The Iron Age 1916-02-10: Vol 97 Iss 6

New York, February 10, 1916 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 97: No. 6 The Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen How, Utilizing German Experience, the United States May Provide a for War, Agriculture BY ROBERT G. The World War has brought home to all the nations with startling force the part that nitrogen plays in every department of life. It has shown how vitally necessary is a sufficiency of nitrogen in the waging of war, and no less has it made plain how much this element is needed in drawing from the soil the food for a hungering populace. In many of the industries nitrogen figures impor- tantly, and well may any country ask: What could we do if our ordinary source of supply were cut off? This supply Nature placed down on the slopes of the Andean foothills, and from the nitrate beds of Chile the world has been taking for forty-odd A Group of Birkeland-Eyde Arc Furnaces at Notodden, Nor- Way. It is in these that the nitrogen and oxygen are con- verted into nitric oxide years a continually increasing toll. Experts declare that these deposits of fixed nitrogen are steadily approaching exhaustion and that in all probability half a century hence South America will no longer able to furnish saltpeter. And even before this day arrives, the Chilean authorities will, undoubt- edly, not only restrict the exportation of native sodium nitrate but will mark the price higher year Y year. Unless the world can secure plenty of nitrogen in some suitable fixed form meanwhile, the cost of living will soar and many industries Will be hard put to it to carry on their activities. Some months ago (Sept. 30, 1915), THE IRON AGE published an article dealing with the properties and uses of military explosives. Every one of them Tor nitrogen in some form, i.e., saltpeter, am- onium nitrate or nitric acid. The bulk of these *micals has been produced from Chilean nitrate. n brief, guns would be silenced; bursting shell Nitric Acid Supply and Industrial Arts SKERRETT would be impotent; land and submarine mines would be dead; and the dire torpedo would be with- out its devastating sting but for the powders and bursting charges made possible by nitrogen in some form. Now we know why our naval and military authorities have urged Congress to give them the funds for creating a reserve supply of Chilean nitrate. For the army, Brig.-Gen. William M. Crozier has asked for a store of 65,000,000 Ib. of the material. It is not generally known, but at the outbreak of war Germany had within her boundaries some- thing like 1,300,000,000 Ib.—650,000 tons—of sod- Tops of Granite Towers Used in the Arc Process at Notodden The piping distributes the spray, which falls upon the as- cending gas ium nitrate from South America, most of which had been imported primarily for the manufacture of fertilizers. But with her trade routes closed to her, Germany quickly realized that she could not get any more saltpeter from Chile, and all of the supply at home was immediately commandeered for military purposes. Her use of explosives to-day, estimated upon the basis of current prices here, is at the rate of $1,000,000 every 24 hr. Even with an initial stock of nitrate worth $30,000,000 Ger- many could not have kept up the struggle as she has without more nitrogen. With imports cut off, Ger- many’s scientists have developed efficient methods for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, and under the stress of conflict an infant industry has at- tained the proportions of maturity. Before the first of August of 1914, Germany had three electrochemical establishments engaged in the fixation of free or atmospheric nitrogen, 359 Bae ers te ar 360 but the total output still left it necessary for the empire to draw from Chile hundreds of thousands of tons of sodium nitrate annually. Indeed, Ger- many was by long odds Chile’s biggest customer. She needed more than other nations because her lands are not particularly fertile and it has been by artificial stimulation of her soil that she has been able to feed her relatively dense population. What she did in a comparatively modest way in drawing upon the atmosphere for nitrogen before the begin- ning of hostilities, she has had to increase enor- mously since, and what Germany has done is of the utmost significance to us, because naval experts frankly declare that we could not keep the trade routes to Chile clear in time of war. Therefore, we should not count upon the nitrate beds there. In other words, we must find means within our own gates to draw from the air and fix enough nitrogen for manifold purposes and enormous demands. The air is an inexhaustible storehouse of nitro- gen. Measured by volume, 78 per cent of our en- veloping atmosphere is nitrogen, and upon every Metal Cars Filled With Calcium Carbide as It Issues from the Electric Furnaces square yard of the earth’s surface there rests a column of air containing 5.8 tons of nitrogen in the free elementary state. Could all of the nitro- gen in the atmosphere above one square mile of land, a matter of 20,000,000 tons, be extracted and “fixed,”’ it would suffice the world’s needs for half a century! By the world’s needs, are meant civil- ization’s requirements in agriculture and manufac- turing industries. This limitation must be borne in mind, because Nature has a way of restoring to the soil the nitrogen needed to sustain normal vegetation but by no means enough to meet the hunger of exhausting crops raised season after season upon the same ground. By electric action in the air 100,000,000 tons of combined nitrogen, in the form of nitric acid and nitrates, are fixed and then restored to the soil by descending rains. ARC PROCESS PRACTISED IN SCANDINAVIA This has been the key for the arc process which is to-day quite extensively employed in Norway and Sweden and upon the slopes of the Alps in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. The intense heat of the arc simulates the electric action of the sky, and brings about a union between the molecules of oxygen and the molecules of nitrogen where ordinarily they are neighbors and not kin. That THE IRON AGE February 1916 is to say, in the presence of a temperatur: deg. Fahr., one molecule of oxygen unites y molecule of nitrogen and together form ty cules of nitric oxide, a colorless gas. From : tric furnace the nitric oxide passes at a | ture of 1382 deg. Fahr. into that part of the ap. paratus where, at a temperature of 1148 deg. Fahr. it unites readily with free oxygen, and forms nitro. gen peroxide, a brown gas. The nitrogen peroxide is now ready to undergo its final change into nitric acid—the immediate aim of the arc process. By means of powerful ventilators the nitrogen peroxide is drawn from the oxidation chambers into great absorption towers of Norwegian granite. Such are the towers at Notodden, Norway, where the well-known Birkeland-Eyde process is em. ployed. These towers are filled with fragments of quartz and at the top of a spraying arrangement which makes it possible to imitate falling rain. The gas enters each tower from the bottom and actually passes through three of them before the cycle is completed. The spray that falls ranges from fresh water to more or less dilute nitric acid, depend- ing upon the tower, and as it trickles downward over the quartz it offers a vast surface of liquid for the absorption of the nitric vapors from the ascending gas. By repeating these processes the nitric acid is gradually concentrated until it has a strength of 50 per cent. By means of the Paul- ing are process a higher per- centage of nitration is obtain- able; in fact, 98 per cent nitric acid can be secured by this method. For a number of im- portant purposes, such as the manufacture of nitroglycerin, an acid of over 90 per cent is required, while for other pur- poses an acid of at least 60 per cent is needed. Of course, heat is required for this con- centration, and heat means an outlay in energy. Dr. Thomas H. Norton of the Department of Commerce, who visited the Scandinavian plants engaged in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, has said: “I was informed by the engineers 0 charge of the Norwegian factories that only 3 per cent of the heat evolved by the electric current passing through a furnace is exerted in effecting the chemical combination (the combination of the nitrogen and oxygen). Of the other 97 per cent, 1” the case of the Schoenherr furnace, 40 per cent }5 absorbed by the water employed to cool the upper part of the reaction tube, 17 per cent is lost by ra¢! ation, 30 per cent is recovered in the boilers trav ersed by the gas current, and 10 per cent is sur rendered to the cooling tube between the boilers an¢ the oxidation chamber.” This makes it evident that only where 4 cheap source of power prevails is it possible to manufac ture nitric acid direct by the arc process. In Scal- dinavia the cost per horse-power-year ranges from $1.96 to $2.94 at favored places. In Germany there is no such cheap water power, but just the sam Germany has found a way to fix atmospheric nitro- gen upon a cost basis that bids fair to make her in- dependent of Chile in the course of a decade. In- deed, her experts declare that she will be !” this position by 1922. 0432 1 one mole. ne elec. rnneare empera- uary 10, 1916 Pry 4 OMBINING FREE NITROGEN WITH CARBIDE k in the nineties Doctors Frank and Caro, nt nent German chemists, were engaged in the facture of cyanides, then of increasing import- n the extraction of gold from low-grade ores. ised barium in the preparation of their car- ut the Boer War interrupted mining in South Africa and, incidentally, caused a slump in the price anides. The problem was to find a cheaper irbide which, in the presence of nitrogen, could be hanged into cyanide. In the course of their experi- ments, the company, working under the Frank and Caro patent, tried calcium carbide, being produced at the time for the generation of acetylene gas. This carbide, when heated in an electric oven in the pres- ence of nitrogen, was not transformed into cyanide, but, instead, was changed into an entirely new prod- calcium cyanamid—which had _ distinctive nroperties of its own, thanks to the stored or fixed gen carried by the modified carbide. In 1901, one of Dr. Frank’s co-workers, H. Freudenberg, established the fact that calcium cyanamid could be used as a fertilizer, and the original cyanide industry of dest promise had opened ip for it in the making of cyanamid an enormous field of usefulness in turning out nitrogenous fertilizer. The raw materials needful are coke and lime and nitro- gen extracted from the air, and, according to competent authorities, the cyanamid process is a good deal more economical than the fixation of nitrogen by the are proc- ess. To quote Dr. Norton again: “At present 1 kw.-hr. yields 17 grams of nitrogen in the form of nitric acid by the inion of atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen under the most favorable technical condi- tions; it yields 70 g. in the form of calcium cyanamid from nitrogen, coal and lime.” And we shall see presently that this cyanamid can be made to yield ammonia and the ammonia can be turned into nitric acid, if the latter be desired, at a lower ultimate cost than the same acid can be produced primarily by the electric are. This is because the consumption of energy is a lower one in the making of cyanamid, nd the greatest amount of current is needed only ior the production of the initial calcium carbide. lhe calcium carbide, made by fusing coke and in an electric furnace, is then ground fine igh to pass through a 100-mesh screen. This in- reases the surface for the absorption of nitrogen. ne next raw material is pure nitrogen, and at » American Cyanamid Company’s plant, on the nadian side at Niagara Falls, this is obtained by of liquid air machines and recourse to frac- distillation. The establishment in question the biggest liquid air plant in operation any- ‘, and is able to turn out 2,000,000 cu. ft. of tically pure nitrogen daily. The liquid air ma- ery supplants the older method of passing air ‘ated copper for the isolation of nitrogen. At nething like 300 deg. below zero the liquid \r gives off its nitrogen and holds in solution the er oxygen. Thus the nitrogen is caught and separated and made ready to be fed to the electric THE IRON AGE 361 ovens in which is placed the ground calcium carbide. There are whole batteries of electric ovens, each having a capacity of 44 to 2% tons of carbide. At the proper temperature, somewhere below 2400 deg. Fahr., the ground carbide is baked and, at the same time, is induced to absorb the nitrogen. This opera- tion covers a period of 30 to 40 hr. At the end of that time the product of the ovens is a hard black cake, analyzing 22 per cent nitrogen and about 1 per cent un-nitrified carbide. In the trade, this material is called lime nitrogen, and is next finally ground and is ready to be used either for fertilizer or to be employed in the manufacture of ammonia and thence into nitric acid. If it is to be used for agricultural purposes the material is partly hydrated to insure the decomposition of its small percentage of carbide, next it is oiled to make it dustless and then stored in bulk or packed ready for shipment to be mixed in fertilizing compounds. To make the calcium cyanamid give up all of its nitrogen in the form of ammonia, it has only to be treated with superheated steam. If desired, the liberated ammonia may be absorbed in sulphuric Electric Furnaces at the American Cyanamid Plant. Ground carbide and pure ni- trogen are brought together and calcium cyanamid formed acid, and this provides a very pure ammonium sul- phate which is an ideal ingredient for plant foods. The ammonia can,also be transformed into am- monium nitrate. This is a prime constituent in the manufacture of certain blasting powders or com- pounds, especially of the so-called lifting explosive types. These constitute the greater part of the charges used in mines and countermines and other explosives employed in trench warfare by the Euro- pean belligerents. It is the cyanamid process that Germany has turned to. Lacking the water power of Norway, Germany has been able to turn to her inexhaustible deposits of brown coal or lignite, and with this fuel, used mainly at the pit mouth, she has found it practicable to generate through steam the electrical energy required first in the making of calcium car- bide and then for the conversion of that carbide, in the presence of nitrogen, into calcium cyana- mid through the agency of the electric oven. De- spite the fact that her unit of energy costs her considerably more than that furnished by the waters of Scandinavia, still the ultimate product by the arc process and using water power costs more than that turned out by the cyanamid process where coal is the initial source of energy. Pal mF Vel Tae iv 362 THE IRON AGE February 1 GOVERNMENT MUST FOSTER CYANAMID INDUSTRY Cyanamid can be manufactured anywhere within our boundaries where there is water power that can be developed cheaply and which can be reached by rail. Again, it is not unlikely that certain of our coal fields might furnish power on the spot at low enough price to warrant placing plants there. This might be practicable by coking the coal and using the gases for the operation of prime movers and the coke for the making of calcium carbide. At the outset we could not expect to compete with Chilean nitrate. However, the Government must come to the rescue of the industry, no matter what the proc- ess, and at least make it possible for manufacturers to have available an abundance of cheap water power. For those interested in initial outlays, it is said that there is no comparison between the first cost of a cyanamid plant and an arc plant, if power de- velopment be included. The cyanamid plant, per unit of nitrogen fixed, calls for an investment of something like one-fourth that required in the case of the arc process. Inasmuch as electrical power is relatively expensive in the United States, the cyana- mid process would seem to be the solution of the economic problem of providing us with a supply of nitric acid as well as with nitrogenous fertilizers if Chilean saltpeter be denied us. The stress of war has compelled Germany to develop her in- ternal resources and to create for their protection an imperial nitrogen monopoly. There is a lesson for us in this, because the demands for nitrogenous products will steadily increase and be vast even in time of peace. We must provide against the future that holds the exhaustion of the Chilean beds of sodium nitrate. Ree a ga von) Cyanamid can be transformed into ure import annually quite $50,000 worth of th use in one industry alone, the making of ce! Cyanamid can be converted into dicyanami ply by treating it with hot water. This . used as a deterrent in explosives and tends to lower the development of heat, thereby lessening the wear and tear upon the rifling of weapons. Cyanamid has been made to produce creatine, and in this we see the promise of the synthetic production of foods. For the manufacture of certain synthetic medicines and dyes and photographic chemicals from coa} tar the nitric acid that can be furnished by cyanamid will supplant that obtained through the treatment of Chilean saltpeter. To the metallurgical industry, however, cyanamid has already proved extremely effective as a case hardening material—used under the name carbonite. There is a crude form of cyanide, derived from cyanamid and known as sur- ronide, which may also be used as a case hardening material, though not exactly in the same way as pure cyanide is employed. Cyanide and ferro- cyanides are obtained cheaply from surronide, and both of these are much in demand abroad in the case hardening industry. American enterprise has created a plant at Nitrolee, S. C., where nitric acid is produced by the are process and after the Pauling patents. Power is furnished by hydroelectric energy, and the prod- uct is on the market to-day. But even with the advantage of water power it would be commercially impracticable to make acid for sale at the normal price of 4 cents and less. To-day, nitric acid is selling at 6 cents per pound, and this fact alone gives the arc process a chance here. RR nme eo ieee Nitric Acid Plant of a Subsidiary of the Southern Power Company, at Nitrolee, S. C. The arc process for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is employed Barb Wire Exports at New Record Rates Exports of barb wire from this country continue at an enormous rate, the average for August, Septem- ber and October, 1915, being 24,448 gross tons per month, or at the rate of 293,336 tons per year. The comparative exports are as follows: Gross Gross Tons Tons per-Month Ames, - 191Gb... wccscasvcrsvcssesse 20,597 } September, 1915 32,827 October, 1915 19,920 Ten months ended Oct. 31, 1915.. 192,806 19,280 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1915.. 147,591 12,299 Fiscal year ended June 30, 1912.. 103,100 8,600 24,448 The present monthly rate of exports is therefore about three times that of the fiscal year 1912. Total exports of barb and all other wire are also expanding, the average for August, September and October, 1910, being 45,498 tons per month and to Nov. 1, 1919, 377,742 tons, or 37,774 tons per month. These figures compare with 244,077 tons for the fiscal year 1912, or 20,340 tons per month, which was the previous record. The Midvale Steel Company has opened an office at Cleveland, Ohio, at 1217 Swetland Building, for the sale of its bar steel products in the Cleveland district. The company has leased a warehouse on Kinsman Road and the Nickel Plate track providing about 10,000 sq. ft. . floor space in which it will carry a stock of bar steel. S. W. Norwood, who has been connected with the com pany for a number of years, and was until recently located in San Francisco, is manager of the Clevelan office. Fel ry 10, 1916 Bench Filing and Hack Saw Machine a substitute for hand filing and drill work, required in making dies and other particular ; e work, the Extensive Mfg. Company, 90 " Street, New York City, has placed on the a a combination bench filing and metal hack chine. While the machine is designed pri- A Bench Filing and Hack Saw Machine in Which the File Is Supported by a Roll under the Table That Is Lever marily for die work, it can also be used for filing gages and templates, light slotting, finishing cutlery, trimming sprues and gates from castings and fins from drop forgings and for finishing parts for guns, typewriters, sewing machines, lighting fixtures, etc. One of the points upon which special emphasis is laid is that the line to which work is being done is not hidden as the cutting is done on the down stroke and the line is under the eye of the operator instead f being at the side as in hand filing. The machine is designed so that when the base s bolted to the top of a work bench practically the full diameter of the table overhangs the edge and the driving shaft is at the top of the machine, thus it is pointed out keeping the bench free from belts and countershafts. It is possible to adjust the table either to the right or left, or forward or back- ward to provide for practically any angle, this adjustment being controlled by a single nut, with graduated plates on the table supports showing the angle to which the table is adjusted at a glance. lt is also possible to adjust the elevation of the ble for different lengths of files or changes in the roke. A handle bolted to the base of the machine, wn in the right portion of the accompanying aving, and attached to the work table support s the operator by pushing the handle back- to lower the table and remove the work from machine without changing the position of the r the roller guiding it. driving shaft at the top of the machine either the file or the saw in a vertical posi- he cutting being acomplished on the down while the return is accomplished at a higher speed. In this way, it is emphasized, the used in hand filing are exactly imitated s possible to secure a greater number of cuts nute without increasing the surface cutting en THE IRON AGE 363 speed of the file beyond the point of endurance. The range of stroke can be varied from 0 to 6 in. by loosening the nut on the crankpin and moving the latter toward or away from the center of the disk on the end of the driving shaft. The connect- ing rod is pivoted on the frame of the machine and also has a pivot connection with the top of the saw frame. The file guide roller, also shown in the SS ad Adjusted by a right portion of the engraving, is made of soft steel and has a right and left screw to provide an adjust- ment for accommodating different thicknesses and shapes of files. When a saw is employed a guide roller of hardened steel is substituted. For use when small circles are being filed or sawed, or when the saw has a tendency to lift the work on the return stroke, a holddown, consisting of a steel finger projecting in front of the file, is employed. This can be attached to any part of the work table edge and is adjustable for any thickness of work up to 3 in. Two of these attachments are provided for each machine, and when sawing is being done it is recommended that one be adjusted close to each side of the saw on a line with the front edge of the saw teeth. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that it is not necessary to remove the attach- ment when work is being placed on or taken from the table. The punch filing attachment, shown at the left of the engraving, is designed for fitting work on blanking punches when they are being filed to fit a die. It consists of an auxiliary guide roller sup- ported by an adjustable bracket clamped to the edge of the table as shown. When this attachment is being used it is recommended that the table be adjusted very low and a 5-in. file used. The stroke should be made as long as possible without having the file entirely clear of the work on the return stroke. In use a die has been made on this machine in 18 min., which when made in the old way of drilling out required 50 min. The Strong, Carlisle & Hammond Company, Cleve- land, Ohio, machinery dealer and manufacturer, recently distributed among its 250 employees a bonus of 5 per cent of their year’s salary. 364 A Combination Ball and Roller Bearing The George Automatic Roller Bearing Company, Winton Place, Cincinnati, Ohio, has placed on the market a roller bearing combining new features of construction. These include the use of balls and New Type of Bearing Employing Taper Rollers Running on Steel Balls with the Cover Removed to Show the Arrangement rollers to take care automatically of variations in the diameter of the rollers due to unavoidable inac- curacies consistent with manufacture on a com- mercial basis. It is described as a roller bearing of a type capable of carrying 50 per cent of end thrust in which the rollers are kept in alignment by ball separators at each end of the rollers. A general view of the bearing, which will bring out the basic principles of its construction, is pre- sented in the accompanying halftone. The balls are placed in the bearing in two rows to decrease the frictional resistance of the bearing and to allow for the automatic adjustment of the rollers. It is claimed that concentricity of the bearing itself as well as of the bearing upon its mounting and in its housing is secured without compelling very close and necessarily expensive limits in machining. Pro- vision has been made for mounting and dismounting the bearing with facility, so that it may be taken SS NS A Sectional Elevation of a Lineshaft Hanger Equipped with Two of These Bearings apart for inspection and cleaning without the use of tools or the distortion of any parts. The basic principles of the taper roller bearing are not new, but where this bearing differs from known types of taper roller bearings, it is pointed out, is in the automatic adjustment of each indi- vidual roller which is accomplished by the lateral freedom of each roller controlled by the balls at each end of it, this being accomplished in this way: THE IRON AGE February 10), 191¢ When the bearings are mounted and tight:neq jy place there is a wedging action on the rollers. but as soon as the bearing has made a half tir) the large rollers tend to creep toward the large end of the bearing, owing to the pressure upon then). thus forcing the balls in contact further apar: The small rollers are thereby forced toward the ; naller end of the bearing until the working diameters of all the rollers at any section of the cup and cone are equal. All roller or ball bearings require sep- arating vehicle or medium to prevent the rollers or balls coming in contact, which produces additiona| friction. In this particular bearing balls are yseq for this purpose. Free Lectures in New York on Military Engineering A course of seven lectures on military engineering is to be given at the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York City, under the auspices of a committee representing four national engineering societies. The lectures will be given on Monday evenings consecutively, beginning Feb. 14, under the general direction of Major-Gen. Leonard Wood. While the lectures have been arranged for the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American In- stitute of Mining Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the lectures are open to all engi- neers whether they are members of the societies men- tioned or not. It is probable that in any special camp which may be formed this summer, like that at Plattsburg, N. Y., last year, an engineer battalion may be formed, as the nucleus of an engineer reserve. This movement is inde- pendent of the lecture course, though the latter has been conceived with the idea that it would help preparing civilian engineers in case the necessity should arise for immediate construction of coast and other defenses. The list of lectures is as follows: Feb. 14: Organization and duties of engineers in war, and what engineers in civil life will be called upon to do in the defense of the United States, by Capt. Thomas M. Robins, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Feb. 21: The service of reconnaissance, including survey- ing, mapping and sketching, photography and map produc- tion, by Capt. Richard T. Coiner, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Feb. 28: Field fortifications, sieges and demolitions, by Captain Robins. March 6: Seacoast defenses and battle field illuminations, by Capt. Edward D. Ardery, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. March 13: The construction, maintenance and repair of roads, bridges and ferries; the selection and preparation of fords, by Captain Robins. March 20: The selection, laying out and preparation of camps and cantonments; the service of general construction; and the special services, including all public work of an engineering nature which may be required in a territory under military control, by Captain Coiner. ; March 27: The construction, maintenance and operation of railways under military control, and the construction and operation of armored trains, by Captain Robins. For the first three days of last week an increase of 50 per cent in applications for first naturalization papers, as compared with normal business, was reported by the authorities in Detroit. The announcement » 12,300 employees of the Packard Motor Car Company that promotion in that organization will be given only to American citizens or to those who have signifie their intention of becoming citizens was posted Monday, Jan. 31. A feeling in sympathy with the announce ment is reported in other shops at Detroit, and accord- ing to foremen at the Packard works the policy has been generally approved by the workmen. There !s "° intention to discharge any one who is not a citizen. After being closed for several years, the Perry forge, Marysville, Perry County, Pa., of which Seidel —_ are proprietors, resumes operations this week. The product is charcoal-iron blooms for boiler tubes. Vorm-Driven Electric Shop Truck torage battery truck with a worm and worm ‘ive for which an operating cost not to ex- i. an hour, excluding the wages of the oper- claimed is manufactured by the Buda Com- Railway Exchange Building, Chicago, in a r of types. These range from the warehouse dapted to the carrying of loads on its own de nd having a two-wheel steer to the tractor with a four-wheel steer which may be used for pushing and hauling. They include an elevating truck, which, in combination with a false deck or g platform, facilitates the transfer of mate- als of such weight as would otherwise involve a heavy labor cost for their handling. The following table gives the principal dimen- sions and specifications for the truck shown, and so for one having a higher platform which is fixed position : Tractor Truck Rated capacity, lb 3,000 4,000 -all length, ft & 8 -all width, in..... sk a 40% 40 Width of platform, ft ae ‘ 5 7 Wheeipeee. 6: + +c caceccen 52 44 of front wheels, in. ‘ 31 31}, ge of rear wheels, in. a 34 33 Height over deck, in.. Dw haces a8 20% 10% TUPRing TH Wlacr daw eho oa been 6 7 Weigitl, Tei iicekiud cs dd eanaeeweenen 2,200 2,060 The design of the truck features the use of a rm drive, the Timken-David Brown worm and gear being used in conjunction with a full ting rear axle on all types. The wheels also are nted in roller bearings. In the design of frame xles, materials and construction are employed th a view to service under heavy loading, and to te maximum traction, especially where in- es are to be encountered, the wheels are fitted solid rubber tires. For the operation of the a control has been devised in which the ilation of the controller, circuit breaker and are interlocked. The operator stands upon ded platform, one side of which is fixed, the half being a hinged pedal actuated against a When the operator’s foot depresses this to a horizontal position, it releases the brake ‘same time completing the electrical connection en the storage battery and the motor. Con- if the operator’s foot is removed or the is permitted to rise, the circuit is broken and ary 10, 1916 THE IRON AGE 365 the brake applied, slowly or sharply as the case may be. Similarly the controller lever, which is fitted with equalizing springs, is automatically returned to a neutral position as soon as the operator releases it. Three speeds in either direction ranging from 1 to 7 miles per hour are provided for both types of truck. Tests of Coal Breaker Conveyors Some data on the amount of power required to drive the conveyors are contained in a paper to be presented at the February meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York, covering tests made on A Worm-Driven Storage Battery Elevating Truck for Shop Use Employed 1 Tractor various electric motor-driven equipments used in the mining and the preparation for the market of anthra- cite coal. The conveyor lines were of the ordinary single chain flight type and were driven by motors ranging from 10 to 50 hp. in capacity, with the excep tion of main and refuse conveyors, which were of the mono-bar and double chain types respectively, and were driven by a 150 and a 20 hp. motor, respectively. The tests indicated that the load was fairly constant and the friction load very high. The figures given in the following table are for a day’s run of 9 hr.: Motor Scraper L Conveyor * - as w S = N 5 . = Ti -<¢ Z < nh 5 Main 150 514 7.0 124 12 48 0 , 81 Surface 50 100 11 79° : 4°, 18 ‘ 9 Rock 20° 900 3 114 7 0 80 Tailings 10* 900 9 42 19 27 ye , 190 Cross 10* 900 29 64 1° 27 - 114 Refuse 207 100 3.2 @5 ; 27 7° 4 a 114 *Equipped with back gears The authors of the paper are H. M. Warren, A. S. Biesecker and E. J. Powell, Scranton, Pa. At the annual meeting of the Lunkenheimer Com pany, Cincinnati, Ohio, held Jan. 31, the fullowing officers were re-elected: President, Edmund F. Lunken; vice-ptesident, E. T. Lunken; second vice-president, Frederick Schaefer; secretary, David C. Jones. William H. Muench, who has been with the company for nearly 30 years, tendered his resignation as treasurer, as he has decided to retire temporarily from business. The office of the treasurer was consolidated with the secre- taryship, Mr. Jones becoming secretary and treasurer. Paying Bonuses to Indirect Labor Production and Routing Methods and Way of Rewarding Effort at Plant of Northway Motor & Mfg. Company, Detroit Some very interesting features are found in the shop management system in use at the plant of the Northway Motor & Mfg. Company, Detroit, Mich., builder of automobile motors. These include the bonus method of wage payment and the planning and routing systems. The entire system was worked out in the plant and it has been given a practical test of four years of operation. At first the bonus method of payment met with consider- able opposition from the men, but it is stated that this opposition long since disappeared and that BONUS TABLE-PRODUCTIVE WORKERS. if SNPAT ASEH ES = Soreneaoce ene 116.0 117.2 118.4 119.6 120.8 122.0 123.2 124.4 125.6 126.8 128.0 129.2 130.4 131.6 132.8 134.0 135.2 136.4 137.6 138.8 140. Table for Determining the Amount of Bonus Earned by Direct Labor it is now very difficult to get a man to work on a straight day rate. In working out the bonus system it was the aim of the company to arrange one that would be en- tirely fair to the men. Under the system as per- fected a man is guaranteed his day rate which is the same as the ruling rate paid for similar work by Detroit plants operated strictly on a day rate basis. In addition the man is paid for his individ- DIMENSIONS FOR SmOoP CIMENSIONS PURCHASED ual efforts and in proportion to the results of those efforts, so that he not only is sure of his regular day’s pay but always has an incentive to increase his output. An unusual feature of the system is that bonuses are paid to all indirect labor as wel as to the direct labor, different methods necessarily being required to determine the bonus to be paid the former. The planning and routing system provides a simple way for laying out work and routing mate- rial through the shop. All planning is done in the production office, shop planning being eliminated in this system. All orders are sent to the shop in the order in which the work is to be done. Among the merits claimed for the system of planning and routing is that it simplifies manufacturing meth- ods, eliminates shortages as well as over-produc- tion of certain parts, the progress of work in the shop on any particular part is known at all times and costs are easily determined. In establishing a bonus system for direct labor the company went on the theory, maintained by many employers of labor, that the average work- man on a straight pay basis develops only 75 per cent efficiency. Using this as a basis a bonus schedule was prepared allowing the men a bonus on an efficiency of 75 per cent and over, the bonus increasing at the same rate as the increase in effi- ciency. The bonus schedule is so arranged that the cost is constant after 100 per cent efficiency but increases in the same proportion as the man’s efficiency decreases between the two points of 75 and 100 per cent efficiency. The company, there- fore, suffers a loss on every employee below 100 per cent in efficiency because of the increased cost of production. However, the limit of efficiency is set at 85 per cent and if a man shows only that eff- ciency or less he is either not retained or is placed in another department where he may prove to be a more capable workman. As an example of the way the system works out take a man who is 100 per cent efficient. The pre- determined standard time for a certain operation as arrived at by time studies is 0.5 hr. per piece. A man takes 10 hr. for doing 20 pieces, for which he is paid 30c. an hr. or a day rate of $3. A refer- ence to the bonus table shows that he is entitled to a 20 per cent bonus in addition to the daily rate or $3.60 for his day’s work. Suppose that another man does the same work in 8 hr. In this case by dividing the standard number of hours, which is ten for the twenty pieces, by his actual time or 8 hr., his efficiency is shown to be 125 per cent. CELIVERY SPECIFICATIONS — 4 ¥ “ce |«en jane The Planning Department Indicates the Amount of Stock Required to Fill Orders for a Certain Part 366 February 10, 1916 As the hour rate is constant his straight pay is re- duced from $3 to $2.40, but the increased bonus inting to 50 per cent for 125 per cent efficiency licated by the bonus schedule brings his total ip to $3.60. These examples show that the per piece to the company in each case is the . but that the man who is 125 per cent effi- earns the same in 8 hr. as the 100 per cent efficient man does in 10 hr. Carrying the same example a little further shows how the bonus sys- tem works out to the company’s loss if a man is under 100 per cent efficient. If it takes another man 12 hr. for completing the twenty pieces for which the sandard time is 10 hr. he is 83.3 per cent efficient and is paid his hourly rate amounting to $3.60 plus a 5.8 per cent bonus, or $3.81 in all, as compared with $3.60 paid the two men who were not under 100 per cent efficient. Bonuses are computed on a man’s work during a pay period of one-half month and in this way his average efficiency is made the basis for pay- ment. The standard time for the work he does may be 10 hr. on Monday, 12 on Tuesday, 9 on Wednesday, 11 on Thursday, 10 on Friday and 6 on Saturday. In that case he does in a 55-hr. week work for which 58 hr. standard time is al- | THE IRON AGE 367 c > ant 20 A Stock Adjustment Record Is Made Out for Each Shows the Number of Pieces That Have Not Been Regular Production Part and Used in during which explanations by means of examples are made regarding the methods of computing the earnings from the bonus schedule, and explana- tions are given also relating to such forms as the material and production schedules and production check sheet referred to below, it being the purpose to keep the men as familiar with the system as possible. Each foreman is kept informed as to the REPORT ON MATERIAL AND PRODUCTION SCHEDULE COPY TO PART NO FINISHING STORES The Weekly Report on Material and Production Schedule Goes to Various Shop Heads and Shows the Scheduled Ary lowed and he figures out 1.05 per cent efficient for the week. He earns in standard pay at 30c. per hour $16.50 and a bonus of 26 per cent, as shown by the bonus table or an actual bonus of $4.29 and a total pay of $20.79. If during the week of 55 hr. his work represents only 55 standard hours he is 100 per cent efficient and earns a bonus of $3.30 or $19.80 in all. About 92 per cent of the direct labor in the plant is on the bonus system, most of the straight day work being on new operations for which there has not been time to determine standard hours by time studies. This makes it necessary for the men to work some of the time on straight hour wages and the rest of the time under the bonus system. In that case the same method is followed in com- puting the bonus as would be were a man doing nothing but bonus work. Suppose in a 55-hr. week a man is on straight pay work 8 hr. and ‘7 hr. on bonus work, and in that 47 hr. does work for which 52 standard hr. are allowed. In ‘hat ease he has developed an efficiency of 110.6 per on his bonus work, which entitles him to a s of 33.2 per cent, or $4.68 in addition to his rate for the 55 hr. making the time studies the time actually al- owed for an operation is the time that the studies a good man should require for doing rk under normal conditions. Meetings of nt employees are held two evenings a week, = . nounts of Raw Material. Stock to be Machined and Finished Parts in the Stockroom and Those Actually Received efficiency of his men by having the efficiency record of each employee of his department posted in his office by the planning office. Every indirect labor employee from the assist- ant general manager down to and including the office help comes under a bonus schedule. The bonus table for these employees is the same as that for direct labor employees when it is based on an efficiency of 75 to 100 per cent, but for over 100 per cent efficiency the bonus does not increase so rapidly as it does for indirect labor employees. Bonus schedules for indirect labor employees are based on the direct labor of the plant and the pay roll of the department interested. A certain fixed allowance is made to the department interested for every $100 of direct labor in the plant. For reach- ing this allowance a bonus is paid based on an arbi- trary amount, this arbitrary amount usually be- ing the employees’ wages. For example, if the planning department is made an allowance of $5 for every $100 of direct labor in the plant and the expense of the department is actually the amount of the allowance, employees of the department are paid a bonus of 20 per cent in addition to their salaries, this percentage of bonus being allowed under the bonus schedule for 100 per cent effi- ciency. Many of the indirect labor employees, par- ticularly those higher up, are allowed bonuses under several schedules. The general foreman of a department is placed on four schedules. One oe 368 schedule is based on the average efficiency of his department. If the average efficiency of the men under him is 100 per cent the foreman is rated at 100 per cent under this schedule. This schedule is closely connected with the defective work or scrap schedule, the bonus earned under the efficiency schedule being increased by that allowed by the scrap schedule. For each $100 of direct labor in a department a foreman is allowed a certain amount on his scrap schedule. For reaching this allow- ance the bonus earned on his efficiency schedule is increased 100 per cent, as provided in a special bonus table. If he makes but 60 per cent efficiency on his scrap schedule the bonus he makes on his efficiency schedule is entirely wiped out. He is also placed on a schedule based on the indirect labor in his department and also on a schedule based on the expense of material in his department. The latter schedule is an allowance for each $100 of direct labor in his department. For reaching this allowance a bonus of 20 per cent for 100 per cent efficiency is allowed him, based on an arbitrary figure. The bonus paid the factory manager is based on the inventory balance, maintenance of equipment, defective workmanship, prepaid ex- pense, labor cost of motors, material cost of motors, maintenance of buildings and grounds, water, heat, light and power and indirect labor. The bonus earned on these schedules is increased or de- creased, depending on the production of motors. THE IRON AGE February 10. 19j¢ The plant organization consists of a senera) manager, factory manager, efficiency envineer production supervisor, machinery superintendent assembly superintendent, foremen and assistant foremen. The production supervisor is at the heaq of the planning and standard time department ang has charge of production. He carries out the de tails mapped out by the efficiency engineer. Production and routing throughout the plant are directed entirely by the planning department, nothing being left to the responsibility of the fora men. After an order is received by the sales da partment a construction order is prepared by this department specifying the model number, number of motors required and the deliveries to be made by months. Carbon copies of this order are sent to the engineering department, purchasing agent, factory manager and superintendent of assembly. The engineering department uses its copy of the construction order to make out the parts list, spe. cifying the number and name of a part, the kind of work to be performed, quantity of parts per unit and whether the parts are to be manufactured in the plant or purchased complete. Copies of the parts list are sent to the planning and purchasing departments. However, these lists are not re- quired by the purchasing department in making its purchases. From the parts list the planning department makes up a stock requirement sheet that shows MATERIAL AND PRODUCTION SCHEDULE CyEnde PART NAME PURCHASED STOCK PRIMARY OPERATION | te TOTAL REQUIFEMENTS FOR CURRENT MONTH TOTAL COMPETED TO j END OF LAST MONTH Cumaative Sconeoue 00 Darr | Cumuative Dany Recerrs) Recerrs Recewts EG Cc “ Q So C SC 6 o| 9 9 wv 9 S 0 | oO S S _ N tv fu o 9° 6} &| |S] tw tw S Sl is tv Q)O OI oO tv Q 9 ° a) Qa ° CG a] Nn “ Nn G 9 e tv = 8 HTT 9 9 A Portion of the Material and Production Schedule Showing and the Amount Received, the Number of Parts Scheduled for Production and the Actual Number Turned Qumucat Rec a? 0 | Oy 9 8 9 ° QUANTITY IN LOT | MONTH FINISHEO STORES ee PURCH ar ae | Recerts jooo |__| we Ts Cumucative = are RecewtTs £ a g 4 4 | b, a N Oy ° i | tw 9 9 = |3|s|2 (5 |e |= HU 9 ~ to S ° ° © o 9 o ey O Q a S So a Big Oo} jO|o 9 9 tv 9 9 ty 1% O19 o1o O Gs © Q 9° 9S - 0 Q tu ~ 9° A So 9 ap ui a} tw 9 9 Sle a , BI REL 9 8 alo 9 v oS Ss HT > on Q 9° ny Oy o | oO 3 [sf fa [fs 6 9 _ livery Dates the Amount of Stock Purchased with nee a the Quai tity to be Delivered to the Finished Stockroom and the Actual Receipts February 10, 1916 PRODUCTION ROUTING SHEET Wl: GU: | I Ne THE IRON AGE 369 PART No 20313 TOOL OPERATION NUMBER 1460 Gau | Regm and burr hole _ 16770 Bish etn as | | —_—1Spot_weld spring retainer 11633 Jig | Ass'] leather drill & rivet _ uDisc grind leather _ Routing Sheet Showing the Order in Which the Various Operations Are Performed on a Part, the Machin« Employed and the Standard Price and Rate of the name and number of the part, the kind of mate- rial required, the customer’s name, the model num- ber and, in case the parts are to be manufactured, the number of pieces that are to go through the n a lot and the number of pieces per unit. method of making out the stock requirement t is made clear by the accompanying reproduc- n of one of these sheets that specifies stock re- juirements for cylinders for three models of mo- tors. The kind of material is designated by the company’s analysis number. The number of pieces that are to go through the shop in a lot is indicated in the blank space opposite the words “Dimensions for Shop.” Ruled column spaces are provided for the number of units in each order, number of pieces in each unit, total number of pieces in each order and an accumulative table shows the total number of pieces required. On the same form other columns are provided for making entries of requisitions issued for the purchase of stock, giving the date of the requisition, number wanted and the delivery specifications. On another form is kept a stock adjustment record which is made out for each part number. On this form are listed all parts that are scrapped in he process of manufacture, parts that are sent out r repairs and replacements and, in fact, all parts t are not used in the regular production. Once each week or two the number of parts shown on the djustment record is posted in red ink on the stock quirement sheet, thus indicating the number of additional parts required for replacements. Col- nns are provided on this form for recording raw tock that is defective, parts that are scrapped in the rocess of manufacture and parts scrapped after be- ing finished, or taken for replacement. The num- ver of pieces shown in the stock adjustment record is deducted from the receipts shown on the mate- ral and production schedule so that when a delay report is made for parts the number that went into or were used for repairs is shown in the past imn. of the most interesting and most important used is that containing the material and pro- Cuction schedule. This is made out for each part humber and shows the name of the part, model num- mber of pieces in each unit