Show i enc i es 0 ng BY LETSON A traveling salesman a few days ago visited the superintendent of one of the biggest mines in the country selling carbide mine lamps and made the statement that he could save the mining company 50 per cent of its lighting costs at the same time providing better light he asked the mine manager what it cost him per man to furnish candles to the men and was told that a box containing 40 sets of mining candles candles cost a box this amounts to 8 cents per man who is furnished with six candles the salesman then showed him that 4 cents worth of carbide would give a better light for eight hours and the argument seemed wholly unanswerable and the salesman got out his pencil ready for a big order for lamps and carbide I 1 the superintendent called the writer in to make the figures on efficiency before giving the order how much carbide does that lamp hold I 1 asked enough to run about four hours if handled right the salesman replied that means that with most miners filling a lamp before going under ground that it must be filled twice under ground before the shift is over I 1 said yes said the salesman two fillings is consulting Engi engineer reer upon operating efficiencies tonopah To nov nev supposed to last the shift but we provide a pocket can containing enough for three fillings so the miner will not have come out in the dark to refill it and it dont make any difference if he fills it three times its still cheaper than candles how many times do they fill the lamp with carbide I 1 asked seldom more than three times but I 1 should say that the way they are usually handled that three would be the average was the answer now look here the men in this mine draw a day there are minutes in eight hours the men are lowered and hoisted on company time they actually work less than minutes from this you can see the mining company is paying one cent a minute for the mens time A miner will lay that pocket can of carbide down with his chuck wrench or near the water can together with his pocket oil can miners in practice dont work with a pocket full of oil cans and cans of carbide when the carbide gives out he goes back twenty or thirty feet maybe in the dark to fill his lamp with a new charge he stops the drill and before he has the lamp filled and is ready to start the drill again ten minutes have elapsed three fillings each ea ch requiring ten minutes lost time means a half hour of lost time at p cent a minute or 30 cents paid for la CI that is used in filling carbide lamps i cents worth of carbide is required for v aig and 30 cents worth or of time is lest to much will be saved over eight cents wo ft E of candles I 1 required J 1 his answer was surprising alida and boehi boef jt weak oh he said the men are goi t to waste 30 minutes of tirrie time ailY anyway way Y a fi they can fill the lights in the time they dina rily waste the answer was positively silly and quiren no comment from me and I 1 let pass then a bright thought struck ji and he said dont forget the much bett light that the carbide gives while he working that alone was a good arg an 41 ment and his only talking point for ME work better with the good light I 1 glad concede him that point GOOD FOR GOOD WORK then he thought he had me won OT j and prepared to take an order for sever seve dozen lights at 1 each and a goodly 0 der for carbide now you see how much better it I 1 than your candles cant I 1 send you a fe i dozen on trial he asked our candles why we dont use a L dies in this mine at all except for pitt fuse we used candles for sev sever 11 years I 1 said S he looked at me with a peculiarly a i look and I 1 went on we ivee use e eel i trie lights around the station all theoti I 1 the levels with extension cords into wing i and working faces and its mv mm cheaper than either carbide or candles I 1 I 1 showed him that forty electric bult bull ai t of 40 watts each used 1600 watts an hoa ho i costing but 4 cent an hour or thirty tt 0 t cents a shift for eight men or 4 cents I 1 man without any lost time fooling wi either carbide or water and that every pi of that level that we were using as I 1 all alib t illustration was brilliantly lighted ing the shift if a man wanted to change his I 1 I 1 sa i f or go to another part of the mine he does not cave have to stop to get his bis bat W I 1 he aleh I 1 it nor to use one hand carrying to I 1 ca s both hands free to work with or bec beca fri anything that was to he walks faster at his natural gait eve t to en cha where he goes if he be wants jig t bis big drill steel he does not have to get to hut hun and carry it to the steel pile a piece that might be covered under unde everywhere 9 muck there is light 33 per cent ce the men accomplish throughout through ut tt Z work with the mine lighted wil I 1 light US a when they have to carry them B v agg JOE a the data was surprising P t MORO a mo 1080 at a day means acco ac roll in that level these men could I 1 as much in three months as they ey c malish in four months carrying hand flights lights the overhead expense hoist engineer neer blacksmith timber framing and power costs could be averaged into three months work with the cost of four months and the difference of in lowered overhead over head cost for three e months tonnage showed that the electric lights at 4 cents per man per r j shift for electricity saved 1380 every three months or a year in one level over either addles or carbide hand lamps the salesman left the works saying 1 I cant sil S si il 11 you lamps I 1 see that but you y experts dont control all the mines perhaps the majority of mine managers and owners dont realize what a saving the efficiency expert can bring about another time when I 1 had charge of a mine that was doing nothing but sinking a r shaft in ground that dripped much water I 1 L made a saving of 2500 in the lighting every three months by buying two storage r batteries at 25 each and a for to charge them cold money laid out for lights with 10 worth of labor fixing hanging hooks and a water proof housing for them together with a headlight from an old automobile fastened beneath the housing this arrangement was hung to the shaft timbers about twenty feet above the bottom flooded the work with the brilliant glare of an automobile headlight one battery was being recharged while the other was in use each one lasted thirty three hours without recharging charging re previous to the installation of the storage battery lights we used candles fearing to put a light circuit into the wet shaft as some worker might get a shock from the bell line and fall or be other wise injured the storage battery eliminated all possibility of any accidental shocks with candles the average progress was 10 sets of shaft timbers placed a month 60 feet progress working a single shift of eight hours a day dripping water exhaust 1 from the drills draughts from the blower fan and dropped candles extinguished the lights and caused much loss of time re lighting with wet matches was never speedy taking the time of a fellow worker to relight a wet candle made more lost time and in addition when the candles were burning they had to be stuck off in a nitch in the wall where they gave but poor light to work by after the storage battery lights were in use the average progress made was 1312 13 sets a month 81 feet thus feet were an imade in three months as against in four months with candles the average monthly expenditures superintendence and all being 2500 a month it will be seen that efficient lights saved exactly 2500 every three months or a year and yet most mine managers think it dont pay to hire an efficiency engineer most any of whom would be glad to take 50 per cent of what they save as their salary because there are other lines besides the lighting that are just as inefficient |