Women in machining

[HMF]

From http://www.shorpy.com/

During WWII, women worked as machinists, primarily in plants building aircraft and bombers.
I thought you guys might like to see some of these photos.

Nelson

 

[Davo J]

My mum (67) worked in an engineering shop in England when she was young before moving out here to Australia. She told me the first day my grandfather took her their to show her around, he said you might see a nice young gentleman in their. When they left he said did you see anyone you like, she replied yuk dad they all wear glasses, LOL The glasses back then where all the big black frame type.

She worked on a variety of machines until she was not concentrating one day and drilled right through her finger nail, and out come a fountain of blood. Even though the boss said to come back after it healed, that was enough for her as she was not really interested in the type of work.

I had a girl as a trades assistant when building truck bodies, She was built bigger than me, but was just plain lazy and not interested in learning anything.
I know there are girls out there that are good workers, but she was not one, and never lasted long.

Dave

 

[Tony Wells]

One of the best mill operators I know is a woman. I interviewed here for a position in QC, and passed, but later an opening showed up in turning, so she hired in. lathe work got slow, so she moved to vertical and stayed. Not many people can think and visualize in 3d, but she could do it better than most men I know. A few years ago, around 97 I think, she and her husband opened a little shop and are still in the game and from what I hear doing just fine.

The very first shop I went to work in had a woman train me a bit on lathe. She knew what she was doing, and was a good teacher.

On the other hand, I have worked with some that came straight out of a community college in machine shop education that didn't know which end of an end mill did the cutting. They didn't last long.

 

[brucer]

Those pictures are funny, anyone notice not one of them are wearing safety glasses?
guess the safety glasses weren't fashionable enough for them at the time :biggrin:


I worked with one woman on the shop floor. I set up a long production job in a cnc lathe, she ran it, every day, she was extremely consistent, she kept the lathe running, didnt complain, but she wasn't very mechanically inclined, she could change he own offsets and inserts and keep it going on her own, she was very easy to work with, and kept her area spotless..

 

[HSS]

What I noticed about the pictures was the last picture in the set. That one doesn't seem to be staged, but I'm sure it was. The cameras then weren't point and click like they are now.
Patrick

 

[Davo J]

The cameras then weren't point and click like they are now.
Patrick

Hi Patric,
I didn't even think about that part of it, and something you forget about these days in the digital world.

Dave

 

[geotek]

I'm sure those photos were very carefully staged. The lighting is incredible. I would imagine those are models, remember these photos were a form of propaganda, they're not just snapshots. My mother ground propeller gears in a International harvester plant.

 

[HSS]

If you look at the last pic, she is the only one thats has any grime on her. Maybe the others just got to work and the last one has been working all day.

 

[ScrapMetal]

If you look at the last pic, she is the only one thats has any grime on her. Maybe the others just got to work and the last one has been working all day.

Either that or the women are just plain cleaner than we are. :biggrin:

-Ron

 

[HMF]