Relation between Rhythm and Work.

Intimately bound up with the rhythm of the organism, which, in this case, is the workshop hand, is the rhythm of machinery. The average man dealing with machines learns to distinguish page 37 between “just right” and “too fast” or “too slow.” In an earlier article it was shown that “speeding-up” had an injurious mental effect. Now, machinery run at too great a speed, is, in the long run, injurious for two reasons. The output is not really increased, because fatigue sets in earlier and production is eventually slowed up, while every machine has an optimum rate for best production. The speed at which a machine will give the maximum result is that at which material can be comfortably handled, without hustle

An Interesting And Efficient Machine.
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Operating the Godfrey Oxy.-gas cutting and profiling machine, Hutt Valley Workshops, Wellington.

or undue haste, by hands using the machinery. The relationship between rhythm and work is of paramount importance. I have seen one machine, working on a friction basis, which cuts steel rails in, approximately, nine seconds. This period is sufficient to allow two men to handle the rail with a suitable “swing.” If the time were cut down by a second, both men would be flurried, with the ever-present possibility of serious accident. Should the time be lengthened by one second, then the slowing up would induce fatigue to a greater extent for the rhythm would be broken.

Similarly has this “swing” factor been considered in riveting where the electric heaters turn out the material at the pre-determined intervals so that there is an even flow without undue haste or piling-up of ready rivets. Many numerous small points have been combined with the main machines in one shop so that there is a steady forward movement over the whole of the working unit. From the time small angle-irons are punched for rivet holes, until the complete undercarriage is strapped together, the rhythm is maintained. So complete is the organisation, that the shop has worked out a time schedule for a complete shift in the assembly shop every two hours. At the same time it must be understood that if machinery is “speeded-up” so that the rhythm at which it is intended to operate is thrown out, the effect is deleterious, even disastrous, to the machine. (Private factories, in an endeavour to increase output, occasionally fail to realise this factor.) On specialised jobs, such as boring holes in flooring sheets, thought has been given to promote movements calculated to be both natural and, at the same time, quicker. The order of boring holes has been fixed and the worker has been instructed in procedure. The saving in both time and effort will be more obvious if the reader attempts to work from left to right and proceed page break page 39 forward then to contrast with the reverse motions.