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This young lady is training to work on the assembly line of one of our great war plants. In preparation for this task, she devotes six nights a week to a WPA vocational training school where experienced instructors show her the technique of modern welding.
July 1942. "Work Projects Administration vocational school in Washington, D.C." Photo by Howard Liberman, Office of War Information. View full size.
"Gas welding" was one of the neatest things I've ever learned- almost magic. Being able to push that steel puddle along and then watch it solidify as the flame passed was nearly mesmerizing.
This is the same way I learned to weld 30 years later. The torch is not a "cutting" torch, but rather an oxy-acetylene welding torch. This is one of the ways welding was commonly done prior to the advent of electric welding. The heat from the flame creates a "puddle" of molten metal, the filler rod is added, and the process is moved along the seam to create a weld. The dark lenses in the goggles are much lighter than those used in electric arc welding. The entire arrangement (torch, table, bricks, test "coupons") will be quite familiar to anyone who took a welding course at least up through the 1980's (and possibly even today, I don't know).
Her wool sweater is perfect for welding. Looks good and won't start on fire. I can't tell you how many cotton and synthetic clothes I've lifted up my welding helmet to see aflame.
We have seen "Rosie the Riveter", so she must be "Wanda the Welder".
Perhaps someone with more metalworking knowledge can enlighten me. She's using a cutting torch, so what's with the welding rod?
That fuzzy sweater doesn't look very fireproof.
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