Abstract
In the period from 1890 to 1910 a revolution was accomplished in methods of handling bulk goods. This period saw the greatest development in the power shovel, the huge unloading and loading machines for railroad cars and ships, the great bridge and gantry cranes, the continuous conveyor, and many other devices. During the early years of the twentieth century engineers made rapid progress in developing new methods for handling materials of construction, and an equally intensive development went on in methods of handling goods in process in factories.
Up to the time of the World War little attention had been paid to handling finished goods. During the period in which the skid and lift truck were extensively developed, a parallel development took place in connection with industrial tractors and trailers.
Materials-handling equipment of every kind can be counted upon to save its full cost within a definite period of time. Savings due to labor and time-saving equipment in many fields are sometimes partially offset by collateral losses in changed methods, inconvenience, or some other form of unavoidable waste. Handling materials is almost in a class by itself in this respect, in that savings made represent net gains shared by all elements in industry. A fundamental economic principle has been concisely expressed in a form which might well become a slogan for the materials-handling industry: “Handling materials adds cost, but adds no value.”
