A Day In A Factory Circa 1905

From Delancey Place:

Today's selection -- from The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice by John K. Brown.

At a point when America's manufacturing prowess led the world, one of its preeminent factories was Baldwin Locomotive Works in North Philadelphia. Here we see a typical day in the massive Baldwin factory in 1905:

"As the industrial age gathered force and momentum during the nineteenth century, the steam locomotive came to symbolize the new agencies of technology, commerce, speed, and power that reordered Western society and marked the most fundamental changes ever in humanity's lot on earth.

... [J]oin the throng on the way to work in the Baldwin plant early one morning in October 1905.
"Just before the starting whistles blow out at seven A.M., Baldwin's day shift of over ten thousand men hurries through the teeming streets of Bush Hill, an industrial district rendered in brick and soot, crowded with factories, railway lines, coal yards, and worker tenements. The men split up into separate groups, heading for the different shops of a factory spread out over twelve city blocks where the six thousand workers of the night shift are ready to lay down their tools. Upon arriving, the day men will begin work on any of the approximately 450 new locomotives that on this morning are at varying stages of completion in Baldwin's regular production schedule.

"From the foundries to the erecting shop, workers in eight skilled trades and scores of specialties apply their talents to engines ranging from little 4-ton electrics to massive 150-ton steamers. Baldwin foundry. Boilermaking has the potential to be a real bottleneck in the production schedule. All parts entering into a boiler come from outside suppliers, so most of the steel plates, flues, staybolts, piping, gauges, and insulation do not arrive at Baldwin until the fifth week of the production schedule. The firm allots weeks five and six to the massively labor-intensive process of fabricating boilers, which can reach 40 feet in length and weigh up to 43,000 pounds even before the flues are added.

To make each boiler in this two-week period, Baldwin allots four shops and over three thousand men on two shifts to the task. They employ powered tooling wherever possible: plate planers, drillers, punchers, and rollers that accommodate sheets over 20 feet long, as well as overhead cranes, hydraulic presses, and power riveters. Notwithstanding these tools, the work remains notably labor-intensive, and the firm must rigorously subdivide tasks to stay on schedule. Each stage has its own specialists: markers, drillers, rollers, flangers, riveters, chippers, and caulkers, many requiring helpers.

Working in small groups that are paid piecework rates, the men hurry from plate to plate and machine to machine. The work is rushed but cannot be slapdash. Boilers under pressure are notoriously lethal, and Baldwin's customers often send inspectors into the plant to ensure that construction of their orders complies with railroad standards. The boiler shops are not as noisy as one would think. Huge hydraulic presses do most of the flanging work -- making steam domes, for instance -- while much of the riveting is accomplished by large hydraulic riveters rather than the brute-force hammering of the past.

"While the boilermakers shear, roll, punch, flange, press, and rivet steel sheets as if they were paper, over five thousand machinists turn to precision machining operations. Baldwin's machine shops are scattered across seven city blocks, with the two major shops on Broad Street occupying four- and six-story buildings. Since the machinists must await the products of the foundries and smith shops, today they are working on orders in weeks six and seven of the production schedule....

....MUCH MORE