The time-keeper, having taken his notes over the entire job, sends them to the office so that the time may be posted for each man, and the distribution made.
The time-keeper goes over his notes, and picks out the items that are chargeable to drilling. In gang No. 2, there are 6 drillers at 30 cents per hour; 6 helpers, 4 muckers, 1 man carrying bits, and one fireman's helper, all at 17 cents, and one fireman at 25 cents. From the note at the bottom of the page, he knows (although no one else would) that Lear at 20 cents and No. 278 at 17 cents, were also with this gang. This, with the foreman at $3.50 per day, figures to $29.08. These are the charges that go directly to drilling, being the cost of time of the men actually engaged upon that operation and nothing else. But besides this, there must be apportioned to this cost a certain part of the Superintendent's salary, a portion of the labor on the 6-inch water pipe and the whole water system, a portion of the time of the blacksmith, the watchman, the storekeeper, the time-keeper, clerks, the water boy, and numerous other items.
In exactly the same way, the cost of the operation of the steam shovels is figured. For instance, No. 2 has an engineer at $125, a cranesman at $100, and a fireman at $75, a month, and 6 pitmen at 20 cents per hour, making the total charge of crew $19.27. To this the time-keeper added $5.44 as the cost of digging the ditch that drains the shovel pit. To charge this whole amount against the shovel for that day, is manifestly unjust, as the work of draining through this ditch will continue for many days, always facilitating the work of the shovel. The cost of subsequent days' work is lessened, while the cost of this particular day, as given with the $5.44 charge against it, is entirely too high. The spreading of an item of this kind is an extremely difficult matter, but it must be done. The steam-shovel cost must also have its proportional share of the charge for Superintendent, water system, blacksmith, etc.
The charge for narrow-gauge track is $14.86, being the time of one foreman at 20 cents, and 9 men for 8 hours and one man for 6 hours at 17 cents. The charge against No. 1 dump is $8.40, being the time for one foreman at 20 cents, and 5 men for 8 hours at 17 cents. The cost of blasting is figured exactly the same way, and the 900 pounds of powder used entered in the material account charged against the work in front of shovel No. 1.
The headings for the distribution of steam-shovel work, aside from Drilling and Blasting, would be Shovel crew, Pit crew, Dump crew, Laying shovel track, Train crew, and Laying narrow-gauge track, all of which in the end can be summarized under Loading and Transporting, and the unit-cost of moving a yard of material figured from this summary.
PUNCH-CARDS
The manner in which the time-keeper takes his notes in a notebook has been shown, and the impracticability of many of its phases pointed out. Two punch-cards for use on such work as that mentioned—namely, rock excavation with steam shovels and dump trains—are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. They are the Steam-Shovel Card and the Train Record. The shovel card is kept by the shovel runner or the fireman, and the train record is kept by the dinkey runner. Each keeps his own record separately; and, at the end of the day's work, the records must check each other.
The steam-shovel card shows the date, the number of cars loaded per hour, and the total number loaded per day. It also shows the time of starting and stopping the shovel for any reason, the stops for moving up being indicated in a different way from other stops; and thus a record of moves is kept automatically. The time of the shovel crew and the exact number of hours worked by the pit crew, are also shown, together with the cubic feet of coal consumed by the shovel. The causes of delays and the condition of the shovel are written in the blank spaces under their proper heading at the bottom of the card; but with this exception, the entire record is made with the use of an ordinary conductor's punch.
The train card shows the number of trips made by a train each day, the time of leaving the shovel on any trip being shown to the nearest 5 minutes. The number of cars hauled by all the trains during any hour must check with the number of cars loaded, as shown on the shovel card. The train card, besides showing the date, shows the total number of cars hauled (the total of all cards must check the total cars as shown by the steam-shovel record), the cubic feet of coal consumed, the average yardage per car, the haul in stations of 100 feet, the number of the dinkey engine, and a report of its condition, whether it be good, fair, or bad. This card is signed with the dinkey runner's name.