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FATIGUE STUDY
The Elimination of Humanity's Greatest
Unnecessary Waste
A FIRST STEP IN MOTION STUDY
BY
FRANK B. GILBRETH
Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers
AND
LILLIAN M. GILBRETH, PH. D.
Hew H?orft
STURGIS & WALTON
COMPANY
1916
All rights reserved
Copyright, 191C
BY STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1916.
PREFACE
In the final analysis, that organization is best
that has the best quality of workers. No or-
ganization can continue to be of first quality
whose workers are over-fatigued. Other things
being equal, that country will be most happy and
most successful whose workers have the least un-
necessary fatigue.
Aside from the pleasure one may obtain from
it, it is the duty of every one to eliminate the
causes of unnecessary fatigue, and to promote
the dissemination of knowledge of how to recover
most quickly from unnecessary and necessary fa-
tigue.
Fatigue study rests on scientific investigation
that requires the special training of an expert,
and laboratory methods and equipment; but
there are elementary methods of studying and
eliminating fatigue that are not only so simple
that any one can understand and apply them, but
that are also a definite stage in the preparation
of the fatigue study expert.
350383
PREFACE
It is the aim of this book to outline both these
preliminary methods and the scientific methods
of fatigue elimination and to put the available
material for fatigue study into such shape that
any one interested may make immediate, definite,
and profitable use of it.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
A DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE OF
FATIGUE STUDY : WHAT MUST BE DONE
PAGE
FATIGUE STUDY AND WASTE 3
WHAT FATIGUE Is 4
WHAT FATIGUE STUDY Is 7
THE FIELD OF THIS BOOK 7
THE RELATION OF FATIGUE STUDY TO MEASUBED FUNC-
TIONAL MANAGEMENT 9
RELATION OF FATIGUE STUDY TO MOTION STUDY ... 11
THE CLASSES OF FATIGUE 13
THE PROBLEMS OF FATIGUE STUDY 14
THE METHODS OF FATIGUE STUDY 14
EMPHASIS IN FATIGUE STUDY 15
A WORK FOB EVEBY ONE . . 16
CHAPTER II
THE FATIGUE SURVEY: WHAT IS TO BE DONE
WHAT A SUBVEY Is 18
THE GENEBAL SUBVEY AND THE FATIGUE SUBVEY . . 19
THE AIMS OF THE FATIGUE SUBVEY 19
THE TIME AND PLACE OF MAKING THE SUBVEY ... 20
THE QUALIFICATION OF THE SUBVEY MAKES .... 22
WHAT TO LOOK FOB 25
VABIABLES THAT AFFECT FATIGUE 29
THE SUBVEY RECOBD SHEET 30
SUBVEY PHOTOGBAPHS 31
MAKING THE SUBVEY SEBVICEABLE 32
CHAPTER III
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST FOR OVER-
COMING FATIGUE: WHAT CAN BE DONE
NOW
PROVISION FOB REST 38
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAIRS TO MAKE THE REST MOST EFFECTIVE .... 42
BETTERMENT WORK 47
RESULTS 49
CHAPTER IV
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT: A PRAC-
TICAL ILLUSTRATION
WHAT IT Is 54
THE Box IN THE PLANT 55
THE PLANT AS A SOURCE OF SUPPLY 55
THE HOME ELEMENT 58
ROUTING THE MAGAZINES 61
THE PROBLEM OF MAINTENANCE 63
How THE CONDITIONS VARY 67
THE HOME READING Box AND FATIGUE 69
THE BY-PRODUCTS OF THE HOME READING Box MOVE-
MENT 70
How TO BEGIN . 75
CHAPTER V
PRELIMINARY FATIGUE ELIMINATION:
WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW
THE LIGHTING PROBLEM 77
THE HEATING, COOLING, AND VENTILATING PROBLEM . . 82
FIRE PROTECTION 84
SAFETY PROTECTION 85
THE WORK PLACE 88
THE WORK-BENCH OR TABLE 90
THE CHAIR OR OTHER FATIGUE-ELIMINATING DEVICE . . 91
PLACING THE MATERIAL WORKED ON 93
THE PLACING OF TOOLS AND DEVICES 94
THE CLOTHING OF THE WORKER 95
CHAPTER VI
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM : AN OBJECT LESSON
WHAT A FATIGUE MUSEUM Is 99
THE PARENT FATIGUE MUSEUM 100
WHAT THE FATIGUE MUSEUM CONTAINS 102
WHAT THE MUSEUM DOES NOT CONTAIN 102
CONTENTS
PAGE
TYPES OF CHAIRS AND THEIR USES 104
OTHEB FATIGUE ELIMINATING DEVICES 108
How TO USE THE DEVICES 109
STARTING YOUR OWN FATIGUE MUSEUM Ill
CHAPTER VII
x FATIGUE MEASUREMENT : HOW TO ATTACK
THE PROBLEM SCIENTIFICALLY
HISTORY OF FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 114
FATIGUE, A TEST OF EFFICIENT ACTIVITY 116
THE ACTIVITY U/
MOTION STUDY, MICROMOTION STUDY, THE CYCLEGRAPH,
AND THE CHRONOCYCLEGRAPH METHOD AS MEASURES
OF ACTIVITY 118
TESTING THE WORK BY MOTIONS REQUIRED 123
TESTING WORKERS BY MOTION CAPABILITIES .... 124
THE USE OF ACTIVITY RECORDS AS DATA FOR ELIMINAT-
ING FATIGUE .... 124
THE TIME ELEMENT 125
THE STANDARDIZATION OF WORK AND REST .... 127
CHAPTER VIII
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: HOW PRESENT PRAC-
TICE IS DEVELOPED INTO STANDARD PRAC-
TICE
A CONCRETE EXAMPLE OF MAKING ADJUSTMENTS . . .132
FORMER METHOD OF ASSEMBLY 133
How THE NEW PRACTICE WAS DERIVED 134
THE Two FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED 134
OUTLINE OF THE CHANGES TO BE MADE 135
THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 135
FINAL ADJUSTMENT 139
CHANGES IN TYPE OF WORK DEMANDED 140
CHANGE IN MENTAL ATTITUDE 140
VALUE OF THIS EXAMPLE 140
CHAPTER IX
THE OUTCOME: HOW FAR HAVE WE AT-
TAINED OUR AIM?
THE TESTS OF GENERAL HEALTH 142
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE TEST OF PROLONGED ACTIVITY 143
THE TEST OF POSTURE 144
THE TEST OF BEHAVIOUR AND IMPLIED MENTAL ATTITUDE. 146
THE TEST OF TRANSFERENCE OF SKILL 148
TEST OF " HAPPINESS MINUTES," INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL 149
CHAPTER X
THE FUTURE: WHAT EACH ONE OF US CAN DO
THE WORK OF THE COLLEGES 153
THE WORK OF THE MANAGER 155
THE WORK OF THE WORKER 156
THE WORK OF THE PUBLIC ... 157
FATIGUE STUDY
FATIGUE STUDY
CHAPTER I
A DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE OF
FATIGUE STUDY: WHAT MUST BE DONE
Fatigue Study and Waste.
In "Motion Study" we stated: "There is
no waste of any kind in the world that equals
the waste from needless, ill-directed, and inef-
fective motions." * It is an aspect of wasted
motions that we are discussing here. Wasted
motions mean wasted effort and wasted time.
One of the results of this waste is unnecessary
.fatigue, caused by unnecessary effort expended
during time that must, as a result, be wasted.
Time, a lifetime, is our principal inheritance.
To waste any of it is to lose part of our principal
asset. To waste time and to suffer from un-
necessary fatigue simultaneously can be excused
i See " Motion Study," p. 2.
3
4 FATIGUE STUDY
only by ignorance. Unnecessary fatigue is
caused by some one's ignorance. This book aims
to call the attention of the world to the relation-
ship between fatigue and waste, with the hope
that the knowledge of our methods of fatigue
elimination may be useful to others.
What Fatigue Is.
A crowd of workers come out of the factory
after the day's work. Some rush home; others
walk at a leisurely pace. Some move slowly and
with effort. Some have their heads back and a
satisfied expression on their faces. Others have
their heads bent forward, and look as though
life were not worth while. What is the differ-
ence between the members of this group?
Mainly a matter of fatigue. Fatigue is the
after-effect of work. It is the condition of the
worker's organism after he has expended energy
in doing something. It is a necessary by-prod-
uct of activity. If, as is presumable, every mem-
ber of our crowd of workers has been putting in
a day full of activity, we might expect to see the
same marks of fatigue on every face and figure, —
but we do not.
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 5
What, then, are the reasons for the difference?
The state of fatigue has only been systematically
studied during the past thirty years. Even to-
day it is not wholly understood. We do know,
however, several things about it, that may ex-
plain what we see in the emerging group. We
know that fatigue is marked by a decrease in
power to work, a decrease in pleasure taken in
work, and a decrease in the enjoyment of the
hours spent away from work. We know that
exertion not only uses up temporarily the energy
of the body, but that it also seems to generate a
sort of poison which " slows one down " for the
time being. In the third place, we know, also,
that the effects of fatigue are more difficult to
overcome as the fatigue becomes greater. Care-
ful observation and records show that a little
fatigue is easily overcome if proper rest is sup-
plied immediately. Twice the amount of fatigue
requires more than twice the amount of rest.
Four times the amount of fatigue demands much
more than twice as much rest as the preceding
"more than twice the amount of rest," until,
finally, a state of excessive fatigue requires a
rest period that might have to be prolonged in-
6 FATIGUE STUDY
definitely. It is this fact that lies at the basis of
the great unnecessary waste in accumulated fa-
tigue.
The trouble with these tired workers, then, is
that their work has not been arranged in the
least fatiguing manner nor in such a way that
they could get the most rest and recovery in the
least amount of idle time during the working
hours. The ones whose heads are high and whose
shoulders are thrown back may have been pro-
vided in some way with sufficient rest. The ones
whose heads are bowed probably have not had
the recovery time that they needed. It is pos-
sible that those who have had all the rest they
needed have not produced as much as have the
others. The remedy for this may not lie in short-
ening the rest, but in improving work methods.
The waste in work not done, or in work done with
the wrong method, is a serious economic waste.
The waste in unnecessary fatigue is not only an
economic waste, it is a waste of life, and it calls
for immediate attention from every one of us,
whether interested in the individual, the group,
or the economic prosperity of our country.
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 7
What Fatigue Study Is.
Our fatigiie study is an attack upon this un-
necessary waste of human energy. It is a careful
consideration of the problem of activity from the
side of its results upon the human organism. It
aims :
1. To determine accurately what fatigue re-
sults from doing various types of work.
2. To eliminate all unnecessary fatigue.
3. To reduce the necessary fatigue to the
lowest amount possible.
4. To provide all possible means for over-
coming fatigue.
5. To put the facts obtained from the study
into such form that every worker can
use them for himself to get more out of
life.
The Field of This Book.
The reader who will carefully watch the tired
crowd of workers will probably decide that he
would like to do something about the fatigue
problem immediately. There are various meth-
ods by which he may attack the problem. He
may, and must, ultimately, review the literature
S FATIGUE STUDY
on fatigue. The work of Marey, of Amar, of Im-
bert, of Offner, of Thorndike, and of numerous
other physiologists and psychologists lies open to
the student of the subject. He may turn im-
mediately to Miss Josephine Goldmark's mas-
terly volume on " Fatigue and Efficiency." This
will give him an insight into the application of
fatigue elimination to the industries. He may
decide, however, that such study must wait, and
that he must actually do something to cut down
the fatigue the first thing the next morning, while
the driving force of what he has seen is still
strong. Nothing can mean so much to what he
is to do as the strong incentive that drives him
to doing it, the desire to help. But he will do
best if he is instructed and directed. He should
plan, in order that he may do the most in the
least amount of time, and do the big, easy, ob-
vious things first.
This book will outline a method of attack, and
furnish a working practice for attacking the fa-
tigue problem in an industrial plant. This prac-
tice is recommended because it rests on the re-
sults of measurement. We have here not simply
a collection of illustrations that show what has
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 9
been done in eliminating fatigue in the indus-
tries. All fatigue elimination is to be com-
mended, but illustrations that do not embody
well-recognized principles are questionable mod-
els. It is easy to make external changes that
never touch the underlying cause of evil. Worth-
while, permanent fatigue elimination goes at the
fundamentals of the work itself, and studies these
in relation to the fatigue. What has been done
is worth while when we know^fepw it has been
done, and ,jtby it has been done. Given these
facts, we can determine how it may be done again
in the same fashion and possibly even better.
The practice that is the result of accurate meas-
urement,— this is the standard to be demanded.
The Relation of Fatigue Study to Measured
Functional Management.
Fatigue study is founded on measurement.
This makes it an integral part of measured func-
tional management. This is management that
acts in accordance with standards. These stand-
ards are derived by actually measuring accur-
ately what is happening. Standards contain the
results of the measurement combined into new
10 FATIGUE STUDY
working methods. These standards are main-
tained only until they can be improved, when
the new ones are in turn measured and main-
tained. Such accurate measurement demands
that the problem of management be divided into
measurable units. These units are made as
small as possible, and constantly smaller as time
goes on. It was the great work of Doctor Tay-
lor to divide an operation, that is, a piece of
work to be measured, into units for timing with a
stop watch, and to separate rest units from work
units.
From its beginning, Scientific Management has
recognized the importance of the part played
by fatigue. This recognition helps to obtain that
co-operation and permanent beneficial efficiency
that are the underlying ideas and the maintain-
ing forces in this type of management. But fa-
tigue study has only recently been acknowledged
as fundamental to the most efficient management.
Any one can attack the fatigue problem in its
present condition in the industries successfully.
He has simply to apply measurement. He can
do this without regarding the investigations and
results of others, if he chooses, but he will pro-
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 11
gress faster and farther if he uses results already
at hand, and improves on " the best that has been
known and thought in the world."
Relation of Fatigue Study to Motion Study.
Motion study has been described as the divid-
ing of the elements of the work into the most
elementary subdivisions possible, studying and
measuring the variables of these fundamental
units separately and in relation to one another,
and from these- studied, chosen units, after they
have been derived, building up methods of least
waste. It is through the measuring of motions
that one comes to realize most strongly the neces-
sity of fatigue study.
There has come, in the past twenty-five years,
a strong general realization that the important
factor in doing work is the human factor, or the
human element. Improvement in working ap-
paratus of any type is important in its effect
upon the human being who is to use the appa-
ratus. The moment one begins to make man, the
worker, the centre of activity, he appreciates that
he has two elements to measure. One is the ac-
tivity itself. This includes the motions, seen or
12 FATIGUE STUDY
/
unseen, made by the worker, — what is done and
how it is done. The other is the fatigue. This
includes the length and nature of the interval
or rest period required for the worker to recover
his original condition of working power.
Any one who makes real motion study, or ana-
lyzes motion study data, cannot fail to realize
constantly the relationship of motion study to
fatigue study. The fatigue is the more interest-
ing element, in that it is the more difficult to
determine exactly. When we recognize this close
relationship between motion study and fatigue
study, we see that we have a body of data al-
ready collected and at our disposal. What is
even more desirable, we have a method of meas-
urement ready at our hand. Every observation
of a motion may be used to give information
about fatigue. Is this information of immedi-
ate use to the man who is attacking his fatigue
problem for the first time to-day? Yes, and no.
Yes, in that it is at his disposal. No, in that he
must determine his own particular problem be-
fore he can start to solve it. The first step in
this direction lies in classifying fatigue.
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 13
The Classes of Fatigue.
There are two classes of fatigue:
1. Unnecessary fatigue, which results from
unnecessary effort, or work which does
not need to be done at all. A typical ex-
ample of such work is that of the brick-
layer, who furnished one of the first sub-
jects for motion study. Any one who has
watched a bricklayer lift all of his body
above the waist, together with the bricks
and mortar from the level of his feet to
the top of a wall, cannot fail to realize
that bricklaying requires a great amount
of energy as well as skill. Yet by far
the most of the energy expended in the
method of laying bricks, that had existed
for centuries, was entirely unnecessary.1
2. Necessary fatigue, which results from
work that must be done. The new
method, which enabled this same brick-
layer to lay three hundred and fifty bricks
per hour, where he had laid one hundred
and twenty bricks per hour before, did
i See " Bricklaying System," chapter xiv. Myron
C. Clark Co., Chicago.
14 FATIGUE STUDY
not eliminate, and did not expect to elimi-
nate all of the fatigue accumulated in the
working day. The bricklayer at the end
of the day, by reason of motion study de-
vices, laid more brick, but was neverthe-
less much less tired. Experimental work
in his case was carried to a high degree
of perfection, because he was recognized
as a splendid type of efficient brawn.
The Problems of Fatigue Study.
The problems of fatigue study are, then, four,
which may be stated in very simple terms :
1. To determine what fatigue is unnecessary.
2. To determine what fatigue is necessary.
3. To eliminate all unnecessary fatigue pos-
sible.
4. To distribute the necessary fatigue prop-
erly, and to provide the best possible
means for speedy and complete recovery.
The Methods of Fatigue Study.
The methods used must rest on a scientific
basis. These methods are the same for the ex-
pert and for the man making his first attack on
the problem. They are as follows :
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 15
1. Record present practice, make an accu-
rate and complete account in writing of
what is actually being done.
2. Decide in what sequence things are to be
measured, and put them in such shape
that they can be measured.
3. Apply accurate measurement.
4. Determine standards synthetically from
the measurement, and make such changes
in practice as will make it conform to
the standard.
5. Compare the new standard practice with
the old practice. Determine exactly what
improvements have been made, in order
to be able to predict the line along which
new improvements must lie.
This is the standard method of attack of meas-
ured functional management. It can be the
more successfully applied to fatigue study in that
the results can be checked at every point by the
results of motion study, which bear a constant
relation to them.
Emphasis in Fatigue Study.
Any such study as this demands an emphasis 1
upon accuracy. The man making the study must
16 FATIGUE STUDY
have a strong desire for finding and writing down
the facts. He must have willingness to submit
every aspect of the problem he is studying to the
test of accurate measurement. Along with this
desire for facts must go a realization of how the
facts are to be used. Fatigue study is a con-
structive study. It builds up. It uses such
terms as " elimination," but its fundamental aim
is conservation, and this conservation includes
adding to those things which make life worth
while. The desire to act as a force for better-
ment must be the incentive that makes the man
doing fatigue study ready to record and face the
actual facts.
A Work for Every One.
Recording facts is difficult work, but there is
no one who cannot do some of it. It is the duty
of every man to face the facts with which he
works and to record them. You have come from
the crowd of tired workers with an incentive to
do this. Here is the method by which it may be
done.
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE 17
Summary.
Fatigue study is related to motion study in
that both are branches of waste elimination. Fa-
tigue study classifies fatigue, and outlines meth-
ods by which unnecessary fatigue may be elimi-
nated and rest from necessary fatigue may be
provided.
CHAPTER II
THE FATIGUE SURVEY: WHAT IS TO BE DONE
What a Survey Is.
A survey is an attempt to record existing con-
ditions. It gives :
1. A general view.
2. A more particular or intensive study of
the various parts of the whole and their
relation to one another.
It may include recommendations for improve-
ment, but its primary purpose is to record what
actually exists.
The survey is a systematic study of existing
conditions. Those making it have always a well-
defined plan in mind. It is necessary, in order
to maintain a proper balance for the completed
survey, to give a properly proportioned represen-
tation of what happens, with no element omitted
or over-emphasized.
18
FATIGUE SURVEY 19
The General Survey and the Fatigue Survey.
The fatigue survey should be a department of
the general survey. A description of the appar-
ent causes of fatigue, or of the devices present
that eliminate fatigue, can mean little without
the accompanying description of the worker, the
conditions of the work and the work itself. The
fatigue survey might be made without a general
survey. From the results, fatigue might be
eliminated, or better means for overcoming fa-
tigue provided, but there would be no assurance
that the records applied would be efficient, or
do lasting good, if the causes of fatigue were not
understood. The causes could not be under-
stood without the general survey. The fatigue
element receives more emphasis than any other
element of the general survey. We look for fa-
tigue first, last, and all the time, but we record
with it all the attending circumstances that we
can observe or discover.
The Aims of the Fatigue Survey.'
The fatigue survey aims :
1. To present an accurate picture of exist-
ing conditions from the fatigue stand-
point.
20 FATIGUE STUDY
2. To enable all interested in fatigue elimi-
nation to visualize the problem thor-
oughly.
3. To divide the problem of fatigue elimina-
tion into such working units that it may
be possible to attack the problem success-
fully from the start.
4. To arouse the interest of every member of
the organization in fatigue and its elimi-
nation.
5. To show the relation between fatigue and
activity.
6. To teach every member of the organiza-
tion to conserve his working powers.
The Time and Place of Making the Survey.
The survey should be made as soon as plans for
making it are completed, and before any changes
in the actual practice are made. If there is any
idea of changing the type of management, it may
well be made even before such a change is thor-
oughly outlined. It is the first step to be taken
by any organization which is thinking of intro-
ducing the scientific type of management. The
entire "plant" should be surveyed. The work
FATIGUE SURVEY 21
should start where there is the most fatigue, and
where the greatest amount of good can be done
immediately. This, for several reasons ; such as :
1. The largest amount of waste can thus be
eliminated.
2. The co-operation of the workers will be
most quickly gained. This will be true
not only of the workers actually studied,
but of all of the workers in the organiza-
tion. They will appreciate the attitude
of the new management, and will be glad
to help if they can see the actual benefit
from the start.
3. The survey maker will become encouraged
as he sees his data successfully used.
4. The survey, if made by an amateur, will
help him when he attacks more difficult
problems.
If the survey maker is an amateur, he had best
begin where working conditions most demand
betterment. It is simpler to record working con-
ditions than to describe the worker or the method
by which the work is done. A really adequate
record of a worker requires a knowledge of
physiology and psychology. An adequate record
22 FATIGUE STUDY
of method requires an expert knowledge of mo-
tion study. A preliminary record of fatigue of
all sorts may be made by an amateur. He had
best, however, get his practice in recording work-
ing conditions. Moreover, it will be best to ob-
serve a worker who is known to be co-operative
at the start. The co-operation of the worker is
the most important element in getting accurate
records. Such workers will also help from the
start to suggest or invent devices for eliminating
fatigue, if they are started thinking along these
lines. Later, one can handle the non-co-opera-
tive as one becomes more practised, and there is
always the likelihood that, by the time one gets
to these at first non-co-operative workers, their
attitude will have been changed by the good re-
sults and the general sympathy towards the fa-
tigue survey.
The Qualification of the Survey Maker.
The survey maker must be an accurate ob-
server. He must be able to see what the condi-
tions really are, and to describe and record what
he sees in simple, clear language that will enable
others to understand what he says. The survey
FATIGUE SURVEY 23
may be made by any one of several types of sur-
vey maker:
1. The owner of the plant. He will have the
most vital interest in the resulting fa-
tigue elimination. No matter who else
makes a survey, the owner should ex-
amine it closely, or should make one for
himself. We have found that, if the
owner can be persuaded to take one day
of his time to make even a most rapid and
superficial fatigue survey of his plant, the
result is always of enormous benefit to
the work; but, while his interest may be
enlisted with a walk through his plant,
his zeal will not be obtained until he has
actually sat in the various seats and
chairs, and actually, personally, tried out
the various work places.
2. The survey may be made by some other
member of the organization, who is an
amateur at the work. The benefits of
having a survey maker who is a member
of the organization is that he " under-
stands the peculiar and local conditions "
thoroughly, and that those who are ob-
FATIGUE STUDY
served may therefore have more con-
fidence in his work and perhaps may be
less apt to resent being observed. The
disadvantages are that he will be so well
acquainted with and accustomed to see-
ing the conditions that he will not be apt
to note many apparently unimportant de-
tails. These may really be important,
when one comes to make changes.
3. The survey may be made by an amateur
not a member of the organization. The
advantage of this is that the observer will
be disinterested. The disadvantages are
the usual disadvantages of lack of train-
ing. There may, also, be some delay in
the observed worker's co-operating with
the observer. This is not apt to occur if
the survey maker is properly instructed
before he begins his work.
4. The survey may be made by an expert.
It makes little difference, in this case,
whether the expert is, or is not, a mem-
ber of the organization. In actual prac-
tice he seldom is a member of the or-
ganization.
FATIGUE SURVEY *5
There is much saving in time in having an ex-
pert survey maker, who will be, in the indus-
tries, preferably a motion study expert. From
extensive practice he will be able to see possible
improvements at the same time that he sees ex-
isting conditions. However, he must not let his
plans for improvement affect the exactness of his
records of the present. On the contrary, these
plans will insure that he makes his records of
the present detailed and accurate, in order that
the progress may be apparent.
Whatever may be the preparation of the sur-
vey maker, his chief qualification should be a
keen interest and enthusiasm for this work. If
a man really wants to eliminate fatigue, and is
willing to learn how to do it, he can become a
survey maker.
What to Look For.
There are three chief groups of things to look
for:
1. The characteristics of the worker, or, as
we have called them, " variables of the
worker."
2. The characteristics of the working con-
26 FATIGUE STUDY
ditions, — " the variables of the surround-
ings, equipments, and tools."
3. The characteristics of the methods of
work ; that is, " the variables of the mo-
tions." l
First, in describing the worker, there are sev-
eral possible methods of obtaining valuable in-
formation. One is by observing him. A second
is by talking with him. Before using either of
these, it is necessary to see what records of him
are already in the hands of the management.
There will probably be some information in the
employment bureau, if an employment bureau ex-
ists; if not, the man who hired him may have
some data concerning him. Usually this will
save the worker's time in answering questions.
It is well to know as much as possible about the
worker's life history and home conditions, — this
especially that one may understand whether he
goes to work refreshed or tired in the morning.
The procedure may be as follows:
1. Kecord the man's name, age, birthplace,
preparation, experience, and fitness,
i See " Motion Study," pages 6 and 7.
FATIGUE SURVEY 27
These last will all be a help in determin-
ing the percentage of fatigue.
2. Record the man's physical character-
istics, as far as can be observed ; such as,
size, strength, skill, strong points, and
weak points.
3. Record, as closely as possible, the man's
behaviour, as indicating his mental con-
dition. To be specific, note whether he
seems interested in the work. Note his
habits of doing the work, — whether he
does the work the same way every time,
or whether he varies in his methods.
Note his degree of ability to learn quickly,
Note his power of concentrating atten-
tion. Note his degree of contentment
with the work.
The degree of detail with which this notation
may be made by an amateur doing the work de-
pends largely upon his training in psychology.
Second, in recording working conditions:
1. Record those things that affect all work-
ers in the group. These are the length of
working day, condition of lighting, heat-
28 FATIGUE STUDY
ing, cooling, and ventilating; fire protec-
tion ; safety protection as it affects all, —
this to include protection from dust, lint,
or any substance which might affect
health.
2. Record the conditions that affect the in-
dividual worker: — places of the work;
the work bench or table or other device
for holding the work ; the chair, foot rails
or rests, or other device for affording rest
to the body or some part of the body ; the
material worked on and its placing; the
tools or other devices by which the work
is done; the clothing of the worker.
3. Record the results of the work: — the
average amount of output; the hours of
the working day when most fatigue seems
to exist. Record which conditions ob-
served are the result of work having been
done by the management, and which are
the result of work having been done by
the individual worker.
If a general appearance of fatigue seems to oc-
cur at any time, make special notes of all attend-
ing conditions of every kind. Note anything
FATIGUE SURVEY 29
that is particularly good or particularly bad.
Third, little can be done at this stage by the
amateur survey maker in recording the variables
of the methods, and in making motion analysis
charts. He may, however, make notes of meth-
ods that seem to him unusual or efficient. For
example, if he observes two workers who seem
physically much the same, and who have prac-
tically indentical surroundings, and finds that
one of these accomplishes more than the other,
or is less fatigued, the difference is likely to lie
in the motions or the methods used. These
should be carefully noted. Such data as these
will prove of value in the intensive studies of
motions to be undertaken later.
Variables that Affect Fatigue.
We included in " Motion Study," l a list of
forty-two variables that affect motions. The list
we use consists of one hundred and nineteen.
We feel that our list is by no means complete. I
It is necessary only to note here that every pos- !
sible change in the work, the worker, or the
method has its effect upon the fatigue. This)
i D. Van Nostrand Co., 25 Park Place, New York City.
30 FATIGUE STUDY
need not act as a deterrent from making changes.
It need only act as a warning that no change
made without a thorough consideration of every
element of the problem can be of permanent
value.
The Survey Record Sheet.
The survey maker will do well to list all of the
things, which he intends to look for, upon one
sheet, which he may use as a tentative record
sheet. Such a sheet will prove itself an admir-
able record of how far advanced the organization
is in fatigue elimination. The survey maker in
any particular plant may modify it to suit in-
dividual conditions.
The making of such a record sheet is most stim-
ulating to the survey maker. He should make a
collection of all the different survey sheets ob-
tainable, even though used in the social or edu-
cational fields. He should be required to make
at least a tentative sheet of his own. Through
his attempts to do this, he will come, as in al-
most no other way, to a realization of the impor-
tance of the problem that is before him.
FATIGUE SURVEY 31
Survey Photographs.
A photograph is one of the most satisfactory
survey records. It is not always easy to get such
a photograph. In the first place the survey
maker is not sure what should be photographed.
In the second place the worker is not always
eager that he or his work place should be photo-
graphed. This is even more true of the manage-
ment than of the men. Some managers are not
willing to allow their work places to be photo-
graphed, when they realize that such photographs
will live as " before and after " records. Where
photographs can be taken, they are the ideal
records, in that they are accurate, detailed, un-
prejudiced, easily understood, easily preserved,
and constantly available. We have found the /
photograph the most valuable of records, and/* • -
have used it continuously since 1892. On every V
side we find that scientists are more and more
realizing the importance of the photograph
record. A trained photographer often has the
desirable qualities to become an admirable sur-
vey maker. The motion picture film makes it
possible to record activity as well as rest.
32 FATIGUE STUDY
Making the Survey Serviceable.
Such photographs form an important element
in making the survey serviceable. The survey is
an admirable record to use after improvements
have been made, to show exactly what the trend
of progress has been. It is, however, most im-
portant, as furnishing the working data from
which the actual improvements are made imme-
diately. To be serviceable, then, the survey
must do certain things :
1. It must make it possible for any one
studying it actually to realize existing
conditions. It is apparent what a help
the photographs are in thus visualizing
the problem.
2. It must emphasize those conditions that
require immediate and great improve-
ment. These can be shown most plainly
by photographs, but it must be remem-
bered that a photograph without a proper
written explanation often means but a
small portion of what it should to a man
who has not himself seen the conditions.
3. It must be in such form that it can be
FATIGUE SURREY 3$
easily followed or studied. This will be
assured if the plan has "been properly
made, and if the plan outlined has been
consistently followed.
4 The observations should be grouped. The
groups should be put under appropriate headings.
The order should be excellent. It will help
greatly if partial and final summaries are in-
cluded.
The amateur will do best to put all of his
recommendations for changes at the close of the
survey. Such recommendations should certainly
be included. The survey maker should note the
improvements that occur to him while making
the survey. This he may do on the regular sur-
vey blank, but when writing up the survey, he
should put his suggested improvements in a sepa-
rate place, for the following reasons : His sug-
gestions may be good, but may be only a few of
possible suggestions. Beading them with the
survey may prevent the reader from thinking out
suggestions of his own. Again, the suggestions,
while good, may be obvious, in which case the
reader might consider the entire survey a record
of obvious facts, which, therefore, is of little
34 FATIGUE STUDY
value; in which case, while it is well to record
them, it is seldom advisable to include them in
the body of the survey. The reader may lose in-
terest because of the suggestions, and may fail
to realize the value of the record itself.
Another means of making the survey service-
^ is to pay strict attention to the style. This
should be the extreme of simplicity and clearness.
Use short, familiar, and necessary words. Use
short sentences requiring no punctuation except
the period. In fact, wherever possible, use a
printed form, and write in the fewest possible
words that can include a simple, definite, and
complete description. Wherever possible, make
the survey so interesting that it will hold the
attention without effort. This has been done,
and can always be done. Photographs, espe-
cially stereoscopic photographs, are of great as-
N^sistance; so are charts, or graphs, illustrating
the results of the observation; and tables that
will show facts, recapitulations, and tendencies,
at a glance.
The data of the survey may be written up by
the survey maker, if he is clever' at such work ; if
he is not, it had better be written up by some one
FATIGUE SURVEY 35
to whom he explains it, and who is naturally a
clever writer.
The survey in proper form can be used as a
force to arouse interest in fatigue elimination
throughout the entire organization. It must be
put in the most attractive form possible. As an
illustration of the possibilities in making dry ma-
terial interesting, study the farmers' bulletins
used by the national government and various
State governments, especially the bulletins of
Kansas and Wisconsin.
It is a courageous organization that would con-
sent to making its original fatigue survey public
However, the survey should certainly be in the
hands of every member of the organization who
desires to see it. It will be recognized that the
survey is the starting point for making improve-
ments in the elimination of unnecessary fatigue.
Too little is often done to take the workers into
the confidence of the management. The fatigue
survey might well act as a starting point in this
direction; therefore, if not the entire survey, it
is certain the examples worthy to be copied
should be freely circulated. The efficiently, spe-
cially-clothed worker, the excellent arrangement
36 FATIGUE STUDY
of tools, the best arranged work place, — photo-
graphs and descriptions of these might be posted
to excellent advantage.
After all, the real aim of the survey is to be
serviceable. It will be most serviceable when it
is used by the greatest number of individuals, and
it will be chiefly serviceable in that it stimulates
them to do something definite to improve condi-
tions. It must suggest what is to be done, and
where it is to be done. As to when the improve-
ments are to be made, there are certain things
that can be done immediately, — as soon as ex-
isting conditions are understood. Our next task
is to show what these are, in order that the stimu-
lated organization may expend its energy for the
greatest amount of permanent good to the great-
est number.
Summary.
The fatigue survey is a record of present con-
ditions and practice, that endeavours to show
particularly and in detail where and when fa-
tigue exists. This record contains a description
of all the attending circumstances. It is to be
in such form that it may be easily read and un-
FATIGUE SURFEY 87
derstood. By studying it, any one interested
may learn where fatigue exists, and may receive
suggestions as to how it may be prevented, elimi-
nated, or remedied.
CHAPTEE III
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST FOR OVER-
COMING FATIGUE
Provision for Rest.
^ The first necessity in our fight against fatigue
is to eliminate the causes of unnecessary fatigue.
The second is to provide for proper rest to over-
come fatigue, whether necessary or unnecessary.
If the worker goes home too tired each night,
the first method of remedying this condition is to
provide rest peripds during the working day — to
set aside time in which he may recover his proper
and normal working strength. One method by
which this may be sometimes done is by short-
. ening the working day. This permits the worker
tto get into better condition either before work,
rafter work, during a lengthened noon hour, or
during the " second breakfast " and " tea re-
cess" of many European organizations. The
supposed advantage of this plan is that it gives
38
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 39
little or no jolt to the working process. To this
we might answer, as circumstances vary, that it
does give a jolt, because speed must be increased
in order that output should be maintained; or
we might say that the jolt is really needed. The
disadvantage, in some cases, of shortening the
working hours is the effect upon the entire in-
dustry in the vicinity. This is a feature to be
considered, for in the long run maximum pros-
perity is dependent upon largest outputs.
There can be no doubt that in most cases it is
advisable and profitable to shorten working
hours, but how and when this is to be done is a
serious problem. In our own office, our stenog-
raphers work every other Saturday till 1 :00 P.M.
only, and the alternating Saturday they do not
work at all; that is to say, we give them a holi-
day of Saturday afternoon and Sunday every
other week, and all Saturday and Sunday the
other weeks, besides their regular two- weeks va-
cation in summer. We find that we get more and
better work as a result. No plant, operating un-
der the measured type of ^management, that we
know of, has ever regret t^<rshortening its work-
ing hours. It may be that the working hours
40 FATIGUE STUDY
formerly existing were so long that shortening
the hours was the only immediate adequate
remedy. The danger in shortening hours is that,
if the whole problem is not thoroughly studied,
the worker may not be sure of the same or a
larger wage for work which he is able to do in
the shorter time. Fatigue elimination is funda-
mentally the duty of the management. The
worker cannot afford to pay for the fatigue elimi-
nation, directly or indirectly. Let the short
hours be planned for and assured, but make sure
before introducing them that everything is in
such condition that wages can be maintained or
, raised. This is a matter requiring study of ac-
tual records and not " guess," " personal opin-
ion," or " judgment,"
There are other methods of providing for fa-
tigue elimination or recovery, that do not involve
so many elements. Such a method is providing
rest periods during the working day. This is a
method that may be used immediately. To
whom are these rest periods to be given, then?
Ultimately, of course, to every member of the
organization whose work is of a nature that re-
quires a fixed rest period. The work should,
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 41
preferably, be so arranged that every worker, be
he in plant or in management, would achieve
larger outputs by having definite and properly
located rest periods. It has been proved in most
work that more output can be achieved by ap-
plying one's self steadily for short periods, and
then resting, than by applying one's self less
steadily and having no rest periods. This, of
course, applies only to work which in itself pro-
vides no rest periods. At the beginning of the
fatigue eliminating campaign, provide rest peri-
ods for those who seem to need them most.
There are two, off-hand, quick methods of de-
termining which workers these are. One is the
appearance of the workers at various times of
the day, and at the end of the day. The other is
the amount of output and the rate that output is
turned out by the worker during the day and
during the various parts of the day. In some
organizations, it has been the standard practice
to take no chances when the worker looks or feels
tired. They provide rest periods immediately,
long enough to allow him to recover and go back
to the work with zest. This is, of course, the im-
mediate remedy. " Provide the rest period first.
42 FATIGUE STUDY
Discuss its efficiency later." This first-aid plan
has worked splendidly for a long time among
women workers in such industries as the dry-
goods trades. The typical welfare work may be
unscientific from the standpoint of those fa-
miliar with highly organized methods, but it has
sensed the trouble keenly and quickly, and pro-
vided at least a temporary remedy without de-
lay. " Time to rest when one needs it." This is
the first slogan of the campaign for eliminating
the evils of overfatigue.
Chairs to Make the Rest Most Effective.
The merchants have again been the pioneers
here, in realizing that reclining chairs or couches
furnish the most effective rest. It is not neces-
sary here to discuss the physiological effects re-
sulting from a change of blood pressure. It
should be noted that even a few minutes in a re-
clining position provides such rest as could not
be gained in a much longer time if seated upright
in the most comfortable of chairs. If attending
conditions allow of reclining chairs or couches,
for at least the exceptional and emergency cases,
these should immediately be provided. It surely
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 43
does take real courage for the management of an
organization of strong and strenuous men to in-
stall reclining chairs, couches, and high foot-rests
for rest periods ; but fame awaits the one in this
field, who can make the practice general. The
brain worker of all types has long realized the
benefits of the occasional use of the reclining
chair. Flat couches without even the smallest
of pillows are a part of the regular working
equipment of some of our greatest brain workers.
It is considered no disgrace, nor is it worthy of
note, if a tired soldier flings himself flat upon
the ground to rest. It attracts no attention for
an exhausted worker to go to sleep on a hard
wooden bench at noontime. But to put a couch
in some quiet spot, or even a chair with extra-
high, large, flat, arm rests, where the same type of
rest might be enjoyed most effectively, t his seems
radical, and " might make the men think we had
gone crazy." It might be objected that the
worker should not allow himself to become so
fatigued that this type of rest is necessary. The
answer is, — if rest in this position will over-
come what is almost complete exhaustion, what
increases in national efficiency and prosperity
44 FATIGUE STUDY
may it not cause in overcoming quickly less vio-
lent stages of fatigue?
Next to the couch or reclining chair, in effi-
ciency, is the arm-chair. There are " arm-
chairs," and chairs with real arms specially fitted
to the individual worker. These will be even
more efficient if provided with a foot-rest. We
have actually installed such arm-chairs out in
the works with very good results. We have had
many a case where even the workers laughed
loudly when the special, unusual chairs were
brought in. They began to use them more out of
friendliness towards us than out of any belief in
the special usefulness of these peculiar chairs.
However, at the end of a few days of actual use,
they were able to handle their work in greater
quantities and with less fatigue. " It's a joke
to work like that," one said. Some of the work-
ers claimed that they did not need such a chair,
but, after it became the fashion to use it, each
one seemed glad enough for the better rest pro-
vided.
From this type of chair down to the smallest
possible seat, the gradation is gradual and con-
stant. In certain types of work, like selling in
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 45
a drygoods store, the space is sometimes so nar-
row that the only type of chair practicable, un-
der present conditions, is the small folding seat
that can slip under the shelves or fold up against
them when the girl is serving a customer. Such
also is the type of chair that folds up under or
next to a machine, which the operator is tend-
ing, and which can be pulled out during the peri-
ods when the machines need no tending, and the
operator is simply inspecting or waiting for the
next tending period. Every one realizes the ad- •
vantage, as a resting device, of anything upon
which one can occasionally sit. The two-inch,
iron arm of a seat on a railroad train, the tiny
seat that folds into a walking stick or umbrella,
that the enthusiast at the races takes with him, —
these are typical examples of seats that seem al-
most ridiculous, yet that have an enormous effect
upon the amount of fatigue accumulated in a few
hours, or in a day. " A chair to rest in ; " this
is the second slogan. If a chair is not procurable,
then some sort of a seat, even a packing box with
no back, even a post to lean against, or a rail to
lean upon, — anything to shift the pressure «
is better than nothing. Far better a seat with no
46 FATIGUE STUDY
back, immediately, than the best type of chair in
the indefinite future. Get some sort of seat for
the worker to-day, and begin planning for the
efficient chair at the first day possible.
The final word on chairs in this preliminary
work is that some sort of a chair should be pro-
vided for every member of the organization.
There is a wide-spread belief that one chair for
every two or three or more workers is sufficient ;
that " they can change off using it." The argu-
ment was something like this: "No one needs
to sit more than one-third of the time, therefore
one chair to each three workers is enough," etc.
The chief fallacy is the implied idea that the
rest periods of the workers can be so arranged
that the chairs can be in constant use, and that
each worker will have a chair at his or her dis-
posal at the proper time. Now in theory, of
course, this is not an impossible arrangement.
It might have to be made if chairs and seats
cost many dollars apiece, and it probably would
be done then, if there was a proper realization
of the importance of overcoming fatigue. But
when chairs are as cheap and plentiful as they
are now, there is no excuse for thinking of such
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 47
a condition. In practice, where there are not
enough chairs for every one, at certain times of
the day the chairs are empty, as every one is
busy. At other times, when work is duller, the
chairs are all used, and many workers are try-
ing to rest as best they can, standing. These
conditions can be noted in any drygoods store,
in any shop or factory where there is an inade-
quate supply of chairs. "A seat for each and
every worker whether he needs it or not;" this
is the third slogan.
Betterment Work.
The third division of provision for rest falls
under the general heading of betterment work,
or what is popularly called ^welfare work."
The term " betterment work " is used by those
who are interested in measured management in-
stead of " welfare work," to emphasize a dis-
tinction in thought. Some welfare work implies
that it is the gift of the manager to the workers.
Betterment work is the same type of work, done-
with the distinct understanding that what is
done is for the good and profit of the organiza-
tion. It is the due of every member of the or-
48 FATIGUE STUDY
ganization to have the best resting condition pos-
sible. Making these conditions better is better-
ment work. There is no intention to criticize
welfare work. Most welfare work is betterment
work. Some workers, however, object to wel-
fare work as implying " charity." Therefore,
we say betterment work. It is the worker's due
that he gets. Such work comprises establishing
rest rooms, lunch rooms, entertainments — any-
thing that can make the resting time more attrac-
tive and profitable. It may also imply the serv-
ice of a betterment worker or a staff of such
workers ; or it may be that the organization itself
takes up the work co-operatively, with no out-
sider to direct it. Doubtless some such activity
already exists. If so, it would be the duty of
the fatigue eliminators to recognize it and en-
courage it.
The fourth provision for rest is really a part
of betterment work. It must be described at
some length. This is the Home Reading Box
Movement, which furnishes a definite means for
making rest periods, both at work and at home,
attractive and profitable. Before turning to a
description of this, we may estimate the effect
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 49
upon the worker of the preliminary work so far
done.
Results.
The results of the preliminary work we have
done are as follows :
1. The interest in fatigue becomes more
vital. We have aroused more interest in
fatigue elimination, and have made it
general. With the establishment of
properly distributed rest periods, chairs,
seats, etc., the recovery process becomes
interesting. As he knows how resting
improves his working conditions, the
worker becomes more warmly interested
in the fatigue itself. It is a very differ-
ent thing to talk about the evils of fa-
tigue, or even to see the advantages of
proper rest exhibited in object lessons,
than it is to get proper rest in a specially
designed chair for the first time in one's
working life. Fatigue, which was an
enemy, becomes now not only my enemy,
but our enemy — mine, because I recog-
nize it has affected me; ours, because we
50 FATIGUE STUDY
arc fighting it together for our best in-
terests, severally and collectively.
2. The interest in fatigue becomes more
intelligent. Many workers, especially
women, feel that it is to be expected that
they will get exceedingly tired by night ;
that one cannot expect to do so much
late in the day as early in the day; that
stopping to rest is cutting down one's
output, thus cheating one's self, if one is
a piece rate worker, or cheating the man-
agement, if one is a day rate worker.
The worker now comes to realize that
he hurts the management and himself,
when he gets too tired. " It is your duty
to rest when you need it ; " that is the
fourth slogan. It must be remembered
also that the rest periods provide time
for clearer and more intelligent thinking.
It is impossible to come to any valid con-
clusion when one is working at top speed
part of the day, and in a state of exhaus-
tion the rest of the time. We have now
an opportunity to think, and brains
rested enough with which to think.
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 51
3. The output increases. ' Usually, in prac-"U A/\
tice, the output increases as a result of
the fatigue-recovery periods. Increased
outputs encourage both management and
worker. They must, however, be in-
spected and controlled. Some one with
the proper training must be in charge,
that excessive fatigue may not be ac-
cumulated, and the rest periods lose their
purpose. With the increase in output •
must come added compensation in wages'.
If this is provided, the fatigue eliminat-
ing campaign will not be regarded as a ,
new scheme for driving the worker.
Better for the good of the management
and the men to limit the output to its
usual amount during this period, until
the workers see that too much fatigue to-
day interferes with the standard quan-
tity of output to-morrow, than to attempt
to allow increased output without in-
creased pay. The world can better af-
ford to lose the extra product, than the
management to appear even for a moment
to be trying to overwork the men.
52 FATIGUE STUDY
4. The spirit of co-operation grows. The
worker realizes instinctively, if the sur-
vey has been properly made, and if this
preliminary work has been properly
done, that the aim of fatigue study is the
good of all concerned. There is a psy-
chological element to this. It might be
possible to question the motive of in-
stalling fatigue eliminating devices.
There is no question as to the motive in in-
stalling the resting devices and rest peri-
ods. The rest periods allow time for de-
velopment of the social spirit. " To
know all is to understand all," a wise
Frenchman has said. " I like every one
whom I know," is the thought of another
wise man. " Let's go at the fatigue sur-
vey all together," is the fifth slogan.
The Home Reading Box Movement is,
perhaps, the channel where this spirit of
co-operation expresses itself most freely.
/
Summary.
Preliminary provision for rest for overcoming
fatigue consists of establishing rest periods, pro-
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS FOR REST 53
viding chairs or other devices in which one may
rest, and establishing or encouraging betterment ^ A*
work. These result in a more vital and intelli-
gent interest in fatigue, and a spirit of co-opera-
tion. This work is embodied in five slogans.
These are as follows : " Time to rest when one
needs it ; " "A seat to rest in ; " "A seat for
each and every worker whether he needs it or
not ; " " It is your duty to rest when you need it,"
and " Let's go at the fatigue survey all together."
CHAPTER IV
THE HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT
What It Is.
The Home Beading Box Movement is a sys-
tem of placing interesting, educational, and val-
uable reading matter at the disposal of the work-
ers in an industrial organization. It consists of
1. A box in the plant in which the reading
matter can be placed and kept until taken
out by the workers.
2. Boxes in the homes of members of the
organization or of the community inter-
ested, where reading matter intended for
the plant can be kept until it is collected.
3. A system by which the reading matter
gathered in the homes is taken to the
plant reading box, is taken from the plant
box to the homes of the workers, and, in
turn, either returned to the plant or
passed on to other homes which would
have pleasure or profit from it.
54
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 55
The Box in the Plant.
The box in the plant is located at a place most
convenient for the workers. Its size depends
upon the size of the collections. It should be
large enough to hold two collections of papers,
magazines, and books. It should be located
where the workers can get to it without loss of
time and with fewest motions. The best place is
usually near the path of exit after the day's work.
It will simplify the routing of the reading matter,
if the box is put under a window next to the
street, so that magazines can be put in by any
one driving or walking by, without coming in
and thereby possibly disturbing the operation of
the plant. The box is made a regular part of
the plant equipment by receiving a station num-
ber like every other " station " on the mes-
senger's route. The first box installed happened
to be No. 34. All boxes since have received this
number, and the same number becomes the home
reading box symbol, thus, — " 34."
The Plant as a Source of Supply.
It is invariably a surprise to the management,
as well as the workers, to find how much reading
56 FATIGUE STUDY
matter for the home reading box is available in
the plant itself.
Every business man receives quantities of
catalogs and other business and technical litera-
ture, and sample copies of publications, sent in
the effort to get new subscribers. These are
glanced at by the man receiving them, and then
and there usually thrown into the waste-basket.
A catalog is the best literary effort of the con-
cern it represents, and usually contains valuable
instruction. Now if the mail sorter or the pur-
chasing department see no immediate need of
the things in the catalog, it usually finds its
way quickly to the waste-basket. That such
catalogs have a decided interest to the users of
the home reading box is shown by the fact that
new catalogs are always taken away to the
homes. The average manager has not the time
to give each catalog the attention that it really
deserves,,but in the majority of cases there will
be one or more men out in the plant who have
both the time and interest to devote to the cata-
log. These usually discarded catalogs are
sometimes read to see if they will not contain a
thought for the " suggestion " box ; the by-prod-
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 57
net being that the plant is kept up to date, so
far as information contained in new catalogs
is concerned. In the same way sample maga-
zines or papers may come in, which make no par-
ticular appeal to the man to whom they are sent,
or a magazine brings a marked article which is
cut out and put on file, — the rest of the maga-
zine being thrown into the waste-basket.
All of this usually discarded material can be,
with profit, sent to the home reading box. The
man in the office, who looks at and discards it,
simply stamps or writes on it " 34," the symbol
of the home reading box, or the number of its
station in the inter-office postal system, and
puts it in his " out " basket. On his next trip
for distributing papers, the messenger takes the
reading matter marked " 34 " from the " out "
baskets, and deposits it in " 34," the home read-
ing box.
Another source of supply consists of the news-
papers, magazines, or books bought by the mem-
bers of the organiaztion as they come to work.
The average man in the management depart-
ments buys a paper or magazine as he comes to
work. His daily paper is surely discarded, his
58 FATIGUE STUDY
magazine is often discarded, sometimes even a
book is thrown aside as completed. These also
go through the " out " basket to the home read-
ing box. A cent or two a day for a morning pa-
per is little or nothing to some members of the
organization. A cent or two a day is a very
important element in some working men's bud-
gets. Besides there is an enormous waste, if
daily papers are thrown away after having been
read by but one person.
The Home Element.
A home reading box which has no other source
of supply than that mentioned is not to be de-
spised, but many advantages of the movement
are lost, of course, if it is so restricted. It is de-
sirable and customary, therefore, to interest as
large a number of homes as possible in the move-
ment. There are, first, the homes from which
reading matter comes. The first problem is to
arouse interest in such homes. The conversa-
tion goes something like this:
" Haven't you some reading matter that you
wish to get rid of, that we could have for the
Home Eeading Box Movement? "
FIG. 2
This shows a typical collection of magazines ready to
go to the Home Reading Box at the plant.
FIG. 3
This shows the passing of magazines from the wagon
into the plant. The plant box is placed directly below the
window, where, if no one is inside waiting to take the
magazines, they may easily be dropped from the outside of
the plant without disturbing any one in the plant.
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 59
" Just what do you want? "
"Well, anything that is interesting, but es-
pecially magazines of recent date, with which
you have finished."
" Oh, but we get hardly any magazines. Let
me see. We do take the Saturday Evening Post,
and my wife reads the Home Journal and the
Woman's Home Companion, and I buy some of
the weeklies and some of the monthlies."
"And you get trade catalogs and trade pa-
pers of various kinds besides? "
" Oh, yes, we get some of those that pertain to
our business."
" Well, what do you do with them all, when
you have finished reading them? "
"Why, we throw the advertising matter into
the waste-basket, and the trade papers we keep
with the idea of binding some day, but we never
have bound them. I .don't know exactly what
does become of them. I don't think we ever
really look at the old ones."
It is this reading matter that we desire to
send promptly into some home reading box. As
to the other homes to which the reading matter
ultimately goes, these may be, or may become,
60 FATIGUE STUDY
or may help others to become, the same type of
home. At present little reading matter, can en-
ter, because the wage earner cannot spare enough
from his wages to buy much literature, and is too
tired to go to the library in the evening.
There is often the same desire for reading in
this home, though it has not had such a chance
to become trained. The whole family has the
same desire to see the pictures, and the children
the same joy in colouring the drawings or cutting
them out. The neighbours will like to borrow
anything that is interesting, and the reader will
increase his stock of information and his vocabu-
lary, and form the habit of reading besides.
There are exactly the same possibilities of de-
veloping habits and tastes. All that is lacking
is the opportunity.
The one hope for the working man is through
education, and the greatest educational possibili-
ties now, with very few exceptions, go into the
waste-baskets of the nation. For example, con-
sider the pile of Saturday Evening Posts that
come out each week. These would make a pile
more than three miles high each week. Think
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 61
of the many other magazines and their effect
upon homes that cannot afford to buy them.1
Routing the Magazines.
The whole problem is to get the magazines
from the home to the plant promptly and in the
easiest way possible. When the first home read-
ing box was established, we carried the maga-
zines in our arms from our homes to the plant,
where the magazines found their way to the home
reading box by means of the inter-office mes-
senger system. As other people became inter-
ested, there were more magazines than could be
conveniently carried, so we sent an automobile
around, now and then, for collecting the maga-
zines and taking them to the plant. Gradually
other people were asked to co-operate, and regu-
lar collections were made monthly by some mem-
ber of the organization, who had time and an
automobile at his disposal. If the auto was
busy or the weather bad, an express wagon or a
truck went the rounds. The aim, however, was,
and is, always to have the collecting a part of
i The publishers are all in favor of the Home Reading Box
Movement, as it creates readers.
62 FATIGUE STUDY
the co-operation plan. It became a common
sight in the town where the movement started to
have a college professor take a Saturday after-
noon off, and collect the magazines in his electric
coupe, or to have one of the boys and his chums
go out in a touring car, and fill the box at the
plant, so that the men would find a fresh supply
Monday morning. In some plants, where none
of the homes in the vicinity has reading matter,
it is boxed and sent by express from friends of
the movement at a distance. Some bundles have
come from as far as Bryn Mawr for the Home
Beading Boxes in Providence.
It is a great sight to see the big bundles come
in, and to watch the workers, as they are opened.
Every one is allowed to take what he pleases and
as many as he pleases. There have been no re-
strictions whatever, because the unhampered
privileges have not been abused. He may bring
any back, if he chooses, or he may keep all he
takes, or he may pass them on to his less for-
tunate friends or neighbours who are not em-
ployed in a plant having a home reading box.
He is rather urged to pass them on when he has
finished with them, as we wish to maintain the
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 63
reading club, or circulating library, idea. We
consider the reading matter as loaned, and to be
passed on in an endless chain. If the worker
chooses to consider what he gets as a gift, that
is his privilege. He may break the chain with-
out reproach; in fact, breaking the chain has
been the cause of starting real libraries on a
small scale in many houses.
The Problem of Maintenance.
There are various important features to the
maintenance problem. In order that the sup-
ply may remain sufficient, as large a number as
possible of co-operators must be secured, and
they must, naturally, be required to do the least
amount of work possible.
In Providence, where the work started, the
work was, during this first or starting period,
placed in charge of a young man who devoted
considerable time to putting it on a systematic
basis. He divided the city into four districts,
each district representing a telephone exchange
district. Koutes for collection were made out,
and volunteer collectors assigned to the differ-
ent routes. Notices of collections were sent out,
64. FATIGUE STUDY
and schedules strictly adhered to. Co-operators
were, of course, allowed to keep their magazines
in any place or in any way that they chose, but
were urged, when convenient, to place the col-
lecting home reading box in their respective
front halls, near the front entrance, where, on
the day that the collector called, the box could be
emptied by him into the waiting automobile with
least possible delay to him and with the least
inconvenience to the household. As the list of
subscribers, or co-operators, has grown, it has
been a simple matter to amplify the routes. The
same methods of collection are maintained.
In another plant, each member of the or-
ganization is responsible for what he can collect,
and brings it to the plant himself.
At a girls' college, where there is a branch,
the girls collect the magazines in the dormitory,
or ask their parents and friends to express what
they have finished with, and then box the sup-
ply at intervals and express it on to the selected
plants. We recommend this method because it
is so simple.
At the present time the home branch demands
a very small amount of time for operation.
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 65
" Make it easy for every one/' might well be the
motto of the home reading box movement. The
" out " basket and the inter-office system furnish
the solution for the office force. As for the
worker himself, the placing of the box where it
will be most convenient for him has already been
emphasized. Choose a place where the worker
can pick the magazines up on his way out at noon
or at night, with room enough around the box
to allow half a dozen people to stop, select, and
chat as they turn the magazines over. One must
actually see the workers reading the magazines
noon times, instead of, as formerly, losing con-
sistently at poker to the foremen, in order to
appreciate the full benefits of the home reading
box movement. It may seem surprising to see
the workman carrying home two to four dollars'
worth (in original cost) of magazines each
week — reading suited to every member of the
family. But there is really nothing strange
about it. This is wThat he would always have
done had he had the chance.
A second factor in maintenance is keeping the
reading matter up to date. When the move-
ment is first started, the workers will take any-
66 FATIGUE STUDY
thing home, out of interest or curiosity. In dis-
tricts where there is little reading matter avail-
able outside, they may continue to take home al-
most anything put into the box. But with con-
tinued reading they become more discriminating.
This is, of course, exactly what is desired. Then
the reading matter, to make the strongest appeal,
must be timely. A morning paper is exciting
in the morning, quite readable at noon, not im-
possible at night. Except as practice in read-
ing, it has little value the next morning. A May
magazine issued in the middle of April is cur-
rent literature through May 31st. It becomes
a last month's magazine on June 1st. Any one
enjoys carrying the magazine of the month about
with him. It is a fact that most men, especially
those who do not have many magazines, feel a
little peculiar when seen reading an old maga-
zine of current events: in public. They have the
consciousness of conspicuousness that at least
distracts the attention. No magazine that has
pictures or stories or articles on travel, or any-
thing that is interesting at any time, will go
without a great circle of readers, but current
events must be current in order to hold the at-
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 67
tention thoroughly. The workers will be glad,
in the average plant, to get anything to read,
but, if you want to keep them excited, send the
magazine out the moment that you have finished
with it at home, so that it will be this month's
magazine. The strong preference for this
month's magazine may not be founded upon wis-
dom, but it is very human.
How the Conditions Vary.
The home reading box will prove a success in
any plant, no matter how simple the installation
and running plan are, but it can only retain its
best results when a careful consideration is given
to the conditions that affect the particular prob-
lem. The important feature is, of course, the
type of worker who is to receive the literature.
Where the group of workers consists of foreign-
ers, many of whom read no English, and speak
it little, the picture magazines are the most
sought. Where you have a group of highly
skilled mechanics, technical magazines and trade
catalogs are highly appreciated. There is
such a great difference in the workers of any
one place, that the rule is to give them anything
68 FATIGUE STUDY
and everything — from the Outlook to the Police
Gazette, inclusive. If you give them enough to
read, they will sooner or later waste none of their
time on anything but the best. The desire for
good reading is almost wholly a matter of educa-
tion, and the best way to become educated is to
ready ready read. If you are at a distance from
civilization, old mgazines will be almost as wel-
come as new.
You must realize that the problem is different
in different cases. What some people need is
general education. Of course, that is what we
all need, but the worker in particular. What
others need is specialized teaching. What still
others need is relaxation. All need amusement
and entertainment. We want, of course, to sup-
ply what is interesting and profitable, but the
final test is giving the worker the thing that will
please him most, that he will delight to have,
that he may increase his vocabulary and learn
to read quickly, for not till then will he ac-
quire the reading appetite and habit. Give the
foreigner who reads with difficulty the pictures
with the simple captions that he can " spell out."
Give the factory girl the woman's magazine that
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 6d
will show her how to trim her hats and fix her
dress, and that may give her all sorts of useful
home ideas besides. Give the inventive me-
chanic the technical and trade magazine that
may supply the missing link in his invention or
suggestion. Give the socialistic worker the
" Political Economy Journal," that will put his
ideas in more logical shape. Use discrimination
in your distribution when you can, but, if you
cannot, put the box in anyway, fill it with read-
ing matter, and start something to-day.
The Home Reading Box and Fatigue.
Not only is the influence of the home reading
box upon fatigue important, but the amount of
fatigue existing has a strong influence upon the
home reading box. The home reading box plays
an important part in recovery from fatigue. It
is a help to the worker during the time that he
is not at work. It is the psychologist's task to
investigate the relation of mental fatigue to
bodily fatigue, and the proper amount of mental
stimulus to prescribe or allow during the periods
when the body is resting ; but it is good practice,
while waiting the results of the psychologist's
70 FATIGUE STUDY
investigation to be formulated into industrial
terms, to encourage the worker to read whatever
he likes.
The By-products of the Home Reading Box
Movement.
There are so many important results from the
home reading box movement that it is difficult
to decide which are the products and which are
the by-products. Let us call the product the
fatigue elimination for which we planned, and
that results when we establish the home reading
box movement. Along with this come the fol-
lowing :
1. The recognition of fatigue elimination as
a vital part of management. This is se-
cured by numbering the box as a sta-
tion, by using the " out " baskets as rout-
ing channels, by having the messenger
carry the magazines to the box from
the baskets as part of the daily routine.
2. The education of the worker. Quite
aside from the fact that the reading mat-
ter interests, amuses, or rests him, the
worker is educated by his reading. It
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 71
is this side of the movement that has most
interested sociologists and educators.
The chief trouble with the worker to-day
is that he needs more and more educa-
tion. The average worker has two ob-
stacles. In the first place, he has a
limited vocabulary that retards his speed
in reading. In the second place, he can-
not read educational matter fast enougli
to hold his attention. Through the read-
ing matter put at his disposal, he does
learn more words, — both how to recog-
nize them and how to use them. He thus
becomes better able to express himself,
as well as a more rapid reader. Of
course this implies mental development.
The worker who is better educated to
start with also acquires more vocabulary
and more speed. It may be a technical
instead of a general vocabulary, but the
development is the same.
3. The stimulation of invention. This takes
place through the ideas obtained from
the technical magazines and trade cata-
logs. We have noted time and again
72 FATIGUE STUDY
men who have said, in effect, — "You
know I got this idea from an article
I read from the box ; " or, " You know
I have had this idea for a long time,
but I could not see exactly how to work
it until I saw a picture in a magazine I
got out of the Home Beading Box ; " or,
again, " I saw a picture the other day
that suggested something that we could
use on my machine. I am going to turn
in the suggestion to the Suggestion Box."
The suggestion box and its use are to be
described at length later.
4. The stimulus towards making suggestions
for prizes. It is noted here that the read-
ing not only stimulates the worker mak-
ing suggestions, but gives him a chance
to put his ideas into more practical and
working shape. Where the Suggestion
Box has been running some time before
the Home Eeading Box has been put in,
we note the sudden rise in the number
of suggestions offered after the installa-
tion of the Home Reading Box.
5. Co-operation with public and travelling
-r - — r - ~ -i | | i i^ ' - '--•-••
'UBLIC LIBRARY BRANCH
FOR USE OF ALL EMPLOYEES
APPLYAT INFORMATION BUREAl
FIG. 4
The Public Library Branch at the New England Butt
Company, rrovidence, R. I., for eliminating the necessity,
and consequently the fatigue, of journeying to a regular
Public Library.
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 73
libraries and other educational institu-
tions. A plant library is becoming a reg-
ular institution. It is usually one of the
first things introduced by the welfare or
betterment department. The problem is
to make the workers take out the books.
In some plants the management also buys
books and starts a circulating library.
In others, the public library sends a loan
collection that is changed as often as the
plant desires. Even in districts where
there are no public libraries such books
are available, as most of the States have
State loan collections of this type. In a
typical New England plant the librarian
of the city was more than willing to co-
operate. He asked the plant to supply a
list of books which he should send. His
letter was discussed in the foremen's
meeting, and every member present
helped by submitting a list of books that
he had read and enjoyed most in his life.
From these lists a list of fifty books was
made up and sent to the librarian, who
pronounced it the best list that he had
74 FATIGUE STUDY
ever seen. The books were promptly
brought to the plant, and put in a con-
venient place where every member of the
organization could see the titles and bor-
row them. The first book taken out by
an Italian labourer was Dante's " Divine
Comedy" in the original. But the li-
brary at the plant is another story. The
influence on the home reading box is to
make the library much more popular and
to affect markedly the books in greatest
demand. There is a strong influence also
seen upon the number of workers who
attend evening school at the general even-
ing school or some of the special evening
schools in the vicinity.
6. The influence upon clubs and other or-
ganizations. The home reading box fur-
nishes also topics for discussion in all
of the organization of members of the
plant. This influence can be noted in
foremen's meetings, in organization meet-
ings, and in any formal or informal
gathering of the organization. The in-
fluence is seen in the topics discussed and
HOME READING BOX MOVEMENT 75
in the form and style of the discussion.
The worker can speak with authority, if
some magazine or catalog " backs up "
his ideas. He can bring new light on the
problem, if he has seen several views pre-
sented in the material he has read. He
has a definite suggestion, something to
say when he is called upon, something to
volunteer if he is not called upon.
7. The spirit of co-operation. Most impor-
tant of all the spirit of co-operation is
fostered, co-operation among the workers,
co-operation of worker and manage-
ment, co-operation between all interested
in the movement as subscribers, as col-
lectors, as readers, as " passers-on." As
a positive force this spirit of co-operation
is more valuable than anything else.
How to Begin.
Begin by interesting the management force
and insuring a supply of reading matter. Then
put up the box in the plant, and tell the men
that whatever goes in it is at their disposal. If
you have the right ideas back of it, the develop-
76 FATIGUE STUDY
ment is inevitable. Your motto must be " Keep
the box full." The " how " will come to supply
the need. The workers will see to keeping the
box empty, if you do your part properly. The
important thing is that the movement be started
at once. It is not only an important part in
making more pleasant the time spent in recover-
ing from fatigue, but also an enormous help in
fatigue elimination. It is to this that we must
next turn our attention.
Summary.
The Home Reading Box Movement is a method
of putting reading matter at the disposal of the
worker. It collects this reading matter from the
homes of those interested and from the desks of
members of the organization who have finished
with it, and places it in a box. The workers take
it from this box to read either during noon rests
or at home. The movement not only helps to
overcome fatigue, but has many valuable by-
products, and is an important element in fatigue
elimination.
CHAPTEE V
PRELIMINARY FATIGUE ELIMINATION: WHAT
CAN BE DONE IMMEDIATELY, AT THE
VERY BEGINNING
The Lighting Problem.
It is not necessary to have a scientific knowl-
edge of motion study, physiology, and psychol-
ogy, or even of hygiene, in order to make pre-
liminary, anti-fatigue improvements in working
conditions of any industrial organization that
has not already had a regular fatigue survey
made. We might profitably begin with lighting,
since no fatigue is more wearing than eye fa-
tigue. We attempt here only to ask a few gen-
eral questions about the light. " Is there enough
light, so that every one can see his own work per-
fectly?" "Is the light properly distributed?"
" Is glare prevented? " Etc. Nearly all factory
managers of to-day are careful to provide enough
light for the worker. In their desire to furnish
light enough, many workers often have more
77
78 FATIGUE STUDY
light than is really comfortable, and are forced
to adjust their eyes constantly in order to see
distinctly. The lighting to be found in most fac-
tories is not properly distributed, and seldom
strikes the work at the least fatiguing angle.
The greatest fatigue from lighting, however,
lies in the question of glare and reflection. One
sees examples of this everywhere. It is caused
largely by a misplaced pride in equipment or
machinery, and by keeping everything in a high
state of polish. One is often disturbed and in-
convenienced in even the best equipped public
libraries by the glare of the electric lights upon
the shiny, varnished, or otherwise highly polished
surfaces of the desks. Oftentimes we see lights
carefully placed so that the individual gets light
enough with his light in the right location, while
lights in the distance shine in his eyes. Even
when the lights are provided with adjustable
shades, it is almost impossible to place one's book
in such a position that reflected light will not
shine from the page to the eyes. The glare from
nickel-plated machinery, be it a large factory
machine or a typewriter, or any other kind of
shop or office equipment, will cause fatigue, if
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 79
the eye is required to work constantly in the vi-
cinity; but the source of fatigue is not recog-
nized. A dull black finished machine may not
be as beautiful either to manufacturer or pur-
chaser as would be a shiny, nickel-plated machine
of the same design, but the main question is,
" How much comfort will the operator take while
using the machine? " The kind of finish of such
machinery is usually affected greatly, if not de-
termined wholly, by the. question of salesman-
ship. Good appearances have always been a
large element in making sales, and it is natural
and right that the manufacturer should like his
product to be attractive in appearance, and that
the manager should take pride in the looks of his
factory or office. But our entire standard of
what is desirable in " good looks " in a work place
has changed. We look now for efficiency and fa-
tigue elimination rather than for ornament and
glaring polish. We reduced fatigue, annoyance,
and distraction on several pieces of work by hav-
ing our clients paint nickel and other bright
parts with a coat of dull black paint. For the
best results to the eye, the same finish as that on
the inside of a camera is to be recommended.
80 FATIGUE STUDY
We are coming to realize more and more that
the great test of everything is suitability, and
that the mysterious and tangible thing called
" suitability " simply consists of the measure of
predetermined units of desired qualities. The
operating room in the hospital is bare, with plain
walls and rounded corners, with the least oppor-
tunity for dust lodgment, because that is most
suitable to the type of work done there. The
modern business desk is flat topped, with no tiny
drawers or cubby -holes to collect papers and mis-
cellaneous odds and ends, because this type of
desk conforms best with present day systems of
office management. In the same way all machin-
ery and office equipment should be without so-
called ornament or polish, because in this way
the most work can be done with the least amount
of fatigue. Our whole idea of ornament is
changing. Suitability here also is the standard,
and the artists have done noble work in setting
an example to the trades. " Suitability " must
become a slogan for every department in the
organization.
The new doctrine will interest the selling de-
partment, who act as intermediaries between the
FIG. 5
This photograph shows a typical " motion-studied " desk.
This desk is cross-sectioned, so that standards can be made
as to the placing of those things that are constantly re-
quired for work. The only drawer containing any per-
manent materials is pulled out at the left. It contains
duplicate supplies of our standard forms, so arranged that
a man will not run out of supplies at his desk, as the
holder in which the reserve supply is placed is a notification
to the desk supply boy that supplies in addition to the
weekly furnishings are wanted immediately.
FIG. 6
This picture shows a "one-motion" pencil rack. This
is one of the many little devices that we have used to
cause every one throughout the plant to think in terms
of elementary and least fatiguing motions. This pencil rack
was devised little by little, suggestions coming from dif-
ferent employees. For example, one suggestion was that
the grooves be painted different colours, representing the
standardized places for the different coloured pencils. An-
other suggestion was that a deep horizontal groove be
added, that the fingers might go around the pencil at the
exact place where used when in the position of writing.
The slant of the rack is that slant whereby the -pencil will
surely slide down by gravity to the stop at the bottom
of the pencil rack, but not slide with force enough to break
even the most delicate point.
Such a device alone saves very little time or fatigue,
but it represents one of many kinds of devices that make for
habits that cause less fatigue.
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 81
manufacturing department and the public who is
to buy the product. It will be a real part of the
preliminary work in adjusting such conditions
as lighting to take the sales department and pur-
chasing department into conference on the sub-
ject. Let all interested see that nothing comes
into or goes out of the plant until the question,
" What is its relation to fatigue? " has been con-
sidered. We forget sometimes that a thing may
have value not only because it has certain quali-
ties that eliminate fatigue, but also because it
lacks certain qualities that would cause fatigue.
Go, then, through your own plant with the
question of glare in your mind. Examine and
inspect every work place, and see what can be
done. Not only for reasons of glare, but for
other reasons we recommend that every work
place should be inspected for unnecessary fatigue
by having a man, competent in fatigue study,
actually sit and stand in the working position
in each and every work place in the establishment
once every three months during the installation
period, and not seldomer than once per year
thereafter. Sometimes it will be found that mov-
ing the nearest light or shading a distant light
82 FATIGUE STUDY
will be all that is necessary. Sometimes a coat-
ing of dull black paint on some of the working
equipment is required; sometimes the substitu-
tion of a dull-finished for a glossy paper. Some-
times dull-coloured blotting paper can be laid
upon the place where the reflected glare comes.
Perhaps a dull finish upon that would not only
save the time of your workers, but also those who
are to use the product after it leaves your hands.
The world worked a great many years under the
motto, " Give the public what it wants." We are
beginning to realize to-day that the public will
want just exactly what it is educated to want;
also that the public is easily educated if the ar-
guments that are used are based upon measure-
ment, and are presented in attractive form. The
lighting problem is but a small element of the
problem of eye fatigue. This will, however, be
left for later consideration.
The Heating, Cooling, and Ventilating Problem.
This problem has to do with different aspects
of seeing that the worker is provided with proper
air. We are beginning to realize that the air
problem is much more complicated than was for-
FATIGUE ELIMINATION S3
merly thought. Recent investigations have gone
to prove that the temperature of the air is fully
as important as the supply of air, and that hu-
midity is another important element. In this
day no one can feel satisfied with his solution of
the air problem who has not submitted it to an
expert, and installed the results of his measured
investigation. In the meantime, safety lies on
the side of providing more fresh air than is neces-
sary. If there is plenty of fresh air, unless the
work itself demands peculiar temperature or hu-
midity conditions, the worker is fairly safe. The
rest periods that are being installed will do much
to solve the air problem, as they furnish an ad-
mirable opportunity for giving the work places
a thorough ventilation, if not a complete " airing
out." This is not in the least to underestimate
the importance of proper temperature and of
proper humidity, as will be noted later. All
measured records of outputs should include rec-
ords of the temperature and the humidity. The
accumulation of this data is daily bringing
nearer the time when standards covering these
will be available. In the meantime, give the
worker plenty of fresh air all the time.
84 FATIGUE STUDY
Fire Protection.
•
The average manager to-day realizes fully the
necessity for fire protection. It is not, perhaps,
so fully realized that the mere knowledge that
there is adequate fire protection has a consider-
able effect upon the mental comfort of many of
the workers. Nothing is more fatiguing than
worry. When each worker in the establishment
knows that in case of a fire he can leave the
building with speed and perfect safety, he has
absolutely no worry or distraction from the fire
standpoint.
Fire protection should include not only seeing
that the building and all it contains are made as
^re-proof as possible, and installing all possible
devices for putting out a fire should one start,
^ but also the fire drill. Here the motto of the Boy
Scouts is useful, " Be prepared." There is noth-
ing so satisfactory as preparedness. The fire
drill is not only a means of handling the organi-
zation during a fire, but it is also a splendid
preparation for meeting an emergency. The
great problem that arises in any unexpected situ-
ation is the problem of making a decision. If
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 85
one can acquire the habit of making a decision
quickly, and can also make habitual certain de-
cisions in certain situations, the resulting speed
and fatigue elimination is remarkable. Make
the response to the fire situation, then, standard.
You will be benefiting your workers not only by
teaching them how to act in any fire anywhere,
but also by teaching them how to respond to a
signal in a standard way. These various sets of
habits in response to various stimuli should be
formed in the first years of the school life, if
not before. They are being formed at this time
to-day to a greater extent than ever before, but
unfortunately the majority of adult workers in
the industries have never had such training as
children. It, therefore, becomes the duty of the
management to form such habits as rapidly as
possible.
Safety Protection.
Safety protection in its broadest sense covers
not only protection from grave dangers, but from
anything that might have a harmful effect upon
the worker's body or mind. The standard to be
set is that everything should be safe not only
86 FATIGUE STUDY
>x4
when the work is done by experienced adult work-
ers, but even should it be done by inexperienced,
immature or tired workers. We know how many
^accidents happen to the inexperienced worker,
that would never happen to the experienced
worker. We all know how many children are
hurt, where an older person would see and
avoid danger; and we note every day, more and
more clearly, that the exhausted worker is to an
enormous extent more susceptible to accidents
than is the rested worker. It is usually the tired
motorman who has the collision. The tired loco-
motive engineer passes the stop signal. The ex-
hausted motorist is in the accident. The tired
operator gets his fingers caught in the machine.
The overtired sickroom attendant gives the
wrong medicine.
One side of the fatigue elimination question is
that fatigue elimination cuts down accidents.
The other side is that cutting out the chance of
accidents eliminates fatigue. Here again the
question of worry is an important element. If
one knows that the working conditions are abso-
lutely safe, he can concentrate his attention upon
the work in hand.
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 87
It is coming to be understood not only that it
is mandatory that working conditions be made
healthful, but also that it is perfectly possible,
and, in most cases, easy to make such conditions
healthful.
Look over your conditions, then. Put the
proper safety devices on the machine, the tools,
etc. Install the vacuum cleaners that will col-
lect the dust and lint. Put the goggles or nos-
tril-guard, or other device, on the worker, that
will insure to him clean air and decent working
conditions. Make a scientific attack upon the
problem later, but put in a safety device now,
even if you have to change some of it next week.
You will gain the immediate return that will
make the investigation pay from every stand-
point in the changed attitude of your workers, if
in nothing else. The Museum of Safety Devices,
with its energetic and enthusiastic secretary, will
show you what has been done and what can be
done in the line of safety. " Safety First " has
become the slogan of the day. If we make it
" Safety First, beginning now," we shall have full
working directions.
88 FATIGUE STUDY
The Work Place.
The working conditions that we have so far
discussed have more or less effect upon all of the
workers in a group. We come next to the in-
spection of the work place of each individual
worker. The first consideration here is that he
have room enough in which to work. There is
an enormous amount of fatigue involved in doing
work in an overcrowded work place, yet few
workers or managers realize this. Again, habit
is involved here, and the habit of order demands
I1 that the work place be kept in an orderly condi-
tion. Any one who has walked through facto-
ries, shops, or any places where work is going
on must have noted the tired appearance of the
workers among what is called "clutter." The
girl selling ribbon, who walks up and down be-
hind the counter through an accumulation of
paper, cardboard cores, and other odds and ends,
has not only the bodily fatigue of pushing the
clutter ahead, or kicking it aside, but also the
mental fatigue that comes from adjusting herself
constantly to such conditions. The folder of
cloth, who has barely enough room to move her
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 89
hands because of the supply of finished and un-
finished materials, is fatigued from the clumsy
position, even though she and no one else realizes
this. The office worker, whose finished and un-
finished papers are heaped in confusion before
Mm, expends not only useless motions in getting
at and disposing of what he wishes to handle,
but also mental energy, in constantly adjusting
and readjusting himself to the work. There has
been a popular idea that it " looked busy " to
have plenty of work around, that to see work to
be done would impress both managers and work-
ers with the need for applying themselves to the
work more constantly and with considerably
more speed. This may be true if the work is ar-
ranged in an orderly fashion, but disorderly work
is far more likely to discourage than to stimulate
the worker. As for completed work, there is no
excuse for leaving large quantities of it at the
work place one moment longer than is absolutely
necessary. Any encouragement that it might
give the worker could better be given by a record
of what he has done.
90 FATIGUE STUDY
The Work-bench or Table.
Few work-benches or tables should be consid-
ered as absolutely satisfactory that do not per-
mit the worker to do his work standing or sitting.-
Our ideas as to proper work-benches or tables,
as to the proper placing, height, etc., of ma-
chinery and tools have too often been prescribed
to us by the manufacturers of the articles, who
have thought more of what was convenient to
manufacture than of what was least fatiguing to
use. Such manufacturers are not to be blamed
in the least for their attitude. They, naturally,
have been guided by what would sell best. They
have, as a rule, shown themselves more than
willing to supply any legitimate demand. The
user must demand what will be best for his work.
It is no slight, short-time job to determine the
proper height, positioning, and layout of a work-
bench, using this term in a general sense to cover
the place of any kind of work upon which the
worker is engaged. As preliminary work, we
may, usually, then, boost everything that can be
so lifted to such a height that the worker, at his
option, may stand or sit. If it becomes a case
FIG. 7
This picture shows 'the "Gilbreth" table laid down in its
lower position. This table is particularly adapted for a
work-bench or table where it is desired to have two dif-
ferent heights for different kinds of work. The table and
its load can be picked up with a booster truck in either
this position or the higher position simply by operating
the lever of the booster truck and without touching the
table at all.
FIG. 8
This picture shows the " Gilbreth " table standing in
its higher position.
FIG. 9
This is a sample of photographs that are taken to im-
press upon the foreman the reasons why certain methods
are wrong. For example, this picture shows two "Gil-
breth " tables resting on their long side at their low height,
so fixed that they can be picked up by "booster" trucks.
The in-and-out bins are not the same size. The outward
one is considerably too high to be convenient for the worker,
and the worker is provided with a box instead of a com-
fortable stool.
FIG. 7
FIG. 8
FIG. 9
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 91
of single choice, that is, his either standing or
sitting, arrange the work so that he does it sit-
ting, and does the necessary standing or moving
about during his rest periods.
The change in industrial conditions has made
this problem important. The question once was,
" Can we make it of a quality that will pass? "
Since the day of intensive outputs, the question
has become, " How many can wre make of a given
quality? " In the first case, any kind of work-
bench was good enough, — the worry being lim-
ited to the question of " Can we make it? " Now
it is no trouble to make almost anything ; but the
worry is " Can we make enough so that the cost
will enable us to pay the required wages and still
compete, or must we give up manufacturing in
this location? " This makes us think of the least
fatiguing conditions and of making work-benches
of two levels, etc.
The Chair or Other Fatigue-Eliminating Device.
Closely related with the work place is the work
chair. It is distinct from the rest chair in that
it is specially devised to be used during work
periods. The ideal work chair is of such a
92 FATIGUE STUDY
height that the worker's elbows will bear the
same relation to the work place when he is sitting
as they would if the work place were properly
adjusted for him to do standing work. Types of
chairs that have been designed and that are prov-
ing effective in eliminating fatigue while at work
will be described more at length in the next
chapter. The important point to be considered
here is to adjust the work to the worker if possi-
ble. Where this is not possible, immediately,
adjust the worker as best you can to the work.
Make the relation of his elbows to the work the
deciding point. If at present the work must be
done standing, and the worker is too small, and
it is easier to raise the worker than lower the
work-bench or table, provide some sort of a stand
or platform that will put him at the proper level.
If he is large, raise the work-bench by lengthen-
ing the legs, or adding a false top, or, in some
rare cases, by lowering the standing place. If
the work is seated work, adjusting the chair will
probably be the simplest change to make. Arm
rests often afford an immediate and immense re-
lief, but must fit the particular arm and be ad-
justable for best results. A head-rest may also
FIG. 10
Very few people realize that the working girl should be
measured for her working chair in which she spends one-
half of the time that she is awake during her entire work-
ing life. For this purpose we have had testing chairs of
varying heights made for the girls to sit in, and then have
made a chair for each girl, particularly adapted to her and
her work. The correct height of chair is determined much
quicker and fits much more accurately than does an adjust-
able chair.
FIG. 11
This picture shows a worker seated at standing height
operating a drill press. The pieces arrive in his inward
box by means of a small belt conveyor that transports
finished pieces from the machine that performs the previous
operation.
FIG. 10
FIG. 11
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 93
be a valuable first aid, though often a later im-
provement in working methods will eliminate so
much eye and head fatigue that the head-rest will
not be needed. In other types of work, the foot*
j rest will often do the most immediate good. If
every manager were made to sit for a certain num-
ber of hours to-day with his feet hanging, there
would be an enormous increase in the number of
foot rests in our industrial plants to-morrow
morning.
Placing the Material Worked On.
In cases where it is difficult to readjust the
work place, much fatigue may often be elimi-
nated by placing the work in a better position, i
In fact this aspect of the problem should always
be considered along with the readjustment of the
work itself. For example, in folding handker-
chiefs, a folder may be seated at a table, folding
directly on the table. The table may be too low
for the work. If she is given a board upon
which to fold, this may not only put her work
itself at the proper height, but it is also possible,
with trifling added expense, to provide her with
a table in two adjoining sections at two different
94 FATIGUE STUDY
heights, and a sloping board that will make the
work less fatiguing, as she can maintain a much
better posture. She will also be enabled to put
the finished product at a lower level. This will
increase speed, while at the same time eliminat-
ing fatigue, which is, of course, an ideal condi-
tion.
In considering the placing of materials, we
must consider also the manner in which the ma-
terials come to the worker and in which they
xJleave him. Our later method study will make so
many changes here that only very apparent, nec-
essary, and inexpensive improvements should be
made at this stage. Be sure, however, that you
are using gravity wherever it can be used to ad-
vantage. Often we have found a small belt con-
veyor to be helpful in cutting down the hand
transportation.
The Placing of Tools and Devices.
Gravity and mechanical means can be of use
here, especially in carrying working equipment
back to the place where it remains when not in
use. Many preliminary improvements can also
be made by standardizing the place where the
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 95
tool is to be left when not in use. There is not
only the bodily fatigue of bringing the tool from
a more distant place than is necessary, there is
also the unconscious fatigue of constantly decid-
ing such unimportant questions as where it is
to be placed.
The Clothing of the Worker.
In an excellent series of articles on dress, pub-
lished some years ago, Miss Tarbell laid down
the rule that " suitability " is the final test of a
costume. It is with this in mind that the cloth-
ing worn by the members of the organization
while at work should be examined. It must be
said, in the first place, that there is no more rea-
son for the common custom of the worker pro-
viding his special outer clothing while at work
than there is for his providing his other tools
and equipment. In other times, the workmen
of many trades preferred to provide their own
tools, and did so, but in a scientifically managed
plant to-day, the workers are provided by the
management with standard tools. The man-
agement has standardized the best in a tool, and
keeps it in the best possible working condition.
96 FATIGUE STUDY
In the same way, it should be the duty of the
management to provide special working clothes,
when they have been standardized. This in-
volves, of course, the problem of laundering,
which may seem complicated to one who is not
acquainted with what has been done in this field.
There has been very little done in most kinds
of work to provide a costume, designed to con-
^ form to motion economy and least fatigue, that
is, at the same time, useful, artistic, and pleas-
ing. Progress has been rendered even slower by
the fact that many workers have a prejudice
against such garments, feeling that they show a
class distinction. All that is necessary is to
create a fashion of wearing such garments, like
the fashion of wearing atelier or studio clothes.
In no place can an example of unsuitable clothing
be more clearly seen than in the laundry industry.
Much of the work done in the typical laundry is
done while standing, and the women who form
a majority of the workers wear clothes, and par-
ticularly shoes that make the work far more fa-
tiguing than it need be. Yet in this very indus-
try some of the most progressive work to im-
prove conditions is being done. In Europe a
FATIGUE ELIMINATION 97
shoe with a thick wooden sole and a heavy
leather upper over the front part of the foot only
is considered the most comfortable and least
fatiguing. It is also certainly the cheapest and
most durable. But Americans will not wear
such a shoe. The shoe furnishes the most diffi-
cult feature of the costume problem. Here
again the most important thing is that the
" fashion " of wearing comfortable and efficient
garments shall be set. We have hoped for years
that sensible fashions in workers' clothes might
be set by patterning after tennis or other athletic
costumes, but the time when this will become
general seems as yet far distant, due to the neces-
sity of the worker using his oldest and discarded
" dress up " clothes, ultimately for his working
clothes. Nevertheless, the great loss in effi-
cency, due to the general custom of wearing
clothes that interfere with comfortable work,
and that cause unnecessary fatigue, has caused
us to start a campaign for the design and
standardization of more suitable clothes. As
yet we have had but few designs submitted in
answer to our appeal to the worker to study the
clothes problem for himself or herself. We are
9& FATIGUE STUDY
making the same appeal to the management to
suggest costumes for the approval of the worker.
In order that there may be no duplication, that
we may pass on good ideas, we have started a lit-
tle museum where typical fatigue-eliminating
devices of all sorts may be gathered, and studied
by any one interested. We must next describe
in some detail what is and what is not as yet
there, in order to offer definite suggestions for
preliminary fatigue-eliminating designs that can
be used from the first day of making changes.
Summary.
/ Preliminary fatigue elimination consists of
improving lighting, heating, ventilation, fire and
| safety protection. It also consists of improv-
jing work places and work tables, of providing
? and improving chairs, and rearranging materials
r and tools, and studying the clothing of the
I worker. It aims to make immediate inexpensive
changes before entering into an intensive study
of the problem.
CHAPTER VI
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM: AN OBJECT LESSON
What a Fatigue Museum Is.
A fatigue museum is a collection of devices
for and information concerning the elimination
of fatigue, or for affording rest for overcoming
fatigue. Its purpose is to serve as an object les-
son as to how the fatigue problem may be ap-
proached practically. It aims primarily not to
show beautiful exhibits, but to show devices
which have actually done service. Many of
these bear the marks of clumsy workmanship
and hurried and cheap construction. This is an
advantage rather than a disadvantage. It
shows that fatigue elimination does not demand
a large expenditure of money, nor depend upon
having at the beck and call highly skilled me-
chanics to make the devices. Some of the ex-
hibits have the excellent finish and the careful
workmanship of the perfect product; but no
99
100 FATIGUE STUDY
chair or piece of equipment, photograph, or
drawing is too rough or too unfinished to find a
place in the museum, if it contains an idea that
actually may be utilized to eliminate or overcome
fatigue.
The Parent Fatigue Museum.
The parent fatigue museum is in Providence,
Rhode Island, and was started by us some years
ago with five devices, — three chairs and two de-
vices for conveying material. It has grown
very slowly, and even now comprises but a dozen
devices and a few score of photographs. It is
open every day of the year, free for inspection by
visitors. Most of the devices submitted and ex-
hibited have not been patented. The Fatigue
Museum patents no devices, has no commercial
interest at all in the devices exhibited, but it
accepts fatigue eliminating exhibits of any kind
from inventors or managers, and posts, along
with the exhibit and the description of its special
features, the name of the inventor and his ad-
dress; this, that any one interested may get in
touch with the maker of any devices already in
existence. Realizing that few find it possible to
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 101
visit the museum, we have taken photographs
of the various exhibits, and are glad to send
these with descriptions to any who are inter-
ested, and who write to ask for them.
We find that the interest in the museum grows.
Branch museums are springing up in different
parts of the country. Every man at the second _
session of our Summer School of Measured
Functional Management, which consisted of
professors of psychology, engineering, and eco-
nomics, volunteered to open a branch at his
college. We are glad to have others who are
interested, no matter what their field of activity,
start branches also. All that is necessary to
open a branch is to collect photographs, draw-
ings, or actual examples of fatigue eliminating
devices. Some of the college fatigue museums
have consisted, until now, simply of such collec-
tions, though one college in particular has ap-
propriated one hundred dollars, and is provid- _
ing space for the exhibition of working models.
The parent museum is called Museum of De-
vices for Eliminating Unnecessary Fatigue,
Number One, and the branch museums are num-
bered chronologically. There is no reason why
102 FATIGUE STUDY
such museums should not be started in every fac-
tory, as well as in every college, and we are de-
lighted to co-operate with any one who desires
to start such a museum.
What the Fatigue Museum Contains.
The fatigue museum contains, at the present
time, types of chairs, types of devices which hold
working material in a convenient position, sev-
eral assembly devices, several transportation de-
vices, a work apron, and various drawings and
photographs. It emphasizes, particularly, the
chairs, as we feel that these are needed immedi-
ately and pressingly in all industries. A de-
tailed description of the chairs will, perhaps,
prove of most interest.
What the Museum Does Not Contain.
The museum contains, as yet, few exhibits,
though we are expecting more in the near future.
We are constantly impressed with the fact that
it contains so few exhibits; this, in spite of the
fact that we have sent out appeals since 1913,
that have reached large numbers of people.
A short time ago we realized that the average
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 103
manufacturer had never thought of his work in
terms of fatigue. We could, therefore, expect
no fatigue eliminating devices, as he either had
none to offer, or as he did not realize what he
had. Again and again, a manager will say, in
effect, " I am much interested in your museum,
and should like to send you something, but we
have never given much thought to the subject
of fatigue elimination, and therefore, unfortu-
nately, we have nothing that we can send." In
many such cases, if we go through the plant, or
the factory, or the store, we find fatigue elimi-
nating devices, and immediately say, " There,
that is just what we want." Whereupon the
manager replies, " Oh, that. Sure enough it
does eliminate fatigue. I had never thought of
it in that light. We have always had that."
Within the next few days we add a specimen
to our collection.
We have, perhaps, not sufficiently emphasized
the fact that eliminating fatigue means not only
that we know the things that we lack, but also
that we appreciate and fully utilize the things
that we have. It is good practice to use what
is on hand before laying in new devices.
104 FATIGUE STUDY
is waiting space, then, in the museum for any
sort of device, old or new, well-known or not
known at all, that does, or will, or may eliminate
or overcome fatigue. There is an especially
warm welcome awaiting any such type of stool
or chair. The older and more worn it is the
better, if it is still in working condition. There
is a chance to be a pioneer by exhibiting cloth-
ing that is artistic, inexpensive, and appropriate
for doing any type of work with less fatigue.
Types of Chairs and Their Uses.
We are fortunate in that, of the nine chairs
exhibited, each represents quite a different type.
This illustrates the large field for chairs.
Chair No. 1 is designed for work to be done
standing or sitting. This is the ideal fatigue
eliminating chair, as it allows of the most scien-
tific distribution of work and rest periods, and
for the greatest variation in working periods.
The work for which this chair was devised was
the folding of handkerchiefs, work that had al-
ways been done sitting. This chair is the result
of accurate measurement, and is of exactly that
height that will permit the girl's elbows to be
FIG. 12
This chair is of type one, devised for doing work that
has always been considered sitting work, either standing or
sitting. In this case an ordinary chair has been boosted
so that a worker can sit at a work-bench made exactly the
right height for standing work. The chair is provided
with ball-bearing casters, so that it can be pushed out of
the way or pulled into position with little effort. This de-
vice helped make it possible to divide each hour into work
periods and rest periods ; and at the same time into standing
and sitting periods, — thus not only eliminating unnecessary
fatigue, but providing an efficient means for recovery from
necessary fatigue.
FIG. 13
This chair is of type two, devised for doing work that
has always been considered standing work, either standing
or sitting. By its use, heavy filing can be done with greater
ease and with the same speed and efficiency. The chair is
inexpensive and easy to construct, and is of such a height
as best suits the individual worker.
FIG. 14
Another view of the chair as shown in Fig. 13. The pro-
jecting foot-rest on this chair enables a man to push the file
as efficiently and more comfortably seated than standing.
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 105
at the same distance from the work table when
she is seated as when she is standing. The back
of the chair, like the backs of all chairs designed
for eliminating fatigue while working, is de-
signed for work and not for rest. The chair is
provided with dome casters, which allow of its
being pushed away, or drawn back into position
with the least amount of time and effort possible.
The worker on this chair has a foot-rest which is
a part of the working table.
Chair No. 2 is devised in order that a kind of
work which has always been done standing may
be done sitting. The work is heavy filing done
at a vise, and the chair is provided with a pro-
jecting foot-rest. The work-bench is of such a
height that the man may work either standing or
sitting. In actual practice the filer works half
of the time sitting, and half of the time standing.
Chair No. 3 is designed to eliminate vibration
of floors that carry much high-speed machinery.
An ordinary chair is provided with springs, that
relieve the operator of one hundred per cent, of
the vibration of the floor. This chair was de-
signed for work at a machine, and the operator
is provided with a foot-rest, which rests on felt
106 FATIGUE STUDY
to kill the vibration. Note also the verandas on
two sides of the chair for foot-rests.
The fourth type of chair is also a shock ab-
sorbing chair, which is more complicated in its
construction.
The fifth type of chair is designed for school
work, and has a rest for the right arm that may
be lowered or put in place.
The sixth type of chair is a modification of a
chair already in use. A chair which was once,
perhaps, fairly comfortable has become worn off
from years of usa This is rectified by boring
holes in four small blocks of wood, and fitting
them to the legs of the chair, which brings the
chair back to its originally desired height. A
well-known Middle West manufacturer used iron
piping for the same purpose as the four blocks
of wood. This is, in some cases, easier to se-
cure, although not so good for the shop flooring.
A seventh type of chair is an adjustable, tele-
scopic stool, which the inventor claims is adapt-
able to both factory and office work. This is ad-
mirable in that it allows of the chair being
adapted to some degree to its user at the expendi-
ture of little time or money.
FIG. 15
A worker using the filer's chair, shown in figures 13 and 14.
FIG. 16
This chair is of type three, designed to eliminate fatigue
from surrounding conditions. An ordinary chair, which was
fairly useful and comfortable, was provided with springs
that relieved the operator of 100 per cent, of the vibration
of the floor. It is to be noted that the device attached
to the chair is extremely simple and inexpensive, while
at the same time it solves a problem that has always been
rated as most difficult.
FIG. 13
FIG. 16
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 107
The eighth type of chair is devised for rest
periods. We have two examples of this. One
is a small folding stool contributed by a local
drygoods merchant, much interested in fatigue
elimination, who, as a result of our fatigue
eliminating campaign, has installed many of
these stools in his large store. The other is a
more complicated chair with adjustable seat and
back. This is designed not only for causing
least possible fatigue, but also in the interests of
correct posture of the user.
Four of the chairs show particularly what
can be done with little expenditure of time or
money. Only the filing chair is a " new " chair,
in the sense of the entire chair having been made
especially with the idea of fatigue elimination.
The other three chairs consist of chairs already
in use, supplied with cheap adjustments, made
of material already at hand. These may impress
the reader as extremely inartistic. This they
undoubtedly are, but these are chairs of the
transitional period, made to better working con-
ditions immediately, and to be used until stand-
ard methods are introduced, and new stand-
ard fatigue eliminating devices substituted. It
108 FATIGUE STUDY
must also be noted that three out of the four
chairs are provided with what are practically
footstools, although only one is shown in the pic-
ture, as only one is attached to the chair itself.
The fourth chair allows of the feet being placed
comfortably on the floor.
Other Fatigue Eliminating Devices.
The other fatigue eliminating devices exhibited
are useful more as suggestions than as object les-
sons./ There are various type of packets upon
*wnich materials are so placed as to be most handy
to the worker. These packets are filled by un-
skilled, that is to say, young, or inexperienced,
learning or unskilled workers in such a way that
the material can be removed from the packet by
the high-priced man with the least amount of
effort possible. Filling the assembly packet is
an excellent training to the unskilled worker, as
will be shown later. One of these packets is con-
tributed by a local manufacturer of cotton cloth.
The other devices for holding materials in po-
sition consist of two devices for holding motion
picture films in position so that they may be
studied with the least amount of effort possible.
FIG. 17
These chairs are of type four, devised to relieve fatigue
caused by vibration. Besides the chairs, foot-rests were
devised to hold the feet without any vibration from the
floor; and, also, special treadles.
FIG. 18
This chair is of type six, which modifies a device already
in use, so that it will become a more efficient device for
eliminating fatigue. The chair shown was, ordinarily, fairly
comfortable, but the legs had become worn with time. It
has, as shown, been raised to that height which is most
comfortable for the worker. The work-bench, in this case,
could not be raised so that the work could be done either
standing or sitting. The problem was to have the sitting
work done with the least unnecessary fatigue possible.
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 109
The transportation devices illustrate the prin-
ciple of gravity, and also the principle of con-
stant and careful adjustment of the transporta-
tion to the worker.
How to Use the Devices.
The devices of the fatigue museum are useful
rather as suggesting devices than as object les-
sons. If your problem is to enable seated work
to be done standing, raise your work-bench to the
standing level, and put your work chair on stilts
with casters, provided the work is not of a kind
that requires a chair against which one can push.
If your problem is to enable work that has been
done standing to be done sitting, construct a
chair that will bring the worker to the desired
height. If your problem is to reduce vibration,
put springs under the four legs of your chair. If
your problem is simply to make sitting work more
comfortable, be sure that the chair is of the
proper height ; that the seat slopes right and has
a rounded front edge ; and that, if it has a back,
it is one that does not interfere with work. If
the chair is too high, saw off the legs ; if too low,
add wooden blocks. Chairs of this type, as actu-
110 FATIGUE STUDY
ally used by the workers, will usually offer sug-
gestions as to what needs to be done.
In many factories one is astounded to find
books, cardboard, cloth, blocks of wood, almost
anything heaped in the seat of a chair to make
the chair higher. Wherever workers are seated
at a work-bench that is not adjustable, look for
trouble with the chairs ; that is, a tall girl crouch-
ing in a kindergarten chair fit only for a child or
a dwarf, a short girl balanced on a high stool at
a high table, without a proper place to rest the
feet. No matter what the height of the table or
the chairs, if many workers are seated at the
same table, and the chairs are not adjustable,
there is field for study. If workers vary much
as to height, they should be sorted for height,
and sent to tables with adjustable height legs;
or, if workers cannot be sorted, the short ones
should be provided with platforms to bring their
elbows to the right height to fit the table, which
should be adjusted to fit the tall workers. If
your problem is to make standing work more
comfortable, and a chair seems impracticable
with the methods used, perhaps a chair or some
kind of seat could be provided for rest periods.
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 111
Starting Your Own Fatigue Museum.
We advise every employer to set aside a small
space and assemble at least one example of each
type of fatigue eliminating device actually in use,
or that may suggest a device to be used. In the
absence of a regular motion study man assigned
for the purpose, the ideal state of affairs would
be to have every member of the management walk
through the factory once and look at present fa-
tigue conditions in order to see what improve-
ments could be made. This, however, is almost
too Utopian to hope for.
It is the exception where the worker in any
large plant knows intimately any part of the
plant except the few little work places where he
has toiled. A girl who had worked for years in
a cotton mill, and who finally went into house-
hold work, begged to be taken on a visit of in-
spection to the factory. " But," said the woman
who was to make the inspection, " I thought you
worked there. Surely, you must know about the
factory." " No, indeed/' said the girl, " I never
went anywhere except to get into the room where
the machine was that I tended." Even in one
112 FATIGUE STUDY
excellently managed plant where welfare, or bet-
terment, is a prime consideration, a girl in the
office department had never once been out into
the plant itself/There is an enormous amount
/TJf ^ucaHonal work, that is also fatigue elimi-
nating work, to be done in putting each member
of the organization in touch with the entire work-
ing plant. There is not time or space, however,
for an extended discussion of this problem here.
Therefore, until the workers can be taken to
see the fatigue eliminating devices in actual
operation, collect such devices, or photographs
of them, and put them all in one place. Start
a little fatigue museum of your own, even if it
is limited to a properly labelled scrap-book of
pictures always ready for inspection, and observe
the effect upon management, workers, and in-
vention in general. This effect will be reflected
in the suggestion box, which in itself provides a
unit of measurement of the progress of the fa-
tigue eliminating campaign. When fatigue elim-
ination has progressed to this stage, when actual
devices are being installed, when the entire or-
ganization has come, as it will, to think in terms
of fatigue elimination, the problem may be at-
THE FATIGUE MUSEUM 113
tacked scientifically. This, the scientific elimi-
nation of unnecessary fatigue, is the subject for
discussion in the next chapters.
Summary.
A fatigue museum is a collection of devices for
eliminating or overcoming fatigue. The parent
museum in Providence aims to exhibit such de-
vices as object lessons, and to encourage the
spread of fatigue study by sending photographs
with descriptions to all who are interested
enough to start museums or even a scrap-book
for pictures of devices for the elimination of un-
necessary fatigue in the industries. Our fatigue
museum specializes on chairs, but welcomes de-
vices of any kind. It advocates the establish-
ment of similar museums in colleges, or other in-
stitutions, and also in industrial plants and work
places of all kinds.
CHAPTER VII
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT AND FATIGUE ELIMINA-
NATION : HOW TO ATTACK THE PROBLEM
SCIENTIFICALLY
History of Fatigue Measurement.
Accurate fatigue measurement is in its infancy
as applied to the industries. Such measurement
can take place only where there is complete co-
operation between the man measured and the
man making the measurements. With the co-
Operation, that is the natural result of measured
functional management, comes the possibility of
making accurate measurements of fatigue under
either laboratory or shop conditions. It is as
easy to pretend to be tired as to pretend to be
\ working. There is little or no profit in measur-
ing pretended states. Under the scientific form
of management there is no incentive to pretend
anything. The incentive is, rather, to show ex-
actly what one is doing and how one feels, in
114
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 115
order that accurate records may be made, and
that the offered rewards may be received. We
have, then, at this stage, where every member of
the organization realizes that co-operation is nec-
essary for the good of all, the opportunity to
measure fatigue with considerable accuracy.
We have also the means. The psychologists ;
and physiologists who have measured fatigue rely
almost solely upon output as the unit of meas-
urement. Decrease in output in a comparable
unit of time, and all other working conditions
remaining the same, is taken as indicative of
being the result of fatigue. The observed man
who is measured may add introspections, he may
tell how he feels while working and at the close
of work; but this testimony of his, while inter-
esting and worthy to be recorded with the other
data, cannot be submitted to the accurate meas-
urement of the observer. In applying fatigue
measurement to the industries in the same way
that we measure activity and what it produces,
we try to discover at the same time the condition
of the worker by his own accounts as to how he
feels. We have not only conditions under which
scientific observations can be made and a method
116 FATIGUE STUDY
of making them, we have also devices for meas-
uring both activity and output and relative rate
of output.
Fatigue, a Test of Efficient Activity.
As for the relation between fatigue and activ-
ity, practically all of our knowledge of fatigue
is derived from our knowledge of the activity
that produces it. We measure the activity itself,
and its product. We then measure the interval
of time that elapses before the organism has
gained enough activity to perform the same work
in the same amount of time and with the same
results. A study such as this cannot extend over
a short space of time only. It must be carried
on until any fatigue that is accumulated shows
itself ; but it is simply a question of extending the
time over which the experiment stretches, and of
varying the length of rest periods until the de-
sired information is recorded in the data. As we
come to compare various activities and their re-
sults, we find that the fatigue is a measurement
of the efficiency of the activity. If two methods
of doing the same piece of work take the same
amount of time and produce the same amount of
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 117
output, and if the interval needed to recover from
the second is longer than that needed to recover
from the first, then, other conditions being equal,
the first method is the more efficient. A close
study of the variables that affect the two meth-
ods will be necessary to show exactly why the
first method is more efficient than the second, but
the excess fatigue certainly shows that it is more
efficient.
Fatigue can, then, be looked at in two ways :
1. As a product of doing work.
2. As a test of efficiency in doing work.
The amount of work done and the product are
affected by various elements which affect the ac-
tivity.
The Activity.
The activity is affected by the amount of prac-
tice that one has had. It is affected by the ex-
tent to which the action has become a habit. It
is affected by the degree with which one has got
into the swing of the work. This may be an in-
dividual difference. Some workers find it possi-
ble to start at work at very much the pace that
they will use when they are well into it. A large
118 FATIGUE STUDY
number of our records shows that most workers
never get into the swing at the beginning of a
work period. Not only the hour of the workday,
but the time in the work period will have a strong
effect upon the amount of work turned out.
Again we have the question of spurt, when for
some reason or other the activity is being per-
formed at a pace that is above the normal pace.
The effect of all these elements of the activity
upon the fatigue itself depends upon the relation
between mental fatigue and bodily fatigue. This
relationship must be worked out by psychologists
and physiologists. It is for the observer who
measures fatigue in the industries to attempt to
discover, as far as he can, what fatigue exists,
and why it exists, and then to make both physical
and mental conditions under which the activity
is carried on as favorable to efficient activity as
possible.
Motion Study, Micromotion Study, the Cycle-
graph, and the Chronocyclegraph Method
as Measurers of Activity.
We measure activity in two ways :
1. By motion study, which records in great
detail the methods used in doing the work.
FIG. 19
This picture shows the examination of the original micro-
motion films at the motion study laboratory of the New
England Butt Company.
FIG. 19
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT
2. By records of outputs when using the va-
rious methods.
NtAM
Motion study consists of dividing the activity
into the smallest units possible, measuring the
variables of these units, studying the data, and
deducing methods by which the activity may ex-
press itself more efficiently. Motion study, what-
ever its type, implies time study, in that the time
the motion occupies is one test of the efficiency j
of the motion.
Micromotion study is the name we have given
to our method of recording motions and their sur-
rounding conditions by means of a cinemato-
graph and one of our special clocks which regis-
ters extremely small intervals of time, smaller
than the elapsed time between any two pictures
of the cinematograph film. The micromotion
method enables us to record easily motions down
to less than a ten-thousandth of a minute. This
gives us all the information we could desire for
purposes of time study, and the record is abso-
lutely free from the errors in time due to the
personal element. Although many of the vari-
ous elements, or units, that comprise the path
of a complete motion, or cycle of activity, ap-
120 FATIGUE STUDY
pear on different pictures in the film, it is diffi-
cult to visualize or measure the orbit or exact
path of the motions by means of the film.
The cyclegraph method permits us to record,
measure, and see this orbit or exact path of
a motion or cycle of motions. Small electric
lights are attached to the hands, or any other
members of the body involved in the motion. A
photographic plate or film is then exposed while
the motion is made, with the result that a path
of light, which resembles a white wire, is seen
upon the developed plate, representing the path
of the motion. The effect is best gained by a
stereoscopic photograph, which shows this path
in three dimensions.
The chronocyclegraph method enables us not
only to see the path of the motion, but also its
directions, and the duration of the entire motion
and of its elements. These chronocyclegraphs
are made by attaching lights to the moving parts
of the body, or machine, as in the cyclegraph,
and by introducing a properly timed, pulsating
interrupter in the circuit, which may be adjusted
not only to record the time and duration, but
also to record these with different graphs, repre-
FIG. 20
This picture shows a lamp attached to the hand for the
purpose of taking cyclegraphs or chronocyclegraphs of mo-
tions in connection with obtaining motions of least fatigue.
FIG. 21
This picture shows an experiment that was carried on
by us some time ago for determining the laws pertaining to
the times and fatigue of motions of different lengths.
The operation studied is that of moving a seven pound
weight. The times are divided into three parts : Length of
time from starting to picking up weight; length of time
from picking up weight to depositing; and length of time
of recovery to standing position from depositing. The ex-
periment proved that the time of motions of different
lengths Is practically the same unless those of the same
length are consecutively repeated. The quantity of work
that can be done in a day is, of course, much less with
long motions than with short ones, due to extra time
needed to overcome the fatigue of the long motions.
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 121
senting the paths of each of several motions made
by various parts of the body and their exact dis-
tances, exact times, relative times, exact speeds,
relative speeds, and directions.
By means of the " penetrating screen," it
is possible to pass a cross-sectioned plane in
any direction through any desired plane, or
through any number of planes in the cubic space
under observation. This makes it possible to re-
cord the data with great accuracy in three dimen-
sions, and to read the information from the data
easily.
These various types of motion study supple-
ment rather than supplant one another. Motion
study is primarily for the purpose of observing
the variables that affect such study, and for
arousing such co-operation between observed and
observer, as will make possible the testing of the
differences of the effects of the variables. Micro-
motion study provides for an accurate record of
what happened, with all such attending circum-
stances as appeal to the eye. It is the greatest
aid in transference of skill and experience from
a worker who has it to one who does not possess
such skill and experience. The cyclegraph is
122 FATIGUE 'STUDY
useful in providing a simple, easily understood
record of the path that any activity followed.
The chronocyclegraph is most valuable when the
activity is complicated, and when the time and
direction of the elements of the motion must be
visualized continuously in order to analyze, meas-
ure, synthesize, and standardize the process.
The penetrating screen, finally, is useful in re-
cording the three dimensional paths and speeds
of even the smallest unit of activity.
^
These methods of applying motion study have
been patented, but have been for years freely at
the disposal of the colleges, which have begun to
use them as means for recording accurately scien-
tific data of various kinds. They have justified
themselves as more accurate than ordinary rec-
ords of activity, and have within recent times
been put on a basis which makes their cost com-
pare favourably with less accurate methods of
measurement. What is more, we have discov-
ered in our data, especially in the chronocycle-
graphs, direct records of fatigue, that we believe
are the first records of fatigue ever made under
industrial conditions. The micromotion films
also show breaks in well established habits of
FIG. 22
Typical chronocyclegraph of the motion and fatigue study
of a bricklayer, laying three brick in the old method.
FIG. 23
Typical cyclegraph of motion and fatigue study on a drill
press, showing cyclegraph of path of motions of the left
hand.
FIG. 24
Typical chronocyclegraph of compositor setting type by
hand.
FIG. 1M
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 123
several motions that are undoubtedly due to fa-
tigue, but the irregularities in the orbit line, that
appear in the cyclegraphs, and that must, be-
cause of close control of the variables, be due to
the fatigue alone, are more impressive from the
physiological viewpoint.
Testing the Work by Motions Required.
It is for motion study to explain the methods
of deducing standard methods by using activity
records obtained through the various types of mo-
tion study data. Many such standards have been
derived. We have in our motion study data
many elementary motions with records of the
space they cover and the amount of time they re-
quire. With these we can test the given work
to see which of these motions it includes. Hav-
ing tabulated this, we can make an intensive
study of the motions that remain. When this
study has been made, we can combine the result-
ing elementary motions that have proven them-
selves most efficient into the working method, and
classify the work as work of a type requiring a
certain set combination of motions.
124, FATIGUE STUDY
Testing Workers by Motion Capabilities.
t In the same way we may test a worker by mo-
/ tion learning capabilities, before assigning him
/ to any kind of work. Having reduced activities
I to their motions, we can test the worker's physi-
\ cal capability; his mental capability we can test
! by determining his learning curve. To these re-
sults we add a record of his interest in various
types of work. From the resulting three types
of records, we can make placements that, we be-
lieve, are far in advance of any that have been
made up to the present time.
The Use of Activity Records as Data for Elimi-
nating Fatigue.
The fact that activity records are made of ex-
tremely small elements moving through a short
path in a small amount of time means that the
fatigue records cover the same short periods.
This is a great help in making fatigue study. A
new combination of elements of activity will also
mean a combination of concurrent, or included,
elements of fatigue. The combination may have
some effect on the activity. If so, it will also af-
fect the fatigue, but at the present state of the
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 125
art the most accurate and satisfying work can be
done by making use of activity records to elimi-
nate unnecessary fatigue, without waiting for
some hypothetical, direct records of fatigue, that
may be worked out in the future. In other
words, if you have accurate records of fatigue
included in your activity records, use these im-
mediately, without attempting to make separate
records of the fatigue, that, while valuable, will
mean delaying fatigue elimination, perhaps in-
definitely.
The Time Element.
Too much credit can never be given to Dr.
Taylor for his emphasis on the laws of the time
element. He was the first to call to our attention
the fact that operations should be divided into the
smallest possible, timable units for setting tasks.
In this way it is possible for timed elements to
be used in many combinations, thus eliminating
an enormous amount of unnecessary work. Dr.
Taylor also recommended that work periods
should be timed separately from the rest periods.
Our new measuring devices for time study make
it possible to record much shorter intervals of
126 FATIGUE STUDY
time than were heretofore known, and now the
limiting factor in the problem is no longer the
quickness with which we can use a stop-watch.
Our methods and devices have been criticised
as being specially adapted to problems involving
the minutia of motions, but too expensive for the
general time study purposes. A moment's con-
sideration will show that the turning of the crank
of the cinematograph may be done as slowly as
the requirements of the particular case of time
study demand. In fact we have films that were
taken at the rate of one picture every ten min-
utes. With the sixteen pictures to the foot, a
foot will last one hundred and sixty minutes, or
two hours and forty minutes, at a total maximum
cost of six cents. If desired, the speed of the
crank can be instantly changed to any desired
speed to enable one to take pictures too quickly
to be seen with the eye, and more accurately than
the highest-priced time study man can take by
means of a stop-watch.
Our methods, devices, and records of activity
and of output fulfil every requirement, and are
now perfectly satisfactory. Fatigue still re-
mains the elusive factor. Nothing but long-con-
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 127
tinned observation, absolute accuracy and co-op-
eration between all interested will reduce fatigue
study to the science which motion study has be-
come.
The Standardization of Work and Rest.
Meantime, in standardizing work and rest pe-
riods, it is customary and proper to make a
larger allowance for fatigue than the records
show to be necessary. We cite as an example a
case of folding handkerchiefs. The old method
of folding was to have the workers seated at low
tables in chairs of ordinary height, working
throughout the entire day, with the only rest
periods an hour at noon and such ceasing from
folding as took place when the workers went for
supplies, or took back finished product to be
checked, or other rest periods that they took at
will, as the work was piece work. After an in-
tensive study of the problem, made not only to
increase their output but to better their work-
ing conditions and allow them to earn more
money with less fatigue, the following schedule
of work and rest periods was adopted.
Each hour was divided into ten periods. The
128 FATIGUE STUDY
work was placed on a work table of the proper
height. The handkerchiefs already folded,
those being folded, and those to be folded were
arranged in the most convenient and efficient
manner. All variables of the work had been
studied, and the results of the study standard-
ized. The first four periods, that is, the first
twenty-four minutes, the girl remained seated.
She worked five minutes and rested one; again
worked five minutes and rested one. That is
to say, she had four minutes' rest out of the
twenty-four, and spent this rest seated so that
she might lose no time in getting back to
the work. The next two periods, that is for
twelve minutes, the girl was standing. Again
she worked five minutes and rested one minute,
and for the second time worked five minutes and
rested one minute. That is, she rested two out
of the twelve minutes in the same position in
which she worked. The third group, a space of
eighteen minutes, she spent either sitting or
standing, as she pleased. Here also she worked
five minutes, rested one minute ; worked five min*
utes, rested one minute ; worked five minutes, and
rested one minute in the position, either standing
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 129
or sitting, which she herself had chosen. The
last period, which consisted also of six minutes,
was spent by the girl walking about and talking,
or amusing herself as she otherwise chose. With
this might be combined the last rest minute or
period No. 9, which thus gave her seven consecu-
tive minutes for unrestricted rest activity.
This was the schedule for all hours of the day
except the hour before noon and the hour before
closing time at night. In these hours the first
nine periods resembled the first nine periods of
the other hours ; but the tenth period was spent
in work, as a long rest period was to follow.
At the end of the day's work under these con-
ditions the girls accomplished more than three
times the amount of their previous best work,
with a greater amount of interest and with no
more fatigue. It may be stated here that the
primary aim in this investigation was not to elim-
inate fatigue, but to increase the wages of the
girls by raising the output. The operators had
not seemed overfatigued at the start. They
maintained that they were less tired at the close
of the day when using the new method, and cer-
tainly the amount of fatigue caused by producing
ISO FATIGUE STUDY
an amount of output such as was made unde]
the old method was reduced to an enormous ex
tent. With further practice these preliminary
results will be further improved.
It is of fundamental importance in making ai
investigation of this type that the allowance foi
fatigue be greater than the physical condition 01
the worker at the end of the day seems to indi
cate necessary. It is also fundamental that th(
results of the investigation be at once incorpo
rated into actual shop practice. If each membei
of the organization is at once placed under sucl
working conditions that he can enjoy the rest
periods along with the high pay that comes from
a large product, he will co-operate most fully ir
the progressive work of fatigue elimination. vlt
is a fundamental rule of scientific management
that the rate once set must never be cut. It
should also be a fundamental principle of our
management that rest periods once established
should not be abolished or shortened. Let the
error, if error there is, always result to the ad-
vantage of the worker, never to that of the em-
ployer. If you have not allowed enough rest,
make the allowance larger, then reinvestigate.
FATIGUE MEASUREMENT 131
If you have allowed too much rest, let the job
stand as one to be given for special merit, and
attack some other problem. The result will be
an increased co-operation which will more than
compensate for the occasional over allowance for
fatigue.
Summary.
Fatigue measurement, as applied to the indus-
tries, is a new science. It is being developed
through a study of the data of activity. The
methods of measurement of activity are motion
study, micromotion study, the cyclegraph, the
chronocyclegraph, and the penetrating screen.
Through the data derived by these, we standard-
ize motion paths, motion habits, and all other
motion variables. These enable us to test and
classify, select and place, both work and workers,
and to eliminate unnecessary fatigue. Through
the time element we compare our various data,
and finally arrive at results that enable us to
standardize work and rest periods. Any errors
in length of rest periods must result to the ad-
vantage of the worker.
CHAPTEE VIII
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: HOW PRESENT PRAC-
TICE IS DEVELOPED INTO STANDARD
PRACTICE
A Concrete Example of Making Adjustments.
In order to make plain exactly how changes
are made and take place from the condition be-
fore analysis, measurement, and synthesis are
made to the standard method of doing the work,
we shall take a concrete example and consider it
from every phase. This concrete example will
be the assembly of a braider or machine for man-
ufacturing braid, which is a standard product of
the New England Butt Company. With the co-
operation of Mr. John G. Aldrich, who has since
become president of the company, the problem of
assembling a braider was studied, both in the
laboratory and in the shop.
It is not generally recognized that ultimate
standards can best be derived in the research
room and laboratory. The standard practice in
132
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS 133
the plant will be the result of the laboratory prac-
tice. If the finer measurements are made in the
shop during the general working operations,
much time will be lost, as shop conditions cannot
be controlled as laboratory conditions can. It
has been said that laboratory experimentation is
not directly available in shop practice, because
laboratory conditions differ from shop condi-
tions. They certainly do differ, but so do the
ultimate shop conditions that must be introduced
with the new standard method. The ultimate
conditions in the shop are far nearer the labora-
tory conditions than are the shop conditions
prior to installation of the new methods.
Former Method of Assembly.
The method of assembly in use before the mo-
tion study and fatigue study were applied was as
follows : The base of the braider was placed on
an ordinary low bench, and the various parts
were kept in tote boxes or on the floor. The
worker selected such parts as he wished, and put
the braider together according to any traditional
method that he had learned, together with such
changes as his whims dictated.
134* FATIGUE STUDY
How the New Practice was Derived.
All of the previous assembly methods had been
determined by the usual practice of putting
braider parts together. In the present case the
braider was taken apart ; that is, handled in the
reverse order of assembly, in order to determine
from a new viewpoint the best method of putting
the various parts together. The parts were laid
out on a table in the sequence in which they were
disassembled. This allowed the various mem-
bers of the braider divisions, groups, and sub-
groups to be studied in relation to one another
and also separately.
The Two Factors to Be Considered.
The problem resolved itself into two parts :
1. To make the table of the most convenient
height and shape to hold tools and the
base group as it grew, while being assem-
bled.
2. To provide the most convenient, tempo-
rary, resting place for the tools and the
various parts, before they were carried to
the final position of assembly.
The two parts were so closely related that any
FIG. 25
Easel for simplifying motions and reducing fatigue from
work of assembly. The obvious sequence in our packet
method eliminates the delay and fatigue of the decision of
choice.
FIG. 26
The rigging on a typical Gilbreth packet, as used for the
assembly of braiders and cord machines at the New Eng-
land Butt Company. This picture shows only the support-
ing devices. The length of the supporting devices is de-
termined by what is to be held upon them. The right
quantity of each kind, therefore, can be put on without
counting. These devices are standardized and are but few
in number. They are specially designed and arranged for
picking up parts with both hands, simultaneously, in an
obvious sequence with shortest motions and least fatigue.
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS 135
modification in one demanded a modification in
the other.
Outline of the Changes to Be Made.
It became apparent, as the work progressed,
that the determining elements were (1) to
shorten, as far as possible, the distance for trans-
porting the arms and hands while loaded; (2) to
arrange the parts so that their sequence of use
would be obvious; (3) to position each piece so
that it could be grasped, transported, and re-
leased in the shortest time with the least expendi-
ture of effort and with the least resulting fatigue.
This meant that the parts should be arranged on
some sort of a holder, or packet, that would
shorten the transporting distance, and that the
base group should be placed upon a table that
would carry it as near this packet as possible.
The Solution of the Problem.
A packet, which was practically a table with
its top extending vertically, was placed near the
table supporting the base group, and removable
wire rods of the right length were placed in it to
support the various pieces in the best position for
136 FATIGUE STUDY
grasping. This also considered the shortest dis-
tance for transporting the arms and hands,
whether empty or loaded. These table packets
were then modified, following closely the princi-
ples of the design of the brick packet, especially
the hand-hole feature for firm grasping with one
motion and for quick counting of the number of
pieces. The packets now consist of strips of
wood two inches apart, horizontally, and two
inches apart, vertically, with holes for pins, in-
terchangeable wire rods, forked hooks, and other
hangers, including interchangeable platforms,
shelves, and vertical supports, extended and posi-
tioned for still shorter reach, and holding in turn
such devices as pins to permit the best position
for handful grasping without disturbing the mo-
tions of the hand or the wrist from the natural
position, or, that is, the position most resembling
that of normal rest.
The right position for grasping anything with
least fatigue is that position that will permit
grasping without turning, twisting, or holding
the wrist at all from its natural resting position,
that is, with muscles in natural balance. It is
but natural that this should be the best way, for
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS 137
it cuts out the positioning motions of the hand
prior to grasping.
Two reasons that the strips of wood were made
two inches apart, horizontally, and two inches
apart, vertically, were:
1. Because we desired to get standard data
at the same time comparable with our
other standard data. We might also use
it for checking, by means of motions in
another trade, the underlying laws of mo-
tions, which we had already deduced in
several other trades.
2. Because we desired to have the motions in
very nearly the same places every time, in
order to get the extra efficiency and the
lesser fatigue that come from the habit
that is formed in this reaching and grasp-
ing.
Many of these laws have since been re-checked
and used in methods of least waste for the trans-
ference of skill from one trade to another.
Habits have been formed that permit a much
greater amount of output with less fatigue.
This latticed packet gives us the same dimen-
sions as our cross-sectioned background. We use
138 FATIGUE STUDY
four inches in our American work, and ten centi-
metres in our European work for these distances
— the difference between ten centimetres and
four inches being almost exactly one-sixteenth of
an, inch, or so small a difference as to be practi-
cally negligible in work on motion study.
This cross-sectioned packet has, therefore, not
only many mechanical benefits, such as forming
supports, either horizontally or vertically for
hangers, but it is also cheap to build, light in
weight, and forms an excellent, relative scale for
measurement and for "recording the surround-
ing conditions " of a case of micromotion study.
In fatigue study, as in all other work of inves-
tigation, it is difficult to obtain assistants who
can " observe what they can see." Of those ob-
servers who observe what they can see, few will
write down what they observe. Of those rare
ones who can observe and will always write down,
few have the habit of maintaining the standard
conditions in a long series of observations. We
therefore cross-section the background, make our
devices, when possible, multiples of four inches,
and record the conditions by means of photogra-
FIGS. 27 and 28
This picture shows the arrangement of parts for the base
group of the braider. It will be noticed that there are
three adjustable shelves, two vertical and one horizontal,
for the support in a more convenient position of certain
parts that have to be picked up, for least fatigue, by hand-
fuls at a time. The various kinds of shelves, clamps, and
tables for different sizes or kinds of machines can be re-
moved or attached to the packet with one motion of the
hand.
Note that the top plate is in position and that the
tools are at the right side of this top plate before the as-
sembler is sent to the job at all. These parts are arranged
in an obvious sequence, and a photograph similar to this
is given to the boy whose duty it is to arrange these parts.
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS 139
phy, that gives us the key to causes of deviation
from class results.
The modification of the table consisted of mak-
ing it of such a design that it could be turned
over on its side to form a low table for tall or
double-deck braiders, that would permit motions
of less fatigue.
Final Adjustment.
In its final form the method consisted of hav-
ing the parts of the braider placed on the packet
by an unskilled laborer or boy, putting large tacks
on the floor, which located the table at the most
convenient point possible in relation to the
packet, which was made fast to the wall or of
easel type, on casters, as the position where it
must stand demanded. In addition, a small
gravity, Johnson-Littlefield packet was attached
to the table. This conveyed certain parts, by
their own weight, to a yet more convenient posi-
tion.1
i The Johnson-Littlefield packet is a splendid example of
the types of fatigue saving devices that are suggested by
employees after they have been taught the underlying prin-
ciples of motion study.
140 FATIGUE STUDY
Changes in Type of Work Demanded.
Through this adjustment the assembler used
only his most skilled motions in doing his work.
Meantime, the less skilled worker, or appren-
tice, who was loading the packet, was learning
the assembly principle, and receiving an appren-
ticeship in assembly itself.
Change in Mental Attitude.
The effect of the adjustment was to establish
easily and quickly a new set of efficient habits.
The parts being arranged on the packet in an
obvious sequence, and the tools being arranged on
the table in the standard position, the worker
necessarily performed the work according to the
standard method, which was the quickest and
least fatiguing method, every time that he did it.
The result improved his working method, and
acted as an incentive to him to do the largest
quantity of work of the best quality that could
be done with a reasonable amount of fatigue.
Value of This Example.
This example is even more valuable as a
method of attack in the adjustment problem than
FIG. 29
This picture shows a Littlefield-Johnson carrier packet.
In this carrier packet the carriers by their own weight
travel downward to a standard position at the bottom for
grasping without looking at them, as fast as they are in-
dividually removed. This packet was invented by two men
in the New England Butt Company, after they had seen
our method of attack, and had begun to think of their work
in the terms of elementary and least fatiguing motions. .
FIG. SO
This picture shows a Gilbreth packet and a Gilbreth
bench, arranged with the carrier packet shown in Fig. 31
for the assembly of a 13-strand braider.
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS 141
it is as a specific illustration of a successful and
rapid installation. The workers enjoyed the
changes and accepted them in the best spirit of
co-operation. Before using the method, eighteen
braider base groups had been a large day's work,
per man. With the new method, sixty-six, per
man, per day, were assembled with no added fa-
tigue. The resulting saving pleased every one
concerned, and has assured the maintenance of
the method. Like all other methods, old or new,
it must be submitted to certain definite tests.
These it has passed with credit. The outlining
of such tests is our next problem.
Summary.
The problem of adjustment and its solution can
best be illustrated by a concrete example. This
is of changes made in assembling the base group
of a braider. This example is valuable not only
as an incidence of successful application, but as
an outline of an efficient working method.
CHAPTER IX
THE OUTCOME: HOW FAB HAVE WE ATTAINED
OUR AIM?
The Tests of General Health.
We will now assume that the reader has at-
tacked the fatigue problem in his particular
plant, and has applied either preliminary or more
permanent fatigue elimination. There are vari-
ous general measurement tests which he may
apply to the results, in order to see how much
better the working condition of his organization
actually is than it was when he started in upon
his fatigue-eliminating work.
The first of these is the test of general health.
It is, of course, perfectly possible that an indi-
vidual worker's general health may go down un-
der far better working conditions; this, because
of some home influence, or something in his gen-
eral condition or his life away from work, which
pulls down his health. It would not be fair to
blame the work for any illness easily traceable to
142
THE OUTCOME 143
home conditions, to an epidemic prevalent, or to
some certain outside source; but, if conditions
away from work have remained fixed, there is
every reason to expect that general health should
improve with fatigue elimination. This we find
in actual practice is the case. Even where fa-
tigue is not materially cut down during working
hours, because measurement shows that the
worker is not getting over-fatigued, the general
health is apt to improve because of greater regu-
larity in habits of work, and because of better
physical and mental habits, while doing the
work. The path along this line is a continui__
ous, never-ending, upward spiral. Fatigue is
eliminated by establishing proper habits.
Proper habits improve health. The improved
health allows of more work with less fatigue, etc.
*•
The Test of Prolonged Activity.
In order to be thoroughly satisfactory, obser-
vations of the effect of the changes upon the
worker must be made during a long period. The
worker's greatest asset is his ability to work.
In order to prove its value, fatigue eliminating
work must actually show results in prolonging
ck.
1441 FATIGUE STUDY
the years that he is able to devote to his life
work. This in practice it does. Not only does
the average worker remain physically able to
work more years than where no fatigue elimina-
tion has taken place, but also through the fa-
tigue study and motion study, which he has co-
operated to make, he learns to be able to teach
that thing, or those things, at which he is most
skilled, and thus to prolong his years of economic
value. You must note how many of your work-
ers are beyond the usual working age, and are
still at work. Some of these will be working at
the work itself; that is, in the performing de-
partment. Others will be planning or teaching
the work in some way. The number of these and
their condition will form an admirable unit of
measurement of the success of your work.
The Test of Posture.
The third test is that of posture. Take an-
other walk through your plant, and look at those
workers to whom fatigue elimination work has
been applied, and note how they are sitting, or
standing, or walking.
The American Posture League, with headquar-
FIG. 31
B. Micromotion of workman reaching with both hands
for pieces of a machine which is being assembled. The
microchronometer in the foreground registers divisions of
time to the half a thousandth of a minute, and therefore
gives us much data relating to time study, motion study, and
fatigue study.
Set of experiments in fatigue study for proving that
times of motions have little close relation to lengths of
motions unless the same length of motion is repeated con-
secutively many times. (See Fig. 21.)
C. Penetrating screen in the plane of the motions for the
purpose of registering exactly the distance of motions in
fatigue study experiments.
THE OUTCOME 145
ters at 30 Church Street, New York City, will
gladly furnish standards for proper posture in
various positions. It will be impossible, of
course, to eradicate wrong habits of posture in a
short time, no matter how radical the change may
be, but you should note improvements. At least
each worker should be so placed that he could
work in the proper posture if he chose, and so.
that the proper posture will be the easiest for
him. If the chairs, benches, levers, or devices
force him to assume the proper posture, so much
the better. Consideration of the devices shows,
unfortunately, that few are designed for oper-
ation with least fatigue ; more being .designed to
use the least quantity of material.
In the case of young workers, especially, it is
surprising how quickly the proper devices will
induce the correct posture, especially if the bet-
terment staff co-operate to explain the correct
posture, and its effect upon health. Where no
betterment staff exists, the posters of the Pos-
ture League will serve as desirable examples and
object lessons. Here again, as in so many other
places, " fashion of work " is a most important
element. Let correct posture become the fash-
146 FATIGUE STUDY
ion, and let the devices make the posture possible,
and astonishing results will follow.
It is, of course, always a great aid to make
anything that one desires the easiest thing to do.
The proper chairs and work places make correct
posture the easiest posture to hold. This is a
great force towards maintaining it.
The Test of Behaviour and Implied Mental Atti-
tude.
The fourth test is to observe the behaviour of
the workers. Do their actions, their resulting
work, and whole attitude towards the work indi-
cate that the fatigue eliminating work has been
effective? There should be better " habits of
work" than have ever existed before. More
work should be turned over to the habit processes,
and the formation and maintenance of good
habits should become a part of the day's work.
It should be noted just exactly what seems to be
the kind and amount of incentive that keeps the
workers at the work. If the fatigue elimination
has done what it should along its line, the reason
for doing the work as it is being done will be the
belief that this way is the best way yet found, a
THE OUTCOME 147
belief that one is safe in following the method,
since proper allowance for fatigue has been made.
There should also be present a desire to con-
tribute to the welfare of all by looking for easy
ways, as well as scientifically-derived ways, to
eliminate fatigue, while at the same time follow-
ing the best method as yet available.
The question of motivation is one demanding
understanding and serious consideration in every
field of activity to*day. This is true in educa-
tion. It is also true in the industries. The mo-
tive of getting all that one can for one's work
must always exist, and is a perfectly justifiable
motive, but the fatigue-eliminating work cannot
be considered successfully, unless this motive of
self interest has also with it the motive of interest
in the welfare of others, and in cutting out all
fatigue that can effect any member of the group
in any way. This feeling should express itself
in a social attitude, which is another behaviour
test. If every member of the organization stands
ready to endorse the fatigue elimination, and to
co-operate in further fatigue elimination for the
good of all, the social attitude shows that the
work that has been done is worth while.
u,
3T\
rk
148 FATIGUE STUDY
The Test of Transference of Skill.
The amount of skill that is successfully trans-
ferred may be used as a test of fatigue elimina-
tion. Each member of the organization is sup-
posed to transfer skill, and also to acquire skill.
He transfers to others the skill in the lines of
work in which he is proficient, yet which are not
the highest types of work that he can do. He
learns from others such types of work as are of
the highest type that it is possible for him to
learn, that he has never had an opportunity to
learn because of the time taken by work requir-
ing less skill, that it was necessary under the old
plan for him to do.
It is a fallacy to suppose that work which does
not demand all the skill at one's disposal is less
fatiguing than work which does. Work is not
less fatiguing because it demands less skill. It
is less fatiguing when it is done with ease and
when there is a joy of achievement requiring
skill ; that is, when it is satisfying. Because of
lack of opportunity, one may only perform with
ease the work which does not demand much skill.
As soon as he learns to perform the skilled work
with ease, it causes even less fatigue, other things
/ wi
THE OUTCOME
being equal, than does unskilled work, because it
holds the interest, hence the attention, more
easily. _^ -•""
We enjoy doing that which we can do well.
Whether we improve in the doing because we take
pleasure in doing it, or simply because the pleas-
ure makes us do more, and we improve with the
practice, is not of great importance. Psycholo-
gists are divided in their opinions as to the effect
of pleasure upon work, but all agree that, directly •
or indirectly, pleasure in the work does affect the
work favourably. Through the transference of
skill this pleasure is given to the work, or in-
creased in the work, and, therefore, the amount
of skill transferred is a test of fatigue elimina-
tion.
Test of "Happiness Minutes," Individual and
Social.
The final test of fatigue elimination, as of
every other change made in doing things, is its in-
fluence upon the total output of " Happiness
Minutes." The aim of life is happiness, no mat-
ter how we differ as to what true happiness
means. Fatigue elimination, starting as it does
150 FATIGUE STUDY
from a desire to conserve human life and to elimi-
nate enormous waste, must increase " Happiness
Minutes," no matter what else it does, or it has
failed in its fundamental aim. Have you reason
to believe that your workers are really happier
because of the work that you have done on fa-
tigue study? Do they look happier, and say they
are happier? Then your fatigue eliminating
work has been worth while in the highest sense
of the term, no matter what the financial out-
come. Naturally the savings that accrue must
benefit every one, but saving lies at the root of
fatigue elimination, and, if every member of the
organization, including the manager and the
stockholders, is getting more " Happiness Min-
utes," you surely are working along the right
lines.
Social " Happiness Minutes " will consist of
he sum of the individual " Happiness Minutes "
plus that intangible thing called " social spirit,"
It is exemplified in a case like this : A certain
group of workers had been studied from the mo-
tion study and the fatigue standpoint. The re-
sult of the work had been incorporated in their
daily practice, and they had been working for a
FIGS. 32 AND 33
These pictures are of meetings of the Foreman's Club at
the New England Butt Co. examining films of methods of
least fatigue, proposed for standardization.
THE OUTCOME 151
period of many months under the readjusted
working conditions and with the new methods.
At the end of this time they were gathered at a
foremen's meeting, where a micromotion film,
showing the development of the methods which
they used, was presented. In discussing the film
the speaker took the occasion to say that on ob-
serving the work in the plant he felt that some
lapses from the method prescribed were in exist-
ence. The next morning, when he walked
through the plant, he was stopped by a worker,
who said, " See here ! I don't believe we are
falling away from that method a bit. If we are,
just show us where, and we will go straight
back to it. We want to play the game right."
This is the test of the outcome. Is the organiza-
tion lined up as one man back of the work? If
so, the problem of maintenance and of automatic
improvement is solved.
Summary.
At any stage in the process of fatigue elimina-
tion the results may be tested. The general
health of the worker, his prolonged activity, his
posture, his behaviour act as such tests. To
158 FATIGUE STUDY
these may be added the amount of skill trans-
ferred and being transferred, and the effect, in
particular, on " Happiness Minutes." If the or-
ganization endorses the work and co-operates in
it, the work may be rated successful.
CHAPTER X
THE FUTURE: WHAT EACH ONE OF us CAN DO
The Work of the Colleges.
It should be the work of the colleges to gather
together what has been done in fatigue elimina- \ ,
tion, and to put it at the disposal of all inter-
ested. Each college should start a fatigue mu-
seum, and should invite its graduates first, and
all those in its vicinity second, to co-operate and
to send exhibits or pictures of exhibits to its mu-
seum. The colleges are recognized as not inter-
ested in any particular industry, as fair and
impartial, and as standing for uplift in the com-
munity. It is, therefore, their duty to act as
repositories for the data, at least until such times
as the national government takes over the lead-
ership in the entire fatigue question, and becomes
the custodian of the data.
The colleges can help in a second way by mak-
ing fatigue study a subject in the curriculum. *
153
154 FATIGUE STUDY
It is not necessary that this be a new subject. It
should rather be a new aspect in which the old
subjects are presented. Especially in the col-
leges of engineering and business adminis ration
great emphasis should be laid upon fatigue study,
both the theory and the practice. It is not essen-
tial that the students be sent out into the shops
for actual practice in such study, although any-
thing like the half-time plan is to be commended.
The student may well apply fatigue study to his
own activities. This will present an admirable
field and a splendid incentive. After such a
study the fatigue problem will never again seem
remote or vague to the student. Also the stu-
dent may well be sent, or taken, on tours of in-
spection through neighbouring industries, or may
be allowed to co-operate in preliminary fatigue
surveys. They should learn the general princi-
ple of fatigue study, and should become finger-
wise. This preparation is identical to that for
making motion study, and, in fact, is prerequisite
or first step for greatest success in any mana-
gerial work.
But the college should not confine its activity
in fatigue elimination to the museum, and to
THE FUTURE 155
training the student who expects to enter the
field. They should themselves become examples
of successful fatigue elimination. In this way
they aln do most to cut down waste, and to train
our young people to take an active part later in
the waste elimination campaign being waged in
the world's work.
The Work of the Manager.
The fatigue study and the installation which
must follow it to be done by the manager have
been outlined in this book. The manager who
has put his own plant at such a stage of improve-
ment that unnecessary fatigue is cut out to a
great extent, and that recovery from necessary
fatigue is provided for, has contributed greatly
to the cause, but his work should not end here.
He should educate those with whom he comes in
contact on the subject of fatigue elimination.
He should co-operate with those in his own neigh-
bourhood, and also -with those in his own trade
towards solving the fatigue problem peculiar to
the locality or the trade.
The Home Reading Box has been successfully
installed by a group of manufacturers engaged in
156 FATIGUE STUDY
the same trade. This particular work furnishes
an admirable starting point, and is a great help
in arousing local interest. If even a few inter-
ested in the same trade in various parts of the
country will co-operate, it will soon be possible,
through trade journals, and through a general
demand for equipment designed from the fatigue
standpoint, to revolutionize fatigue conditions in
that industry. Editors and writers of papers of
all types have been quick to see the benefits of
fatigue elimination, and to offer to co-operate in
a campaign for education. Manufacturers have
been equally eager to satisfy any demands which
may be made. The managers can have a large
share in making such demands, and in encourag-
ing the support of publications in which they are
interested.
The Work of the Worker.
The worker has two chief ways in which he
can help in fatigue elimination. The first is to
co-operate with the management in installing fa-
tigue elimination methods and devices in the
particular plant in which they are both inter-
ested. The second is to help to make fatigue
THE FUTURE 157
elimination fashionable. This latter duty lies
with no one but the worker himself. No new
methods spread more quickly than the " fashion
of work." There is nothing of which a well run
plant is more proud than the " way " it works,
the work spirit. The whole idea must be that it
is a disgrace to have causes of unnecessary fa-
tigue existing. Overfatigue is a positive proof
of inefficiency. There is no fear but that the
workers will recognize these duties, and will per-
form them heartily and with good will, when they
know that they are getting a square deal. It is
right that they should make very sure that they
are going to receive such treatment, and that fa-
tigue study is not a new scheme for taking ad-
vantage of them, but they must be ready to listen
to the proof and to accept it when they are con-
vinced that it is true. Having accepted it, and
thus made sure that they are safe in co-operating,
the next step is to help actively in the good work.
The Work of the Public.
The great work of the public is to demand fa-
tigue elimination. The adoption of a few simple
slogans, like " Buy of the seated worker," would
158 FATIGUE STUDY
help bring immediate results in fatigue elimina-
tion. Consider what the Consumers' League
has done in securing better working conditions.
Note how the " Safety First " movement has
spread through the whole country. The " Fa-
tigue Eliminating Movement " can spread in the
same way, if only every one will do his part to
demand that the fatigue be reduced and to help
in the actual reduction.
The workers of the country have long recog-
nized the need for fatigue elimination; the em-
ployers are coming to a realization that they are
paying a large price for fatigue. Many employ-
ers have resolved that, so far as their plants are
concerned, needless fatigue must be eliminated.
They have resolved that the day is coming when
every worker shall go home from work happy in
what he has done, with the least amount of un-
necessary fatigue, and prepared to go back in per-
fect condition on the morrow. How soon this
much desired time will arrive depends upon the
co-operation of the public, upon the public senti-
ment that can be aroused.
There is no reader of this book who does not
belong to at least two groups that should be in-
THE FUTURE 159
terested in fatigue elimination. Decide at once,
then, in which group you belong, and set to work.
Be you teacher, manager, worker, or simply a
member of the great public to which we all be-
long, begin to work for fatigue elimination, and
begin now.
The good in your life consists of the quantity
of " Happiness Minutes " that you have created
or caused. Increase your own record by elimi-
nating unnecessary fatigue of the workers.
'
THE END
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
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APR 06 1998
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