Industrial research, with special reference to electrical engineering development

Abstract

During the past 40 years radical changes in manufacturing conditions have rendered industrial research essential for the attainment of reasonable efficiency and progress. Industrial research is divisible into two orders, the more general and the more particular, both being necessary for the production of a new article. The second is usually, termed ?Development,? and is the special subject of this paper. While British men of science and applied science have been pre-eminent for general research, little attention has been paid to development. Hence few inventions have, within recent years, been brought to their conclusion in this country, as compared with the great amount of original scientific work which has been successfully accomplished. The reasons for this are analysed, and the cause is traced to lack of the co-operation necessitated by modern manufacture. This want is filled by development departments. The various functions of the latter are dealt with. Their outcome is the removal of all non-standard, work and technical troubles from the shops and drawing offices, and the provision of original and matured designs of new and improved articles for manufacture. The negligible value of ordinary sources of novel suggestions is discussed, and the qualifications of a development man are deduced. The question of staffing the department, and the educational qualifications which the staff should possess, are then treated. Practical matters, including buildings and equipment; procedure in development, the recording and filing of results and data, and the indexing of literature and information, are discussed. A short summary is given of the principal industrial research organizations in Great Britain, with a brief discussion on co-ordination