The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1943-08-05
Girl Inventors
Speed War Job
Ideas Presented by Women
.~- Save Material>an
Increase Output.

Observation-Disclosures have not
only shown themselves to be as in
genious as men on the assembly line
in war plants. but several have
proved veritable Girl Edisons, per-
forming feats Of inventive magic
that speed up production and cut
down waste Of man hours and ma
terials, says Universal Service. -.
That's what the war has done. The
girls are not only demonstrating
their mechanical abilities in hum
dreds of factories, but they are Win
ming prizes for inventing short cuts
and time savers.
Typical of the successful inventors
of production shortcuts is Barbara
Ann Clark, better known perhaps
| to readers as winner of the nation
| wide Miss Victory contest conducted
by the Hearst newspapers.
Perfect Time Record.
In addition to having perfect
non-absentee record at the General
Motors plant in Flint, Mich, where
she is employed making gun-parts,
Miss Clark has made several sug-
gestions that speeded up production
in her department.
West Lynn, Mass, boasts Girl
Edison in the person of Mrs. Edith
Hogan, employed by the General
| Electric company.
Mrs. Hogan has many prize-win-
ming suggestions to her credit, but
recently she topped all her own eff
forts-and those of all the men in
the plant, toby winning $1,250 for
an idea that broke serious bottle
neck holding up production Of vital
electric implements. -. ,
Saves 400 Hours Weekly. -.
A great deal Of time was con-
sumed in the careful marking by
hand of the celebrations on the in
strument dials. - &c.
Mrs. Hogan put her pretty head
to work and evolved a method OF
doing the work mechanically. She
saved 400 man hours a week thereby
and gained tor herself the highest
cash prize ever awarded by the COM
pany for a suggestion. So irnpor-
tant was her invention deemed that
Lieut.. Gen. William S. Knudsen, the
war departments chief speeder-
upper,-visited the plant to see how
it worked. 49,:
| In Newark, N. j., 19-year-old Anne
M. Sofa worked out a way Of speed
ing up by. 16 times step in the
manufacture Of lenses for war In.
struments.
The girl was employed in prepar.
ing the lenses for polishing by plac.
ing warm pitch on each one with Z
stick. She found that try as she
would she could not finish more than
Is up to noon each day. Anxious te
step up production. she gave much
thought to the problem.
/ One day the answer came to her,
Noticing button mould in the plant
she filed the cavities with the molt
en- pitch, then placed lens on each
indentation. Refinements of the
process enabled her to ready 40t
lenses for polishing each morning
| instead of Is.
Time-Saving Ideas.
1 Ever since Gertrude Hill Fila
now an employee Of the Lockheed
Vega aircraft plant at Burbank
Calf, was Is years old, she has
been making model airplanes fol
her own. amusement. She holds 8
! pilots license, too.
Mrs. Fila has contributed severa
time-saving ideas to the company
Recently she elaborated with hel
husband, L. j. Fila. also employed
in the plant, to redAce the number
of types of rivets used on airplane.
from something over 5000 to 375
Any housekeeper can appreciate
how Mrs. Fila felt when she though
about those 5000 different kinds o
rivets for one airplane!
The Thomas A. Edison Industrie,
in West Orange, N. j., is proud Of ;
h Girl Edison in it's own plant Sh,
is Miss Stella Cullen, who won TIL.
gold and silver Thomas A. Edison
Medal for six original and usefu
suggestions to boost production fig