Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
62
GOLD MEDAL FOR AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE CO.
Extensive and Comprehensive Exhibit of Company at Panama-Pacific Exposition Calls Forth
High Praise—Has Proven of Great Educational Value to Exposition Visitors.
(Special to The Ueview.)
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., June 19.—The American
Steel & Wire Co., whose very complete exhibit, cov-
ering all its various products from the raw mate-
rial to the finished article, exhibited in the Palace
of Mines and Metallurgy at the Panama-Pacific
Exposition, and which has been referred to several
times in detail in The Review, has been awarded a
gold medal for the extent and excellence of its ex-
hibit. The Wurlitzer Co., whose products were
also shown in this exhibit, embracing a pipe organ,
harps and other musical specialties, was also
awarded a gold medal.
THE MAHOGANY SITUATION.
Threatened Scarcity of Stock, Owing to Lack
of Ocean-Going Vessels, Causes Upward
Trend in Prices—Conditions Analyzed.
Conditions in the mahogany market at the pres-
ent writing present an interesting study in con-
trast. We have with us a threatened scarcity of
stock, at least a material reduction in the supply
coming forward, that brings with it a per-
fectly natural increase in prices. The contrast to
this is furnished by reports from the mahogany
producing sections of the world, where mahogany
timber and logs have not only declined in price,
but there is a general depression that is perhaps
even more keenly felt than the depression in our
own lumber market for native timber products
because of the interruption to the export trade.
This contrast seems illogical, but it is not. it
has its counterpart in our own lumber trade, and
is due partly to a scarcity of ocean-going vessels,
which has resulted in doubling and in some in-
stances quadrupling freight costs, says Veneers.
This of itself is bad enough, and it is so difficult
to secure vessels for loading that the trade is
irregular and uncertain, which, together with other
conditions in the world's situation to-day, makes
many buyers inclined to stay out of the market.
This makes a dull situation at the mahogany pro-
ducing and concentrating points for export to the
United States, and it also naturally results in a
Perhaps no exhibit at the World's Fair was more
complete or more educational than that made by the
American Steel & Wire Co. It conveyed an idea
to the visitor of the uses of wire, particularly as
utilized in pianos and organs, in a manner that was
most enlightening. In fact, visitors came away
from the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy most
enthusiastic regarding the knowledge which they
gleaned by a visit to the exhibit of the American
Steel & Wire Co.
It is worthy of note that not all the exhibits in
the American Steel & Wire Co. display were en-
tered in competition for awards.
scarcity of the supply coming forward, which
makes for higher prices in this country. It is ex-
pected that the situation will gradually improve
as more merchant vessels are put into commission,
and it is certainly to be hoped that this improve-
ment will come in time to keep us supplied with
enough mahogany to meet the needs of the trade.
PROPER PLANERJCNIFE SETTING
An Important Factor in the Production of First-
Class Cabinet Work—Securing Mechanical
Perfection Desirable in the Making of Pianos.
There is, and probably will continue to be, for
another generation at least, a countless number
of planers on which the knives are set in the
old-fashioned way, notwithstanding the many new
machines with their jointing appliances and others
with positive gauges for setting knives. More-
over, these old machines set in the old-fashioned
way will continue to do good work in the hands
of skilled operators. Still it means more time and
tedious work in setting and in adjusting than is
required with the new machines and appliances,
and it will be a pretty hard battle for those
operating the older types to meet the capacity and
finish produced with the modern machines and
devices.
We have had a regular revolution in planer
knife setting and the best thing for a man to do
to keep up with the times and to get the greatest
MATERIALS FOR
PIANO MANUFACTURERS
GENUINE FLY BRAND TUNING PINS,
GENUINE FELTEN & GUILLEAUME IM-
PORTED MUSIC WIRE, FELTS, CLOTHS
PUNCHINGS, HINGES, PEDALS AND
GENERAL PIANO HARDWARE.
CORRESPONDENCE INVITED
HAMMACHER, SCHLEMMER & CO,
NEW YORK SINCE 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.
order of efficiency is to recognize this and get in
line with the new order of things.
The new order in planer knife setting came
pretty hard at first and many of the old-fashioned
fellows contended that they could set knives pre-
cisely by hand, says a writer in the Furniture
Manufacturer and Artisan. It has been thorough-
ly demonstrated, however, that this is difficult if
not practically impossible, and practically every
modern planer is turned out with some provision
to facilitate knife setting and to assure more ac-
curate setting than was practical by old methods.
This accuracy is not all secured by jointing. In-
deed, sometimes jointing has proven a drawback,
because there is a disposition to run dull knives
which have been jointed over to make them true,
and this consumes unnecessary power. There are
positive methods of knife setting which reduce
the needs of jointing to a minimum, yet in some
cases it is actually dispensed with. It is the joint-
ing that started the revolution in knife setting and
proved that it was impractical to get a true set
on an outfit of knives in the old way, but as soon,
as the jointing demonstrated this fact many of
those in charge of designing planes set about
equipping them with positive gages and devices
to insure accurate setting. Enough progress has
been made in this way, too, that the man who con-
tinues to operate planers and set the knives in the
old-fashioned way is up against an unnecessary
amount of tedious work to get satisfactory results
with his planer.
PIANO PEDAL IMPROVEMENT.
(Special to The Review.)
WASHINGTON, D. C, June 21.—Patent No. 1,143,-
177, for a piano pedal, was last week granted to
Thomas H. De Pew, Canton, O., one-half of which
he has assigned to John E. De Pew, Cambridge,
O., and relates to improvements in piano pedals
in which a pedal shank is provided having a re-
duced outer end and a detachable foot piece-
The objects of the inventions are, first, to pro-
vide a simple piano pedal; second, to provide a
detachable foot piece, and, third, to provide means
for attaching the foot piece in such a manner that
when attached a rigid connection is made.
PLAN TO PREVENT^ LUMBER LOSS.
The proprietor of a furniture factory found that
as new shipments of lumber arrived they were
piled on top of nearly exhausted stacks. This
meant that many boards remained on the bottom
for years, thus deteriorating.
Thereupon he set a limit to the height of the piles
and issued a ruling that a pile must be completely
exhausted before new shipments could occupy that
space.
This meant that increased yard area was re-
quired, but the saving effected far more than offset
this increased expense. By making the piles lower,
time and labor were saved in stacking; no lumber
was permitted to become worthless, and he was en-
abled to keep a perpetual inventory record of his
stock, something which had been impossible under
the former system, where the records became con-
fused because of the practice of stacking new
lumber on old.
Richardson Piano Case Co.
Manufacturers of
Cases
Established 1891
LEOMINSTER
::
:: MASS.