ii2 PROPOSED SYSTEM. 



attempted to manufacture machinery by the modern system of 

 duplicate (or approximately duplicate) parts, will, for a moment, 

 question. The necessity for a specific name for each piece, which 

 name is not, never has been, and never will be, used for any dif- 

 ferent piece of the same or any other machine, is evident, simply 

 for purposes of identification. This < identification is required 

 mechanically at almost every stage of production. The name, or 

 a symbol representing it, should be marked upon the drawings, 

 the patterns, and the special tools pertaining to each piece, and, 

 when convenient, upon the piece itself. Commercially, it is 

 required on time cards and in indexes and pattern lists and cost 

 books as pertaining to production. Pertaining to sales these 

 names or symbols must appear in illustrated price lists, and in 

 orders by and charges to customers. This our modern method of 

 repairs, by selling duplicate parts, renders imperatively necessary. 



The requisites for a good system of names and symbols are : 

 1st, isolation of each from all others that did, do, or may exist in 

 the same establishment. 2d, suggestiveness of what machine, 

 what part of it, and, if possible, the use of said part conforming, 

 of course, to established conventional names, as far as practicable. 

 3d, brevity, combined with simplicity. Of the importance of 

 isolation to prevent mistakes and confusion ; of suggestiveness to 

 aid the memory ; of brevity to save time and trouble, it is hardly 

 necessary to speak. 



Regarding the systems now in use in our best shops, this paper 

 will not attempt detailed information. It is understood that the 

 names are more or less scientifically arranged, depending, of 

 course, upon the amount of study and the quality of the brains 

 that have been expended upon them. In cases where symbols are 

 used, supplementary to the names, they usually consist of letters 

 or numbers, or (oftener) a combination of both. Many of them 

 (both names and symbols) fail in symmetry and suggestiveness, 

 because little attention has been paid to the names of the machines 

 themselves, as regards the serial consecutiveness, hinted at in 

 paragraph 2d. The quality of brevity often suffers severely, 

 because the name and symbol must, in most cases, each have the 

 machine name prefixed, to secure their perfect isolation. The 



