The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-26
WOMEN in ELECTRICITY.
4 FIELD WELL SUITED FOR THEN
UITH FEW wow ~ IT.

&c mo Electric Car or Lighting PlhnB owned
Nv women-,Iany Women Employed In
ELr ctrical Factories-women Who are
Distinguished in Electrical Science.
There arc possibly fifty women In the United
S,sics who have taken either full OF partiel
egursc in electricity at one Of tho cocducauonhl
colleges or from private instructors A few Of
these ora now owners and managers Of electric
lighting and electric car plants in various
r,of,s Of tho country, and one hears OF them
,It,lgh the New York manufacturers Of cleo
meal goods. AZ Ellcnville n. Y, at bay City
L,ich, at Saginaw and other places are electric
plants run By women. Certain women students
have taken a co,usc in electricity 20 supplement
medical and surgical knowledge, and are
suctng private sanltariums In various places
or nrr employed rs assistant managers In hos
uitals and asylums where electricity Is used as
\ remedial agent Other students OF electrical
laws and principles have put their knowledge
To- creative purpose and have invented articles
murr or less important in the practical npplica-
t,r 81 electricity.
host Of women and many young girls are
employed IN the large manufactures OF electric
g.-ls They mako all the Hlaments for tho
l,mps They wind the nrmatlres for tho dyna-
Nos They wind and cover with spun silk or
psper. mlcs and miles Of wire, small and Large,
uscd IN the induction coils, in the grcn, undtf-
ground cables, and ON the magnets for telephone
receivers and switchboards. These women tip
oil N, cords solder all the important Little med
iurg and do all the dcft and delicate work neces-
sary in such departments Three hundred and
nlu.s women work ON such matters in q single
NV Nurl; city factory and n new workroom Of
vide capacity is just being added which VIII give
work to hundred more. There are Ave or sir
r>pcr, forewomen instructng and supervising
the others In the factories at Harrison. Science
iadv Plushurg Chicago aud other places there
are double and treble this number Of women and
girls Some are merely mechanical specialists
working day in and day Out with the same tools
~ machinery ON the same part IT tho same order
" substance. Others are VERSATILE and can turn
yUc.t stpr,s 60 account in any needed direction.
cine Grsl class workers have the chance ui pro-
motion and II having always steady work at
good wages as long as they wish to stay. The
factories ANXIOUS for intelligent girls ~ teach.
There ntc several women who theis insigh,
into cIrc,ric science 20 write what may be termed
rIpular articles on the subject for various daily
papers aud per ideals. Others give Lectures
CA rlec,nciiy IN ont oftown places, and also give
more ~ less sound class instruction al private
~'uuul, aud institutions Some women are al.
Ntrunng agents for the makers VI electro thcra-
T~unnal gods and apparatus. These women
sufficiently yrtsed IN their subject TO speak in
diligently even cuquenty, Of the stock they hhu-
die And these goods range from the humbus
electric hair brush, electric belts W really high
stade apparatus Electricity Is an agent that
bends Itself readily TO the sensation aIisi a. nd the
>mauefets in many INES and II has b-en taken
UP by many people who live by during tie iS-
u5fanI or the creIuous Any one inquirny into
tue subject hears Of these Just no hears Of iaLirs
In other ca!lines and professions but the fact
IN, thst although Fhe Of
graduates IN electricity Is no, one1ith that 81
vorIsn graduates IN Jaw IN theology. in political
scruce, 10 botany, thu>c who have mastered the
NViy have uIaI- n,Iahle success Of II.
The foremost Woman IN elcCuc science any.
where IN the word is Mrs Bertha AyrtOn u Lon
don. She has made very remarkable inves,isa.
tons Of the phenomena Of the electric arc and
contributed valuable data ON this subject 10 the
Important scientific journals In May last she
tsAd paper bc'o's the English institute - Flee
'Hcai Engineers. the hrst paper ever read before
That b'dy By woman, and II cont0ln~l matter
1t much moment Wherever electrical aud sci.
-urhc deductions are Of value this woman : nAmo
isknown. She Is the wife Of Prof ". T. Ayrton.
the noted electrical authority, and Is recognized
in Great Britain, on the Continent and hero in
America. where electrical genius mas made such
great strides. as having been Of marked assist.
hnce 70 the science She Is wholly scientist
and has not put her knowledge 10 practical uso
except In the fundamental way OF helping others
u enlightenment There arc other English
women who are working practical a. electricians
he particular star among American women
e'ectncihns Is Miss Bertha famine u Piuabufg
VINO Is full-nedgcd electrical engineer with hys
years practical work 10 her credit Miss lHmme
+ On the staff OF engineers for Tic WcstnghuusS
HhnufaciunnR Company She IL a graduate
81 The Ohio | University and Is a native IL Ohio 81
Dutch snces,ry, She designs machinery, makes
years old
study electrciLy- said Francis II. Croker an
authority on electrical engineering at Columbia
I h!vetsty., TO my mind II is a profession far
surgery, political science. or many Of the callngs
They flick TO Electricity is clean. requires no
strength in manipulation. and calls for only nice
~ IN deduction. Mathematical precision and no
greater order ~ ability 10 understand its laws
than is required 70 master other learned profes-
Sons The few women who have applied them
selves 10 il anywhere have made good progress
ana excellent records and proved in every sense
s'udY one likely 10 increase in interest and supply
on ever broadening incentive for work II more
~ ne county IS iUll 81 upto-date young
women anxious 10 "n' Professions that will be
resource iGr th'n, 1'lcr 10 make a livelihood
~ lor mental em0iNm0n' Yet they hold aloof
from codncitv anG ~ mi" pursuits far icss suited
70 them Columbia has had special course in
-l'ctrlcty ir t"u years now. There Ia no clause
~ law IN tn l'nN"rsitv rules u keep women out
hut IN all Mt time neither from outside nor from
barnard ~, over the way. have We had a single
woman 'ricHni for the electrical course, either
inl NJ partial The Massachusetts Institute ~
Ie"14nGI%gy has turned out four or .nve women
khluhteS IN electricity. Nearly all the State
universities have al some time or other had women
t,,d"nls ~ The electrical engineering class rooms
ptt 'frv have been the exception, not the rule
! nave never talked with professor who did not
.uaH electricity a branch Of study much moro
sI."l '" ""man's capacity physical and mental,
man NASg"nerally believed. They study physics
ana chemistry, they go all around the subject in
Tvs Underlying relations but they give electricity
Nv" ana Almp" the cold shoulder IL may he
.nal u seems too nwcsome and II II certainly an
aErhrv little Understood hut for some reason or
lnr = LIE work
women VII Is familiar with In hucnce machine
"HIS AIlcfnatOTs batteries meters and current
tr,f .ltfH, as the majority 81 women are with
Lnn,Ir'S ana skirt offenders, styles and fash on
'1Tkhnacks, y DR.. Margaret Ceayos, formerly
~ va h.wof New York. In matters pertaining
" we Application 81 electricity ~ a physicians
sSyh,, she occupies place in public esteem like
So winch MISS l-anmc has won for herself a. on |
,t,u.Al engineer. In the words Of an eminent |
sum my ply sicnns, when they use electricity,
l NRa