Braille?

[Paul Clark]

I was cleaning the inside of my upper door panels (new paint coming) and found some marking molded into the plastic which look like Braille.
Is that for real, and what is the history behind it?

 

[Squid4life]

got pics? sounds interesting...

 

[fitz3820]

It must have been for the blind UAW worker that installed my door trim - forgot to take the insulation off when the Concert Sound II speakers were put into the door. The insulation was put right over the speaker!!!

Great GM quality

 

[Paul Clark]

Got pics, but not sure how to post them (right size, etc.) and don't want to screw anything up.

 

[Squid4life]

here you go. :biggrin:

 

[Squid4life]

looks like it is indented, not sticking out like braille. not sure??? It does repeat 5's and 4's... Strange.

 

[Paul Clark]

They're all 4s & 5s.
The dots are raised and so are the boxes, but the boxes aren't perfectly square like a machine would have done. Looks like they were somehow done by hand.
The other panel is the same.
Guessing they're part numbers,shift numbers, etc. - but the Braille stuff has me intrigued.
Thanks for posting the pic.

 

[turbofish38]

Mold casting ID's. They probally denote time of day and shift that the mold was made. Lots of plastic parts have that same grid cast into them.

 

[Paul Clark]

Not to beat a dead horse, but -
why in Braille?

 

[turbofish38]

Not to beat a dead horse, but -
why in Braille?

I'm thinking it was easier and faster than actuall writing. Everything on the mold would have had to been written backwards. Can you imagine trying to read backwards? Its easier to count the dots and cut down on mistakes.

 

[Paul Clark]

Good point, but there are machine-made letters above the boxes. They're indented, so the letters on the mold must have been raised - and backwards.
The Braille dots are raised, so they had to have been "poked" into the mold.
If they wanted to change them, would they had to have been filled first?
Also, wouldn't the dots for the Braille stuff have to be put in backwards?
Another question is did GM have Braille reading as a job requirement for some positions?
I dunno.

 

[Dabigguy]

Not sure what the indentations are, but the lettering above appears to be the months of the year.

 

[Ormand]

They tell you when the casting was made. Every week, same day- someone "pokes" the mold, adding another bump. Some months have five Fridays (or Mondays, whatever) some have four. The initial set-up, including the letters, is done by machine, but the "poke" is done by hand. The very last box can have one bump, or two, or three, or four, or five. I can't see for sure, but the one in the picture looks like it might have one bump in April, to show it was made in the first week of April.
There are similar bump patterns inside every plastic hard hat. They should be replaced every "X" years, depending on who you work for, and the brand of hat. Some companies- like Dupont- have safety officers at each plant, and they make sure that the hard hats are up to date.

 

[Paul Clark]

Thank you, Ormand.
Now I can sleep at night. :smile: