2024 Mar-Apr RETA Breeze

tion meeting and deliver a personal invite as well. President Sapper stated that in reply to Mr. Lawrence’s presentation “that he (President Sapper) was a great believer, personally, in educating his men, if he can. That if it were possible, send them off to college, but if that could not be done, they brought the college to them, or just as close as they could.” At the Chicago subordinate (Chicago Chapter) meeting in the lead up to the conference, Thomas C. McKee addressed the assembled membership. USEFULNESS AND BENEFITS OF THE N. A. P. R. E. This being my first appearance at one of these meetings I will take the opportunity to thank you for granting me membership in your Association, also to express my appreciation of the honor of addressing you. When the name and purpose of this Association was first called to my attention I made up my mind to apply for membership. The field of usefulness for such an Association is very apparent, and I hope every engineer operating refrigerat ing plants, either directly or indirectly, will join the Association and become a worker for the general good of the organ- ization. Every member is bound to profit by coming in contact with brother engi- neers and exchanging ideas and experiences. If experienced practical refrigerating engineers covered every field of endeavor in this line and would present the subject of application from their own experiences you would have sufficient subject matter to fill many meetings and all would be interesting and instructive. The average practical operating refrigerat ing engineer knows the subject from his own limited experience. He has hazy ideas about how other engineers apply refrigera tion in their respective plants but of the many uses for refrigeration in the arts he knows nothing, much less how it is applied. These meetings present a fine opportunity for exchange of ideas. To make ideas of real service it is necessary to create a market for them. The man that knows anything worthwhile, does not usually care to gratuitously dispense his idea

right and left unless requested to do so by someone that is interested. Before an intelligent question can be asked about refrigerous matters it is necessary to think, and by thinking, the questioner often answers his own questions. At the same time he evolves a tougher one. So, my friends, let us think about our work, study our problems in refrigeration with a view to doing things better and at less expense for power, supplies, upkeep, etc., and when you find the refrigerous question that baffles you, write it down fully. Do this with every such problem and bring them to your next meeting. Someone present will probably have the answer but be sure you get an answer that is correct. “Misinformation” is frequently stated for gospel and unfortunately the dispensers of this brand of information are both noisy and numerous. When an engineer learns that his em- ployer is to install a plant he should acquaint himself with all the conditions under which the proposed plant will operate and in detail write them down. These should include the total work to be done, the products to be cooled, the peak load, the hours of operation per day, temperatures required, the sources of power and costs, the temperature and kind of condensing water available, whether hard or soft, the period during the year that refrigeration must be produced and the peak period. Bring this data to the meeting and discuss the proposed plant with a view to informing your employer as to how large a plant he wants, how many units, what type of plant, how he will affect his cooling in the various departments, how he should drive the machine, pumps, etc. By securing this information in advance you have educated yourself: you are in a position to pass real information to your employer. When you can do this you will begin to draw compen- sation for what you know, rather than what you do. We all know which is the best paymaster. Probably every member of this organiza tion started at the foot and was paid accordingly. Those who put their heads and hearts into their work as well as their hands are the best informed among you

today. The man that uses his hands only seldom rises above common labor. He probably manages to make a living and will always use his hands. He who uses his head only, gains information and some skill but probably is a shifter and not depen- dable, and likewise not a desirable employee. The purpose of this organization is edu- cation for its members. Education is a result of effort by the individual. You cannot buy it, nor can it be forced on you. My message is that’ each engineer take a new interest in refrigerating engineering which is still young. Think about the work and bring your problems and ideas to these meetings for discussion. Suppose we go into a poker game with a wad of money. We may draw and we may not. When we come here with a variety of ideas and questions on which you have concentrated your thoughts we are sure to draw a crowd, a discussion. a conclusion and go home better informed which is the object sought. Thomas C. McKee October 13, 1920 His words are still true today! We meet, we learn, we grow. As the excitement climbed to a crescen do, the 1920 convention began. There were over 225 delegates present at the convention. The farthest traveler

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