6
THE MORNING OREGON! AX, .MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3. 1903.
. -7
INTERESTING POINTS ABOUT ITS USE. HOW IT IS
MANUFACTURED ON THE PACIFIC COAST
The "Western Cooperage Company will soon authorize an
issue of 7 per cent preferred stock, paying dividends quar
terly, par value $100.00 per share. "
This descriptive article is published for the information
of the investing public and all who may directly or indirectly
have any interest in barrels or their manufacture. Detailed
information as to the stock issue may be obtained by applica
tion at the head offices of the company, Portland, Oregon.
i rn
iHIRTY centuries ago the barrel was
looked upon as the solidest, soundest,
safest vessel for holding drink and food.
Ancient writers tell that armies and
navies relied on hooped casks to protect
provender from briny water and pesti
lential suns. Long before the Christian
era the cooper established his trade and
fashioned waterproof tanks, tubs and
kegs. Indeed, the barrel was the first
hollow form built by man that held its
shape, whether empty or filled, with
standing pressure both from inside and
outside. It was the pattern for the arch and the truss,
antedating those architectural triumphs by ages.
Today the tight barrel is relied upon as the one perfect
package. Airproof, -waterproof, crush-proof, wear-proof
it is the one safe container for shipping glassware,
crockery, bottled liquors, spirits, chemicals, foodstuffs.
Piled deep in car or ship, barrels survive .without strain
the lurching and banging of ocean and railroad transport
tation. It is the lightest container known, in proportion
to strength, and each barrel is used over and over again.
Driving the hoops down tight after usage makes it as
solid as new.
Like Slicing a Melon.
Precision in shaping the stave is the secret of air-tightness
in a barrel. No cement or glue is used. Where the
staves join each other they must be perfectly flat to each
FIG. 2 STAVES READY FOR COOPER
(1) Test ins? shape of staves. (2) Bundling staves so
each bundle holds a certain number of staves, averaging
n pertain width and gauging a certain total width, a
needed. Poor staves culled; those bundled being vertical
and straiffht-srvained.
p ngth, thick
ness and bilge,
using ins own
color, so de- f
feet will trace
back to him.
(4) Staves ?
drying in kiln ; j
on end. to pre-
v e n t warping
and checking. !
(3) Packer marks
111 I $
) it ' 1 f ' "
4 f
other, so the tightening of the hoops will make them
absolutely airproof and waterproof. This means they
must be so shaped that the flat edge of each stave is-on an
exact line with the center of the barrel. Each-stave, with
its curve and shape, must be made just as if it were sawed
FIG. 3
SAWING
BARREL
HEADS
(1) II e a d i n g bolter;
splitting blocks; squaring
up: removing bark, heart
and defects. (2) Automat
ic heading machine, saw
revolves horizontally, cut
ting boards (to desired
thickness), which drop
downstairs.
v:
1.
out of a barrel by sawing right up and down through the
middle of the barrel, like cutting a watermelon endwise.
X
5 f
(1) Sawing mighty logs into
bolts o stave length; splitting
bolts itlto blocks to keep straight
grain.
Vs1
It '
.V
FIG. 1
FROJI LOG
TO STAVE
5-"
Skillful, indeed, were the coop
ers who used to make staves by
hand. Just think how long it
would take you to make a barrel
if you had to hew staves- exactly
the right shape and smooth them
so they would join perfectly at
the right angle.
Machines Make Them Right.
Now, all this is done by machin
ery. This insures perfect accur
acy. Of the thousands of staves
daily manufactured at the plants
of the Western Cooperage Com
pany, every one will join perfect
ly with its fellows, without any
fitting or adjusting. Driving the
hoops tight around them will
make them airtight.
Old as is the industry, the man
ufacture of barrels from the log
to the finished package entirely
by machinery is of comparatively
recent date. This entire process,
as illustrated and explained in
photographs, involves the use of
special machinery for each of over
40 different steps. As a rule,
staves and headings are manufac
tured by -one company, and the
barrels, kegs and tanks made by
another. On this Coast there is
one company which unites all of
these processes under one owner
ship from cutting the tree to de
livering the barrel the "Western
Cooperage Company.
Bend But Not Break.
Staves and headings are manu
factured at plants in Aberdeen,
Wash.r and Houlton, Oregon.
Thousands of acres of the best
timber lands iii the Pacific North
west are owned by the company,
an inexhaustible supply of timber,
where it cuts its own raw mate
rial. In buying these lands, dis
crimination and foresight were
used, to secure those varieties
best suited for the different kinds
of staves. Straight-grained, clear
logs" can alone be used for staves,
as the wood must be free from all
knots and defects, tough and
strong enough to bend without
breaking. Fir and spruce are the
principal timbers used, hemlock,
cedar and eottonwood being con
sumed in limited quantities for
certain grades..
- Saws Are Like" Bandboxes.
Special equipment radically
different from sawmill equipment
is used in manufacturing staves.
In fact; the entire principle is dif
ferent from sawing lumber. Every
step is a specialty. Like oak for
the handsomest quarter-sawed
furniture, the log (cut state
length) must be split into eighths,
and those eighths cut iuto narrow
flitches, as-thick as a stave is
wide, so the staves can be sawed
off one by one right straight with
the graiu again just like quar
ter-sawed oak. And this sawing
off of the staves requires, special
maehinerjr, in the form of saws
shaped like tall bandboxes a dif
ferent sized bandbox for each size
of barrel. The flitches are fed
against these bandbox saws, , or
cylinder saws, to term them cor
rectly, and as they are fed the
saw trims off " a stave in curved
form. Quite different from saw
ing lumber. Then, planing the in
side and outside of these curved
pieces is quite different from ordi
nary lumber surfacing.
Bungling Bundling Won't Do.
"Where greatest precision is re
quired is in shaping the edges of
these curved pieces so they will
join perfectly when bent to barrel
shape. This shaping of the edges
to join is' what makes the stave.
There is a different adjustment
for each size and shape of barrel.
Bundling, so 'each package of
staves comes out exactly even in
number of staves of a certain av
erage size, is in itself a specialty,
quite different from bundling
shingles. Drying in the kiln is
done differently, so as to prevent
any possible warping or checking.
Heads Are Turned Here.
Similar care is required in man
ufacturing barrel heads. Like
staves, the heads must be vertical
(2) Sawing
blocks into '
flitches, same
as quarter-saw--ing;
thickness
of flitch con
forming to de
s i red width
of stave. Ele
vator car ries
flitches to up-,
per floor.
4
1
i i
i I
L
it
(3) Trimming flitches to
exact stave length.
(4) Cylinder-sawing staves
from flitches, on drum saws.
Drums of different diameter
for various sizes.
(5) Planing staves, when
so ordered. (6) Stavejomter
shaping edges of staves to
join perfectly. Machines are
large, concave, revolving
discs; 6 quick-cutting knives
to each disc. Right adjust
ment makes staves -even at
both ends and gives correct
bilge for barrel shape.
grained, clear from knots and
made from the very best grades of
live timber. The heads are sawed
off by a horizontal saw, construct
ed especially for this one purpose,
as the quickest, easiest way of
handling the bolts that have been
split and trimmed. Then they
have to be joined just as true as
the staves. This is a simpler
process, as there is no double cur
vature to cope with, but it must
be accurately and perfectly done.
Cat-Tails in Joints.
Larger, headings are pinned or
dowelled together and bulrushes
are put inside the seams. These
bulrushes swell as the wood
shrinks with usage and under cli-
FIG. 4 FINISHING THE HEADINGS
( ( " i : i i K .
i -IM i - 1 . ? -
I J ?, : - rf , i s III
;.r.lv m . T s 5
f ? v- f - 1 1 . ! I .1 s t I
(1) Planing. (2)
Heading jointer,
cutting straight,
square joint on
each piece. Re
volving wheel
has six knives. (3) Large sizes doweled or pinned togetnar
with pieces of California flag (bulrushes). These rushes recog
nized for generations as best for purpose." (4) Smaller sizes
glued together. (5) Turning headings; machine chamfers bevels
around rim; makes perfectly round; is fed automatically.- Note
unturned headings in background; also unjoined headings for
cheap barrels j also bundled headings.
vs.
matie influences, and keep the
joints perfectly tight. Machines
have been perfected for turning
the headings, with their bevels all
around the rim, all at one process.
There is nothing in the manufac
ture of these materials for the
barrel that is- not in itself a spe
cialty requiring ' specialists and
special machinery.
At Los Angeles and Seattle, the
Western Cooperage Company has
plants for manufacturing barrels
from the staves and headings
made by .itself.
Softened by Steam.
Heavy rings are used temporar
ily instead of hoops to hold the
barrel in shape until it is ready to
be hooped. When one-half of the
barrel is in these rings, the entire
barrel is steamed to soften the
staves. Then, by a power wind
lass, the other half of the barrel
is pulled together and held by two
more temporal rings. The bar
rel then is dried over an oil heater
to remove every vestige of mois
ture and fix the staves in their
permanent shape. This steaming
and drying sterilizes the barrel
perfectly, making it pure for food
or wine. A special machine
presses the temporary rings down
tight, closing the staves together
firmly so their flat joints become
perfectly airtight.
On another machine the rim of
the barrel is shaped and grooved
so as to hold the barrel-head. One
of the most important machines
draws the staves up to a tight lit
around the barrel-head,' and then
presses the head hoop . onto the
end of the barrel.
Another machine, drives on the
remaining hoops, driving them so
tight that the light barrel is as
solid and sound as the heavy log
from which its staves were made.
Special machines are used in fin
ishing, sandpapei'ing, boring
bungholes, testing, etc. Then the
barrels are kept in the warehouses
ready for prompt shipment.
Keeps Food Clean and Pure.
Truly an interesting article is
the modern finished barrel so
clean and tight, substantial and