The Monroe journal., 1916-12-12
MIR. SKIES REPORTS
Tells Some of the Things He Saw on
Trip To Big Overland Plant.

| states VINO are WISHING the overland
WHY'S plant at Toledo. tells some
of the things he saw as follows:
Nothing was ever so impressive as
our tour of the -rcr. 7lart that turns
out Willys-oy RAND 80.
Our pullI.I- al - led in the
company ysiC Tier, was room
enough. III there e.. e seven and
three-quarter r!:les 81 track within
the plant.
Each man set a c'ci containing a
picture of Mr. Willis md an auto
graphed Message G. |Iicome from
him. NeX; think | knew We were
lined up Oh the Steps of the stunning
new adminisJ, Jon building getting
| photographed.
Elevators shot L ~ ne company
own restaurant or the sixth floor
There We had Col E.ng good break
fast. At "a nlate was a copy of the
live new l'iys-Overidnd house or
gan The Starter" /, mapped out
our days program.
Then started our tour OF the plant.
Our guides were carefully picked
men. They knew the plant from end
to end. and the parties were small SO
that each member OF the party could
have his questions answered.
$25.000.0G0 are tied up in land
| buildings and machinery. not to say
a word about the stock of parts and
raw material.
From the roof of the wonderful
administration building, which stands
out like state capital, you get a
great panorama of the plant. You can
then readily believe that il occupies
10S acres. with 4,4S6.6S0 square feet
of floor space in daily use and a pro-
duction capacity of 100 cars per day.
You can appreciate the growth
from ESQ employees in 1908 to H.
800 in 1916.
1000 persons, more than the en-
tire manufacturing force of many a
company. work in the administration
building alone. This structure, 375
feet long. has every facility for rapid
work, including dictaphones. its OWE
telegraph and telephone system ami
mail handling department that does
about everything but write the let
ters.
Three hundred and lightweight per-
sons can be fed in the restaurant at
one time.
Butthis nothing to what hits yor
when you cross into the shops. II Is
a whirl of action, yet all is system.
Parts by the untold thousands are
here, with value into the millions
of dollars. There are lines of motors.
| never saw so many crank shafts to-
gether. Our guide said 6,000-Id
have believed 10000.
There is stock in bins, stock in
yards, stock along the walls. con-
Meeting rods, frames, tenders, mud
guards. hoods, rims. springs, aXles,
torsion tubes, transmission gears
shafts, brake parts, steering rods,
pedals-it is an unending procession.
Every thirty days sees an average
of 1000 tons Of steel come in. 1t is
handled by magnetic crane that en-
ables two men to do work that
formerly required thirty.
There are amazing machines. The
toggle press, for example. held us all,
This monster, with its pressure of
1000 tons, shapes cold steel like
cardboard. A piece of metal fed to
II comes out as a side frame II can
make 1000 of these in an eight hour
day.
other mighty machines stamp out
radiator shells, tenders. cowl dashes
and doors.
You take off your hat to the drop
forging machines. Down comes the
hammer and the fiery piece of iron
is beaten into shape. The complete
drop forging of the front axle can be
accomplished with one heat.
Every kind of part requiring
strength was drop forged while we
looked on, axles, crank shafts, brake
assembly rods. brake and control
rods. spring shackles. gear blanks
and brake rod sectors.
We saw the company's accurate
system of die making 1t calls for a
special workman on each detail. One
works on the shaper, another on the
planer and a third on die sinking.
The multiple spindle drill in one
operation drills all the holes in the
front axle. This Is a guarantee that
each will be in right relation to the
other.
II was hard to drag us away from
the automatic turret lathe that sur
faces and finishes fly wheels. II
works as though somewhere within
its metal vitals q brain was conceal
ed. The workman has only to put
on the rough fly wheel, adjust the
first set OF tools, push the lever, and
let the machine do the rest.
The cast iron is peeled of as readi-
" as wax. Sometimes four or five
operations are performed at once.
When one set of cuttings is done,
the machine stops automatically, and
the next set of tools comes automati-
cally into place. Twenty operations
are performed in fourteen minutes.
Twenty-six pounds of metal are re-
moved from the wheel. One man can
watch three of these machines.
The vertical cutter Of gears on fly
wheels almost matches the turret
lathe in interest
Moving up and down, the cutter at
the same time slowly revolves, the
fly wheel turning in the opposite d.
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