_THE OBJECT OF MECHANICAL INDUSTRY._
Mechanical engineering, like every other business pursuit, is
directed to the accumulation of wealth; and as the attainment
of any purpose is more surely achieved by keeping that purpose
continually in view, there will be no harm, and perhaps
considerable gain derived by an apprentice considering at the
beginning the main object to which his efforts will be directed
after learning his profession or trade. So far as an abstract
principle of motives, the subject is of course unfit to consider
in connection with engineering operations, or shop manipulation;
but business objects have a practical application to be followed
throughout the whole system of industrial pursuits, and are as
proper to be considered in connection with machine-manufacturing as
mechanical principles, or the functions and operation of machines.
The cost of production is an element that continually modifies
or improves manufacturing processes, determines the success
of every establishment, and must be considered continually in
making drawings, patterns, forgings, and castings. Machines are
constructed because of _the difference between what they cost and
what they sell for_--between their manufacturing cost and market
value when they are completed.
It seems hard to deprive engineering pursuits of the romance that
is often attached to the business, and bring it down to a matter
of commercial gain; but it is best to deal with facts, especially
when such facts have an immediate bearing upon the general object
in view. There is no intention in these remarks of disparaging the
works of many noble men, who have given their means, their time,
and sometimes their lives, to the advancement of the industrial
arts, without hope or desire of any other reward than the
satisfaction of having performed a duty; but we are dealing with
facts, and no false colouring should prevent a learner from forming
practical estimates of practical matters.
The following propositions will place this subject of aims and
objects before the reader in the sense intended:--
_First._ The main object of mechanical engineering is commercial
gain--the profits derived from planning and constructing machinery.
_Second._ The amount of gain so derived is as the difference
between the cost of constructing machinery, and the market value of
the machinery when completed.
_Third._ The difference between what it costs to plan and construct
machinery and what it will sell for, is generally as the amount of
engineering knowledge and skill brought to bear in the processes of
production.
This last sentence brings the matter into a tangible form, and
indicates what the subject of gain should have to do with what
an apprentice learns of machine construction. Success in an
engineering enterprise may be temporarily achieved by illegitimate
means--such as misrepresentation of the capacity and quality of
what is produced, the use of cheap or improper material, or by
copying the plans of others to avoid the expense of engineering
service--but in the end the permanent success of an engineering
business must rest upon the knowledge and skill that is connected
with it.
By examining into the facts, an apprentice will find that all truly
successful establishments have been founded and built upon the
mechanical abilities of some person or persons whose skill formed
a base upon which the business was reared, and that true skill is
the element which must in the end lead to permanent success. The
material and the labour which make up the first cost of machines
are, taking an average of various classes, nearly equally divided;
labour being in excess for the finer class of machinery, and the
material in excess for the coarser kinds of work. The material is
presumed to be purchased at the same rates by those of inferior
skill as by those that are well skilled, so that the difference in
the first, or manufacturing cost of machinery, is determined mainly
by skill.
Skill, in the sense employed here, consists not only in preparing
plans and in various processes for converting and shaping
material, but also in the general conduct of an establishment,
including estimates, records, system, and so on, which will be
noticed in their regular order. The amount of labour involved, and
consequently the first cost of machinery, is in a large degree as
the number of mechanical processes required, and the time consumed
in each operation; to reduce the number of these processes or
operations, shorten the time in which they may be performed,
and improve the quality of what is produced, is the business of
the mechanical engineer. A careful study of shop operations or
processes, including designing, draughting, moulding, forging, and
fitting, is the secret of success in engineering practice, or in
the management of manufactures. The advantages of an economical
design, and the most carefully-prepared drawings, are easily
neutralised and lost by careless or improper manipulation in the
workshop; an incompetent manager may waste ten pounds in shop
processes, while the commercial department of a work saves one
pound by careful buying and selling.
This importance of shop processes in machine construction is
generally realised by proprietors, but not thoroughly understood in
all of its bearings; an apprentice may notice the continual effort
that is made to augment the production of engineering-works, which
is the same thing as shortening the processes.
A machine may be mechanically correct, arranged with symmetry, true
proportions, and proper movements; but if such a machine has not
commercial value, and is not applicable to a useful purpose, it
is as much a failure as though it were mechanically inoperative.
In fact, this consideration of cost and commercial value must
be continually present; and a mechanical education that has not
furnished a true understanding of the relations between commercial
cost and mechanical excellence will fall short of achieving the
objects for which such an education is undertaken. By reasoning
from such premises as have been laid down, an apprentice may form
true standards by which to judge of plans and processes that he
is brought in contact with, and the objects for which they are
conducted.
(1.) To what general object are all pursuits directed?--(2.) What
besides wealth may be objects in the practice of engineering
pursuits?--(3.) Name some of the most common among the causes
which reduce the cost of production.--(4.) Name five of the
main elements which go to make up the cost of engineering
products.--(5.) Why is commercial success generally a true test
of the skill connected with engineering-works?