The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-29
IRICE LAKE PROUD OF
! ITS WOMAN MACH|N|sT
Mrs. Peters as Handy in Shop
and Foundry as Her
Husband. @ 49,"
Started in the Work Just for
Fun" and Now Pursues
It Regularly.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
Eau Claire, Wis, July 2s--T That
woman is capable Of the development
of mechanical skill equal to that Of
dred B. Psts sn0" of Rice enc Lake. AXE Wis.,
young woman who by her love of ma
chinery and under the tutorship of her
/! husband has become a full-fedged ma
chinist.
After three years of work in her
/ husbands machine shop and foundry,
known as the Rice Lake Ironworks,
; that there is now no job that comes
j into the shop that is beyond her skill.
! She can do anything, from "making
shrinking ft'' or E'key seating
coupling" to manipulating the trip
: hammers and other massive machinery
in the shop.
She does not take back seat for any
her in her husbands establishment.
Jobs that puzzle oldtimers in the
business and that usually take years
to learn, Mrs. Peters is not afraid to
tackle. And she accomplishes them with
ease. She is particularly good in man
ufacturing, and the castings that she
SPOTS are very, very few.
III Can Cast and Mould.
Her knowledge Of machinery is not
confined to the machine shop. for she
goes into the foundry, which is an ad
1unct to the shop, and there can cast
or mould anything in the line of ma
chinery, even to the pouring Of the
sizzling hot metal herself.
She has even made her own patterns
for jobs, from blueprints supplied by
the drauqhtsman. but she dislikes the
work at the pattern bench on account
of the dust from the wood lathe. She
often runs the band saw and files it
and keeps It in order generally:
qniring much experience and skill to
prevent defects in the castings, she is
perfect. She turns out clean castings,
which she pours from the heavy, hot
ladle very steadily, as required in this
class of work. If it be a thin plate to
be poured fast, something that all
moulders lock upon as difficult and
often with fear, she never fails to get
perfect casting.
her heart is set and the noise of the
ponderous and powerful machinery is
music to her ears. It is to her hap
by diversion from the humdrum and
monotony Of homework, and she en-
joys it. She takes as much pride in
turning out perfect shafting, or set
of pulleys, or some intricate part Of an
making a good cake or in doing a
choice bit of embroidery work. =
Mrs. Peters can fire the boiler, keep
Ing up the proper amount Of steam and
water and can run the, engine. And
more than that, she could put it all to-
gether again were it to be taken apart
for her, without any trouble.
No Fear of Difficult Jobs.
The ACCOMMODATING picture of the in
terror Of the shop shows Mrs. Peters
in the act of "key seating coupling"
a. JOB which is well known to all ma
chinists to be extremity difficult. It re-
Judgment and skill, since the "seat-
ing' must be not a hairsbreadth un-
true or the key will fit imperfectly and
the Job will be spoiled.
Threading' piece Of steel, a job
requiring accuracy and speeu at the
same time, she does with as much ease
as threading a needle for sewing. altho
the operation is indeed very different.
In making shrinking 6t,' wherein
Temperature to avoid bursting. a Job
lin which old machinists often fail, she
has no trouble. This is a job that is
common in all large engine work.
Since it has always been believed
that good machinists must have 9 natur;
successfully, it makes this woman g
work all the more wonderful None Of
the tinridity and fear that women have
as a rule around machinery is seen in
MRS. Peters, conduct in the shop. She
ipursues the work with confidence that
is associated only with an expert
knowledge Of the business.
AS Well as Husband.
Her husband, J. Fl. Peters, a stall
wart young man of 30, said to the cor
respondent: .. Ill
Ny wife is capable Of taking charge
Of the business in case I should die.
Sho can do anything that I can do in
the shop ~
It must not be inferred because Mrs.