THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 



AUTOMATIC TOOL. 



ERNEST F. LLOYD. 



The subject of the address presupposes familiarity with the automatic 

 tool, but it may be well to take a moment to more definitely fix the idea. 



Machinery aids man in the accomplishment of work. In a general or 

 rough way, we may classify it as of three types : Non-automatic or plain 

 machinery, semi-automatic machinery, and full automatic machinery. You 

 will observe that in such a classification there can be no hard and fast lines 

 between the various types, but that the two extremes merge one into another 

 through the intermediate. 



Thus a lever, or shovel, or a primitive lathe, such as is commonly found in 

 oriental countries and which merely spins a piece of material to be worked 

 upon, may be included definitely in the first, or plain non-automatic class. 

 These simply assist the worker in accomplishing his purpose. Any one who 

 has been amused at the antics of a non-mechanical person endeavoring to use 

 a crowbar will at once recognize that while the lever is a tool, it is one by 

 which the worker's purpose cannot possibly be accomplished unless he himself 

 possesses full knowledge of the purpose and the method by which he can make 

 the tool assist him. 



A semi-automatic tool would be, for instance, the plain lathe to which I 

 have just referred with the addition of, let us say, the lead screw. I well 

 remember being told by the late Andrew Harvey, of Detroit, that his father 

 with a hammer and cape chisel could chase a vise screw thread on an iron bar 

 in half a day. The elder Harvey's training preceded the addition of the lead 

 screw to the lathe. This attachment enabled the worker to chase a very much 

 more accurate thread and in a fraction of the time. But the worker was still 

 under the necessity of understanding how the lead screw acted and of adapting 

 his work within its possibilities, though the skill and training required to do 

 so were greatly reduced. 



The full automatic tool, on the other hand, is one which contains within 

 itself the means of accomplishing a purpose without need of the operator 

 having any knowledge of the necessary steps. Thus, a farm boy may get a 

 job In a machine shop. He will be put to work on an automatic screw machine 

 and in the course of a few hours will turn out perfect work and at a rate of 

 speed infinitely beyond that possessed by either of the former workmen. 

 Moreover, if a skilled worker were put to work on an automatic screw machine, 



2l8t Mich. Acad Scl. Kept., 1919. 



