OPERATION OF MACHINE TOOLS AT HIGH ALTITUDES

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Abstract
Numerous small machine shops are operated on the high plateaux and in the valleys of the Andean Mountain system in South America servicing the needs of the several million inhabitants of this region. However, the products of those workshops situated at high altitudes appear to be unduly expensive to manufacture and to lack accuracy in dimensions and quality of finish. Consequently, the manufacture of bicycle front axles was studied at three levels of altitude: sea level; 9000 ft; and 13 1500 ft. Among those factors analysed and studied were visual and tactile controls, the stance of the operator and the general dimensions of the workplace. After attention was given to the ergonomics of work-place layout, workshops located at extremely high altitudes could product nearly as efficiently as enterprises situated at sea level, because the reduction in work stress compensated for the effects of hypoxia. At high altitudes as well as at sea level, the application of ergonomics created conditions where systems of pro-determined motion times could be applied profitably to jobbing operations and in circumstances and environments where such systems had been previously found to be virtually inapplicable. The effects of altitude on pulse rates was studied and an empirical equation was derived relating the quotient “ working-pulse/resting-pulse ” to the partial pressure of oxygen in the ambient air.

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