CHAPTER XIX. THE ARRANGEMENT OF ENGINEERING ESTABLISHMENTS.

The first and, perhaps, the most important matter of all in founding engineering works is that of arrangement. As a commercial consideration affecting the cost of manipulation, and the expense of handling material, the arrangement of an establishment may determine, in a large degree, the profits that may be earned, and, as explained in a previous place, upon this matter of profits depends the success of such works.

Aside from the cost or difficulty of obtaining ground sufficient to carry out plans for engineering establishments, the diversity of their arrangement met with, even in those of modern construction, is no doubt owing to a want of reasoning from general premises¹. There is always a strong tendency to accommodate local conditions, and not unfrequently the details of shop manipulation are quite overlooked, or are not understood by those who arrange buildings.

The similarity of the operations carried on in all works directed to the manufacture of machinery², and the kind of knowledge that is required in planning and conducting such works, would lead us to suppose that at least as much system would exist in machine shops as in other manufacturing establishments, which is certainly not the case. There is, however, this difference to be considered: that whereas many kinds of establishments can be arranged at the beginning for a specific amount of business, machine shops generally grow up around a nucleus³, and are gradually extended as their reputation and the demands for their productions increase; besides, the variety of operations required in an engineering establishment, and change from one class of work to another, are apt to lead to a confusion in arrangement, which is too often promoted, or at least not prevented, by insufficient⁴ estimates of the cost of handling and moving material.

Materials consumed in an engineering establishment consist mainly of iron, fuel, sand, and lumber⁵. These articles, or their products, during the processes of manipulation, are continually approaching the erecting⁶ shop, from which finished machinery [72] is sent out after its completion. This constitutes the erecting shop, as a kind of focal centre of a works, which should be the base of a general plan of arrangement. This established, and the foundry, smithy, finishing, and pattern shops regarded as feeding departments to the erecting shop, it follows that the connections between the erecting shop and other departments should be as short as possible, and such as to allow free passage for material and ready communication between managers and workmen in the different rooms. These conditions would suggest a central room for erecting, with the various departments for casting, forging, and finishing, radiating from the erecting shop like the spokes⁷ of a wheel, or, what is nearly the same, branching off at right angles on either side and at one end of a hollow square, leaving the fourth side of the erecting room to front on a street or road, permitting free exit for machinery when completed.

The material when in its crude state not only consists of various things, such as iron, sand, coal, and lumber, that must be kept separate, but the bulk of such materials is much greater than their finished product. It is therefore quite natural to receive such material on the outside or "periphery⁸" of the works where there is the most room for entrances and for the separate storing of such supplies. Such an arrangement is of course only possible where there can be access to a considerable part of the boundary of a works, yet there are but few cases where a shop cannot be arranged in general upon the plan suggested. By receiving material on the outside, and delivering the finished product from the centre, communications between the departments of an establishment are the shortest that it is possible to have; by observing the plans of the best establishments of modern arrangement, especially those in Europe, it may be seen that this system is approximated in many of them, especially in establishments devoted⁹ to the manufacture of some special class of work.

Handling and moving material is the principal matter to be considered in the arrangement of engineering works. The constructive¹⁰ manipulation can be watched, estimated, and faults detected by comparison, but handling, like the designs for machinery, is a more obscure matter, and may be greatly at fault without its defects being apparent to any but those who are highly skilled, and have had their attention especially directed [73] to the matter.

Presuming an engineering establishment to consist of one-storey buildings, and the main operations to be conducted on the ground level, the only vertical¹¹ lifting to be performed will be in the erecting room, where the parts of machines are assembled. This room should be reached in every part by over-head travelling cranes, that cannot only be used in turning, moving, and placing the work, but in loading it upon cars or waggons¹². One result of the employment of over-head travelling cranes, often overlooked, is a saving of floor-room; in ordinary fitting, from one-third more to twice the number of workmen will find room in an erecting shop if a travelling-crane is employed, the difference being that, in moving pieces they may pass over the top of other pieces instead of requiring long open passages on the floor. So marked is this saving of room effected by over-head cranes, that in England, where they are generally employed, handling is not only less expensive and quicker, but the area of erecting floors is usually one-half as much as in America, where travelling-cranes are not employed.

Castings, forgings, and general supplies for erecting can be easily brought to the erecting shop from the other departments on trucks without the aid of motive¹³ power; so that the erecting and foundry cranes will do the entire lifting duty required in any but very large establishments.

The auxiliary¹⁴ departments, if disposed about an erecting shop in the centre, should be so arranged that material which has to pass through two or more departments can do so in the order of the processes, and without having to cross the erecting shop. Casting, boring, planing, drilling, and fitting, for example, should follow each other, and the different departments be arranged accordingly; whenever a casting is moved twice over the same course, it shows fault of arrangement and useless expense. The same rule applies to all kinds of material.

A great share of the handling about an engineering establishment is avoided, if material can be stored and received on a higher level than the working floors; if, for instance, coal, iron, and sand is received from railway cars at an elevation¹⁵ sufficient to allow it to be deposited where it is stored by gravity, it is equivalent to saving the power and expense required to raise the material to such a height, or move it and pile it up, which amounts to the same thing in the end. It is not proposed to follow the details [74] of shop arrangement, farther than to furnish a clue to some of the general principles that should be regarded in devising plans of arrangement. Such principles are much more to be relied upon than even experience in suggesting the arrangement of shops, because all experience must be gained in connection with special local conditions, which often warp¹⁶ and prejudice the judgment¹⁷, and lead to error in forming plans under circumstances different from those where the experience was gained.

(1.) How may the arrangement of an establishment affect its earnings¹⁸?—(2.) Why is the arrangement of engineering establishments generally irregular?—(3.) Why should an erecting shop be a base of arrangement in engineering establishments?—(4.) What are the principal materials consumed in engineering works?—(5.) Why is not special experience a safe guide in forming plans of shop arrangement?

1 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

2 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

3 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

4 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

5 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

6 erecting   

v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立

参考例句：

• Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
• Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网

7 spokes   

n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动

参考例句：

• Her baby caught his fingers in the spokes of the pram wheel. 她宝宝的手指被婴儿车轮的辐条卡住了。 来自辞典例句
• The new edges are called the spokes of the wheel. 新的边称为轮的辐。 来自辞典例句

8 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

9 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

10 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

11 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

12 waggons   

四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车

参考例句：

• Most transport is done by electrified waggons. 大部分货物都用电瓶车运送。

13 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

14 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

15 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

16 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

17 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

18 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。