Caution at the Mills
By: Antonio B.,
Brandon B., Samantha S.
What were the Ludlow mills like in the early 1900’s?
What kind of machines were there in the Ludlow mills?
How dangerous were these machines?
Boy illustrating how to avoid injury
Ludlow Manufacturing Associates
In our group we looked at a photograph book published by the Ludlow Manufacturing Associates. It was titled: Photographic Record of Mills and Village: ndividual Machines,Vol. III. In this book there are approximately 32 pages of pictures of machines that were used in the mills. They dated from 1897 to 1913. Some of the pictures show how dangerous these machines really were. This book also shows how jute was finished and how other goods were made.
In this picture, there is an operator showing how someone lost his arm working on a Jute Finisher Card. The operator was replacing a chain and he wasn’t careful and his arm got caught in the machine. That is one of the injuries that happened at the mills. The people had to take many precautions with machines, if not, they could have lost an arm or even a hand like the picture above.
Jute Finisher Card
This is
another picture of how a worker lost his arm after cleaning a jute finisher card. The
workers had to clean it while it was running and it was very dangerous.
Two sides of a gunny roving frame
This next
photo shows a gunning roving frame. The operator’s arm could again
be drawn in while he was throwing in jute. Can you tell the difference
between the two sides of the machine? The left side of the machine is different
from the right. Can you tell how?
Well, the
difference is that the left side is the unprotected side of the gunny roving
frame. The more upgraded version (the right side) has advancements such
as a guard where hands don’t get caught and with newer, less dangerous
rolling gears.
Guard used to prevent injury
This is the guard that you see on the right side of the gunny roving frame.
These photographs tell us that the machines in the mills were very dangerous. Some of the workers got seriously injured if they were not careful. This last picture also shows us that the Ludlow Manufacturing Associates tried to enhance the safety of the workers in the mills.