The Story Of Cochrane
Furniture Company, Inc.
ducing stock lor the moulder
la by the utilisation at a gang
rip M«. However, vrtth Um
gang rip saw, there Is little
choice left In selecting wider
widths tram the wider boards.
For this reason. Hunter Rudi•111,
superintendent of the plant,
feels they are better off to
produce all dimension on the
straight line rip saws and to do
this, they have two Mattlson
404'a, and three Mattlson 302's.
In addition, they use a Die hi
Jointer on some stock. The
Die hi jointer is set In an area
by Itself with an automatic turning
device which permits
operation by one man. However,
the present production
calls for infrequent use of
the Dlehl Jointer as most stock
Is now Jointed on the Mattlson
straight line rip saws.
All moulding Is done on anew
Mattlson 2X9. This machine has
the latest equipment and Is powered
with a high-frequency
unit with over 7,200 RPM for
the cutting hrfads.
Two men are used to operate
this machine; the operator Is
also the set-up man and does his
own grinding and setting up of
the knives.
Carbide Tools Used
ltever In carbide tools wherever
practical. R Is admitted
that much water has gone over
the dam since carbide tools
were first introduced and less
spacing is now devoted to
lengthy runs between sharpening*
than were advocated In
the beginning. Instead, more
talk is heard of the quality
Improvements through carbide
tools. • is now proper to recommend
pulling the saw and cleaning
regularly, even If sharpening
Is not needed. More frequent
sharpening is even advised.
K is now known that
the duller a carbide tool becomes,
the longer it will take
to sharpen and the more expensive
carbide is ground away.
The management at Cochrane
Furniture Company'admit that
carbide is not economical on
all machines nor on all types
of work. For example, little is
gained by routing soft Poplar
with a carbide rooter bit. A
high BV* *»* «* U
cheaper, initially, a"1 cutsbettar
because It carries a ke*»er
cutting edge- Ob the other
hand, to rout* plastic laminates
with a high «Md bittoa'
of time. The hlgb *>eed ***1
dulls on the first P***Small
diameter bits Uppedwtth
carbide last only a short time
because of breakage. Liri®*"®
ameter bits, l/l" and V. are
satisfactory whan made by tipping
with carbide. For small
bus, It Is re commanded they
be produced of solid carbide.
Cabinet Sanding
And Assembly
At Cochrane Furniture Company,
the sanding has been developed
to a point where it constitutes
a small percentage of
the cost ot the machining operation.
Forexample.allflatwork
is drum sanded first on a Sole m
triple drum sander. To produce
a surface that will require the
minimum of polishing, Harvey
Rudlslll pointed out that they
were loading the drum sander
with 1/2, 60 garnet on the stock
removal drum, followed by a
1/0 on the second drum and finding
up wUh a 2/0 garnet on
the last drum. The flat stock Is
then sent to the sub-assembly
operation for parts such as
doors which require rimming
before they reach the final
polishing stage.
For polishing, all parts are
sent to a new Danckaert semiautomatic
polisher. This machine
has many of the features
of the fully automatic machine
with this exception: the stock is
placed on a hand-operated table
and moved manually under the
belt. The belt Is lowered Into
position by air actuated cylinders
and sands the lull length
of the panel. B requires only
the movement of the table in and
out of the operator to complete
a satisfactory Job. They
have found that a No. 4/10 belt
serves best on this operation.
For edge sanding, Hunter
Rudlslll said he has found
n»*Mng that will surpass garnet
for this operation. It not only
is the most economical type of
abrasive he has found, but it
also prevents burning and exI
cessive loading. For the edge
operation, they are
ad with^^uwtdolk! 10
Following the sandlag operation,
all part* ara brought to
the cabinet tnaemhly room for
assembling aod forwarding to
the finishing department.
A careful touching-up operation
la performed on all
caaaa In the vhlta prior to their
tor warding to tha finishing
room. Hara tha oparator removes
all dents, scratches, and
minor defects and Inspects the
caaa thoroughly. Pinal sanding
Is performed with a Jitterbug
type sandar using garnet abrasive
tor removing raised grain
and sanding out glue spots.
lb order to Insure the removal
of all glue, a dye Is added
to the polyvinyl type glue
used in the assembly operation.
This shows up through
the various operations following
the assembly and is
easily detected at the last
operation for its removal.
Finishing
All finishing operations are
performed on a rapid stand
conveyor. This is a semimobile
unit and permits the
operator to get the work pace.
The stains are applied in the
first booth. The first stain Is
an NCR stain which Is applied
with an NBC gun operating
with a gun pressure of 45
pounds. Since this is a quick
drying stain, it Is immediately
stained a second time with
a toner type stain before It
leaves the first booth. The
toner type stain is a pigmented
formulation which adds a
great deal of depth to the final
finish.
Following the application of
the toner, awashcoat is applied.
The washcoat consists of a
filuted sealer. The washcoat is
permitted to dry for 40 minutes
and then goes through a
sanding operation. The hand
sanding is done with a combination
of Jitterbugs and hand
operations. For both the sealer
sanding and the . ashcoat
sanding, a No. 7/0 garnet
finishing paper is used. Hunter
Rudisill explained that they had
found the garnet type abrasive
to be the most economical at the
operation.
The next operation following
the washcoat sanding Is the
application of the glaze. The
glaze is sprayed on the
wood and then handwlped by
skilled operators who are experienced
In leaving Just the
correct amount of glaze stain.
Tha glased parts arethenplac
■—
•din* high temper*ur« oven
tor drytoC- They remain to this
ovaa tor avprextai*ely 10
i»iMtes at 160 ikp*u F.
Two laeqpar ooats are applied
with a drying period betvnB<
Following the la*
lacquer coat, the parts are
placed oa a lift and lowered
to the second floor where they
are stored oversight tor complete
drying before rubbing,
polishing and parting.
New Plant Manufactures
Dining Kooa Chairs
Jerry Rucker, superintendent
at the chair plant, pointed out
that over 55,000 feet of floor
apace was available for chair
manufacturing. The newplai.t is
completely fire-proof, and is
capable of producing over 800
chairs per day. With some
modification in the addition of
critical machines, the plant
production can be doubled.
Automatic Turning
And Sanding
With the exception of the seat
panel, practically all parts
manufactured by the chair plant
must go through the turning
lathes. To perform these operations
economically and at a
rapid rate, a battery of lfattlson
No. 66 automatic lathes
were Installed. These lathes
are operated by the minimum
number of men and require only
that the hopper be kept loaded.
To Increase the efficiency of
the turning operation, it is a
practice of the chair plant to
run all squares through the
doweling machine to reduce
them to turnings before placing
them in the automatic lathe.
The automatic doweling operation
is very fast and turns
out a large volume of dowels
with the minimum amount of
labor. The saving is reflected
in the output of the automatic
lathe, In that little time is
required to round up the
squares.
Additional turning capacity
is obtained with a Hempel
back knife lathe. This lathe is
used for turning narrow diameter
rounds for chair backs
and spokes.
Garnet Used For
Sanding Chair Puts
A problem faced by every
manufacturer of dining room
chairs is that of sanding economically
the tapered turnings
produced on the Hempel back
knife lathe.
The Cochrane Chair Company
secured a Krltz double vertlde
belt sander to perform these
Jobs. The parts art
tire feeding device wfcichforc••
the work agala* the belt and
also gives it a rotation upon
Mia Impact at the bait. S has
been Sound th* two belts of the
una else produoa the baat
work. For this operation they
are using a Ho. 150 frit sire.
However, lor sanding the
parta-which are produced on the
Mattlson turning lathe, a Hash
automatic turning sender Is
used. This machine la loaded
with garnet abrasive using a
1/0 grit fcn the first loading
foUowed with a J/0 and^K
In this order.
One at the new sanding machines
that has been added to
the chair plant la that of a
Tlmesaver belt Sander tor
sanding curved parts. This machine
takes a narrow belt,
approximately IS " wide.
Jerry Rucker pointed out that
the best abrasive was garnet,
resin bonded on X-welght backing.
The garnet continuously rs>sharpens
Itself durlngthe sanding
operation and completely
eliminates burning, a major
factor in sanding the type of
work needed to produce dining
room chairs of Hard Maple and
Oak.
Bulk Storage Of Finishing
Material Has Cut Costs
When management started investigation
of ways to reducemanufacturing
material costs,
they took a sound approach in
looking into the finishing material
procurement problem.
The sound approach to finishing
material cost reduction has
been in the realm of procurement
through bulk storage, thus
reducing the cost to'the material
manufacturer and to the
furniture manufacturer in many
ways.
Actual studies conducted
show that a savings of 1 Of to
15? per gallon is possible for
lacquers, sealers, and wash
coats. Thus, for the concern using
1,000 gallons per week, this
Is approximately $^,000 per
year.
Studies of savings to be realized
from bulk storage of finishing
material show that the
differences In price per gallon
of bulk deliveries constitutes
enough to pay for
the storage tanks in less than
one year.
At the main plant, two storage
tanks were adequate to take
care of the finishing material
bought in volume. One tank Is
for sealer and one tank is for
pa* with agitators to Imp
solids and Opening agents In
suspension. The, storage tanks
st the Cochran* Furniture
Company ara equipped *1U> r»"
circulation pumps which recirculate
ths entire tank on a cycle
of approximately five minutes.
The same pumps are used
to. force the liquid Into the
pump house tor distribution to
the finishing room.
Situated near the bulk atorage
tanks la the pump houss where
various stains are mixed and
added to ths line and forced into
the flniahlng room by means of
air pumps.
Hunter Rudlsill, superintendent
of Plant #1, pointed out
that the pumps also contained
a return line so that the material
was continually In circulation.
This prevents undue
settling of material In the
lines. When the system was first
Installed, return lines were not
provided on some of the material.
ft was found that this material
lying In the lines for a
prolonged time settled out and
caused undue maintenance
problems. However, since the
Installation of the return circulation
system, this has been
completely eliminated.
The procedure is to draw
the lacquer and sealer from
the storage tanks Into the pump
house. The material Is pumped
into barrels and then lifted from
the barrels Into the lines which
carry It into the finishing room.
I
by adding the correct amount
Of thinner to easier drawn from
the bulk atorage tanks.
K 1a alao practical to mix
flalanine aputa at this point to
produce a finish with a lower
Mm Are Wide Spread
The Cochrane Furniture
Company la shipping to all
atates Eaat at the Mlsalsstppl
River and to some aa far West
aa the Pacific.
Salaa are handled by a staff
of aaleamen located In the principal
cities.
At the present time, most
shipments go by commercial
truck lines. However, aft
proximately 20% of the products
manufactured go by rail.
Since the prime products
consist of dining room furniture,
rodr'ng chair a, and coffee
tables, extreme care is taken
to Insure that the product arrives
at the customer's store
undamaged.
All case goods are shipped
with skids attached to give the
maximum protection to the legs
and prevent damaging corners
of cases In handling.
DECOUPAGE SKILLS
"I didn't realize that learning
the art of decoupage would
pay off so soon," Mrs. Arcella
Martin, Vance County, said, as
she held a pocket book she made
In the Extension-sponsored
workshop.
"One lady offered me $45
Capt. Joms Prtstritd
Brout Star Medal |
AM KHE, VIETNAM - Army
Captain Ernest M. Jones, Jr.,
son oi Mrs. Annie £ Sykes,
Littleton, N. C., recently received
the bronze star medip
near An Khe, Vietnam.
He was presented the bronze
star medal tor distinguishing
blmself through meritorious
services In connection with
military operations against
hostile forces in Vietnam. The
medal, adopted in 1944, recognizes
outstanding achievement.
Capt. Jones received the
award while assigned as commanding
officer of Company
D, 1st battalion of the 4th
infantry division's 12 infantry
near An Khe.
The Captain was last stationed
In Germany. His wife,
Marilyn, lives at 3509 Woodbury
Drive, Hopkins, S. C. He
was graduated in 1954 from
John Graham High School, Warrenton,
N. C. (
for the bag during the workshop,"
Mrs. Martin noted.
"Within two weeks, Ihadorders
for three more bags," she add- #
ed.
Mrs. Martin enjoys doing
de co up age and believes the
extra family income will help
her buy materials for her other
hobbles, Mrs. Esther Roscoe,
home economics extension
agent, relates.
1
Congratulations To
COCHRANE EASTERN
INCORPORATED
Of 3in. Wapt. 3*rnilur.
FOR LOCATING IN WARREN COUNTY
WE ARE HAPPY TO HAVE SUPPLIED THE CARPET
FOR THE COCHRANE EASTERN OFFICES.
BENTON FURNITURE COMPANY
PHONE 257-3476 * _. WARRENTON, N. C.
Wat trs Of Jin. Wapt. .3urnitur#
COUNTY
TO HAVE YOU!
t an I—■< ■» to fSO.OOO by Um t.B l.C NOR
LIN A, N. C.
WE EXTEND EVERY
SOOD WISH
,• '•
-TOCOCHRANE
EASTERN
INCORPORATED
■ v * o
- WaL Of Jin. W*pt. fjurn iturt
- ON ITS -
PAVING & BUILDING CONTRACTORS
•UILDINO CONSTRUCTION OP All KINDS
FREE ESTIMATES
HENDERSON ASPHALT & PAVING
DAY PHONE:
CORPORATION
WALDO ALEXANDER. 0*mt
N. C.
AFTER fcOO P. ft.
GE 8-3939