Yard, IDoeks and Planing Mtll

Teco Laboratory Conducts Special Course in Marine Laminating

Fourteen students-three naval officers and eleven civilian shipbuilding inspectors-have just completed a course in gluing techniques at the Timber Engineering Company Research Laboratory in Washington, D. C. The U. S. Navy's Bureau of Ships selected TECO from several research organizations to concluct the class in its well-known wood research laboratory which'is sponsored by the lumber industry. Men responsible for the inspection of wooden ships in the region east of the Mississippi took the five-day course-the first in marine laminating ever held by private industry for naval inspectors.

A large defense shipbuilding program is now getting under way with new designs and models. So that they might be better acquainted with the quality of glue pro€esses in defense production, the students were taught by TECO's skilled personnel the major points to check in the inspection of glue laminated ship timbers involving waterproof adhesives.

The men were first made familiar with basic wood technology, learning what makes glue and wood unite and how to identify shipbuilding timbers. They received a complete set of military specifications pertaining to gluing, as well as literature on the properties of laminated woods compared with solid timbers, and the different degrees of bending which can be sustained by timbers of varying :thicknesses, After receiving necessary technical and theo- retical background material, the students then applied by actual practice the knowledge they had gained. u'as certified by the 25, 1950. The tree Lumber Comoany. Dtstn tuTtlo fHE FA,,IOUS COOI{ CREEK flnmn PnoDucrs ROSEBURG, OREGON

For example, they prepared shear blocks by gluing pieces of wood together and subjected them to a machine for testing the adhesive quality and wood failure. Observing the pieces which were pushed apart at the glue line under great pressure, the students compiled data and drew their conclusions from the results noted.

Another major project undertaken by the class was the gluing of test blocks to show notonly results of proper techniques but also to demonstrate what happens when glue is over-age, mixed improperly, incorrectly applied, and other causes of complications in marine laminating.

High point of the course came on September 20, when a group of Navy personnel lunched with the students at the lab and afterwards witnessed demonstrations of highfrequen'cy gluing, sponsored byThe Girdler Corpoiation of Louisville, Kentucky. The heavy equipment was shipped ahead from Louisville and W.H. $ickok, Director of Application Engineering for the Corporation, was on hand to discuss the principles of the process and to demonstrate the technique.

The Navy plans to schedule a similar course for inspectors in yards west of the Mississippi at a future date but has not as yet specified a school for that area.

LUMBER CO.