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In urging the Bureau of Women in Industry to select this study of Industrial Seating from among the many subjects upon which there were requests for information, I had in mind the situation which for a number of years has seemed to me most unsatisfactory, namely, that while the statute books of many states contain laws requiring the provision of seats for women, there had never been any standardization, either commercial or legal, which made possible the provision of seats which were suitable, adapted to industry and helpful to the worker. Experience in attempting to enforce the laws requiring seats for women, has shown that many of the seats provided in good faith by the manufacturers, actually handicapped the girl in the performance of her work. If she were a piece worker the result was that she pushed the chair aside in order to keep up her production. If she were a time worker, her foreman sooner or later found ways of getting rid of this seat.

On the other hand, there have been many manufacturing processes and many machines at which even the most conscientious factory inspector has held that it was "not practicable" to provide a seat. This was usually because the process required a constant moving of the body from one place to another place.

Another result of this lack of standardization and ingenuity in industrial seating has been the provision of very uncomfortable stools and seats, merely ordered from some traveling salesman, without much thought of the relation which they bore to the anatomy and posture of the worker. Such irregularities as these, however, are to be expected until such time as standards can be intelligently established and maintained by responsible officers of administration.

In this present study, no stone has been left unturned to discover the best that human ingenuity has devised in the way of industrial seating. The relation of posture to health and efficiency has been treated with great care, and I believe with real wisdom. The principle and possibility of seats adapted to machinery and processes is firmly established. It is to be hoped that this report which is so practical in its suggestions, and so clear in its form of presentation, will be of great help to manufacturers in providing suitable and scientific industrial seating, and that it will result in less fatigue, greater comfort, better health, and higher efficiency for the workers whose labor and whose life is so important to this community.

FRANCES PERKINS, Commissioner of New York State Industrial Commission.

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The following illustrations included in this report are reproduced through the courtesy of:

"Dodge Idea "-designed by F. B. Gilbreth.
New York Telephone Company.

"Scientific American Monthly "- designed by E. E. Barney.
Cluett Peabody Company.

Fig. 5.

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Fig. 14.

Fig. 15.

Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21.

Fig. 22.

Barnet Phillips Company-designed by American Posture League. Joseph & Feiss Company-made by Heywood Bros. & Wakefielddesigned by Dr. Joel E. Goldthwait.

C. A. Cook Company.

Royal Metal Manufacturing Company.

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"Scientific American Monthly "-designed by E. E. Barney.
Universal Tobacco Machine Company.

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Fig. 30.

Olga S. Halsey - Richmond Chase Canning Company.

designed by F. B. Gilbreth.

Fig. 31.

Fig. 32.

Great Britain: Home Office

S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company.
Pilgrim Steam Laundry.

Fig. 33-a. Cluett Peabody Company.
Fig. 33-b. Cluett Peabody Company.

Fig. 34. H. Black Company.

Fig. 35. F. A. Patrick Company.

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INTRODUCTORY

In presenting this report on Industrial Posture and Seating, the Bureau of Women in Industry makes no pretense that it is saying the final word. In fact, there is no final word to be said, at the present time. Like many details of industrial management, more is unknown than is known.

The study was undertaken with the idea of gathering together experiences and designs from those who had given the matter serious consideration. The Bureau communicated with every known source of help: Federal and State Labor Departments, Employers' Associations, Trade Unions, health and safety organizations, physicians, safety engi neers, foremen, workers and employers. All these contributed most generously to the compilation of this material; without their help, this report would have been impossible.

Starting with the concrete idea of collecting the best possible designs for chairs for industrial workers, the Bureau soon realized that the problem was in reality a question of eliminating, in so far as possible, the fatigue which comes from bad posture, or from continuously working in one position. The report, then, resolves itself into a discussion of one of the preventable causes of fatigue — namely, bad posture in industry.

Lack of imagination is responsible for much bad seating. Custom has decreed the way in which many operations are performed. There has been next to no effort to scientifically "fit the work to the worker," except where industrial engineers have realized that unnecessary fatigue is needless loss, and that in order to reduce fatigue, work must be physiologically balanced.

It was impossible to use in this report many designs for chairs and work benches which were submitted to the Bureau, but these will be furnished gladly to anyone who is attempting to work out a satisfactory seating arrangement for a particular process.

The Bureau wishes to acknowledge the help given by the Bureau of Factory Inspection, and the Bureau of Industrial Hygiene of the New York State Industrial Commission.

The great obligation of the Bureau is to Mr. Frank B. Gilbreth and Mr. Reynold A. Spaeth, who have given generously of their experience and material for this report. Their criticisms and suggestions have been invaluable.

The report was prepared by Edith Hilles and Wilhelmina Conger of the staff of the Bureau of Women in Industry.

NELLE SWARTZ, Chief.

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