Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-10

reached the shipping department he
has perhaps taken care of a dozen
single orders. At this point the load
on every hand-truck is again in
spected by q corps of checkers as q
further precaution against mistakes
in shipment. After the checker has
placed his o. X. on each order it is
ready for the shipping department.
Here a big squad of men work inces-
sanity, boxing the heavier parts for
express and freight, and sending out
the smaller ones by parcel post. AL
! though the men in the shipping de-
partment work but ten hours, their
| facilities are so systematic that every
train leaving the city in the course cf
twenty-four hours is reached by
Chalmers shipments. If wire from
San Francisco reaches the factory
before p. m. on any working day,
the part requested is shipped the
same night on the first train leaving
for the West
| Gazing down the. long rows of bins,
! 1t is interesting to know that between
| 5,000 and 10000 different parts, val
ued at $LOO0,000 are kept on hand in
quantities at all times. The low
water mark on all parts is three
months supply. In this way guess
work is eliminated to great extent,
and the stock manager is not so apt
to find his bins filled with a tremen-
dous over-supply of obsolete parts
which spells waste in money and
space. Blue prints for every part of
Chalmers model ever turned out are
kept on file in the drafting depart
ment. and as all are numbered, it is
simple matter to order renewals at
short notice.
The shipping department is a min
iature saw mill and carpenter shop.
The crates and boxes are cut and
nailed right there. There is one man
whose sole business is routing the
railroad map of the United States in
his head and knows to the hour the
shortest route from Detroit to Keo-
kuk or Hong Kong.
Contributing to the complex nature
of the work of replacing parts, is the
fact that due to wear. moving parts
such as pistonS, timing gears, ETC.,
must be kept in three or four different
sizes in order that they will fit cars
that have travelled $4,000 or $4,000
miles. The dealer forwards the in
side measurements of a cylinder and
the corresponding piston and piston
rings are forwarded. If there is too
much variance between the two,
special pistons and rings must be
manufactured to order.
Although all parts manufactured
for the Service Department have been
carefully checked by the makers, the
Service Division takes no affidavit but
it's own. A staff of competent inspec-
tors puts the micrometer test to every
part entering the department, and not
until it has been officially accepted by
them, is it allowed to enter stock in
readiness for shipment to an owner.
When it is realized that there are
about 1000 parts in the average mo-
tor. car, some idea of the amount of
work devolving on this department
can be had.
In order that manufacturing opera
tions connected with the Service De-
partment shall not interfere with reg
ular production of Chalmers cars, q
big steel and concrete structure, 200
feet long by so feet wide and four
stories high, has just been completed
exclusively for Service use. In this
building, all parts for Chalmers mod
els of past years will be made. To
furnish the building with machinery,
the entire mechanical equipment of
a big Detroit machine shop was pur-
chased, together with additional ma
chimes, at an outlay of 100000. An
entirely separate battery of Drop
hammers has also been installed for
making forgings, to obviate the neces-
sity for interrupting work in the reg
ular factory forge shop.