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38

My GE WORK

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As I have already noted, 1934 brought the turn in business although our transportation work lagged many parts of the Company in picking up. Nevertheless we knew we were over the hump and could look forward again to assured jobs and lots of activity. The promise of the diesel-electric locomotive in particular was very encouraging. In this connection, in April I had the assignment of preparing a resume on other than electric drives for diesel equipments which proved interesting in acquainting me with hydraulic and mechanical transmissions which were already in use on small locomotives in the range up to say 25-30 tons in general. What had prompted this review was the fact that Mr. Kettering, the General Motors inventive genius, had recently told Owen D. Young, the GE chairman, that mechanical drive would soon supplant electric drive almost completely in the traction field. It is interesting to note at this point in 1974 that this has not occurred and General Motors still uses electric drive in their locomotive work. My diary comment on April 9, 1934 is: "We'll do our damndest to make him wrong although it is not a subject to be dealt with too complacently."

At that time, we did a lot of speed-time work, which means calculating the performance of traction equipment of various types in all kinds of service. For example, how long it would take a given locomotive to haul a certain train over a certain profile with a specified number and location of stops and slow-downs and with specific maximum adhesion and braking rates. Sometimes these calculations would include the heating of the electrical equipment. Maximum speed restrictions had to be dealt in as well as any other conditions which would affect performance like, for example, elevation above sea level as it affected diesel engine output. For years these calculations were done laboriously by sliderule; in fact, I attributed my sudden need for glasses in 1928 to having done an excessive amount of this work. In 1934, Tom Perkinson devised a machine for doing this work mechanically and saving an enormous amount of time and eyestrain. It was an example of Tom's originality and initiative. Today such work is done by electronic computer. 

Another 1934 item came to my attention only recently when talking to Earl Bill and Frank Sahlmann and while it is incidental, it also is a good example of how unpleasant things remain in the memory more easily than nice experiences as well as how two different people will see an experience sometimes in two entirely different lights depending upon their prejudices and interests. In the early '30s, in an effort to develop some much-needed business, we developed an air-conditioning equipment for railway passenger cars, which included not only the air-conditioning apparatus itself but also the axle-driven power generating equipment to run it. Earl Bill was assigned the responsibility for this line in the Transportation Engineering Department. However, before this assignment had been made,

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