Automobile Manufacturing Processes

[Joe Johnston]

One thing about our vending service companies, they always had several people in the plant servicing the machines 24/7. If you had an issue your money was quickly refunded, just tell the guy what machine in which break area - no problem. They knew if refunds wouldn't be hassle free, the machines would disappear - and of course no one ever saw anything!

My dad always smoked Camels but Cools when he had a cold. Said the menthol cleared his head and lungs! Probably the foundry men felt the same way.

I hired in the foundry in 1973 and at times you couldn't see 100'. Especially bad was the area where camshafts were hardened with the smoke from the oil quench tanks. That process was eliminated from our plant and things started to clean up by the mid 70's. All in all, our core rooms were the worst with some of the gasses used to cure the resin in the sand burning your eyes when just walking through. "You will get used to it" was all that was said, but my eyes still burned and watered whenever I had to go into those areas.

[simplyconnected]

Joe, we had food service guys in our plants too, but far fewer on the off-shifts. Remote machines were totally neglected until the next day.

At the 'end' of our Block marry-go-round, the mold box tops were already removed and a guy connected an overhead hook from a monorail that matched the speed of the line. As the monorail ascended, it brought the block with it, all the way above the second floor to the roof.

My buddy was up there, basically open to the outside but in a covered shelter. He had his own personal drinking fountain. In front of him was a waist-high chain, the moving monorail with cooling engine blocks, a steel hopper and chute that led down to railroad tracks on the ground.

His job was to swing a sledge hammer with a short handle, and beat the runners off each block. They showed him the technique... 'Before the block rolls passed, you lean over the chain and smack the runners twice on one side and once on the other.' Then, the 'tree' bumbled down the hopper to the ground where a huge electromagnet picked them up for recycling twice each shift. I don't know how many hammers he lost down that hole but he finally taped the handle end to form a knob like a baseball bat (hockey guys do the same).

He developed arms as big as my legs. - Dave