SECTION XIII

DRY KILN SPECIALTIES

KILN CARS AND METHOD OF LOADING

Within recent years, the edge-wise piling of lumber (see Figs. 40 and
41), upon kiln cars has met with considerable favor on account of its
many advantages over the older method of flat piling. It has been
proven that lumber stacked edge-wise dries more uniformly and rapidly,
and with practically no warping or twisting of the material, and that
it is finally discharged from the dry kiln in a much better and
brighter condition. This method of piling also considerably increases
the holding and consequent drying capacities of the dry kiln by reason
of the increased carrying capacities of the kiln cars, and the shorter
period of time required for drying the material.

[Illustration: Fig. 40. Car Loaded with Lumber on its Edges
by the Automatic Stacker, to go into the Dry Kiln cross-wise.
Equipped with two edge piling kiln trucks.]

In Figures 42 and 43 are shown different views of the automatic lumber
stacker for edge-wise piling of lumber on kiln cars. Many users of
automatic stackers report that the grade of their lumber is raised to
such an extent that the system would be profitable for this reason
alone, not taking into consideration the added saving in time and
labor, which to anyone's mind should be the most important item.

[Illustration: Fig. 41. Car Loaded with Lumber on its Edges
by the Automatic Stacker, to go into the Dry Kiln end-wise.
The bunks on which the lumber rests are channel steel. The
end sockets are malleable iron and made for I-beam stakes.]

In operation, the lumber is carried to these automatic stackers on
transfer chains or chain conveyors, and passes on to the stacker
table. When the table is covered with boards, the "lumber" lever is
pulled by the operator, which raises a stop, preventing any more
lumber leaving the chain conveyor. The "table" lever then operates the
friction drive and raises the table filled with the boards to a
vertical position. As the table goes up, it raises the latches, which
fall into place behind the piling strips that had been previously laid
on the table. When the table returns to the lower position, a new set
of piling strips are put in place on the table, and the stream of
boards which has been accumulating on the conveyor chain are again
permitted to flow onto the table. As each layer of lumber