The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-03-13


mems garments, assembling small
! apparatus and testing dynamos,
transformers, railway motors and
lighting appliances of every descrip-
ton.
These men have come from uni
versities, colleges and technical
schools, not only in this country, but
In all quarters of the civilized world.
| Ab9 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-
| 11eers 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
| 1ege attachments. All start on the
same basis and at the same nominal
salary. The estimation and advance
ment come upon 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 a 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
|1a m. to 6 %. 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 ia
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
ling and measuring instruments,
AZ also with the wonderful labor
|.SaTmg devices and the accuracy of
uachine tools with which the shops
6oound.
He sees the methods of the great
1<eel and iron foundries, and observes
<1e materials used in building up the
LAT turbo-generators. He is ex-
lied to acquaint himself with the
uethods of constructing and winding
natures and field coils; the various
kI1ds of insulators; and the details
and uses of switches, switchboards,
m&ters and controllers.
The work is by no means a sine
cure. At much of it dirt, grease
and real labor are encountered by
<1ese students as by any mechanic
a. the shops. On transformer tests
41d tests of special apparatus, the
DIX necessarily continues, fire.
4uently, for as long as thirty-six
Iours at stretch; and it speaks we'll
~ these men that such work is rare
a. shirked. The dropping of one of
ese students for inefficiency or in
tention is of the rarest occurrence.
In the course of from two to three
ars-it all depends upon the man s
ightness-he will find his shop
prk more or less frequently broken
calls to go outside; to report on
saster to some outside plant; to
anime, and probably adjust, ma
Ines which are working improper
or to direct crew of workmen
Stalling new machinery.
He will also now come more in
intact with the prominent engi-
eers, and, il his choice so lies, may
taken into some special depart
lent.
This specializing is encouraged.
lectrical problems have become so
pmplex and diverse that the man
mo achieves the greatest amount of
Fefulness and success is, undoubted-
the one who devotes his energies
pa abilities to some particular line;
pa ample opportunity is afforded to
Fudents in this course to confine
peir attention to any one depart
lent for which they show unusual
bility or aptitude.
In the engineers departments he
Ill have the opportunity of confin-
Pg himself altogether to the manu-
occurring and designing details, or
can branch off onto the CONNER
al side, with view to qualifying
imself for work in some one of the
ompany's many district or foreign
nces. The salesman of electrical
|pparatuS is much mora thnn nm nrai