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Acceptance Sampling in
Quality Control
Third Edition
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CR
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PQL IQ CQL
Statistics: Textbooks and Monographs
A Series Edited by
D.B. Owen
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1931–2008
and
My Parents
Virgil A. Neubauer
1931–2004
and
Fanchon K. Neubauer
1936–2014
and
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................1
Acceptance Quality Control....................................................................................................1
Acceptance Control and Process Control..............................................................................4
Process Quality Control...........................................................................................................4
Background of Acceptance Quality Control.........................................................................7
Top 10 Reasons for Acceptance Sampling.............................................................................9
Problems...................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................10
3. Probability Functions............................................................................................................35
Probability Distributions.......................................................................................................36
Measures of Distribution Functions.....................................................................................39
Hypergeometric Distribution................................................................................................41
Binomial Distribution.............................................................................................................43
Poisson Distribution...............................................................................................................45
f-Binomial Distribution..........................................................................................................49
Negative Binomial Distribution............................................................................................51
Exponential and Continuous Distributions........................................................................53
ix
x Contents
Weibull Distribution...............................................................................................................55
Normal Distribution...............................................................................................................57
Summary of Distributions.....................................................................................................60
Tables of Distributions...........................................................................................................60
Hypergeometric Tables.....................................................................................................60
Binomial Tables..................................................................................................................63
Poisson Tables.....................................................................................................................64
Negative Binomial Tables.................................................................................................64
Exponential and Weibull Tables.......................................................................................65
Normal Distribution Tables..............................................................................................65
Summary..................................................................................................................................65
Useful Approximations..........................................................................................................66
Tests of Fit................................................................................................................................69
Software Applications............................................................................................................72
Excel .....................................................................................................................................72
Minitab.................................................................................................................................74
Problems...................................................................................................................................79
References................................................................................................................................80
Excel...................................................................................................................................123
Minitab...............................................................................................................................125
Statgraphics.......................................................................................................................127
Problems.................................................................................................................................130
References..............................................................................................................................131
9. Bulk Sampling......................................................................................................................195
Construction of the Sample.................................................................................................196
Estimation..............................................................................................................................198
Sampling Plans......................................................................................................................207
Simple Random Sampling of a Unique Lot (Components of Variance Unknown)....209
Sampling from Stream of Lots............................................................................................212
xii Contents
Minitab...............................................................................................................................543
Snap Sampling Plans!......................................................................................................544
LSP Plans......................................................................................................................544
Squeglia Plans..............................................................................................................545
Statgraphics.......................................................................................................................545
MIL-STD-1916 Plans...................................................................................................545
Problems.................................................................................................................................547
References..............................................................................................................................548
Economic Considerations....................................................................................................593
Mandatory Standards...........................................................................................................595
Basic Principle of Administration.......................................................................................596
Problems.................................................................................................................................596
References..............................................................................................................................597
Answers to Problems..................................................................................................................599
Appendix......................................................................................................................................615
Index..............................................................................................................................................829
Preface to the Third Edition
As I prepared to work on this edition, I wondered what has changed since the last edition,
what topics may have been omitted from that edition due to time, and which topics would be
of most interest to readers. I spent several years converting many of the old military accep-
tance sampling standards to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards,
which means that they are now regularly reviewed and supported. Companies that have
traditionally used military standards can now refer to these new ASTM standards as they
contain the same tables. The reader will find out more about these ASTM s tandards in the
chapters covering these types of sampling plans.
As for omitted topics, I considered the addition of multivariate sampling and sampling
plans based on Cpk. In the end, I decided that readers would be particularly interested in
two topics—the implementation of computer spreadsheets and software in the design and
the evaluation of sampling plans and additional material on compliance sampling plans.
The last time I saw Ed Schilling, we met in my RIT office and he expressed his interest
in having me include a CD with the 3rd edition of this book that would include the Excel
templates I had developed for my acceptance sampling students at Rochester Institute of
Technology. Fortunately, since there is now a new book website put up by CRC Press at
www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781498733571, there is no need to include a CD with
the book that cannot be periodically updated. On the book website, the reader will find
not only a variety of Excel spreadsheets but also other files that are discussed at the end of
the appropriate chapters in this book. Ed believed, as I do, that readers are more likely to
understand and utilize the methods covered in this book when provided with a computer
approach. When I taught acceptance sampling, I provided my students with a number of
Excel spreadsheets for several types of plans. I believed that it was more likely that the stu-
dent could “hit the ground running” so to speak when they had to implement such plans
back on the job. This proved to be the case.
For this edition, I created several more Excel* templates to address sampling plans that
I didn’t use in my teaching, and which even existing commercial software does not handle.
At the end of many of the chapters in this text, I have included a section called “Software
Applications.” In this section, I discuss any Excel templates that I have available for the
reader on the book website as well as whether any commercial software will handle such
problems.
I got some help. I approached a few software companies for assistance in doing this
edition. Minitab,† Snap Sampling Plans!,‡ and Statgraphics§ have all been very generous in
providing me with either materials relating to how their program can design and analyze
acceptance sampling plans or a complimentary license for their product so I can showcase
* Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc. You must purchase Microsoft Office to install Excel as no free
demos are available.
† Minitab is a registered trademark of Minitab, Inc. A 30-day free demo of the software is available at
www.minitab.com.
‡ Snap Sampling Plans! is a registered trademark of Quality Assurance Solutions. The software home page can be
available at http://www.statgraphics.com/download_trial.
xix
xx Preface to the Third Edition
its features for acceptance sampling. At Minitab, I specifically thank Lou Johnson and his
associates, especially Yanling Zuo with whom I worked with to develop the initial accep-
tance sampling procedures included in Version 15 and that still exist in later versions.
Minitab also supplied some training materials that I could adapt to the examples in this
book. I also thank Dr. Neil Polhemus, CTO and director of Development for Statgraphics,
for his willingness to work with me to incorporate their Statgraphics Centurion XVII prod-
uct into this book. Finally, I thank Robert Broughton of Quality Assurance Solutions who
was also very supportive of my efforts to include his program, Snap Sampling Plans!,
among the suite of programs illustrated in this book to demonstrate the capabilities of his
software. Minitab, Snap Sampling Plans!, and Statgraphics represent excellent examples of
commercial software that can handle most of the acceptance sampling situations covered
in this book. There are a number of other lesser-known acceptance sampling programs for
sale on the Internet and a simple Internet search can find many of them.
One topic that continues to be important in the field of acceptance sampling is that of
compliance plans. The most common forms of these plans are accept on zero (AoZ) sam-
pling plans popularized by Nick Squeglia and his book Zero Acceptance Number Sampling
Plans (now in its 5th edition). As in the 2nd edition, Chapter 17 discusses lot sampling
plans, tightened-normal-tightened (TNT) plans, quick switching system (QSS) plans, MIL-
STD-1916, the simplified grand lot procedure, AoZ plans, and a chain sampling alterna-
tive. I expanded the section on QSSs as there has been considerable activity in this area
over the past more than 20 years. Much of this work comes from universities in India and
New Zealand, and the reader will find many references for these authors in Chapter 17.
Furthermore, recent work in 2011 by Govindaraju combining the ideas of many of these
types of plans into a zero acceptance number chained QSS has been added to this chapter.
The reader will find that many of the plans discussed in this chapter are supported by
Excel templates, Minitab, Snap Sampling Plans!, and Statgraphics.
Once again I thank my editor David Grubbs at Taylor & Francis Group for his patience
and understanding as I put in more time than expected in preparing this new edition due
to some health issues. Finally, and certainly not the least, I thank my wife, Kimberly, for all
her support as I worked on this edition. Without her having my back, this edition would
not have been possible.
Dean V. Neubauer
Horseheads, New York
Note from the Series Editor for the First Edition
The use of acceptance sampling has grown tremendously since the Dodge and Romig
Sampling Inspection Tables were first widely distributed in 1944. Throughout this period,
many people have contributed methods and insight to the subject. One of these contribu-
tors is the author of this book, which might better be identified as a compendium of accep-
tance sampling methods. The American Society for Quality Control has recognized
Dr. Schilling’s contributions by awarding him the Brumbaugh Award four times, first in
1973 and again in 1978, 1979, and 1981. This award is given each year to the author of
that paper published in either the Journal of Quality Technology or Quality Progress that the
American Society for Quality Control committee judges has made the largest single contri-
bution to the development of industrial applications of quality control.
Dr. Schilling has been employed both as an educator and as an industrial statistician.
This broad experience qualifies him to write this treatise as few others are qualified. The
beginner will find much interest in this work, while the experienced person will also find
many interesting items because of its encyclopedic coverage.
I am very pleased with the completeness and clarity exhibited in this book, and it is with
great pleasure that I recommend it to others for their use.
D. B. Owen
Department of Statistics
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
xxi
Foreword to the First Edition
As the field of quality control enters the 1980s, it is having new responsibilities thrust upon
it. The public is demanding products free from defects and often making these demands in
costly court cases. Management is demanding that all departments contribute to technical
innovation and cost reduction while still continuing to justify its own costs. The quality
control specialist is caught like others in this squeeze between perfect performance and
minimum cost. He or she needs all the help that fellow professionals can give, and Edward
Schilling’s book is a worthy contribution. Written by one of the foremost professionals in
the field, it is comprehensive and lucid. It will take its place as a valuable reference source
in the quality control specialist’s library.
My own first contact with a draft of the book came when I was teaching a quality con-
trol course to industrial engineers. Over the semester, I found myself turning to this new
source for examples, for better explanations of standard concepts, and for the many charts,
graphs, and tables, which are often difficult to track down from reference. Acceptance sam-
pling is not the whole of statistical quality control, much less the whole of quality control.
But Dr. Schilling has stuck to his title and produced a text of second-level depth in this one
area, resisting the temptation to include the other parts of quality control to make a “self-
contained work.” The added depth in this approach makes the text a pleasure for a teacher
to own and will make it a pleasure for students to use. This is one book that any student
should take into the world where knowledge is applied to the solution of problems.
Colin G. Drury
Department of Industrial Engineering
SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
xxiii
Preface to the First Edition
The methods of statistical acceptance sampling in business and industry are many and
varied. They range from simple to profound, from practical to infeasible and naive. This
book is intended to present some of the techniques of acceptance quality control that are
best known and most practical—in a style that provides sufficient detail for the novice,
while including enough theoretical background and reference material to satisfy the more
discriminating and knowledgeable reader. The demands of such a goal have made it neces-
sary to omit many worthwhile approaches; however, it is hoped the student of acceptance
sampling will find sufficient material herein to form a basis for further explorations of the
literature and methods of the field.
While the prime goal is the straightforward presentation of methods for practical appli-
cation in industry, sufficient theoretical material is included to allow the book to be used as
a college-level text for courses in acceptance sampling at a junior, senior, or graduate level.
Proofs of the material presented for classroom use will be found in the references cited. It is
assumed, however, that the reader has some familiarity with statistical quality control pro-
cedures at least at the level of Irving W. Burr’s Statistical Quality Control Methods (Marcel
Dekker, Inc., New York, 1976). Thus, an acceptance sampling course is a natural sequel to
a survey course at the level suggested.
The text begins with a fundamental discussion of the probability theory necessary for
an understanding of the procedures of acceptance sampling. Individual sampling plans
are then presented in increasing complexity for use in the inspection of single lots. There
follows a discussion of schemes that may be applied to the more common situation of a
stream of lots from a steady supplier. Finally, specific applications are treated in the areas
of compliance sampling and reliability. The last chapter is concerned with the administra-
tion of acceptance control and, as such, is intended as a guide to the user of what sampling
plan to use (and when). Readers having some familiarity with acceptance sampling may
wish to read the last chapter first to put into context the methods presented.
This book views acceptance quality control as an integral and necessary part of a total
quality control system. As such, it stands with statistical process quality control as a bul-
wark against poor-quality products, whose foundations are rooted deep in mathematics
but whose ramparts are held only by the integrity and competence of its champions in the
heat of confrontation.
It is fitting that this book on acceptance sampling should begin with the name of
Harold F. Dodge. His contributions have been chronicled and are represented in the Dodge
Memorial Issue of the Journal of Quality Technology (Vol. 9, No. 3, July 1977). Professor
Dodge, as a member of that small band of quality control pioneers at the Bell Telephone
Laboratories of the Western Electric Company, is considered by some to be the father of
acceptance sampling as a statistical science. Certainly, he nurtured it, lived with it, and fol-
lowed its development from infancy, through adolescence, and on into maturity. In no small
way he did the same for the author’s interest in the field, as his professor and his friend.
Edward G. Schilling
xxv
Acknowledgments from the First Edition
Books are not made—they grow. It is impossible to acknowledge all the help and support
that has come from friends and associates in the development and construction of the pres-
ent volume. A few may be singled out not only for their individual contributions but also
as a sample of those yet unnamed. In particular, I thank Carl Mentch for suggesting the
possibility of such an undertaking in September of 1965 and for his unflagging encourage-
ment and help since that time. My thanks also go to Lucille I. Johnson whose technical and
editorial assistance helped to bring concept into reality. I also mention Dr. Lloyd S. Nelson
for his continued interest and suggestions and Dan J. Sommers and Professor Emil Jebe
for their constructive comments and theoretical insights. Certainly, my appreciation goes
to Dr. Donald P. Petarra, Dr. James R. Donnalley, and Dr. Pieter J. von Herrmann of the
General Electric Lighting Research and Technical Services Operation for their encourage-
ment and support throughout.
I am indebted to the American Society for Quality Control, the American Society
for Testing and Materials, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics, the Philips Research Laboratories, the Royal Statistical Society,
and Bell Laboratories for the permission to reprint a variety of materials taken from
their publications. I am also indebted to Addison-Wesley Publishing, Inc., for the per-
mission to reprint material from D. B. Owen, Handbook of Statistical Tables; to Cambridge
University Press for the permission to reprint material from E. S. Pearson, Tables of the
Incomplete Beta-Function; to McGraw-Hill Book Company for the permission to reprint
material from A. H. Bowker and H. P. Goode, Sampling Inspection by Variables, I. W. Burr,
Engineering Statistics and Quality Control, and J. M. Juran, Quality Control Handbook; to
John Wiley and Sons, Inc., and Bell Laboratories for the permission to reprint mate-
rial from H. F. Dodge and H. G. Romig, Sampling Inspection Tables; to Prentice Hall,
Inc., for the permission to reprint material from A. H. Bowker and G. J. Lieberman,
Engineering Statistics; to Stanford University Press for the permission to reprint material
from G. J. Lieberman and D. B. Owen, Tables of the Hypergeometric Probability Distribution,
and G. J. Resnikoff and G. J. Lieberman, Tables of the Non-Central t-Distribution; to the
European American Music Distributors Corporation for the permission to use the
English translation of “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s scenic cantata Carmina Burana; and
to my associates K. S. Stephens, H. A. Lasater, L. D. Romboski, R. L. Perry, and J. R.
Troxel for the material from their PhD dissertations taken at Rutgers University under
Professor Harold F. Dodge in a unique intellectual environment that was created and
sustained at the Statistics Center under the inspired direction of Dr. Ellis R. Ott and with
the dedicated administrative support of Dr. Mason E. Wescott.
Finally, these debts of gratitude are in terms of time and talent, how much more the debt
to my wife, Jean, and to my daughters, Elizabeth and Kathryn, who are as much a part of
this book as the author himself.
xxvii
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battlement of rocks. Here a grassy sward smooth and level as a
billiard table was used as a croquet ground, this being at that time a
universal outdoor game in England. He had a democratic park. It had
no wall, and wire fences were as yet unknown, so he could not keep
deer. But on his fields we saw many cattle grazing. He told us he
was raising blooded stock, and expected the next year to commence
annual sales. We observed the very pleasant house beautifully
located in the valley, but he told us he was planning to remove it and
build a baronial hall in its place. I learned afterwards from Mr. Hoyle
that he had for some time kept two London architects employed on
designs for this hall, which designs he then employed another
draftsman to combine into a plan to suit himself, but had not as yet
determined on anything. As he was an old man, and had no one in
the world to leave this estate to, I could account for his devotion to it
only by his restless temperament, that must always find some new
outlet for his energy.
I, however, did not want him to expend any of this energy in
getting a steam-engine to suit him, and so the passing months
brought us no nearer to an agreement. My experience with
Ducommen et Cie. confirmed me in my decision not to let the
mechanical control of the engine in England pass out of my hands,
and Mr. Hoyle told me that he could not advise me to do so. Mr.
Whitworth was at that time in the death agonies of his artillery
system, and I did not meet him, but I learned through Mr. Hoyle that
he was highly indignant at me for presuming to take the position I
had done, and was immovably fixed in his own.
CHAPTER XIV
Study of the Action of Reciprocating Parts. Important Help from Mr. Frederick J.
Slade. Paper before Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Appreciation of Zerah
Colburn. The Steam Fire Engine in England.
After the reading was concluded, Mr. E. A. Cowper took the floor,
and stated that I was entirely mistaken in my explanation of this
action, that this had been investigated by a gentleman whose name
he gave but which I have forgotten, and who had demonstrated that
this retarding and accelerating action was represented by a curve,
which approximately he drew on the blackboard, but which he
excused himself from demonstrating there, as it would require the
use of the calculus and would take considerable time. For this
reason the discussion was postponed. At the next meeting Mr.
Cowper did not present this demonstration, and long afterwards he
wrote a letter to the editors of Engineering, stating that on full
investigation he had found the retardation and acceleration of the
piston to be represented by triangles and not by a curve. At the
discussion of the paper my view was supported by all the speakers
who addressed themselves to this point, except Mr. Cowper. An
especially careful and valuable exposition of the action of the
reciprocating parts was given Mr. Edwin Reynolds, then of the Don
Steel Works, Sheffield.
Zerah Colburn, the editor of Engineering, had always taken a
warm interest in my engine, and in the winter following the Paris
Exposition he invited me to furnish him the drawings and material for
its description in his paper. This I did, and from these he prepared a
series of articles written in his usual clear and trenchant style. These
will be found in Volume V of Engineering, the cuts following page 92,
and the articles on pages 119, 143, 158, 184, and 200.
Mr. Colburn’s articles in Engineering are so interesting in
themselves that I think I need make no apology for quoting from
them his remarks on this subject of the inertia of the reciprocating
parts, and those in which is depicted the revolutionary nature of the
high-speed engine, as viewed at that time.
After a prelude, with most of which the reader is already
acquainted, Mr. Colburn says:
“When a steam-engine is brought from abroad to the very spot
where the steam-engine originated, and where it has received, so far
at least as numbers are concerned, its greatest development, and is
claimed to be superior to those produced here, and to be able to run
advantageously at a speed hitherto deemed impracticable, its
promoters must not expect to have much attention paid to its claims
until such attention has been actually compelled, and then they must
be prepared for an ordeal of severest criticism....
“In employing a high grade of expansion, especially with the
considerable pressure of steam now usually carried in stationary
boilers, two serious practical difficulties are met with. The first arises
from the injurious effect of the sudden application of so great a force
on the centers, which the beam-engine, indeed, cannot be made to
endure, and the second is found in the extreme difference between
the pressures at the opposite ends of the stroke, which is such that
the crank, instead of being acted upon by a tolerably uniform force,
is rotated by a succession of violent punches, and these applied
when it is in its most unfavorable position....
“In the Allen engine the action of high speed causes all the
practical difficulties which lie in the way of the successful
employment of high grades of expansion combined with high
pressure of steam completely to disappear. The crank receives as
little pressure on the centers as we please; none at all if we like; the
force is applied to it as it advances, in a manner more gradual than
the advocates of graduated openings and late admission ever
dreamed of, and a fair approximation is made to a uniform rotative
force through the stroke. So that, in a properly constructed engine,
the higher the speed the smoother and more uniform and more silent
the running will be.”
After a page or more devoted to a demonstration of this action, Mr.
Colburn sums up the advantage of high speed in the following
illustration:
“Let us suppose that, in an engine making 75 revolutions per
minute, the reciprocating parts are of such a weight that the force
required at the commencement of the stroke to put them in motion is
equal to a pressure of 20 pounds on the square inch of piston. This
will not modify the diagram of pressure sufficiently to produce much
practical effect. But let the number of revolutions be increased to 150
per minute, the centrifugal force of these parts as the crank passes
the centers is now equal to 80 pounds on the square inch of piston,
and any pressure of steam below this amount acts only as a
relieving force, taking the strain of these parts partly off from the
crank. It makes no matter how suddenly it is admitted to the cylinder,
not an ounce can reach the crank; but as the latter advances, and
the acceleration of the reciprocating parts becomes less, the excess
of force not required to produce this becomes, in the most gradual
manner, effective on the crank.
“It will be observed how completely the designer has this action of
the reciprocating parts under control. He can proportion their speed
and weight to the pressure of steam in such a manner as to relieve
the crank from the blow on the center to whatever extent he may
wish. The notion that the reciprocating parts of high-speed engines
should be very light is therefore entirely wrong. They should be as
heavy as they can be made, and the heavier the better.
“The advantages of more rapid rotation are largely felt in the
transmission of power. Engineers understand very well that,
theoretically, the prime mover should overrun the resistance. Motion
should be not multiplied but reduced in transmission. This can
seldom be attained in practice, but high speed gives the great
advantage of an approximation to this theoretical excellence. On the
other hand, slow-speed engines work against every disadvantage.
Coupled engines and enormous fly-wheels have to be employed to
give a tolerably uniform motion; often great irregularities are
endured, or the abominable expedient is resorted to of placing the
fly-wheel on the second-motion shaft. Then comes the task of getting
up the speed, with the ponderous gearing and the enormous strains.
Slow motion also prevents the use of the belt, immeasurably the
preferable means of communicating power from a prime mover.
“But how about the wear and tear? The question comes from
friends and foes alike. The only difference is in the expression of
countenance, sympathetic or triumphant. The thought of high speed
brings before every eye visions of hot and torn bearings, cylinders
and pistons cut up, thumps and breakdowns, and engines shaking
themselves to pieces. It is really difficult to understand how so much
ignorance and prejudice on this subject can exist in this day of
general intelligence. The fact is, high speed is the great searcher
and revealer of everything that is bad in design and construction.
The injurious effect of all unbalanced action, of all overhanging
strains, of all weakness of parts, of all untruth in form or construction,
of all insufficiency of surface, increases as the square of the speed.
Put an engine to speed and its faults bristle all over. The shaking
drum cries, ‘Balance me, balance me!’ the writhing shaft and
quivering frame cry, ‘See how weak we are!’ the blazing bearing
screams, ‘Make me round!’ and the maker says, ‘Ah, sir, you see
high speed will never do!’
“Now, nothing is more certain than that we can make engines, and
that with all ease, in which there shall be no unbalanced action, no
overhanging strains, no weakness of parts, no untruth of form or
construction, no insufficiency of surface; in which, in short, there
shall be no defect to increase as the square of the speed, and then
we may employ whatever speed we like. ‘But that,’ interposes a
friend, ‘requires perfection, which you know is unattainable.’ No, we
reply, nothing unattainable, nothing even difficult, is required, but
only freedom from palpable defects, which, if we only confess their
existence, and are disposed to get rid of, may be easily avoided. It is
necessary to throw all conceit about our own work to the dogs, to lay
down the axiom that whatever goes wrong, it is not high speed, but
ourselves who are to blame, and to go to high speed as to our
schoolmaster.
“Among the many objections to high speed, we are often told that
the beam-engine will not bear it, and the beam-engine, sir, was
designed by Watt. In reverence for that great name, we yield to no
one. The beam-engine, in its adaptation to the conditions under
which it was designed to work—namely, a piston speed of 220 feet
per minute and a pressure of one or two atmospheres—was as
nearly perfect as any work of human skill ever was or will be; but we
wonder why the outraged ghost does not haunt the men who cling to
the material form they have inherited, when the conditions which it
was designed to meet have been all outgrown, who have used up
his factor of safety, and now stand among their trembling and
breaking structures, deprecating everything which these will not
endure.
“A journal and its bearings ought not only never to become warm,
but never even to wear, and, if properly made, never will do so with
ordinary care to any appreciable extent, no matter how great speed
is employed. It is well known that there exists a very wide difference
in bearings in this respect, some outlasting dozens of others. Now,
there need be no mystery about this: the conditions of perfect action
are so few and simple that it seems almost idle to state them. The
first is rigidity of a shaft or spindle between its bearings; but
everybody knows that if this is flexible, just in the degree in which it
springs, the journals must be cast in their bearings, though in actual
practice this perfect rigidity is not once in a thousand times even
approximated to. The point of excellence in the celebrated Sellers
bearing for shafting is that it turns universally to accommodate itself
to this flexure of the shaft, and the result is a durability almost
perfect.
“The second requirement, when we have a shaft capable of
maintaining perfect rigidity under all the strains it may be subjected
to, is abundant extent of bearing surface both in length and
circumference, a requirement, it will be seen, entirely consistent with
the first. It is a mistake to use journals of small diameter with the idea
that their enlargement will occasion loss of power on account of the
increased surface velocity, as, in fact, the coefficient of friction will
diminish in a greater ratio than that in which the velocity is increased.
In the Allen engine it is intended to make all shafts and journals too
large.
“But all is of little use unless the journal is round. High speed
under heavy pressure has a peculiar way of making it known when a
journal is not round, which, we suppose, is one of its faults. Now the
difference between a true cylindrical form and such an approximation
to it as a good lathe will produce in turning ordinarily homogeneous
metal is simply amazing; but when we compare with this the forms of
journals as commonly finished, the wonder is how many of them run
at all at any speed. When ground with a traversing wheel in dead
centers, which have themselves been ground to true cones, the only
known method by which a parallel cylindrical form can be produced,
their inequalities stand disclosed, and these are usually found to be
greater, often many times greater, than the thickness of the film of oil
that can be maintained in running. Then under pressure this film is
readily broken, the metal surfaces come into contact and abrasion
begins. But a true cylindrical journal swims in an oil-bath, separated
from its bearing at every point by a film of oil of uniform thickness,
and sustaining a uniform pressure, which cannot be anywhere
broken, and which has very little inclination to work out; and if it
revolves without deflection and the pressure per square inch of
surface is not sufficient to press out the lubricant, the speed is
absolutely immaterial and wear is impossible, except that due to the
attrition of the oil itself, which on hardened surfaces has no
appreciable effect.”
From the illustrations contained in these articles, I copy only the
following pair of diagrams with the accompanying note.
Pair of Diagrams from 18×30 Allen Engine at South Tyne Paper Mill, 108
Revolutions, Vacuum 28 Inches. Only Half Intended Load on Engine.
Cross-section of Machine Shop Proposed by Mr. Porter in 1868, after the Design
of Smith & Coventry.