Show compressed WOOD A and inexpensive for certain sort of hard wood the advance in the price of some of the hard woods required in various special branches of trade has directed attention to the possibility of producing some less expensive material as a substitute and in one branch of trade this has been carried out with very successful results for the manufacture of loom shuttles boxwood has hitherto been very largely used but the price of this kind of wood has become almost prohibitive and it has been found that by compression of cheaper classes of timber teak being about the most suitable for this purpose a substitute meeting all the requirements can be obtained for carrying out this purpose a manchester firm has just completed a powerful hydraulic press to be used in compressing timber for loom shuttles this press consists of a strong ca stiron top and bottom with four steel columns and a steel cylinder with a large ram in the center of this ram is fitted a similar one with a rectangular head fitting into a die which is placed on the top of the large ram the timber is put into this die and a presure pre sure of fourteen tons per square inch is applied the pressure is then relieved and the large ram descends the top pressure block which fits the die is then removed and the small ram rising pushes the timber out at the top of the die the timber so treated is made very dense and uniform and so close grained that it is capable of taking a very high finish for the manufacture of shuttles it has been found as good as boxwood and there is no doubt it will be applied to other branches of industry where expensive hard woods have to be used |