The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions WorkYates, L. K.
History
The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions Work
Yates, L. K.
Great Britain. Army -- Ordnance facilities; Weapons industry -- Employees; World War, 1914-1918 -- Women
Acid-proof and oil-proof aprons are now furnished for certain operations,
and for other processes specially prepared gloves are supplied. The
varieties in workshop gloves are now very great; they are made in such
materials as india-rubber, canvas, or leather, or a union of these three,
or in teon-faced canvas or teon-faced leather. Some are cuffless; others,
for work in acids, have turned-up cuffs, and others again are gauntlets
reaching the elbow. In every case, the process for which they are provided
is minutely studied, and the fashion adopted is dictated by utility.
Footgear has also received a considerable amount of attention, and there
are now available Wellington boots, or half-Wellingtons, for outdoor work,
or wooden clogs for processes in the shops where the flooring is apt to
become persistently wet.
But, possibly, factory fashions receive most care when designed for
wearers in Filling shops. For these, suits in wool lasting-cloth are found
satisfactory, the most popular and smartest being in cream-colour, faced
with scarlet. Fire-proofed blue serge overalls and asbestos coats with
caps of the same material are also employed in certain of these factories.
For work in the Danger Zone no metal fasteners are permissible, and the
coat, or overall, is cut so as to protect the neck and throat from contact
with the powder used in the process.
Boots and shoes for this type of work are also specially designed. No iron
must enter into their composition, the soles being either machine-sewn, or
riveted with brass. Sometimes, cloth and india-rubber over-shoes are the
chosen footwear of the Danger Zone, and in this case the fasteners must
also be free from iron. These precautions are no mere fad, but essential
safeguards where friction between a fragment of iron and a combustible
powder might lead to an explosion. Respirators, and in some cases veils,
are also needful accessories of the Filling factory, and these too are
provided for the workers.
A complete factory uniform has thus evolved since the war: it is a model
of suitable clothing for industrial work. Arising from within the
workshops to meet essential needs, these fashions are not only free from
vulgarity, or eccentricity, but have a distinct beauty of their own. It is
unlikely that women, once accustomed to the comfort and cleanliness of
such garments, will desire to return to the discredited habit of tarnished
finery worn at work.
_Rest-Rooms and First Aid_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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