Industrial Progress and Human Economics — John Shaqi
Industrial Progress and Human EconomicsHartness, James
General
Industrial Progress and Human Economics
Hartness, James
Industrial efficiency; Personnel management
Accepting this view is no barrier to progress. It will not
ultimately delay the work of a reformer if he is induced to act in
accordance with this principle. It only prevents a wreck.
The knowledge of the force of habit of man should therefore be
used in two ways:
First, when the designer is trying to make the most natural
machine for the purpose. Then he must overcome his own tendency to
follow precedent. Second, when considering the kind of a machine
that can be easily made, sold, and used, he must give due
consideration to the inertia of others, for their inertia he
cannot hope to quickly change. Reformers in this world generally
have a hard time whenever they under estimate the inertia of men's
minds and bodies.
A designer of machinery, by close application to his tasks, should
obtain a clearer view than it is possible for others to possess,
of the way a machine should be designed, made, and used. It is not
necessary to assume he has a better brain. An ordinary mind
applied to a given subject sees it more clearly than an abler mind
which has not considered the subject with the right interest.
Inventions Should Not Mix With Details.
In first working out the mechanical schemes no energy should be
wasted in trying to make the sketches correct in proportion. The
very functioning of the brain along the draftsman's line shifts it
away from the inventive mood. The exact drawing frequently shows
the necessity of change in general scheme, but that is only one of
the after-steps.
The fundamental idea is the starting-point, and must be sketched
out as fully as possible without losing the very frail thread of
thought.
A clear view of the scheme is not to be obtained on demand. The
schemer must wait in patience, as the astronomer waits for steady
air, and, like the astronomer, he must have every facility in
shipshape. The clear view is only clear to the watching eye.
The coast-wise skipper in making a fog-bound harbor will see a
buoy through a slight shift in fog, while a landsman might look in
vain.
The wanderer in the happy dreamland of mechanical scheming must
not be looking for complete drawings, specifications, and working
model of the invention he wishes to bring into the breathless and
waiting world. He must be looking through the mist of the
thickened senses as the skipper looks through the fog. The buoy
and the scheme may be never so faintly shown, but yet with
sufficient clearness to give a positive guide for the course.
Inventive schemes cannot be forced by strenuous effort. Such
effort may result in slight refinements of a given type, but never
would have invented the DeLaval or Tesla turbine.
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