The greatest advance in sawmills in recent years, however, has been the steam feed, in which a very long steam cylinder was provided with a piston, whose long rod was directly attached to the saw carriage, and the latter moved back and forth by the admission of steam alternately to opposite sides of the piston. This type of feed, also known as the _shot gun_ feed, from the resemblance of the long cylinder to a gun barrel, was invented about twenty-five years ago, by De Witt C. Prescott, and is covered by his patent, No. 174,004, February 22, 1876, later improvements being shown in his patent, No. 360,972, April 12, 1887. The value of the steam feed was to increase the speed and efficiency of the saw, by expediting the movement of its carriage, as many as six boards per minute being cut by its aid from a log of average length. An example of a modern steam feed for sawmill carriages is seen in Fig. 242. With the modern development of the art the ease and rapidity of steam action have recommended it for use in most all of the work of the sawmill, and the direct application of steam pistons working in cylinders has been utilized for canting, kicking, flipping and rolling the logs, lifting the stock, taking away the boards, etc. [Illustration: FIG. 243.--METHOD OF SHAPING AND HOLDING LOG FOR QUARTER SAWING.] Beautifully finished furniture in quartered oak has always excited the pleasure, and piqued the curiosity of the uninformed as to how this result is obtained. Fig. 243 illustrates the method of sawing to produce this effect. The log is simply divided longitudinally into four quarters, and the quarter sections are then cut by the vertical plane of the saw at an oblique angle to the sawed sides, which brings to the surface of the boards the peculiar flecks or patches of the wood’s grain so much admired when finished and polished. [Illustration: FIG. 244.--AUTOMATIC BAND RIP SAW.]