[Publib] Reference Problem

[Robert L. Balliot]

Methinks it is the British Standard:

 

http://tinyurl.com/ynrhlx

 

 

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Robert L. Balliot

1-401-441-5763

Skype: RBalliot

Bristol, Rhode Island

http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm

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From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Backwage at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 7:52 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Cc: NEWLIB-L at usc.edu
Subject: [Publib] Reference Problem

 

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/

 

Greg Galer:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/146229951/

 

Frederick Taylor:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E6DD1E3EE233A25754C0A9
609C946096D6CF

 

Online article on shovels:
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

 





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