Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-10-02

PLACED In JOBS
AT WAR PLANTS
TO NEED THREE or FouR rnaKs
THAT MANY By THIS THE
NEXT YEAR
A million women now work In Am
erican war production plants. Produc-
ton men believe they'll need three
or four times that number Of James In
jeans by this time next year.
How quickly can factory executives
convert the white-collar woman to q
war plant job?"
That's another way Of asking, Are
We going to keep up the man-power
and equipment all along the front BIZ
using women in millions Of factory
jobs?"
Almost always there is a favorable,
optimistic response to such questions.
Production chiefs pack lots Of victory
spirit. They thoroughly count on VIC
tory.
One Of the new types of success
stories comes from Angus s. McCon Of
the Dallas plant Of North American
Aviation. Incorporated. McCol says
the girls he's trained are the success
personalities worth talking about.
Some others Of us would say that
McCon deserves the big spotlight, for
this welding expert and some techni-
cal instructors are training women
quickly for one Of the most difficult
and demanding Of war shop jobs-arc-
welding.
In some other shops, eyebrows 20
up when you say there are newly and
rapidly trained women arc-welders In
American aircraft plants.
Many Do Spot Welding
Spot-welders- Many women do
spot-welding in half a dozen Califor-
mia aircraft factories, probably in
many other types OF war production.
In four or five airplane plants, women
turn out good work in acetylene- gas
welding.
Arc-welding is the tough baby in
this family. You've seen the process
used in peace-time to merge rails and
bridge parts and to eliminate seams in
storage tanks. In war-making, the me-
thod replaces riveted parts In Ship
building and it helps to make Ameri-
can bombing planes the sturdiest in
the skies.
Women in electric arc-welding, a
wartime first" are possible because
Angus McCon produced streamlined
shop course in this difficult trade. He
felt you could teach highly intelligent
young women-the usual office-work-
er type-just such parts Of the skill
as they'd need in the special type of
welding he wanted them to do. All
theories and frills went on. The Nc
Coll course turns out specialists and
puts them behind a welding torch in
side month-well inside it in num-
erous cases.
Farmer Was Good
welding Is an art" says McColl.
Most men with good eye and a good
hand can be taught this art Of merg-
ing two pieces Of metal. One of nv
best men came right off an Dixie farm
Another was learning meat-cutting,
but soon he could lay a welder's bead
with the best of them.
But we used to take two to four
months to teach the arc-welders' trade
to men. Those fellows had to be pre-
pared to handle many metals in a var
iety of YIELDS. There wasn't that much
time for us to train the new welders
needed, and we wanted to give rushed
training to bunch of intelligent new
corners who'd learn quick"
IF the course is so good" the boss
said one noon, maybe you could even
teach girls. Sometime you ought to
try it."
At the time McColl grinned, but
NH 10 70 hot -
in charge of the new welding
course at the Dallas defense school.
he was taking the remark seriously.
II doubt that girl has the steadi-
ness and the ability to concentrate
that you need for arc-welding," the
head welder told the school man. But
If you'll risk it I will. ThereIl be no
more argument about how good the
course IS If it gives the plant a crew
Of girl welders."
The first girl enlisted was a 19-year-
old stenographer. Shed never seen a
welding torch close up until the day
the class met.
Thirteen days later Betty King took
the standard army test in welding,
passed it, and went into a full-time
job. In the test she'd laid a perfect
bead. Her penetration was just short
of perfect. Within few weeks Betty
had plenty of company in the women's
Some of the other women
welders learned the work in II days;
so far nobody has passed Miss Kings
record.
Glen Hunter teaches eight in q
class. The learners sit in a circle
around the instructor His school shop
is a part of the Dallas public school
system.
Under old methods the teacher made
in the generating mach
Inc during the first week or two of
a course. Nowadays the student learns
to make the adjustment of the fusing
heat in the first day in the class.