US447668A - Device for rendering logs buoyant - Google Patents

Description

(No M60161.

G. DURYEE. DEVICE FOR RENDERING LOGS BUOYANT. I

Patented Mar 3, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE,

GEORGE DURYEE, OF ORANGE, NElV JERSEY.

DEVICE FOR RENDERING LOGS BUOYANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,668, dated March 3, 1891.

Application filed March 4, 1890. Serial No, 342,551. (Nb model) To (all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE DURYEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orange,

Essex county, New Jersey, have invented cerespecially felt where the logging region is near or surrounded by low swampy lands, through which a railroad of course could not be built. Hence the object of the invention is to render green non-buoyant logs buoyant, so as to more effectually adapt them to the process of rafting or floating from the camp to the mill; and it consists in features of novelty hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In practiceI tap the log to be rendered buoyant about midway of its length, driving the auger transversely through it until the heart of the log is pierced, and into this bore I force under considerable pressure a sufficient quantity of a liquid whose specific gravity is less than that of water to force from the pores the natural fluids of the wood and to support the log in water. For this purpose I prefer to employ a mixture of naphtha and paraffine, but any other oil will answer, and the quantity to be forcedinto the pores of the log will, of course, vary with the size and nature of the individual log and the distance or length of time necessary to'float it. But as a guide the operation should be continued until the oil reaches both ends of the log, which willbe indicated by the change of color and the odor of the oil noticeable at such points, though if it is desired to also thoroughly season the log the operation should be prolonged sufficiently to impregnate all the cells of the wood. It is found that with oak logs two feet in diameter by fifty feet in length about five gallons of oil will be required.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing illustrating the apparatus by which my process is carried out, the figure is a transverse section of a log, taken longitudinally through the bore made for the introduction of the oil, and also showing the pump and connections by which the desired pressure is produced.

Owing to the great tendency to leakage of the oil when attempted to be injectedinto the log at the end and the great difficulty in forcing the oil the full length of long logs, I inj ect from the center or mid-length toward the ends, and in this way the oil has but half the distance to travel that it would were it inj ected from the end, and, moreover, in this way I am enabled to entirely prevent leakage. In proceeding, therefore, I first sink a bore 1 transversely into the log, and into this bore I force a metallic pipe 2, which, however, need not fit the bore tightly nor need it extend the full length thereof, but, on the contrary, it is preferably only about one-third the length of the bore. The outer end of this pipe 2 is provided with a head 4, whose diameter is considerably larger than the pipe 2, and surrounding the pipe 2, between the log and said head, is a stout rubber gasket 5 or other suitable packing-ring. The purpose of such gasket it will be seen is to prevent the escape of the oil from the bore 1 between the head at and the periphery of the log, and to make the gasket more effectual and give it a regular smooth seat I prefer to plane down or flatten the periphery of the log, as at 6, around the outer end of the bore 1, so that the gasket, when compressed tightly between the log and head at, will form a perfect packing and prevent the escape of oil.

In order to hold the tube 2'in place and to produce the requisite degree of pressure on the gasket 5, I provide a clamp or collar 7, which surrounds the log and bears upon the outer side of the head 4. This collaror band is provided where it crosses the head 4 with a threaded perforation 8, which coincides with and is equal in diameter to the bore of the head 4, which latter is also threaded interiorly, the purpose of these tWo threaded apertures being to receive the threaded end of a coupling 9. This coupling 9 is secured to a pipe 12, which leads to any suitable forcepump, such as 13, for injecting the fluid into the cells of the wood. The band or collar 7 may be provided with any suitable device for tightening it on the log, but for the sake of simplicity and cheapness I prefer to divide the band and overlap its ends, so that they may be provided with a series of coincident holes 10 and secured together by means of a pin 11 and a wedge 11, driven under the band on the opposite side of the log.

Vith this invention pile and ship timber could be prepared by impregnating the log with benzine in which nux vomica or other solvent poison has been previously digested for a week or two and heavy parafline afterward added.

For the purpose of this invention an y spirit varnish may be used in place of oil-for instance, rosin dissolved in turpentine or asphaltum and benzine where such mixtures are handier or cheaper than oils. With green logs a powerful hydraulic pump with power of ten tons per square inch, made portable and on wheels, to be used in the woods for oak, &c., or on aboat or raft for cypress logs, is to be used, and the process of pumping continned until the required oil is pumped in and some air also, and then the holes are plugged up before floating. The sap is forced out of the cells and replaced by the oil and evaporation prevented.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the pipe for entering the log, having the head 4, adapted to be connected to a pump, an adjustable clampin g-band bearing upon said head and adapted to encircle the log, and a pin for connecting the ends of said bands together, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the pipe for entering the log, having the head i, the pipe 9, secured in said head and adapted to be con nected to a pump, and a rigid adjustable clamping-band bearing upon said head and having a perforation for the passage of said pipe 9, substantially as set forth.

GEORGE DURYEE.

Witnesses:

R. F. FIELD, W. MALvY.

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