R. D. #1, Box 127-B, Troy, Pennsylvania 16947
On the eve of the millennium, not all good mechanical ideas ate
computer driven. As many people focus on the technological
wonders–and issues–of Y2K, two Pennsylvania men have delved back
into the past and revitalized an 1894 A. B. Ireland shingle mill.
One hundred and five years later, the restored machine is producing
shingles for Gary and Allan Crist on Armenia Mountain near Troy,
Pennsylvania. Together they make an ideal team, with Allan
providing the technical expertise and Gary, a former U.S. Army
combat engineer, utilizing his considerable operating skills.
Owning and operating an early shingle mill has been a dream for
Gary since the late 1960s when he moved with his parents from
Louisiana to Minnesota, attended an ‘old timer’s
convention,’ and had his first view of old time machinery. Not
until the late 1970s, though, after working with his father in
constructing natural gas plants in Oklahoma and Kansas, did he gain
hands-on experience with an old shingle mill. After Gary and his
parents settled in Pennsylvania, a chance visit from Carl Campbell,
an old-time saw and shingle man, offered Gary the opportunity to
help run an 1884 Ireland shingle mill. Gary credits Carl, who died
in the summer of 1999, with teaching him everything he knows. In
fact, when Carl sold his 1894 mill, Gary was interested, but the
cost (about $4,000) seemed prohibitive, and Gary bided his time.
Finally, in 1996, while attending the East Smithfield,
Pennsylvania, old-timers fair, Gary and Allan met Mrs. Louise
Wildrick of Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, who told them she was
interested in selling an 1886 Ireland shingle mill. Although
several competitors offered her more money, Mrs. Wildrick chose to
accept Gary’s lower offer of $800 because he, unlike the
others, actually planned to use the machine. With the help of
several men, Gary and Carl used a backhoe to load the nearly
2,000-pound machine onto a pickup truck, drove it to Armenia
Mountain, and eased it little by little onto its new location near
the Crist home. Gary was ecstatic; when the sun shone that day for
the first time after a week of rain and gloom, he knew he had made
the right decision.
Transporting the mill was only the beginning of a long process,
however. Mr. Wildrick, the former owner, had not used the mill
since 1941 and, not surprisingly, every moveable part had frozen in
place. After using an entire gallon of WD-40 over a period of
several weeks, Gary and Allan managed to run the machine and test
it. They were able to replace some of the missing parts themselves:
the table for catching the sawed wood was easy to recreate, along
with a custom built brace, and Allan built a sturdy new shingle
bundler to band the finished shingles together. After belting the
mill into a 1959 International 240 utility tractor and running it
at slow speed, several more complicated problems arose. They found
they could adjust the timing by adding little pieces of steel to
the springs in the rotating arms that kick the shingle block so
that they finally achieved the correct tapering angle for the
shingle bolts. Allan also built the chute under the saw blade to
keep the sawdust away from the mill. They finished this work by the
end of October just as the first snowfall arrived.
With the coming of warm spring weather, Allan cleaned, primed
and painted over the original gray color of the American chestnut
machine. His use of red, green and gray resulted in a spruced-up,
rejuvenated, and cheerful looking shingle mill. He then mounted 6×6
wooden skids beneath the four cast iron legs so that the tractor
could pull the mill without breaking the legs. Hooking it onto the
tractor and skidding it down into the garden area, Allan and Gary
set up the mill and leveled it by putting pins on each corner to
hold it steady and unmoveable. It still stands in that spot
today.
A few problems remained that required outside purchases. The
clutch pulley shaft–it had, after all, been made in 1886–was worn
and therefore running lopsided, as were the shaft on the main drive
gear and the two shafts on the four-inch pulleys. Parker Machine
Works in Canton, Pennsylvania, made new shafts and put new sleeves
in all the pulleys. The original 12-gauge blades (36, 40, and 44
inches) were thin and tapered and tended to break easily, so Gary
contracted with the International Knife and Saw Company in
Florence, South Carolina, which made a new 40-inch blade that is
twice as thick as the originals. These are the specifications:
40′ diameter x .148 plate x 4.030′ bore x 72 teeth
30 degree positive hook
12 pinholes .400′ on 171/8‘
b.c.
6 pinholes .400′ on 5?’ b.c. countersunk
518 rpm e.H.
Model XR4072N148
All pinholes countersunk 82 degrees .580′ diameter on left
hand side of saw.
Despite the minor timing problems that remained, Gary sawed 38
bundles of shingles between May and August of 1998.
In 1999, Allan solved the timing problem by placing a file under
the timing mechanism. Eventually Gary plans to replace the worn
rollers, but for the moment, the file works extremely well, and he
has sawed 160 bundles to date. Since no written instructions have
survived, he and his father feel justifiably proud of their work
with this mill. They have done quite a bit of research on the
history of shingle mills, which were made by A. B. Ireland in
Greene, New York, with the cast iron parts forged by the Lyons Iron
Works at Greene, New York. The Ireland Company produced both
shingle mills and drag sawmills until the 1940s, when it went out
of business.
The Lone shingle mill received the first patent for the mill in
the 1870s. They were made in New England states. Also other mills
made were Chase Mill. There were also hand-operated mills made. The
first shingles were split by hand of a shingle bolt with a shingle
frow.
Gary’s 1894 model was produced the year the second patent
was issued; the clutch makes it an automatic machine with three
speeds that will saw 25, 35, or 55 shingles a minute. Ideally, at
the faster speeds, the process should involve three operators–one
packing, one joining, and one sawing–but by running it at slow
speed, Gary enjoys working it by himself. He emphasizes, though,
that he uses great care, having already lost parts of his fingers
while learning the trade from his mentor, Carl Campbell. Gary still
considers his shingle making to be an avocation; if some-one wants
shingles, he gladly makes them, but it remains a hobby. The mill
will also make untapered box boards. Meanwhile, he continues to
enjoy owning, using and working on this machine that was such a
technological wonder in its heyday.
