Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1912 — PAY EMPLOYES FOR IDEAS [ARTICLE]

PAY EMPLOYES FOR IDEAS

Pennsylvania Railroad Has Adopted System Which at Once Proved Useful and Profitable. “Ideas are worth money. Send in good suggestions and we will pay you for them,” was the substance of general order No. 12, which went out to Pennsylvania railroad employes on the Buffalo and Allegheny valley division a short time ago. The response was immediate. Suggestions came in from all quarters. Many of them proved to be of real value and their authors were rewarded in cash. Some of the results have been made public. A clerk in one of the roundhouses won a premium by submitting a plan for Increasing economy by the further use of carbon sheets which remain in repair cardbooks after the cards have been filled in and ■ removed. He devised a way of using this carbon paper for ordering material from the storehouses. A tinsmith in one of the shops discovered an Improved method for fastening in engine cabs and boxes which contain flags, torpedoes and medical cases. By standardizing the heights of coal gates on locomotive tenders a fireman saw a way to minimize the loss of coal through vibration. He got pay for the idea. At one of the terminals an appliance for cleaning and sterilizing drinking cups used in coaches was perfected by a car inspector. It was an Improvement over the old method and its originator received payment for- it.