Mildred Maddocks Bentley

“ Undoubtedly a phase of manufacturing that acutely interests the average manufacturer deals with the selection of the materials that are to be used in the construction of his product. Too often the person who selects these materials fails to take into account the fact that women are almost fanatically intolerant of two things, rust and discoloration. It may be but one bolt that can rust, but women under our observation have utterly condemned a washing machine for which they paid from $125 to $165 because of this one bolt alone. ”

“ To all interested in or concerned with this great industry, there is one thing to be remembered above all else—study and test not only the mechanical construction and perfection of your product but know from every conceivable angle what the user or consumer is going to demand of it. If this be done, and done thoroughly, and exhaustively, you will build the appliance of the best materials obtainable, because it must wear well ”

“ It is easy to sell a refrigerator that has a sightly appearance, that is equipped with a sanitary seamless lining and that is marked with a price that spells to the woman good workmanship. But it is only actual use in storing food that develops the fact that the insulation is of sufficient quantity and is assembled with high grade construction, or that cheap material and workmanship have been substituted. The service that can be obtained from the appliance after it is marketed is of the utmost importance for the manufacturer to learn. ”

“ Oftentimes only the most drastic and unusual service on the part of the manufacturer will take away the sting that was left in her mind by the original transaction. In club, church, or in confidential chat at home, somewhere she leaves the impression that there is still something the matter or she would not have gotten a poor machine. The advertising value, therefore, of a uniformity of product cannot be overestimated. ”

“ It is thus clear that consumer needs, in this great classification of merchandise (household appliances) as reflected by consumer attitude are often ill-defined and extremely difficult for the manufacturer to interpret. Therefore, as a recognition of this condition, the basic purpose running throughout all of the testing work at Good Housekeeping Institute is to test every device so as to duplicate the conditions under which the device will be used by the ultimate consumer, be she intelligent or unintelligent. ”

“ It is difficult to realize, but it is nevertheless true, that every woman who wishes a properly placed sink in her kitchen or pantry has to overcome the inertia of the plumber not only because of his conservative unwillingness to do this unusual task, but because he is put to the extra expense and trouble of getting "specials" in pipe length, due to the fact that the plumbing trade, as yet, has not recognized an at least partially developed consumer demand. ”

“ Yet up to this time we know of no vacuum cleaner factory that has installed this comparatively simple and inexpensive equipment.
When attempting to market a product to women, factory faults are of far greater importance than when marketing a product for the use of men. The latter understand the difficulties of factory production and accept the occasional defective product as a routine. They expect it to be credited. They expect prompt correction on the part of the manufacturer or dealer, and, once adjusted, with them the matter usually ends. Not so with the average woman purchaser. ”

“ It is an interesting and surprising fact that mechanical tests develop data which often interpret the results obtained under practical usage of the equipment, and the results obtained under the practical usage quite as often define the value of the mechanical data. Any effort a manufacturer may make to develop these two angles of testing will more than offset any money cost that may be added to the factory overhead. Complete testing of this character will also save ultimate consumer reactions against the completed manufactured product. ”

“ Household equipment of every type must be made so that it will prove adaptable to different service conditions, with regard to both homes and actual users. An even more important consideration is intermittent use that must be met successfully by all home devices. It is the unusual home in which washing is done more than once or twice a week. The balance of the time the machine must stand idle. And this is true of practically every other type of labor saving device. It represents the most difficult of conditions a factory product has to face. ”

“ A second point that the manufacturer is apt to overlook is the importance of including the most minute of details in his general high standard of manufacture. For instance, he elects to use copper for a water container, but forgets to provide that every bolt and rivet and screw, no matter how small, shall be of a rust-resisting metal. The small part capable of rusting is as much an eyesore to the purchaser and in certain conditions can do as great damage as though the manufacturer had not spent the major sum to insure his rust-resisting container. ”

“ There is perhaps no household device operated by electricity that is more complicated in its oiling system than the old-fashioned sewing machine and yet the manufacturer managed to train the housewife to ninety per cent. efficiency in caring for the machine. Therefore, well defined and specified places for oiling should be provided for, and decalcomaniac or otherwise permanent directions placed on all enclosed gearings, in order that the user may continually have before her the correct places marked for oiling. ”

“ In all higher priced equipment the question of strength and quality seems uppermost in her mind, but a difference in price between two makes or two models of same manufacture, often results in the sale of the higher priced, because she has enjoyed the opportunity of discrimination.
There seems to be no question that the woman purchaser is willing to pay any added sum required to make construction better or convenience greater—always provided that the salesman convinces her she is obtaining the quality she is paying for. ”

“ It is not too much to say that in general the manufacturer wants to produce the article that the woman wants to buy. In many cases the reason he does not accomplish it is due to the fact that he does not divide his expenditures wisely. He neglects to pay the price for the highest grade skill in designing and he markets his product too quickly. ”

“ Dealers in household equipment as well as manufacturers are still uncertain as to what constitutes the selling value of an article, because it has been impossible to predicate the conditions, the care and skill with which each device would be used after it was marketed. It is comparatively easy for designer and factory manager to guard against known conditions of use. The dishwashing machine for a hotel or restaurant service can be built to perform with satisfactory efficiency. ”

“ A universal metal that can withstand any and all attacks of these several waters is difficult if not impossible to locate. In our judgment there is no perfect metal. Copper comes the nearest to it and yet copper must be tinned, and there is some slight consumer reaction against its use, in large containers, because they claim copper must be scoured in order to be sightly. However, enamel paint on the outside of such a container, leaving only a fair sized name-plate to be burnished, would overcome this objection. ”

“ And a third point: sometimes a manufacturer neglects to make certain of a perfection of detail in the factory that will produce one hundred per cent. of uniformity in his product. Thus vacuum cleaner manufacturers, merely by installing an equipment that would measure for them, under actual conditions of service, the correct air displacement of the particular machine tested, could eliminate any possibility of lack of uniformity in their product. ”

“ It is largely because there has not been a consumer demand that was well defined that we find few equipments designed with attention to the proper working heights. Moreover, we are convinced that it is a decidedly difficult question to settle. However, it is possible to group most exertions that women must practice into two classes: those that involve upper arm muscles, as work at a sink, range, washtub, or washing machine, etc., and secondly, exertions that involve the muscles of the forearm, as the mixing, stirring, and beating involved in cookery processes. ”

“ The manufacture of home devices to be used by women in household work is of comparatively recent development, the growth of the industry has been so rapid that many manufacturers are still groping to establish standards that will meet the new and uncertain conditions under which their product must be used. ”

“ In the first case any variations in a woman's height makes comparatively little difference. A range of heights from five feet to six feet would be served equally well by a similar height of equipment. This makes it possible to lay down the rule that sinks should be designed and plumbers should provide for piping them at a height of thirty-five inches from the bottom of the sink to the floor. Ranges should be thirty-four inches in height to the working top, and both washing machines and tubs should be thirty-eight inches to their rims. ”

“ It has furthermore been the Institute's special province to express to each manufacturer the trend of consumer demand as seen, not only through the Institute's use of appliances, but through the thousands of consumers who report their experiences. ”

“ It is not enough, as so many manufacturers have done, to place the appliance in a variety of homes and take the consequent "say-so." It must be remembered that it is only possible to compare an appliance when you have something to compare it with, and that something must be an appliance designed to do similar work. ”

“ Because a great deal of household equipment that is of interest to women must be used as a water container, the effect of water of varying degrees of hardness upon the several metals is of interest. Most metals have some electrolytic action. ”

“ WHAT THE PURCHASER LOOKS FOR
It has been amply proved that women are not especially interested in fine points of design unless that interest is implanted by competitive statements of the salesmen. They are not especially interested in form or color or detail, but they are supremely interested in dealer assurance that the machine is solidly built; that it will accomplish the work ”

“ The time will come—it is almost here—when the demand from women for the high sink we have already indicated is going to be strong enough so that the Plumber's standards for cutting pipe will be changed to meet her demand. ”

“ The time has surely come to discontinue all such practices and to sell appliances: because they will do the work more quickly, more easily, or more cheaply, because they are so built that they will prove durable, and therefore, a satisfactory investment ”

“ It is hoped that the material given herein may be of real service to those whose interest lies in knowing more about one of our most rapidly growing and least understood industries and also to those who would better understand the basic element in all manufacturing and selling. ”

“ In dealing in the following pages with this most important subject it must be understood that Good Housekeeping Institute is offering valuable facts that have been established through fifteen years of experience in testing household equipment, and is further utilizing the viewpoint of thousands of consumers and dealers who have come for a conference with us either in person or by letter. ”

“ Where the forearm muscle is involved, however, it becomes a far more delicate question. The distance between work-table top and elbow must be the control on designing. For that reason it is not possible to establish a constant and ideal height for kitchen cabinets and working table surfaces, although in general most of these have been from one to two inches too low. ”

“ It had a swinging wringer and the wringer was revolving at so rapid a rate it became plain that any woman who stepped in the way of that particular type of wringer was doomed to a severe blow if not a fall. ”