284 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



* 



that each of its points remained in contact with the cut piece only dur- 

 ing a very short time and during the rest of the rotation was either in 

 the air or m a copious water bath. 



VII. THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP. 



Under the title, ''The principles of the scientific organization of 

 work shops," the American engineer, Taylor, the well-known inventor 

 of the rapid-cutting steels, has published an interesting treatise, a 

 French translation of which with a preface by H, Le Ch atelier, 

 member of the institute, has just appeared. Taylor discusses the 

 means of augmenting the output of workshops without increasing 

 the fatigue of the workmen. He shows that the product of each 

 workman depends upon a great number of mdependent factors, 

 amounting, for example, in the case of metal turnmg to 12, and that 

 the workman by simple trials can not discover the most advan- 

 tageous values of these factors. The study of the workmg of metals 

 alone cost Taylor 1,000,000 francs ($193,000) and 25 years of expe- 

 rience. That was a very complicated case. A much more simple 

 method and one indicatmg the purpose of the author is the follow- 

 ing: In taking his bricks and mortar and putting them in place, a 

 mason customarily makes five times as many movements as arc 

 necessary. By modifying the scaffold and freeing the mason from 

 unnecessary steps in these maneuvers the product was tripled in 

 Philadelphia. 



Belot, the state director of manufactures, is busy with the system- 

 atic organization of manufactories. An article by him in La 

 Technique ]^Ioderne gives the following principles which are the 

 result of his observations: First, the principle of discontinuity. 

 Each time there is a discontinuity in the speed of the cu'culation 

 of matter under construction there will be a dimmution of the indus- 

 trial output of the machme or mechanical combination under con- 

 sideration and that diminution will be proportional to the variation 

 of speed. Second, the principle of best speed and of the mean 

 maximum delivery. In a machme or a work shop the size and the 

 speed of a mechanical cycle used will be determined by the best 

 speed for the process m use, and the immber of cycles will be deter- 

 mined by the mean maximum delivery to be realized. 



It is desirable that the attention of workshop foremen be brought 

 to questions of this kind, which are of the utmost importance and 

 the solution of which should not be left to chance 



