The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-03-12


apparatus and testing dynamos.
transformers, railway motors and
lighting appliances of every descrip-
tion.
These men have come from uni
versities, colleges and technical
schools, not only in this country, but
in all quarters of the civilized world
And they are supplementing the theo-
ries upon which they have spent
years of study with the admirable
practice to be obtained in the finely
equipped shops and the variety of
apparatus manufactured.
This company has always had an
eye to the future. Its excellent ap-
prentice system is devised with a
view to producing a company of ex-
pert workmen, from which may be
drawn the future foremen, superin-
tendents and executive heads of de-
partments. Its student course is to
provide for it's future need of engi-
neers on all classes of apparatus and
equipment; to take charge OF foreign
and domestic installations of great
power and lighting plants; to be-
come managers of new shops, de-
signers of new machinery or COM
mercial managers and assistants.
The qualifications necessary for a
man entering on this student course
are that he should have graduated
from some college or technical school.
Graduates from several of the cor
respondence schools (approved by
the company are also admitted.
The man who enters, however, is
not estimated according to his col
lege attainments. All start on the
same basis and at the same nominal
salary. The estimation and advance
ment come upon a demonstration of
the quality of mans work in the
shops; upon his steadiness and re-
liability; his quickness in seeing
errors or defects; his aptitude at
grasping and solving them.
The course is for period of four
years, but no written agreement to
this effect is required by the com
pany. And it must be understood
that the four years consist of fifty
two weeks each, excepting possibly
two weeks for vacation each sum-
mer. In fact, the student is subject
to exactly the same discipline and
shop routine as the ordinary work.
man. His hours are the same-from
z a. m. to p. m.
There is no strictly defined routine
of practice on this course. The gen.
eral principle is to give the young
man the opportunity to work some
time in each department, and SO fa-
miliarize himself with every type of
apparatus manufactured. He usu-
ally commences by assembling small
motors and becoming familiar with
every detail of the machine. He then
works for a period at testing genera
tors, transformers, arc lamps. meters,
ETC., respectively, thus becoming ac-
quainted with the nature and use of
testing and measuring instruments,
and also with the wonderful labor
saving devices and the accuracy of
machine tools with which the shops
abound.
He sees the methods of the great
steel and iron foundries, and observes
the materials used in building up the
great turbo-generators. He is ex-
pected to acquaint himself with the
methods of constructing and winding
armatures and field COILS the various
kinds of insulators; and the details
and uses of switches, switchboards,
meters and controllers.
The work is by no means a sine
cure. At much of it dirt, grease
and real labor are encountered by
these students as by any mechanic
In the shops. On transformer tests
and tests of special apparatus, the
work necessarily continues, fire.
quently, for as long as thirty-six
hours at stretch; and 1t speaks we'll
for these men that such work is rare
ly shirked. The dropping OF one of
these students for ineficiency or in
attention is of the rarest occurrence.
In the course of from two to three
years-it all depends upon the mans
brightness-he will find his shop
work more or less frequently broken
by calls to go outside; to report on
disaster to some outside plant; to
~.A~'''tNN' HhA PAObdbiy duJubtf ma
chimes which are working improper
ly; or to direct q crew of workmen
installing new machinery.
He will also now come more in
contact with the prominent engi-
neers, and, IL his choice so lies, may
be taken into some special depart
ment.
This specializing is encouraged.
Electrical problems have become so
complex and diverse that the man
who achieves the greatest amount OF
usefulness and success is, undoubted-
ly, the one who devotes his energies
and abilities to some particular line;
and ample opportunity is afforded to
students in this course to confine
t. their attention to any one depart
ment for which they show unusual
ability or aptitude.
In the engineers departments he
will have the opportunity of confin-
ing himself altogether to the manu-
featuring and designing details, or
he can branch OF onto the CONNER
cial side, with view to qualifying
himself for work in some one of the
company's many district or foreign
ofiices. The salesman of electrical
apparatus is much more than an ordi-
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