The labor world., 1922-12-09
MATERIAL IN AN ELECTRIC MOTOR
IS GATHERED FROM EVERY CORNER
Its Collection Reads Like Ro nance; Shows Economic Inter-
dependence Of America Upon Peoples Of Entire Earth.

(Here is an article by c. M. Rip
ley, industrial engineer and lecturer.
1t reads like romance. 1t tells the
story Of the electric motor. 1t shows
where the material for every part is
gathered. While statesmen may boast
Of our proud political nationalism,
the story of the electric motor indi-
Gates that we are economically de-
pendent upon the world and its re-
sources for the success Of our indus
trial life. Mr.. Ripley's contribution
to this number of The Labor World
contains a fund of information.-
Editor.)
BY G. NJ RIPLEY.
A generation ago, electric motors
were little more than toys.
Today they are the driving engines
of the civilized world.T hey vary In
capacity from 1900 part of horse
power up to ten thousand horsepOw-
er. The smallest is the size of a spool
OF thread, and the largest will reach
from the ground to a second story
window. saj
Many millions Of motors are used
to turn the wheels of modern indus
try and to lessen the work Of the
housewife. They serve you when you
ride in a street car, or in an eleva-
tor, when you step on your self
starter, when you clean your carpet
with a vaccuum-sweeper. Even when
you want a drink of water it is mo-
tor that pumps it ready to your
hand. But as familiar as this faithful
servant is, few people realize that
the four quarters of the world were
searched for the materials necessary
to produce it.
For in or1er to make even the
simplest kind of motor, over a
hundred different materials are re-
quired. No doubt among those who
read this there are thousands %of
workers Of hand and brain who
themselves build electric motors; and
other thousands who help to provide
many of these materials. But further
away still, in foreign lands, there are
other thousands of men. working in
a score of different countries collect
ing still other ingredients for making
electric motors. Many of th> work.
men are dressed in strange garb,
they speak (. strange tongue, and
many are burned with the tropic sun.
They dig in mines, they harvest in
fields, they pick, gather and scrape
to provide the materials for build
ing motor.
Then these III materials must be
tod
a million miles on sea and on land,
on elephants and on camel's backs
and on poems shoulders before they
arrive at the electric works in the
United States No doubt hundreds
of you readers have assisted~in. ap-
plying material used in an electric
plant. or you have designed, tested
or built electrical machines and de-
vices. You ST ould have the satisfac-
tion of feeling ttat.you have played
your part in making the electrical
industry what it is. You even
helped to make possible radio that
marvellous method of sending mes
sages speeding to you through the
air.
In the next ten minutes let us
brild an imaginary motor. AS you
will see, it is necessary to obtain
some of the materials from the ami
NAL kingdom, some from the veget-
able kingdom. Let us go back to
original sources in mother nature.
First, consider the wires that carry
the electric current in the motor.
These wires were made from copper
refined in New Jersey, and drawn
into wire in Rome, N. Y. or in the
Ansonia works, Waterbury, Conn.,. or
in elizabeth. N. J. In the electric
works some Of the wires are COW
cred with silk originally made by
yellow men who unwound the CO.
coons that worms spun on mulberry
trees in China. After crossing the
Pacific ocean the thread was fin
ished in Connecticut. Other wires are
covered with rubber. 1t is really a
compound made of rubber that
brown men tapped from the trees Of
Ceylon, whiting from France, and
vulcanized with sulphur from Sicily
or Louisiana. Still other wires defy
the heat with a covering of asbestos,
mined in Quebec and refined and
spun into yarn in New Jersey or
Pennsylvania.
These wires are wound into coils
:, and covered with cotton tape. The
cotton picked by black men in Texas,
spun in North Carolina, woven in
Pawtucket, r. l.. and given a finish
ing treatment in Utica, N. Y.
The coils are then soaked in a
varnish compounded of copal nubs
from the Philippines or kauri chips
from Singapore. These are fosilized
gums exuded from trees long buried
under the earth in these far tropic
lands; to these ingredients are added
raw umber from Cyprus or Turkey,
linseed oil made from flaxseed grown
in the Argentine republic and refined
in New Work. But still more is need
ed to complete the varnish. To these
are added China wood oil from
China, spirits Of turpentine made by
black men in Georgia., and also Pc
troleum products from Oklahoma.
which were refined in Texas or New
Jersey. That is the story of one type