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Power Grip

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Ten weeks intensive training
In the issue of last June we revealed the introduction to this country of the PowerGrip Timing belt, described in the States as the greatest development in transmission in the past 50 years. Last autumn two of our Mechanical Sales force-- R. Chalk and W. Kerr-who had been assigned to PowerGrip Sales-spent some ten weeks on a training course in America.
Here is their story;

"Among those in our company who have been given the opportunity to visit United States Rubber Company in America , we were probably the first to attend such a comprehensive training course as that held in Philadelphia last autumn. This course which ran for ten weeks was organized by the United States Rubber Company School of Power Transmission, and we were the second group of students to attend.

Exacting Timetable of Study

"On Monday 1st October we assembled in one of the convention rooms of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel to meet J. Stevenson, Sales Manager of the Transmission Division, who was responsible for the organisation of the school.

" We were introduced to our fellow students, two of whom we knew from correspondence in USRI. The remaining 5 were all new employees of the Company, and were mainly graduates of Engineering colleges such as Georgia Tech ETC.and who were engaged as Power Transmission Engineers.

 
In session at Philadelphia listening to one of the lecturers
on the technicalities of PowerGrip . Mr Kerr is on the right of
the front row and Mr Chalk on the right of the second row  

The introductions over we spent the remainder of the first morning discussing the timetable for our course, and the syllabus of the subjects to be covered. Lectures started at 8am each day, and continued until 5pm with a break of one hour for lunch. The subjects to be covered commenced that afternoon with a lecture on the history of power transmission and moved on next day with the development of various engineering formulae such as horse power, torque, tension, and tension ratio, kinetic energy, moment of inertia etc.

Having established these fundamental principles of engineering, we studied each of the mediums of power transmission used in industry such as flat transmission belting, Vee belts, gears, chains, gears, and PowerGrip timing belts . In addition, clutches, gear and speed reducers, shafting , bearings and bearing loads were all discussed , so that in the test examinations , which would be given two or three times per week, we could be asked to draw up a specification for a drive to meet given conditions, first of all selecting the medium of transmission to be used, belts, chain, or gears, then deciding its size or type, size of shafting, type of bearing etc.

 
This is the handsome  "Certificate of Proficiency" presented
to both North British Salesmen and much treasured.
H.G.Kieswetter, General Sales Manager, US Rubber International ,
made the presentation at the graduation ceremony

Administrative Course in New York
"Where the drive medium being discussed was one which was manufactured by US Rubber , then the lecturer was one of the staff of the Philadelphia Factory. However for such items as chains, gears, electric motors etc. visiting lecturers from companies engaged in the manufacture of these products gave the instructions.

"In addition to these lectures we made visits to factories to see these various products produced. We visited our own factory at Tacony on several occasions, of course, studying manufacturing techniques of flat belts. Vee belts and PowerGrip belts. One such visit involved a plant survey, and for this we were warned to wear old clothes. The survey consisted of a study of the power source and transmission medium on certain selected machines in the factory, and as a result we were all literally smeared with grease and oil at the end of our day.

"Of our six weeks' stay at Philadelphia the last two were spent studying the PowerGrip belt, a U.S. Rubber patented product which enjoys a tremendous demand throughout America, and a demand which is still increasing rapidly.

R Chalk and W. Kerr snapped during
one of the sessions

"Our last four weeks were spent in New York, most of the time studying administration methods and branch systems.

"It should be mentioned here that each of our American colleagues was to be appointed to a branch where he would control sales of power transmission products, and in particular build up PowerGrip timing belt sales. As his first task he would give a training lecture to all his general mechanical salesmen, teaching them how to calculate PowerGrip belt drives. In order to fit us for this task we were each called on to give an abbreviated training lecture, lasting approximately one hour, to the rest of the class, who then joined in general discussion, giving a constructive critique of product knowledge, presentation, mannerisms, etc.

A Wonderful Experience

"Finally, Graduation Day arrived, and each student was presented with a diploma certifying that he had satisfactorily completed the course at the U.S. Rubber Company's School of Power Transmission, and wesoon had to say good-bye to our friends, and return to Britain. However, we would not wish to give the impression that our ten weeks' stay was 'all work and no play.'

"We found that our American colleagues believed in 'work hard and play hard', and we experienced that overwhelming hospitality and friendship that is so characteristic of the American people. Our fellow students were determined that we should enjoy our stay, and also see as much of the American way of life as was possible, both by entertaining us I their homes, and also showing us everything of interest.

"We know that we made some very good friends while we were in America, and the weeks we spent in their company will be remembered for a very long time. Above all, we are very grateful to have had the opportunity of visiting America and attending this wonderfully organized course, a course which has been fully reported in technical journals as the 'most comprehensive course in power transmission ever organized by any company in America