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164 | Safety First The Manitowoc, Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. and Manitowoc Boiler Works Co., both of which are under one management, have organized a safety first department for the pur- pose of accident prevention among the employes. A central safety committee was ap- pointed consisting of a member of the organization, one of the time- keepers and four of the superintend- ents and foremen, as follows: Elias Gunnell, chairman; Walter Dittmar, Secretary, EL, ib. Morris, J. j.-: Norris, George Boehringer, August Behm. Once a week each superintendent or foreman on this committee files a written report making recommenda- tions and . suggestions as to addi- tional safety appliances required. These reports are given full consid- eration by the committee and if ac- <eptable, acted: upon. ~One:= of the chief duties of this body is to thor- oughly consider and discuss such rec- ommendations as may be made by the -- workmen's, committee described below. This committee consists of employes from both plants as follows: Wil- liam Hendries, chief inspector; Otto Weis, Herbert «Dow, Chris: Kansier, Geo. Lee, Max Aumann, Frank Liska. It is the duty of the workmen's committee to investigate accidents to 'employes and submit a written recom- mendation to the central safety com- mittee so as to avoid a recurrence. This investigation service is extremely important. Te is "the: duty "of the: inspector - to make periodical inspections of the dif- ferent plants and departments, paying particular attention to improvements of safeguards and additional safe- guarding where necessary. He re- ports in writing each individual: in- spection to the central safety com- mittee, stating his recommendations. In addition to the above inspection the members of the workmen's com- mittee make joint inspections every two or three weeks and file a written report either to the superintendents or the Central Safety Committee. They look for defects in buildings or equip- ments, unsafe practices by the work- men in doing their work and any other conditions in the plants which might be the cause of accidents. The make-up of this committee is changed frequently with the result that in time every man in the employ of the companies will have been a member. After an employe has served his time on this body he does not drop the work but continues to make suggestions as to the future prevention of accidents. A large bulletin board -has been THE MARINE REVIEW posted in conspicuous places at the plants. On these boards are placed announcements regarding changes of committees, awards and special men- tion of good suggestions, etc. In addition to these, literature is posted at frequent intervals illustrating and describing accidents together with the methods of prevention. All workmen are furnished with a hand book.by the company offering rules and sugges- tions for the prevention of accidents. They are also informed from time to time as to the progress made in the work. In order to receive suggestions from employes as to safeguarding - , " equipment, etc., "Suggestion Boxes have been placed at the plants and all employes are at liberty to sub- mit in writing any suggestions that they might have relative to the pre- vention of injuries. Each member of the central safety committee is supplied with a gold enameled button which is worn con- stantly. pee Each member of the yard commit- tee is furnished with a white button and as the service of members ex- pires they retain their button so that eventually all employes will possess a white button, signifying that they are active members of the yard com- mittee. All employes making worthy sug- gestions as to how future accidents can be prevented are given an "award" gold enameled button. A great deal of interest: is being shown by the men in this undertak- ing and a_ substantial reduction in the number of accidents is looked torwatd, to, tor: the: next year. Cramps, Philadelphia, are remod- eling the City of Bangor, of the New England Steamship Corporation's fleet, as a result of an extensive fire aboard. The joiner work, where destroyed, has been rebuilt, a new deck house erected and the vessel generally over- hauled and refinished. The E]1 Siglo, of the Southern Pacific Co.'s fleet, is being reboilered and having 'the struc- tural work in the vicinity of the boiler foundations repaired. The Matanzas and. Bayamo, of the New York & Cuba Mail Co.'s fleet, are having com- plete cargo ventilating systems in- stalled, including the power plant for driving the fans. The battleship Rivadavia, built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corpor- ation for the Argentine, made a maxi- mum--speed of: 22,56 knots: an hour over the Rockland course March 11, exceeding her contract requirement of 221% knots. April, 1914 Pivot Balance Hatch Cover | Captain Arthur N. McGray, 119 West Seventy-first street, New . York, whi e is master of the steamer Herman Frasch, of the Union Sulphur Co,'s fleet, has patented a pivot balance hatch cover and is about to put it on the market. In ships with 10 ft. 6 in, or 12 ft. openings the cover would be all in one solid piece with channel 'bars riveted to the upper side of the covers fore and aft about 31% ft. apart. On the under side all the way around would run another channel bar (chan- nel down) mitered at the corners. Into this channel is fitted a heavy strip of coarse felt.. The channel fits exactly over the half rounds of the coaming, so that not only do the hatch bolts draw the cover down watertight, but the sides of the channel act as a strengthener to the side and end coamings. " Along the sides of the coamings, fore and aft, runs a light trackway of steel down near the deck. Midway of the fore and aft length of the cover there is riveted to its upper side an ordinary axle, carrying a small wheel, which rests upon the trackway mentioned. When the cover is at its normal position the wheel rests on a "filler-piece"' which is cut out of the trackway. This filler piece is sup- ported on a kind of jack screw block which is coarse threaded enough to move it up and down quickly by a rachet handle. Thus the covers are lifted off the coaming and trundled aft into the space between the hatch coamings; or to replace. the cover trundle it forward on its wheels (one man on each side) until it is directly over the coamings; then lower away the rachet screw until the cover rests on the coamings, throw up the hatch bolts into the forks and set up the butterfly nuts. The covers could be connected together by iron bars and when lifted clear of the coamings by the rachets could: be hauled forward or aft by a small winch simultaneous- ly. It is estimated that six men could put on and batten down ready for any kind of weather 32 hatches in a half hour, or take them all off in 20 minutes. The steamship Toledo of the Sun Oil Co. is expected at the yard of the Harlan & Hollingsworth Corporation, Wilmington, Del., early next month to be cut in two and lengthened. The Toledo was built by the Craig Ship- building Co. in 1902, and had an orig- inal length of 250% ft.