The Iron Age 1925-03-12: Vol 115 Iss 11

a ESTABLISHED 1855 F lexibility Increased by New Foundry Casting and Ornamental Iron Shop Gives Chicago Company Larger Output and Diversified Outlet for Its Products IVERSIFICATION of production is sought by D many industries ‘as insurance against wide fluc- tuations in the volume of business. A modern plant and adequate equipment are conducive to low costs only when fairly steady operations are possible. There is not alone the ever-present danger of idle over- head but also the problem of labor to be considered. In a shop employing skilled craftsmen, intermittent operations are particularly disastrous because they fre- quently result in the permanent loss of a company’s most able employees, making necessary the building up of a new organization, which, at best, is an arduous and slow process. The construction of a new gray iron foundry and architectural iron shop by the Hansell-Eleock Co., Chi- cago, has reinforced that company’s position from the standpoint of flexibility of output. In the first place, the foundry supplies all the castings required in that organization’s structural fabricating shop at Archer and Normal Avenues; secondly, it furnishes much of the material for the new architectural iron shop, which in turn is a logical complement to the structural plant; finally, the foundry does a wide variety of contract THE IRON AGE New York, March 12, 1925 HOMAS SMITH, who collaborated with a staff member of Tur IRON AGE in the preparation of this article, ia believed to be the oldest active foundryman in Chicago, if not in the entire country. Hale and hearty at 76 years of age, he has spent nearly 60 years of his life in the foundry. “In my younger days,” he said, “I used to look forward to retirement, but now that I have actuallyveached the evening of life, I find that the best way to keep well and happy is to remain active in my vocation.” Born in England on July 6, 1848, Mr. Smith came to Chicago at the early age of seven years. As a boy of 16 he went to work with the N. S. Bouton Union Foundry Works at Clark, Fifteenth and Dearborn Streets, Chicago. He re- mained with that organization as long as it occupied that location, or until 1881. The company was then moved to Pullman, Ill., and con- solidated with a car wheel plant there under the name of the Union Foundry &-Pullman Car Wheel Works. He served that company until 1883, when he became identified with the Dearborn Foundry Co., 1525 South Dearborn Street, Chicago. He was superintendent of the Dearborn foundry for 33 years, until February, 1916. In June, 1916, he became associated with his present employers, the Hansell-Eleock Co., at Normal and Archer Avenues, Chicago. Mr. Smith's experi- ence covers every department of the foundry. He has worked in the molding-room, in the cupola-house, in the core-room, in the pattern- shop, in the cleaning and chipping room, and in the drafting-room. He has also done some structural erection work, having helped erect iron work for the Rock Island Arsenal years ago. At present he is engaged in general utility work for the Hansell-Eleock Co., making estimates for both ornamental and structural iron work, preparing designa for ornamental work, and performing other miscellaneous duties for which his long experience so well fita him. 751 i asia Stine, states op I ime mate aap a Hee Ste VOL. 115, No. t1 work. Hence, it may be classed as both a manufactur- ing and jobbing foundry. Located at 3153 South California Avenue, Chicago, the new plant is bounded on the south by the Chicago drainage canal, on the rear by Campbell Avenue, and on the north by the Illinois Central Railroad, from which it is served by a siding. The foundry is 340 ft. long and the main molding bay is 56 ft. wide. Included in a 30-ft. side bay is a molding bay, 30 x 80 ft., a core room, 30 x 100 ft., a cupola house, 30 x 40 ft., and a sand storage room, 30 x 20 ft. On the other side of the main bay is a department for small molding work, 60 x 120 ft., together with a carpenter shop, 30 x 60 ft.; a pattern shop, 30 x 100 ft.; a cleaning room, 50 x 60 ft.; the plant office, 20 x 25 ft., and a boiler and com pressor room. A detached fire-proof building, 21 x 100 i ft., is used for pattern storage. The available floor ‘a space for molding purposes alone totals 28,600 sq. ft. 4 The buildings were designed with an eye to ventila- tion and a maximum of natural illumination. Crane runways for the main bay are supported on steel col- umns which also carry steel trusses supporting a V- shaped roof. A concrete base course extends from the oo aww ronan - tet neem mane oe x . ee cnet Ie oy -] footings to a height of six feet from the floors. Above the course reaching from column to column are Fenes- tra steel sash frames. A row of tilted sash was in- stalled above the crane runways for ventilating pur poses. On the crane runways, which extend the entire length of the main molding bay, are mounted two elec- tric traveling cranes, one of 10-ton and the other of 5-ton capacity. These facilitate the handling of bulky and heavy work. For many of the large and heavy castings a large pit in the main bay is utilized. -Some of the heavier work is also handled on a Norcross jolt- ing machine, made by the Arcade Mfg. Co., Freeport, Ill. The jolter is firmly anchored in a heavy concrete foundation, 4 ft. thick and 12 ft. square, and it has a table, 60 x 90 in., which will take a flask up to 6 ft. 10 in. x 8 ft. 6 in. and 32 in. deep. Two narrow-gage ladle tracks connect the cupolas with the various molding floors, one’ track The Main Molding Bay Is 340 Ft. Long and Is Served by Two Electric Traveling Cranes. on the right is the cupola house, and directly opposite the cupolas, on the 2 THE IRON running lengthwise of the main molding bay and the other ex- AGE March 12, 1925 charging floor but pig iron and scrap are stored in yard, served by narrow-gage industrial track. Afte: buggies have been loaded with metal in the yard, th charges are weighed on a 7500-lb. Fairbanks scale and then raised by elevator to the charging floor. Owing to the great variety of work undertaken by the foundry, a large number of flasks, many of then of considerable size, are stored-in the yard. A loco motive crane is used to bring large flasks into th plant as well as to take large castings out of the foundry when ready for shipment. The crane is also utilized for handling pig iron, scrap and sand and fo loading cars for shipment. Raw materials for both the foundry and the finishing shop are delivered on tne railroad siding which runs parallel to both buildings and adjacent to the canal. To facilitate the handling of materials in and out of the plant the locomotive crane may be run into the main molding bay and for this purpose tracks enter the structure at both ends. For weighing shipments as well as receipts of mate- Approximately midway extreme left is a department for small molding work, reached by a narrow-gage ladle track tending crosswise into the department devoted to small molding work. In that section, one molding floor is of concrete and is served by a portable air-operated roll-over jolt machine. The remainder of the depart- ment is devoted to small floor work and bench work; it also has several portable hand squeezers equipped with electric riddles. Floor work is also handled in the molding bay, 30 x 80 ft., adjoining the core room and served by a common overhead hand-power crane. The cupola house is located at a point with a max- imum of ladle travel to the various molding floors. It has been placed directly opposite the bay devoted to small molding work and is situated approximately mid way along one side of the main molding bay. There are two cupolas, one 72 in. and the other 48 in. in diam- eter, with a combined melting capacity of approxi- mately 40 tons in three hours. They are separately served by a No. 5 P. H. & F. M. Roots Co. and a No. 7 B. F. Sturtevant & Co. blower, both of them with individual motor drive. The cupolas are charged with end-delivery buggies. A supply of coke is kept on the 4 rial, a 55-ft. 150-ton Fairbanks railroad track scale has been placed in the yard. For receipts of materials and deliveries of finished products by automobile truck or team, a 20-ton platform scale has been provided, the beam being located in the office of the plant. The core-baking facilities, like the remainder of the equipment in the plant, are designed to handle work in a wide range of sizes. There are two core ovens, 12 x 24 ft. x 12 ft. high, and underneath each is a heating tunnel, 4 ft. wide x 4 ft. deep. These pits are oil- fired, being equipped with burners furnished by Tate- Jones & Co., Pittsburgh. Core-oven cars are rolled into the ovens on standard-gage tracks. The cars are of a special design developed by the company itself to take care of the wide variety in the size and shape of the cores required. Six notched standards are arranged along the sides of the car so that by laying rails be- tween the notches at any convenient height desired and then extending the rails, channels or plates crosswise between the rails, support is afforded for cores of dif- ferent shapes and depths. March 12, 1925 THE IRON AGE 753 _ The versatility of the foundry force is constantly ing out of shape, it is placed on a plaster of paris bed- being exercised. It must be ready to undertake a wide ding. Patterns are brought to the molding floors from range of work extending from light and ornamental the pattern shop on the narrow-gage industrial track castings at one extreme to heavy rolling mill or ma- previously referred to. chine castings at the other. In one illustration is A chipping floor, equipped with pneumatic chipping shown the cope, pattern and drag for a highly orna- hammers, is situated at one end of the main molding mental, %4-in. plate which forms part of one of five sets bay next to the compresser room. The cleaning de- | pe tenagpenys De- . sign of Core Oven Car Was De- veloped to Handle Work in a Wide Range of Sizes, The notched standards permit loading cores of many shapes and depths The core ovens ars to be noted in the background SKETCH of Plan View of Plant Showing Arrange ments of Different Departments SMALL MOLDING BUILDING | Main Mo.vinG BAY Cupoca House TTHE Cope, Pat- tern and Drag for a Highly Or- namental Plate Forming Part of a Cast Iron Window Frame and Spran- dle. The pattern is made of wax on a wood frame. To give the pattern a solid bearing during ramming, it is placed on a plaster of paris bedding The wax part of the pattern is made by pouring melted wax into a plaster of paris mold which, in turn, was formed by pouring around a model made from modeling clay of cast iron frames and window sprandles constructed partment, which is equipped with two tumbling milis for the St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago. The ornamental and emery grinding machines, adjoins the small mold- part of the pattern is made of wax and the remainder ing bay. is a wood frame. The architectural and ornamental iron shop, also The making of the wax part of the pattern is of daylight construction, is 100 x 300 ft., and connects worthy of comment. A model is first made from model- with the foundry at one corner of the main molding ing clay and around it is poured plaster of paris. The bay. Adjacent to the doorway connecting the two latter, when it sets, forms the mold into which the wax buildings is a material storage where rods, plates, ig poured. To give the pattern a solid bearing during channels, sheets and other materials, required in the ramming and to prevent the wax part of it from get- ornamental shop, are conveniently arranged on racks. ARIE Me CERNE fen eR NRT, nee STR Re CORE Sh? 2 pee " YS AL, PANNE ACN rit beh 4 9 Sena ME a Coenen 754 THE IRON AGE This department is commanded by a 10-ton hand-power crane, which also serves a section of the shop devoted to laying out heavy work. Material handling in the remainder of the shop is taken care of by an overhead monorail system. Among the heavier pieces of equipment in the shop are two Dreis & Krump bending brakes, a guillotine shear with capacity to cut plates up to % in. thick, a radial swing grinder, several punches and shears, drill- ing machines, engine lathes and miscellaneous machine shop equipment. There is also ablacksmithshop. Anelec- tric arc-welding machine is used for spot welding many parts together which formerly were riveted. For example, the tops of coke, sand or grain chutes are now made by welding together the frame members at the corners, whereas formerly the members had to be joined together by straps which were riveted to each of the four sides of the frame. In this, as well as in many other cases, welding has saved both time and material. Pneumatic grinding machines are used for grinding the welds. A job which was in process at the time of writing was the assembling of five sets of cast iron window frames and sprandles, 10 ft. 7 in. wide x 21 ft. high. These were constructed entirely of %-in. cast iron plates bolted together, with the exception of steel brackets at the bottom and the top for fastening the frame to the masonry. Accuracy in the assembly was required so that the frames would fit tightly into the masonry. The work was complicated somewhat by the fact that the top of the frame was in the shape of a half circle. The success of the ornamental shop, of course, is Employees May Become Owners of Pittsburgh Steel Foundry Co. It will be possible for employees of the Pittsburgh Steel Foundry Co., Pittsburgh, with a plant at Glass- port, Pa., to acquire a substantial interest in the busi- ness under a plan of reorganization just’ announced which means the formation of a new company called the Pittsburgh Steel Foundry Corporation and a re- casting of the financial structure. The old company was capitalized at $1,500,000, all common stock. The new company has a capital consisting of $750,000 25- year, 6 per cent first mortgage bonds, $750,000 of 5 per cent cumulative preferred stock and 30,000 shares of no par value common stock, A substantial part of the common stock has been placed in escrow with the Union National Bank, Pitts- burgh, which is available for subscription by employees during the next 10 years, the price for the first year being $20 a share and advancing $1 per share per year until the last year of the offer, which means a maxi- mum price of $29 a share. With a sinking fund pro- vided for the retirement of the bonds and provision made for the retirement of the preferred stock, there is a possibility that the employees, provided they take the @mmon stock offered, eventually will come into control of the company. The management of the new company will be the same as that which directed the old one. It comprises Stewart Johnston, James H. Lockhart, F..A. McCune, C. McK. Lynch, G. A. Hassel, J. M. Lockhart, Lloyd Smith, H. Darlington, Jr., Thomas Lynch and C. W. Howat. Walworth Mfg. Co. Report The Walworth Mfg. Co., Boston, showed gross profits in 1924 of $3,673,578, which compares with $4,903,848 for 1923, $3,323,788 for 1922 and $1,482,693 for 1921. Depreciation in each of those years averaged better than $350,000, in 1924 being $379,600. Deduct- ing depreciation, interest charges, tax reserves and dividends from last year’s earnings left a surplus of $30,724, which compares with one of $1,102,968 for 1923 and $445,480 for 1922. In 1921 there was a deficit of nearly $1,233,000. At the close of 1924 current assets were $7,744,119, including $638,346 cash. March 12, 1925 measured to a large extent by its ability to handle a variety of work economically. Step plates with three treads, for example, are bent out of one piece. Stair stringers are frequently made out of steel channels, but latterly there has been an increasing demand for rounded corners and, for that reason, channel string- ers aré being bent trom steel plates. Stair horses made out of steel angles are bolted to the stringers, where- upon step plates are bolted to the horses. Railings, banisters, ornamental doors and gratings are among other typical jobs handled. At one end of the ornamental shop on a mezzanine floor is a large and well-lighted drafting room with vault, blue printing machine and other necessary equip- ment. A hot-blast system of heating is used in both the ornamental shop and the foundry. The hot blast heaters were supplied by Skinner Brothers Mfg. Co., Inc., St. Louis, while oil burners were furnished by Tate-Jones &-Co., Inc., Pittsburgh. The same oil sys- tem which supplies fuel for.the heaters also serves the core ovens. Oil is stored in two underground tanks filled from railroad tank cars. It makes a complete circuit from the tanks to the extreme end of the orna- mental shop, then to an oil reservoir and back to the storage tanks. An underground trench extending through the plant carries the oil service, as well as compressed air and electric conduits. In the summer season the fans of the hot blast heaters may be used for ventilating purposes. Ventilation is also promoted by windows in the continuous sash and by large rolling lift doors located at various points in the walls of the foundry and architectural shop. Current liabilities were $2,291,866, of which notes pay- able amounted to $1,110,000. This year was one of keen competition and unusual price cutting, said President Coonley, in his remarks to stockholders. Starting with a fair volume of forward orders in the spring, incoming business declined steadily in tonnage until after election, when there was a_ substantial recovery, but not in prices. The most important step in production during the year was the development of a line of electric steel valves and fittings for high-pres- sure work. Shipment of Locomotives WASHINGTON, March 9.—February shipments of lo- comotives numbered 85, according to Department of Commerce reports. Twelve of these were for export. Except for the figures of last April, this total is the smallest in more than two years. It compares with 90 in January and with 99 in February a year ago. In February, two years ago, the total was 207. Unfilled orders at the end of February were 397, of which 54 were for export. This is close to the average of the previous six months. At the end of February, 1924, the number on order was 499, while one year pre- vious it was 2220. Steel Construction Institute Meetings The American Institute of Steel Construction, 350 Madison Avenue, New York, is conducting a series of district meetings in various cities of the country under the supervision of its chief engineer, Lee H. Miller. The purpose of the meetings is to educate architects, engineers, builders, real estate operators, financiers a a and others as to design, fabrication and erection of structural steel ; understanding of its “ oe an ee The first meetings were held last w i beginning with one at Atlanta, on ae ‘Merch Ge second at New Orleans on March 9 and the third at Dallas, Texas. on March 11. Other meetings to come are: El Paso, Texas, March 14: Los Angeles, March 19; San Francisco, March 23 (tentative) ; Portland Ore., March 30; Seattle, Wash., March 31; Vancouver, B. C., April (tentative); Winnipeg, Ma ; avon Madison, Wis., April 20, g, Man., April 6 (tentative); March 12, 1925 THE IRON AGE 765 ‘TAIR Stringers, “’ Formerly Made Out of Steel Chan- nels, Are Now Fre quently Universal! Steel Plates to Sup- Ply a Demand for Rounded, Smooth Edges. A stringer of the latter type is in the foreground Stair horses, made out of steel angles are bolted t the stringers CAST Iron Win : dow Frame, (Above) 10 Ft 7 In. Wide by 21 Ft High, in Process of Assembly Con- struction is entirely of \-in. cast iron plates bolted § to- gether, except for steel brackets at the bottom and the top for fastening into the masonry STEP Plates With . Three Treads Are Formed Out of One Piece ere eens 756 THE BENDING HARD STEEL BARS Strength Shown hy Rail Steel-Concrete Bars After Bending—Specifications for Tests BY E. E. HUGHES* AIL steel reinforcing bars repeatedly have shown their ability to stand up under bending tests. There has been in some quarters an impression that a bend in a hard steel, or rail steel, bar greatly reduced the strength of the material at the point of the bend. Thousands of tests have disproved this. In a series of experiments, carried out some months ago, pieces were picked at random from scrap heaps consisting of crop ends of longer bars. These pieces were subjected to tests, not in a laboratory, but on a machine that was used regularly for bending bars for commercial use. They were bent in accordance with standard specifications for hard grade billet and rail steel bars. After bending they were subjected to tests in a specially designed apparatus. Eighty per cent of the bars broke in the straight part, leaving the bend intact. The remaining 20 per cent broke in the bend but, on an average, at only 4.15 per cent less than the tensile strength of duplicate straight bars from the same batch of samples. What is more important, however, is the fact that not one single bar broke below 80,000 lb. per sq. in., the mini- mum tensile strength of hard grade steel, while the average shows the bars to have broken at 24 per cent higher than this figure. Under conditions of service, in which the bar is completely surrounded by concrete, bends in rail steel should develop 100 per cent of their original strength. Obviously, bends do not weaken rail steel bars. It should be borne in mind that difficulties experienced in *President Rail Steel Products Association. Smoker of Treaters The annual dinner and smoker of the New York Chapter of the American Society for Steel Treating will be held in the banquet room at the Fraternities Building, 22 East Thirty-eighth Street, New York, on Wednesday, March 18, at 6.30 p. m. W. S. Bidle, the national president, and W. H. Eisenman, the na- tional secretary, will be guests of honor, as will also A. M. Bird, the national vice-president. The meeting will be enlivened by vaudeville stunts and other fea- tures. The spring sectional meeting of the National Society will be held at Schenectady, N. Y., March 28, 29 and 30 under the auspices of the Schenectady Chapter. Dinner and New York Steel Cincinnati Metal Trades Association Elects Officers E. A. Muller, vice-president and general manager of the King Machine Tool Co., Cincinnati, was elected president of the Cincinnati Metal Trades Association at the annual meeting of the organization on March 2 at the Cincinnati Business Men’s Club. Other officers elected were: David C. Jones, the Lunkenheimer Co., vice-president; James E. Mills, the Smith & Mills Co., secretary; and L. G. Freeman, the Louis G. Freeman Co., treasurer. Members elected to the executive com- mittee of the association were J. B. Doane, American Tool Works Co.; J. Wallace Carrel, Lodge & Ship- ley Co.; and A. B. Breeze, Cincinnati Ball Crank Co. Attendance at the meeting, which was preceded by a dinner, was the iargest in the history of the associa- tion, more than 300 members being present. Chester A. Dyer, member of the executive committee of the Ohio Farm Federation, spoke on lower taxes and less legislation. Dr. G. W. Dyer, in his address, pointed out the economic fallacies temporarily interfering with the operation of the law of supply and demand. Homer IRON AGE March 12, 1925 bending rail steel bars are exactly the same as those found in bending hard grade billet stock. This is be- cause the steel is of high tensile strength. How the Bend Should Be Mad. Tensile and ductile properties are always inversely proportioned; if one is high the other is low. Rail steel bars should be sent slowly, so that the proper flow of the particles may take place. Also, unskilled labor should not be used for this work. Sometimes 1-in. bars are bent around the same pin that is used for bending %- in. bars. No reinforcing bar, regardless of the grade, should be subjected to such treatment. Specifications as to the size of the mandrel and the number of degrees through which the bars should be bent without breaking have been laid down by the American Society for Testing Materials, as follows: Hard Steel and Rail Bars Cold Bend Without Fracture Bend Mandrell Bars under % in. diameter or SIR: «al cracins bales 6:60 180 deg. d=A4t Bars % in. diameter or thickness Ee 2 ae 90 deg. d=4t t—size of the bar. d—diameter of mandrel around which bend is made. In good engineering practice, bending for construc- tion is done around pins of 7 or 8 diameters, which favors the steel to a considerable extent. No diffi- culty should be experienced if bending is properly done. It is obvious that the bar should not be expected to stand severer treatment than is exacted by the test in the specification. Whether the steel be hard, intermediate or soft, improper bending develops excessive strains. Why should the strength of a reinforcing bar be sacrificed to gain ductility, simply that the bar may be mistreated in bending? Bending departments are adjuncts of prac- tically all rail steel mills and skilled labor is employed to bend bars to specifications, at a nominal charge. Skilled workers rarely have difficulty in the bending of hard grade bars. 1). Sayre, commissioner of the National Metal Trades Association, Chicago, outlined the activities of the In- dustrial Education Department and emphasized the importance of adequate training of apprentices, special- ists and foremen. Michigan Safety Conference A Michigan State Safety Conference will be held at Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday and Tuesday, March 23 and 24, under the joint auspices of the Safety Coun- cils of Grand Rapids, Bay City, Detroit, Lansing, Battle ( reek, Jackson and Flint, together with the Grand Rapids Engineering Society, Grand Rapids Association of Commerce, and numerous other organizations. H. M. Taliaferro of the American Seating Co., Grand Rapids, is general chairman of arrangements committee. Meet- ings will be held at the Hotel Pantlind. Fire protection will be the general subject of discussion at the morning meeting of the first day; wood-working hazards- and hazards in plants handling metals will be discussed in the afternoon session; accident prevention problems in the public utility and paper and pulp industries will be discussed at the morning meeting of the second day and the afternoon meeting will be devoted to discussion of public and school safety. A safety conference will be held at Newark. N. J., Monday, March 16, under the auspices of the Jersey City Safety Council, Newark Safety Council, Paterson Safety Council and the American Society ‘of Safety Engineers— ungineering Section, National Safety Council. Morning and afternoon sessions will be held in the auditorium of the Public Service Corporation, 80 Park Place, Newark, and a dinner meeting will be held in the evening. Subjects to be discussed include factory fire protection, plant design and housekeeping methods illumination for safety and production, industrial venti- lation, and thinking safety in terms of industrial management. - b \ Bt 5 ee jae Selecting and Placing College Graduates" First Essential Is Knowing Why You Want a College Man —Much Depends on His Ability to Study—Aptitudes Important—Why Turnover Is High BY JOHN MILLS N discussing the problems of selecting and placing the college graduate in business we cannot pass over the question of “Why do we want a college graduate in business?” Do we want to employ a college graduate because of certain technical ability in economics, accounting, writing, science or engineering, which he has acquired from his college courses and of which we may make immediate use? There may be differences in the reply to this question, but for myself I hope that the reply is “no.” The college should not be a _ trade school for industry and all attempts to make it 4 such by the inclusion of courses of specific indus- trial applicability are likely to destroy its value in our social and eco- nomic life. Are we, on the other hand, in the em- ployment market for col- lege men because every- body else is and we as- sume we are all on the right track? I think there is an element of this, and that there is a danger of neglecting to develop, by educational opportunities within industry, the man of equal native ability who cannot attend col- executives? RE you ooking for men with trained brains and pleasing personality, who may make creative contributions to your business and in a sufficient number of cases develop into capable hensive specifications for such a man and have ; you developed a method for determining whether want in he is sufficiently within the limits of these specifi- cations to warrant employment? Have you set up a method for determining the applicant’s aptitudes and mental foundations to produce in the line of his chief interests? A highly intelligent and definite method of procedure in the selection and placing of college graduates in business is outlined in Mr. Mills’ paper, which may be read with profit by those employing either few or many college men. fications. The specifications proposed are six in number. The first is that of intellectual curiesity, Under this term I do not include casual and idle curiosity, but that sort which leads to a continued and orderly effort to determine the why of the physical or social phenomena of the world about one. The second re- quirement is the ability to study. It is perhaps the one real aim in education; but the percentage of the population which has the ability to study is much less than the percentage of academic degrees or sim- ilar evidences of learning would appear to indicate. Learning looks to the past while study looks ‘to the future. It is this abil- ity to apply one’s mind and acquire knowledge by If so, have you in mind definite and compre- one’s own efforts which the college man, that we’ industry, must have acquired. The third requirement is the habit of study. Apparently this is a habit which takes time to acquire and the four years of college have frequently proved insuffi- cient time. The three remaining specifications have to do with the student’s atti- tude and abilities in hu. man relationships. The lege. Are we, to form an- other question, interested in college men because of a greater adaptability and ease of training for many of the routine and repetitive tasks of our business? Of such a demand in the past there has been too much It usually reflects the absence of adequate training facilities for less immediately acceptable employees. Having answered these questions, we shall probably agree that we turn to the colleges in the hopes of obtaining men of good mental ability and personality, who have acquired habits of thought and study which will enable them to see broadly the business and tech- nical problems of the future, to analyze the factors involved, to arrive objectively and without prejudice at solutions, and through personality and executive ability to give those solutions weight and effectiveness. We look for trained brains, in vigorous bodies, with pleasant but dynamic personalities, men who may make creative contributions to our respective businesses or arts, and in a sufficient number of cases develop as capable executives. If this is what we are looking for in employing the college man, then we are in a position to write tentative specifications for such a man. Habit of Study Important in Man-Specifications I believe in writing specifications for the man and not specifications for the job. I am entirely willing that for the more routine tasks of industry, job speci- fications shall be written, but when it comes to employ- ing in the hope of obtaining the future creative genius or far-reaching executive, we must work to man speci *Abstracted from a paper presented at the annual conven- tion of the American Management Association, held in New York. Mr. Mills is with the Bell Telephone Laboratories, 463 West Street, New York. 757 fourth requirement is, therefore, the ability to learn from men. The fifth is the ability to cooperate with men, and the sixth the promise of ability to lead and influence men. The ability to learn from men 4s the most important, and, if inherent in an applicant for employment, must in time lead to an ability to :‘co- operate with men on a basis of trust and confidence which will provide opportunities for leadership. Determining Whether Applicant Is Up to Specifications Having established the specifications we mast next se. up a method for determining whether or not the applicant is sufficiently within the limits of the speci- fication to warrant employment. There is no proven or accepted method for so measuring men. I eannot myself place very much reliance upon the so-called psychological tests in their present stage of develop- ment. Nor do I believe that it is necessary to attempt a mental test of the conventional sort for men who have been successfully subjected to the intellectual discipline of ovr American colleges. I place some weight upon the grades obtained by the student in his academic courses, but do not demand of him a unit formly high grade. What I am interested in detecting is some course of study which at some time has suffi- ciently aroused his curiosity to stimulate some real intellectual effort. In the selection of a candidate for employment there are three questions to be answered: 1, along what lines of endeavor lie his fundamental interests and urges? that is, what are his aptitudes? 2, has he the mental foundation to produce in this line? and 3, has he the personality, character and physical qualifica- tions for such productive work? The placement of an ae rere meres ee.” Sg Csr ay Fe 758 THE IRON AGE applicant who is employed is, of course, determined by the answers to these same questions, and is usually more successful if the employee is placed in work along the lines of his natural aptitudes. In selecting men I am myself inclined to the inter- view method, although I recognize its obvious limita- tions. In such interviews the greater part of the effort is expended in arriving at an answer to the first ques- tion, the applicant’s aptitudes. The answers to the remaining two questions are by-products; that is, judg- ments formed largely during the answering of the first question. This interview method [outlined at length in Mr. Mills’ paper], which arrives by free association of ideas at something from which the interviewer can make a judgment, is the method in which I have greatest faith for determining whether or not an appli- cant has the intellectual curiosity, and the ability and habit of study, which are half of the six man specifi- cations. It also provides opportunities for judging the last three of the specifications. Method of Determining Aptitudes We all know how applicants tend to have acquired certain individual prejudices as to types of work and express preferences which are misleading and usually inadequately representative of their own interests. In an attempt to get below the surface of these somewhat conventional preferences, I have been using for technical school graduates a method which was recently described in the Journal of Personal Research under the title, ise LAMARUNOUAANARPAENNPNNMNAT TT MAAN TUNA RNAS AA LAMA A TEAL EHNA March 12, 1925 erence between technical responsibility and rvisory responsibility, assuring him that both types are equally rewarded, in salary and opportunity of promotion for similar contributions to the welfare of the company. The men who put ideas high in their list will express an instinctive tendency toward technical responsibility and those who should not be placed in jobs calling for the development of technical judgment will choose supervisory responsibility. A further question has to do with motive. We as- sume that as human beings we are driven to make such successes as we do by virtue of three motives, namely, an economic motive, which is the desire for more and more of the things of this world, a motive of ambition, which is interested primarily in acclaim and credit, and an instinct of workmanship, which is the play instinct grown up, a motive which finds its satisfaction in the activity itself, and at the time, rather than in results which follow. We may then ask what the appli- cant estimates are the relative proportions of these three urges in his own make-up. The management type runs high, apparently, in the motive of personal ambi- tion, somewhat less in economic motive, and very little in the instinct of workmanship. Those who tend to become technical experts in industry are usually high in their instinct of workmanship, next in ambition, and least in economic motive. Selection and placement are steps which precede training and development; and one phase of this broader problem is of immediate interest. There is UUQU0UQCUUIMUTUL PELLETS ESATA SHER TATA PT HERE is an explanation for the restlessness and apparent impatience of the college man who is new in business. It is not that he is unwilling to undergo the hard training required or that he expects to be made a general manager within the first year. The main cause of dissatisfaction, which leads in the first year or two to severance of employment, is inherent in the college training, and the better that training, the greater may be the dissatisfaction. The matter is discussed at length by Mr. Mills, who states that the failure of the college man to grow intel- lectually during his early years in business and the failure of business to provide for such devel- opment constitute the most serious failure in connection with the introduction of college men to industry. FUTON LL RRNA ALMA LeNed MAAR HTT ENN MAT NCGAWUNE eT HN SN6U NC ANNEN UY TUMMEENO REL UUUENEULADOCUUL CUE EME Wnsreesducnedennegdtie “Engineering Aptitudes.” The method involves asking the applicant some four definite questions with, of course, such supplementary ones as the conversation may later require. These force him to express in abstract terms his more or less instinctive interests. The first question assumes that the applicant is looking for a job which will lead to a career, that is to the expression of his personality through some medium. For this let us assume four media, namely, those of (1) ideas, (2) men, (3) things, and (4) eco- nomic symbols. The philosopher has his career almost entirely in the medium of ideas, a politician in that of men, a mechanic in the field of things, and a sta- tistical economist in that of economic symbols. But there are combinations of these fields with primary and secondary interests; thus a good teacher is usually interested in ideas and men; a business promoter in men and economic symbols; a research scientist in ideas and things. It is illuminating to have each applicant write these four media in his order of relative interests. We usually find the salesman or business-manager type expressing his preference in the order of men, economic symbols, things, and ideas. The type to be concerned with the management of technical processes expresses his interest as men, things, ideas and economic sym- bols, or as, things, men, ideas and economic sym- bols, if he will take more interest in the equipment than in the human beings with the management of whieh he is concerned. Your advertising man, per- sonnel worker, and the like, will be in favor of the order: men, ideas, things, economic relations. Cross check questions may be used to supplement this ques- tion. They serve also to lead to somewhat finer differ- entiations. Another question asks as to the applicant’s pref- ViUEUNG aN Uta TOSUYO( TDS dae abeetQOO SETH ECENNTED DOREY PEPER LTO CUPOYDOTEY OUR TRAUEU REVERE Y ADDER RAU GGA LOYAL a large turnover during the first two years’ employ- ment after graduation which means a considerable waste for industry and for the individual. Even as- suming correct analysis in the original selection and placement such waste may still occur and the fact that it does is a serious failure on the part of both industry and the college graduate. Impatience of College Men Explained There is an explanation for the restlessness and apparent impatience of the college man who is receiv- ing his introduction to industry, which is not the con- ventional one that he is unwilling to undergo the hard training which business requires or that he expects to be made a general manager within the first year. Such attitudes may be symptoms but one main cause of the restlessness and dissatisfaction which leads in the first year or two to severance of employment, voluntary or otherwise, is inherent in the college train- ing and the better that training the greater may be the dissatisfaction. During his junior and senior year the college man studies courses in economics, psychology, philosophy, or science and mathematics, which require of him, as a rule, severe mental effort. He has been working ona high intellectual level. Then he enters the world of business and industry and the things which, for the first year or two, at least, he must learn are matters of organization routine, locations, familiarity with stocks, lists of customers, methods of accounting, and the like, all matters which can be learned by a man of high school education or even less. In general, he has no task which is on as high an intellectual level as that on which he has been working in college. He has im- portant information to acquire, but very little of the March 12, 1925 thinking, which is required of him, is of the same difficulty and continuity. Can we always blame him if he develops impatience and feels that the tasks on which he is engaged are below his mental abilities? The worst of the situation is that he comes uncon- sciously to the conclusion that business and industry do not demand continued effort on a high intellectual level as did his college work. Of course, he is given no task of this level until he has acquired the background of company experience and informational knowledge. The result, in general, is that his habit of study 1s interrupted, never to be regained, and that is why in the man specifications previously stated insistence has been placed upon the habit of study. Only the man who has the habit of study will, as a rule, ride through the early years of his industrial connection without a permanent lowering of the pos- THE IRON AGE 759 sible level of his intellectual effort. The result of such a lowering is that when, in the course of advancement because of his business acumen, human adaptability, and experience, the college graduate reaches finally a position where he is confronted with problems demand- ing intensive study on a high intellectual level, he is out of the habit of study. Then he is incapable of adequately attacking these problems; and instead of obtaining the solutions by scientific methods, he is guided by hunches, by so-called business judgment, and by conscious or unconscious imitations of the practices and methods of others. The failure of the college man to continue to grow intellectually during his early years in business, and the failure of business to provide facilities for such development, are, I believe, the most serious failure in connection with college men in business. Would Annul Order of Commission Ford Motor Co. and Others Assert Action in Assigned Car Case Was Not Legal—Appeal to a Kentucky Court WASHINGTON, Marcu 10.—Applications continue to be filed seeking to set aside and annul the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the assigned car case. The Ford Motor Co. and the Fordson Coal Co. have made application to the three-judge statutory court in the eastern district of Kentucky at Covington. These interests asked to have the order set aside so that it will not-interfere with the operation of mines of the coal company in Pike County, Kentucky, and the plant of the motor company in Detroit. April 11 has been set as the date for the hearing which will be held at Covington. Like applications of steel companies and others affected by the order, the Ford bill points out the necessity for a special kind of coal at a particular time to be made into coke for use in the Ford steel plant being established in Michigan. The bill states that the company has invested nearly $2,000,000 in coal cars for serving the mills. It is charged in the application that the order of the com- mission, which went into effect on March 1, exceeds the power of the commission. The claim is made that Con- gress did not confer the jurisdiction taken by the com- mission. It is stated that the commerce clause of the constitution is not intended to regulate commerce but is intended to prohibit commerce when such prohibi- tion is not in any way in the interest of the public. It Boston Branch of National Metal Trades Association Reelects Officers Wolcott Remington, Thomson Electric Welding Co., Lynn, Mass., was reelected president of the Boston branch of the National Metal Trades Association at the annual meeting held Wednesday evening, March 4, at Young’s Hotel, Boston. Other officers reelected were J. R. Kinney, Kinney Mfg. Co., Jamaica Plain, Boston, vice-president; and W. S. Kemp, Holtzer-Cabot Elec- tric Co., Jamaica Plain, treasurer. H. K. Spencer, Blanchard Machine Co., Cambridge, Mass., and F. J. Shepard, Lewis Shepard Co., South Boston, machinery, succeed B. T. Williston, Manning, Maxwell & Moore, Inc., Boston, and J. J. Lannon, Grant Gear Works, South Boston, as members of the execu- tive committee. L. H. Sturtevant, Sturtevant Mill Co., Boston, whose term expires this year, was re- elected a member of that committee. The other mem- bers are Theodore W. Little, Walworth Mfg. Co., Bos- ton; Thomas Officer, Sullivan Machinery Co., Clare- mont, N. H., and Gordon Russell, James Russell Boiler Works, Dorchester, Boston. Guests of the evening included Paul C. De Wolf, Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co., Providence, R. L., president National Metal Trades Association, who spoke on the is also charged that the attempted exercise of power by the commission is not warranted by either the inter- state act or the transportation act. Moreover, it is claimed that the order, which pro- vides for pro rata distribution of coal cars by railroads at mines during periods of emergency, regardless of the number of cars that may be privately owned by industrial concerns, does not prevent discrimination Lut rather tends to increase it. Because of this, it.is claimed that the order defeats its own implied purpose of abol- ishing discrimination. “ Suits of a similar character also have been filed in Philadelphia by the Rainey-Wood Coke Co., the Sea- board By-product Coke Co., the Chicago By-product Coke Co., and the Donner-Hanna Coke Corporation in a joint bill of complaint. In another bill suit has been filed by the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., the West- moreland Coal Co., and the New River & Pocahontas Coal & Coke Co. The declaration is made‘in the Rainey- Wood bill that enforcement of the order would abolish the right of the companies to use private cars in times of coal shortage. This, it is claimed, would constitute a denial of rights of laws enacted by Congress and the State of Pennsylvania, as well as those guaranteed by the constitution. ‘ The first bill was filed by the Bethle- hem Steel interests. activities of the association, and Dr. Gus W. Dyer, who talked on the American theory of industry. Mr. Rem- ington acted as toastmaster. The report of C. H. Wil- son, secretary of the Boston branch, showed the organ- ization to be in a flourishing and prosperous condition. Passing of the Factory Clock Key The passing of the clock key in industrial plants has been shown by an analysis of sales and inquiries of the Brown Instrument Co., Philadelphia, according to J. P. Goheen, secretary of the company. Some sta- tistical genius, he says, once figured that it was cost- ing him $210 a year to wird the various clock-driven contrivances in his plant. When he started to check up on how much it cost him when somebody forgot to wind them, he issued a rush order to replace every clock-mechanism with electric drive wherever possible. For quite some time recording instruments—pyrom- eters, thermometers, resistance thermometers, pressure gages, tachometers and CO, meters—have been sup- plied with a synchronous motor clock, where alternat- ing current is available. Where only direct current is used, the instruments are usually operated off an im- pulse time clock system. wae Sra ernest Sarr arty 760 THE IRON AGE March 12, 1925 Large Plate Frame Billet Shear What is believed to be the largest motor and gear- driven heavy duty steel plate frame billet shear ever built is that shown in the accompanying illustration. This shear, which was built by Henry Pels & Co., 90 West Street, New York, is designed to cut 9 in. rounds, 8 in. squares and 4% x 20 in. flats, cold. The shearing is ac- complished in one stroke. The machine is capable of six strokes a minute, the length of the stroke being 7% in. The shear is driven by a 100-hp. motor, which is mounted on a platform at the top of the machine as Cenenetanenn sane seneasacetnnnemnannmncentinmnmnasnanen eae eae tnenEn TINE | FTNHETY HC HUHE HEC HEEL FEU Steel Plate Frame Billet Shear for Cutting 9-In. Rounds and 8-In. Squares. The shearing is in one stroke Oenevenvrveneveunepenenaueeecannnoanediaseetsectey shown, and is belted to the flywheel from which the power is transmitted by countershaft, eccentric shaft und plunger to the ram carrying the knife. The ram is engaged for each stroke by throwing a _ hand-op- erated clutch, which disengages automatically at its highest position after the cut is made. The end of the bar remaining after the cut is made is held by a hold-down, which is actuated by a separate motor, which in turn is belted to the elevating mechan- ism. This motor is arranged to stop automaticall