PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E.-Waves and Electrons Section

Engineering Responsibilities in Today's Economy*E. FINLEY CARTERt, FELLOW, I.R.E.

-Ir HE TREMENDOUS MAGNI-jl TUDE and vital importance of engi-

_ neering achievement within the pastgeneration has placed the engineer, as an indi-vidual and as the member of a group, on thethreshold of entirely new responsibilities.These are his new responsibilities to societyas well as to the engineering profession. Nolonger can the engineer feel fully satisfied asthe author of merely a good engineering job.He must learn to become fully aware of hissocial and economic responsibility in termsof his creative engineering effort.

Prior to this period, society had alreadyexperienced some difficulty in adjusting it-self to engineering progress, though the bene-fits of the engineer's work were, in the lightof recent developments, more aptly describedas evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Under the stimulus of a struggle for thesurvival for a way of life, engineers weresuddenly called upon to create at a tremen-dously accelerated pace. In effect, years werecompressed into months, and decades intoyears. Developments passed quickly fromapplied research to production and on to thebattle fields. Radar beat the toughest air andsubmarine fleets. The proximity fuze put anelectronic brain into ammunition. Theatomic bomb ended the war and posed a vastnew social problem as yet unsolved.

Thus the increased rate of engineeringachievements has reached far beyond thepeople's ability to adjust, understand, ac-climate, or cope with engineering progress.In consequence, engineers have createdmany necessary and beneficial things whichmay tend to produce alarming social andeconomic unrest should we fail to develop anew sense of social and economic responsi-bility. Indeed, we may, in some respects, begoing through a period not unlike thoseduring the Middle Ages and just before theRenaissance, when inability to understandprogress created fear and chaos among greatnumbers of people.

Recognition of the creative work ofphysicists and engineers as an essential partof modern society and national security nowextends beyond the engineering and researchfraternities. Government research during thewar was an investment of 600 milliondollars in electronics alone. The develop-ment of the science and application of nucle-onics, during the same period, cost over 2billion dollars, paid out of public funds.Both of these tremendous expenditures forwar will pay rich dividends for peace-ifphysicists and engineers, who control theirdestinies, develop themselves as sociallyminded thinkers.

Today research is being carried on at therate of 1 billion 100 million dollars an-nually, exclusive of the budget of the AtomicEnergy Commission, to which the govern-ment has allotted about 100 million dol-

* Decimal classification: R071. Original manu-script received by the Institute, November 26, 1947.Presented, Rochester Fall Meeting, November 17,1947, Rochester, N. Y.

t Sylvania Electric Products Inc., Flushing, L. I.,N. Y.

lars. These figures show that investmentin engineering research by the government,industry, and universities has increased atleast four times since the last prewar year,when expenditures were about ten timesthose of 1915.

These trends indicate the increased mag-nitude of the importance of engineering indaily life and the fact that, today, the fed-eral government is spending about one-thirdas much for study and control of atomicenergy as was spent for all types of engineer-ing research before the war. Looking at itwith a larger view, we can only see the in-creasing importance of the social and eco-nomic aspect of engineering.

No longer are physicists and engineersisolated in the chosen channels of their pro-fession. They have become a vital part ofnational and international society. Todaythey must mingle with and be compatiblewith the politician, the layman, the business-man, and others in all walks of life. Theseare the people who look to them for under-standing, interpretation, and control of therelease of vast forces of nature created byengineering research.

And, just as the public looks to the en-gineer, the engineer must look to societyand realize new social responsibilities. Thiscalls for a new measure of fitness. One of thepersonal qualities which surely must betaken into consideration is adaptability. Hewho resists social progress might as well en-deavor to hold back the tide or to stop time.

Now let us become more subjective inour thinking. I say "our thinking" becausethe problem of adjustment and readjustmentis important to all of us. We must make ad-justments within ourselves, and we mustmake readjustments through our efforts to-ward influence on others. This is a largeorder today. It means that we can no longerremain aloof from our sales departments, ourproduction departments, and our subor-dinates. For these people are, in many in-stances, closer to the public than we are,and our new responsibility is essentially so-cial and economic. Such a resoionsibilitycannot be stratified. It is vertical and bound-less. Pride, prejudice, petty jealousy, andcold rationalization of associates and neigh-bors as irrelevant or unimportant people isa part of our problem.

The time has come, and it has comequickly, when we must constructively an-alyze our own weaknesses and be tolerantof others whose weaknesses may have manypoints in common with our own. We mustlearn to keep uppermost in our minds theaxiom that all members of society are be-coming utterly interdependent. Engineersare no exception, and doubtless have begunto learn that lesson during the last fewyears. But, if they have learned only thatengineers are interdependent, they havelearned only half of a large and costly lesson.They have overlooked, or recognized butslightly, the interdependence of physicists,engineers, all people in general, and eco-nomics.

Do not be misled or discouraged bywidespread disturbances current todaythroughout the world. They are merelymanifestation of the great change in civiliza-tion that is taking place. Our problem ispart of the greater problem. Scientists andengineers, in particular, have created newbricks to build the edifice of civilization'sfuture. They are the new type of raw mate-rial. Our dilemma of the moment is not thenew material, but how to use it. We need toknow how to put the new house togetherand we need a new kind of binder or mortarfor those bricks. Our bricklayers may be thecommon man, society itself. Our job is toshow society how to use the new material tobuild a better structure. In many ways weare now too close to this material to see itclearly, let alone help put it to work.

The old adage, "A house divided againstitself cannot stand," inight well be amendedto say, "A house cannot be erected bybuilders who stand against themselves."Scientists and engineers, more than anyother group, have, wittingly or unwittingly,brought this about. They have advancednew materials for civilization at such a rapidrate that society is fearful, unable to trustor work at ease with the new building mate-rial. Some people definitely feel that if thenew edifice is erected it will fall down. A newmortar or binder must be supplied for thenew building blocks.

This mortar is not a physical material.It is a new spiritual concept of the engineer'ssocial and economic responsibility. Thisspiritual concept must be put to work onthe builders, as well as the building material.

A man from India awhile ago said, inspeaking of our many inventions, "Yes, youcan fly like birds and you can go through thesea like fish, but to walk together upon earth,that you have not learned." We know how toinvent great machines, but we do not knowhow to live together as human beings. Wecan send radar pulses to the moon, but notgoodwill across a narrow sea. Is there agreater economic problem today than theneed for better human relations? Engineer-ing has all but mastered the art of puttinginanimate things together or separatingthem to suit his fancy, but what will thisavail us if it results in driving us under-ground instead of giving us the abundanceof all that is fine and beautiful? Is it not timeto apply some of the cold, analytical logicused so effectively in solving our physicalproblems to the recognition of basic laws ofhuman relations, laws of justice and fairdealing, mercy and unselfishness, faith andcompassion, which are susceptible to thescrutiny of the cold logic of the mind, butcan be fully understood and successfully ap-plied only through the warm emotions of theheart?

We might be helped in such experimentsby analogies in the field of natural science.For example, when two chemicals mixed to-gether result in a violent reaction, does thechemist take sides with the one and damnthe other, or does he seek to determine the

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cause and understand the reaction and eitherput it to a good use or avoid the possibilityof such a combination in the future? Youknow the answer. We should be equally asdiligent in learning to evaluate the causesfor violent reaction between labor and man-agement. Too often, instead of using ourminds for a cool analysis of the situation andour emotions in a warm human applicationof our findings, we let our emotions reach afever pitch and completely evaporate anysemblance of cool thinking. Believe me, it isimperative that we learn to understand andharness the great forces of human relationsbefore we look with any pride on the way wehave met our responsibilities in today'seconomy.

I do not intend to oversimplify the socialproblems that face us today, but I am afraidthere are many who could make real con-tributions to the crying need who are notdoing so, merely because they feel the prob-lem is too complex or far beyond their con-trol.

In this respect, we are far fainter-heartedthan many people of lesser capabilities andaccomplishments, who, fortunately or un-fortunately, have hitherto controlled thegain or loss of social progress in many cities,towns, states, and nations, by close workwith the public. These people, and history isfull of them, have appealed to the social andeconomic needs of the large masses of people.

Engineers and scientists will have to de-velop a sense of social appeal along the samebasic principles in an age when science andengineering are vital to all citizens. Theywill have to pattern themselves as under-standable universalists to the mass of peoplewho are essentially provincial in their scopeand thinking. This may mean, for some ofus, that we must become more democratic,learn to humanize ourselves and our work inour contacts with society. This need notmean that we need sacrifice, but it does meanthat we must strive to modify the thinkingof those who may now call us "long hairs."

Perhaps an important part in our evolu-tion as servants of society, as well as servantsof science and industry, will come easier ifwe take care to reappraise our part in scienceand industry as well as in society. Engineersas specialists have played a vital role in theconception and delivery of many brainchildren of the modern world. They havenursed practical radar out of almost purephysics. They have given birth to the firstuses of atomic energy. They have made radiothe instrument of instantaneous world-widecommunication and of enjoyment in the ma-jority of homes, and have done a pretty goodjob of putting television and f.m. on a well-tolerated diet for further public enjoyment.These are but fragments of engineeringachievements, the well-conceived ideas de-livered by our engineering minds.

And I think it is fair to say that engineershave done a good mother-and-father job ofit. But, once their lusty brain children beginto grow in industrial, social, and economicimportance, they are taken away. This is agood thing. It prevents our becoming dotingparents who spoil their children.

There is, I think, a similarity between theway children were reared a hundred yearsago, and today, and the way engineeringbrain children were brought up a few years

ago, and the way they are brought up today.A century ago the child was not penal-

ized in later life if his mother and fathertaught him his three R's and the basic prin-ciples of a good life. His obligations to asimpler society required only that he edu-cate himself beyond these primary stages.But today the child would be ill-equippedindeed with only a homespun education.And it is just possible that he might soonevolve into a drag on society or even acriminal type like the late John Dillinger.

So today not only is professional school-ing essential for children, from the kinder-garten to the university, but a good part ofit is required by law. Without much moreeducation, today, the child cannot hope tocope with complex modern society.

Science and engineering also havereached a stage of complex developmentso that their brain children require farmore than the fireside tutor or the LittleRed Schoolhouse. They, too, must be turnedover to professionals for training at a tenderage. Otherwise, they may suffer frustrationand be unable to make their best contribu-tion to society.

This is particularly fortunate since scien-tists and engineers have become the parentsof increasingly large families. Sending theirolder brain children off to school permitsmore attention to the little ones and assuresgreater attention to the intimate, formativestages of their lives. This stage is the primaryresponsibility of the engineer. It is the timehe develops and directs the best uses of hisbrain children in later life.

Perhaps the engineer's secondary socialresponsibility might be said to begin whenhe turns his brain children over to the pro-fessional educators, the business men, andpublic servants. At this time he should takean active interest in what corresponds to theParent-Teachers Association, the channel inwhich he can influence the school systemfor good and discourage corruption.

In both of these responsibilities his inter-est must be social. He must see ahead for thenew creation, guide it patiently to an earlystage of development, and then do a goodpublic relations job with business men andpoliticians.

Now I know that some of you will winceslightly when I emphasize the importance ofscientists and engineers getting along withtheir managements and the Governmentbureaus regulating their activities. But weshould not forget that there is ample experi-ence now behind us to show that this newsocial thinking is of paramount importancetoday.

The fact that we pyramided achievementon achievement during the war, when wehad to get around, be social, and assume aliberal point of view for group achievement,should not be forgotten. It should be asustaining reason against a cynical point ofview about the future of engineering. Norshould the wartime development of our artand science make us feel that what we dowill not be overwhelmingly for the good.

There are hundreds of other specific rea-sons for optimism. A case in point is theelectric light bulb. Even in today's inflationcycle it sells for 10 per cent less than it didprewar. This represents a definite contribu-tion, by engineering and production to the

national economy, since hundreds of millionsof light bulbs are purchased for home andpublic service every year. But the few centssaved are small indeed compared to the bet-ter social value of the lamp. And by bettersocial value I mean more useful light, lesseyestrain; in a word, the saving of humanlife. Yet the light bulb is but one of a mul-tiplicity of products to which engineers havemade a large contribution to society and tonational economy.

The fact that a few engineers have beenvocal about bringing these contributions outfrom under the laboratory bushel and therecently accelerated growth of engineeringhas created new opportunity for engineers atthe executive level. This is an increasingtrend in the radio field due to the rapid ex-pansion of technological improvements andthe fact that the radio industry is still arobust infant.

At the executive level the engineer musthave capacity for social thinking, essentialto the co-ordination of many different kindsof people, many different kinds of talent,and a variety of markets for his product.His thinking also must not overlook theeconomy of the operation he directs, withrespect to the industry, the nation, and hissubordinates. He must learn to look broadlyon the problem of maintaining a high stand-ard of living within and outside his companythrough lower prices and higher wages.

Looking forward, we have several schoolsof thought about the immediate outlook forthe engineering profession. One group says,"We can't afford large expenditures for en-gineering because we're going to have a de-pression and should prepare with thrift."A second group says, "Now is the time forincreased engineering activity so that wecan be prepared to lick a depression if itcomes." Still another group thinks that youcan always cut engineering activity when adepression comes, and then pick up whereyou left off when business gets better.

Of these three opinions I support thesecond, because it recognizes that engineer-ing is a continuing need and is vital to socialand economic progress. The third opinioncompletely overlooks this fact. It assumesthat you can turn engineering on and turnoff at will and the world will wait. It over-looks the fact that engineering is alwaysahead of the calendar and the industrialproduction index, if it is going to be of realservice.

The first opinion, and a very commonone, is held largely by people who have buta limited concept of the importance of en-gineering in their business and in the econ-omy of the nation. They betray the cryingneed for active social and economic thinkingby engineers within their own organizations.Their opinions are a rather grim reminderthat public relations for the engineer, inmany instances, may well begin at home.

It means that engineers should strive toenlist interest and confidence in their workby participating to an increasing degree incompany and community activities to makethemselves and their work of wide humaninterest. From this base they should spreadtheir interest and activity in their associa-tion affiliations, in which there is often a direneed for increased thinking along social andeconomic lines with respect to engineering.

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I think we are on the threshold of a greatnew era of opportunities for all members ofthe engineering profession, provided en-gineers will learn to realize their full re-

sponsibility and be alert to interests beyondthe laboratory and their section of specificcreative work. As I have just said, theirpublic relations may well begin at home.

This means a greater interest in other peoplein all walks of life and at all levels withintheir own organization, from the top to thevery bottom.

Industrial Standards*C. H. CRAWFORDt, ASSOCTATE, I.R.E.

I. INTRODUCTIONHE GROWTH OF industry in theUnited States has been closely re-lated to standardization, that kind

of standardization which has as its objectivethe benefit of both the consumer and themanufacturer. Early standardization effortswere directed to the production of identicaland interchangeable parts.

About 1800 the use of interchangeableparts was started in clock manufacture. By1840 the American market was nearing sat-uration, and shipments were started to Eng-land where American clocks sold at about }the price of English-made clocks.

In the meantime, the same effort to useinterchangeable parts was being made in thefield of firearms. Eli Whitney, of cotton-ginfame, took a government order for 10,000muskets. To quiet criticisms arising fromslowness in getting into production, he tookparts for 10 muskets to Washington andthere assembled 10 muskets from parts se-lected at random. Since in the past it hadbeen necessary to have replacement partsfitted by a gunsmith, the military advantageof interchangeable parts was immediatelyapparent.

Standardization based on interchange-able parts is now an old story to us. How-ever, there are other kinds of standardiza-tion applicable to industry.

II. STANDARDSIt might be well at this point to consider

what we mean by a "standard." Let us re-view the term and see what we can develop.A dictionary definition' indicates that theword may have several meanings or shadesof meaning. For instance, we find it definedas, "A flag, emblematic figure, or other ob-ject raised on a pole to indicate the rallyingpoint of an army, fleet, etc." With thisdefinition we are not at the moment inter-ested. A further definition lists it as "theauthorized exemplar of a unit of weight ormeasure; anything taken by general consentas a basis of comparison, or established as acriterion." Looking further we find the fol-lowing: "the legal rate of intrinsic value forcoins; the prescribed degree of fineness forgold or silver," and "a grade or level of ex-cellence or advancement generally regardedas right or fitting (as, the standard of livingin a community; standards of comfort");and the like.

We see that some of these standards arequite permanently fixed, while others varywith the times.

In order to discuss these various classesof standards we will divide them for con-

* Decimal classification: R020. Original manu-script received, November 5, 1947.

t General Electric Company, Syracuse, N. Y.1 The New Century Dictionary, D. Appleton

Century Co., New York, N. Y.

venience into, (1) fixed standards, and (2)variable standards.

To establish a reference level for the pres-ent discussion, we will say that fixed stand-ards are those which we in industry cannotcontrol, while variable standards are thosewe are free to change as conditions warrant.

A. Fixed StandardsUnder fixed standards will be classified

those standards which are legally defined orbased upon physical laws. We have to usethese standards whether we agree with themor not. Our system of weight and measuresis a standard set by law. Standard time isanother.

The rules and regulations set up by theFederal Communications Commission arefixed standards to us because they arebacked by legal power. These rules and regu-lations set up system limits on such things as

system noise, distortion, frequency response,etc. We in industry have to determine howto divide up the total allowable limits be-tween the various parts of our system, so wecreate standards to do this.

B. Variable StandardsReferring back to our definitions of a

standard, we find that many things whichaffect industry are those related to varyingstandards. Some of these standards are in a

continual state of flux. These are the sort ofstandards which are described above as"standard of living," "standard of comfort,"and by similar terms. We are all well awareof the fact that this type of standardchanges continuously. We can very well re-

member that the standards of living andstandards of comfort were quite differentduring the war years than they are now.They are different now than they were be-fore the war. Our industrial standard may beconsidered as a special case of the variablestandard.

III. INDUSTRIAL STANDARDS

The term "industrial standard"2 is usedto cover standardization done by industry.Our industrial standard may become quite acomplicated document. In many cases it willrefer to other standards. Included may beboth fixed and variable standards. That thissame situation exists in other fields is appar-ent from a further reference to StandardTime.

Standard Time as defined by law is a

combination of a fixed standard determinedby nature and a variable standard deter-mined by man. The day consists of twenty-four hours. Now the divisions of time intohours, minutes, and seconds is a man-made

2 See 'Industrial Standardization, Studies inBusiness Policy #22,' National Industrial ConferenceBoard, Inc., New York 17, N. Y.

division. It could conceivably be changedinto other divisions. However, there isnothing we can do about the rotational speedof the earth, which determines the lengthof the day.

The use of an industrial standard is vol-untary. Such a standard must be a living,growing standard which changes with theconditions influencing it. It must keep stepwith the changing standards of living andwith the new developments of the art. Avery good example of this sort of a standardis one which affects the well-being of all ofus. This is the National Electric Code. Weare all affected by this code since it governsthe installation of electrical wiring, switches,and similar devices in practically all indus-trial and business buildings in the country.The important point in connection with thiscode is the fact that it is in a continual proc-ess of revision. At intervals approvedchanges are incorporated in a new revisionof the code. In this way all satisfactory andproven new devices, methods, and materialsare brought into use as soon as they havejustified themselves. Thus, it is recognizedthat an industrial standard cannot bewritten up and then neglected. It must bereviewed and kept up-to-date as the artprogresses. If the National Electric Code hadbeen made up as a fixed standard, or if noprovisions were made to revise or modify it,the entire electrical industry would havebroken down during the war when rubberfor insulation became practically unobtain-able. However, the standard was not heldrigidly, but rather was allowed flexibilityby the issuance of emergency requirements.Some of these have proved themselves tothe point where they show advantage overprevious requirements, and can be includedin revised issues of the code.

A. Structure of the Industrial StandardOur industrial standard like many other

standards will have both fixed and variableparts. For instance, once we have set certainstandard physical sizes for a given item, it isvery desirable that these not be changedwithout considerable serious thought. Atthe same time we may give ratings to eachof these various physical sizes. Yet we knowthat tomorrow someone is going to come

along with new developments which willallow these same ratings to be put intosmaller physical sizes; or, on the other hand,that any physical size we now have can beused or greater ratings than are presentlycovered by our standard.

Here is the place where the variable fea-ture enters. After a time, when conditionshave changed, we may decide that thelimitations of ratings presently in effect on

these physical sizes are now too stringent,and that the standard should be revised to

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