National Conference on Forest Products 58 
efit from these newer and better de- completely equipped testing and de- 
signs of containers is to be secured. velopment laboratory for testing and 
The progress which has already developing packing-box construction. 
been made in conserving lumber in It quickly demonstrated that thinner 
shipping containers has been made in lumber and better assembling of the 
two ways: (1) By using thinner lum- parts made not only cheaper but 
ber, better nailed, reinforced in many stronger and more serviceable pack- 
cases with cleats, or with flat or ages. It developed and demonstrated 
round metal straps or wires; and (2) that there were certain definite fun- 
by the development of the so-called damentals in box making and that 
substitutes, the fiber-board containers. boxes and crates could and should 
A recent published report of the be designed and constructed according 
American Railway Association esti- to certain formulas and that the old 
mates that 31 per cent of all packages rule-of-thumb method must go into 
in transportation are made of fiber the discard. 
board and 34 per cent are wood boxes The organized packing-box indus- 
and crates. The remainder being try eagerly applied these principles 
composed of barrels, bags, bales, and. has conclusively demonstrated 
bundles, ete. Every fiber-board con- their economy and practicability in 
tainer necessarily conserves the daily practice. 
amount of lumber required to make a The first and simplest fact was that 
box of that particular size. It is not thinner boards than were commonly 
possible to estimate with any degree in use in boxes, better nailed, made 
of accuracy the total amount of lum- stronger containers. All species of 
ber that would be required for con- woods available for package making 
tainers if there were no fiber-board were grouped and their strength prop- 
boxes: but the figures are large. erties in boxes defined so that thiclk- 
Fiber-board containers are used for ness might be increased or decreased 
packing small units and light loads, according to the species used. 
while wood boxes and crates carry The kind, size, and number of nails 
the larger and heavier loads. It to use was put into rules and charts. 
would not be unreasonable to assume The laboratory then soon demon- 
that so general a use of these fiber strated that when a metal strap or 
containers mean at least: a 25 per wire tie is used around the center of 
cent difference in the lumber consump- a box, reinforcing the nailing and the 
tion in packages. lumber, at least 25 per cent less mate- 
It was not so many years ago when rial is needed. Furthermore, that two 
practically all wood boxes and crates or three metal straps justified reduc- 
were made of the lower grade of ing thicknesses as much as 35 to 40 
sawn lumber, the higher grades de- per cent, and that even thinner lumber 
termining not only the thickness but might safely be employed if more 
the species used in package making. metal ties were used, properly spaced 
The same thickness was used in large and fastened so that the strains and 
boxes carrying heavy loads and in stresses were evenly distributed. All 
small boxes carrying comparatively this simply means that the maximum 
light loads, because these low grades conservation of lumber in packages 
of lumber had little value, for there through the application of this prin- 
was no other large demand for them. ciple finds its best expression in the 
In recent years, on account of in- wire-bound wood box, which is nothing 
creasing values, other industries using more than thin lumber bound with 
shop grades of lumber have reached many wire ties that are manufactured 
down into those lower grades for raw into an integral part of the package, 
material, thereby creating a broader anchored by machine-driven staples. 
market for them. Much higher This construction develops the great- 
freight rates and longer hauls to mar- est possible strength with an approxi- 
kets due to receding supplies have mate saving of 60 per cent of the lum- 
added to the increased costs. Then ber required for the boxes of ordinary 
conditions, together with the diminish- construction. ) 
ing sources of supply and keener com- The use of rotary cut lumber in 
betition, created a condition favorable many of these containers is also a big 
for the progress in the industry factor in conservation, because that 
which has been made. method of lumber production elimi- 
About 9 or 10 years ago the Forest nates saw kerf and trimmings prob- 
Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., ably equal to 20 per cent of the log. 
with the support and encouragement The use of reinforcing wood cleats in 
of a few of the leading manufacturers connection with panels of one or more 
of shipping containers. installed a ply permits the use of thinner lumber, 
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