r
PRESTd
April 24, 1920.
IMPORTANCE OF KEEN VISION IN ACTION FACTORY
The necessity for keen vision in manufacturing
has been realized by the Auto Pneumatic Action Co.
of New York City, manufacturers of playerpiano
mechanisms. It has become apparent to that organi-
zation that perfect vision is one of the first physical
requirements necessary in the production of a per-
fect product. These progressive manufacturers have
realized that in the minute construction of the vari-
ous parts of a player action, it is necessary that each
employe working on any individual part see per-
fectly. The minute details of machinery or the care-
GENERAL
Dr. A. L. Freed, the optometrist who is conduct-
ing these eye-sight tests for the Kohler In-
dustries, is an eye specialist of varied experience
consisting of active practice covering the last twenty
years. His early professional life consisted princi-
pally in associating with well known specialists of
the time. In 1894 he became State Camp optome-
trist and conducted extensive tests of the National
Guard at Peekskill. In 1900 his work took him to
Paris and in 1905 to Liege, Belgium, receiving
awards in both cities for meritorious research and
EXAMINATION OF EMPLOYEES'
ful manipulation of the hand operations make it
necessary that the employes not only see "just good"
but perfect.
In an effort to correct the vision of their em-
ployes, the Auto Pneumatic Action Co. is at present
conducting an extensive eye examination which
takes in every employe in that group of manufac-
turers. These examinations are under the direction
of Dr. A. L. Freed, who is examining every employe's
eyesight and prescribing glasses wherever he finds
it necessary. He is conducting this work with the
able assistance of Mrs. L. G. Clark and another
regular optician.
Surprised at Number.
Some of the results of his examinations in other
factories are surprising. In one plant after examin-
ing 500 employes, 150 were found with defective
vision, 135 of whom were supplied with the proper
glasses. In another, 60 of a total of 190 examined
were found defective and their vision corrected. In
still another factory, 40 out of 88 examined had de-
fective vision and at the Auto Pneumatic Action
Company 35 pairs of eye-glasses were found neces-
sary out of the first 250 employes examined.
THE SMALL GRAND PIANO
IN THE PRESENT CRISIS
Apartments Are Scarce and Accommodations Scant,
But Not Too Cramped for Little Styles.
The featuring of the Apartment Grand by Lyon &
Healy, Chicago, has resulted in a sales success that
is very satisfactory. The Apartment Grand piano
is specially designed for a room of comparatively
small size. It occupies so little space that a corner
five feet square will contain it; nevertheless it has
all the elegance of the larger instruments. "One of
the special advantages of the Apartment Grand—
regarding it as a piece of furniture—is its adaptabil-
ity to its surroundings, its power of enhancing and
not destroying the effectiveness of other furniture,"
says the firm in its publicity.
The argument of Lyon & Healy is that it will be
found in general that where chere is a standard of
taste set up by the public there, too, will be found
the efforts made by the agencies of commerce to
meet it. One of the examples of enterprise in this
dirction, it is pointed out, is the development of the
grand piano. This is stated:
"The grand piano is one of the inheritances of
beauty that have come down to us from the
Eighteenth Century. The elegance of the instru-
ment, its graceful form, its practicability in the ser-
vice of art, already were foreshadowed in the harpsi-
chords of our grandsires. When the piano super-
seded the harpsichord it was generally conceded
that, whatever improvements had to be made in the
EYES,
examination of the employes' eyes and if necessary
the prescribing of the proper glasses.
"The importance of this work will become evident
when we glance at statistics of defective vision in
this country. Out of the total population of 110,000,-
000 over 40,000,000 people have defective vision.
Twenty-five per cent of these perhaps wear the
proper glasses but there is a total of over 15,000,000
who have defective eyesight and have not been prop-
erly taken care of. Of 76,000,000 school children
examined in the United States, 5,000,000 were found
MINUTE EXAMINATION BY UK. J-'UEEU.
professional work. His most notable work in re-
cent years has been with the United States and
British Merchant Marine, during which he examined
and equipped with eye-glasses most of the employes
who man our merchant ships. During the later and
more recent years he has made a specialty of eye
tests in the large industrial plants such as Kohler
Industries. Dr. Freed conducts the Hygienic Opti-
cal Co., with headquarters at 80 Broad St., New
York. Dr. Freed sees the necessity of keen vision in
the manufacture of a fine product. In an interview
he says in part:
Incorrect Vision.
"It is really remarkable the amount of incorrect
vision we find today in our great industrial plants.
By this I mean the amount of defective eyesight
which has not been corrected by the proper adjust-
ment of eye-glasses. This is due partly I think to
the fact that the greater part of the time of the
factory employes is taken by their labors, offering
them little opportunity to consult a proper authority
to have the proper glasses prescribed. It is the ef-
fort of our work to bring the eye clinics to the fac-
tory and in this way to make possible the proper
to have defects in their vision and the great major-
ity of them bespectacled. With this large percent-
age a proven fact, it must become apparent to the
employer of large groups of men and women that
this average holds true in their factories and that an
examination of their employes is necessary.
Remarkable Findings.
" W e have had some very remarkable findings in
•examining the employes in these industries. We
ihavx found cases of defective vision bordering al-
most 'on "blindness where the sight of one eye was
almost gone and yet the employe without proper
treattraeiit or glasses of any kind. But taken as a
•whole the general percentage of incorrect vision in
these large industries, is considerably lower than
is found elsewhere. This may seem strange but I
think it is readily explained by the fact that a large
number of the employes in the industries are for-
eigners of the laboring kind who do not strain their
• eyes excessively as other classes who are continually
making use of their optical sense. I am sure that
when the examination of the Kohler Industries has
been completed the corrected visionof the employes
will be very evident in the perfection of the complete
^product turned out in these factories."
tone-production of the older instrument, nothing-
could be done to it that would make it more appeal-
ing to the eye. The gradually increasing popular-
ity of the upright piano was the result of attempts
made to supply the public with instruments that
would be less exacting in the matter of price. They
crowded the parlors of people who lived in an age
which cared little for beauty—the age of vast ma-
hogany sideboards and of the black horse-hair
couch.
"For many years the grand piano remained a lux-
ury. Everyone admitted its desirability and envied
those who possessed it. When congestion in the
cities brought apartment buildings into fashion, the
grand piano seemed farther away than ever from
those who valued it for its charm of tone as well as
for its symmetry of shape; for to the problem of
cost there now was added the problem of space.
The great salons, the capacious parlors and halls of
earlier days had become not much more than mem-
ories. The art of furnishing a home took on an en-
tirely new form; for when furniture had to be
bought the question of primary importance was not
so often, 'How much money will it cost?' as, 'How
much room will it take up'?"
DEALER ENLIGHTENS
KANSAS CUSTOMERS
DEPARTMENT A SUCCESS.
A piano department added last fall to the numer-
ous and varied ones of Dey Brothers," Syracuse, N..
Y., has proved a success from the beginning. The
department is well equipped for a showing and dem-
onstration of the instruments. April will prove an
excellent month for sales, according to Manager
Hardv.
& Adams Music Co. Points to the Doubtful
Origin of a Certain Class of Pianos.
'Tire .difference between a standard piano and a
:stencll piano is explained in an announcement by
'the Martin & Adams Music Co., Wichita, Kan,,
which asks: "Why Consider a Stencil?" in the
Wichita newspapers. This is Martin & Adams' opin-
ion:
"Standard make pianos bear the name of the man-
ufacturer. Stencil pianos may have any name, often
the name of some dealer or salesman. They are
usually cheap, inferior instruments, made to fool the
purchaser, and are dear at any price."
That suggests to the advertisers the question:
"Why consider a stencil piano or player from a
sliding price, puzzle scheme dealer, when you can
secure the old reliable, standard make pianos at
Martin & Adams? Sold under one-price, no-com-
mission plan, which insures each and every cus-
tomer a fair a square deal—and the most for your
money."
Frank L Fava opened a new store recently in
Utica, N. Y.
BUY EBE PLAYER PIANOS—
2469 Third Ave., N. W. Cor. 135th, New York
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