SYMBOLIC NOMENCLATURE. 97 



acting on the hook, is then exposed, displaying "To the Shops" 

 or " To the Office," as the case may be. It is made the duty of 

 any employee, passing by, to carry the pouch to its destination, 

 where its contents are distributed by the means already described. 

 In practice there is generally enough casual passing to and fro 

 to make special trips unnecessary. 



This, then, forms the entire plant of the system : cards, racks, 

 punches, stamps and a very few books of final record. 



II. SYMBOLIC NOMENCLATURE. 

 General Remarks. 



We have seen that the true cost of the product is made up of 

 three components, viz. : 



1. Direct charges for labor. 



2. Direct charges for material. 



3. Incidental charges for miscellaneous expenses. 



The following are the means adopted to make these charges 

 definite and independent of the variations due to ordinary de- 

 scription : 



For both services (labor) and material, a system of symbols is 

 used which specifically indicates not only on what job the expend- 

 iture has been made, but the character of the expenditure, and 

 even in some cases to which operation on what component of the 

 product the outlay should be charged. These symbols are 

 provided for on all cards in the spaces headed S-O. ; C. ; O. ; 

 and N. See chapters XII and XIII. 



S-O. stands -for Shop-Order ; C. for Character of expenditure ; 

 O. for the Object on which made ; and N. for the Number of 

 the operation for which the expenditure was required. 



The idea is to keep a strict account with each job by such a 

 simple and invariable method that the same work will always be 

 called by the same name, and that the resulting cost may be 

 readily analyzed by names as minutely as it may ever be required 

 without expecting clerks to have mechanical knowledge, or requir- 

 ing mechanics to do the work of clerks. 



Experience shows that symbols are readily learned by all con- 

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