Prefabricated Timber Construction Speeding Up Shipyards

Washington, D. C.-Two years ago there were only 83 active shipways of 30Gfoot length or greater on our three salt water coasts. Today there are 139 active ways with 12 more being completed and 144 in project.

This enormous and phenomenally rapid shipyard expansion, an imperative factor in the Battle of Defense, has taxed the heavy construction industry and its material supply sources to the utmost. In this pinch, the lumber industry has come to bat with a well-nigh limitless supply of its basic material and improved methods of prefabricated construction, and performed like its legendarv hero, Paul Bunyan.

For many years standard engineering practice has been to execute long-span trusses, such as those in mold lofts, assembly shops, and other great shipyard structures, in steel. Because of the extraordinary and urgent demand on steel for purposes which wood cannot serve, the speed and efficiency that use of prefabricated timber as an engineering material contributes to shipyard construction is attracting national attention.

Three interesting, leaflets, published by the Timber Engineering Company, deal with this all-important phase of the Defense program. Among the many dramatic stories they tell is that of the erection of 14 roof trusses on the new mold loft of the California Shipbuilding Company, Los Angeles, in 5f hours of working time. These 116'7' trusses, jointed with split ring connectors and shear plates, were completely prefabricated of timber and placed in position as units.

Prefabricated timber construction produced the roof' structure of the l7O'x4W plate shop of the Todd-California Shipbuilding Corporation at Richmond, California, one day ahead of schedule, winning the contractors a bonus. This giant structure was originally designed for steel construction, traditional for these buildings, but the shiptuilders found themselves caught in a bottleneck when steel fabricators were unable to make delivery.

Another record-bending achievement, in which prefabricated roof trusses played a vital part, was the erection of a two-story mold loft at Portland for the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in 32 hours of working time four 8-hour shifts of workmen. At 3:30 p.m., Thursday, March

13th, the first 13Gfoot, bowstring foof truss was placed in position. By 4:30 p.m., Monday, March l7th, all twelve trusses were in place, and roofing and siding were being put on.

Still another great shipyard job speeded by prefabricated timber construction was the new mold loft of the Willamette Iron & Steel Corporation, Portland, Oregon. The 21 Arch-Teco roof trusses were framed, assembled, and delivered complete in six working days after receipt of final lumber delivery. Each is an 8O-foot span'

Two buildings at the Seattle Shipyard of the SeattleTacoma Shipbuilding Corporation were erected in a shade over b month with prefabricated timber trusses. The assembly shop required twenty 8S-foot bowstring trusses and the mold loft roof is supported by twelve l3Gfoot bowstring trusses. Work on the assembly shop started on November 7th, at which time grading and hydraulic fill had not been completed, placing an added handicap on construction. That job was completed November 29th and the mold loft, December 7th.

All trusses, both Howe and Summerbell, for the Tacoma Shipyard of the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation were prefabricated with split ring connectors in the joints. The mold loft has twelve 130-foot Summerbell trusses and there are 78 other Summerbell and Howe trusses with spans of 50 feet or greater.

Associated Shipbuilders used fifteen 8o-foot, prefabricated timber trusses in its mold loft.

And prefabricated timber has speeded the completion of many other large, urgently needed shipyard expansion jobs, such as: Commercial Iron Works, Portland; the Port of Portland Drydock; Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company; Atherton Construction Company, Seattle ; North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, N.C.; and the yards at Orange, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Charleston, S. C.; Norfolk, Virginia, and Brooklyn, New York.

Conratulations

Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Roberts are receiving congratulations on the birth of their son, William Henry Roberts Jr., born in Stockton, August l. Mr. Roberts is a stepson of J. H. (Jerry) Stutz of Atkinson-Stutz Company, San Francisco.

Obituaries

ANTONE V. BERONIO

Antone V. (Tony) Beronio, prominent San Francisco retail lumber dealer, passed arvay in San Francisco on July 19.

He was a native of San Francisco and was the owner of Beronio Lumber Company. He was at one time associated with the late R. L. (Dick) Tiernan in the lumber business in San Francisco.

WILLIAM H. WOODS

William H. (Bill) Woods passed away in Berkeley on July 15. He was 57 years of age and a native of California. Although he operated a successful insurance business for the past 10 years he was in the lumber business during a large part of his business life, and was assistant sales manag'er of the Coos Bay Lumber Company for a number of years.

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Eleanor L. Woods, two daughters, a grandson, five sisters and a brother.

WILLIAM R. SCHNABEL

William R. Schnabel, son of Ernest W. Schnabel, president of the Glenwood Lumber Company, San Jose, was fatally injured when struck by a hit-run driver on East Santa Clara Street, San Jose, August 3. He died at the San Jose Hospital as the result of head iniuries.

CAPTATN JOHN O. OLSSON

Captain John Olaf Olsson, master of the S. S. Dorothy Philips, passed away at the Seaside Memorial Hospital, Long Beach, on Tuesday, August 12.

One of the oldest in point of service he had been running on the Pacific Coast for more than 40 years. He was with Lawrence-Philips Lumber Co. for the past l0 years and prior to that was with Hart-Wood Lumber Co. for l5 years. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Funeral services were conducted by the Elks Lodge, San Pedro.

Benson Log Raft Destroyed By Fire

San Francisco, Aug. 8-Log raft No. 120 which caught fire while under tow from Astoria, Oregon, to Benson Lumber Company, San Diego, was reported breaking up today about 70 miles northwest of the Golden Gate.