CATCHING IRON IN FOUNDRY

CATCHING IRON IN FOUNDRY

The only correct and safe way for a foundryman to catch iron is to cut the stream in toward the furnace. The above picture shows the correct way.

(Courtesy of International Harvester Company)

PREVENTION OF MACHINE SHOP ACCIDENTS.

Resolutions Adopted at Last Convention of National Metal Trades Association. Accident Prevention Now Being Studied From All Points.

At the annual convention of the National Trades Association in New York last April an entire afternoon session was devoted to the discussion of one of the most important problems now confronting the American employer and employe, namely, the provisions which shall be made for the employe who may receive injuries while acting in the line of duty, and the means which may be devised for the prevention of these accidents.

The Association readily recognized the old adage that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and adopted appropriate resolutions commending the work of the American Society for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents. It also went on record recommending to the Administrative Council that a plan be considered looking toward the inspection of shops for the purpose of extending such accident prevention devices as may already be in The resolution of the National Metal Trades Associa

tion on this subject reads as follows:

"Whereas, the question of systematic compensation for industrial accidents is receiving wide attention in this country, and,

Whereas, the matter of the prevention of such accidents is of the first importance and demands the greatest consideration by all employers,

Be it Resolved, that this Convention of the National Metal Trades Association recommends to its Administrative Council the consideration of a plan for the inspection

of the shops of its members, which plan will furnish to the members themselves an opportunity of judging the com-. parative state of their own equipment and system for the preservation of human life; and will show to the Association what progress (if any) may be made from time to time in the furnishing of adequate safety devices, and

Be It Further Resolved, that the Administrative Council be authorized to appropriate funds to a reasonable amount to make such inspection, if upon their investigation the plan appears feasible."

In a paper read before the National Conference of Charities and Correction, Boston, June 13, 1911, Mr. David S. Beyer, Chief Safety Inspector of the American Steel & Wire Company, has presented many remarkable devices adopted by his corporation for the prevention of accidents.

Mr. Beyer, for instance, illustrates by a photograph which is here reproduced, a convenient hanging push button by which a motor driving a mill unit may be quickly stopped. The device is somewhat intricate in its mechanism but exceedingly simple in operation. Attention is also called by Mr. Beyer to many other means by which the American Steel & Wire Company has sought to prevent accidents. Automatic stop valves have been provided in boiler plants; $6,200 was expended for the building of a runway on the side of an open hearth building to allow the crane boys to escape quickly in case a ladle of hot metal should be spilled; a subway under railroad tracks was built to enable workmen to reach a mill without risk of crossing the tracks; in another plant overhead walks and runways for the use of window cleaners and electricians were provided at enormous cost.

A comment which possibly may not rest too lightly on the shoulders of some manufacturers is that the simple washing of the windows in their plants might be the means

of preventing many accidents caused by poor light. It is not difficult to find plants in the United States or Canada the windows of which have not experienced the purifying effects of soap and water since the shop was in operation. Not only would the cleansing of windows in cases such as these tend to prevent accidents because of the additional light afforded, but unless the class of workmen employed is of an unusually low order their efficiency and spirit would be materially bettered because of the increased cheerfulness of the atmosphere in which they might be called upon to work.

Automatic Stops for Power Driven Machinery.

In describing the automatic stops for power driven machinery utilized by the American Steel & Wire Company, Mr. Beyer says:

"The first installations of this kind consisted of an arrangement for closing the steam valve of an engine, controlled by electric push-buttons placed at various convenient points throughout the mills; all that was required to stop the machinery in an entire department was the touching of a button, as one would ring a door bell. Where a man is caught in power-driven machinery the extent of his injury is likely to be in direct ratio to the time that elapses before the machinery can be stopped and the man released, and the push-button stop system seemed to be an admirable method of preventing or limiting such accidents.

"About 100 large engines in the plants of the American Steel & Wire Company have been equipped with these stop sysetms, and they have proved valuable in many cases. There is a condition, however, that is not at first apparent, but which has an important bearing on the question of engine safety stops, and that is the effect of the flywheel with which practically all such engines are equipped. There is enough energy stored in one of these large flywheels to