Chapter IX: Statistics of Manufacturing. 289 (4)

The story of soda is a beautiful example of how industry and the need of civilization can act as a beacon light for the science of 348 chemistry. This illustration will show how the pure science has created new industries and opened up new activities for civilization. In 1838 in England, there was born a boy who afterwards was to be known as Sir Wm. Perkin. He came of a very intelligent family. Besides, he was gifted with a natural aptitude for chemistry. More than that, he was put under the direction of Professor Hofmann, one of the most brilliant of chemists. Perkin would have been called by any one, an ideal bit of raw material. Hofmann, like many others of those German chemists, had a faculty of instilling that enthusiasm that is necessary in the performance of an epoch-making advancement. Perkin caught that enthusiasm. He rigged up a laboratory in his house and worked at night and in his vacations on those interesting problems that Hofmann discussed in his lectures. During one of these vacations, he was trying to build up, artificially, the substance called quinine, which was up to that time a purely natural product. His work took an unexpected turn. Instead of building up quinine, he built what chemists call now phenyl-sufranine, or mauvëine. This was a new substance with properties that rendered it an excellent dye. Perkin established a factory in which the new substance could be prepared on a large scale; and within a year of its discovery, he had it on the market. This discovery of Mauve, the first of the artificial dyes, gave a great impetus to the study of coal tar, from which it was made. Coal tar, up to that time, was a waste product, made in the process of heating coal for the manufacture of gas. This coal tar is the raw material which is used in that enormous chemical industry, the manufacture of the derivatives of tri-phenyl methane, the so-called aniline dyes. There is invested in this industry alone, $750,000,000; and the whole structure, complex as it is, is built on the foundation of a pure chemical research that was undertaken merely to gratify the investigative desires of a true scientist, with no thought of its 349 financial results. This achievement of Perkin stands out as one of the great discoveries of chemistry. And the story of Mauve shows how science has led the way for industry, just as the story of soda shows how industry has pointed out the way for science.

Many more stories of the victories of scientific industry could be told. Much has been done. But the chemist does not live in the glory of the past. He lives in the possibilities of the future. Every advancement of the past has opened up many fields of possibilities. If much has been done, much more remains to be done. And the work of the future will require the services of the scientist more than did the work of the past. Those problems whose answers were obvious, have all been solved. The problems of today are deep ones; they require all the ingenuity, all the ability that the trained chemist can bring to bear upon the problems. And they will all tend to increased efficiency.

While chemistry is a fundamental science, while it covers such a variety of subjects, while the total amount of its established facts is indeed enormous, nevertheless, it must be said with frankness that this vastness is made up for the most part by details and more or less isolated facts and ideas. Chemistry can boast of remarkable achievements. But the greatest achievements are yet before it. And the reason is this: Chemistry is not yet a really unified science. The real fundamentals which will string together all of the isolated facts and ideas, material of which the chemist has, indeed, reason to feel proud, are for the most part lacking. That is why the future is so much larger than the past. And that is why the world can expect from the chemists much greater achievements in the future than it has seen accomplished in the past, great as they have been.

In the most fundamental terms, chemistry concerns itself with the changes which the different kinds of energy produce upon matter. 350 Chemistry concerns itself with two things, energy and matter. And yet chemistry must admit that it does not know the nature of matter or the nature of energy. And not knowing, it cannot appreciate.

In this direction lie the achievements of the chemistry of the future. As the nature of matter and the nature of energy gradually unfold themselves to the advances of chemical investigation, remarkable possibilities for future development are disclosed. We are beginning to see how really wasteful we have been. The frightful wastes which the movement toward the conservation of our natural resources has called to our attention, sink into utter insignificance when we consider what we have lost on account of our ignorance. We are just beginning to appreciate our wastefulness of chemical energy. A piece of coal, for example, has in it the possibility of doing ten times as much work as it is doing now. A piece of radium has stored in it an almost infinite amount of energy. How to change this internal or chemical energy into the other forms of energy with which we are familiar, into heat, or electricity, or ordinary mechanical energy, that is the problem of the future. The utilization of this vast amount of potential energy that is stored up in all forms of matter, the harnessing of it in the service of humanity, this is the problem which confronts the chemist. It goes down to the very fundamentals of his science.

But the start has been made. The point of the wedge has already found entrance. The discovery of radium, and the study of its decompositions, has opened wide our field of vision. The problem must yield, as the blows of chemical investigation fall upon the wedge and drive it home.

Chemistry has always been a utilitarian science. Its results have always been at the service of humanity. And if we can judge the future by the past, even discounting for the enthusiasm of the chemist, we can forsee improved processes which will reduce our present wasteful 351 methods; we can see new processes making for us such things as india rubber from starch, for which we must now depend upon the bounty of nature; and we can dimly see the time when we shall be able to utilize some of that energy which is hidden away in the recesses of matter, and whose vastness we have just begun to appreciate.

THE CLOSE RELATION OF THE PRODUCER-GAS POWER PLANT TO THE CONSERVATION 352 OF OUR FUEL RESOURCES.

BY ROBERT HEYWOOD FERNALD.

[Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Case School of Applied Science.]

Official reports show that the coal placed on the market amounts annually to between 450,000,000 and 500,000,000 short tons in the United States alone. These figures, however, are somewhat misleading as they do not in any way show the tremendous wastes that are going on due to our present methods of mining and restrictions in qualities of coal that can be transported and placed on the market at a reasonable profit. Careful investigation has shown that the coal wasted or left in the mines in such form as to be inaccessible to future generations amounts each year to practically 100 per cent of that placed on the market, or in other words, at the present time some 450,000,000 tons are annually lost as far as commercial value is concerned.

If this condition is allowed to continue it is estimated by the United States Geological Survey that our available supply of bituminous coal will be exhausted within the next two hundred years.

A realization of the seriousness of this situation has led to a careful and systematic study of the present lack of efficiency in the utilization of fuels for both power and metallurgical purposes, to investigations into more efficient use of the present marketable grades of fuel, and to a consideration of methods of using the so-called low-grade fuels, lignites and peats.

The United States Geological Survey has for several years been investigating the economic value of coals and lignites as gas-producer fuel. This work, begun with tests of coal and lignite at the 353 coal-testing plant erected at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, was continued at St. Louis and at Norfolk, Va., and is now being carried on by the Survey at the fuel-testing plant in Pittsburg, Pa. The tests were undertaken because it was evidently desirable to determine the value of the gas producer as a means of increasing efficiency in the use of the coal supplies of the United States. The early tests proved decidedly encouraging, demonstrating that many coals now wasted or not mined because they are not satisfactory fuel for steam-power plants can, by conversion into producer-gas, be made to do from two to three times as much work as can be done by the best grades of steam coal burned in a boiler plant. In consequence, the making of producer-gas tests and the study of the processes that take place within the gas producer now form an essential part of the fuel investigations conducted at the Pittsburg plant under the provisions made by Congress for the analyzing and testing of mineral fuels.

Rapid Development of the Gas Engine.

It was not until late in the nineteenth century that the gas engine came into common use, and although many types have been devised within the last twenty or thirty years it is only within eight or nine years that large gas engines have been constructed. This development started eleven or twelve years ago in Germany, Belgium, and England, but marked progress has been limited to the last eight years.

For a long time the natural fuel of these internal-combustion engines was city gas, but this was too expensive except for engines of small capacity. It was seldom found economical to operate units of more than 75 horsepower with this fuel. Cheap gas was essential for the development of the gas engine, but the early attempts to produce cheap gas were somewhat discouraging, and for a time it seemed very 354 unlikely that the gas engine would encroach to any extent on the field occupied by the steam engine. The theoretical possibilities of the internal-combustion engine operating with cheap fuel promised so much, however, that the practical difficulties were rapidly overcome, with the result that the internal-combustion engine has become a serious rival of the steam engine in many of its applications.

The development of the large gas engine within the last few years has been exceedingly rapid. It was only ten years ago that a 600-horsepower engine exhibited at the Paris Exposition was regarded as a wonder, but today four-cycle, twin-tandem, double-acting engines of 2,000 to 3,500 horsepower can be found in nearly all up-to-date steel plants, and there are installations in this country containing several units rated at 5,400 horsepower each.

Development of the Gas Producer for Power Purposes.

The rapid advance of the large gas engine was made possible by improvements in the production of cheap gas directly from fuel by means of the gas producer. An early form of producer introduced in Europe, and now in general use both abroad and in the United States, is known as the suction producer, a name suggested by the fact that the engine develops its charge of gas in the producer by means of its own suction stroke. Although many producers of this type are now used, most of them are small, seldom exceeding 200 horsepower. A serious limitation to the utility of the suction producer has been the fact that, owing to the manner of generating the gas, no tarry fuels could be used, a restriction that prevented the use of bituminous coals, lignites, peats, and other like fuels. The fuels in most common use for producers of this type are charcoal, coke, and anthracite coal, although attempts are being made so to construct plants that they can be operated with bituminous or tarry coals.

To meet the demand for the concentration of power in large units, 355 instead of operating a large number of separate installations of small power capacity, the pressure producer was devised. This producer develops its gas under a slight pressure due to the introduction of an air and steam blast, and the gas is stored in a holder until it is required by the engine. As the gas may thus be stored before passing to the engine, and as its generation does not depend on the suction stroke of the engine, tar and other impurities may be removed from it by suitable devices, and the use of bituminous coal, lignite, and peat thus permitted.

The pressure producer was closely followed in the course of development by the down-draft producer, which fixes the tar as a permanent gas and therefore completely uses the volatile hydrocarbons in bituminous coal, lignite, and peat.

A few scattered producer-gas plants were installed for power purposes in the United States before 1900, but the application of this type of power in any general sense has been developed since that date. During the first few years of this period of development anthracite coal, coke, and charcoal were used almost exclusively, although occasionally pressure and down-draft plants ventured to use a well-tried bituminous coal known to be especially free from sulphur and caking difficulties and low in both ash and tar making compounds. The rapid development of the anthracite plant was to be expected, but it remained for the United States Geological Survey in its testing plants at St. Louis and Norfolk to demonstrate the possibility of using in such plants practically all grades of fuel of any commercial value, without reference to the amount of sulphur or tarry matter which they contain. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the very rapid increase in the number of installations and in the total horsepower of the plants operating with bituminous coal and lignite since the beginning of these 356 investigations by the Geological Survey in 1904.

Owing to the fact that the dates of installation of many plants are not ascertainable, it is impossible to present the exact growth either in number of installations or in horsepower. The relative rate is, however, approximately shown by Figures 1 and 2, the data for which were secured from 375 installations. The points for the year 1909 are estimated from the returns for the first five months. These points have been checked by two or three methods and indicate only the normal increase established by the rate of development before the business depression of 1908. It is probable that the actual figures for the entire year may exceed those indicated.

Relative Results of Steam and Producer-Gas Tests.

In considering the relation between the economic results of plants of the two types under discussion, namely steam and producer-gas, the fact should be remembered that today, in the ordinary manufacturing plant operated by steam power, less than 5 per cent of the total energy in the fuel consumed is available for useful work at the machine.

In this connection it is of interest and value to glance at the possibilities of the best-designed and most skilfully operated commercial plant now in use. The data concerning the steam plant selected for this determination are derived from a table prepared by Mr. Stott, superintendent of motive power, Interborough Rapid Transit Company, New York City, which, as Mr. Stott says, shows “the losses found in a year’s operation of what is probably one of the most efficient plants in existence today, and, therefore, typical of the present state of the art.”

Average losses in steam plant of the Interborough Company in 359 converting 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.

======================================+==========+==========
| British |
| thermal | Per cent.
| units. |
--------------------------------------+----------+----------
Loss by friction | 138 | 1.1
Loss in exhaust | 7,513 | 60.1
Loss in pipes and auxiliaries | 275 | 2.2
Loss in boiler | 1,000 | 8.0
Loss in stack | 1,987 | 15.9
Loss in ashes | 300 | 2.4
+----------+----------
Total losses | 11,213 | 89.7
Energy utilized | 1,287 | 10.3
+----------+----------
| 12,500 | 100.0
--------------------------------------+----------+----------

Mr. Stott further presents a table showing the thermal efficiency of producer-gas plants, concerning which he says:

The following heat balance is believed to represent the best results obtained in Europe and the United States up to date in the formation and utilization of producer gas.

Average losses in a producer-gas plant in the conversion of 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.

======================================+==========+==========
| British |
| thermal | Per cent.
| units. |
--------------------------------------+----------+----------
Loss in gas producer and auxiliaries | 2,500 | 20.0
Loss in cooling water in jackets | 2,375 | 19.0
Loss in exhaust gases | 3,750 | 30.0
Loss in engine friction | 813 | 6.5
Loss in electric generator | 62 | .5
+----------+----------
Total losses | 9,500 | 76.0
Converted into electric energy | 3,000 | 24.0
+----------+----------
| 12,500 | 100.0
--------------------------------------+----------+----------

The thermal efficiency of such plants, as given by different writers, runs as high as 33, 36, and 38.5 per cent, and for some plants figures as extravagant as “above 40” are boldly published. Although the present aim has been to give the figures for a producer-gas plant that may compare favorably with those of the steam plant of the Interborough Company, an effort has been made to keep well within obtainable efficiencies. Attention is also directed to the fact that 360 the producer-gas plant considered should be large enough to compare favorably with the steam plant. This precludes comparisons with suction plants, which are relatively small but give higher proportional efficiencies than the larger pressure and down-draft plants, for these require more or less auxiliary apparatus.

Mr. Stott seems ready to accept a thermal efficiency of 24 per cent for the best producer-gas plants for comparison with 10.3 per cent efficiency for his steam plant, but a careful study of the problem has led to a more conservative estimate for the producer-gas plant, namely, 21.5 per cent.

The tables just given show the comparative efficiencies reached in plants of the best type, both steam and producer-gas, but these are seldom realized in common practice. The results obtained in the government plant at St. Louis are probably more nearly representative of the ordinary type of apparatus. These results are as follows:

Relative economies of steam and gas power plants at St Louis in the conversion of 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.

==================================+====================+====================
| Steam Power. | Gas Power.
+---------+----------+---------+----------
| British | | British |
| thermal | Per cent.| thermal | Per cent.
| units. | | units. |
----------------------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------
Losses in exhaust, friction, etc. | 11,892 | 95.14 | 10,812 | 86.5
Converted into electric energy | 608 | 4.86 | 1,688 | 13.5
+--------------------+---------+----------
| 12,500 | 100.00 | 12,500 | 100.0
----------------------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------

The ratios of the total fuel per brake-horsepower hour required by the steam plant and producer-gas plant, under full load, not counting stand-by losses, are presented below as derived from 75 coals, 6 lignites, and 1 peat (Florida).

The curves in Figure 3 show graphically the great economy secured with the producer-gas plant. The figures for the producer-gas tests 361 include not only the coal consumed in the gas producer, but also the coal used in the auxiliary boiler for generating the steam necessary for the pressure blast--that is, the figures given include the total coal required by the producer-gas plant.

Ratios of fuel used in steam and gas plants.

Average ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under
boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer 2.7

Maximum ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under
boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer 3.7

Minimum ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under
boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer 1.8

Average ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per
brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per
brake-horsepower hour in producer 2.7

Maximum ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per
brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per
brake-horsepower hour in producer 2.9

Minimum ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per
brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per
brake-horsepower hour in producer 2.2

Average ratio, peat as fired per brake-horsepower hour under
boiler to peat as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer 2.3

In considering the possible increase in efficiency of the steam tests with a compound engine, as compared with the simple engine used, the fact should not be overlooked that a corresponding increase in the efficiency of the producer-gas tests may be brought about under corresponding favorable conditions. Not only is the producer passing through a transitional period, but the gas engine must still be regarded in the same light. In the larger sizes the vertical single-acting engine is being replaced by the horizontal double-acting engine. Other changes and improvements are constantly being made which tend to increase the efficiency of the gas engine, as compounding and tripling the expansions have already increased the efficiency of the steam engine.

As has already been stated, the gas engine used in the tests here reported is of a type that is rapidly becoming obsolete for this size, namely, the vertical, three-cylinder, single-acting.

A brief consideration of these points will lead at once to the 362 conclusions that a comparison of the producer-gas plant and steam plant used in these tests is very favorable to the former, and that any increase in efficiency in the steam tests that might result from using a compound engine can be offset by the introduction of a gas engine of more modern type and a producer plant designed to handle the special kinds of fuel used.

It should be noted that many fuels which give poor results under steam boilers have been used with great ease and efficiency in the gas producer, which thus makes it possible to utilize low-grade coals and lignites that have heretofore been regarded as practically useless. 363 Several of the poorest grades of bituminous coals have shown remarkable efficiency in the gas producer, and lignites and peat have been used with great facility, thus opening the way to the introduction of cheap power into large districts that have thus far been commercially unimportant owing to lack of industrial opportunities. Experiments with “bone,” a refuse product in bituminous-coal mining, have given excellent results, showing an efficiency in the producer equal to that reached by good steam coal under boilers. Recent investigations with other low-grade fuels, such as mine roof slabs, culm, and washery refuse, have also demonstrated the possibility of using such material to advantage in the producer under proper commercial conditions.

Number and Class of Plants.

A list of producer-gas power plants recently secured indicates that at present there are over 500 such plants in operation in the United States, ranging in size from 15 to 6,000 horsepower.

Figure 4.--Summarized data of producer-gas power plants in United States.

=========================+=======+==================================+
| | Horsepower. |
|No. of | |
|plants.| |
| +-------+--------+--------+--------+
| | Total.|Average.|Minimum.|Maximum.|
| | | | | |
-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
Anthracite coal: | | | | | |
Over 500 horsepower | 8 | 7,550| 950 | 600 | 1,500 |
500 horsepower or less | 407 | 40,550| 100 | 15 | 500 |
+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
| 415 | 48,100| 116 | 15 | 1,500 |
+=======+=======+========+========+========+
Bituminous coal: | | | | | |
Over 500 horsepower | 20 | 49,000| 2,450 | 750 | 6,000 |
500 horsepower or less | 17 | 5,150| 300 | 35 | 500 |
+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
| 37 | 54,150| 1,460 | 35 | 6,000 |
+=======+=======+========+========+========+
Lignite: | | | | | |
Over 500 horsepower | 3 | 7,275| 2,430 | 525 | 3,750 |
500 horsepower or less | 19 | 1,725| 90 | 25 | 250 |
+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
| 22 | 9,000| 410 | 25 | 3,750 |
+=======+=======+========+========+========+
All plants | 474 |111,250| 235 | 15 | 6,000 |
-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+--------+--------+
=========================+=======+=======
| | Per
| Per | cent
| cent | of
| of | total
| total | horse-
|number.| power.
-------------------------+-------+-------
Anthracite coal: | |
Over 500 horsepower | ... | ...
500 horsepower or less | ... | ...
+-------+-------
| 88 | 43
+=======+=======
Bituminous coal: | |
Over 500 horsepower | ... | ...
500 horsepower or less | ... | ...
+-------+-------
| 8 | 49
+=======+=======
Lignite: | |
Over 500 horsepower | ... | ...
500 horsepower or less | ... | ...
+-------+-------
| 4 | 8
+=======+=======
All plants | 100 | 100
-------------------------+-------+-------

Data secured from this list are summarized in the table on the 364 previous page according to the type of fuel used, and separately for all plants above 500 horsepower and for those not exceeding 500 horsepower.

It will be observed from this table that about 88 per cent of the total number of installations in this country are operating on anthracite coal (a few using charcoal or coke), and that bituminous coal and lignite are used in the remaining 12 per cent. Of the total horsepower approximately 57 per cent is derived from bituminous coal and lignite and 43 per cent from anthracite coal, charcoal, and coke. In point of size it will be noted that the bituminous plants average 12½ times the size of the anthracite plants.

In 1906 a large number of these plants were carefully inspected in order to secure definite information from the owners and operators regarding the more or less successful operation of such installations. Similar inspections were made in 1908.

Deductions from Visits of Inspection.

The deductions made from the visits in 1906 were as follows:

1. The plants as a whole are giving remarkable satisfaction considering the very brief period of development that has passed since the introduction of this type of power.

2. The most serious difficulty seems to arise from the lack of competent operators to run the plants rather than from defects or troubles in the plants themselves.

3. Incompetent salesmen are undoubtedly to blame for serious misrepresentations and misunderstandings.

4. The neglect shown by some manufacturers in respect to their plants after they are installed and paid for has not been farsighted, and the failure of the manufacturers to give the purchasers or operators of 365 plants full information regarding their construction and method of operating has certainly been detrimental to the business.

At the present time (1910) the following modifications might be advantageously made to the above statements:

1. Unchanged.

2. This situation still prevails, although there are many more competent operators today than three years ago. Time will eliminate this difficulty.

3. With stronger companies this situation is greatly improved.

4. Experience has shown that such neglect produces serious troubles and financial loss to the manufacturer, and a very decided change for the better has developed in the last few years. There are, however, a few small concerns still operating in the producer field on what may be considered a false basis.

Centralization of Power Development and Distribution.

Central stations for power and lighting are springing up all over the country. Electric lights are now in general use in towns numbering their population by hundreds only. Electric transmission for street-railway service is practically universal and electric power for shop drive is in great demand. The substitution of the electric locomotive for the steam locomotive for terminal service and even for line duty by several leading railway systems is no longer a mere expectation but is an every-day working reality.

These changes and developments in every section are, to a large extent, tending to do away with the individual small steam equipment, whether stationary or locomotive, and are bringing to the front the central power station, ranging in size from lighting and pumping plants of less than 100 horsepower in the smaller towns to those of 100,000 horsepower or more required to meet metropolitan demands. 366

European Examples of Advantageous Location.

In the development of central power plants and the reduction of the cost of power, the producer-gas power plant is an important factor. In this connection the question of locating such plants directly at the mines is well worth careful and unbiased attention in the engineering profession. The advantages to be derived from such a location have already attracted the commercial interests of Europe. As examples worthy of thoughtful consideration, the general conditions of operation of three typical European installations are here described:

Plant A.--This plant, although not situated directly at the mines, is but a short distance away, and the company owning the plant also owns the mines from which the fuel is secured. The plant is of the Mond by-product type and consists of eight pressure producers of 2,500 horsepower each. The fuel used is a run-of-mine bituminous coal said to contain 8 to 9 per cent ash and 1 to 2 per cent sulphur. This would indicate that they are utilizing the best grades of coal from their own mine in the local gas plant and allowing the lower grades to remain unmined, a fact which I verified before leaving the plant.

The plant is designed for the recovery of the sulphate of ammonia and for supplying gas to the neighboring towns for both metallurgical and power purposes. As one unit is always held in reserve, the plant is called 16,000 horsepower. The main distributing line is 3 feet in diameter, and at the time of my visit there were 37 miles of main, the longest single run being 6½ miles. Each producer gasifies, on an average, 20 tons of coal per twenty-four hours. The report of the engineer in charge indicates that the plant had been in operation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for two and one-half 367 years without a shut down.

Plant B.--This plant, which is located in the center of a peat bog, proved of especial interest. It has a capacity of 300 horsepower only, and is about 3 miles from the town to which the electric current is supplied. One-half of the plant (150 horsepower) was installed in 1904 and the remainder in 1906. This is probably the first as well as the smallest producer-gas installation to be located at the mine and transmit high-voltage current to a point some distance away. This installation, in 1909, consisted of two suction producers (special peat type) rated at 150 horsepower each, and two horizontal twin single-acting four-cycle gas engines of 150 horsepower each, direct connected to alternating-current three-phase generators, which were running splendidly in parallel at the time of my visit. The 3,000-volt current is transmitted to the town, where it is used during the day for lighting shops and for shop motors. At night the plant supplies the lights for the streets and residences. The charge for residence light is 9 cents per kilowatt hour. Both units are in operation from 5:30 a. m. to 6 p. m., and one continues to 11 p. m. each day.

A 35-horsepower peat machine is used for preparing the fuel. This is driven by an electric motor supplied with current from the power plant on the bog. As only 750 tons of dry peat are required per year there is no attempt to work the plant to its maximum. Local farmers are employed and they work as little or as much as they please, as there is no difficulty in getting out all the peat needed for a year during the working season, which in this locality is from April 15 to September 1. As a result 14 men are employed more or less of their time. They receive about 50 cents per day each and get out about 20 tons of peat per day.

Coal at this point in Europe costs $3.75 per ton. The dry peat 368 delivered on the operating platform of the producer plant costs only 80 cents per ton.

Plant C.--This plant is installed at the collieries. At the time of my visit it was under full operation, using roof slabs that gave little indication, on casual inspection, of containing any combustible material. It was claimed that this fuel averaged over 60 per cent ash--a claim which seemed entirely reasonable. At the time of this visit (1908) the producers were not only supplying a number of furnaces with gas, but were also operating a 1,000-horsepower and a 250-horsepower gas engine. A 500-horsepower engine was being added to the equipment. The engines in use were direct connected to electric generators. The 10,000-volt current is used for operating the local mine machinery and also for furnishing lights for neighboring towns and power for a street railroad. The plant was reported to be using over 100 tons of this low-grade fuel per day.

Favorable Conditions in the United States.

In the United States cheaper power is constantly sought. The water-power possibilities of the country are being realized and the hydro-electric power plant is a wholesome cause of competition. The supply of fuel of marketable grades is not unlimited. Prices for such fuel must necessarily increase. The cost of transporting coal from the mines is high, and the possibility of obtaining a sufficient supply of cars to handle low-grade fuels is questionable. The power demands of the country are increasing, and this power must be developed at a reasonable cost. The time is approaching when the cheapest fuel obtainable must be used to the best economic advantage in order to develop power at a unit cost consistent with commercial progress.

Consideration of the conditions indicates that in order to keep the 369 price of power developed from fuel down to a consistent figure--

(a) Grades of fuel which warrant transportation, or which may be defined as “marketable,” should be used with the greatest possible practicable economy.

(b) The very large percentage of coal of so-called low grade which today is left at or in the mine must be utilized.

(c) Advantage must be taken of the large deposits of lignite and peat which are found in many sections of the country.

It is undoubtedly true that in general, under conditions which do not require the use of steam for other than power purposes, the producer-gas power plant meets the requirements of (a).

At present the only method of advantageously handling the fuels mentioned in (b) and (c) is in the gas producer, and the utilization of these lower grades of fuel on an extensive scale demands concentration of the power plants within close proximity to the fuel supply.

The logical conclusion from a careful study of the producer-gas power situation is that the time is not distant when financial interests in power production will be directed toward the centralization of the producer-gas power plant at the mines and the distribution of the energy developed either by high-voltage long-distance electrical transmission or by pipe systems for conveying the gas.

EFFICIENCY IN SHOP OPERATIONS. 370

BY H. F. STIMPSON.

[Consulting Efficiency Engineer, New York. Published in The Iron Age, Jan. 6, 1910, and reproduced by special arrangement.]

Managers of industrial enterprises will undoubtedly agree that there are few qualities which are more to be desired in equipment, methods and men than that of efficiency. From an extensive study of this subject in various parts of the country, together with interviews and correspondence with several hundred concerns, the writer has become convinced that there is a general lack of definite comprehension of what efficiency is, whence it springs, how it may be measured and developed and the results which its cultivation will produce. The object of this monograph is an endeavor to throw some light upon these things and to afford a new viewpoint from which to study industrial operations.

The Evolution of Industrial Management.

In the first place we must realize that the management of industrial enterprises is in a state of evolution. The tremendous growth of the past few years has caused certain previously satisfactory methods to become inadequate to present needs. Many details which in the days of smaller affairs could be absorbed by personal inspection and mentally stored for use when needed must now, because of their very volume, be made matters of record.

The character of these records has much to do with their value. Because financial records are so ancient they have exerted an undue influence upon the character of all other records. While under our present civilization, the ultimate object of industrial operations is to create financial profits, there are many highly important records which cannot be adequately expressed in terms of money. The business 371 of manufacturing consists of a repetition of mechanical operations. Mechanical operations necessarily involve considerations of weight, distance, time and effort, but not of money.

The reason for the failure of so many cost systems to serve the desired end is that they are based upon a wrong unit. These systems become useful only beyond a certain point. Other systems have been the result of a blind craving for aid, but being without broad underlying principles and not properly tied together and simply, in many cases, disjointed attempts to improve isolated details, they too have failed. The result is that attempts by specialists to improve industrial conditions have been often looked upon with suspicion and this is not altogether without reason. These very failures, however, have drawn the attention of men in certain lines of engineering to the rapidly developing needs of manufacturers. They have attempted to solve the problems by the use of engineering instead of by accounting methods, and the results which have been attained prove conclusively that a material advance has been made.

What Is Efficiency?

With this understanding of the present conditions, let us consider what efficiency really is. It has been defined as “the ability to produce certain results,” and this at the very outset necessitates the existence or creation of a standard of measurement. Our perception of efficiency, therefore, is correct only in proportion to the precision of the standard, which must be accurately developed from data which are not only exact, but complete. A machinist, believed to be operating at high efficiency, was observed while turning a shaft. His cut, feed and speed seemed to be beyond criticism. When the shaft was finished, however, he had to spend half as much time in hunting up a chain and pad to remove the shaft from the lathe, as he had taken in 372 turning it. This cut his actual efficiency from 100 per cent down to 87 per cent, yet the man was not at fault. His normal work was to operate a lathe and not to hunt for things which should have been provided for him. The points to be observed here are not only the importance of using the right standard of measurement, but that the efficiency of the man depended very largely upon his surrounding conditions over which he had no control. These conditions depend upon the efficiency of the management in securing proper equipment from the owners. This in turn depends upon the efficiency of the management’s records in enabling it to state clearly and accurately what increase in output and consequently in profits will result from improving the conditions--thus justifying the expenditure required. We see from this that the true standard is not the possibility under existing conditions, but that which can be obtained under other and more desirable conditions.

Managerial Opposition to Change.

The management, which immediately controls the records and conditions should be the prime source of efforts towards the increase of efficiency throughout the plant. The opposition of managers to progress in this respect is exceedingly great, yet not altogether surprising for these reasons:

1. There is a widespread fallacy that so-called practical experience in the manual operations or technical processes of a business is the chief essential to success in its management. This is due to the fact that perfection of workmanship, of which he knows much, is more important in the eyes of the artisan than the actual cost of the operation, of which he knows little, or than the cause of this cost, of which he knows less.

2. It is only recently that educational institutions have afforded 373 any opportunity for adequate instruction in the art of management, pure and simple, a principal feature of which is the intelligent regulation of cost.

3. There has been, and now is, as a result of these two things, a failure to appreciate the necessity and value of exact data, in proper terms, of refined and scientific methods of collecting and using it and of logical reasoning in the solution of industrial problems.

The highest degree of efficiency, therefore, is only to be realized in a shop where executive methods have reached a high stage of efficiency, for in these is unquestionably its source.

Time Measurement Important.

The first step is to recognize the necessity and value of a proper measurement of time, as a guide not only to the executive but to the workman. A man was observed during 8 successive repetitions of the operation of making a machine mold in a foundry. The unit times varied 5.2 to 23.6 minutes, the total time for the eight being 104 minutes. Under the method of timekeeping in use at that shop it was only ascertained that the eight operations took 1¾ hours or an “average” of 13 minutes each, and the labor cost and distribution of burden were made on that basis. Because of the absence of any standard time whatsoever it was not realized that had the man done each of the eight in 5.2 minutes, they would have been completed in 41.6 minutes, resulting in a saving of over 60 per cent of the total time. Had the man received a proper work ticket bearing this standard time, before he began the work, there is no doubt that he could have easily performed the work in the shorter time and a marked difference in proportionate burden and cost would have resulted. Under the existing methods the management could not know of the waste, and so was helpless to prevent or cure it.

Every item of time, therefore, is capable of division into two parts: 374 A standard or necessary time and a (more or less) preventable waste, which latter is the easier thing of the two to determine.

An Example of Increased Efficiency in Riveting.

A gang of four were engaged in riveting some steel plates. By the use of a stop-watch it was found that a large proportion of the total time of the riveter and bucker-up was not utilized; yet some one was always at work. The reason was that the men proceeded along the work in such a way that the bucker-up covered with his body the holes as yet unfilled by rivets, he moving from left to right. When, therefore, a rivet was driven, these two men had to stand aside until another rivet was placed by the rivet passer. Upon the instruction of the engineer, they reversed the direction of their movements so as to cover only the filled holes, thus enabling the passer always to have a rivet ready for them and making their speed in driving the real gauge of the speed of the operation. Furthermore, when they encountered a hole that needed reaming (as was sometimes the case, until the fault was located with the fitters and remedied), the riveter would lay down the gun, pick up the reamer, ream the hole, lay down the reamer, pick up the gun and drive the rivet. When persuaded to test consecutively ten or more holes after driving the first rivet in a seam to anchor the plates and then to drive the ten consecutively, they progressed faster with less effort. These men, receiving not only a standard from the engineer, but kindly instruction as to how to attain it, and being stimulated, not by abuse, but by a scientifically determined bonus--increased their output over 150 per cent beyond the original amount.

In this plant, by the use of these methods, and in about seven months, the general increase in efficiency of the men was such that the force was reduced 67 per cent without reduction in volume of output, but 375 with a great reduction in net total unit cost, even after paying the bonus alluded to and the cost of the expert services which alone produced this result.

The Use of Bonuses.

It is proper to say a word here on the subject of bonus as a means of increasing efficiency. The principal merit of this motive lies in the fact that immediate personal gain is the strongest incentive to immediate personal effort. It operates just as strongly on the employe as on the employer. Hope of promotion is too vague and the actual chances too limited to exert much pressure, but an extra sum in the pay envelope--or better still, in a separate one--for the disposal of the “old man himself,” will do wonders. To be most effectual a bonus must not begin at the point of standard efficiency, but at the point when average efficiency ceases and extra effort begins; and it should increase on a curve faster and faster as the point of standard efficiency is neared, because the accompanying effort will be correspondingly greater.

Efficiency Methods and Department Heads.

So much for the individual operator. And now for the executives. From foreman up to and including the highest official the same methods can and should be applied. Under ordinary circumstances, the workman in need of material, tools or instruction keeps his skirts clear by a more or less indefinite and unintelligible request to the foreman. He thinks it the foreman’s duty to look after him, but that if he does not do so it’s no business of his. Put that man on standard time and bonus and if there is anything he thinks the foreman should do or get for him he speaks loudly and directly. This the foreman does not resent--as would ordinarily be the case--for his efficiency is determined by the combined efficiency of his men and upon this his 376 bonus depends. Anything, therefore, that interferes with the progress of the men touches him closely, and he will move heaven and earth to eliminate it. All kinds of defects which were previously hidden from the superintendent are now brought to his attention, and he welcomes them for exactly the same reason that actuated the foreman. Thus the change that comes over a shop when efficiency is accurately measured and adequately rewarded is often astounding.

But this is not all. The possession of exact data as to standard and actual times makes possible a certain great improvement in, and addition to, the executive staff and a material increase in the efficiency of the foreman and department heads. By this is meant the installation of a planning department, by which the apportionment of the time of men and machines is controlled. The advantage, indeed, the positive necessity, of the services of engineers and draughtsmen in apportioning the different parts of the product is well understood. The requirements of each part, the strains to which it will be subjected, the kind, quality and quantity of material required to resist these strains, the shapes of the pieces, their relations to each other and many other things are all given most careful attention. The value of fully constructing the design on paper, as a means of discovering possible errors or difficulties, and of correcting or overcoming them before large expense for material and workmanship has been incurred, are too well realized to need more than a simple statement for their acceptance. No sane executive would expect his department heads to take a copy of his customer’s order and individually work out the details with which they are particularly concerned and expect the parts to fit. Yet this is just exactly what is being done as regards the apportionment of productive time; and a tumult of broken promises of delivery, excessive cost of production, enormous wastes of time in changing jobs, etc., is the immediate 377 and unavoidable result.

What Can Be Done.

It is perfectly possible, but only to one trained in the particular art, to schedule the different operations on all of the different parts of the product; to plot the productive times required, so that each may begin at such a time in relation to the others that all will arrive at the point of assembly at the proper time and in the proper sequence; to combine these studies of the different productive orders on a chart which will show the disposition to be made of all the men and machinery; to prepare advance programs for each man and machine engaged in productive labor; and thus to give to the superintendent and foremen the advantage of the same predisposition of time that they now have of material.

As it is now, the time of these persons is entirely too much occupied with this problem of the disposition of time for which they are only partly equipped, having, it is true, much of the necessary information, but no training in the scientific handling of it. They are, therefore, unable to devote the time they should to the immediate study of the operations and the provision of tools, material and instruction to the men. They try to be all over the shop at once and they depend on getting their information at first hand, and consequently fail more or less clearly to cover the ground. Having such schedules and programs as are above described, and with the proper work tickets distributed on a dispatching board, each one in the division representing the work upon which a man or machine is engaged, having the time of commencement and the standard time thereon, the foreman can see at a glance without leaving his office what men will shortly finish their work and what steps must be taken to see that the drawings, tools and materials for their next work are ready for them in time. Having seen to this he has some leisure to 378 give his attention to matters immediately requiring it, knowing, if anything is obstructing the other men, that their anxiety to earn their bonus will cause them promptly to bring such matters to his attention. Having this schedule, moreover, the foremen are enabled to order material, etc., ahead and to do so intelligently, thus making the work of the shop transportation department much simpler. In one case by this means 25 men were able to handle the intra-shop transportation in a more satisfactory manner than 75 men had previously been able to do.

The planning department also greatly aids and is in turn aided by the purchasing department, for the times when material must or can be got can intelligently be determined to their mutual advantage. The sales department, too, when it once gets the idea that the shop is not working miracles, but has its limitations, can make delivery promises which really mean something and can be kept, and this is a trump card of no small importance when the fact becomes realized among the customers of the concern.

Responsibility of the Management.

In the opinion of those whose opportunities have enabled them to get at the facts, the inefficiency in manufacturing, which undoubtedly generally exists today, in spite of the prevailing impression to the contrary, is only about one-fourth due to the things over which the employes have control and three-fourths to conditions imposed upon them by the management. The methods outlined above have achieved results whenever they have been faithfully and honestly tried, with proper co-operation by the management and under the direction of skilled specialists, and the results have continued and will continue as long as the methods are followed. The effect upon the men is that from being often listless, indifferent and antagonistic, they become 379 energetic, ambitious and loyal friends.

One thing more: Much has been done and overdone in the line of so-called welfare work. It is a highly creditable and necessary line of effort, when confined to attempts to remove from the path of the employe any obstacle which prevents him from developing his skill and efficiency to the highest degree. An uncomfortable, unhappy person cannot be efficient. But as steam is necessary to the engine, so is incentive necessary to the worker to get him to make the best use of the facilities provided for him. Under our present civilization, the same incentive which pushes on the master will push on the man, and that is direct personal gain in dollars and cents, not for itself, but for and what that gain will bring. It must come to him quickly after the exertion which its expectation calls forth, for if long delayed, the effect is lost. It must also come to him separately from his regular wage that its amount may be the more readily realized.

Moreover, the results of efficiency methods, within the writer’s knowledge, are sufficient to convince him that their general adoption would so increase the purchasing power of the employe, by increasing his wages and decreasing the cost production, as to have a markedly beneficial and steadying effect upon the business of the country.