OCR Text |
Show Firemen Spend Much Time Viewing Scenery Along Their Routes Chicago, Feb. 9. Firemen on western wes-tern railways have been found by over 2,000 actual stop watch tests to occupy more than two thirds of their tlmo viewing tho sccnory along tho Jlght of way. This was tho bomb dropped today boforo tho Federal Board of Arbitration Arbitra-tion on contentions ot tho firemen that two llremen are needed on many locomotives and that lncreaeo in slzo of engines has so Increased tlioir lnbo s that hlghor pay Is required. W. J. Tollerton, general mechanical mechan-ical superintendent of tho Rock Islands Isl-ands Lines, by means of charts, presented pre-sented tho results of theso tests to tho Board, taking tho stand as a witness wit-ness in defenso of the roads against Increased wngo demands of engineers nnd llremen which would add ulmost $41,000,000 to operating oxpensos of western railways. "Theso stop watch tests," said Mr. Tollerton, "wero made on twenty representative rep-resentative western roads by t'avol-Ing t'avol-Ing engineers who remained In the cab ot the lotomotlvo and recorded every movo of tho llreman. If ho was engaged In any duty at a'l, either eith-er shoveling coal into tho firebox, shoveling down coal, sweeping tho deck, shaking tho grates, or doing anything other than sitting still on tho seat box or standing In tho gang-walk gang-walk ldlo, ho was credlto dwlth the-performance, the-performance, which was classified and timed by tho stop watch. "Tho nverago of theso 1.55C trips on locomotives ot all kinds shows that tho fireman was engaged in supplying sup-plying coal to tho flrobox ono hour and forty minutes or 19 per cont of all, loss than ono-flfth of tho tlmo paid for. For 12 per cont more of tho tim0 ho wns either sweeping tho deck, shoveling down coal, shaking shak-ing tho grates, hooking tho Aro or operating tho Injector. "In all ho was occupied at some work, Just 31 per tent of, tho tlmo, while for six hours and five minutes, or C9 per cent of tho time, he had absolutely ab-solutely nothing to do but look at tho Bcenery. "On engines of 185,000 pounds or ovor, whore two firemen aro uemanu ed, 471 tests wore made on 1C roads. On theso locomotives the llremen spent 23 per cent of his tlmo shoveling shov-eling coal into tho fire and 10. C per cent more at any other duties whatsoever, what-soever, while ho had nothing to do for 6C.5 por cent of tho tlmo. "An accurato count was kept of tho number of scoops of coal thrown Into tho llro. By this moans it was determined that In tho 1.55C tests mado only 1,975 pounds of coal, less than ono ton, wero thrown into the lire each hour." "Is this within the capacity of a slnglo fireman?"' asked James M. Sheean, counsel for tho railroads. "Yes," replied Mr. Tollerton, "4,000 or 5,000 poun-ls Is we'l within tho capatlty of ono man. On all of theso tests tho fireman used only about ono half of his capacity to handlo coal. On over 2,000 observations observ-ations the fireman spent loss than 1 por cent of his timo shaking tho 'grates and Icbs than 1 per cont moro In breaking coal. This Indicates thero 'is really no serious room for complaint and It complaints do exist they should bo handled locally. Tho railroads havo Improved conditions in a numbor of ways." Mr. Tollerton stated that tho tost trains were 10 por cent heavier than tho averago trains in tho busiest months and wero 1 per cont longer on tho road than tho avorago In tho thirty days ot hcalvcst traffic. "From these observations do you consider two flromcn necessary?" asked James M. Sheean attorney for tho roads. "Absolutely no," repllod Mr. Tollerton. Tol-lerton. Improvements in locomotlvo design whlsh havo cut ono third from tho physical labor formorly required of firemen wore described by Mr. Tollerton. Tol-lerton. "Two now Inventions alone, tho Buporhoater and tho brick arch, ho said, "havo effected a saving of 30 per cent In tho amount ot coal shoveled. "Theso Improvements," said ho, "render It possible to get tho samo rtsults with a great deal loss coa cotreHin-ndlngly relieving tho Uro-man. Uro-man. Consorvntlvoly speaking, the superheater saves 20 por cent of tho fuel." "Do I understand that with two engines, en-gines, one equipped and tho other not equipped with suporheator nnd performing per-forming tho samo work, tho amount of coal rhovolod by tho fireman on tho former will bo 20 per cent loss?' nskod Mr Sheean. "Yes, sir," replied Mr. Tollerton. "title has been determined by nctual tests nn.l Is conservative. Thero Is not enly a great saving In fuel but also in water, so that tho llreman Is bound to savo somo of his physlca' effort. "Addition of tho brick arch effects another saving of 10 per cent In the fuel consumption, so that with theso two appliances alone 30 per cent of tho fireman's labor is eliminated." To apply these two dovlces, It was pointed out, costs ovor $3,000 por locomotive. lo-comotive. Yet, because 4,000 pounds aro thereby added to tho englno's weight, tho roads would have to Pay n higher wage to tho fireman under the new demands, nlthough relieved of ono third his shoveling. Conference Confer-ence Committee ot Managers. |