The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1916)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 41 CONVENTION OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TALKING MACHINE JOBBERS— (Continued from page 40) a great extent, the element of uncertain hand labor. You can and probably have seen this change in your trips through the factories during the past years. In the drilling department for instance, you formerly saw a man pull a lever for each hole drilled in a casting, while now you will find that he pulls a lever once for a dozen or more holes In the punching department you formerly saw the man pick up a short strip of material and feed it step by step under a punch at the same time pressing a pedal with his foot for each piece made. Now you see this man take a coil of two or three hundred feet of the same material, put one end of it in the press, start the machine, and then go away and let it run itself, knowing that it will do the work far faster and with less chance for mistake than if he tried to operate it in the old way. In some cases such as screw machines we are able to buy standard automatic machinery which with, slight changes will do the work required. But generally we must design what we need, and in many cases this has resulted in some strikingly novel machines, such as those used for bending tone tubes, making Tungs-tone styli, doing special drilling operations, numbering sound boxes, and many others. An example of one of our larger problems of design, experiment and testing is the Electric Victrola. The development of this machine was exceedingly long and difficult, and involved a tremendous amount of research and experiment in both its electrical and mechanical features, although the former were the cause of our greatest difficulties. At the time we started to work out this problem the universal electrical motor was known, of course, as it was in use on the dictating machines, though the motor which was satisfactory for the dictating machine would not do for a talking machine, and the majority of the electric motor manufacturers did not believe it could be made to work satisfactorily. But we cannot let a little thing like that discourage us. If a manufacturer tells us that the material we want cannot be made, we go to work to show him how, and in a great many cases we have succeeded in enabling him to add something to his regular line of product, as well as in getting what we want. Frequently, too, we have been able to show manufacturers how to make additions and modifications on their machines which will be really valuable in other lines of work. It is this boldness and daring which is the secret of good special machinery design and we are frequently consulted by these same makers on other problems after they have once done work for us. There was much of this sort of thing in developing the electric motor, and it does not seem too much to say that something of the success of the small universal electric motor as used today on vacuum cleaners and other household devices is the result of the efforts made by a number of the electrical manufacturers to develop a motor which would satisfy our requirements. But we have many problems which we must work out entirely within the organization. One of these, of which you have heard much and seen but little, is the Tungs-tone stylus. Years of study were spent in the search for a material which should meet the need for a needle which would last indefinitely and not wear out the record. Finally it was discovered that tungsten possessed the necessary properties Then came the problem of finding a construction for a needle made of this material which would allow us to make it commercially, and in enormous quantities, and in devising machinery to do this automatically. Both of these were real problems. The first took months of study before the present simple construction was found and adopted, and then came the machinery which we believe is absolutely unique, and is certainly as clever for its purpose as is often seen. It is hard to realize the minuteness of the point of the stylus, and when it is considered that this small bit of wire, which is measured in thousandths of an inch, must be taken up by the machine, inserted in position in the steel body or holder and fastened firmly in place, and that this must be done with absolute accuracy or the work will be spoiled and the machine blocked, the difficulty of our task can be understood. But we have worked this out successfully, and we are now giving our most earnest attention to getting enough of these machines to make some showing toward satisfying the tremendous demands with which you have so flatteringly received our latest innovation. The present congested condition of the machinery factories and the shortage of skilled mechanics has made this very difficult, and you will realize the sincerity of our efforts when I tell you that we are using even the men of our experimental shop on this work although to do this has caused us to neglect some very promising new work. Another line of work in our department, which is of great importance and also of great difficulty, is the effort to make the product so simple in design that it cannot be tampered with or made to work wrong It is, of course, a satisfaction to design a device and find that the model will do what is required. But we cannot stop here. We must next study it very closely to find out in how many ways the curiously inclined user can put the thing out of business and we must work to eliminate as many of these ways as possible. It is remarkable, also, what an incompetent repairman can and will do to put a talking machine out of order. We know that what the customer requires is a machine that will run evenly and quietly and stay that way, just as the watch maker knows that his trade requires an accurate timepiece, and as the sewing machine maker knows that his trade requires a machine to make a smooth even stitch. But the latter do not have to contend with the curious and incompetent repairmen or customer for no one but a skilled expert dares to attempt the adjustment of either of these devices. The user does not tamper with his watch or his sewing machine or his piano. He takes it to the best house that he can find where he feels confident that a good man, and not the janitor of the building, will do the work. I have gone into some detail in this paper regarding what we do in our department, my thought being to give you some idea of the study and care which is given the premilinary stages in the making of the world's best talking machine, the standard by which all other musical instruments, as well as all other talking machines, are judged. I. F. Burton, Superintendent Manufacturing Department Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — I suppose every one of you has, at some time in the past, visited the Victor Co.'s Manufacturing Department, which is the name given to the factory where the Victor motors for all types of machines, either Victor, Victrola or Victrola Electric, as well as the accompanying metal parts, including taper arms, sound boxes and hardware used on cabinets, are made and assembled into groups and then erected into the cabinet, after which they are thoroughly tested out for accuracy in governing and playing qualities before they are sent to the shipping department. If you have already seen the department, it might be assumed you are well acquainted with the various operations performed in it. No doubt you are — in a way — but you will have an opportunity to visit it again tomorrow, and I feel sure you will find many new points of interest. Think what the history of the Victor Co. has been. Every year you gentlemen have done a big business in Victor product, but the next year has been bigger yet. We have no chance to stand still and I know, for a fact, that even our own people can never safely say they are thoroughly acquainted with all the operations and the methods of producing the work. These operations and methods are being changed from day to day, due to improvements, both by the installation of up-to-date machinery and the changing of devices for getting out the work more accurately and rapidly. You may, today, know all about some portion of some floor or some one operation which you have seen done, but six months from today, you will find things greatly changed, as the result of improvements. Generally speaking, these changes are due to the installation of new machinery and methods and always with the one object in view — betterment of the output. Take the case of the driving and winding gears, which in years past were made by hand indexing with fixed cutters. Then improved methods were introduced so they were semi-automatically produced more rapidly and accurately, but today all gears are cut on rotating hobs in automatic hobbing machines, which gives us absolutely perfect indexing, so that the diameters and spacings of the teeth are perfect. Another example of improvement is found in the governor. Years ago we made the governor balls of lead in moulds, by which method the weight of the balls would vary as much as twelve grains so they had to be selected L. C. Wiswell, A. A. Trostler, H. J. Shartle, of Arrangement Committee and paired up in sets, whereas, at present we make them on the automatic screw machines, so we can guarantee they will not vary more than one-half a grain, so that the governors are in perfect balance. Also the method of fastening the springs has been greatly improved. Also the turntable spindle and governor spindle driving gear teeth, as well as the turntable spindle and governor spindle threads, have been improved upon in shape as well as the number of teeth increased, so they have a much better and more accurate mesh as well as working faces, producing quietness, so that, today, we rarely, if ever, hear of noisy governors unless they have been damaged in transit. The turntables have also been greatly improved upon by means of the use of steel instead of cast iron, whereby they are made accurate and thoroughly balanced. Ribs and spokes have been pressed in to stiffen them and the steel hubs attached to them are spun in as well as fastened by means of four rivets which are staked securely in place, after which the center hole is bored perfectly concentric with the periphery and face, so the turntable runs true and in even balance. All parts are made within the limits of one-thousandth Lester Burchfield and Geo. Stewart, of the Arrangement Committee part of an inch and many as close as a quarter of a thousandth. Do you realize what it means to comply with this standard? No matter how eager the market may be or how urgently you may be demanding more goods from the factory, we positively do not deviate from the high standard of accuracy. If we did, it would impair the prestige which has taken the company years of patient industry to establish. No matter how perfect the record or sound box may be, if the motor does not make the turntable revolve at an even rate of speed, harmony becomes discord. After the governor sleeve and friction disc have been assembled and the hole bored perfectly true, it is then placed on a fly arbor which runs dead true and both sides and periphery of the friction disc are faced off perfectly accurate, so it runs perfectly true on the side where the friction leather comes in contact with it to control the even governing of the motor. An example of how rigidly our standards are maintained is demonstrated by our careful testing and retesting and inspection throughout the factory, both in manufacturing and assembling as well as in erecting machines, and I assure you nothing leaves the manufacturing department but what is correct. In the buffing and polishing department, sixth floor, we have installed a quantity of up-to-date machinery, much of it automatic, whereby we do much larger quantities than formerly and with considerably less handling, which again makes for efficiency. Every one who has visited the manufacturing department seems to remember the multiple drill presses in the drill press department on the third floor. These are machines especially designed for drilling holes of different or the same size at the same time. The largest of these presses can drill as many as twenty holes at one time, either in steel, iron or brass, and our latest equipment are combination drilling and tapping machines, so we can do either drilling or tapping with the same spindle or any number of spindles by a slight change, or we can do part drilling and part tapping on the same press, and they are all equipped with automatic feeds, trips and quick returns. We also have, among our latest improved machinery in this department, a group of machines on one bed which automatically bore, face, drill and tap parts without changing them in the jigs or fixtures, merely by the rotating of the table on which they are placed. This gives more accurate and interchangeable work, and the same is true of the work on the top plates They are placed in accurate jigs in which all of the holes may be drilled, reamed or tapped, and, as all work is done at pne setting, they come out interchangeable and are true to the thousandth part of. an inch, with the result that, when we come to the point of assembling, the parts all interchange and fit properly, as they cannot do anything else, so, if we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of time in adding new machinery, jigs and fixtures, it has been with the net result that we have obtained an increased output and absolute accuracy and interchangeability. In the automatic screw machine department, on the second floor, we have installed a number of four spindle automatic screw machines on which four pieces are finished at one rotation of the machine, whereas, on the single spindle machines, we were only able to produce one. We have also installed automatic attachments on many of the machines whereby the parts are drilled, milled and knurled before the piece is cut off, thereby saving rehandling on separate machines. We have also installed a large number of automatic screw machines for making the new Tungs-tone stylus. In the punch press department, first floor, we have put in a number of up-to-date automatic punch presses and bending and forming machines, among which are a thousand ton press for forming up turntables, wire bending machine for forming regulating shafts, spring barrel cap retainers and similar wire and rod parts, and a compound automatic press for blanking, forming, transferring, piercing and bending all parts from sheet metal. We are also installing automatic roll feed attachments for feeding the work through the presses from stock in large coils and chop shears on the press to chop up the scrap stock as it leaves the press We have also installed in this department an electric hoist on overhead tracks whereby we convey the work quickly from one part of the floor to another. This track also extends out over the metal platform on the outside of the building, on which and under which we store our metal trucks filled with scrap material. We have also installed a large twenty ton scale on which the wagons can be backed and loaded with this scrap material, making a great saving in handling same. We can store a car load of this scrap material, or more, in these trucks before we need to dispose of it. All of these improvements have been added at tremendous expense to the company for the betterment of the output and many improved features have been added, also, to the machines, all of which has been without any additional expense to you or the users of the machines. When you go through the factory, everything seems to be working along so nicely, it seems to be almost automatic. But you must remember that this automatic smoothness is a thing that is only developed gradually. Before we can put a new operation into effect or perform some operation in a new way, we frequently have to design the entire machine and, almost invariably, manufacture a new set of tools, jigs and fixtures to accomplish the same. Have you any idea how big this item of tool manufacturing is? Our tool cost for maintaining this standard in the past year alone has been about $100,000.00 and on all floors of this six-story building in which the manufacturing department is located, there is a vault containing these jigs, tools and fixtures, both of the present as well as of the past product, in which collection there are, approximately, 20,000 separate pieces. Every bit of this special machinery, these jigs, tools and fixtures which we have adopted and are using at the present time, have been duplicated eight or ten times by earlier models. All of these special machine tools mentioned, as well as punches and dies, jigs and fixtures, have been specially designed and specially built at tremendous expense, especially for The Victor Talking Machine Co., that we may be able to get out absolutely interchangeable parts with the greatest possible degree of perfection. Except for accidents in transportation, or some other cause beyond our control, the machines, motors, etc., manufactured in this department are as near perfect as human ingenuity is able to make them. This is not merely a claim; it is a known fact. E. K. Smith, Superintendent Shipping Department Ladies and Gentlemen: — All the finished product of the Victor Co. passes through the shipping department, where it is applied to orders, packed and shipped. As the packing and shipping of a product are equally as important as the designing and manufacture, I want _ to show you the careful consideration whicli we give to it. The shipping department building includes five and onehalf acres of floor space, and is so arranged that all incoming goods, outside of machines and records, are received at the Northeast corner, whether they come in, in carloads, teams or automobile trucks. The goods are distributed to the various floors from this point by platform and endless chain elevators, where they are placed in stock. Machines are received from the manufacturing department over a bridge connecting the two buildings on the fourth floor. Records are received on the second floor by means of a gravity conveyor which brings them from the fourth floor of the pressing plant through the manufacturing building, to us. All goods sent to the shipping room are completely packed, and are delivered from the center of the building by platform and endless chain type elevators, where they receive the final check and are shipped. Many manufacturers spend vast sums of money to design and manufacture their goods, but do not give the packing and shipping equal consideration. The result is that their products reach destination in a more or less broken or damaged condition. This means dissatisfied customers, claims and additional expense to both the manufacturer and his customers. The Victor Co. leads not only in manufacturing, but also in methods of packing. This company was the first to discover ways and means of shipping highly finished cabinets, which would guarantee safe arrival at destination without damage to the finish. When speaking of packing, the average person thinks of excelsior or hay and a wooden box; but we pack differently for any of our large cabinet machines could be unpacked in your parlor without making any dirt. Let me tell you about some of the special machines we use to build the various forms of packing frames. We have, for instance, a single spindle boring machine with automatic feed, equipped with a special screw driver attachment, designed and made in the shipping department for assembling the screws in the skid crossbars. One operator will drive about 7,500 screws per day with this machine. It is also used for drilling the bolt holes in the (Continued on page 42)