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A Chalk Mark Story
I don't recall exactly when my Grandfather shared this story with me, but its lesson stuck with me for many years and was one of the reasons behind the name Chalk Mark.
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In 1894 Charles Steinmetz moved to Schenectady, NY, USA, to take up a position with General Electric. Among his many achievements Steinmetz developed ways to analyse values in alternating current circuits and he changed the way engineers thought about circuits and machines. These achievements made him a legend in electrical engineering for years to come.
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Many of the greatest scientific minds of the time were traveling to Schenectady to meet Steinmetz and stories of these meetings are still told in engineering classes today. One such story was published in Life magazine in 1965, after the magazine had printed a story on Steinmetz.
Jack B. Scott wrote regarding his father’s meeting with Steinmetz at Henry Ford’s plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side.
The electrical engineers at the plant couldn’t solve some problems they were having with a generator, they subsequently arranged for Steinmetz to investigate the problem. Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil, and cot. According to Scott, Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights.
On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s sceptical engineers to remove a cover plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed perfectly.
While the details of the tale may be urban myth (this version was reported in the Smithsonian Magazine in August of 2011), there are many records of similar tales. In 1908 "The Journal of the Society of Estate Clerks of Works” of Winchester, England reported an account of a machinist who knew where to tap with his hammer to fix a machine affecting an entire factory.
Most legends have their basis in fact and the principal in all versions of the anecdote is the same. I will always recall my Grandfather's words, a little knowledge is worth a great deal of labour.
Knowing where to put the Chalk Mark
Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemised bill.
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Steinmetz, Scott wrote, responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:
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Making chalk mark on generator......................$1
Knowing where to make mark............................$9,999
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Ford paid the bill.