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They were taken from the middle of the timber-one oak and one pine. He examined fragments taken from the center of each of these pieces. The yellow pine contained copper enough to give a decided reaction. The white oak contained but a very niinate quantity. Neither contained any barium. The test was as severe as could well be made, as the fragments examined came from the center of the logs.

As regards possible injury to iron in contact with impregnated wood, Dr. Kidder says that chloride of copper is likely to be injurious to iron if in contact with it, and moistened with sea-water. Effect, deposition of metallic copper on the iron, and loss of a proportionate quantity of iron, which combines with the chloride of the copper: slow corrosion results.

The doctor then answers a question put him by the board with regard to the relative merits of sulphate of copper and sulphate of zinc in preserving wood. His answer gives the preference to zine.

The company's counsel, in his communication to the department, criticises the board for raising the question of the zinc process, but in point of fact it was a very pertinent subject of inquiry, because the board was directed to report upon the advisability of purchasing the copper works, and therefore a consideration of other and perhaps better processes was in order. Such inquiry shows no bias one way or the other.

Dr. Kidder finally remarked that the experiments upon which he based his answer as to the amount of copper and the absence of barium in the wood he examined were "only preliminary and qualitative in their nature." He apparently does not regard them as conclusive against the possible presence of any minute quantities of barium. He furthur remarks that he had saved certain specimens of the wood for future analysis, if that should be thought advisable.

I infer from these statements that he did not consider the test as final and decisive, touching the ability of the process (as a general rule) to force more or less of all the ingredients into the center of the logs; but only that it had not fully succeeded in the particular instance that came under his examination.

I am confirmed in this opinion by the fact that he signed the report recommending the purchase of the works and the continuance of the process.

After the receipt of this report it is probable that the department was not fully satisfied, and hesitated to take final action regarding the company, as the counsel for the company states that the company asked of the department the appointment of a board of scientific experts to examine into the questions reported upon by Doctor Kidder.

I find further a letter from the company's counsel (General B. F. Butler) to SurgeonGeneral Wales (dated January 6, 1881), in which the project of the expert board is discussed, and General Butler says in effect that he accepts the suggestion of an examination to be made by two chemists and microscopist, and further apparently accepts Dr. Flint, U. S. N., in the latter capacity. He states that the company will employ Dr. Mew, U. S. A. Shortly after this letter was written Mr. Joseph F. Babcock, chemist and Massachusetts State assayer. made a report to the company, a copy of which report I find among the papers furnished me, though it has no direct bearing upon a strictly official inquiry, as it was not made to the department, nor by its order; but to and by direction of the company.

This report is very favorable to the process, both as regards the penetration of the copper and barium into the heart of logs and timber, and also in respect to the preser vative action of the ingredients. He knows no valid theoretical or practical objection to the process for timber for all purposes, and states that he saved many specimens of treated wood. There is no record of this report having been submitted to the depart

ment.

The board of experts referred to on page 15 was formed by order of the Navy Department; consisted of Surgeon J. M. Flint, U. S. N., Acting Assistant Surgeon W. M. Mew, U. S. A., and Mr. Fred. W. Taylor, chemist of the Smithsonian Institution, and had directions to proceed to the navy-yard, Boston, and determine as follows: "Whether the company's process is a practical prevention of rot and decay in those parts of the wood which are liable to such action by the elements," and also against "powder post."

How far the ingredients used are made to penetrate the wood for preservation purposes.

Whether the chemical compositions formed in the wood (by the process) are such as upon well sustained chemical theory would tend to the preservation.

Whether anything in the process would tend to the deterioration of the iron bolts and spikes which go into the wood.

To examine specimens of the wood so preserved as may be authenticated to them to have been in actual use, and report condition and time of use and exposure. It is my opinion, from the tenor of the foregoing order and from the composition of the board, that the department was still in doubt as to the efficiency of the process, and therefore decided, at the request of the company, to institute an examination in

a purely scientific manner upon all points not matters of ordinary observation and judgment.

It appears also probable, from General Butler's letter to Dr. Wales, that the company was allowed to suggest one member of the board (Dr. Mew).

The report is dated August 8, 1881, and the ground taken in it, with the conclusions arrived at, are substantially as follows, the sequence being somewhat broken in order to group and bring out the conclusions as plainly as may be.

After calling attention to the impossibility of determining the practical value of the process from theoretical consideration alone, and stating that only by comparative tests of the durability of treated and untreated wood (under like condition) can a positive conclusion on durability be reached, the report shows that limited (but favorable) evidence of the efficacy of the process was presented in the form of impregnated specimens authenticated to have been in use for different lengths of time.

Reports of numerous and prolonged experiments in Europe with wood impregnated with sulphate of copper by a method similar to, if not the same, as under consideration, were submitted, and prove satisfactorily that sulphate of copper is of practical value for wood preservation from rot and decay.

The testimony is equally conclusive that sulphate of copper alone is only a temporary protection against teredo.

Numerous sections of pine and oak timber were treated and cut in presence of the board, and repeatedly and carefully analyzed.

Copper was found in all the specimens-it appears to have penetrated the sap wood readily, but with greater difficulty the heart of oak and pine, in which parts it was found in very small quantity (except in two specimens which contained a considerable amount).

Barium salt penetrated less completely than the copper-traces were found in most of the section, but not in all. In some heart wood it was found in only the minutest appreciable quantity.

Compounds of copper with the organic constituents of the wood strongly resist putrefaction; such compounds were found in the wood examined.

Whenever the solution of copper and barium met, chloride of copper and sulphate of barium were found.

Chloride of copper, and such sulphate of copper as might escape the action of the chloride of barium, would also tend to wood preservation.

Sulphate of barium exercises no chemical action on the wood or poisonous action on the organisms (teredo?). The microscope and the minute quantity found show that it did not to any appreciable extent occlude the pores of the wood.

Theory does not show that it tends to wood preservation.

With regard to the injury to be apprehended to iron bolts, &c., in contact with the impregnated wood, the board declared that copper salts in solution and in contact with iron tends to deteriorate the latter.

In the case of this wood, however, the quantity of copper salt present is probably not sufficient to effect practical injury. As long as the wood is dry the action will not take place.

This report is signed by all the members. Dr. Mew, however, appended some remarks defining more exactly his opinion upon two points:

First. With regard to the preservative properties of the barium, he states that had a much larger quantity of chloride of barium entered the wood, some of it would probably have escaped contact with the sulphate of copper, when that which so escaped would be free to combine with the organic matters of the wood, forming compounds as efficient for preservation as the copper salt. This statement is predicated upon the opinion that a much larger amount of barium chloride could have been injected into the wood than was actually found there.

The ground for this opinion does not appear.

Second. With regard to the effect of the treated wood upon iron, he thinks the probability of free copper salts in the wood is only remote; but granting it for the sake of argument, he thinks the conditions necessary to injury could not really exist, because in order to such injurious action there must be a free solution of the salt in contact with unprotected iron, and he takes the ground that if the solvent (moisture) can enter the wood, the resulting solution must escape "by diffusion in the surrounding menstruum in obedience to well-known laws."

It would appear that the above statement does not give much weight to the affinity of the copper for the iron, and also, perhaps, overrates the facility of diffusion of the solution.

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This is the last report upon the merits of the process, and is apparently the one to which most weight should be attached, as it is the most precise and exhaustive in its statements. It takes grounds partly unfavorable to the process in two respects: First. By declaring that sulphate of barium exercises no chemical action on the wood or poisonous action upon the organisms (worms), that it does not stop the pores, and that theory does not show it to have a tendency to wood preservation.

Second. By declaring that the penetration of copper into the hearts of logs or timber is comparatively slight, and that of barium barely appreciable.

It is favorable in that it declares

First. That compounds of copper with the organic matter in the wood strongly resist putrefaction, as also do the chloride and sulphate of copper. Dr. Mew further finds that part of the chloride of barium may under certain conditions produce a like effect.

Second. In that it inclines to the view that practical injury to the iron by electrolysis will probably not take place.

This board was not instructed to express an opinion as to the advisability of continuing the process or purchasing the works.

In the endeavor to arrive at a decision upon this matter an important question arises as to the relative weight to be given to the various papers and reports, offered and unofficial, which have been handed me for examination.

The unofficial papers are as a rule considerably more favorable to the process than the official ones, and, not being so guarded in tone, seem to me to merit less weight, besides they are not addressed to the department, upon which the burden of a decision rests, but to the company or its counsel. I shall then rely mainly upon the official reports in forming an opinion as to the general efficiency of the process.

The two official boards that subjected numerous transverse sections of treated timber to analysis agree substantially on the following points:

A very small quantity of copper salts and only the remotest appreciable quantity of baric salts was found in the heart of the treated wood; of the latter salt, sometimes none could be found.

These facts are unfavorable to the process, as they imply deficiency of penetra

tion.

With regard to the preservative merits of the process, the last is the only official board that expresses an opinion.

This is favorable to the influence of copper, but unfavorable to that of barium, no preservative action being attributed to the latter.

The general conclusion to be drawn on this point is that copper preserves by combination with the organic matter in the wood, and does so in a satisfactory manner when a sufficient quantity is present.

One expert expresses the opinion that free-barium chloride would help if certain rather remote circumstances favored.

The unofficial papers assert the thoroughness of the process, its preservative excellence, and its durability. One of these is by Dr. New.

From all the foregoing I think we may conclude that the process is calculated, in a chemical point of view, to preserve wood; but owing to difficulties (probably of a mechanical nature), the process is not thorough and certain in practice when free penetration to the heart or center of large timber is required.

This much being settled, it becomes necessary to determine whether the department is (in the phraseolagy of the contract) "reasonably dissatisfied with the efficiency or desirableness of the process"; and on this I will give the opinion that, though the process is not by any means perfect, I do not think on the whole the department should take the ground of "reasonable dissatisfaction," especially at this late date. Two boards of naval constructors and one of chemical experts have had the matter formally before them, and each in its report has failed to declare or imply reasonable dissatisfaction. Indeed both boards of constructors recommended a continuation of the process, and the second one (which was ordered to express an opinion on this point) recommended the purchase of the works.

If, then, the department decides not to declare itself dissatisfied, two courses are left open by the contract:

1st. Buy the apparatus at about $40,000 and continue preservation of wood at the expense of the department, paying the company a royalty of 4 cents per cubic foot foot during the life of the patent (about six years).

2d. Do nothing towards annulment of the contract or purchasing the apparatus; simply assume that the contract has expired by fulfillment (as shown in the following paragraph) and cease ordering wood impregnated. Then in time either inform the company that it must remove the apparatus from the navy-yard, or else make a new contract, as will be adverted to further on.

Article 6 of the contract requires that if (after the impregnation of the first 100,000 cubic feet) the department neither annuls the contract nor purchases the plant, it shall from time to time canse 150,000 cubic feet (“additional”) to be impregnated at $21,000. I construe the word "additional," as meaning additional to the first 100,000 cubic feet-that mentioned in article 4 of the contract.

I find, on inquiry at the Bureau of Construction and Repair, that the company has treated in all 388,555 cubic feet. Deducting the 100,000 cubic feet required by article 4 of the contract, there will remain 288,555 cubic feet, which should be construed as

"additional" within the meaning of the contract. This has been paid for and exceeds the demands of the contract by 138,555 cubic feet.

Therefore (as remarked above), from the time that the impregnation of 150,000 cubic feet of this last-named timber was completed, the contract expired by fulfillment of

article 6.

A short calculation will show that the department has thus far paid out for the impregnation of the wood thus far treated $28,000-more than it would have done had it purchased the works on the impregnation of the first 100,000 cubic feet. Of course this does not include the cost of the works themselves.

This money has all gone into the pockets of the company, and, together with the freedom from taxation, is a proper offset against "delay," "loss," &c., as dwelt upon by the counsel for the company in his argument.

I am of the opinion that the second course above referred to is the one to be pursued, and it will be good policy for the department to inform the company that it will not have any more wood impregnated at the price established by the contract (14 cents); also, that it does not wish to purchase the works at the figure given by the company.

Negotiations for a new contract will then be in order on the part of the company, or a reduced price for the works.

The counsel for the company proposes that the department shall either buy the works, and then pay 4 cents royalty on each cubic foot of wood treated, or else make a new contract with the company.

I should, however, advise against the new contract just at present, and also against the immediate purchase of the works, unless at a very reasonable price.

Instead I would recommend that the Bureau of Construction and Repair be instructed to make immediate inquiry as to improved processes of wood preservation; if any are found superior to that under consideration, the department had better spend its money in buying the new plant rather than it acquiring ownership of that now in the Boston navy-yard.

The papers in this case are herewith returned.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
MONTGOMERY SICARD,

Hon. WILLIAM H. HUNT,

Chief of Bureau.

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THE POSITION OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT AS SET FORTH IN THIS DOCUMENT.

The department has fulfilled its part of the contract as follows:

1. 100,000 cubic feet of timber have been impregnated.

2. The department has not elected to annul or purchase.

3. The 150,000 cubic feet "additional" (article 6) have been impregnated and 138,555 cubic feet in excess thereof.

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No. 8.-CONTRACT WITH THE AMERICAN WOOD PRESERVING COMPANY. Contract for the preservation of timber and wooden material for construction by the Navy Department, with the American Wood Preserving Company.

Contract for the preservation of timber and wooden material for construction by the Navy Department.

This indenture of two parts, made and concluded this eighth day of February, A. D. 1877, by and between the Secretary of the Navy, acting for and on behalf of the United States, party of the first part, and the American Wood Preserving Company, a body corporate at Cleveland, Ohio, of the second part, witnesseth:

That the said parties of the first and second parts, in consideration of the several and respective mutual covenants and agreements, hereinafter set forth and described, have covenanted and agreed, and do hereby covenant and agree, as hereinafter articulately and fully set forth and described, viz:

ARTICLE 1. The said parties of the second part, for the purpose of impregnation

with the solutions mentioned, and in the way described in letters patent of the United States No. 88390, such live and sound timber as the party of the first part shall furnish for such impregnation at the navy-yard at Boston, in the district of Charlestown, do hereby, for themselves, and their successors and assigns, covenant and agree with the party of the first part that they will supply and place in said navy-yard, at their own cost and expense, a copper cylinder eighty feet long and six feet in diameter, with gun-metal tracks inside thereof, and cars needful to convey thereinto and thereoutof the timber to be impregnated; and to furnish in like manner the substances and solutions in said letters patent named, for the purpose of such impregnation; and also the tanks needful and proper to hold and contain said substances and solutions, said cylinder, tanks, cars, and chemicals to be delivered at said navy-yard within one hundred and twenty days from and after the day of the date of this indenture. ARTICLE 2. The party of the first part doth hereby covenant and agree with the parties of the second part, their successors and assigns, that it will, without cost or charge to them, furnish the labor necessary for handling the timber to be impregnated; and that it will allow said parties of the second part, at their own expense, to supply as superintendent of the process of impregnation, subject to the regulations of said navy-yard, such person as they may select for that purpose.

ARTICLE 3. Said parties of the second part, for themselves, their successors and assigns, do hereby covenant and agree, as aforesaid, that they will, at their own expense, furnish as superintendent a suitable and competent person, who shall be paid by the party of the first part a sum not less than one hundred dollars per month for his services, who shall be subject to the rules and regulations of said navy-yard, and liable to be discharged at any time therefrom for inefficiency or violation of such rules and regulations; in which case the party of the second part shall furnish another competent and suitable person; and will at their own cost and charge, and within the period aforenamed, set up, establish, and place in suitable working condition, for the purposes aforesaid, the cylinder, tanks, cars, and tracks by them furnished, and also the steam-engine, boiler, and force and vacuum pumps, pipes and gauges ready for operation in the process of impregnation.

ARTICLE 4. The said party of the first part covenants and agrees with the said party of the second part, their successors and assigns as aforesaid, that as soon as fifty thousand cubic feet of timber shall have been impregnated in pursuance of this agreement, it will pay therefor to the said parties of the second part, their successors or assigns, the sum of seven thousand dollars ($7,000), and the like sum when another fifty thousand feet shall have been, in like manner, impregnated.

ARTICLE 5. If said party of the first part, after said second payment, shall desire to purchase at the cost thereof the works erected in pursuance of this contract by the party of the second part, and continue such process of impregnation at its own cost and charge, it may make such purchase, which cost shall be ascertained by a board of appraisers appointed and constituted as hereinafter provided in article 9, for appisal of buildings; and for all such further impregnation made while said patent remains in force, pay to said parties of the second part, their successors and assigns, at the rate of four cents per cubic foot for all the timber which it may so impregnate. ARTICLE 6. It is mutually agreed as aforesaid that if the party of the first part, at any time after the impregnation as aforesaid of one hundred thousand cubic feet of timber, may if reasonably dissatisfied with the efficiency or desirableness of the process annul this contract, and require said parties of the second part, at their own expense and with reasonable speed, to take down and carry away the materials by them furnished, and the works by them furnished and set up or placed in said yard; or if said party of the first part shall not elect so to do or to make the purchase described in article 5 of this indenture, it shall furnish from time to time for impregnation, in the manner and at the price per cubic foot herein before named, an additional quantity of timber amounting to one hundred and fifty thousand cubic feet, and for the impregnation thereof shall pay the sum of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for each fifty thousand cubic feet as the same shall be impregnated; and that when said impregnation is completed, said party of the first part may then make said purchase on the terms aforesaid, and continue the impregnation as provided in article 5 of this indenture.

ARTICLE 7. It is mutually agreed by the said several parties hereto that the question of reasonable dissatisfaction named in article 6 shall be submitted to and determined by a board of three naval constructors appointed by the Secretary of the Navy for the time being, before which board the parties of the second part, their successors and assigns, shall have notice and permission to appear and be heard.

ARTICLE 8. It is mutually agreed as aforesaid that so long as the impregnation is continued under this contract at the rate of fourteen cents a cubic foot, no timber shall be impregnated to which the objection that it is not live and sound timber is made by the superintendent named in article 2 of this indenture.

ARTICLE 9. It is further mutually covenanted and agreed that the said party of the second part shall, at their own expense, erect in said navy-yard a suitable building or buildings to receive and hold the steam-engine, boiler, cylinder, tanks, cars, ap. ・

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