A helper may expect to receive from $12 to $17 per week, a skilled assembler from $17 to $22, and a foreman from $25 to $35. Frequently this is piecework under a premium system. The work is usually nine but is in some shop eight hours. This vocation is not as a rule unionized. The work is indoors.
PLAN No. 1077. INSPECTION AND REPAIR
After electrical equipment has been assembled, it is inspected for defects before it is submitted to an electrical operation test such as is described below. Such inspection may comprise not only a checking of the dimensions and quality of the mechanical parts of the machine, but may also involve qualitative electrical tests. These are made to insure that there are no faults in the insulation, or misconnections in the windings. Frequently these inspection tests are applied before the component tested leaves the department in which it was made. Thus coils are tested to insure that they contain no short-circuits or crosses before they leave the winding department. Complete armatures are likewise subjected to an insulation test in the department where they are wound; a voltage considerably higher than that which will be imposed on the machine after it is in actual operation being connected to the armature temporarily by the tester. This high voltage is obtained from the secondary winding of a step-up transformer.
The mechanical inspection is made with micrometers, scales, gauges, and calipers in the same way as is the inspection of any machine-shop product. Checks for the proper connection of the coils in a machine can be made by standardized methods.
Training
Inspectors of special and complicated apparatus are usually men who have “worked up” and received all of their training in the shop, because this is the only way in which adequate training can be acquired. But for the routine inspection of small parts little if any special training is necessary. Theoretical training is not essential, but it is desirable. A man without previous mechanical or electrical experience is not ordinarily qualified to become other than a detail inspector. The best inspectors are usually selected by picking adept men from the working force of the factory.
Opportunity for Disabled Men
This vocation should afford possibilities for disabled soldiers who have had previous electrical or mechanical experience, or who have a liking for this work, but whose disablements unfit them for following their old occupations. Inspection requires little physical effort. Some lifting may be necessary to place the members to be tested and inspected in the proper positions on the bench or floor, but this is performed usually by laborers who have the assistance of cranes.
Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Employment
A man who has not had previous inspection experience may expect to earn from $16 to $20 per week; an experienced inspector from $20 to $27; and a foreman from $27 to $40. The work is all indoors. Sometimes it is piecework under a premium system. The trade is not unionized. The day is usually nine hours, but may be eight.