The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1926-08-04
Office Boy Who Came Through the
"HolDse Pipe" to Vice residenc,
II. F. Albright Recognized
as q Pioneer In Scientific
Factory Planning

When the Western Electric Com
panys Kearny Works in New Jersey
begins the manufacture of telephone
apparatus next week it will, at the
same time, pay tribute to the memory
OF. the man who planned its construc-
ton and who had the vision to fore
see, some years in advance, the posi-
bilities for the vast development which
is just beginning to take place.
He was the late Henry Fleetwood
Albright, who died recently in New
York, pioneer in scientific factory
planning and also one OF the most coli
orful personalities i'll the last two or
three decades of American industrial
ism. It was he, also, who was chiefly
responsible for construction of the
greatest telephone manufacturing plant
in the world, the Western Electric
Hawthorne Works in Chicago.
Began as Office Boy
Mr.. Albright's story is typical of
American business. He began as an
Office boy with the Union Pacific Rail
road When he died he was Vice
President of the Western Electric
Company in charge of all manufac-
turing. He was pioneer in many
things, but his fame is chiefly that Of
builder. The vast Hawthorne plant
IS his monument. Twenty years in
advance he planned it with such un-
canny foresight that his plans have
been followed almost without change
of any Importance throughout the
years of construction. Today many
of his theories on plant building are
being practiced throughout the coun-
try.
He was the first to install a hot
water heating system in an industrial
building, an innovation which saved
thousands of dollars and was inrne-
diately adopted for other factories.
A Simple Solution
Mr.. Albright was one of the first to
believe in the scientific development
of manufacturing processes, and the
story of one OF his earliest revolu-
tions in this respect is Characteristic
of the haphazard methods of the times.
Years ago, when part of the telephone
instrument was nickel-plated and when
foremen carried formulas in their
heads, there was trouble for several
days with the quality OF the nickel
plating. Suddenly the trouble disap-
peared for no known reason. All
bright questioned the foreman.
"Oh, ! just threw a plug of tobacco
in the solution and that fixed il" said
the foreman
Maybe it did," said Albright. skep-
tically, but / think we'd better find
out the real reason, and ne put an
engineer to work studying chemical
reactions involved in the process. This
was the beginning of what has since
become, perhaps, the greatest group
of engineers OF manufacture, special
iziflg on improved processes, machines
and methods of work
Mr.. Albright was builder of men
as well as plants. He had worked his
own way with nothing more than a
high school education, aud he admired
men who were self-made and self
educated. Through his interest IN
shipping he picked up many nautical
terms which he was fond of usifie
One of his favorites was /: HE came
through hawse pipe, referring TO q
man who had worked his way up from
the bottom. 1t was his boast that
every man on his staff had come
through hawse pipe"
Believed in Piece Work
ie was a great believer in piece
-rk on the ground that man who