PLAN No. 1197. PLANT AND FACTORY ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE
Nearly all factories of any consequence now employ electrical power distribution. Electrical energy is produced economically in a centrally located generating station and is distributed by the wiring throughout the plant wherever power is required. In the many plants in this country great numbers of electric motors drive the machines. Thousands of incandescent lamps are utilized for lighting. Also electrical energy may be used for electroplating, galvanizing, welding, heating, and other services. For the installation and upkeep of all this equipment, thousands of electrical maintenance men are required. The work of an electrician in a paper mill may, in detail, be quite different from that required of one in an office building or in a printing establishment. Yet each of these is an electrical maintenance man.
Duties of maintenance men.—These are extremely diversified. A good maintenance man must be a broad-gauge fellow having on tap a lot of electrical experience and information. The repair of minor electrical troubles or motors and other equipment are always under his charge. Much of the work consists of “trouble shooting,” that is of locating and correcting electrical difficulties of various sorts. Fuses blown due to sudden overload may have to be replaced. Loose connections may have to be tightened. Possibly a machine may for no apparent cause refuse to start. Then the electrician must at once locate the trouble and repair it, or arrange for the installation of a substitute machine while the faulty one is sent to the shop. Often also he may be called upon to install new wiring and equipment. In some plants the electrical maintenance department may also rewind armatures.