat Which permanently closes the pores of the wood, thus keeping the zinc inside and the water out. Cottonwood ties treated by the Wellhouse process lasted nine years; sweet gum, nine years; red oak, nine years; black oak, ten years; white cottonwood, eleven years; and Colorado pine, twelve years. These same ties without being treated would have lasted from three to five years. The time element in this process makes it valuable as it takes only about nine hours to treat a load. Another popular process is to heat green ties to a temperature of from 300 to 500 degrees under a pressure of one hundred seventy-fiw pounds per square inch. This can ses a chemical change in the sap, which turns it into a pre- servative. Still another process, Kyanizing, consists of steeping the ties in a solution of bi-chloride of mercury about one pound to eight or ten gal- lons of water. This hardens the wood. This

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:THEvNORMAL ADVANCE , a 13 the points of a compassare marked, a circular piece of card is pivoted so that it can turn in a horizontal plane. On the'under side of the card a number of small magnets are fixed With their marked poles pointing in one direction. This arrangement obviates any error of their magnetic axes not being parallel to their edges. The magnets are attached to the card so as to be parallel to a line joining north and south. As the card is only free to turn in a horizontal plane, the box must be suspended so that it al- ways remains horizontal however much the ship may roll. , In order to take a shipls bearings at any place, the angle of declination, or ttdipi, at that place must be known or else the captain would not know which way to head his boat in order to arrive at a certain place, For this purpose magnetic charts are drawn up upon which lines of equal declir ion are marked. A line is drawn througi ll places at which the declina- tions are equa. This is termed an ttisogonici, line. Thus the declination at the various parts of the world are mapped out by isogonic lines. A line joining the places at which the declina- tion is 00, that is where. the magnetic meridian coincides with the geographical meridian is called an agonic line. The reading of the angle of declination of the place at which, the boat is located, is compared to the chart and the line that coincides with reading of the ship, shows just where the ship is with reference to the land or place that the boat may be going. Preservation of Wood MILTON, B. NUGENT, '10 One of the great problems of the day is how to make theisupply of wood equal the demand. At present the forests are decreasing rapidly, and the demand for wood and wood products is increasing at even a greater rate, so it is only a question of time until the supply of woodwill be exhausted, if steps are not taken to stop the wasteful use of it, or to keep up the forests by tree culture. Increasing the forests is a mat- ter of time as it takes seventy-five to one hun- dred twenty years for a timber tree to mature. The first problem, that of using the available wood most economically is the most pressing one. Great corporations, such as railroads, bridge companies, etc., have undertaken to lessen the demand, that is, use to the best possible advant- age the wood they have, so they have hit upon the plan of preserving the timber, in use, by chemical treatment. The railroad companies, which use enormous quantities of wood for ties,ihave, for a long time, felt the need of lengthening the life of ties. , At first, such woods as white oak and other hard woods were plentiful, so they were used. But now the scarcity of hard woods com- . pels them to use pine, cottonwood, maple, etc. This entails a great deal of expense as the life of a soft wood tie is very short. As a result, they have begun experimenting with processes for preserving the wood. The results have been very satisfactory. Perhaps the best system for the preservation of wood is that of creosoting. The only ob- jection to this plan is the high price of creosote oil, and the consequent expense of the treated ties. There are two kinds of creosote used: tll dead oil of coal tar, ml wood'creosote oil. The latter is the cheaper but not as good as the coal tar. One company that has tried the wood creosote has abandoned it. They found that its life as an antiseptic is short, it being easily soluble in water. The process of creosoting consists of placing the ties in a large iron cylinder. The air is then exhausted, the ties heated by steam to soften the cell walls, and dissolve the contents of the cells, and then hot creosote is forced in

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THE NORMAL ADVANCE 15 process hardens the wood, but does not protect it against dampness. However, this treatment has been tried in Massachusetts and found to be economical in spite of the fact that it takes from eight to ten days to complete it. In an experiment, two pieces of wood of the same kind, one of them Kyanized, were buried. After twenty years the Kyanized wood was found to be sound, While the other had rotted. There are many other ways of lengthening the life of timber While in use. By these pro- cesses the cheaper grades of timber that can- not be used for anything else can be profitably utilized for ties. This leaves the valuable hard woods for other uses. The aims of each of these processes are to keep out moisture, insects, to prevent fungus growth, and interior fermentation of the sap. But this is only one side of the question. If the supply of wood is to be unfailing, it must not only be used economically, but the forest supply must be kept up by intelligent cutting and planting of trees. The immediate need, though, is for less profligate use of cut timber. Report of the Auditing Committee for the Senior Class To the Auditing Committee: 'The following is a complete statement of the resources and expenditures of the Senior Class of the Indiana State Normal for the spring . term, 1909: RE SOURCE S Received of Harry E. Davis, former treasurer ......................... $42 00 Received of Otto Schoeppel, chairman Finance committee, Class dues ...... 773 30 $815 30 EXPENDITURES H. A. Kesler, for postage, drayage on caps and gowns ................... $1 00 W. M. FOX, for tickets, printing, base- ball, stamps ...................... 3 70 Will E. Edington, for subscription to . Normal Advance .................. 300 00 S. P. Katzenbach, Treas, for rent of opera house for senior entertainment 100 00 Mrs. G. W. Farris, Jun., for music, June 22, ,09 ....................... 2 00 ' Mrs. J . M..McAdam, for singing, J une 22, 109 ........................... 5 00 S. H. Clark, for reading at senior en- tertainment ....................... 75 00 W. H. Paige 85 Co., for piano rent. . .. 4 00 Otto Schoeppel, for stationary and pic- ture .............................. 1 75 Wm. F. Kamman, for draft payable to W. C. Kern 85 00., for rent 011 caps and gowns ....................... 135 00 $627 45 Balance paid to J . B. Wisley, Stu- dent Fund ....................... 187 85 $815 30 Respectfully submitted, WM. F. KAMMAN, Treas of Senior Class ,09. June 24, 1909. We, the undersigned, members of the audit- . ing committee, after carefully going over the accounts of the expenditures and resources of the Senior class for the spring of 1909, find that the above given report of Wm. F. Kam- man, treasurer for spring of 1909, is correct. tSignedy J OHN B. WISELY, OSCAR FARRIS, C. T. AMICK, MARY E. ROGERS. Auditing Committee.