The Leland, Faulconer & Norton Co., of Detroit, Mich., was formed in 1890 for the purpose of building machine tools and special machinery. Special milling machines, a lathe center grinder, a wet tool grinder, and some special machinery were built. Later the manufacture of wood trimmers for pattern shop use was undertaken; and next, during the development period of the bicycle industry, a line of machinery for making hardened and ground bicycle gears was developed. As the bicycle business declined, the company began building gas engines for motor boats, which were then rapidly rising in popularity. The natural step from the marine to the automobile type of gas engine was made in 1901 to 1902, when the motor now used in the Cadillac car was produced. In 1905 the company was united with the automobile firm building the Cadillac car to form the present Cadillac Motor Car Co. From 1902 until March, 1909, about 21,000 cars had been turned out, 17,000 of which were single cylinder 10 H. P. machines, and the rest four cylinder cars, rated at 30 H. P.


The Plant and Its Organization

The main or Cadillac plant has a double siding connected with the Belt Line Railroad, thus giving ample shipping facilities. The factory buildings are of brick and reinforced concrete construction, lighted by large windows. Heat is supplied by a live steam system. The boiler-room contains three water tube boilers, with room for another if it is needed. Light and power are furnished by electric current sup- plied by the Detroit Edison Co. Electric driving is used throughout the plant, with motors connected with each line shaft, and occasional installations with direct connected tools. A large compressor furnishes air at 125 pounds pressure for the pneumatic hammers in the frame department, and for use in the various assembling departments, for cleaning parts, running air drills, etc. Five large elevators in fire-proofed brick shafts convey materials and parts between the various floors. An automatic sprinkler system is installed, supplied by four tanks on the roof. These tanks are filled by a large fire pump which operates whenever the level of water in the tanks is reduced. This same system supplies water for lavatory and wash room use. There are two large wash-rooms, each having 600 bowls and 1,000 lockers.

The old Leland & Faulconer plant comprises a foundry building of brick, steel and glass, supplied with cupolas and a hydraulic jib crane; a pattern shop and pattern storage building; a brass foundry building; a brick building for the case-hardening department; and a large three story brick building for the power plant and the sheet metal and brass working departments. The building is lighted by both gas and electricity, has a hot-air heating system, and is provided with large wash-rooms on each floor.

The organization of the plant is divided into the following departments: First, the general manager; second, the secretary; third, the sales department; fourth, the advertising department; fifth, the purchasing department; sixth, the time-keeping and cost-keeping department; seventh, the superintendent and his assistants; eighth, the engineering and designing departments, which produce the new models, tools and fixtures, and in conjunction with the experimental department, test the new cars before placing them on the market; ninth, the foremen and their assistants in the forty-four manufacturing departments; and six other special departments, some of which will be mentioned later. While the reader will be most interested in the departments devoted strictly to manufacturing, the work of the engineering and purchasing departments is worthy of some notice.

The designing-room is separate from the general drawing-room and is used by the chief engineer and two designers. Suggestions for new designs and improvements in old ones may be made by any one on suitable blanks. They are all considered and passed upon by a mechanical committee, consisting of the general manager, the chief engineer, and the two designers. When approved, such changes are made immediately on the tracings, and new blue-prints are made and sent to the departments concerned in producing those parts. This keeps the blue-prints up-to-date, and avoids loss in the carrying through of parts of obsolete design. A well-organized experimental department is provided, having the necessary apparatus for testing new designs. The work of the general drawing-room includes the detailing of new designs, and the drafting work on the necessary tools, gages, jigs and fixtures needed to produce new parts or models. Filing cabinets are provided for current drawings, as well as for those which are obsolete, of which a full record is kept.


The Purchasing- Department, the Stock-rooms and the Gasoline Storage

The purchasing agent has final authority on all matters concerning the actual buying of material used in the cars, and the care of this material until it goes to the machine or assembling departments. Purchasing orders are made out in quadruplicate. One copy goes to the seller, one to the receiving office, one to the bookkeeping department, and one to the file in the purchasing office. Small commercial parts, such as nuts, rivets, etc., are stored in bins in the general stock-room, which also receives the finished and inspected parts turned out by the manufacturing departments. The stock-room record is kept on a card index system, and material is delivered by the stock-keeper only on presentation of a requisition from the foreman of the department where it is to be used. Bulky parts and materials are kept in a large warehouse, which is also under the care of the purchasing department. A separate stock-room is required for repair parts. These are kept in stock for all models, clear back to the first one placed on the market, and they are replaced as fast as sold out.

The gasoline used in testing the cars is also considered as stock, and a very carefully planned storage system is provided for it. Four cylindrical tanks of 15,000 gallons capacity each are buried in concrete near the siding, with the tops of the tanks about five feet below the street level. They are connected at top and bottom by separate cross piping. The system of storage is such that these tanks are always full of water or gasoline, or both, so that air is always excluded, making explosion impossible. The upper cross pipe permits the free passage of gasoline between the tanks, while the lower pipe performs the same function for the water. A suitable arrangement of automatic valves lets in water as fast as gasoline is removed, or permits the escape of water as gasoline is introduced.

A notable safety provision in the outlet piping for the water positively prevents the escape of gasoline into the sewer. The outlet pipe is formed into a long U-bend, which extends vertically to a depth of 70 feet, inside of an 18-inch casing. From this it returns and discharges through a trap into the sewer. The depth of this bend is such that the column of water on the outlet side will balance a column of gasoline having a height corresponding to the head obtainable from a tank car on a grade 5 feet higher than the present siding. The water thus furnishes a permanent seal against the discharge of gasoline.

The distribution of the gasoline is also carefully safe-guarded. It is supplied to the various testing rooms and to the factory garage through piping from the storage system. It is retailed by Bowser registering pumps which are kept locked when not in use. As a further safeguard, all the piping is enclosed in concrete, and the whole system is so arranged that it may be flooded with water to a depth of five feet in case of fire in any building which might later be built over it.


Tool and Tool Supply Departments

The tool department is located on the top floor and at the north side of the building, where the best light is obtainable. It is devoted to the manufacture of the jigs and fixtures and many of .the gages employed in the factory. The equipment consists largely of Reed and Hendey & Norton lathes, Hendey shapers, Brown & Sharpe milling machines, and Brown & Sharpe universal and surface grinders. The high degree of interchangeability required in the product demands a high standard of workmanship in this department. At the time Fig. 1 was taken, some manufacturing was being done here. A wire enclosure at the right contains the tool inspecting department. The tool steel stock and tool grinding rooms are at the further end of the picture.

The tool supply department is closely allied with the tool-room. Its work is principally that of caring for, sharpening and recording the various jigs, fixtures and cutting tools. All these tools are looked out for by a card index system, which shows where they are used, and what repairs, if any, have been necessary. This department orders all the small commercial tools, and keeps a debit account with each branch tool-room for the supplies furnished it, giving credit for all tools worn out in legitimate use or broken in unavoidable accidents. A perpetual inventory is thus kept of all the special and commercial tools kept on hand. A card index inventory of the machine tools is kept in the purchasing department.


Forge, Foundry and Sheet Metal Departments

It will not be possible to more than briefly mention that part of the equipment of the forty-four manufacturing departments which is concerned with the actual work on the parts. The blacksmith shop is small, owing to the extensive use of drop forgings, but it is finely fitted up with Buffalo down-draft forges, a tool forge with a coke magazine, gas furnaces, water jacketed dipping tanks, and an electric welding machine. The bulk of the work consists of tool dressing, and the making of forgings for jigs and fixtures and for special car equipment. The case-hardening department has ten large Frankfort gas furnaces equipped with pyrometers, connected by a switch board with a galvanometer graduated to degrees Fahrenheit. Oil and water dipping tanks with steam and cooling water jackets are provided. These are piped to a steam pump to give positive circulation. Square and oblong pots are used for small machine parts, while round pots with central holes, to insure uniform heat, are used for the large rear axle bevel gear.

The iron foundry is provided with a large and a small cupola. The latter is used largely for heats of a special nature. The most approved methods for testing and chemical analysis are employed to keep track of the output. This is necessitated by the fact that the foundry furnishes castings for other motor car builders besides the Cadillac Company. The brass foundry furnishes the necessary castings for the bronze bushings, carburetor and lubricator parts, small valves and fittings, etc. These are finished in the brass machine shop, which is equipped with forty Warner & Swasey screw machines, besides several Fox lathes, drill presses, milling machines and several special lathes. All the lubricators, gasoline valves, carburetors and bearings used are produced here.

In the sheet metal department are made the vertical tubular radiators, gasoline tanks, dashes, fenders, etc., as well as small punchings, such as washers, clips, etc. The press-room has a complete equipment, ranging from foot presses up to 20-ton power presses, capable of cut- ting and forming parts up to 36 by 48 inches. Gas furnaces are used for heating the soldering irons and work when assembling the radiators. The radiators and tanks are tested by compressed air, while submerged in water. The frame department is equipped with gas fur- naces and pneumatic hammers for riveting and heading.


Equipment of the Machine Departments

For convenience in handling the work, all the engine parts are drilled and milled in two separate departments in one large room, while the similar operations on the chassis parts are performed in an- other room, which is shown in part in Fig. 2. The equipment of this department includes a large number of Cincinnati drill presses, Cincinnati and Brown & Sharpe milling machines, and a Beaman & Smith cylinder boring machine,, arranged for handling transmission cases and axle housings. The engraving shows the large use of multiple spindle drills, quick change drill sockets and jigs.

The equipment of the motor drilling department is somewhat similar, ranging from a sensitive bench drill to a 24-spindle motor-driven Baush machine. This is used in drilling the 24 holes for studs, cap screws, etc., in the lower half of the motor frame. These holes are all drilled at one time, and have to accurately match similar holes in the upper half. This, it will be seen, requires a high grade of workmanship. The milling department for motor parts employs several Whitney hand millers, Brown & Sharpe horizontal millers of various sizes, several vertical machines of the same make, and six heavy motor-driven Cincinnati machines. There are also to be found here two milling machines built by Leland & Faulconer, which are unusual in that the table has longitudinal and cross feeds only, the vertical adjustment being applied to the spindle. High-speed steel inserted tooth cutters are in general use.

The screw machine department is one of the largest in the factory, occupying a floor space of 80 by 200 feet, and containing 62 machines, exclusive of the tool grinders. Brown & Sharpe, National, Acme, Davenport and Cleveland machines are used for making cap screws, nuts, studs and other parts up to one inch in diameter. Gridley machines are employed for larger work. Jones & Lamson flat turret lathes are used for shafts, spindles and x some gear blanks. The Potter & Johnston automatic machine is employed for much of the chucking work in combination with the Gisholt and Steinle machines, which are used mostly for machining clutch and gear mounts. A group of Bardons & Oliver machines are used on certain engine parts, which have to be held in face-plate fixtures and finished largely by hand labor. The larger Acme machines are direct connected.

While most of the round parts are finished complete on the screw machine, a lathe department is necessary for some work which has to be turned on arbors. Fly-wheels and some long axle shafts are also finished here. The equipment includes Reed lathes, a Bullard boring machine for finishing fly-wheels, and two Beaman & Smith double- spindle horizontal boring machines for roughing out the cylinders. The latter are provided with turntable fixtures, so that two cylinders may be set up while two others are being bored. After the cylinders are roughed out, they are tested under hydraulic pressure and sent to the grinding department.

The grinding department finishes practically every round part on the car except the crank-shaft, which comes finished from a firm making a specialty of that work. Heavy Norton and Brown & Sharpe grinders are used for finishing long 'parts. Medium sized Landis and Brown & Sharpe grinders take care of work up to 3 inches in diameter and 8 inches long. Special Brown & Sharpe and Heald grinders are used for finishing the cylinders, which are held exactly as they will be on the assembled engine, so that clamping strains are duplicated. The pistons are finished in one of the heavy Norton machines. The group of Heald machines is used exclusively on internal work, and an equipment of face grinders finishes the washers and flat disks used in the cars. The square shafts which carry the sliding members of the transmission are ground to size on a group of Brown & Sharpe surface machines, fitted with suitable index fixtures. In contrast to the heavy Norton grinders with their 24-inch wheels, is a bench grinder purchased from the Waltham Watch Tool Co., for finishing internal ball races. This little machine uses a wheel about the size of a five-cent piece, and may be set to grind to a radius of % inch. Careful attention is given to providing suitable racks for ground work to avoid injury in handling.