Industrial Research 



335 



that autoniatically sort finished pieces according to lino 

 gradations of size within the estabHshcd manufacturing 

 tolerances, machines that automatically reject defective 

 pieces, machines that sort pieces according to color, 

 machines that continuously measure and control the 

 thickness of the product of a continuous paper mill, 

 inspection devices that permit the rapid inspection of 

 the form of screw tlireads, or "the testing and charting 

 of the accuracy of the involute curve of gear teeth," or 

 "the lead of helical gears," and devices of extraordinary 

 sensitiveness for the rapid inspection of surface finishes. 

 Here also belongs the research that has led to the many 

 available counting devices both of the scale and of the 

 electron-tube types. 



Finallj^, in this category belongs a deal of research 

 on the problem of sampling, ranging from the elemen- 

 tary heaping and quartering technique for coal sampling 

 that every engineering student knows, to some of the 

 most obtruse statistical theory yet developed, the 

 latter being the contribution of a well-known industrial 

 laboratory. 



It would be a serious error to assume that the field 

 of routine inspection is one that does not, at times, give 

 rise to important and profitable research, even in the 

 narrowest and most limited sense of that word. 



Management 



To many it may seem strange to find a section on 

 management in a report on the research activities of 

 mechanical engineers. Since, therefore, some sort of 

 a preface to such a section is obviously desirable, the 

 following remarks of the late Dr. C. F. Hirshfeld are 

 offered as a sort of text: 



When I was a student my dean stressed the fact that he 

 regarded an engineer as a technically trained businessman. As 

 I have grown older, and I hope wiser, I have appreciated more 

 and more the significance of that statement. It is true that we 

 have a place, and a large place for what I call technicians, men 

 whose skill is limited to the application of technical knowledge 

 to the technical solution of technical problems. But I think it 

 is equally true that we have a scarcity of engineers in the sense 

 in which my wise old dean conceived them. We do not have 

 nearly enough men who have combined a technical training 

 with an inborn or an acquired business sense and with business 

 knowledge. It is only in the hands of such individuals that 

 industrial research may be expected to reach the real heights of 

 accomplishment . . . Much more profit may at times be 

 obtained from organized factfinding in the so-called nontechnical 

 or business departments than from technical improvement. 



Even if this be granted, some will still argue that 

 management research belongs to the social sciences 

 rather than to engineering. But does this not imply an 

 unduly limited view of what constitutes engineering? 

 Engineering has been defined as the art of mobilizing 

 materials, money, and men for the accomplishment of 

 projects beneficial to mankind. Why should materials 



research alone be considered to the exclusion of research 

 on the mobilization of money and of men? 



Furthermore, it should be remembered that modern 

 management, in the sense of an activity that can be 

 rationally discussed and philosophized about, grew out 

 of the thinking of engineers. Taylor, Gantt, Gilbreth, 

 and most, if not all, of the other pioneers in this field, 

 were engineers. And most of today's consultants in 

 this field not only were trained as engineers, but carry 

 that designation on their current letterheads. 



That management should be regarded as belonging 

 to the field of mechanical, rather than some other 

 branch of engineering, is perhaps more debatable. But 

 it may be remembered that management, in the sense 

 in which it is here thought of, is an aspect of produc- 

 tion or manufacturing, and that production is more 

 akin to mechanical than to most other branches of 

 engineering. It is commonly a mechanical engineer 

 who feels most at home in a machine shop or a factory. 

 By the same token, The American Society of Mechani- 

 cal Engineers alone among the major engineering 

 societies has an active professional division interested 

 in management. 



Finally, an examination of the discussion that follows 

 will disclose specific activities, here classed as manage- 

 ment activities, that not only lie definitely in the 

 mechanical engineering field, but are of such a nature 

 as to require experience in that field for their successful 

 prosecution. 



The work commonly called plant engineering, like 

 other sorts of work already discussed, has its routine 

 side, particularly in maintenance. But even here there 

 is much chance for the research spirit in the choice of 

 materials and methods. An example is whether to 

 use brushes or spray guns in maintenance painting in a 

 given plant under given labor conditions. Power-plant 

 operation in a manufacturing plant also demands fact 

 finding in the shape of operating statistics, fuel studies, 

 load studies, and the like, that arc well above the level 

 of routine. Decisions on all such matters are com- 

 monly made by the plant engineer, usually a mechanical 

 engineer. Indeed, to be a top-notch plant engineer 

 requires a keen fact-finding instinct and an unusually 

 wide range of knowledge and experience. 



Similar problems are met by, and similar initiative 

 is required of, specialists in building management in 

 metropolitan centers. Such men are often mechanical 

 engineers. 



Plant lay-out, and particularly the routing and han- 

 dling of material in a plant, also require organized fact 

 finding and independent thinking, and this is a function 

 commonly performed by mechanical engineers. It is 

 specifically mentioned by informants as diverse as a 

 manufacturer of roller chains, a manufacturer of lead 

 pencils, a manufacturer of men's shirts, and a manu- 



