University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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16 WOOD A systematic program to further the use of woods to the best advantages for such purposes as cannot be better fulfilled by other materials. THE largest and most complete establishment in the world devoted to research on wood, the United States Forest Products Laboratory, looms to the west, a massive mound of gleaming white and glistening gray dedicated to the furtherance of that prime product, wood, in all its forms. The story of scientific research is a thrilling chapter in America's history. Research has conferred on the people benefits untold in new materials and services, new appliances, new metals, alloys, and chemical compounds. Unfortunately, research in one basically important re source, wood, has not commanded the same degree of interest, so that wood has fallen behind in the intense competition of modern materials for markets, while sub' stitutes for wood have been enthusiastically exploited all along the line. Metal homes for the average citizen are actually among the many developments that are being promoted. Against the trend toward substitution, the Forest Products Laboratory opposes the full force of modern research to increase, not to diminish, the use of wood. Its working creed is that wood is not an old'fashioned or out-of-date material; that for many purposes it is the most satisfactory, serviceable, and far the most economical material available to the user; that for many uses in which it has lost place in fair and open competition with other materials, its properties can be modified and improved to make it more suitable; and that these objectives and the creation of new products and values from wood can be attained only through intensive scientific and technical research. History THE need for research in forest products was recog' nized in its earliest days by the Division of Forestry or as far back as the i88o's. This need became increasingly apparent as the exhaustion of the forests in the east advanced. Some study of the mechanical properties of the most important woods, their preservation, and kiln drying were begun at various universities where laboratory facilities were obtainable or buildings were available for the housing of testing equipment. As the research became wider in its scope, it became increasingly evident that greater facilities would have to be provided, and that centralization was essential to the success of the work. It was found impossible to rent suitable quarters with the small sum appropriated by the government. Therefore, a survey of the available and potential facilities of a number of universities was made by the Division of Forestry. Very generous offers were made by several schools but the offer of the University of Wisconsin, which included the erection of a suitable building and the furnishing of heat, light, and power for it, was accepted. The Laboratory was formally opened June 4, 1910, with a personnel of forty-five people drawn from the various lines of work under way elsewhere. General plans for the fundamental researches were effected by them, details of procedure worked out, and much of the special apparatus and machinery which was required for the preparation of the specimens and the carrying out of the tests was designed at the time. In the next five or six years there was little increase in appropriations and expansion consisted of a gradual broadening of the scope of the work and the establishment of satisfactory contacts with the principal forest-products industries. When the United States entered the war in the spring of 1917, the Laboratory staff numbered eighty-four persons; a mass of fundamental data on the properties of wood had been accumulated, and contact with the wood-using industries had been well established. Recognizing that wood would play a vital part in the conflict, the Laboratory immediately bent all its efforts to war work

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15 piece orchestra for the next dance, he amended! I move, shouted Miss Garth, that it be amended to Paul Claptrap's ten-piece orchestra! I second the motion! cried three board members. As chairman, said Mr. Lorch, smiling triumphantly, “may I ask for a vote on that motion? III. Professor Peabody's voice went on and on, laying a blanket of dullness over the class, under which they sat in bovine placidity. The grey February morning pushed against the window panes mistily. Then the phenomenon which had troubled him lately, began to evidence itself once more. Other little disks began to turn and play in his head, creating an under' current not entirely drowned out by his spoken words. Oh, Peabody, Peabody! whispered one revolving IV. Please stop wobbling, said Mr. Inchecliffe, “before you drop that bowl on the floor.” Mr. Roberts stabbed the push button before him three times, and clutched the bowl of goldfish closer to his breast. Who's wobbling? he asked belligerently, taking a fresh stance by leaning against the doorway. You are, replied Mr. Inchecliffe. Lookit the waves you’re making in that bowl. You’re making ’em little fishes very dizzy!” A girl appeared in the doorway. She took in the pair with a hasty glance. “Hullo Henrietta! cried Mr. Roberts. We brought you a surprise! cried Mr. Inchecliffe. The girl stared perplexedly as the fish vendors floated disk reproachfully, this is no place for you to be! “Lord, the stuff you’re giving these kids! You’re making old men and women of them before their time!” A new and plaintive note struck in. “Margaret, Mar-garct, what’s become of Margaret?” “And what’s become of Evelyn and Paula and Frederica and that little Miss What’s-Her-Name?” “Yes!” chorused the voices. What’s become of Miss What’s'Her'Name? Dry-as-dust, dry-as-dust! gibed a thin, high-pitched one. You poor old man!’’ Poor old man, what’s become of Margaret? The singing little voices came faster and faster, the spinning disks whirred furiously, fighting and screaming each other down. “Dry-as-dust! What’s-Her-Namc! Quiet! Quiet! all of you! cried Professor Peabody agonizedly. The class looked up, startled. Meeting those gaping, astounded faces, he dropped his eyes in confusion and began to shuffle his notes. With a great effort he began again. in. Mr. Inchecliffe fell into an armchair while his partner roosted on the arm of a sofa, still carefully guarding the bowl. They contemplated the girl for a brief moment, squinting at her in an attempt at concentration. She sat down gingerly and uneasily on a straight-backed chair. We love you! said Mr. Roberts suddenly. Mr. Inchecliffe nodded eagerly. Oh, dear! said the girl. “And in token of it, added Mr. Roberts, we present this bowl and these goldfishes to you, as the outstanding Alpha! Rising, he deposited the bowl in her lap, unsteadily. “Because we love you, finished Mr. Inchecliffe, from his armchair. The doorbell rang. Putting the bowl on the floor and jumping to her feet, the girl ran to answer it. A young man stood in the doorway. Well, said the young man cheerily, how’s Wisconsin’s favorite Gamma Phi? Oh, George! exclaimed the girl plaintively, “there are two boys in the living room who keep calling me Henrietta!

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17 and made available its knowledge and facilities to all the branches of government which had need of them. A vast amount of information was necessary to the War and Navy Departments and steps were taken at once to se-cure it. Many of the problems presented were solved inv mediately with the information available, while others of new and specialised character required the construction of special machinery and many special tests. For the carrying on of all this work, the personnel of the Laboratory was increased until on Armistice Day the force consisted of 458 workers. After the Armistice the staff was reduced to near its present strength of about two hundred. With wartime expansion, it was necessary to install equipment and conduct tests in other buildings belonging to the university. The Timber Mechanics Laboratory was quartered in a converted barracks more than a block from the main building. Likewise the glue, paint, and the silvicultural relations laboratories and the computing and photographic services were quartered in buildings equally remote from the main laboratory. The establishment of the Laboratory organization in one modern and satisfactory building, adequate both for the present research program and further expansion au-thorized by Congress, will materially assist this progress along essential problems of research accompanying the present stressed economic situation. It is apparent that the Forest Products Laboratory can do a great service in concentrating on the problems which will contribute most effectively to the mitigation of the present emer-gency. Its underlying purpose is to contribute to the economic use of our national resources from forests maintained to provide useful raw material. With this aid, profitable forest industries may be sustained and stabilized with their attendant public benefits, such as the employment of labor, contribution to taxes, support of prosperous communities, and a never-ending supply of useful commodities for the general public. The Forest Products Laboratory has an essential part to play in this scheme of things because such accomplishments and the extent and location of the forests that should lie maintained arc dependent upon adequate and satisfactory markets. These markets, in turn, in the light of the present competition, are fundamentally dependent upon the minimizing of costs and attainment of satisfaction and servicability from raw material to finished product, and developing new and more profitable uses and products is also a vital point in the marketing of wood. The results of the work of this Laboratory apparently are a benefit to the various industrial and commercial interests engaged in the production, manufacture, and distribution of forest products, but benefits likewise accrue to labor, the farmer, and the general public. In the new building shelter and adequate working space, the major objective of the construction, was combined with artistic architectural design. The building, so recently completed, is U-shaped, and 275 feet in length and over all breadth, and contains in its five stories and ground floor a total area of approximately 175,000 square feet of floor space. It is of modern design emphasizing “stepped back construction, vertical lines, and large areas of glass in the outer walls. Part of the exterior window design are long vertical fins accentuating the height and adding to the modernistic architectural effect of the building as a whole. Many of the spaces, which appear from the distance to be windows, are blinds of sheet metal which give the impression of window after window equally spaced. Symmetry is thus assured. Softwood trim with paint finish was used on the ground and working portions of the first floor, while the other floors are trimmed with representative American hardwoods. Due to the additional expense of installing wooden floors