OCR Text |
Show HT SAVES h I MI BAGS t n Mc-iuims 1 v( U ttr Receptacle. f ' " hLmlatf i Irt Presents ! fculty in Mer of Re- I pairing Sck. k ' - k ' .v . ' ! t Siai i Kawi atatoiv.c.-.! ai He Efc ' i' L mail bat1 i 1, from las mail wafoos M Lr Is Taken. P - F ' rite u U ml1 'J : I j SjWM at Washington nggrsgat- j fah' Epen-ive. "l I MKT required from tinia to 4 Miriet to bs paid, so as to af pvro eoaeern to those in I t Cures, sspplisd the funis. : In ti supply could b bought d paaat ante government run i ru; 1 -4 for its ordinary mail i a 7: price was deemed too - i wi experts vera set to work to i t "-rperta were also placed reposition of designing a 3 skt equally effective pooch for Naage of mails by moving ! i.partmenjt ana . --. J V9 lor these catcher poaches. 4 I !" tim pouch was f f m scientific princi- I is giving far better service ill?1 rednced cost, viz, J f ' -his prodtiel )i to a vry large I Tj -J-w been over : " I of these new style bag. p.aced in th. I of equipment required expert attention to keep in repair, this newer product requiree bat little, and is kept in good ' condition at a nominal cost by manine The Tf"tMii and proper maintenance of mail baga ia provided for in an es-i es-i tablisoment located at Washington. I Experienced and efficient people are I only employed, for repair work must ! be well done before the bags can aain I be permitted to enter the service. The number repaired and placed in good condition during the past year was I over a million. Difficulty in Repairing. One of the difficulties connected with ! this repairing process, whifh was also J something of a hardship to the opera-; opera-; tors, was the accumulated dirt and dust I which attached to these bags when returned from the service, and which was a menace to the health of those eo employed. Rd attention had ever been paid to the dangerous and unsanitary conditions under which this work was done. No attempt to cleanse these baps from the foul impuritiea they ! gathered and collected had ever been 1 made, and those employed at the work, men and woran, were forced to inhale the dust which an ordinary shaking out bv the hand fails to remove, which was considerable, as the shaking out process waa hastily and imperfectly done. The official fn charge saw the need of a change to better methods, and steps were at once taken to discover it. Correspondence was had with manufacturers manu-facturers of machinery, both in this and foreign countries. A system was finallv adopted consisting of large tumbling harreli, each having a capacity for holding several hundred bags. Driven rapidlv by electric power, tho dust confined to a tightly constructed room and carried off by blowers, and lodged in immense canvas receptacles resembling a dirigible balloon when inflated, in-flated, this procesB waa found thoroughly suitable, for careful tests showed that all dust was completely removed. Four thousand a day are now treated by this process. Last About Six Years. The life of a mail bag is about six years, but the rough usage to which it ie exposed renders many of therm unfit for repair. Such bags pass into the hands of export inspectors who utilize auch parts as still have some good material left in making what ifl known as "pieced bags." Many are thns reclaimed re-claimed and returned to the service constituting, with the sale of condemned material, the salvage of the mail bag repair shop. The bags or parts of bags which can not be utilized are sold und-r yearly contract to the highest bidder ' The amount thus realized nnd t.irn.-d into the treasury for the past year wan over $10,000. The advent of the parcel post and the irreat increase in postal business has made it necessary to enlarge tho s.ope of the repair shop because at times it was found impossible to obtain ba"s from the contractor in quantities Bufficient to meet the demand. A manufacturing man-ufacturing feature was, therefore, added, and during the past two years over a nuarter of a million bs have been produced without additional expense for labor or hardship to the employees. These figures of prudent nnd economy ral management are thought worthy of mention, and this story ol achievement has therefore been written. |