Camenzind v. Freeland Furniture Co.

• Decision Date: 18 June 1918
• Citation: 89 Or. 158,174 P. 139
• Parties: CAMENZIND v. FREELAND FURNITURE CO.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

174 P. 139

89 Or. 158

CAMENZIND v. FREELAND FURNITURE CO.

Supreme Court of Oregon

June 18, 1918

Department 1.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County; Robert G. Morrow Judge.

Action by Frank Camenzind against the Freeland Furniture Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded for new trial.

The plaintiff, Frank Camenzind, suffered the loss of two fingers while working for the Freeland Furniture Company, a corporation, on a machine known as a "double spindle shaper." Camenzind sued the company and obtained a judgment for damages, and the defendant appealed.

A double spindle shaper is used in shaping table legs and other parts for furniture. The machine rests upon the floor and is about 3 1/2 feet in height. The top consists of a table through which there are two holes to and through each of which a perpendicular shaft extends from underneath the table. A spindle is attached to the end of each shaft. Knives are set in each spindle and are kept in position by being placed between two disks which are drawn tightly together by means of a nut. The cutting edge of each knife extends beyond the rim of the disks. The knives in the shaper are operated on the same principle as an ordinary planing machine, with this difference: The spindle on a shaper revolves on a vertical axis, while the spindle on a planer turns on a horizontal axis.

The spindles are, of course, above the surface of the table, and are about 2 feet apart. When the machine is being operated the spindles make between 4,000 and 5,000 revolutions per minute. The operator must apply the wood, upon which he is working, to the rapidly revolving knives so that they will cut with and not against the grain in the wood, and, in order to enable him easily to do this, the right-hand spindle revolves to the left, while the left-hand spindle turns to the right, so that he can use one or the other spindle upon the work in hand. There are different models for table legs and other parts of furniture shaped on the machine. There is a frame for nearly every different model, and consequently there are practically as many frames as there are models. The spindle is so arranged that it may be raised or lowered. Different patterns or models require different knives, and for that reason each machine is supplied with a variety of knives. When the work is changed from one to another model it is usually necessary for the operator to adjust the spindle by raising or lowering it so as to accommodate it to the stick to be shaped and also to remove the knives from the spindle and to replace them with other knives suited to the new model. The operator may find it necessary to readjust the spindle and knives many times during the course of a single day, and sometimes as often as nine and ten times in an hour.

A stick of wood is first sized on the band saw and is then taken to the shaper. The operator of the shaper places the stick of wood in the proper frame, shoves the frame containing the stick along the surface of the table until the stick comes in contact with the knives, and holds the stick against the knives until all that part of the stick which overhangs the frame is pared off. The spindle has a collar just below the knives, and, when the overhang of the stick is pared off, the frame comes in contact with this collar, preventing the knives from cutting any more off the stick, with the result that the stick upon which the operator has worked takes the same shape as the side of the frame holding the stick. Sometimes a stick has a snarl or curl in it with the grain of the wood running in one way on one side of the snarl and in the opposite way on the other side of the snarl. When working on a crossgrained stick, the operator must commence on the snarl or rough place, and in doing this there is always danger of deviating from the center of the snarl and causing the knives to cut against instead of with the grain; and, if a knife happens to cut against the grain, it will "grab" and "jerk" the stick and probably throw one of the hands of the operator against a spindle. If the shaft bearings beneath the table become worn and loose the shaft, and consequently the spindle, will rotate on a vacillating axis and wabble, and thus increase the danger of the knives grabbing the stick, and hence aggravate the risk incurred by the operator.

The plaintiff worked as a band-saw and shaper machine man for the defendant from January, 1916, until April 7, 1916, when he was injured while operating the shaper. The plaintiff had shaped 170 sticks on the day of the accident and had 30 more sticks of the same model to shape. He placed a cross-grained stick in the frame, and, when he commenced to work on the rough place or snarl in the stick, the knives cut against the grain, "grabbed" the stick, and threw plaintiff's left hand against one of the spindles causing the loss of two fingers.

The complaint alleges that the shaft bearings of one of the spindles became worn and loose and caused the spindle to wabble, and that, although the plaintiff notified the defendant of the defect, the latter failed to make the necessary repairs, and that because of this wabbling a knife in one of the spindles "became caught in a piece of wood with which the plaintiff was working, in a more unusual, uncommon, and greater extent than it would have if said machine had been in proper repair, which caused plaintiff's left hand to be suddenly drawn in and against the spindle"; and "said injury was also occasioned by the carelessness, negligence, and omissions of the defendant in failing to provide said shaper machine with * * * a shaper guard, which would render it impossible for such injury as plaintiff received to occur."

The defendant answered by denying that the machine was in a defective condition or that the company had failed to provide a shaper guard, and for affirmative defenses the defendant alleged: (1) That the injury was caused by the sole negligence of the plaintiff; and (2) that the plaintiff assumed the risk. The defense of sole negligence is predicated upon the theory that:

"The plaintiff negligently placed his hands in an improper and dangerous position while sawing the said piece of wood, in that he grasped the said wood with his hands on the side of the said piece closest to the knives of the said machine," instead of holding "said wood with his hands on the side thereof closest to himself and away from said knives."

The attempted defense of assumption of risk is introduced by an allegation that the machine was in proper order and also provided with all such devices and guards as were practicable to use in the operation of the shaping machine; and then follows an allegation that "the ordinary risks of operating the said machine in the said condition were open and obvious, known to the said plaintiff and appreciated by him," and that the plaintiff assumed whatever risk was incurred in the operation of the machine.

Harrison Allen, of Portland (Bert W. Henry and Griffith, Leiter & Allen, all of Portland, on the brief), for appellant. G. E. Hamaker, of Portland (Albert Streiff, of Plummer, Idaho, on the brief), for respondent.

HARRIS, J. (after stating the facts as above).

The complaint was framed and the cause was tried by the plaintiff on the theory that the defendant had failed to guard the machine as required by chapter 3, Laws 1911, which is commonly known as the Employers' Liability Act and was enacted in 1910 by the people in the exercise of the initiative. Section 1 of the act reads as follows:

"All owners, contractors, subcontractors, corporations or persons whatsoever, engaged in the construction, repairing, alteration, removal or painting of any building, bridge, viaduct, or other structure, or in the erection or operation of any machinery, or in the manufacture, transmission and use of electricity, or in the manufacture or use of any dangerous appliance or substance, shall see that all metal, wood, rope, glass, rubber, gutta-percha, or other material whatever, shall be carefully selected and inspected and tested so as to detect any defects, and all scaffolding, staging, falsework or other temporary structure shall be constructed to bear four times the maximum weight to be sustained by said structure, and such structure shall not at any time be overloaded or overcrowded, and all scaffolding, staging or other structure more than twenty feet from the ground or floor shall be secured from swaying and provided with a strong and efficient safety rail or other contrivance, so as to prevent any person from falling therefrom, and all dangerous machinery shall be securely covered and protected to the fullest extent that the proper operation of the machinery permits, and all shafts, wells, floor openings and similar places of danger shall be inclosed, and all machinery other than that operated by hand power shall, whenever necessary for the safety of persons employed in or about the same or for the safety of the general public, be provided with a system of communication by means of signals, so that at all times there may be prompt and efficient communication between the employés or other persons and the operator of the motive power, and in the transmission and use of electricity of a dangerous voltage full and complete insulation shall be provided at all points where the public or the employés of the owner, contractor or subcontractor transmitting or using said electricity are liable to come in contact with the wire, and dead wires shall not be mingled with live wires, nor strung upon the same support, and the arms or supports bearing live wires shall be especially designated by a color or other designation which is instantly apparent and live electrical wires

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