The Iron Age 1919-01-16: Vol 103 Iss 3

RON ACE New York, January 16, 1919 Because the thought of the customer is uppermost in the minds of Bridgeport Brass Company’s engineers — the customer inevitably receives whole-hearted service. \ \ oe tt iiir ~ Ps 4 s \ 7 | a ee ee —_ as Whatever the problem, from single piece stamping to as- sembly of several parts, just so it is brass goods, the com- posite ideas of Bridgeport Engineers accumulated dur- ing 50 years’ experience will help solve it. As they control the brass sheet from the ingots to the finished part, Bridge- port Engineers are. able to accomplish things out of the ordinary. This whole-hearted service is at your disposal. Consultation carries no obli- gation and you may profit ever after. | te Luibridge 96-678 TOrroverneessuveseovaey season svneaastonugusaongy cusuestyyicsnyttiactnit TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - 201 ADVERTISING INDEX - - - 488 Buyers’ Index Section. bu .. 467 Wanted Section. posaee TT Contract Work Section . 452 Business Opportunities. . suger Help and Situations Wanted 447 ALT EEENRROCEOOROROREN TD UA DLA Hs ddsadd, VA MEHDDEED Phe Clearing House Section.. oan 393 E !VAL.0HUUEMN ATTEN EAU NNR S010) wN ONY UL MO eneaeeengnennys neyyn ey eney UE meant Ht i) 2P7.0n gee gape peer nrg THE IRON AGE January 16, 1919 : == Peck a Se Si Oe ist rn = “ Ae bee Sn re : ae Sie Sel Ewa oe Pietra arta py rash e ey by AEA Nada Am 7 anc RMS BUT ALSO TOUMEETMHENEED 5 OF2* INDUSTRIES PECULIAR 70 THE SAS se AND SOUTHERN STATES) =e WE OFFER PROMPT SHIPMENT Ay Bes Ve Ce Oe Vesey Vee ie yb SUSE Ns Oe She ce re Mi WH % S XK] New York, January 16, 1919 ESTABLISHED 1855 Wfhji a7 VOL. 103: No. 3 Training Women for Record Output General Results Abroad and at Home— Diligence and Industry of Women—Practical System of Schooling on Shop Production Lines BY ROBERT I. CLEGG OMEN have made an en- ergetic entrance into the machine shops and have taken up the duties there with surprising results. Much of what might have been expected failed to occur. From facts brought to the front by war-time pressure, man- agers are checking up the totals of their observa- tions and recasting their views in the light of these fresher experiences of the industrial plants. Results in the United States are not fundament- ally different to those attained abroad. Women in Europe are doing all sorts of munition operations, turning and boring, milling and threading, planing and shaping, inspecting and gaging, as well as. lay- ing off work. One competent observer points out that the English experience has shown that women are better at repetition machining than the repeti- tion of fitting. That they excel in the former may due to less exacting requirements, for while more monotonous by sheer repetition, there is in the fitting a constantly necessary attention to the vari- ous details requiring correction by hand manipula- tion. The same line of reasoning doubtless accounts for the good work of women in the drafting room where they take up the semi-skilled and mechanical tasks of tracing with success. There are reported some cases from English practice where a girl is doing some of the graphical calculations in turbine design; another is carrying out electrical tests on armatures, and in our own country, girls are to be found, as in an instance at the Yale & Towne plant at Stamford, Conn., designing small tools very creditably. Nor is it at all unlikely that these women with their broader outlook and deeper in- sight may go beyond present far-extended limits in Girl at Left Is Starting to Learn the Operation of a Small Screw Machine. Girls have acquired in from three to six days the ability to accomplish the task set for a man, and in many cases the production by the girls is greater than that by the men when the same standard of quality is maintained. The girl in the background is running a plain engine lathe equipped with a special attachment for a repetition job The temale instructor is checking the work done by the lathes-— woman. On this particular job the instructors have trained girls in three days to perform the t issigned 169 the work to new operatives On this class of periods of time work the » aS to obtair shop methods and improvements, should they in turn become planners of manufacturing. Cores are made very successfully by women, and their deftness of touch and close observance of in- structions do equip them excellently for this sort of labor. That they will go ahead in foundry work ts beyond doubt, if only they be given a fair start. This will be provided when one of their own sex tackles the problem, though a surprising and most encouraging feature in this work has been the ability of men to instruct women with the greatest success in both the speed of the teaching as well as in its thoroughness. Foundry work will have a serious barrier for women wherever the old crude equipment is used. But these tools for the heavy-handed are leaving the fingers of the skilled workman and either wholly assigned to the unskilled helpers or pushed aside by the greater outgrowing introduction of labor-saving machinery. An example of this is had in the trans- porting of sand from one point to another about the foundry floors. Open grids in the floor receive the sand and make walking less wearisome, con- veyors transport the loads and elevate the supplies to hoppers above the molder’s bench or floor where by the aid of easily controlled chutes the materials for the molder are released to fall exactly where and when he desires, then the modern machinery jolts or squeezes the mold to the proper density, and the pattern is mechanically drawn with a sureness of movement that the most dexterous of hand labor could not possibly equal. Following this stage comes the inspection and correction of the job by the molder, a task where the experience of the competent conductors of shop schools is that a woman’s close detailed regard for orders would make her services of the most promis- ing kind. Women are making their way as molders and will travel further and faster in this direction when their natural aptitude and easily acquired deftness for this particular skilled work is more generally recognized, cultivated and promoted. Meantime, those women of the front rank, of whose progressiveness there is ample proof on every hand, show a lively interest in the possibilities of the work before them. They want to know what subjects can be studied by them to the best advant- IRON Several Operators at Work on Drill Presses and Hand Milling Machines instructors aré the prcduction AGE January 16, 1919 The instructors are explaining the machines and able to train female operators in very short rates of output hitherto set for men age. They show a readiness to learn and to excel which is of the very essence of craftsmanship. Many of those at the Yale & Towne Mfg. Co.’s plant are relatives of other employees. It was easy to see where the impulse sprung to take up a new line of business with those already well known by repu- tation in the family circle. Another means of contact was by a freely dis- tributed card to the following effect: THE YALE & TOWNE TRAINING SCHOO The training school at The Yale & Towne plant offers exceptional opportunities for men and women to becomé expert in skilled and semi-skilled work It is not necessary for one to have any experience in shop work, in fact some of our best operatives are those who had no previous shop experience. \pplicants are interviewed and are placed in the scaoo! ch la iss of work which we believe they can best accom- sh It matters not as to education as the courses are laid put in accordance with the education of the applicant. An applicant to be trained for tool work must naturally have a better education than one who is to be trained for a definit« machine operation or bench job The training school is operated on a strictly productive basis and the working conditions are the same as in any of the rooms in the plant The instructors have and a new before being they are to be perma- been carefully selected operative is taught to accomplish the task set turned over to the which nently located The operatives are and when class rates If in doubt as to whether or up work of this nature our answer any questions room in rate when learning paid the prevailing paid a fair hourly transferred to the shop are not you would care to take representative will be glad to and explain the work more in detail THE YALE & TOWNE MFG. Co A part of one of the upper floors was set apart for a school and equipped with the necessary ma- chinery. Here R. F. Bryant, the Company’s super- intendent of the production efficiency department, installed a carefully chosen and competent teaching staff of men and women in charge of W. G. Palmer, chief of the instruction division. From the very first two things were decided upon as landmarks along the way of shop education. One was the use of actual shop products and shop opera- tions as the only materials and processes on which the training efforts of the trainers and the trained should be expended. There was to be no imitation of shop work. When a woman graduated from school to shop she went thoroughly informed of what she was to do and capable of doing it well. There were no misgivings on that head. Secondly, and emphatically, no one in the plant must be openly unfriendly to the educational plan or in opposition to the women graduated. Plain January 16, 1919 instructions were quietly conveyed to everybody concerned to the positive effect that this was no temporary experiment but that it had come to stay, and that no one could resist it or interfere with its successful introduction and operation without im- mediate danger of dismissal. There was not a soli- tary evidence of illwill. All co-operated cordially, and to-day the women have won a secure place in the esteem of their associates of the opposite sex. Before we take up the actual records made by reason of the system of training, we may glance for a moment or two at these photographs taken in the school. They are all of women in training and were taken recently. Not one of these shop students had been at work in the school over a few weeks at most, in fact, for most operations and certainly for all machine work the limit is well inside six weeks. The records show that it is not even a matter of weeks in most cases, as a few days often bring about a skilled status that surprises and convinces the skeptical. Women are trained readily to the capable use of instruments of precision. In their hands the micrometer soon acquires familiarity and a real understanding. It was rather shattering of pre- conceived notions to be told how close certain work was being done and the tolerance actually estimated for the questioner by the women in the usual ver- nacular style as so many fractions of a decimal. They soon get the hang of the work to an extent that makes them far from raw material as inspec- tors of shop product. Capable of self-reliance and having the knowledge quickly at their finger ends they soon pick up the art of tool grinding and set- ting. In both these capacities and on all kinds of machines they have been tried out freely and suc- cessfully by the Yale & Towne management. Of course, it does upset a visitor’s crude and unin- formed sense of the eternal fitness of things me- chanical to find a woman adjusting a machine that may be run by a person of the opposite sex. But that is no novelty at Stamford. Getting the work up to speed by a student some- times develops interesting results. Not _ infre- quently it actually happens that a standard task and the rate therefor is obtained from a new opera- tor which cannot ordinarily be got from other em- ployees. THE IRON AGE 171 That question of production by the newcomer brings up several very apt queries that will occur at once to the shop manager’s mind. To answer them it is necessary to look at the charts accom- panying this article. These are exact productions taken from photostat copies which find their way regularly to the desk of Mr. Bryant. These charts “show the life history of the worker, how quickly she progresses, the results obtained, and all the items, whether shop or personal, as the case may be, which bear on the present performance, the past preparation, and what is promised for the future. A recent writer has intimated that there is some- thing about certain nationalities that make the na- tives thereof better prospects for instruction in shop mysteries and machine manipulations. These dia- grams prove something altogether different. They are the records of several nationalities and on that point alone the results are nothing less than nega- tive, distinctly neutral, anyway. About the only thing that does have equal weight in all cases is that of health, mental and physical. Mr. Bryant, after a long study of all that is readily found available in the literature of the sub- ject, says that one good rule for the selection of employees is to try and remember the more success- ful of his school’s graduates and then choose from the available list of applicants those as near like them as possible. Considering the matter of education, it is found that those with the least common-school education do not show badly by comparison. This is not say- ing that education, all one can possibly get, is not a very valuable possession anywhere and especially in the machine shop, but it must be remembered that the majority of the women brought into the Yale & Towne plant during the stirring pre-armistice days were there to lend a hand quickly in Govern- ment work, to take up with the very least delay man’s work and do their bit loyally. While it may not have been necessary for them to be particularly well educated, it was essential that they should be speedily adaptable to a very limited series of opera- tions, not by any means to be after the kind of the old-fashioned all-around mechanic but simple special- ists doing a few things orderly, systematically and with zest. Curiously enough, the class from which some of These Girls Operating Drill Presses Are All Handling Jig Work. The type of chair used by the girl operating the 4-spindle drill is said to greatly relieve the strain from reaching at the right had only been in training one week when she could set up and grind the Here is also a machine adjuster under instruction Gir) tools for almost any plain job on the shaper 172 the most desirable work- ers came, when trained, was a type that it is doubtful would have been sought if the seeker for help relied upen any comparison between pre- vious duties and the new requirements. What, in- deed, anyone might ask, is there comparable be- tween scrubbing floors or washing dishes and the control of a drilling machine? Be that as it may, the sturdy Irish woman who shelved housework for the work of drilling took up a task that had _ discouraged several men. They quit where she won out. Moreover, she had never before been in a factory. There may have been in that instance an over- powering masterfulness that demanded her eve- nings for her own, an intention not to be swerved that happened to take hold of a happily congenial occupation. The work and the woman prospered. Probably the rate of pay was also a potent factor in attaining these remarkable results. The school stipend is a fair hourly rate during the learning period. When the operative has obtained the standard of quality and approaches the task set for the given operation her pay increases in accordance with the base or class rate. In many cases the task is exceeded, which, for the operative, means that her earnings, then, are larger than those of the average operative trained by the regular produc- tion-room staff. Right here it is well to state that all tasks and rates are set by the elemental time-study method, and it is the policy of the company never to cut a rate, although mistakes are sometimes made where tasks and rates are set. When errors are made the company accepts the situation and proceeds on its way, feeling that the workers should not be dis- couraged by the correction of mistakes that are not rightfully theirs. Another point of importance is in regard to the girls who come direct from a public school or from work at home. They have absorbed none of the bad habits that are to be found in some factories; He gages This Git ndey plug and ring such as taper shanks, arbors, had been in training “at the able to work from blueprints, 1 1 o and scale iri £T Operate make THE IRON Lathe and ill the AGE January 16, 1919 shop politics and shop politicians are unknown to them. Their only pur- pose is to make good; their one object to do ex- actly as they are told. The girl who knows not factory customs is not prepared to agree that, “We only do so many for a day’s work.” Factory operatives are too often inclined to favor the one who can- not produce as well as his or her associates. Let there be one some- what slower than the rest and it is usually only a question of time when the fast ones ap- proximate the laggard’s speed, The reason is the She is being trained to execute plain turned work firmly fixed fear that spindles, etc When the girl oi, school] only six weeks, she was there is never any too the micromete: she used use much work for all, and that it is not fair to put a poor workman in the way of being fired. The newcomer who has been trained in the school goes the limit. He or she has nothing to unlearn. Mr. Bryant, in the course of his explanation of their shop-school system, made some pithy observa- tions as to the success possible with women stu- dents. He found that on light work and on such machine operations as drilling and milling they are as capable as men. Few accidents had ever taken place with women as victims. Of course, all the pulleys and spindles were thoroughly housed. Women were told that they must never brush out jigs or dies or fixtures with their fingers. They must have tight sleeves, no loosely flowing ties or ribbons, and no jewelry. To turn one’s back to a moving belt is all the more dangerous when the hair is long and but little restrained. Given this instruction as to care of themselves among machinery, and also put in the best position to make the fullest possible use of the machines to which they are assigned, they are not abandoned to their own devices by any means. They are kept up to concert pitch, as the musicians say, by con- stant supervision, so that they do not fall below the records they have themselves established in their school practice, for each woman knows what she can do. That gives her self-assurance and she goes read and A Group of Girls Being Taught to do Bench Assembling of ing to a newcomer the various essentials of this work. Lock Device. An instructor at the second bench is explain- On account of the very difficult nature of this work, the average time to train a woman to perform it properly is three months January 16, 1919 SACI ae -42 THE IRON AGE 173 Sees Po Bee BCC SHEESH er iieatiaat Bae at nat Pree MECH TE Tt itt Y —t— eT TE} SAME DPERATOR WORKING TA YA CDE) MSTRUE TD S| aT] } } | } e 500 rT | —— t +— se} QQd } | } | =| | | j r te 7 — — St + + +— +— tt ser an | , : ° bony TAI IME ee) | | ras | 1- | © 200 — © 20 gndfOTEl- OPERA? WORMING YW GULAP RO Bo} Ie } a ‘BY ROOM ORIGAW/ZAT/ a5] | ] +367 iss] Lo sd —— “2% 74 Tab ieew i.e 23 4 7) 19 a- #@ oF 9 9 WN AW I JUNE * OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY Fig. 1—Woman's Record, Clock No. 9008 Fig. 2—Woman's Record, Clock No. 9011 Nationality—American Education—Grammar school, 6th grade Experience—Domestic service Age—16 years Height—5 ft. 3 in. Weight—138 lb. Health—Good Instructor—Mrs. Howard Job—Ringing, curb bit cheeks Minimum time taken to meet the for a period of 10 hours—3 days hourly task forward to her appointed task with every confidence. In effect, one of the primary things given the women by their careful, systematic, encouraging training is that they lose all shyness of machinery. Full of sound, well-founded self-reliance, they pay no attention to their working associates because they know they have nothing to learn in that direc- tion, and there being nothing to gain there is no incentive to waste time on following up what others have to do or are at work upon. Much valued time is lost in many shops by the stranger getting ac- quainted with the job, in the finding of things neces- sary to do the work, in locating supplies well known to everybody else but which are usually found by wasting their time and that of the newcomer in TTT ro Nationality Education—Grammar school, 7th grade Experience—Paper box making Age—16 years Height—5 ft. Weight—113 Ib. Health—Good Instructor—Mrs,. Howard Job—Set up, lock devices Minimum time taken to meet period of 10 hours—55 days Italian hourly task for the most useless and often in a way the worst timed of all discouragements. A follow-up system is in use by the school in- struction foree. Every graduate is interviewed each day by a representative for a period of 10 days after she goes to work in any of the regular pro- duction departments. Helpful and sympathetic in- quiries are made of her directly. Does she find everything all right? Is she being treated right by those with whom her work brings her in contact? Is she shown properly what is required of her? These and similar investigations ascertain if any- thing more can be done to make the work and the surroundings congenial in every way to a stranger. The result is that 90 per cent of the persons trained meheuen + =S=F =A ERS 1 tt ye c ++t4 11 44 ‘i A — —H : ' 3 | |! ¥ Corer $17 etc 8 Ar arajeime | tL F2 $+— 4 1 Dcicediinns Prt tt TT | $18 [non - Sa, k orerato Teed maa Y Bis The ce Sc Siz | | | | wiiliitittti. 4 | | i ef 1 + tT a a - & S | | | | | l } | | | 2 - = ae —<T 14° 5 © to > is” si sad BREE 2: ocroser ©” 2 NOVEMBER wa - once seer 7a © eae 0 97 0 tt JUNE Fig. 3—Woman’'s Record, Clock No. 9034 Fig. 41—Woman’s Record, Clock No. 9007 Nationality—Irish Nationality—American Education—Grammar school, 6th grade Education—Grammar school, 8th grade Experience—Domestic service Experience—Bookbinding Age—33 years Age—18 years — Height—5 ft. 7 in. Height—5 ft. 6 in. Weight—156 !b. Weight—112 Ib. Health—Good Health—Good Instructor—Mr. P. Davenport Instructor—Mrs. Howard Job—Drilling bit checks Job—Set up, lock devices Minimum time taken to meet hourly task for Minimum time taken to meet hourly task for a period of 10 hours—3 days. period of 10 hours—55 days JULY Woman's Record, Clock No, $023 Nationality—Swedish Education—Grammar Experience—Factory Age—20 years Height—5 ft. 7 in Weight—110 lb Health—Good Instructor—Mr. P. Davenport Job—Drilling bit cheeks Minimum time taken to meet period of 10 hours—35 days Fig. 5 school, 7th grade bench hand by the school stay. As one instructor explained tersely: ‘“‘They are on to the job, they make good money, and can hold their own with anybody. Why wouldn’t they like to stay?” Moreover, as to this very important matter of pay, the newcomer is entirely different in her atti- tude. She does not see that question from the point of view of the old-timer; her mental viewpoint is not the same. To her the company is a means of supplying funds to her in a fair proportion to what she gives. Actually, she is a partner, the company sharing with her the proceeds of their united en- terprise. The tendency for an old hand is just to make, as one Connecticut employer said in talking with the writer on this very angle of the situation. He spoke with records before him of several whose daily piece-work pay was a very close average, run- ning almost the same from week to week on the pay roll. Persons who are doing their best do vary in the quantity of their output, though, of course, the quality does maintain a uniformly high standard of excellence. The very effort to produce a maxi- mum makes for inequality in the amount of work done. Not every one can reach their objective though they do their utmost. Hitting the target is not the result of every shot though it be the constant aim. This difference between the stagnant and the aggressive is well shown by the graphic records of transferred employees. Note how the low record continues under factory conditions even of every progressive type. These are sadly typical of what goes on in many plants. The employee is satisfied to go no further up the scale of progress, in fact, is quite often thoroughly convinced that it is out of the question for her to even dream of doing better. The Irving National Bank, New York, has issued a graphic trade chart and commercial map of Latin America, which is the latest publication in the Irving foreign trade series, expressing graphically for the benefit of the importer and exporter a large number of facts. Much information is given in small space con- cerning area, population, imports, exports and other forms of information relating to Latin American trade. THE IRON 240 | 4 hourly task for AGE January 16, 1919 | ~ es tet ty (dle detleade del | | 11 4 Pee te er poSAL PS ROLL ann ecclne +— as aia epi aearkona I | iz eroave Sid Le | | +——+ -—+-—-_ +--+ apne | ' | | VTawitttsfa4Sseetee wh eowene APRIL Fig. € Woman's Record, Clock No. 9021 Nationality American Education—Grammar Experience—Paper Age—16 years Height—5 ft. 6 in. Weight—125 Ib. Health—Good Instructor—Mr. P. Job—Assembling Minimum time taken to meet period of 10 hours- 20% school graduate box maker Davenport hourly task for days There are the cases of those who don’t care to make an effort and whose labor is very ordinary as re- gards their shop values. But there are many capa- ble of other things than mediocrity, and when given favorable environment they soon show a vigorous response. The records speak for themselves in no uncertain way and show that the effort of the de- termined and successful is a very uneven path com- pared to the smoother curves plotted of the unen- terprising and therefore ill paid short-sighted workers. How far women can be trained to do shop and foundry work is as Mr. Bryant says, merely the limit of the training faculty of the teaching force in any plant, the ability to impart the necessary knowledge and the willing patience to carry through an approved practical system of technical instructions. This does not claim that a woman trained in a short time to operate a machine-shop device is therefore a machinist. To make her equal to the emergencies met with ease by those of long experience requires much time and that continued apprenticeship by which the craftsman progresses during his life’s labors. So as a means of making munitions, particularly while the Government was hard pressed for supplies, the speedy instruction of women was a national duty and the results abun- dantly prove that many of our established notions, deep-rooted in the mire of prejudice, are wrong. Women have done a patriotic service for the indus- tries and in doing so have demonstrated the very essential agencies for maximum production that may be secured by the installation in a plant of a competent force of instructors who devote their en- ergies to the education of promising individuals and their adjustment to the best interests of their employers. The Shenango Furnace Co., Oliver Building, Pitts- burgh, has just issued its annual book of analyses of its Lake Superior Bessemer, non-Bessemer and silicious iron ores. The company gives trip capacity of Lake freighters for the season of 1918, when there were 379 ore vessels in the service, with a total capacity per trip of 3,036,900 gross tons. Other valuable data are given. Zinc Alloys Instead of Copper Alloys French Experiments on Certain Combina- tions of Zinc, Aluminum and Copper as Cast, Rolled or Drawn Under a Press The influence of the war is evident in a paper by Leon Guillet and Victor Bernard in the Revue de Me- tallurgie, Sept.-Oct., 1918, which deals with zinc alloys, because of the desire to find metals to replace certain copper alloys. The objects followed in the investiga- tions were. 1. To establish the influence of copper and aluminum on the properties of zinc. For this purpose the alloys contained increasing amounts of copper and aluminum up to 10 per cent, and were examined as cast, rolled and drawn out under a press. 2. To examine some of the ternary zinc—copper— aluminum alloys. The following series of alloys were prepared: a. Pure zinc (lead 0.5 per cent). Ordinary zine (lead 1 per cent). b. Ordinary zine with 1, 2, 3, or 5 per cent aluminum. ec. Ordinary zinc with 1, 2, 4 or 6 per cent copper. . Ordinary zinc and 2 per cent. Aluminum with 2, 4, 6 and 8 per cent copper e. Ordinary zine and 4 per cent. Aluminum with 2, 4, 6 and 8 per cent copper. f. Ordinary zinc with 8 per cent. Aluminum and 4 per cent copper. (German type of alloy.) 3. Further, for each alloy. hardness and shock tests were made at varying temperatures, so as to define as closely as possible the maximum forging tempera- ture, The actual analyses of the alloys is shown below, the samples being taken from the bars cast in sand: Table of the Analyses of the Alloys Alloy Zine, Aluminum, Copper, Lead, Iron, No. Per Cent PerCent PerCent PerCent Per Cent 1 98.84 Trace od 1.15 Trace eo a analy 97.80 1.12 os 1.08 ens Si cea 95.93 2.51 ae 1.53 4. 95.47 3.11 “a 1.04 RES ... 93.10 5.76 aca 1.14 Ginaaweaee 97.95 0.07 0.85 1.10 Rawes . 97.52 Deb 1.30 1.10 on ae 94.67 Sida 4.21 1.10 cheat S.; 92.36 ahd 6.44 1.06 0.09 10. 89.83 Trace 9.07 1.06 Trace RR sma ws 94.79 2.01 2.00 1.27 Bass 5 -- 93.31 2.18 3.66 0.80 Leica howe . 90.85 2.23 6.01 0.85 Be eke Ge eet $8.31 2.24 8.20 1.10 So seek awk 99.43 er ‘ 0.51 RG ch sare ee) (eee 4.45 1.89 0.98 Reaaae aods 90.83 4.45 3.81 0.85 ON a tn Sai ora 88.96 4.41 5.73 0.91 Reece oe 87.18 4.41 7.60 0.80 AU Wa wewnt $6.60 8.53 3.85 0.98 It was not found possible to roll the alloys 9, 10, 13 and 14 at the works of La Veille Montagne, and no effort was made to roll alloys 16 to 20. A detailed table is given in the original paper of the tensile test, hardness, and shock test results on the bars cast in sand, rolled, and drawn out under a press, and from these results the authors draw the following conclusions. First: The cast alloys present no particular interest, with 8 per cent copper it is true that a tensile strength is reached of 24,180 lb. per sq. in., but there is no ductility or resistance to shock. Second: The rolled alloys are more interesting. For instance, Alloy No. 4 with 3 per cent aluminum gives 32,710 lb. per sq. in. and 15 per cent elongation, and Alloy No. 12 with 2 per cent aluminum and 3.6 per cent copper gives 45,510 lb. per sq. in. and 5 per cent elongation. These rolled alloys, however, are all very low in elongation to say nothing of resistance to shock. It must not be forgotten that rolled zinc shows a tensile strength of 21,330 to 22,760 lb. per sq. in. and 35 to 47 per cent elongation depending on its purity, particularly in regard to the percentage of lead. Third: The alloys drawn out under a press are without doubt superior to those that are rolled. This is not so noticeable in the case of zinc, but attention must be drawn to the following results: Tensile Strength Mechanical Lb. per Elongation Alloy Treatment Sq.In. PerCent Shock No. 3 with 2.5 per cent f Rolled 31,290 4.4 1.2 aluminum ......... | Drawn out 36,840 26.4 2.5 No. 7 with 1.3 per cent {§ Rolled 32,710 1.5 1.8 re eee | Drawn 43,380 27.9 1.9 No. 8 with 4.2 per cent Rolled 43,380 1.3 1.2 ee ; Drawn 47,650 22.0 1.6 No. 12 with 2.1 per x ec cent aluminum and {oe aS'iee sa: 3 3.6 per cent carbon. ‘ Yrawn = : = The shock tests were made on a Mesnager machine with a Guillery head. It should be noted that certain alloys, Nos. 9, 10, 13 and 14 that could not be rolled, were successfully forged under the press. They gave high tensile strength but low ductility. Fourth: The aim was to produce an alloy capable of replacing brass with a tensile strength of 39,820 to 45,510 lb. per sq. in., an elongation 30 to 25 per cent, and resistance to shock of 3 to 5. This aim is almost reached with the following alloys: Ordinary zine con- taining 1 to 1.2 per cent lead with 1.5 to 2 per cent copper, which gives when drawn out under the press 42,670 to 44,090 lb. per sq. in., 27 to 28 per cent elonga- tion, and a shock figure of 2. Also alloy No. 20 with about 4 per cent copper and & per cent aluminum which gives when drawn out 51,200 lb. per sq. in. and 24 per cent elongation. However, all these alloys have low resilience, much less than that of brass. The next two sections of the original paper deal with the microscopic and macroscopic examination of these alloys. Then comes a section on their hardness, as shown by the Brinell tests using 1000 kilograms pressure and a 10 mm. ball, both at ordinary and higher temperatures, and subject to the results of these latter tests a rolling and forging temperature of 125 to 130 deg. C. was accepted generally, and used in working down all the alloys. G. B. W. A New Tinless Bearing Metal Letters patent have been granted W. D. Berry, presi- dent Berry Metal Co., New Brighton, Pa., for a tinless phosphor bronze bearing metal. During the war and while the Government was pleading for every one to conserve tin, Mr. Berry made experiments, the outcome of which resulted in the development and perfecting of a bearing metal alloy without the use of tin. The Berry Metal Co., which is the sole manufacturer of this alloy, was organized last June by Mr. Berry and his son, Walter V. Berry, who is secretary. Plans are being made for additional buildings, which will add 3000 sq. ft. to the present floor space. The Engineering Index, published for 25 years in the Engineering Magazine and its successor, Industrial Management, and universally regarded as the standard index to engineering periodical literature, has been ac- quired by the American Society of Mechanical Engi- neers and hereafter will be compiled and published by that society. The first issue of the index under its new management appears in the January number of the A. S. M. E. Journal. The Electric Furnace Co., Alliance, Ohio, has closed a contract with the Braeburn Steel Co., Braeburn, Pa., for a large continuous recuperative annealing furnace for the annealing of alloy steel bars and wire. This furnace will have a capacity for annealing 75 tons per day and an electrical capacity of 600 kw. One of the special features of this furnace is that provision is made for heating and cooling the material slowly. 175 176 A SELF-CLEANING STOKER Under-Feed Device Has Been Under Test for Two Years—Flexibility a Feature An automatic self-cleaning under-feed stoker has been developed by the Under-Feed Stoker Co. of Amer- This Under-feed Mechanical Stoker Automatically Removes Ash and Refuse From the Fuel Bed. Fresh charges of coal are pushed backward and upward by the steam ram and air and coal are automatically controlled ica, Chicago. For over two years the device has been in use in plants burning different grades of coal under widely varying load conditions. The steam cylinder in front of the hopper operates a ram. This pushes a charge of fresh coal from the hopper into the magazine support- ing the fuel bed. As the coal goes forward it moves the previous charge of coal slightly backward and upward, the action being inter- mittent, and feeds fresh coal from below. Heat from the incandescent zone above drives the volatile gases from the fresh coal before the ac- tual burning takes place. The gases mix with the air admitted through the tuyeres and the mixture passes upward through the hot fuel. The gasless coal or coke is forced to the upper part of the fuel bed, the in- candescent zone, by the new fuel, where it burns with the gases com- ing up, the process giving a coke and gas fire. The intermittent movement of the fuel pushes the entire burning fuel bed, with ash and refuse, slowly toward the rear. It is not a grav- ity movement, as the slope of the retorts is not sufficient to cause the ash and refuse to slide or roll toward the dump. plate. As the refuse accumulates on the balanced dump plate, the lat- ter is dropped, allowing the ashes to fall into the pit below. This is the only manual operation called for by The Balanced Dropped the device. . Both air and coal supply are automatically con- trolled by the steam pressure subject to independent regulation. A drop in steam pressure brings increased fuel and air, while an increase in pressure brings a lower fuel and air supply, maintaining a steady pres- sure regardless of variations in load. The uniformity of pressure is shown by the flow meter and pressure charts. Flexibility is given by the wide range opera- tion of the air and coal supply and by the provision of independent operation of each retort in a battery. A maximum of coal can be fed into the stoker when necessary. A large coal burning capacity is insured by the design of the tuyeres. Observation doors are built in the front setting opposite each row of tuyeres. The fireman can use a THE IRON AGE Dump Plate Is Shown Allowing Dead Into Pit Below January 16, 1919 slice bar should any clinker formation be noticed on the tuyere blocks. If a hole is found in the fire it can be filled by feeding more coal to that retort. By a sieve test of the manufacturer it has been shown that approximately 75 per cent of the total ash goes through a 2-in. mesh, and 85 per cent through an 8-in. mesh, while analysis disclosed but a small amount of combustible in the ash. As there is no fire on the dump plate there are no clinker formations on the bridge wall and side tuyeres prevent clinkers on the side walls. The steam consumption in the cylinders is reported about equal to that required to run the engine of any mechanically driven stoker of equal size. The action of the steam ram can be stopped by any foreign substance that may get into the hopper, and when the obstruction is removed the ram resumes operation. The only moving parts within the furnace are the pusher rods and blocks, and these are below the incandescent zone. The tuyere blocks will burn out, but can be replaced as each block is held in the retort by a rod which may be removed from the front of the furnace, and then a new block slipped into place without greatly disturbing the fire. The stoker re- quires ebut little space and a deep excavation is not necessary. Proposed Canadian Institute for Research At a meeting of the Reconstruction and Develop- ment Committee of the Cabinet, Ottawa, Ont., Dr. A. B. Macallum, administrative chairman of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, advanced the long considered proposal of the council for the estab- lishment of a central institute for research. The scheme which is considered vital to a successful and permanent Canadian competition with the highly or- ganized industries of the United States, Great Britain France and other countries which have already the benefit of similar Government in- stitutions, contemplates the im- mediate erection, at or near Ottawa of a central laboratory building costing approximately $500,000, in which machinery and equipment costing $100,000 will be installed. The building as planned will pro- vide room for expansion as the needs develop, but will, at first, have accommodation for some 50 laboratories covering all the essential industrial research sub- jects. In a general way it is designed to fulfill for Canada the functions now performed for the United States by the Bureau of Standards at Washington and the Mellon Institute at Pittsburgh. It will provide modern scientific equipment and methods for the investigation of Canadian raw materials, industrial processes and manufactured products. It will serve as a national laboratory for standards for testing materials, for the discovery of methods of utilizing by-products, and for experimental work in the application of science to industry. Ash to Fall Flow-meter and Pressure Charts Taken by the Michigan Lime- stone & Chemical Co., Rogers City, Mich. They show uniform pressure maintained under widely varying load conditions January 16, 1919 Finding Situations for Mustered-Out Soldiers and Sailors The Waterbury Plan of handling labor, and which has been so effective a factor in reducing the local turn-over of labor, has recently had an important addition to the series of blanks illustrated some time ago in THE IRON AGE. The latest addition to the ingenious set worked out by Superintendent Ralph H. Budd of the U. S. Employment Service, Department of Labor, in collabo- ration with Waterbury (Conn.) manufacturers, en- ables the rehabilitation of the soldier to be carried on most helpfully for everyone concerned and is al- ready put to excellent use. As will be seen from the heading of the blank, the plan contemplates the co-operation of the Waterbury chapter of the American Red Cross, and this assistance has promptly and ardently been volunteered and utilized. The part undertaken by the local office of the U. S. Employment Bureau is to see that situations are se- cured for the returning soldiers, and with the ex- pressed determination of the employers that places must be found, Superintendent Budd is steadily keep- ing up with the stream of applicants. It is not intended that the plans to care for re- turned and discharged soldiers and sailors shall neces- sarily apply to others than those recruited in Water- bury and having in some sense residential claims upon this locality. With this reservation there has so far been no difficulty in absorbing the supply of such help at the rate it applies for positions. This readiness and capacity to assimilate the sup- ply has been benefited by the fact that certain stand- ard industries were more or less depleted of workers when there came the insistent and continued pressure to turn the energies of peace over to the production of war necessities. Thus a local clock company was short of 1500 employees who are now coming back to assist the former employer to make up for lost time. When the soldier again turns to the industries he may need a temporary financial aid. Pay days may require anticipation to some extent. In order to sys- tematize this condition and have it controiled and ad- ministered with the least possible friction for the applicants, the local chapter of the Red Cross man- ages this phase of the enterprise. As will be seen the report blank covers this provision fully, so that the one record when first prepared is competent to care for all the requirements and the movement of WATERBURY CHAPTER AMERICAN RED CROSS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR U. S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE REGISTRATION BLANK | FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS AND SAILORS Rank __ Discharged __ Wounded Gassed Shell Shocked Phywcally fit Parents living Do you live athome? What was your occupation before entenng service By whom were you employed ? Were you drafted of did you enlist’ Have vou applied for your old postion Sack If =, with what results? | When will you start work ’ * Do you need Gnancial asistance be « pay day RarexeeD To Occv?at Dare Sant Rewer Referred to Red Cros for THE IRON AGE 177 the applicant from one to another of a group of clerks, and the irksome repetition of many explanations in various offices are cut down to a minimum. The plan is simple and is already working smoothly and successfully at Waterbury. Multiple Recording Pyrometer A new and simple multiple recording pyrometer has been developed by the Hoskins Mfg. Co., Detroit. It is The New Hoskins Multiple Recording Pyrometer Will Make from One to 10 Temperature Records. Each record appears as a series of red-inked dots operated with chromel thermo-couples which the user can make himself. The meter will make from one to 10 temperature records. When 10 records are being made the tem- perature of a given furnace is recorded every 10 min., and when used as a single-point recorder, the record is practically continuous. If less than 10 temperatures are being recorded, greater frequency of readings can be obtained for any desired thermo-couple by properly locating the plugs in the switchboard as shown in the upper part of the illustration. The record appears as a series of red-inked dots, and when the temperature of a given thermo-couple is being recorded, three readings are indicated within a one-minute interval, when the temperature of the next furnace commences to be recorded. The moving parts are few and are operated by a solenoid energized by a lighting circuit. Every 20 sec. this solenoid advances the paper chart, and at the end of each minute changes the rotary switch over to the next thermo-couple circuit. Metal Cutting Tests with Stellite In the letter published in THE IRON AGE of Jan. 9 from R. Poliakoff on metal cutting tests with Stellite a mistake was made in printing the table of perform- ance of tests. Instead of “length of cut” the fifth column should have been headed “duration of cut,” and the figures below expressed in minutes and seconds of time. The table is correctly reproduced here, and covers ex- periments on steel of 125,000 lb. tensile strength con- taining 0.45 per cent carbon and one on medium cast iron. The tests were all made with a Stellite tool ex- cept experiment 14, which was made with a high- speed steel having the same size and shape. Cutting Speed, Depth Material Experi- Ft. of Cut, Feed, Duration Worked ment per Min In In. of Cut On 7 98.5 1/16 1/18 6 min. 55 se« Cast iron S 66 1/8 1/18 12 min. 40 sec Steel 1 66 1/8 1/18 13 min Steel 11 164 1/128 1/72 15 min. Steel 13 98.5 1/128 1/72 4 min. 45 sec Steel 14 98.5 1/128 1/72 70 min Steel Training Operators at Winchester Plant* Short Intensive Course in Training Shop for Men—Three Years’ Apprenticeship in School for Boys—Details of the System BY W. E. FREELAND the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. at New Haven, Conn., is the training shop, estab- lished to train operators for the simpler operations in the various tool shops and also to train men al- ready in the organization for more skilled work and thus provide a means for maintaining and increas- ing the quota of skilled workmen. The instruc- tion provided is highly intensive and therefore the number of pupils is kept down to a limit which enables the teaching staff to give individual at- tention. Each instructor rarely has more than five men under his immediate charge. The course is designed to extend not over two months and many operators are graduated into the shops in much less time. The employment department selects men from 20 to 40 years of age who are not ‘subject to im- mediate call in the draft. The applicants are sent to the foreman of the training shop, who subjects them to a literacy and such other tests as he may deem advisable and advises the employment office that the man has been accepted and the rate of pay. As the class of operators required varies as the requirements of the different shops vary, the production supervisor of the tool department noti- fies the foreman of the training shop who in turn advises the employment office of the type of men required and devises the training necessary to meet the require- ments of the par- ticular operations to which the men are to be as signed. This shop is not considered on a production ba- sis, but when it is possible regular production work oremergency work is assigned to help make it self-sustaining. It is expected that as the work develops and experience is gained, the shop will be employed more and more on productive work. As each instructor has not more than five men under his charge, the undertaking will probably fall short of being self - sustaining, \ N INNOVATION in the tool department of *Eleventh article of a series dealing with the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.'s plant. This is the third article devoted to the Tool Depart- ment. apprentice shop on productive work Typical Group of Winchester Apprentices. training spend part of their time in the production shops 178 but the gain that is made in the productive shops in relieving them of the task of breaking in un- trained operators offsets any loss that may occur in their training. It is expected that the training shop will be able to replace semi-skilled men now working as operators, and these older operators will be used to replenish and augment the more skilled force engaged in assembling and in other high-grade work. How Apprentices Are Trained The apprentice shop of the tool department has been in successful operation for some years. The shop has a capacity for 90 boys and from 40 to 70 of those more experienced are usually at work in other departments gaining experience. The school is a true apprentice school, giving the boys an all- round training and furnishing them a diploma at the end of the three-years’ course. Applicants are carefully investigated and are expected to pass an examination in arithmetic with a mark of at least 80 per cent. He then serves a two months’ trial period. Each apprentice is fur- nished with a set of tools worth about $100, paid for out of his wages or out of the bonus of $100 given at the completion of the course if he agrees to remain as a journeyman with the company for one year. Previous to the war about 80 per cent of the boys completed the course and remained with the company, but the experience of the last two years has been that of virtually all ap- prentice schools, and the percent- age of loss due to the high wages of- fered semi-skilled men has _ consid- erably reduced the percentage of those completing the course. The appren- tices are graded into four classes, and there are four grades within each class. Two or three hours each week are passed in the classrooms, and the remainder of the time in the shop. They are supplied at the be- ginning of their work with two mechanical hand- books and one textbook on shop mathematics, paid for out of their These boys work in a special and toward t