New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-01


the development of it; | refer to the me-
chanical features Of film, making plate
extremely sensitive and at the same time
making it durable
All of sudden in the Civil War there
came a demand for 10000 Springfield rifles,
all Of ore kind, and along toward the clos,
Of the war somebody conceived the idea
that if those Springfield rifles We're only
made so accurately that no fitting would be
required in the field in case one part was
broken it would be a military advantage.
And so they decided TO make this rifle on
the interchange plan.
This the first time in the history
of the world that anything had been made
on the interchange plan. 1t was a new
idea in manufacturing. Contrary to the
predictions Of every one. they found it
was cheaper to make these rifles on the
interchange plan than it was to make
them by the old method Of less accuracy,
which required fitting each part indepen-
IDENTIFY
England Follows Our Lead
Shortly after the war began England also
saw the military advantage of making guns
so that all the parts were interchangeable,
and full set of machinery was made in
the Connecticut Valley for the manufacture
of the Enfield rifle. This machinery was
copied after the machinery used for the
Springfield rife and was shipped from
the city of Hartford to England, and that
was the beginning of the manufacture in
England on, the interchange plan.
think as engineers you all believe that
the automobile as it>is made to day. espe-
cialy' the method Of assembling that was
introduced by the Ford plant, not only for
making the different units but for finally
assembling these units and making fin
shed car, would be absolutely impossible
if it were not for the interchange plan.
And what that practically means is that
the output Of automobiles that you to-
day could not exist, there would not be
enough men to make them, if it were not
for that new method of manufacturing dis
covered in the United States at the time
Of the Civil War-this interchange system
Of making parts for mechanical things.
There is good illustration of this point
Why is it that Boston is the centre of the
shoe and leather industry? More par
ticularly in recent years, when you can
buy machines all assembled, it is the centre
Of the source IF machines for making shoes
and for all the operations in leather In a
somewhat similar way Grand Rapids is the
centre Of the furniture industry, Cleveland
and Detroit and their general locality are
not believe any who is in touch with it
thinks that the centre is going to change.
1t is here and it is going to stay here, be-
cause we not only learning how to
make the itself good car. good
automobile, but every machine that goes
to manufacture the various parts Of
is being perfected, the method and system
is being worked out and men are becoming
more or less proficient in operating all of
these various phases of the construction
IN an automobile. 1t is going on in in
creasng gcometrical ratio to such an eX-
tent that it becomes more and more diff
fcult every year for person to manufact-
ure a good automobile other than in this
very vicinity.
AS to Automobiles
Prior to the war there were sixty-odd
thousands of registered automobiles in Ger
many. You know how that compares with
the output Of automobile factories in the
United States. In Germany they do not
know how to manufacture automobiles, at
least on the big scale and on this inter-
change plan. We know that those German
cars are very largely hand-itted big, cx-
ransivc cars. and as far as | know none of
them have ever been built III the way that
built in the United States.
trade are with Germany as far as the
chemical industry is concerned. The tricks
of the trade, think all satisfied
are with the United States as far as the
handling of material is concerned
Now, let us take typical example Of
the manufacture of a chemical-we will
say pig iron, or sulphuric acid if you
please. A man wants 20 make pig iron
cheaper. How does he do it? He puts
in Hulett unloadcr; he puts in new
type Of boat; he puts in more efficient
air compressor; every step of it is me-
chancal; not one part of it is chemical.
Chemistry does not change. it stays; but
The machinery wears out and it calls for
mechanical genius to keep that machinery
from wearing out, to give it its maximum
efficiency, to make it have it's maximum
efficiency to begin with and to maintain it,
Take a sulphuric acid plant, for example
How would man decrease his cost? Prob
ably by putting in locomotive crane for
handling pyrites rather than what he had
before if it were less efficiently putting in
heavier locomotives and hopper cars and
putting in the sui phur burner referred to
while ago, and so on with everything
down the line. His method Of making sui
phurc acid cheaper would be a mechani-
cal and not Il chemical one.
Let us take soda ash. 1t IS used in the
manufacture Of soap and glass. We all
know that the Solvay Process Company at
Syracuse and Delray, and the other Ameri-
can companies at Balbcrton and Paincs-
willie and Detroit, all highly efficient
manufacturers of soda ash. 1t is a fact
that soda ash and caustic soda sold for
less money in the United States before the
war than in Germany
The facts are chat we in the United States
are able, with our accumulated knowl-
edge, our knowledge of the tricks of the
trade, if we want to put it that way, to
manipulate material, to handle material, to
transport material and to do the various
mechanical operations connected with ma
tcrial better than they are in any other
part Of the world far as | am aware