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Work Study in the Armed Services
TO learn of "work study" in the Armed Services will I take the reader a long way from the days of "bull." "Target," the official monthly bulletin on productivity, started in January a series of articles devoted to this development in the Army. The present policy, particularly in view of the establishment cuts, is to extend work study in conformity with the best industrial practices. The most fruitful fields have been the industrial services and installations for which the Quartermaster-General is responsible, these including the repair, storage and handling of military equipment, including motor vehicles. The reorganization of a stores-issuing operation at the Ordnance Depot, Colchester has effected a saving of £10,000 per annum in labour costs. At the Central Ordnance Depot, Donnington, a stores classification and packaging programme originally scheduled to take five years has been completed in two. A new layout of the R.E.M.E. repair shop for the overhaul of vehicle electrical assemblies at Ashford, Kent, at a cost of about £1,000 has produced an annual saving of over £3,000, whilst a preliminary investigation into the overhauling of Centurion Tanks at Chilwell, Notts, is saving over 3,000 man-hours a year on one part of the job.
New Anti-corrosion Rinse
IN connection with those useful processes Banderizing and Parkerizing, instituted by the Pyrene Co., Ltd., to reduce the corrosion of ferrous metals, it has been usual to give a final rinse in very diluted chromic acid solution, Recently, however, a new rinse, claimed to give many advantages, has been produced by the company; this is known as Parcolene No. 1. It is said to increase the corrosion resistance, prevent yellow stains, counter the possible deleterious effects of hardening and other soluble salts, and to be easier to make up. B2
Different Type of Exchange
CLAIMING to be one of the oldest established bodies representative of engineers in this country, The Society of Engineers was formed in 1854, and now has a membership of approximately 2,500. Recently its new president, Mr. Robert Clark, F.S.E., A.I.W.E., gave his presidential address, which was on the subject of the softening of water by ion exchange.
There is a great deal more in this subject than might be thought by some people. In many large areas of the world water is available only in a form which makes it practically unusable for normal purposes, but by passing it through two special resin beds it can quickly be made comparatively pure and harmless to man and machine, thus opening up great possibilities. It can even be used without danger in storage batteries. At present, members and officers of the Society are rather unhappy, as their premises are shortly to be demolished.
A Unique Training Establishment
UNNING for only 10 .minutes, and with a commentary " by McDonald Hobley, a new documentary film, "Chelsea College," has been made to give an overall insight into the educative facilities of the Chelsea College of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering. It " stars " four former British technical students who recently completed courses there and who are now working in leading concerns in industry. Founded in 1924 by the late Mr. S. C. H: Roberts, the college was designed to provide the motor industry with qualified technicians. It provides what may be termed concentrated instruction in theory and practice, which normally lasts about 2+ years. Extended also to cover training in aeronautical engineering and mechanized farming, the college provides a sound training programme for young men wishing to prepare for the appropriate examinations, such as those of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the City and Guilds of London Department of Technology, and that of the Institute of the Motor Industry.
In the automobile workshops are facilities for the complete servicing, overhauling and testing of engines, transmissions and electrical installations. A careers section is available to help students after they achieve the College diploma. The number of students is at present over 400, and they represent 47 countries. Well over half of these specialize in automobile engineering.
The new principal is Mr. J. A. C. Williams, M.Sc., A.M.I.Mech.E., who has had a distinguished career and has been concerned with technological education since 1939, when he was a lecturer in aerodynamics at the De Havilland Technical School. He was on the initial design team of the Mosquito fighter-bomber and in 1953 became senior lecturer in the Department of Engineering Production and Management at Wolverhampton Technical College. He is well known for his technical writing on work study.
Production Fights Inflation
THE theme of the Production Exhibition and Conference, to be held at Olympia, London, from May 12-21, is to be "Production Fights Inflation." To be staged by Andry Montgomery Ltd., the sponsors will be the Institution of Production Engineers. The purpose is to show how the combined efforts of research and development, scientists, designers and engineers, can improve the standard of living. One part will be designed to accommodate the exhibits of even very small concerns.
The main sections will be based on services and aids to production, its control, research and development, automatic production, and training and careers. The conference will include an opening address by Lord Mills, K.B.E., Minister of Power, and on following days sessions on selling in world markets, the economic background to production, designing machines for electronic control. automatic equipment for jobbing work, and human relations in industry. Further details are obtainable from The Production Exhibition, 32 Millbank, London, S.W.1.