PLAN No. 1152. AUTOMOBILE REPAIR-SHOP WORK
The Occupation
Repair-shop work consists in overhauling, adjusting, and repairing all types of motor cars and their parts. In the small garages where only a few men, often only one, are employed the mechanic must handle all kinds of work. Some large garages, as has been noted, employ specialists, and in many localities there are service and repair shops maintained especially for this work.
Oxy-acetylene welding, a trade separate and apart from repair work, which is used to a very large extent in the repairing and building up of broken castings and forgings in automobile repair shops, is taken up in another monograph.
In some shops there are enginemen, axlemen, transmission men, and other mechanical experts. All of these may be classified as mechanics. Other men found in repair shops are known as trouble-finders or inspectors, helpers, foremen, and carburetor specialists.
The mechanic should be able to do skilled work on all mechanical parts of any car. His work consists in adjustment, care, overhauling, and repairing. Adjustment and care include valve, carburetor, clutch-spring, brake, and steering-mechanism adjustment, and cleaning and lubrication of parts. Much of this work can, however, be done by the automobile driver or helper in a garage. Overhauling includes repairing, but refers generally to the tearing down of the whole machine for cleaning, inspection, adjustment, and testing, together with replacement of worn and broken parts. Work on the engine requires in many cases its removal from the chassis, and disconnection of all attached parts. Some of the jobs to be done on automobile engines are removal of carbon from pistons, refitting of pistons, regrinding valves, replacing and scraping bearings, adjustment of fans and valve rods, setting timing gears, correcting the firing order of cylinders, repairing and replacing broken parts.
The mechanic is required to remedy clutch troubles, by adjustment or replacing of worn leather on the cone. Transmission repairs include replacement of gears, fitting keys, taking up the wear in the main bearings, or complete replacement and repair of shifting-rod connections to overcome looseness. The universal joints in driving mechanisms often require disassembling and rebushing, while the mesh of the drive pinion and bevel gear of the differential will need adjusting. Work on the differential and rear axle may involve tearing down the rear construction. Such work requires skilled mechanics, especially to determine the trouble and make the proper reassembly. The play in wheels needs careful attention and exact adjustment, although it requires no particular skill or knowledge. Trouble found in the front wheels is ordinarily due to lack of alignment, and must be remedied to relieve not only a tremendous wear on tires but to prevent uncertain and difficult steering. A sagging in the frame, often caused by a fracture, can best be repaired by welding. Brakes require attention to eliminate noises and dragging, which causes a noticeable lack of power, and worn brake linings must be replaced.
The cooling system, made up of pump, fan, radiator, and connections, will require adjustment and repair, including replacing the rubber hose, mending broken parts of the pump, putting on new fan belts, and soldering leaks in the radiator. Cleaning the radiator and taking cold-weather precautions against freezing also are necessary tasks.
An inspector or trouble finder in a repair shop or garage service department is the foreman or mechanic, but in large shops men are employed solely for the purpose of diagnosing trouble. Such a man must be highly skilled. His work is to locate trouble and determine and report its nature and extent. Trouble is located by inspection and examination of the car standing still, by testing at the start and at various speeds, and by coasting. The trouble-finder expert makes a list of all worn and broken parts, indicates necessary repairs and adjustments, and then turns the job over to the men who are to do the work.
Usually the foreman is in charge of all repair-shop work. He should be a man of clean personal habits, should have a thorough knowledge of automatic construction, and be able to direct work and handle men with courtesy and tact, to compute jobs, estimate cost of time and materials, keep time and stock records, and route work through on repair-order forms specifying work, parts, and costs for each job. A manager or superintendent often is in charge of the business end of the work, in which case the foreman gives his time to seeing that jobs are correctly done.
Helpers are usually assigned to heavy lifting and pulling, to cleaning parts, and to general shop sweeping. They run errands, help pull down and assemble motors, transmissions, and rear axles, and do other work requiring little skill.
Tools, Machines, Equipment, and Materials Used
A variety of hand tools are used in repair work, including adjustable and fixed jaw wrenches, hammers, snips, breast and hand drills, screw drivers, hack saws, center punches, cold and cape chisels, soldering coppers, pliers, files, brushes, blow torches, vises, and other small tools. The machine equipment includes lathes, drill presses, grinders, and forges equipped with motor power and having full sets of tools for use with each. The shop must be further provided with benches, chain hoists, motor and rear-axle stands, creepers, and special tools and devices for special work. An oxy-acetylene welding and cutting outfit of the portable type is one of the greatest conveniences in any repair shop.
Most of the parts, supplies, and materials come to the shop prepared and ready for use. For some jobs, however, it may be convenient and more satisfactory to construct the necessary parts, such as shims, gaskets, and small metal pieces, from stock material. It is inadvisable, however, to make anything that can be secured already prepared.
Automobile repair-shop work is varied and interesting. Jobs frequently change, with intervals of rest.
Disabilities
Hard and fast rules as to availability for this work of men with certain disabilities can not be laid down. With perseverance, skill, and inventiveness some men will succeed in lines of work which might seem entirely unsuited to their disability. For example, a man who has lost his right arm near the shoulder has been for 30 years doing successfully all of the repair work and making all of the adjustments necessary on a thrashing machine, a traction engine, 12 self-binding and 12 mowing machines on a farm in England. An all-round mechanic must usually be able to move about easily. He needs at least one good eye, and must be able to hear well for trouble testing. A man with abdominal, kidney, or alimentary canal trouble, which prohibits him from stooping, bending, or squatting, can not do the work. Gas vapors, fumes, and dust in a garage may affect men with lung diseases. It is very necessary for the worker to have reasonably good command of neck and head movements.
Appliances
Many devices and prosthetic appliances are in use in all countries by men with arm amputations, and where previous experience, desire, and conditions place a man in a position requiring the use of an artificial appliance for gripping and holding tools one of strong and simple construction should be selected.
Previous Education, Training, and Experience
While general education will help a man in shop repair work, as in anything else, it is more essential that he shall have had some technical training acquired either in a school or in a shop. Previous experience in automobile repair or construction work will, of course, give the best foundation for re-education. A man who has worked as a helper in a garage long enough to become familiar with automobile construction and operation may through a short course of instruction easily qualify as a mechanic. Experience in other mechanical work such as machine-shop work, blacksmithing, and boiler making will be also helpful. Business experience will be a valuable asset for a repair-shop foreman or manager.
Where Re-education Will Be Given
Full-time classes may be given in the shop of a high school, vocational or trade school, college or university, where the equipment is sufficient to provide for real instruction of a practical nature.
Re-education classes will be trained also in commercial garages under actual shop conditions. Part-time classes providing alternate weeks or months in the school and in the shop may be best in some cases, or the first or last part of the training period may be spent in the shop and the other part in school. For example, in an eight months’ course four months may be spent in a commercial repair shop and the remaining four months in a school shop.
Evening classes offer a splendid opportunity for the workman who is employed during the day. These, of course, will be for those men only who are able to return without re-education or for men who have finished their re-education course and desire additional instruction. Correspondence courses may be used in some instances.
What Can Be Learned and in What Time
Although theory and demonstration work will accompany the shop practice, each man will be required to actually do the work. To say the least, the course of instruction will be such as will enable the disabled man to qualify on the job beside his able-bodied neighbor and to command the prevailing wage after completing his course. His work will include the overhauling, repairing, and adjusting of various makes and models of automobiles and parts.
The time required to complete the course of instruction will depend to a certain extent on the man’s previous education, training, and experience, but may occupy from six to nine months. It will not be the policy of the Government to give just enough training to enable the man to secure a job under good but abnormal conditions or by sympathetic favor. Sufficient time will be given to prepare each man adequately for his work.
After Training—What?
Skilled auto mechanics are in great demand, and since repair work is so diversified and widely distributed over the entire country, it is comparatively easy for a trained man to find permanent employment. Auto mechanics as a rule are poorly trained. The trade therefore presents excellent opportunities for the disabled man with expert training. The field is also wide open for capable foremen and inspectors in every community.
Hours of employment for the mechanic depend largely upon location and amount of work to be done. Shops in large cities have an 8 to 10 hour day, the total number of hours per week being 45 to 60. In small towns and communities shops are irregular as to hours, mechanics being required often to work 9 to 12 hours per day.
First-class mechanics in large shops are paid a prevailing wage of 60 cents per hour. Small shops pay from 30 to 60 cents. A mechanic who owns his shop may earn more or less. Foremen employed by the hour usually receive a little more than the mechanic, while in a position as shop manager he may be paid $125 to $175 per month.
Automobile repair shops doing general work are located in all parts of the country and usually in many different parts of a city. Work will therefore probably be available for the trained man near his home or at least in his home town.
An automobile mechanic may expect to secure a position as foreman or inspector, which is often more suitable for a disabled man than that of mechanic. Or he may be able to open up a garage and repair shop for himself. Because of the increased use of automobiles and the lack of first-class trained mechanics future prospects in the service are good.
Qualifying as a Teacher
Teachers for automobile work are in great demand at the present time in both day and evening vocational schools. A man with a fair general education, considerable experience in the trade, and ability to impart knowledge to others, will have a good foundation for vocational teaching.