PS Magazine Issue 16 1953 series [16 ed.]

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Citation preview

~ ~ nobody, but nobody said it neater than

DIISIL POWI. MAGAZINI

I'tlre Y(Ju getting Y(Jurs?"

Editorially speaking CONCERNING INSTRUGION MANUALS "Anyone in the technical writing business knows the labor and travail that goes into the preparation of an instruction manual. Perhaps, to others it is not so apparent. liThe text is carefully written, checked, rewritten, re-checked, and finally polished. Illustrations are carefully selected to show just the points that are meant

to be emphasized, the pictures are retouched, carefully sized, engraved and captioned. Text and pictures are printed and bound. " Finally, our instruction manual is brought forth after great pains and labor. It is ready to go out into the world in all its pristine beauty. Then what happensi it falls into the hands of people.

"Some sage once remarked, , It takes aU kinds of people to make a world.' let's see what might befall our unsullied manual. " It might fall into the clutches of a man with a ' work of art ' or ' treasure' complex. This manual is too nice a thing to be left around where it might get into someone's dirty hands and get smudged up. So he carefully puts it away out of sight- and too frequently out of mind. "The years pass; the engine is worn out or sold; and someone finds our manual on a top shelf somewhere or behind a lot of things in an old cabinet. " What's this junk?" he remarks as he beats the dust from it and finally tosses it in the rubbish . So our manual leaves this world after a completely useless life. "A variation of this is the man with

the 'inferiority' or perhaps a 'I've-got-tobe-smartest' complex. He snags on ,to the manual and hides it away in his desk. Then if someone in the shop wants some answers they have to come to him. He can then peek, pass along the infosometimes garbled- and play the port

of the 'big brain. "This fellow is usually afraid that someone in the shop may learn something for himself and shoot for his job. Who's he kidding? "Or perhaps our manual will fall into the grimy paws of the 'know-it-all' psychotic. "To him all manufacturers are dumb; don't know a thing. He is the type that promoted this comment heard at an AERA meeting: 'All instruction manuals should have gasket material coverSi then some of these fellows would at least get some use out of them .

713

This editorial from DIESEL POWER MAGAZINE i. reprinted without so much as a comma changed, to show you that people in and out of uniform seem to be brothers under the cloth after all. After you get your yaks out of this you are cordially invited to share it with the men you think most likely to succeed in stashing your facts away. " If our manual falls into these hands, it's a dead duck; no chance to be useful here. It will wind up 'unread, unhonored, and someone is stung.' "Yet there is a bright side. Do you know that there are people who yearn for these manuals just as orphans yearn for a likely prospect on visiting day? We have a letter from a man in Australia on our desk beseeching us to get him some - not for himself alone, but so that he can use his meager store of texts to help a great many others that come to him for information. "Then there is the man that digests the information in the manual when he gets it with the engine. He applies the information intelligently to fit his own

application and keeps the manual handy for reference when there is a job to' be done. "This manual bears the scars of a use· ful, active life. But then, who doesn't?that's the way it is supposed to be. These manuals are to be used. They represent a lot of time and money spent by the manufacturer to help you get your money's worth out of his product. If this is accomplished, he has no better adver· tisement and our manual serves its purpose. "When an engineer needs some help on a formula, he is liable to go to a wellthumbed Kent or Marks Handbook. When your wife makes that extra·special dish, she gets out the recipe. Well, your best recipe when you have to do a job on your engine is the instruction manual. "Where do you fit in this picture?think it over."

IN THIS ISSUE 1953 Series

Issue No. 16

TANK·AUTOMOTIVE M74 Recovery Vehicle CD·850 Transmission Brakes Distributor Lubrication Track Tightening Tip How's Your Sag?

715 739 742 743 744

SUPPLY & DIRECTIVES How To Use Those New PM Forms

748

ARMAMENT & AMMUNITIONS Caution! Machine Gunners Stuck Patches Special Cartridge for Rifle Grenades Files & Ml's Don't Mix

752 752 753 753

ARMY AIRCRAFT Common Tool Gab Session

754

B. P. E. DEPARTMENTS

(Ed Note- Could these horrible things possibly be happening to those copies of PS people never seem to get?)

2, 730 733 736 746 757 760 3,

Editorial Connie Rodd Cartoon Continuity Joe Dope Limerick Half·Mast Contributions Connie Briefs Perpetual Index

PS Magazine wants your ideas and contributions, and is glad to answer your questions. Just write: Editor, PS Magazine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Th. p""in, . t PS II.,." ••• , •• PIEYUHY[IIAINHNU (E IIDNTHll, " .,~, .. td ~1 '" D', .. ,... I"M" . 11N hdgo' (14 h;

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