Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-08-05
Bonehead Accidents.

| boneneao HCCicehtS.
! We find so much of common sense
and descriptive of human nature in
! the following somewhat humorous ar
tiele on "Bonehead Accidents by Hi
Sibley in the American Machinist.
| that we offer ii to our readers. II
may call to the mind of some the
downright carelessness of things they
do mechanically without the instrue-
f, ton of gray matter. The article
= reads:
| Accidents are always unpleasant.
Sometimes they don't amount TO
much, like the mere spilling of a bot
+, tie of blue ink into the lap of pink
stenographer; often, however, they
: are grewsome. But whatever ii is, yoH
are always sorry it happened. There
| fore. each succeeding year you take
1 greater precautions against accidents.
| Annually the factory inspector comes
around. he noses through your plant.
advises you 10 muzzle your vociferous
! gears, TO bolster up sway back stair
ways and to round off the sharp cor
ners of the door jambs so that the
! eager employee in his rush to get to
! work before the whistle blows, will
not cash or mar his person. And as
a rule, the factory inspectors advice is
good advice. You owe much TO him.
But in spite of numberless preeau-
! tions, accidents viii happen. Some
people are always having accidents
They are born that way They call it
:. i'll luck themselves, but il is usually
just natural awkwardness or bone
/ headed carelessness Some men are
so clumsy that they would dislocate
hip rolling over in feather bed
> And thus with a great many shop
accidents. Instead of sympathy. the
victims ought TO get sound padding
where ii would do the most good.
Don't judge from the tenor of my re-
marks that | am hopelessly hard
hearted. for / am not. On the contra
ry. am very tender hearted. / never
speak harshly even TO a stray dog
unless he is muzzled.
! In particular | recall two bonehead
accidents because they
: never would have happened if the VIC
/ Tins had used grain of common
| sense One case was that Of a newly
arrived Hungarian laborer.
He was employed to look after the
tumbling mills, juggIe castings. oil
bearings, and the like Al that time
} we used stick belt dressing and the
! man was carefully instructed how 10
apply ii, and many times warned not
TO put it on the belt as IL ran toward
> the pulley. But in spite of the fact
: that the arrangement of the belt made
/ 1t harder to do IL that way, he persist
| ed in dressing the belt just where il
. ran onto the pulley. and, of course.
the inevitable happened. His arm
was broken in two places.
The second case was of another la
borer-I don't recall his nationality.
; but l think he must have been an Ig-
. gorote-who attempted to oil shaft
hanger bearing after fashion Of his
own. The lineshaft was located about
a foot and a half from the corner Of
the wall and ceiling, but instead of
approaching it from the outside as
! anyone with a pinch of gray matter
would have done, he climbed his lad
der and attempted to squeeze in be-
:. tween the whirling shaft and the
wall. AS he bent over the bearing his
loose shirt front brushed against a
coupling. which promptly grabbed said
: shirt front and in a snap of the fin
gers he was tightly wound around the
a shaft. He only gave one yelp, and by
:, the time the machinery had been
. stopped all was silent as a tomb. The
i, foreman rushed into the office to call
an ambulance and l rushed into tho
shop to view the remains. After one
9 glance / concluded we didn't want all
|, ambulance-we needed basket. Only
: an unrecognizable mass of rags arc
II arms and legs was jammed into the
: corner. There are several minor ac
v cidents ! remember which were entire
~ due to carelessness. We had an
e old fashioned drilling machine, which
/; mad the drift hole cut in the spindle
|; sleeve and then through the spindle it
x self. An inquisitive apprentice once
,r thrust his finger into this hole while
y the spindle was revolving, and
l. promptly had the end of his finger
@. sheared off.
- Another time a molder persisted in
II pouring heats with his shoe unlaced
1t leaving the tops flaring out like a fun
,e mel. He had been cautioned repeated
II ~ against this, and one day a hatfnl
,r OF molten iron spilled out of a ladle
r. and went into his shoe. After he got
re out of the hospital he kept his shoes
III laced up.
J.; Now after an accident has hap
AZ pened, the liability company takes i,
J. in hand. The factory inspector is q