AMERICAN v. NEW ZEALAND TIMBER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2040, 7 September 1880, Page 3

AMERICAN v. NEW ZEALAND TIMBER.

TO THE EDXTOB OE THE PEE 33.

Sib, —As I have no wish to prolong the controversy with regard to the various merits of the above, I would ask you, in conclusion, to be good enough to insert the following extract, taken from a coach journal printed in New York, called “The Hub,” which I think ought at once to satisfy the most incredulous as to the truthfulness of my remarks on the superiority of hickory over any other timber used for carriage wheel •purposes. Yours, &s., A, G. Howland. Extract from a prize essay on the Materials entering into the Construction of Carriages. By Geo. A. Hubbard, of New Haven, Conn.: Spokes.—Many who are employed in carriage building consider that a prime wheel consists in having the spokes composed of the white portions of hickory timber, and bsing satisfied to know that they are white, no further attention is paid to the quality. I consider this being a great mistake. Although it is a desirable feature, yet, unless carefully selected, an “ all white ” wheel can prove to bo an almighty poor wheel. The quality is what should be particularly looked after, and timber should be selected that possesses a coarse, firm grain. For light waggon and carriage wheels hickory is the best adapted for spokes. In the heavier waggons, such as trucks and farm waggons, a good white oak apoke will prove serviceable and last as long as the same grade of hickory. For a first class, non-patented, or “common wheel,” a hub of the best white elm or gum wood, with the spokes white, of the toughest and best hickory, and rims of a grade not far below the spokes for toughness and solidity, will form the most durable and serviceable materials that can be used in the construction of a wheel for heavy and light carriages. The wheels to any vehicle are, or should be, of the first importance. Being the true supporters of the vehicle, they are obliged to sustain the weight, the wear, the knocks, and the hard usage to a greater degree than any of the other portions. On their durability the reputation of the carriage-builder is staked. A shaft or neap may break, an axle may give out, the body may prove faulty, the painting may crack or flake off, the trimming may tell tales of cheap material, and in fact the whole job may gradually develop its true character of worthlessness, but excuses may be furnished and accepted so long as the

wheels have stood staunch and firm to the last ; but were they first to show signs of weakness, no excuse would be accepted. Nothing will then give satisfaction except to set them aside and substitute new ones in their place. Not only in this sense are the wheels of first consequence, but there is a claim higher than this, which should be of even greater significance in the mind of any builder than the creation of his own reputation for good work—namely, the cause of humanity, the care of the lives and safety of the people who will comprise the passengers the vehicle is to carry, and whose lives are jeopardised by the construction of a worthless carriage. If then the building and using of a good wheel are of so great importance in the mind of the honest carriage builder, whose conscience would bo severely troubled did he knowingly place upon any vehicle a poor wheel instead of one that was good, how must it bs with the “shysters” of the carriage trade, the builders of shoddy work, who finish to take the eye, and in many instances the lives of the purchasers ? You perhaps have read in the good book of the conscience that is “ seared as with a hot iron,” and the builders of shoddy work must belong to this class. If the boiler to a steam engine explodes, the authorities examine the cause of the accident and punish those who may be found guilty of wilful neglect or carelessness ; but should the wheel or other portions of a vehicle before which we drive one or more spirited horses, break down, resulting in maiming or killing one or more of the passengers, the blame is laid upon the horses, poor creatures, who are not to be condemned for acting in accordance with the first impulse of their natures—timidity. Perhaps a rival builder procures the job of repairing the broken vehicle, and sets forth the worthlessness of the carriage. No one else thinks of attaching blame to the original builder, and even the repairer, for suggesting this, is stigmatized as ‘ rather crotchety in his ideas,’ and ‘ rather anxious to criticise and find fault with his rival’s vehicles.’ ”