[Publib] Reference Problem

[Backwage at aol.com]

Okay friends.  I have a reference question for you--one which has  stumped 
the libraries of many major U.S. Cities, quite a few university  reference 
sections and the Library of Congress.  Think you're ready for  this?  Willing to 
take a shot at immortality?  Here you go:
 
Question:  I have an antique shovel stamped with the number  7.  I know that 
shovels and scoops are numbered according to size, but need  to know the 
origin and parameters of this system.
 
That's all.  The shovel is actually a scoop; a number seven, as  stamped on 
the metal portion of the shank.  By way of reference, most  modern shovels are 
number 2.  By the way, Greg Galer at the Stonehill  Industrial History Center 
(the "Shovel Museum") doesn't know the origin of the  system, either.  There 
is a federal specification for "Scoops, shovels,  spades and spoons" (GS-S-11 
of the Federal Standard Stock Catalog) but this  shows nothing, either, at 
least that I can find of the numbering system.   Neither Ames Manufacturing Co. 
nor Union Tools know, and they are prime  manufacturers of the implement; I've 
contacted both and they have no  clue.  Frederick Taylor, who made an absolute 
science of shoveling and  used his studies as examples of his Scientific 
Management, refers to numbered  shovels on at least two occasions in his book 
Principles of Scientific  Management, but does not state whether he or his people 
initiated the  numbering system.  Nor does Taylor's biographer, Robert Kanigel, 
mention  the origin of the numbering in The One Best Way, which does 
otherwise  treat the subject with some depth.
 

I am aware of a study done by Andris Freivalds and Y.J. Kim (Blade size  and 
weight effects in shovel design, [Appl Ergon. 1990 Mar; 21:39-42]) but  have 
not seen this article.
 
The situation we have here is of a reference system for shovels currently  in 
partial use whose origins seem lost in the mists of time.  I believe  that 
the government may have established a numbering system or at least  confirmed 
such in or around the First World War.  
 
References:  Shovel Museum:  _http://www.stonehill.edu/archives/sihc/_ 
(http://www.stonehill.edu/archives/sihc/) 
 
Greg Galer:  _http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/146229951/_ 
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/146229951/) 
 
Frederick Taylor:  
_http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E6DD1E3EE233A25754C0A9609C946096D6CF_ 
(http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E6DD1E3EE233A25754C0A9609C946096D6CF) 
 
Online article on shovels:  
_http://www.doityourself.com/stry/insidescooponshovels_ (http://www.doityourself.com/stry/insidescooponshovels) 
 
If you still think you've got what it takes, see if you can find the  answer. 
 The winner gets praise beyond reckoning.   And  perhaps more.  By the way, 
library students are encouraged to try,  too.  Feel free to forward this.
 
Michael McGrorty
 




************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20071115/1d6e153c/attachment.htm