Part 4 — PLAN No. 1075. COIL PLACING AND CONNECTING
Reading edition
After the coils have been wound and impregnated or otherwise treated, they are arranged in place on the iron cores of the electrical machines under construction which have been designed to receive them. The placing of a magnet coil in an assembled device which requires but the one small coil involves but little skill and labor. But the arranging, placing, and connecting of the large number of armature coils which are necessary to complete an armature winding of a direct-current or alternating generator or motor requires considerable skill, experience, and ingenuity. The connections in such cases may be quite complicated.
Connections between coils are effected by soldering together the ends of the copper conductors. However, the man who makes these connections need not be competent to plan for himself the scheme of connections, inasmuch as he is supplied with a diagrammatic blue print from the engineering department. This indicates how the coils should be connected. He must be competent to read and understand this print. On all but the simplest machines and devices the coil placing and connecting is done by men.
In some shops coils are placed in the armatures by one group of men and are connected by another group who receive slightly higher pay.
Conditions, Wages, and Hours
Ordinarily physical ability involving the use of both hands is required. The loss of one eye, or of a leg or foot, or of hearing is not a material detriment. Usually the men work standing at benches. The work is all indoors. The day is usually nine but sometimes eight hours. A helper may expect to receive from $10 to $18 per week, a journeyman from $18 to $24, and a foreman from $25 to $40 per week. Some shops are unionized, but most of them are not. This is often piecework on the premium system.
Training
The elements of these vocations are taught in some trade schools, but most of the individuals now following the work obtained their knowledge through actual experience in a factory. It requires several years of shop training to become thoroughly proficient. A man may start as a helper and gradually acquire the skill necessary to place himself in the journeyman class. He has always ahead of him the possibility of a foremanship.