Cook Pottery using new lift trucks

SAVES 50% ON TRUCKING LABOR

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The principle of operation is almost self-explanatory, and will be understood readily from the illustration, Fig. 2, showing a load of electrical porcelain insulating tips about to be moved at the Cook pottery. As soon as the truck is entirely under the platform, the workman presses a center foot-latch, located on the handle base, between the two front wheels, which engages the handle in the lifting position. Only a slight pressure of the toe is necessary for this operation.

Following, with a single downward sweep of the handle, the load is raised clear of the floor, and when once elevated, it latches in position automatically. Taken to its destination, the load is placed readily in the exact position desired on the floor, and is released instantly by a simple pressure of the toe on the release catch. A hydraulic-operated check provides an easy and gentle motion for the platform in the lowering to the floor; there is no jar or shock, whatever, to the material on the platform, eliminating all danger of breakage.

There is ease and simplicity thruout the entire operation, the handle leverage being designed with such points in mind, both for lifting and hauling the load. Floor conditions, of course, have an important bearing in this respect, as do floor inclines and other such hindrances to travel.

The trucks in use at the Cook pottery are provided with solid rubber on the wheels, this insuring still greater ease and smoothness in operation, and particularly so where the floors in certain parts of the plant show signs of excessive wear over the period of years.

Operations at the Cook Plant

Special platform racks have been devised at the Cook pottery, as will be noted in the accompanying illustrations. These are of simple type, designed to suit the conditions at the return of the empty rack to the proper department, as scheduled and known by the trucker, for subsequent re-loading.

Fig. 3 shows a load of material arriving at the dryer, and the simplicity of operation in transferring the loaded trays from the pipe racks to the dryer. This work is handled speedily, without any loss of time, and the entire unloading is simply a matter of a few minutes, followed immediately by the return of the empty rack to the proper department, as scheduled and known by the trucker, for subsequent re-loading.

In the handling of raw clay and other materials to the various departments, as well as boxes of ware packed for shipment, and the like, just the platforms, free of all construction, are used, as will be understood. The different lift-trucks are alternated in the plant departments as required for the particular work at hand.

Economy and Efficiency of Lift-Trucks

Officials at the Cook pottery, from Charles Howell Cook, president, down, are enthusiastic over the value received from the use of these lift-trucks at the plant. Paul G. Duryea, vice-president, and Charles H. Lovett, secretary and superintendent, carefully guide all phases of production, plotting the day's work at the plant for greatest efficiency in manufacture, and they speak with entire justification in explaining the merits of the lift-trucks in everyday service. It is stated that three or four men are employed as truckers at the pottery, with a cost saving closely approximating 35 cents per hour per man as compared with ordinary and inefficient means of handling materials between the different departments. The trucks, as stated, are used in all branches of the business. from the raw clay storage, finished ware departments, to and from the dryer, and so on, with the aggregate estimated labor saving totaling about 500 per cent.

The smoothness of operation, the ease of handling, and the elimination of all jar to the ware in transportation are commented upon. These are noticeable and important factors of plant economy, and are watched carefully.

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