Fifth Annual report of the Industrial Fatigue Research Board : to 31st December 1924.

  • Great Britain. Industrial Fatigue Research Board.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifth Annual report of the Industrial Fatigue Research Board : to 31st December 1924. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/80 (page 11)
    several industries and, in consultation with the different Research Associations, have endeavoured to discover how far machines in common use fall short of the physical or physiological requirements of the operator. Although in most instances no failing in this respect could be detected, several machines have in fact been found, the operation of which would appear to be facilitated by some alteration in design, often of a trifling nature. Secondly, typical machines have been selected and the indicated alteration actually carried out. The effects of the alteration are now being estimated through comparison of the performance of the machines before and after it was carried out. Lastly, the energetics of muscle have been studied by physiological methods under the general direction of Professor E. P. Cathcart at Glasgow University. An investigation by Dr. R. C. Garry of the maximum static pull and push at different angles has already yielded consistent results, and the research is now being extended by Dr. David Hynd so as to cover dynamic effort under similar conditions. For this purpose a dynamometer, which records the force exerted by the subject during motion throughout the whole cycle (whether continuous rotary motion or reciprocating, and for any position of the axis relatively to the stance of the subject), has been specially designed by Mr. Legros. (4) Physiology of Ventilation The reasons for initiating investigation in this subject have been already fully explained by the Board in their Fourth Annual Report. During the year under review, Dr. H. M. Vernon and Mr. T. Bedford (assisted by Mr. C. G. Warner) have made systematic studies of various systems already installed in factories, in order to discover how far these conform to physiological requirements. One such system, which appears to be especially efficient, has been subjected to extensive observation and experiment in winter and summer, and continuous records are being taken over a whole year, with the object of obtaining some standard with which other systems may be compared. Data relating to lost time from sickness also have been collected, and indicate in certain instances that there is a considerable increase of sickness under the adverse conditions of ventilation there experienced. In their observations the investigators have made extensive use of the kata-thermometer, and by systematically recording their sensations of air movement, before making the actual observations on cooling power, have found a high degreejof correspondence between them. In addition, the effects of oscillations in air movement! have been explored by means of the “ hot-wire anemometer ”’ (briefly described in the Board’s Fourth Annual Report), and those of oscillations in air temperature by a delicate thermopile invented by Mr. J. J. Manley of Oxford and Dr. Vernon. An increase in the oscillations of air movement has been found to cause a distinct increase in the subjective sensations of freshness, and