104 CONSTRUCTION 



Conn., has made a careful study of the time element in 

 excavation work by shovel, which he has presented in a 

 paper in the Proceedings of the Connecticut Civil Engi- 

 neers and Surveyors' Association. His theory as far as 

 the laborers are concerned is divided into three parts: 



First. That a shoveler can do maximum work when he 

 shovels 5 shovelfuls in 50 seconds. It takes each man about 



5 seconds for one shovelful. He will therefore work 25 

 seconds and rest 25 seconds, and so on throughout the day. 

 The rest periods will be his absolutely without any inter- 

 ference on the part of the man in charge of the work. 

 Experiments were made on 4 shovelfuls in 40 seconds, 



6 shovelfuls in 60 seconds, 10 shovelfuls in 100 seconds, 

 also, the result being that 5 shovelfuls in 50 seconds gave 

 the greatest amount of work. By this method, after 

 deducting 5 per cent, for waste time, Mr. Parker claims 

 that an average laborer can handle 22| cubic yards in a 

 10-hour day. 



Second. That 4 men, 1 working alone and loading 

 10 yards in a day, 1 working in a gang of 5 and loading 

 12 yards, 1 working in a gang of 10 and loading 15 yards, 

 and 1 working in a gang of 30 and loading 22 yards, are 

 equally tired at the end of the day. It is Mr. Parker's 

 opinion that laborers on this class of excavation should 

 work in gangs of 30 men each, subdivided into crews of 

 15, one crew for every cart. 



Third. Each man is required to count his shovelfuls. 

 In each 50 seconds he must load 5 shovelfuls, no less, no 

 more. The claim is made that the counting has a beneficial 

 and stimulating effect. 



