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APPRENTICES”
FOR DEGREE OF M. £.
JOHN EUGENE POOLE

1912
THESIS

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-JOHN EUGENE Ppoole-

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©1912
THESIS
« APPRENTICES -

INTRODUCTION

The Public Schools of today are not developing in their pu-
pils a proper idea of the practical applicstion of the fundemental
principles of the sciences taught, nor much idea of a life of
useful service,

The Trade Schools are more or less handicapped, not only bee
cause of their separation from actual business industry, but
also because they are unatle to secure for instructors men who
are actively engaged in the trade. They are doing some excel-
lent work, yet they cannot be expected to take the place of the
Public School, nor can they supply the enormous demand for their
product.

There are of course exceptions to these stavements, but
in general they are true, else it would not be necessary for
industries to start in the business of educating their employees.

The so-called skilled mechanic of todey is not really a
mechanic at all, but rather a specialist in his particular line,
In most cases he hes become skilled by repetition, that is, by
doing the same thing over and over, and consequently he is not s
thinking mechanic. This is espacially true where piece work is
in force, Here the one same operation is repeated until sooner
or later the work is performed almost automatically, and cone
sequently very little mental effort is required. As a result the
ambition as well as the general usefulness of the operator becomes
in time, limited to the returns the day's labor brings him.

I have known of piece workers, apparently having the highe-

est ideals end aspirations, who compleined bitterly when trans~

1053608&
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ferred to a different class of work, because the work would,
for a time, require extra effort without any increase in the
compensation received, The extra effort required completely
blinded them to the fact that by being able to operate two mae
chines they would be twoefold as valuable to their employer,
and their chance of being laid off when business became slack
would therefore be cut in half,

Since then, 2 man's usefulness is in general limited to
one particular kind of work, when business in his department
slackens, he must be laid off, as he is not capable of doing
the work in another department, and as soon as business picks up
again a new man must be hired and broken in to do his work,

This so-called specialization, is not limited to any one
Class of mechanical industry, but is true to a certain degree
of all of them. In fact it has, of late years, reached such
proportions that manufacturers have been unable to find men
having the necessary allearound shop experience and practical
training required to fit them for advisory positions. It is
because of the scarcity of men of this caliber and the lack of
suitable Public School training that manufacturers have been
forced into the business of educating men to supply this need,
The industries have not fully solved the educational problem, bvut
they have taken a long step in the right direction in establish-
ing the so-called Apprentice School, The advantage of having
actual shop practiee combined daily with practical class work,

and having for instructors men who are actively engaged in

the industries is self evident.
THE APPRENTICE SCHOOL

the majority of the Apprentice Schools in this country
have been started during the past five or six years, and while
this departure from the old time school is still in its infancy,
yet the results already obtained have shown their superiority,
and there is a general tendency today for expansion in regard
to both school and shop training,

When first proposed, there was a general feeling 2nong
the heads of the industries, that more or less difficulty would
be experienced in inducing American boys to serve Apprenticeships.
There were two reasons for this, - the salaries paid were
comparatively low, and there was at that time an apparent ree
luctance on the part of intelligent and ambitious young men to:
enter the shop; due to the fact that except in rare instances
they could not rise above the class of work at which they start-
ed. The falacy of this prophecy has already been demonstrated,
for it has been proved conclusively that the American boy is
willing to enter the trades, providing he is shown that he will
be given a chance for advancement after the Apprenticeship has
been served, In fact, in most instances the supply of boys
has far exceeded all expectations, so that employers hsva been
able to pick only the brightest and best fitted to serve Appren-
ticeships, instead of being forced to take all who applied, ir-
respective of their qualifications, as was predicted at the in--
ception of these schools.

When an industry contemplates introducing new machine equip-

ment in its shop, the first and all important question considered
ohe

is that of its profit to the company. How much money will
it save? How long will it have to run to pay for itself?
Machines, however, reach their maximum.of efficiency the moment
they are installed, and this efficiency decreases continually
from that moment. The all absorbing queetion when Apprentice
Schools first came into prominence was the same, - will they
pay? It is reasonable to suppose that training men is a
profitable business, for men increase in efficiency continually
from the very start. Further, it is evident that Industrial
Education does pay, else it would have been abondomed ere this,
The prime idea in training Apprentices is to produce men
who are not mere pieces of mechanism doing over and over again
the one same operation in the same way, but men who are able
to think clearly and act quickly, men who can turn out a dif-
ferent kind of work each day, and do it in the least possible
amount of time,
QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION
A General may be ever so well versed in the science of war-
tare, yet unless he has the loyal support of the rank and file
he cannot expect to win victories, Similarily, it is the indi-
vidual makeup. of the men in the ranks which really determines
the success or failure of any industry. It is the business of
the Apprentice School to increase the efficiency of these
mene In a certain Company the Apprentice School. has been limite
ed to the Toolemaking department, and its business is to train
boys not only to be good artisans, tut to make them capable

of filling executive positions as foremen, assistant foremen and
= 5a

superintendents as well. The following remarks will apply in
general to this particular School, yet the fundamental princi-
pies incorporated in the makeup: of the School can be applied
with equal success to any Apprentice School,

The best Tool-maker's Apprentice is the one who has eminent
mechanical ability, high ambitions and ideals, who is physically
sound, morally good, and mentally efficient, and all of these
qualifications are considered in choosing the boys from those
making application for admission. A boy not mechanically ine
Clined cannot be expected to make a very successful) Tool-maker,
If not physically sound he must sooner or later drop out, and
the time spent in educating him is lost. If deficient morally
he has a degratory effect upon the other Apprentices with whom
he must associate in the shop. If not mentally efficient he is
not only slow in learning the trade, but to a certain degree he
retards the progress of the whole class in the class-room.

A boy wishing admission to this Apprentice School files
his application with the Company's employment department, and is
sent to the foreman of the Tool-making department for his conside
eration. If the foreman is favorably impressed, he sends him
to the school instructor with a note stating that the hoy is ace
ceptable to him. If the boy is of neat appearance, is not under-
gpized, and seems to have the necessary requisites for making a
good Tool*emaker, the instructor gives him an examination in ele
anentary arithmetic, providing he has had the equivalent of a
grammar school education, which is one of the requirements for

admission... Usually the boys are given a few days in which to
prepare for this examination, yet it is surprising how many fail
to pass the simple test given. No boys who fail to pass this
examination are indentured,

Boys passing this examination are requested to report ime
mediately to the foreman of the Tool-making department for work.
They are usually started at running errands for a few weeks bee
fore they are finally indentured, in order that they may become
familiar with shop terms, the kinds and sizes of raw material
carried in the store rooms, and the various forms and requisi-
tions used for ordering stock from these stores, The first
two months of the indenture are considered probationary, and
during this period the boy is free to leave the employ of the
Company if he so desires, and the Company reserves the right to
det him go if this seems advisable. Manifestly then,, only the
vest of those who apply for admission are indentured, and they
are subject to discharge at any tine for inattention to business
or misconduct in the shop.

SHOP WORK

As stated before the Apprentice School at this particular
Company is confined to the Tool-making department. The boys are
indentured for a period of four years, each year consisting of at
least twenty-six hundred working hours, as this is considered the
least amount of time in which the trade can be properly learned.
It is understood, however, that a year's service shall not be
less than a calander year, even though the required number of
hours is served ina shorter period, Ordinarily the boys work

nine hours per day, from seven-thirty A.M. to five-efifteen P.h.
Je

with forty-five minutes for dinner, and until noon on Saturday,
a total of forty-nine and a half hours per week.

The boy's shop. training is left entirely in the hands of the
foreman of the Tool-making department, and his corps of assis-
tants. In pursuing their course the Apprentices are assigned to
machines along side of those operated by the best journeymen in
the various sections of the department, in order that they may
receive as much benefit as possible from association with these
more experienced men. Usually the journeymen are glad to help
the boys, and the voys from time to time receive from them many
valuable suggestions, Practically all of the tools used by the
Company are made in this department, and the range of work covers
nearly every phase of the Tool-maker's art, as tools are made
varying from the roughest grade to those requiring the most
expert skill and exactness to produce them,

In order that each boy may be given the same opportunity

to learn the trade, a regular course has been laid out as follows:

Small Tool Department 52 Weeks
Milling Machine 44 "
Shaper 10 *
Engine Lathe 44 "
Grinder 4 °
Hardening Department 2 "
Bench - Jig Job = 26 CéS
Bench = Die Job = 26 6=CéS®*

When the School was first started the Company allowed boys
who had received shop training in the Public Manual Training
Schools, one year's credit for their work, and a course similar
to the above was laid out covering three year's work. It was

found, however, that three years was not long enough for the boy
to become sufficiently proficient in the various branches, and
it has therefore been discontinued. At present all boys are re-
quired to serve four years.

The salary of the Apprentices being comparatively low,
it was found that a number of the boys were not able to
provide themselves with the necessary tools to properly do
the work required of them. An arrangement has therefore been
made whereby they may purchase the required tools of the
Company, the amount being deducted from the bonus which is
given them at the end of their course. All tools so purchased,
however, remain the property of the Company, until the course
has been completed. Practically all of the boys have availed
themselves of the opportunity to purchase their tools in this
manner. The amount allowed for tools so purchased is limited
to sixty dollars,

Some of the boys have already completed their course, and
while serving their Apprenticeship did work that would prove
the ability of the best of mechanics. One boy, after being on
the Punch and Die job only four weeks, completed a Punch and Die
which, while simple required good workmanship. Another boy
while working on the bench completed a high grade Shaving
Punch and Die on which the work compared favorably with thet
of any Tool-maker in the department. A third boy made 50-.208"
Test Plugs in nine hours on which the tolerance was only
.00005",. This would tax the skill of the most accurate and

experienced workman, and not one of these Test Plugs was

rejected.
CLASS WORK

To the average American boy, full of life and ambition,
being forced to attend Public School is more or less a form of
punishment. School work to him is dull and uninteresting, and
it is probably due more to this fact than to any other that so
many boys leave school after finishing the grammar grades. The
average Apprentice boy is no exception to this rule, and after
he has worked nine hours in the shcp he cannot be expected to
look upon night study with any great amount of pleasure. To
secure the best results it is absolutely necessary that each
boy be interested in the class work, and each boy can only be
interested as the work given is made eminently practical. Each
principle taught must, therefore, be given for its practical ape
plication rather than for the sake of the principle itself,

Every one who has passed through the grammar grades knows
how dry is the subject of factoring. Most boys consider the
whole operation a useless waste of time. In the Tool-making
department the boy often has occasion to use a Browne & Sharpe
Universal Dividing Head, and factoring is taught by giving him
&® problem like the one following:

Determine how many Gears, each having a different
number of teeth, can be cut on a milling machine equipped
with a Browne & Sharpe Universal Dividing Head, if only
one index circle, having eighteen holes is available, the
ratio of the worm to the spindle being 40 to l.

There can be cut as many different gears as there are combina-
tions of the prime factors of 720, the total number of holes

passed over by the indexing pin in turning the spindle one

revolution. In solving this problem the boy not only learns
-10-

prime factoring, but he learns it willingly, because he can see

@ practical application of the principle involwed. Further, with
a little encouragement he can be led to investigate the possi-
bilities of the Dividing Head when other circles furnished with
the device are used,

The following problem was found in a Public School text
book under the subject of fractions:

""2 divided by 2 9/16 = ?"
an abstract problem conveying no meaning whatever to the boy's
mind. Few boys would recognize the following problem as being
practically the same:

How many reamers 2 1/2" long can be cut from a 1/2"
diameter steel bar 6 ft. long, if 1/16" is allowed for
cutting off, and 1/16" for facing the first piece.

The boys are interested in knowing how to solve this problem
for they are required to figure the amount of stock required for
each job given them, as a check on the amount delivered by the
store room. The best results can only be secured by introducing
many problems of this kind, for the boy's interest in his cless
work varies almost in direct proportion to the number of such
problems given.

All boys are given two one hour recitations per week in
mathmatics during the first two years of their course, and one
hour per week during the first half of the third year. Instruc-
tion is given in arithmetic, mensurstion, ratio and proportion
with special reference to gearing and belting, mechanics, physics

algebra, and a brief course in trignometry. The object of giving

trignometry is to enable the boy to solve right and obliaue
-lle

triangles, this often bein-; necessary in connection with the work
on the bench.

The same amount of instruction is given in mechanical drave
ing as in mathmatics. The first part of the course is devoted
to those geometrical constructions which are most often used in
laying out work on the bench. These are followed by simple
problems in projections, intersections, and developements, the
idea being to help the boys to more easily understand the draw-
ings which they use in the shop. During the latter part of the
course problems in gearing, cam and miscellaneous machine design
are given. In all this work accuracy and neatness are insisted
upon, for training them to be careful in the class room tends
to make them more careful in the shop.

All classes are held in the forenoon on Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday; the classes in mathmatics reporting on
Monday and Thursday and those in drawing on the other two days.
it has been found by experience that much better results are
obtained by having classes in the forenoon rather than in the
afternoon, ae was the practise until recently. Each boy is
paid for the time spent in class, but is required to prepare
his lessons at home. No classes are held during the months
of July and August, as it would be expecting too much of the
boys to ask them to spend a hot summer's night preparing home
work, after having worked nine hours in the shop during the dey.
BONUS.

Fach Apprentice is given a bonus of $100.00 at the expira-

tion of his course, If he leaves the Company's employ before he
el2ze-

has completed his four years of service, or is discharged for
cause, no portion of this bonus is given him. The prospect ofa
bonus no doubt keeps many of the boys from leaving before the end
of their course, especially during the latter part, when they
could command higher salaries elsewhere than they receive in
accordance with their contract. However, the boys who have con-
pleted their course have been re-rated at such a figure that the
majority are still in the employ of the Company.
REPORTS
The question of a report covering the work done by the

Apprentices has been under consideration for some time, and

recently a torm similar to the one ordinarily used in the Public
Schools was decided upon. We think this will be an incentive to
better work on the part of the boys, as they will naturally

take more interest in their work when they know their parents
are to be advised of their progress. The first of these reports,
which will be issued quarterly, has just been sent out, but a
noticable increase in interest has been manifested ever since the
boys were informed that they would be issued.

CONCLUSION

The problem of Industrial Education has not been completely

worked out by this Company, ana it is doubtful if it ever will
be solved to the complete satisfaction of every one concerned.
However, the course as far as it has been developed is as
thorough as any in the country, and while the results ootained
are good, there are a number of improvements which I believe

could be made to increase its efficiency.
-1l5-

The principle improvement relates to the method of training
the boys in the shop. The foreman of the Tool-making department,
& very capable man, has too many demands on his time to give the
Apprentices much personal attention. His first assistants are
also efficient, but being more or less occupied with the various
other duties which devolve upon them, are not able to give much
more of their time to the boys. The actual task, then, of
training the boys falls upon a class of men known as gang fore-
men, or straw bosses, and the journeymen with whom the boys work.
While in general they are good artisans, the majority are not
able to impart their knowledge to the boys in such a way that the
fundamental principles, rather than the particuler problem the
boy may want solved, will be exemplified. Further, under the
present system the instruction must in all cases be individual,
since no provision has been mede for class instruction in shop
work.

To secure the best results, I believe that a separate depart-
ment should be formed, having in it a few machines of each type
used in the tool room, with a shop instructor in charge who is not
only a good artisan, but a man who is especially interested in
boys, as well as being capable of imparting his knowledge to
them in a simple and effective manner. Each boy should be ree
quired to spend a certain portion of his time in this department.
Here he should be taught the proper feeds and speeds for each dif
ferent type of machine and material worked on, the proper care
of the machines, the correct method of grinding his tools, etc,

By letting him work on productive work, the same as at present,
this aepartment would be self supporting, and the Company would
g21n considerable in the long run, because it would have the

use of the boy's expert knowledge during a much longer period
than under the present system. Because the instruction would be
collective much more information could be given in the amount

of time now devoted to this work.

I believe that a two year Apprentice Course in the hLilling
Department, another in the Lathe Section of the tool room, and
still others in the Hand and Automatic Screw Machine Departments
would fill a long felt need for more efficient operators, and that
it is only a question of time before these courses vill be put
in operation. There are no doubt other departments in which
Apprentices could be used to advantage, but their inception is a
question of some time, for large bodies move slow though usually
sure when once started,

Some companies give the boys a diploma upon the completion
of their course. I believe this would tend to create more intere
est on the part of the Apprentices, and the question of its in-
troduction is being considered at the present time,

One thing which has hindered, to a certain extent, the
developement of suitable class-room instruction has been the lack
of practical text books. The text used to date consists of a
series of typewritten lesson leaves, gotten together hurriedly.
During the past few weeks a new set has been in the course of
preparation. These cover arithmetic, mensuration, ratio and
proportion especially as arvlied to gearing and belting, some

mechanics, physics aad trignometry, etc. In preparing this
-15=

work abstract problems have been omitted whenever possible,
practical shop problems being substituted in their stead,

As stated above, this Company has not yet solved the prob-
lem of Industrial Education to its complete satisfaction, but
it is solving it more completely with every passing day, The
course will be improved continually, and with these improvements
a much higher grade of product may be expected. If the results
obtained to date may be ueged as a criterion of what may be
expected in the future, there is every reason to believe that
the question of Industrial Education will continue to gain
favor as an efficient means of increasing the efficiency of
the rank and file and that the Apprentice Course will be extend-
ed until they will include nearly every phase of manufscturing

work in this great Industrial Enterprise,
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