State

New Tar Heel-Built Saw Mill Moves On Wheels BATSON Sot only portable, but mobile, the new Meadows saw- mill can be folded, booked Ю a truck or trailer, and on its way to a new location in less titan thirty minutes. Setting up to operate is just as easy. By RHODES K. As most sawmillcrs know, the term "portable" when applied to present day portable sawmills is not the best adjective to use. but a sawmill re¬ cently developed by the Meadows Mill Company, of North Wilkcsboro. is really portable — in fact it’s mobile — and has caused sawmillcrs to sit up and take notice. Basic patents of the new mill were purchased by the company over a ycar-and-a-half ago from Phillip C. Hubbard of Mio. Michigan, and a working model was constructed for testing purposes. After more than a year of extensive testing, the new all-metal sawmill is now rolling off the assembly line. Eliminates Cost The so-called portable mill in widespread use today is a cumber¬ some affair, taking several men a full day to disassemble it and another day to reassemble at the new lo¬ cation. Meadows' new sawmill is mounted permanently on wheels, can be hooked to a truck or tractor, and on its way in 30 minutes or less. No disassembly is necessary. An equal amount of time is used in setting up the mill and having it ready for operation. The es¬ timated cost of moving a conventional mill to a new location is SI 00.00. This cost has been eliminated by Mea¬ dows. The frame can be folded to just under 34 feet long by 7 feet 1 1 inches, bringing it under the legal limit for a trailer to be used on high¬ ways. Not only is the frame new, but the company has designed new head blocks, which hold the log on the carriage; new set works, the ratchet that moves the logs toward the saw; and new feed works, the intricate belt and pulley arrangement that carries the log past the saw. Other features of the mill making it more desirable arc: it requires only two men for op¬ eration. self contained, automatic, lumber conveyor, built in dust blower and numerous safety features. South Right-Handed These new mobile mills will be left- handed. or right-handed, which ever the operator prefers. Generally speak¬ ing. though, left-handed mills arc used in the nothern United States with the South prefering the right - handed model. Power can be supplied cither by direct drive or by belt. Meadows Mill Co. was started about 1УОО by the Reverend W. C. Meadows, a Baptist minister, who designed and built a vertical stone burr mill. Through the years the com¬ pany has added feed mills, sawmills, edgers. cut-off saws and accessory re¬ quirements for its products. President R. G. Finley stated that at present they arc shipping mills to practically all states of the union with about 20 per cent of the production of their standard portable saw mills being shipped overseas. Exportation of the new all-metal mill is now under in¬ vestigation. The new all-metal, portable sawmill in operation during a demonstration run in front of the Meadows' factory in North Wilkcsboro. This is a "left-hand" mill, used mostly in the northern states. Although mounted on wheels, and only 7 feel II inches wide, the mill ran saw logs up to three feet in diameter and IS feet long. 32 CONSTRUCTION IN NORTH CAROLINA