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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 2 (June 2, 1930)

Micromotion Study

Micromotion Study.

It soon became manifest that forms of movement could not be recorded with sufficient precision by merely observing them. It became necessary to record these so that recourse was made to the cinematograph, and a Gilbreth clock, which registers extremely minute divisions of time, smaller than the elapsed time between any two pictures of the film. Gilbreth himself stated that this method enabled him to record easily, motions down to less than a ten-thousandth of a minute. The obvious result is freedom from error, guessing, and the personal element. Here again the psychologist baulked. True, the workman could see himself at work, but it was still relatively difficult to teach from such a record. At the same time there were inherent difficulties, such as the workman obscuring page 35 a view, or performing movements where the camera could not film them. Both of these factors rendered the method unsatisfactory, as the film was intended for “teaching” efficient methods when they had been constructed and taught to one specific worker.