Motion Study for the Handicapped

Abstract

THE work of Mr. Frank B. Gilbreth upon I applied motion study and fatigue study is well known, and the present volume describes various extensions and additions to his previously recorded methods, especially with the intention of assisting men who are handicapped by the loss of a limb or of their eyesight. In Mr. Gilbreth's latest scheme the manual worker whose movements are being studied has a small electric light attached to the hand or other working member of the body, and thereby the path of the motions made can be determined in detail if a series of photographs is taken by kinematograph. Other photographs are taken with a stereoscopic camera, and by this means the path of the motion in three dimensions is ascertained. It is then possible to construct wire models showing exactly the path of a given motion, and such models are found to be very useful for instruction purposes. Series of models are exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington and elsewhere, so that skiilel mechanics are able to see for themselves what are considered to be the best methods of performing certain motions, and to determine if they themselves fall short of the ideal.

Motion Study for the Handicapped.

By Frank B. Gilbreth Dr. Lillian Moller Gilbreth. (Efficiency Books.) Pp. Xvi + 165. (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1920.)Price 8s. 6d. net.