From the Sept. 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics.  Enjoy!

Interested in saving money while you’re welding this autumn?  Check out this article by Welding Magazine — it lists ten simple ways that you stay thrifty, and that’s just when you’re using your MIG gun!

10 Money-Saving Tips for Semi-Automatic MIG Guns

By DAVID BELLAMY | Jul 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Your welding operation, just like any other portion of your business, offers opportunities to conserve resources.

The economy continues to challenge all of us, and it seems everyone is watching his or her finances (at home and on the job) and looking for innovative ways to save money. Your welding operation, just like any other portion of your business, offers opportunities to conserve resources. Consider these 10 money-saving tips for MIG gun care and maintenance, and don’t be surprised to discover you will improve your welding performance in the effort.

TIP #1: PROTECT YOUR ASSETS

Keep your nozzles, retaining heads (diffusers) and contact tips in the original shipment package until you are ready to use them. This prevents scratches and/or dents where spatter can accumulate and will make them last longer. It also prevents dirt, oil or other debris from adhering to the consumables and inadvertently entering the weld puddle.

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What are you doing this fall to save cash?  Share your best ideas with the rest of us!

It takes a special something to help women to enter the world of welding; many people simply don’t see it as an option.  Therefore, camps for teen girls, like this one in Decatur, Alabama, and free job training like that found at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, are just two ways that we can get women involved in what is primarily perceived as field for men.

Sparking an interest in welding for girls

Summer camp in Alabama provides peer-to-peer mentoring experience for high school students

PLE Staff — Plant Engineering, 6/19/2009 10:55:13 AM CDT

Even in the face of a recession, great careers are currently available in many technical fields, and throughout the nation efforts are under way to grow the workforce in those jobs through greater diversity.

Decatur, AL — A week-long free summer camp offered by Calhoun Community College is sparking the interest of area high school girls in non-traditional, high-tech, high wage careers in welding and electrical technology.

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Did you own any action figures when you were a kid?
Superman?  Jedis?  X-Men?

I didn’t, probably because I never read any comic books until my brothers came along.  What we did have though, were real people action figures.

I’m not even kidding.  There’s a company out there called Accoutrements that makes action figures out of historical characters.

There’s Marie Antoinette with a detachable head, Houdini wrapped up in a straight jacket, Van Gogh with a bandage over his ear, and many more –>

I myself am the proud owner of both a Jane Austen and a DaVinci figurine, and they sit on my bookshelf, keeping each other company whilst I am away, or so I like to think…

But, for the purposes of this blog, I would like to introduce you to the action figure of none other than Rosie the Riveter.  That’s right — our very own pseudo-mascot, doll-size — the perfect desk-top inspiration!

She comes with her very own spring-action rivet gun and a lunchbox, just like in the original Norman Rockwell painting.  Plus, she’s posable!

Original Caption: Line Up of Some of Women Welders Including The Women’s Welding Champion of Ingalls [Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Ms]., 1943

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 86-WWT-85-35

Photographer: Beebe, Spencer

Subjects:
World War, 1939-1945
Labor
Women

Persistent URL: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=522890