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Successful production demands the greatest volume of output with the least amount of effort. It is of prime importance in industry, and its slogan is the elimination of waste, considering always the worker, surroundings, equipment and tools and the methods or motions used. Therefore, it is necessary to give attention to training employes in production work. The paper evaluates training in terms of production and formulates the elements that have proved effective, the aims of such training being to develop a better worker in the particular job, to produce a better member of industry and to create a better member of society. The worker always must be judged with relation to his work, and no more important psychological test exists than that of aptitude for the job.

Machine-repair analysis and a criticism of present-day equipment, with analytical tables based on data collected from a 5 months' study, are followed by conclusions relative to the reliability of present-day equipment. Eight types of common machine-tools are considered and the maintenance advantage of one over the other is deduced from the consolidated tables based on monthly reports. A comparison of each class of machine-tools with the others is made, as well as a summary of the weaknesses of each class from the frequency of repairs of the elementary parts. The attention of the builders is drawn to the conditions that the shop encounters with their equipment. A maintenance budget-system is described that has been installed in one plant to give the men a comparative idea of particular equipment that is running in excess of the budget time. It also serves in lieu of an inspection of the conditions of the equipment and is an indication of the time when overhauling is advisable.

Progress made in the development of electrical equipment to serve adequately the needs of motorcoach service is reviewed. Electrical loads on motorcoaches are comparatively high, including the usual head, tail and dash lamps, body-marking and destination lamps and buzzer systems. As more and more electrical energy is used, the source of supply and its control become relatively more important. Not only does the electric generating system have to meet the demands of battery charging, but it should be able to carry the connected load with no battery in the circuit. This means that not only is sufficient energy necessary, but the voltage must be regulated in such a manner that the battery can be charged without endangering the life of the lamps because of excessive voltage, and no flicker in the light from the lamps must be perceptible. All these results must be attained under conditions of variable load, variable speed and the changeable temperatures encountered in service.

This report deals with further progress in the cooperative fuel-research. General factors underlying starting ability are discussed and experiments showing the effect of changes in spark character and of gas leakage are described. The probable mechanism of crankcase-oil dilution is treated, and further experiments with reference to this subject are explained. One experiment deals with operation with oil as a cooling medium to obtain high jacket-temperatures. Other experiments show the effect of change in piston clearance and in the number of piston-rings employed. Factors influencing the rate at which the diluent is eliminated from the diluted oil are shown to be of importance, and methods of examining these factors are stated.

Industrial development has out-run foreman development, in the author's opinion. He believes that management should be alive to the changed status of the foreman and that it should train him definitely to accept a broader responsibility. Clarification of the situation should start with the assumption that the departmental foreman is to be held definitely responsible for every activity that affects his department; but, obviously, he cannot be given direct authority over certain functionalized services that very directly affect the operation of his department, and he must, therefore, develop that higher type of executive ability which can obtain results without the club of direct authority. In short, instead of conceiving the departmental foreman as the master craftsman of his department, he should be looked upon as the business manager of his department.

Solicitation of sales and the delivery of the product to the customer constitute the most important operative features of the motor-truck fleet supervised by the author. Endeavor is made to install the vehicles in the various fields along standardized lines. The volume and the extent of the business and the topographical conditions of each locality determine the size and the mechanical equipment of the vehicle that is employed, and it is installed only after a study of all the conditions pertaining to its operation. Adequate training of vehicle operators, not only along mechanical lines but also as direct sales representatives of the company, is made a feature; and so is accident prevention. These interests are promoted in various standard ways and are furthered by the publication of “house organs.” After a vehicle is installed the slogan adopted is: Keep It Moving With a Pay Load.

Reporting on the progress of the fuel investigation now being conducted by the Bureau of Standards, and covering the last of the work that was done under the direct supervision of the late Stephen M. Lee, the author gives the results obtained from the acceleration tests that were made on the road and in the laboratory. Tests relative to starting conditions, as called for by the program, have yet to be made; they have been delayed by the wreckage of the laboratory set-up caused by the explosion of Sept. 20, 1923. Primarily, the tests described here were conducted (a) to determine whether the rates of acceleration obtainable at any given temperature are different for the fuels compared, and (b) whether, when carbureter settings are such as to give the maximum acceleration with each fuel, the fuel consumption under constant speed and load conditions will be greater with one fuel than with the other. Two specific conclusions are stated. W. S.

General considerations that affect the attainment of adequate lighting are mentioned, it being stated that proper lighting of the interior of a motorbus is influenced by limitations peculiar to the service, such as vibration, scant headroom, a restricted energy supply and relatively large voltage-variations. Available types of bus-lighting equipment are analyzed as to their suitability, from six different standpoints that are stated. “Glare” is defined and means of obviating it are suggested, inclusive of a discussion of desirable types of finish for the interior with regard to reflecting surfaces. The severe vibration produced by many motorbuses demands head-lamps of more rugged construction than that used for the headlighting of private cars. Eight essentials for motorbus head-lamps are specified. A very large percentage of the glare and poor illumination of the motor vehicles on the roads results from improper adjustment or the lack of any means for adjustment of the head-lamps.

To install conveyors in a going automobile manufacturing plant of moderate size, without interrupting production, and with a minimum amount of rearrangement of the plant and an investment commensurate with the saving to be effected, was the problem, the solution of which is herein described. The conditions that determined whether power-driven or gravity-actuated conveyors should be used are discussed and the various types required for handling raw stock, for machining operations, for sub-assemblies and for finished assemblies are indicated.

The author describes a system of automotive transportation for intra-city hauling and the moving of merchandise between railroad terminals that has enabled the company he represents to serve the city of St. Louis and the railroad terminals there with a high degree of efficiency through the utilization of tractor and semi-trailer units and a thorough supervision of their movements. The units are described and illustrated, and the conditions governing their usage are set forth. The salient features of the paper include discussions of the necessity for adequate terminals, off-track versus on-track railroad depots, the volume of tonnage, tractor and semi-trailer operation and methods of procedure and control, weight and protection of loads, haulage distance, economy and a specific statement of the principal advantages gained through the use of automotive equipment of the type described.

The author discusses the factors that must be considered in solving the transportation problems and then describes the operation of the English-railway cartage-system in some detail under the two main divisions of delivery and collection. An important feature of the system is that of the control afforded by locating a controller, or dispatcher, in a central office and holding him responsible for the movements of the carmen, or drivers. The details of this control are explained. The field for the motor truck in railway-terminal service is outlined and a presentation is made of the merits and demerits of unit containers, together with an illustrated description of the English “fiats,” or demountable bodies. Other subjects treated include cartage costs, tonnage hauled, unified control of cartage and expressions of opinion quoted from numerous English trade organizations.

The paper is a presentation of a practical solution for the coordination of military and commercial transport with rail and water transport. The necessity for combining and coordinating transportation facilities with the idea of organizing a homogeneous transportation network of waterways, railways and highways, proved to be the essence of success in military operations during the World War. The utter inadequacy of pre-war and war-time transport facilities, when organized in the separate fields of railroad, maritime shipping and port operations, and the decentralized elements of highway transport, caused the United States Army to make a comprehensive study and plan of the world's war-time transportation with particular attention to the organization of motor transport as the necessary factor in coordinating all transportation facilities. The salient features and general principles of this study and the resultant plan are stated.

The author quotes statistics relating to the proportion of closed to open bodies and outlines the changes that have taken place in body construction in recent years. He sketches the advances that have been made and states that the question to be answered now relates to what all this improvement in manufacturing methods has accomplished toward reducing the price of a closed-car body to the consumer. He compares the percentage of public benefit in 1922 with that of 1914, excluding the period of inflated prices immediately following the war, and states that it is 10 to 15 per cent, but says also that this is an unfair comparison because of the excessive increases in the cost of labor, lumber, sheet steel and trimming cloth. An unconventional type of body, covered entirely with fabric over a foundation of wire-mesh and buckram fastened to the conventional wood-framing, is illustrated and described in detail, together with a statement of its advantages.

In the case of the internal-combustion engine, where virtually every separate portion of explosive mixture behaves differently, the usual thermodynamic interpretations of the pressure-volume indicator-card, as applied to steam engineering, have little value. In internal combustion, the pressure-volume diagram is of value only as an expression for the product of the force exerted upon the piston-top times the distance through which the piston moves. The paper (Indiana Section) begins with the fundamental phenomena and develops from them a diagram such that each fuel-mixture particle can be properly exposed for analysis during the process of combustion. This is termed the pressure-volume-quantity card, and it is described in detail and illustrated. An extended consideration of its surfaces follows, inclusive of mathematical analysis.

The author describes a series of road service-tests, made on stock cars driven by their usual drivers when using fuel of specified grades, to determine the effect of any changes in the fuel volatility on the gasoline mileage for the respective make of car, as part of a general research program undertaken jointly by the automotive and the petroleum industries. The object was to determine the best fuel as regards volatility, from the general economic standpoint, and what grade of fuel would afford the maximum car-mileage per barrel of crude oil consumed. Factors influencing the selection of cars used are enumerated and the fuels tested are discussed, together with general comment and a description of the test procedure. The results are tabulated and commented upon at some length, inclusive of descriptions of the methods. A summary of the results is presented in the form of conclusions that are stated in four specific divisions.

The rail motor-cars now used by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad are illustrated and commented upon, and statistical data regarding their operation are presented. The features mentioned include engine type and size, transmission system, gear-ratio, double end-control, engine cooling, heating by utilizing exhaust gases and exclusion of exhaust-gas fumes from the car interior. A table gives revenue data.

After pointing out that the general question of weight reduction is no exception to the fallacies that seem to have beset the development of the automobile from its earliest days, the author outlines briefly the problem confronting the automobile designer. The influence of the weight of the reciprocating parts on the chassis in general and the engine in particular is emphasized as being of greater importance than the actual saving in the weight of the parts themselves, it being brought out that the bearing loading due to inertia is really the factor that limits the maximum engine speed. Reference is made to the mathematical investigation by Lanchester in 1907 of the advantages of using materials of high specific-strength and the conclusions arrived at are quoted in full. A tabulation of the specific strengths of various materials used in automotive engineering practice is presented as showing the advantages of aluminum as compared with steel.

Stating that the trend of tractor development must be toward the small tractor that is capable of handling all of the power work on a farm, the author quotes farm and crop-acreage statistics and outlines diversified farming requirements, inclusive of row-crop cultivation. Tractor requirements are stated to be for a sturdy compact design to meet the demands of the diversified farm, which include plowing, seeding, cultivating, hauling and belt-power usage, and these requirements are commented upon in general terms. Consideration is given to farm implements in connection with tractor operation, and the placing of cultivating implements ahead of the tractor is advocated.

The authors enumerate some of the questions that are involved and, after outlining a previous paper on the subject of plows, analyze these questions in part by the aid of diagrams and applied mathematics. Comparative draft data are presented in tabular form and commented upon, as well as comparative hitch-length data. Tractor reactions are explained and discussed in some detail in a similar manner, special attention being given to the reactions on a slope and up-hill. The reactions on cross-furrow slopes are considered, comparisons being made between two tractors that were reported upon in the University of Nebraska tests. The factors involving tractor stability and resistance against overturn are analyzed. The authors state that the analysis presents a definite method of attack for the more correct solution of the proper hitching-point, as well as being a study relating to lug design.

Specifying the four general plans that have been followed by chassis builders in securing body equipment as being the building of bodies in their own shops; on contract by the body maker to plans and specifications of the chassis builder; by a local body maker to the order of the dealer or the owner; and the assembling from stock of standard sectional units recommended by the dealer or selected by the owner, the authors discuss each of these plans in detail. With regard to the plan of using standardized sectional bodies, the different sizes of chassis used for commercial purposes are separated into four specified groups and the production of a complete standard line including a number of styles of body for each chassis is commented upon and illustrated, inclusive of detailed considerations of the all-metal body.