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The proportions are terrible but that's the idea, one crane above the other. ...... I expect Asher Grant over to see me this evening sometime. He just called up.

[[underline]] To Mother, December 15, 1924: [[/underline]] I am glad that Mr. Jordan approves of the GE. He is the second man I have heard say it is the greatest industrial organization in the world. ...... Of course, I shouldn't be able to learn so rapidly if I had not had my college training. About all that college does for one, is to put one into a very receptive state -- you don't know much when you get out, but you are in a position to learn an awful lot comparatively quickly. I am not out of the turbine work now either -- we are now installing the generator air shields on "Saratoga No. 2." Also, the job we had on the water seal, which I wrote you about, was part of the turbine high pressure packing. ...... "Old Carl," the boss, is killing to look at. I guess I wrote you about his attire -- jacket like an artist's smock, black Windsor tie, and a little sealskin cap. But he knows turbines from A to Z, and there is a lot to know about their construction. Of course, these shop men know only about the practical side of them -- not the theoretical, but that is quite something. ...... Don't worry about Mr. Caldecott making an agnostic out of me. He couldn't.

[[underline]] To Willie, December 16, 1924: [[/underline]] Your being with me on that return trip will be my salvation, for I can't imagine anything worse than riding back to Schenectady alone after a whole week at home. ...... This is the most interesting work I've had yet. The machines are so perfectly huge and yet they go together so accurately -- to the thousandth and sometimes half-thousandth of an inch. To work in such a place gives one confidence because one sees that such seemingly marvelous machines are after all made by mere men. There is so much to say about it, I really ought not to even start for fear of going on forever. ...... I am working with a big German mechanic, who is the boss, and a little Scotchman, "Willie," by coincidence. Rudolph, the boss, is large and florid, with light hair and moustache, and has the crest of Germany tattooed on his arm. He speaks quite brokenly, so conversation is difficult. The Scotchman also talks so "Scotchy" that I have more difficulty understanding him then Rudolph, so I am isolated from any vocal intercourse. We are working on the assembly of one of the "Saratoga" units -- you know the big navy airplane carrier. To give you some idea of the size of the machines, the generator rotor alone, weighs seventy tons. All the work of putting the parts together is done by cranes and it is wonderful how dexterously it is done too. Of course, these machines must be variable speed outfits because they propel the ship through induction motors which run at about the same speed as the generator. Power plant units are constant speed. This variable speed requirement complicates the governing apparatus, and I spent a couple