The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-13
Yankee lngendity
In Little Things.
From the Philadelphia Record,

About year ago a French officer of
engineers was shown through one Of the
large machine shops in this city, and his
attention was called to the great travel
ing cranes, the enormous iron planning ma
chimes. the big lathes and other large
tools but the visitor appeared to be quito
unimpressed and very taciturn. This was
attributed partly to the fact that, al
though he understood what was said to
him fairly WELL he could speak English
only with difficulty. He appeared to be
unobservant of the large tools, but was
greatly interested in a small, insignifi-
cant-looking machine used for sharpening
the little cutting tools belonging to the
big lathes and planning machines. When
he had completed his tour of the works
and was about to depart he delivered an
interesting little speech, of which the fol-
lowing is the substance: II have been in
America six months, and have visited the
mines and manufacturing establishments
in the east, west, north and south. i have
seen the most gigantic engineering oper-
ations and the most powerful machinery
in the world: but l shall report TO my
government that the biggest things in
America are the little things"
He added: THE French people are ex-
perts in domestic economy, and live COM
fOrtably by saving what your average
families throw away. But Americans
are, on the other hand, experts in indus
trial economy. You make money by say
ing wastagc in business. and you lose
some of ii by wastage in your domestic
economy. The attention paid to small
details in your big works is amazing to
me; l have visited some establishments
where l believe that the profits are made
not in the manufacture proper. but in the
saving of materials and labor by close at
tention to details that are with us un-
~
your shops just now a little grindstone
in operation automatically sharpening
lathe and planer tools. This machine
| cost, probably. as much as hundred Of
our ordinary grindstones cost but / see
that It automatically grinds all the tools
for three hundred high-priced mechanics,
and it only works a few hours each day.
The skilled mechanics in our country fire.
quently stop their regular work to grind
their own tools, and then they do it i'm
perfectly. Your tools are all accurately
ground to the best shape by the machine,
so that they do more and better work on
this account in a given time I believe
that that machine has brains-the brains
of the inventor-and 1t has no doubt rev.
olutionized work of this kind in American
ma chine shops. This is but one case out
Of many that have noted"
This visitor was more observant than
a peculiar characteristics of American in
ventive genius. The great engineering
undertakings, the immense manufacture
ing establishments and the leviathan ma
chinery are, OF course, most conSpicu-
Gus and impressive; but these big things
are comparatively few in number while
the novel improvements in little things
usually classed as yankee notions"-are
| legion, and each one contributes its mite
toward the general sum of prosperity of
the business of the country. An American
writer on mechanical topics says: ~rhe
value of attention to detail in shop work
| is becoming more and more appreciated
| and special tocls for accomplishing ac-
| curately and quickly minor operations
| formerly done in perfunctory manner,
without method CT skill, are among the
| many advantages resulting from such
| careful study Of little things"
%
The money value of saving waste Of
tina labor and material is often surpris-
| ing. Recently the manager of a railroad
company in New England determined TO
ascertain whether there was any fuel
value in the small particles of partly
| burned coal which are thrown out from
| locomotive boilers by the strong draught
| and caught by the spark arresters. These
sparks, as the Particles of coal are called,
| collect In considerable quantity in the
ashpits at the roundhouses, where the
| fires are raked ana The engines are
cleaned. They are generally hauled away
| to some convenient dump. By making
| a few changes In crate bars II was found
that the sparks formed excellent fuel.
Several tons are collected daily, and are
now utilized as fuel, CHE cost for labor
and incidentals being very small
There Is a large tin can manufactory at
Point Breeze, In this city, where cans for
| holding coal oil are made by automatic
machinery. Even the soldering Is per-
| formed without the aid of human hands.
Formerly a small globule of solder coll
| lected at each corner of the cans, A
| wiper was devised for removing this
| drop, and the saving in solder thus effect
| ed amounted to large sum annually. At
| the great beef-paclsing establishments In
| the west not a hair nor hoof nor drop
| of blood IL wasted, and Mr.. Armour has
stated that his fortune was made not In