CHAPTER III. 

 INDUSTRIAL LABOUR TOOLS. 



301. The relations between the Workman and his Tools- 

 Apprenticeship. The investigations discussed in the preceding 

 chapters are of a comparatively simple nature. The objects 

 in view were to adjust the efforts and the speed of the " human " 

 motor " so as to give the best results and by careful observations 

 to eliminate those attitudes or motions of the body which are 

 valueless or even detrimental. The factors to be considered are 

 not numerous and can, with comparative ease, be isolated and 

 studied separately. 



When, however, we pass on to investigate the use of tools, the 

 opportunities for defective attitudes are far more numerous. 

 We may take as examples of this the stiffness and clumsiness of 

 the apprentice, faulty positions of the body in relation to the work 

 or tool operated, unnecessary oscillations of the body, or irre- 

 gularity in the movement of the limbs. We have also to decide 

 on the effort, the speed, and the frequency and the intervals of 

 rest, to be adopted, in each particular case. 



If, to the above, we add the personality of the individual work- 

 man, his figure, his strength, his education, in the full sense of 

 the word, we shall have enumerated nearly all the possible phy- 

 siological variables. 



But the useful output of the workman is obviously also greatly 

 affected by his equipment of tools, their arrangement, quality, 

 and selection (vide 192). These points might be described as 

 the mechanical variables which must receive careful investigation. 



The " science of apprenticeship " comprehends the study of 

 both the physiological and the mechanical variables. This is 

 laboratory research, but the laboratory must be in close and 

 intimate touch with the workshop. To enable the physical and 

 moral qualities and the mental and muscular powers of any man 

 to attain their best results the man must work under the best in- 

 ternal and external conditions (vide Book IV.). In particular, 

 the closest attention must be given to the movements of man and 

 tool, for thereby great economies both in time and effort can be 

 realised. Taylor's comprehensive investigations showed clearly 

 the influences of load and speed on the output of labourers. Such 

 work is, however, of a simple nature, in which but few variables 

 have to be considered. When we pass to the study of a turner 

 at his lathe, other factors have to be reckoned with. The work- 

 n.an's efforts and movements must be carefully observed, with a 



