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Show To fflblp parklnag;Ladlies It's No Quilting Bee Production of Plugs Nearly Doubles Since Early 1943 r By Larry Evans : "",., f?t! ' ; '. Whoever says that the woman's place is in the home should take a walk over to the spark plug department one of these first days and have a good look at the only operated department in the maintenance aircraft shops. ... Maybe the woman's place is ordinarily in the home, but all-wom- an J these are far from ordinary times and. the 22 ladies In the spark plug tian in up the spark-plu- g department here months ago hung assembly setting ..came .over and line, up their dish towels, put away their ''shot the department before and aprons, donned a pair of slacks and headed for Hill Field and one . after. the film will be Lt toSnorf sanx Clements of the most important contribu- sent McMuI-leGen. Maj. tions they'll ever make to their commanding general, ASC experience as a supervisor in a Minneapolis candy company. Last February her husband came to Hill Field. She followed him last June, and says she certainly hasn't regretted it, even though she was a bit discouraged at first. Around her neck hangs a miniature spark-plu- g given to her by one of the spark-plu- g companies. "All the girls have one", she says, "and they're darned proud of them". "When I first started in the department last October",- she continued, "there were two shifts going, day and swing. The girls were kinda crowded together and there wasn't too much system with the - way things were done." "When I was at the candy company, each girl had a specific'' part of the job to do. Things ran along basis." on a Kind of assembly-lin- e Well, since last October, things have been- on an assembly-lin- e basis in the Hill Field spark-plu- g - Installation was department. planned and placed in operation by Eddie R. Mustian,' foreman of engine accessories unit of which park-plug- s is a part. "He's really swell says Mrs. Pigeau, "and we sure couldn't get long without him." However, before the new system , was begun, it was decided that it would be a good idea to take some moving pictures of the department, - in action, in order to compare the Id with the new. - - Lt. Robert Snorf,' officer in charge of production engineering section, maintenance division, who incidentally, aided foreman Mus i - r J ' .. maintenance division, who requested it. He said they have also been shown to the industrial management class for officers and key perGAPPING THEM . . . Above, are some of the sparkplug ladies busily engaged In gapping nutTr to here concluded sonnel recently hundreds of the little gadgets that are repaired in the department every day. In gapping, Wt gap is an ll1000ths of an inch wide. The pWg ugTu illustrate how simple, yet ingenah ,,. h.vA to do is see that the io2 painted. Left to right are: Delores Bur.. later will be anti-ruious, improvements here and there Sybil Martin, buffer; Mildred Wall, gaprt; can speed things up. buffer; Eve Feivish, Florence Auterson, gapper; When your reporter was .nosing around the department, one of the first things Mrs. Pigeau showed him was what she called the anti-ru- are not damaged can bring with it silicosis, dreaded WfwloOflnSSMSStmachine. A few months ago, the threads disease of coal miners and other in air containing of each plug were painted by hand people who work abrasive dust. of fine a This was to prevent rusting. particles rather tedious process. Finally, a This danger is pretty well taken wheels were care of in the plug department, 1 couple of motor-drive- n rigged up by an outside employe however, through the use of sucwhich, Mrs. Pigeau said, resulted tion blowers to draw off the sand m in the painter's getting as much dust. Mrs. Pigeau said improveanti-ru- st f .iff ments will yet have to be made paint as the spark-plu- g in fact, more. to insure complete protecting. Then Eva Russell, a spark-plu- g Plans are already under way. Sandblasters are Florence Mclady, got an idea and when she was through, the department had Coy, and Dorothy Gordon. Mrs. Mcan ingenious device that would Coy has a son in the army somepaint seven plugs in the time it where in England. She is a formtook to paint one before. Mrs. Pi- er Remington Arms plant employe. is finished, After geau said that before, five girls had to be assigned to anti-ruthe plugs, in trays of 102 each, painting sometimes to keep up pro- are .immersed in a cleaning solduction. vent which is agitated by a mild, When the plugs come in for re- regulated air presure. This rey.-;''" . pair, they're usually covered with moves all traces of sand or loose stir; grease, carbon, and other miscel- carbon flakes. Then they are dried. " . Jl h laneous dirt requiring plenty of Buffing is done with a OVER 20,000 VOLTS . ... . Is contained in these machines ei f cleaning besides the repair work. wheel of approximately .008 inch the testing of spark plugs after they have been repaired. Whet s f inside The of the. plug is porce- wire to remove any traces of carto make the grade, it Is revealed by this machine. Hep ( fails lain, and that has to be cleaned bon, caked oil, grit and greases. tested each morning for the previous day's work. Above, left to r too. Alcohol seems to do the best Most of the buffing in the departtwo damsel, of the spark plus; department show yon hm comely alsoused with ment is done by Eve Feivish, who, job. A strip of felt and Lola Poll, works: Marjorie Lantx, tester; the end of stick Mrs. Pigeau says, is a really good, cohol is placed-oand inserted by hand into the open- and conscientious worker. Eve ing of the plug. It takes a lot of comes from Minneapolis. Sybil Martin. Some time ago ev month. One of the time to do this to about 49,000 spark One of the most important func- ery plug tested had to have a cop machines was out for s week I - . it ' plugs a month. tions of the entire unit is gapping. caused a backlog oi mere am So, . a small electric motor was It's a simple operation. All you per washer placed over one end 800 the a feeding By rigged up and now all the cleaner have to do is make a gap 111000 before insertion in the machine. plugsplugs. at regular, intervali toInto has to do is place the plug over of an inch thick. was done by hand and added line, Mrs. Pigeau was able This the stick with the felt, flip a litAnd if it isn't just that some up to quite a bit of time in a the on top a department out for tle lever, and the plug is cleaned pilot's in for some trouble with his month. the ar schedule production slick as a whistle. spark-pluon. But they Then somebody conceived the asked her, Jater Mustian When Cleaners are Huldah Bell, Pa- don't find much trouble the idea of placing a ' washer in ' the other day, if the department w. tricia Ward, and Lola Poll. Mrs. plugs that come out of with, Mrs. machine at the point touched by its February tcneau Pigeau says all the ladies can do unit. Cappers Florence Aut- the washer when placed on the make all of the work, if necessary. Thus, erson, Delores Buran, Enid Jack- plug. Now, the testers don't have replied: "Sure, why iw.r when somebody leaves to go with son, Pearl Baumunk and Mildred to place a washer on each plug. her husband who has been trans- Wall see to that Banannl nf PSMMS - wne It's on the machine. ferred, or for whatever reason, an mil Field emoloyei If the gap is too wide the eleclittle These trade the of tricks there's always someone who can tricity won't jump across and if it may not amount to much individ have physically handicappedpt fill in. won't jump across, you might as ually, but they add up. must report to reception de Like most departments in the well trade in for clothesplug Is Alter final your made, ployment section, in the clocK inspection maintenance division, or through- pin it'll work just as well." In the individual before Monday, February Hi plugs are packed out the field for that matter, sparkAlong the way through the line, containers and properly marked. renewal of the pastel, plugs .involve their own risks. For inspectors Mary Preston. Marie Packers are Catherine Stafford nounced this week bytne-- J instance, each plug must be sand- Blackman, and Helen Chalmers are and Birta Gage, who has a son of provost marshal at M blasted to remove carbon deposits. stationed to check the work being somewhere in Mm oasses wilt a England in the glider Besides being a ticklish job seeing done. When a identification is the by' sued troops. to. K that threads and electrodes reaty to go plug it pronounced is usually An example of what the unit can those employes for whom W again, just that, and a good deal of the do in a pinch was revealed last cial pass is necessary, credit for it must go to these three sharp-eye- d inspectors who are doubtless as proud of a clean, new -plug coming off the line as they ii usea to De or a plump, reddish brown chocolate cake. Mrs. Preston's husband Is in the Navy. Mrs. Chalmer'a is overseas. Maries father and brother are in the Navy.- Her father is an officer. The three of them are well aware of the reason they're inspecting Of course Mrs. Pitteau can't be on the job every minute of the day and when she can't, Ingeborg 11 Hooper, assistant supervisor, takes I over. Mrs. Hooper has a son In me army. She does a swell job. iiic vuisiue oi me plugs are painted after gapping is completed. This paint job is also to pre' .fe..:y. vent rust. Painter at this station ' i , i is lcna liowers. Each morning, the oluirn r. V - ' ' paired the previous dav are tMtir! on a 4 big hydraulic testing machine developing 20,000 volts. If the plug is no good, the indicator on the A"' machine flops about wildly and a red light flashes on. Plflg. failing to pass the test are routed out as condemned material. The rest are l 'taiiar st t-- s sand-blasti- st They're Tested Here ng '..".'.'.' SSMBSBBSSSSSSlSB J , Mk r h J f, CD? sand-blasti- ng st da? v "' ' six-inc- ' : m 4 gs Pi-gea- u's I 11 : - -- J She Removes the Carbon l ' S5 n, And they've not onty been doing the job expected of them; they've even slipped in Improvements on. the side improvements that every month lop off dozens of hours otherwise necessary to do the work. Several of these spark-plu- g lad- -' leg have sons and daughters in the armed forces and while they can't stand shoulder to shoulder with them on the firing line, they can see to it that at least' their particular end of the load doesn't sag and it hasn't. Last January, 1943, the unit cleaned, repaired, and packed 27,0X) plugs; last month it was 49,000. Yet, since January, 1943, total personnel in the department has only increased from 15 to 22. Chief spark-plu- g lady is Ellice tigeau, who comes from Minneapolis, has a son stationed somewhere in England, and has had 21 years , .AS . country. rr 4, - To Prevent Rusting WW1 rj - sparK-piug- t't - - a t f! W s. f '',' ::y:t'V::BC.-::ri.::- SANDBLASTING 18 IMPORTANT m . In the overhaul and repair of .park plug. There are two sandblasting machines in the denart-inen- t, each ran by a spark plug lady. .Sandblasting remove, the i?mJ?M!ie,!DirK,,,0n.V,c p,URS wh,ch covered Dorothy Gordon, is busy "Mastinc" trayfull ef plug, while Ingeborg Hooper, mlJ wimnmeni, watches. -- whrt considered serviceable. inrs. said many times ground crew men come to her with piugs mey want tested on the ma u ,e-rare occasions, a plug will test bad due to Incomplete cleaning. These are corrected and tested again. Testers are Marjorls Lantz and ... . '- " Jfr wt PROCESS painting oi Per antl-ni- st u t recently developed by a spark plub lady named enabled her to nalnl wtm nlun in the time it t00"?,- - mai tf, ingf"' little before, A small motor, a ef wheels, couple " you nave It. Above, Ellice Pigeau, spark piug look, mm while Eva Bosjeell paint, a few. A UNIQUE 'f. |