Monthly Archives: September 2006

Learning to Drive in 1929

Posted on by
1

I Learned to Drive and so can You

by Georgianna Conkling – Over 50 and a Grandmother

I WAS tired of waiting for crowded street cars. If I wanted to visit my old home, I was obliged to travel three hours by train and boat, while if I had a car I could drive over in an hour, and take along my friends and all the bundles we pleased.

It was most embarrassing to have persons put themselves out to give me a lift. My friends felt that when they asked me to their homes they must also call for me and take me back. I would always insist upon having a taxi, but often it was late or lost the way.

I had expected to drive a car some day, and after a particularly trying experience when I needed one very much, I decided that because I was born in the nineteenth century there was no reason why I should not join the great American procession. That was one of the happiest and wisest decisions of my life.

I remember the day when an automobile was a “horseless” vehicle, a terror to the countryside, and a doubtful experiment. Consequently I have more respect for the motor car than has the flapper, whose first thought is to go as fast as possible or at least faster than the next car.

I wonder now how I could have ridden in automobiles for years and shown so little curiosity as to how they were managed. For that reason I had to begin with the first principles.

I decided to take plenty of time to learn, fearing that if I attempted to drive alone before I was thoroughly familiar with the technique I would lose my nerve and perhaps never drive.

It was my good fortune to find as a teacher a young college man who was firm, but sympathetic with my stupidity. He had the patience of Job. As soon as I learned to go a few feet, fearing all the time that the car with all that feel of power might get away from me, I insisted upon knowing how to stop. That gave me confidence. Then we made proper turnings and signals. I live in a region of hills and winding roads, a trying combination to master. We haunted real estate developments, going around and around the canna planted, irregular shaped islands at street intersections.

MY teacher insisted upon everything being properly done. How particular he was about taking curves slowly and being on the right side of the road! I did one thing over and over until, fearing I was tired, he proposed a different problem. I was the only pupil he ever had who did not give the poor engine enough gas. That was the conservatism of age.

When we came to backing that car it was like meeting the irregular verbs in French. I felt that we were going right across the county, and in my nervousness, stalled the engine.

After a while we went daily up the faithful hill where the tests for licenses are given. My teacher made me stop the car and turn around. The road was highly crowned. Some days I did it perfectly, and then the next hit the curb and backed too many times.

THEN came the day to take the state test. No flapper could ever be as excited over that as I. She could not appreciate how big a thing I thought I was doing. I went with the officer, not to the high crowned steep hill, but luckily to an easier one a block away.

While we were turning I remembered my teacher and gave right of way to an old vegetable truck coming down. On a curved street where a white line marked the center I kept carefully to the right of the mark, even though a parked car made this a little difficult. At a right turn I slowed down and hugged the curb when we turned left I made a slow, wide swing. Perhaps the officer realized that grandma was not nervous and that was why he gave me my license the next day. But grandma would have been nervous had she not taken four weeks to practise with the agreeable young man.

All that happened a year ago. I had a new but low priced car to learn with. It was but a short time before I wanted a bigger engine, one that would purr when I stepped on the gas. Now I have that car and bless the day I decided to drive it.

I UNDERSTAND Lindbergh’s “We,” for my car and I have been alone over some of New England’s famous trails and “we” are faithful friends. I do not think we are a nuisance on the road, or drive too slowly, though we rarely exceed 40 miles an hour, because we wish to enjoy the country. The sunset hour and moonlight inspire us, and we also enjoy coming home through lighted streets after spending the evening out. I am no longer dependent upon street cars, buses, or the taxi man, or a burden to my friends.

There must be many women who miss the thrill of sitting behind the wheel because they are afraid to try. It is easy to learn to drive provided one masters one operation after another, slowly but surely; and is determined not to be nervous. So I say to all women who think they would like to learn to drive:

Get a patient teacher and go ahead. Don’t let your family talk you out of it. They may say you are too nervous or that you can never understand machinery. I know women who Jump into their cars  and drive out into the country to quiet nerves that have become ragged with home cares and problems. And as for machinery, who needs to know more than the mere rudiments of motor car construction to drive nowadays, with operating made so simple and with service stations at almost every corner, so it seems, to take care of maintenance?

There is thrill, there is independence in driving a car. I hope the women who read these words won’t wait as long as I did before trying. And if you have waited, don’t put it off any longer. The woman of today drives an automobile. Don’t go on living in “yesterday.”

And now, a final suggestion: You will want good company on your trips, but until you are very sure of yourself take along no “back seat drivers.”

U.S. Motor Vehicle Registrations 1930

Posted on by
Reply

MOTOR vehicles registered in the United States on January 1 numbered 26,562,713 compared with 24,479,648 on January 1, 1929, an increase of 2,083,065, or 8.5 per cent. The gain was 53 per cent larger than in the previous year when it was 1,359,883, or 5.9 per cent over 1927.

The passenger car total was 23,262,843, a gain of 1,883,718, or 8.8 per cent. The total of trucks was 3,299,870, an increase of 199,347, or 6.1 per cent.

Contrary to expectations, the number of cars scrapped was smaller than in 1928 when 2,080,000 or 66 per cent of all those sold in the domestic market disappeared. This compared with only about 1,866,000 or 50 per cent of domestic sales last year.

It had been supposed that a large number of Model T Fords would be taken off the highways but a relatively small proportion have been junked. This is a tribute to their stamina. The smaller percentage of total replacements offers further proof of distressingly large used car stocks.

The gain in truck registrations—199,000 —compared with an advance of 217,000 in 1928 over 1927 and disclosed a higher ratio of commercial vehicle replacements. Domestic sales last year approximated 500,000 compared with less than 350,000 in 1928. Replacements, therefore, approximated about 60 per cent as against 36 per cent in 1928.

Thirty-four states showed a larger percentage gain than in the previous year. The only loss was in Florida but it was materially smaller than in either of the two previous years.

New York retains its lead with a total of 2,292,000 or about 250,000 more than California. Ohio probably retained third place although it was the only state in the Union from which it was impossible to obtain official figures.

Pennsylvania stood fourth and Illinois fifth. Michigan was sixth with Texas only 20,000 behind. These seven states were the only ones with more than a million. Indiana, in eighth place, had 883,000, New Jersey, in ninth, had 832,000 and Wisconsin, in tenth, 800,000.

The largest percentage gains were in Arizona and New Mexico. The southern states which failed to register larger percentage advances than in 1928 were Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia and the declines in the last two were negligible.

The largest numerical gain in trucks was in Texas while Delaware showed a small loss of commercial vehicles registered.

1930 Automotive Developments

Posted on by
Reply

The Public becomes an Engineer— and much of the 1930 automobile is in response to what “the people demand” although it may not always be best

By HAROLD F.BLANCHARD Technical Editor of MoToR, January 1930

WITH the advent of 1930 have come interesting automotive developments. The sixteen cylinder car makes its debut. Front drive has arrived and so has the down-draft carburetor. Four-speed transmissions have become popular. There are more eight-cylinder cars, more two-way shock absorbers, more fuel pumps, more shatter-proof glass, more automatic chassis lubrication, while adjustable front seats and steering columns are almost universal.

On the whole, the new cars are somewhat longer, roomier, heavier and a trifle more powerful due mainly to larger engines which run more slowly because of higher rear axle gear ratios. Likewise there has been a slight average increase in maximum speed and progress in riding quality, comfort, luxury and beauty. Compression ratios are little if any higher than last year and all standard automobile engines are designed to run with fair satisfaction on ordinary fuel.

The aluminum alloy piston has gained ground and so has the aluminum alloy connecting-rod. Weatherproof internal brakes have almost completely displaced the once universal external type. Brake pedal pressure averages less than heretofore due to improved design of shoes and linkage.

Generally speaking, quality of material and workmanship are a little better although in some quarters hard-boiled economy fostered by keen competition has pared down the details a little more than is desirable. The “half-size” wheel bearing is an example. It will last two or three years instead of the life of the car. Springs and various other units have in some cases been given the same sort of rather dubious attention.

Peeping into the future, there appear to be two rather immediate possibilities, twelve and sixteen-cylinder engines and power-operated brakes, and looking further ahead there is some likelihood of power-operated clutches and steering gears. Some attention is also being given to independently sprung wheels while inventors are still hard at work on new valves, new engines and transmissions with numerous silent speeds with or without the use of gears. There is nothing at the moment to indicate that the Diesel engine will ever be found in a passenger car although it is likely to have an important place in aviation and perhaps also in the commercial vehicle field.

Without realizing it, the public has played an important role in designing the 1930 car. To a certain extent this is unfortunate for the public obviously knows little about automotive engineering.

Eights are on the increase because the public wants them. Why? In a surprising number of cases the average buyer answers: “Because the eight has two more cylinders and therefore has just that much more power.” In arriving at this remarkable conclusion he completely forgets, if he ever knew, that the six-cylinder cars on the market have about the same performance as the eights.

Now the eight, it is freely admitted, has certain advantages over the six, and vice-versa, but it is questionable whether the public has been much influenced by consideration of the technical advantages pro or con. Both eights and sixes have rightful places in the automotive industry but public demand has persuaded many manufacturers to turn to the eight although in some of these cases the six is the logical choice from the engineer’s standpoint.

Some readers may remark rather hotly that “the eight is obviously much smoother than the six—and everybody knows it.” The practical answer to this is that behind the wheel he is a rare driver who can tell a six from an eight except by reading the name plate.

THESE remarks do not apply to all cases. — There are instances where the eight is definitely better but taking the general run of automobiles as built to-day there are but few exceptions to the statement that the public cannot tell the difference between an eight and a six. Almost every human being has a weakness for numbers. Eight is a larger number than six. Two is a larger number than one, hence two-way shock absorbers are better than one-way, concludes the public. Assuming, for the moment that the two-way instrument is actually better than the one-way type, the public as a whole has had neither the time nor the opportunity to determine this fact fairly and without prejudice. The only honest way to settle the question is for each owner to try his own car over his customary roads, first equipped with one-way shock absorbers, and then fitted with two-way devices. A very few, of course, have done this but their number is so small that they cannot have had any noticeable influence on popular opinion as a whole.

The present popularity of the two-way principle is apparently based mainly on two facts: 1—The two-way device sounds like a better proposition 2—Two or three important car manufacturers have campaigned the two-way principle to the point where a large section of the public has become sold on the idea.

Sweeping aside public prejudice, what do engineers have to say on the question? There are some chief engineers who sincerely believe that  some particular two-way device gives the better riding quality, but there are other chief engineers who honestly prefer the one-way principle. But what happens ? In at least one recent instance the chief engineer attached two-way shock absorbers to his 1930 line because of their greater sales appeal and not because he thought they were better. And this is a typical example of how the public “engineers” the modern automobile.

While there are plenty of good engineers who prefer hydraulic shock absorbers, there are equally competent engineers who will tell you emphatically that some particular friction type is better. But the public wants hydraulics.

Via the route of “sales appeal” the public unconsciously directs the design for better or for worse and hampers progress to a certain extent by discarding designs which have a right to further development. Especially is this true when the design approved and the design rejected are really very close in actual merit.

The public is likely to take hold of the four-speed transmission and engineer it into most automobiles, reasoning that, “four-speeds obviously are better than three.” The four-speed transmission with silent third is a worthy, commendable development but, in the writer’s opinion, to say that it should be on all automobiles, that it will suit all drivers better than a three, is similar to insisting that all automobiles should seat five passengers, and that the manufacture of all two-passenger cars should be discontinued.

It is clear to everybody that the variables of personal need and taste cause one man to prefer a two-passenger car while another chooses a car for five people. Likewise there are good grounds for believing that both the three and four-speed transmission should have a permanent place and that some drivers will prefer the one and other drivers the other.

However, the public unconsciously, through the avenue of sales appeal, has already gone to work on the problem, but it is to be hoped that car owners generally will give the question of three versus four speeds really careful consideration backed by actual, critical experience, rather than jump to the conclusion that four speeds must be better and therefore insist through sales demand that all cars be so equipped.

The Stock Market is NOT America

Posted on by
Reply

1930 Should Be a Good Year  (As perceived by the Automobile Industry)

THERE are millions of people in America who are bored with newspaper
headings telling about the latest “market news.” It meant nothing to them in
the first place. Like the two well known comedians they “would rather hear
nothing more about it.” They would much prefer to read about a “good murder.”

The most over-rated “catastrophe” in the industrial history of America was the
“great market smash.” It is true that the “smash” caused losses, but with the majority
of the great common people who may have been involved the losses were of surplus
assets. The fundamental structure of the people has been little affected.

The “New York mind,” which is that of a few major cities, is responsible for
much of the foreboding with which industry enters this new year of 1930. Were it not
for that, the “smash” and fears that followed it would have been practically forgotten.

DURING the weeks following the “smash” editors of MoToR visited cities remote
— from New York and contacted hundreds of America’s people. Most of them had
not been “in the market,” most of them were still working at the jobs which had kept
them busy during past years and none of them could see any reason why 1930 should
not be a good year. They were working, they still are working, and they expect to
keep on working. And as they work they earn—and spend.

An almost amusing aspect of the event of a few months back is that while the
market was in a turmoil and stock prices were falling, the industries behind the stocks
were all moving along in their usual way, the workmen were all busy at their machines,
goods were being made and shipped, and the workers were going home to supper every
night in the same old way. It must have looked funny to those of them who had a
real knowledge of what was happening. The papers said the value of the company
which employed them had been cut in half, or thirds, or less. But when they got up
in the morning there still stood the same old plant and at the whistle they all went
back to work and created more dividends.

THEY are still working, these citizens of America, except for a few industries which
 have had normal declines. Even those will resume. In the turmoil we rather
lost sight of these people, but if we ring the door bells on any average home town
street in America tonight these folks will be found living in the same old way—the
most substantial foundation on which any nation was ever built.

And they will continue to buy automobiles. They have been doing it for a quarter
century with no let-downs of consequence. They won’t walk. They don’t like old cars
—and they aren’t broke. Business executives may be a bit pessimistic because THEY
“lost in the market.” It would do most of them good if they would take a day off and
talk to the great common people. They would learn that the stock market is NOT
America and that the “home town folks” are ready to make 1930 a good year.

Source: MoToR Magazine, Jan 1930

Efficiency in Home Furnishing 1921

Posted on by
Reply

LIVING ROOM 1921ONE of the details of requirements in connection with the competition which has resulted in the series of designs presented in this book, is that the proposed dwelling should be for an American family of moderate means but desiring home surroundings in cultivated taste and comfort. It is plainly evident that a definite problem in connection with the development of such a home is involved in the question of furniture.

While there are only limited facilities for entertaining in dwellings of this size it is interesting to note that it is possible through the medium of carefully selected furniture to greatly increase the efficiency of accommodation. As an example, there has been indicated in the living room of many of these designs a proper location for a bed davenport which is in effect an attractive davenport by day and through the means of a simple mechanical device is converted into a comfortable bed at night, thus providing a room which may serve the double purpose of living room by day and guest room by night. This feature, of course, applies not only to the increased possibility of entertaining but has its more practical application in providing comfortable living quarters for families where, under the ordinary method of furnishing, the space provided might be too restricted.

It may be noted in the four-room type of house that the living room often serves as dining room also. This is accomplished in various interesting ways, by the use of a folding table or by the use of a table of the gate-leg or refectory type which serves the double purpose of dining table at meal times and as living room or library table, fitting attractively into the furnishing scheme of the room at other times.

It is evident, therefore, that in dwellings where a dining room is not provided, the living room effectively takes the place of three rooms, when the bed davenport and an attractive table constitute the main pieces of furniture.

The present problems involved in building due to increased costs indicate the reduction of floor space as the only practical means of making a house come within a small appropriation. The fact that furniture design has kept pace with modern building developments is most important in enabling this solution to be carried out without any sacrifice of convenience or comfort to the occupants. By the use of furniture which serves two or more purposes it is possible to make a more intensive use of floor space, and instead of the old type of house with an individual room for each individual use we now have the modern arrangement where the same conveniences and accommodations are supplied in half the space and at a lower cost.

 

Efficiency in Home Furnishing continued here…

Furnishing the Small Home in 1921

Posted on by
Reply

FURNISHING THE SMALL HOME: By Hettie Rhoda Meade

MOST psychologists agree that the greatest influence on our lives is environment—that we react directly to our immediate surroundings. If this be true, how important it would seem to be that our homes be planned to bring out the best that is in us.

A large part of the attractiveness of the modern home depends upon the taste and skill with which it has been decorated and furnished. Of course in countless instances the cost of the house itself has been so great that every available dollar has been devoted to actual building, and the matter of furnishing, coming as it does toward the end of the operation, finds the home treasury in a condition too depleted to permit of adequate furnishing and decorating being done. It would seem, however, to be the height of folly to neglect the detail upon which the appearance of the home so largely depends.

We find everywhere an increasing interest and enthusiasm in the matter of furnishing and decoration. Numerous periodicals are devoted to the subject, and they have familiarized the people with a higher standard of taste than seemed possible a decade ago. Manufacturers of furnishings of many kinds have followed the popular trend—sometimes they have led it—and if any more definite proof of this growing interest were needed we have the statement made by a competent authority that during the past seven years the proportion of increase in money spent on home furnishings has grown so that this is now the largest item in the average family budget.

This increase in popular interest in the subject of domestic furnishing may have possibly been the cause—or else the result—of a large increase in the number of interior decorators whose efforts are undoubtedly doing much to arouse and maintain interest in the subject.

The average home owner is hardly accustomed to selecting and purchasing household fittings upon an extended scale, and is not often prepared to enter into such a purchasing campaign as is involved in the fitting up of even a small suburban home. He is seldom able to visualize the entire result and is therefore unable to give to countless details the careful attention which they deserve if the house, as a whole, is to be a success.

Far more experienced is the average interior decorator who is accustomed to purchasing and who, with extended buying, has acquired an intimate knowledge of the market and of the use of materials which often insure the obtaining of the utmost in value for the amount which the home owner feels able to spend. There are many decorators who would not disdain such a commission as the furnishing of a moderate cost home and the giving of the commission to an interior decorator would not often mean added cost to the owner, for decorators usually receive as their compensation the difference between wholesale prices and the retail prices which the owner would pay in any event.

Let us suppose, for example, that a definite sum has been appropriated for the complete fitting up of a moderate sized suburban home and that the owner has entrusted the work to an interior decorator. The owner has no doubt dealt with the decorator very frankly, and both understand exactly what is to be provided in the way of furnishings and decorations. From a careful examination of the plans, if the house is not yet completed, the decorator will study requirements and obtain dimensions, and will apportion to each room its definite share of the total. Wall and floor coverings, draperies and furniture will receive due consideration, the condition of the market will be ascertained and the decorator will then offer for the owner’s approval a complete layout for the house, showing samples, perhaps of wall coverings and fabrics, and photographs of pieces of furniture, or else both decorator and owner may visit various warerooms or shops where all these details are to be seen.

The final result, when the work has been completed and the house is ready for occupancy, would probably be a well thought out and carefully executed interior, wherein nothing has been overlooked or slighted and which may well possess an artistic unity or cohesion which it might not have had if the owner had carried out the furnishing himself.

 

Furnishing the Small Home continued here…

Building with Metal Lath in 1921

Posted on by
Reply

DEVELOPMENT of metal lath as a basic exterior wall material has been one of the remarkable features of recent progress. Its easy adaptability to every kind of building has led to its wide use and the attendant evolution from crude to perfect construction has brought forth several distinct types of exterior wall, of which the back-plastered form has been found by actual tests to be the most efficient.

In back-plastered construction the studs are erected as usual, but no sheathing is used. Furring strips (metal preferred) are placed along the studs and the metal lath attached at once. The metal lath is placed with the long dimensions (8 ft.) across the supports and fastened by nailing or stapling every 6 ins.

The first exterior stucco coat is applied as usual and the plasterer goes to the inside of the house and plasters with the same material between the studs on to the keys of the exterior coat. This positively imbeds the lath and forms a reinforced monolithic coat of cement which common sense and many tests tell us is far stronger than sheathing.

After the back-plastered coat has been completed the next step is the insulation. Satisfactory results have generally been obtained without paper insulation of any kind. It is wise, however, to provide a safeguard against extremes of weather. Ordinary building paper, doubled, forms a satisfactory and inexpensive insulating medium. The paper is cut in between the studs and fastened by nailing wood strips over the folded edges of the material and so placed as to leave about 1 inch air space between it and the stucco.

All that remains to complete the black-plastered exterior wall is the lathing and plastering of the interior side of the wall. In a general way the operations are identical with those described for the exterior wall. Furring, however, is usually dispensed with and a lighter lath is used, 2.3 Ibs. per square yard being the minimum weight recommended. Back plastering of this side of the wall is of course mechanically impossible. If care is taken in applying the plaster a perfect and satisfactory key is attained.

When the exterior is decided upon the next consideration is the permanency and safety of the interior. Cracks in plaster are the most objectionable and unsightly evidence of thoughtlessness in construction. They are nearly always unnecessary and can be avoided if metal lath is used as a base and reinforcement for the plaster. It is not necessary to use this modern lathing material throughout; the expense is negligible when its use is confined to the places where cracks are most unsightly or where they are most likely to occur.

 

Building with Metal Lath continued here…

Building with Brick in 1921

Posted on by
Reply

WHEN the choice of the material for a home is being considered, the essential qualities that are desirable—permanence and style, strength and beauty—point directly to face brick. Durable as the eternal hills, it is proof against the corrosion of the seasons and the ravages of fire, thus reducing the cost of maintenance and depreciation to a minimum; and, beautiful in its varied colors and textures as the finest fabrics, it offers to the eye an artistic charm that meets the most refined and discriminating taste. 

Structurally brick are the soundest possible material. In the first place, the size and form of brick make them an easy material to handle and adaptable to the master mason’s skillful craftsmanship. He builds them one by one into a solid wall fabric strong and durable. Then the brick themselves, hardened and matured in fire, submit to the heaviest pressures and resist both the attacks of flame and the corrosions of time. Brick may well be called an everlasting material because they neither burn nor decay. Their history affords sufficient testimony, and the scene of any conflagration shows the brick walls and chimneys as solemn witnesses of their enduring strength.

From an artistic point of view, brick can make equally strong claims to consideration. An endless variety of color tones and textures are offered for your choice which you may use in uniform shades, or, preferably, in blended shades of the most delicate and charming effects. No other building material can approach face brick in the possibility of color schemes for the wall surface, either within or without,—and the colors last, for they are an integral part of the enduring brick.

But to the artistic effect of the brick texture and color must be added the artistic effects secured by the treatment of the bond and mortar joint. The manner in which the brick are made to overlap in the wall has a decided influence on the result, and the mortar joint, in color, size, and kind is likewise of importance in the final effect. The mortar joint may spoil or make the beauty of your wall.

The great improvement that has taken place in the manufacture of brick in recent years has been a large factor in increasing the popularity of this material. Years ago good brickwork was supposed to call for bricks of absolutely uniform shape with perfect, sharp edges and laid in the wall with a mortar joint that appeared only as a hair line on the surface. This extreme mechanical perfection resulted in a wall that was entirely flat and wholly without any life or interest, and it was but natural that when brick was suggested as a material for a home people thought of ugly factories and warehouses and were not enthusiastic about it.

This is all changed now, due to the greater intelligence with which brick is used, and there is today no other material that combines so well the qualities of dignity and beauty. The wide range of colors and textures now available gives the architect and builder an opportunity to provide homes of great charm.

Solid brick construction is most enduring and is steadily growing in favor owing to the low cost of upkeep which in a few years offers sufficient saving to offset the extra cost at the start. In cases where people want the exterior appearance of a brick house but cannot afford the cost of solid masonry a good form of construction is brick veneer over wood studding. The bricks are tied to the boarding, either with metal strips laid in the joints and attached to the wall or by nails driven in above the brick so that they are bedded in the mortar joint. Brick veneer, of course, makes it difficult to have the advantage of the many attractive bonds that are possible in solid brick construction but the advantages of color, texture and mortar joint are present which make the exterior appearance, to all intents and purposes, the same as solid brick.

There are many architectural styles eminently suitable for brick construction, in fact many of the most pleasing architectural forms have been developed around the use of brick. There is the simple colonial style which is increased in dignity by the permanence of brick, and in interest through its color. Then there are the many variations of English houses which range from the formal Georgian type, similar to our colonial, through the Tudor and Elizabethan forms with stone trim and attractive gables, to the picturesque type based on the English cottage. To increase the picturesque effect in these latter types brick is frequently used in combination with other materials such as half timber treatment, the panels between timbers being filled in with brick laid in patterns or with stucco.
 

Building with Brick continued here…

 

Building with Wood in 1921

Posted on by
Reply

TO many Americans the house of wood will perhaps always typify the home. This is not strange when it is recalled that the larger part of the development of our early houses dating back to the colonial days grew up around the use of wood. Wonderful growths of timber were at hand, only needing the axe and saw to turn them into building material which could be quickly erected to form a shelter. 

As time went on and there was greater opportunity for more ambitious building a class of highly skilled carpenters and woodworkers was built up. The work these men did is seen today throughout the eastern section of the country and those houses and churches that fortunately remain are held as one of our priceless inheritances. The skill and knowledge of these craftsmen were imparted to their apprentices and in this way a particular and almost inborn faculty was developed for working in wood. This briefly is the history of the way in which wood has played so prominent a part in the building of American houses.

It might be contended that the choice of wood was largely a matter of chance but there are on the other hand a number of reasons that make it specially suitable for house construction and it is due as well to those favorable traits as to early building conditions that wood is so popular.

It has been said for many years that wood would probably be displaced as an American building material because of a diminishing supply. While this is an undoubted possibility owing to the fact that wood is a natural product, there are still ample supplies of it in most sections of the country and more efficient modern methods of marketing and manufacturing it into merchantable lumber together with more scientific methods of conservation are checking the waste, and it is more than likely that for many generations wood will both be available and hold its popularity.

Owing to the fact that carpentry is such a common trade, prevailing in all parts of the country, it is comparatively easy to find first class workmen for wood construction. Wood building also can be carried on quickly and it is not hindered by cold weather so that in the matter of speed there is probably no other material that can compete with it.

One of the particular advantages of wood for home building is the variety of forms in which it can be had. This variety makes it possible to design and build a wood house that will appropriately fit in with almost any set of conditions. We have, for instance, the choice of using clapboards, shingles, siding, vertical battens, wide weather boarding and various combinations of two or more of these different forms. Then there are still further sub-divisions; clapboards are made in narrow and wide widths, shingles are made short and long so that totally different effects from an architectural standpoint may be had—all from the same basic material.

For the country house or cottage placed in a rural or wooded setting nothing is more appropriate than a shingled house either stained in some appropriate color or left natural to weather. For the more formal suburban house the use of clapboards or siding is more usual and in better taste. They have smooth surfaces, and being spaced at regular intervals and finished at the corners with corner boards, they present a trim, neat appearance that gives a house a substantial character. If they seem to some austere, relieving notes may be introduced through use of lattices, trellisses and wood shutters.

Siding at present enjoys a wide popularity. Being wider than clap- boards its effect on the building in sunlight is a series of strong horizontal lines about 8 inches apart. Siding should, for most successful effects, be used on large houses; when used on a small house it is apt to give a “boxey” appearance which has the effect of making the house appear smaller than it really is. In this case it is better to use shingles or clapboards. Weather boarding in wide widths is not so commonly used as the previous forms but it nevertheless has many interesting possibilities especially for summer camps and houses in wooded locations. These boards are generally rough sawed and stained which makes them harmonize well with the natural landscape. Batten boards are similarly used for camps and bungalows; they are laid on the building vertically with smaller boards or battens over the joints.

Building with Wood continued here…