XXVII
MISS ETHEL ROLFE AND THE WOMEN ACETYLENE WELDERS
Inthe autumn of 1915 the organisers of the Women’s Service Bureau, anxious to assist women who applied to them for help and advice in obtaining posts under the newly constituted Ministry of Munitions, immediately sought openings in which educated women with a natural bent towards machinery and mechanical work could receive instruction in a skilled process. After consideration, it was decided to arrange a training in the process of oxy-acetylene welding, a work which seemed to combine various advantages. It was a skilled process comparatively new in England, and one which women had hitherto had no opportunity of learning, and should they be successful in taking up the work, there would be plenty of scope for them, as the process was being increasingly used in aeroplane manufacture. For this reason there was a good chance of its being continued after the war, and not proving a blind alley like so much present-day work. Accordingly, a small school was established under an able and experienced metal-worker, Miss F. C. Woodward.
The process taught is almost entirely used in aeroplane construction, namely, the welding of sockets and joints, struts, levers, and the parts of the frame-work.
ACETYLENE WELDERSTo face page137
ACETYLENE WELDERS
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Even before the war there had been a shortage of trained welders, and, with the enormous increase in aeroplane work and the enlistment of so many skilled mechanics, the demand for such workers was enormously increased.
The school was opened in September, 1915, and by December the first girls were sufficiently trained to take posts in a factory, the controller of which had been interested in the project, and had helped the school at its start in setting up the necessary plant. The pioneer women welders have been followed by a steady stream; and such has been the success of the training that no welder has any difficulty in obtaining employment as soon as she leaves the school. From this small training centre alone over 150 welders have already passed into various works.
The process is generally recognised as the speediest and most effective way of securing a perfect weld without any deleterious effect upon the metal, and consists in employing the flame produced by the combustion, in a suitable blow-pipe, of oxygen and acetylene. The temperature of the flame at the apex is about 6300 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is by this means that the metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable heat. The worker’s eyes have to be protected from the powerful light by special goggles, and they also have to wear caps over their hair, and leather aprons. The work is fascinating, even to the onlooker, and absorbing to anyone with craftsman’s instincts. It involves considerable responsibility, and the welder needs to be conscientious and careful in the extreme, as upon the efficiency of her work, if used for aircraftconstruction, depends the stability of the machine and, consequently, the life of the airman.
The women welders have not established their position without difficulty, faced as they were from the start with the fact that men engaged on precisely the same work, with no greater output, were yet receiving considerably higher wages. By first banding themselves together in a Trade Union, and by bringing the question up for arbitration as to whether their work was skilled or unskilled—the decision being given in their favour,—the women welders have achieved equal recognition with men, and that without having recourse to strikes and dislocation of national work in war-time.
A typical worker among the learners of this new craft for women is Miss Ethel Rolfe. One of the first women to enter the school, after a short course of training she took a post in an aircraft factory, where she was the only woman welder. She worked with one man welder, and sometimes when work was slack, owing to the supply of parts being hung up, she did brazing, which she learnt from the men with whom she worked. She also did fitting, rather than stand idle; and as much overtime was being worked, she could help on all three processes when occasion required.
In December, 1916, after a good deal of practical experience, Miss Rolfe accepted a post in a Government department. In this capacity she visited aeroplane works all over the country, spending from three to ten days in the shops, studying the work done by women, and that done by men which women might take over. She reported to her department on the detailed organisation of women’s work, on the methodsof training, and the possibility of further dilution of men’s work in each firm by the employment of more female labour. To do this she had to inquire into technical processes, machines, and workshop arrangements. She specially urged the increased employment of women in fitting and sheet-metal work, wood-work, and welding, and in some cases on the erection of aeroplanes and the installation of the engine.
After continuing this work for some months, she was promoted and transferred to the Production Department. She now inspects aeroplane firms and reports to her department with a view to an ever-increasing output, chiefly obtainable by greater efficiency in the labour of women, improved arrangements in the shops and in the methods of teaching and supervision. This unique opportunity of studying the types of machines and methods of construction, coupled with the help of resident inspecting engineers, has given her an amount of technical knowledge which, with her personal experience of factory conditions, has helped her in the work of selecting suitable operations for female labour.
Before the war, Miss Rolfe had no previous mechanical or scientific training; she had always regretted the lack of opportunity which women found in the industrial world, and especially in engineering trades.
Another pupil of the welding school, Miss Margaret Godsall, who became charge-hand at an aircraft factory, has recently died from inflammatory rheumatism. She contracted this illness as a result of staying on at the factory during a rush of urgentwork, though she was suffering from influenza. This is a pathetic example of the keenness and the self-sacrifice with which girls are throwing themselves into their tasks, and their service to the country will always be remembered as one of the finest records of the war.
LADY LUGARDRussellTo face page141
LADY LUGARD
Russell
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